So much to see!

Hello! Hope you all are doing great. We have been busy on our bonus week off and I have a lot of pics to show!
We have had 3 straight nights of quiet- yay!! People are still insisting tonight or tomorrow night will have the night lit up with fireworks again, but I'm not convinced. We shall see....  :)

Monday we rode our brand new bikes through the flurries (seriously, those are supposed to be in Michigan, right??) to McDonald's! Our first Chinese McD's experience and I was worried. Ben thought it tasted the same, I disagree, Coop ate it up, Soph refused... so, I guess we're split on that decision. The fountain Diet Coke, however, was heaven. I swear they put crack in it!!!

We have had a great week together exploring the city and seeing Shanghai put on a show for the New Year. On Tuesday we went to Xintiandi with the Winklers (Laura and gang) to have some lunch and catch the dragon dancers. We ate at a great place- Pizza Marzano's (dough balls- SO good!), then headed to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, grabbed a cuppa and waited. It was worth it, though. Here are some pics:

On Wednesday we decided to head over to the YuYuan Gardens bc we heard they had a pretty impressive lantern display going on. Wow- that place was nuts!! Ben and I decided that every person still in Shanghai thought the same as us.
We wanted to be there when it turned dark so we could see them all lit up. We were early and it was really cold and really busy so we camped out at a Starbucks and waited. Another reason we hid out- whenever we are out in a busy area we are quite the attraction. You would think that at some point they would get used to seeing white people but, nooooo. People nudge their friends and point at us, constantly try and take pics of the kids, bring their kids over to us and show us to them. It's weird and uncomfortable and gets old really fast. So, we hid in Starbucks. :)
Once it was dark, though, everything was turned on and it was a great show! Really busy with people but not crazy overwhelming. The kids were enjoying themselves and that helped a lot. I mostly get stressed when I can tell they are so I was glad they were happy. Here are some pics of what we saw:

We turned the tables for a sec- this baby was TOO cute!

A busy 2 days! So, why not one more? Today we headed out to the Shanghai Zoo bc it was sunny and warmer and we like to over-extend ourselves... :)
There were many things that you would see at any zoo and many things I've never seen before in my life.

There was a huge goldfish exhibit. Seriously. Probably 25 huge water tanks with all different kinds of goldfish. Mmm-hmm...

Dozens and dozens of exhibits with weird birds...

Pelican Island: look out! :)

Some beautiful black swans...

We attempted lunch at the zoo. Man, this was almost our downfall. I really should have packed a picnic!! I don't know what I was thinking- this was LOCAL and scary. :) We attempted the beef noodles hoping for something ramen-like (IT WAS NOT!). Then we tried the dumplings. I'd rather starve. Soph ate this weird sweet hot dog thing on a stick. It looked so scary but she seemed ok with it. We'll see... Ok, so, no one's really eatten, we haven't seen the pandas yet and we're running out of food options really fast. Our last attempt was this large cardboard bowl thing they added water to. At last! Real ramen noodles. Thank heaven- lunch was saved.

The poor pandas. Really, I feel bad for all animals in zoos. They always seem so sad, but this poor panda was stuck in a tiny cement room with a glass wondow that people were completely crowded around and pounding on.

These pandas had it better- a large enclosure but people are still weird. They throw food at them and yell at them. I don't get it.

This is a perfect example of how ridiculous people were acting. These people were feeding these animals right next to a sign that says "Don't feed the animals", "Danger- animals may bite". Hello!! No sense...

The giraffes were neat. Soph said they were her favorite. I was amazed how close they put all the animals to the people. People throw food and bamboo branches at the animals. It was sad...

Overall, a really fun day at the zoo and we didn't even see half of it. We'd definitely go back (bringing a picnic) to see the rest of it. We had promised Soph she could get one thing from the zoo and she picked a blowup panda stick for herself and a giraffe one for Coop.

Tomorrow plans to be a slower day- breakfast, swimming, the store. It's been a good week, though, and we may even try out the aquarium on Saturday... :)

Happy Birthday Wednesday to my Mom and on Sunday to Ben's Mom. We're bummed we can't be there in person to help you celebrate but we hope you know we love you and miss you!!

Prayer Requests:
-So, we had a family come through our house for a second look this week. They are deciding between our house and one other. Pray that God's will be done. It would be a huge weight lifted if it sold but we're trying to be realistic and we know that God has a plan.
-Praise God that my cold is almost gone already! Less than a week of feeling really bad and I'm already feeling better.
-Praise that I can't think of anything else right now! Seems as though God is carrying us right along with His angels protecting and guiding us each day.

We hope you are all well and do know we miss you A LOT! We Skyped with the Oostings again this morning and Sophie kept saying "I want to go to Michigan and play with my friends". She is doing better, though. Less sass, eatting a bit better...one day at a time! :)