Knowing we only have about a month left here has me getting a bit nostalgic! Who would have thought. 18 months ago I was petrified, overwhelmed, jet lagged, and wondering what on Earth I had just done with my family. And now I feel like I can't get enough of this city in because I know I'll likely never be back.
This entry has a lot of random stuff in it. Stuff I wanted to make sure I got down to help me remember everything. There are end of year school parties and birthday parties, fun at the pool with friends and a good look at the condo we lived in. Here we go!
This picture I just wanted to add because it's funny. Every day we went out into the city, we were guaranteed to see some random person on a bike loaded down with whatever.
This lovely amazing lady is Emma. She was Cooper's aide at his school for the last 18 months. She LOVES him and he loves her equally. She is Chinese and has overcome a lot to get an education, learn English, work in a Western school, and she is leaving this summer to move to Australia to get her Master's Degree in Special Education teaching. We adored her and thank her for loving on our little man as much as she did. Patience of a saint, I tell ya!!
I'm going to take you on a tour of our place. We were in 2G- PH A. The top of the building. A condo, I suppose, but being 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms it seemed huge!
This was Cooper's room and the GAME CHANGING tent that saved our sanity and life while living here. Cooper struggles to fall asleep and if he has the ability to go all over the place, he doesn't fall asleep. He plays and rolls around and his brain can't turn off. This tent was designed by a family that has a son like Cooper. The Nickel Bed.
Our main living space. To the right are the french doors that lead out to our patio that looks over the grounds of the Racquet Club. The eating area and tv watching space beyond that. To the left are the stairs that led up to the play room and Sophie's bedroom.
Another view of those stairs. The door there leads to the kitchen. You can see that pass through window Coop figured out how to climb through. ;)
Here I'm standing by that pass through window looking towards the front door. Straight ahead there is a bathroom. To the left of the bathroom is Cooper's bedroom.
This is the kitchen as viewed through that pass through window.
My bedroom. I LOVED that black and white lounger thingy. Took many a nap there. :)
The other view of our bedroom. That picture above the bed was our gift to ourselves- a picture of downtown Shanghai that we'll bring home and put in our house. The skyline will already look different in just a few months as more buildings are constantly being built.
The upstairs play room. Ben had built a wooden structure to hang Cooper's swing from. It's nice being married to such a handy man. ;) And yeah, it was TOTALLY this clean all the time. Heh heh.
Sophia's bedroom- one angle.
Two beds worked out well when she had friends sleep over, which happened oddly often!
These are gonna be super fun to get off the wall when we have to move out.... :/
She has just a few toys out here, and, shockingly, she wants every single one to come home.
Sneaky boy trying to get something off of the top of the bookshelf/ hurt himself/ stress out his mom.
One of our last swim days with our friends at the pool. Everyone went home for the summer before we left so we had a lot of goodbyes over these last few weeks.
Sophia's best friend in China was Rachel. She was from New Zealand and her family was such a hoot! We hung out with them often and had lots of fun. This was Rachel's birthday party, which was the last time Soph saw many of her school friends outside of school.
This is Jenna. She had a twin, Floortje, and they were from the Netherlands. They have lived here for years as both their parents work here and plan to for the long haul! Sweet girls.
Sophie, Victoria, Floortje, Rachel, Betty, Sierra, ?, ?, and Jenna
End of year party at Sophie's school. They put on quite the celebration! SO much food...
Sophie's last day of school! June 27, and they started in mid August. But guys, the get a LOT of time off during the year for every Western AND Chinese holiday...
Sophie's first school bus. Ha! She's gonna wonder what on Earth that giant yellow thing is next year.
The last bus run. The bus stop here was always social. Moms and Dads came, we'd hang out and chat about what you were going to do that day, when you should meet to work out, what time we'll go to coffee.... that's not normal, is it? I'm going to miss this too!
Here she is off the bus. Year One done! (Also known as Kindergarten)
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