Saying Good-bye

We miss you already, Grandma and Grandpa!

Waving good-bye to the van as Grandpa and Grandma head to the airport. Thanks so much... it was a wonderful visit! We love you!

Lunch in the Clouds

Last Saturday we had lunch in one of the Park Hyatt restaurants, on the 91st floor of Shanghai's newest skyscraper, the Shanghai World Financial Center. After days of rain, we were thankful that we could at least see to the ground! Clear skies were not a consideration. :-) Despite the gray weather, the view was amazing as the building is situated at the bend in the Huangpu River. So cool to see around the bend in both directions.

In the background is the spire at the top of the Jinmao Tower, formerly the tallest buildig in Pudong. I didn't even recognize it at first because I've never looked down on it! A glimpse of the Pearl Tower on the left... Looking down on the Luijiaziu financial district, the Huangpu River, and Puxi beyond.

Back at street level again, we posed by a Century Avenue sign, the skyscrapers of the financial district behind us.

This gentleman enjoyed watching the girls!

Looking up at the 101 stories of the Shanghai World Financial Center.

Rain and Grandparents in Shanghai

My parents are here! After a false start, my parents arrived six days after they were initially supposed to, and we are so happy to be together.

Unfortunately the weather isn't much fun for sightseeing right now, with day after day of rain, but we managed to grab a few dry hours today to get in a walk through the Old Town area of Shanghai. Very local housing, old style, narrow alleys, tiny doorways, laundry hanging overhead, dripping down on us as we walked. Lots of street food... we were adventurous and tried a number of different dishes~ fried dumplings, a noodle dish, various fried breads, and some chestnuts. It is always a scene to be a westerner in a place like that, where we so obviously don't "fit". We laughed about just smiling and waving, as if we are celebrities. Everyone stares mercilessly, but with friendly, open faces.

We ended up in Yuyuan, one of my favorite places, to see the beautiful display of plum blossoms in the garden. I didn't have my camera with me today...

but I found this picture I took last year of the plum blossoms in Yu Garden. The sky wasn't so blue today, but the blossoms were just as beautiful. Most are growing in small bonsai type form; short, thick, ancient looking trunks with beautiful delicate flowers, growing in impossibly small, shallow pots.

Later this week we will all be taking in Seth's performance in the middle school drama production. I have to be at school with him tomorrow morning at 7 a.m., to help with make-up application for the 95 middle schoolers in the play. They are doing a practice performance for the rest of the middle school tomorrow during the school day. Pictures to come!

Last Day

These pictures were taken on the morning of the last day of my dad and mom's visit, in the Chinese garden in our complex. We had such a nice time wandering through the garden together, climbing up the little rock hills, admiring the goldfish in the pond, and taking pictures. Afterwards we walked back home for a lunch of leftovers, then headed out to the airport.

It was such a great visit... as I thought about it, I don't think we have ever had that kind of time together under one roof, nearly 12 days. It was a great combination of some really good things~ sightseeing, relaxing, helping kids with homework, reading, eating out and in, showing them the places we shop, marveling over Chinese driving habits, introducing them to friends, walking the streets around our complex and having good conversations. Thanks, Mom & Day, for making your way to us.

We are so looking forward to this type of visit with many more of our family and friends!

Afternoon Nap

Grandpa and Percy shared the couch one afternoon last week, during my parents' visit.

View From the Bund

The Bund is an area on the Puxi side of Shanghai comprised of buildings that are of an old European architectural design. They were built in the early 1900's when Westerners were pouring into Shanghai (the Infestation of Foreigners, one museum called this time) and establishing businesses. These historic buildings, which stretch along the riverbank for several city blocks, are now the pride of Shanghai and are beautifully lit up at night. Last week my parents and the girls and I walked along the Bund and peeked into some of the old buildings. We also enjoyed the view across the river to the Pudong side of Shanghai, which is where we live.
After we were finished and ready to head home, we made our way back to the Pudong side by way of the "Bund Tourist Tunnel". We rode in a little futuristic car through a tunnel under the river, through a barrage of lights and music. A bit like 5 minutes in Disney!

Suzhou Shopping

Backtracking to our Suzhou trip while my parents were here... just a couple of shopping photos. This one of Gwen and the little mannequin cracks me up!
Madelyn is the bargaining queen!
The little stalls are so colorful, with all the silk scarves, clothes, table cloths, painted parasols and bright toys.

Climbing the Lupu Bridge

Last Saturday while my parents were here, we climbed the Lupu Bridge, one of the two bridges we can see from our apartment that spans the Huangpu River, connecting the Pudong and Puxi sides of Shanghai. The Lupu Bridge is the longest arch bridge in the world. After taking a high speed elevator up about 20 stories, you cross a platform to the rib of the bridge where there are 300 some steps to climb to a basketball court sized viewing platform at the top!
Crossing the walkway to the steps, where we will begin to climb the arched portion of the bridge. View on the way up of the shipyard below.

Mr. Wu, Seth and Gwen up ahead on the stairs.
See all the cranes in the shipyard? It was really neat to see these mammouth sea-going vessels in various stages of construction.

All of us at the top!



Back at the bottom of the bridge... we made it!

If you come to Shanghai, you too can climb the Lupu Bridge. Maybe we'll even have a clearer day! By then the site for the World Expo 2010, which is right below the bridge on the side of the river opposite the shipyard, will have buildings on it and we'll be able to check that out as well.

Seth's Tooth, Continued

Yesterday afternoon I took my parents out to Concordia at the end of the school day so the boys could show them around. Right as we got there Caleb announced that Seth had broken off his tooth again.

I hoped he was joking.

He wasn't. Apparently Seth bit into some chewy bread at lunch time, pulled at it a bit with his front teeth, and the next thing he knew the extension that had been added to his broken tooth just five days before was gone. He said he thought he heard something fall to the ground, but he wasn't sure.

We went on with our little tour of the school, and I called the dentist when we got home ninety minutes later.

The miracle of it all was that I had the dentist's personal cell number. Dr. Ti didn't answer when I called her number at first, so I was dealing with the appointment desk for the whole clinic (both medical and dental), and getting nowhere. Next Wednesday was the first available appointment. I tried the dentist again about 15 minutes later, and she said she was finished with her day, and she would wait for us to come in so that she could see Seth right away that night.

She started over with all the work she had done last week to seal the broken tooth and recreate the part that is missing. It is an amazing process, how she builds up the extension of the tooth with this mailable resin and a small tool, hardening it a bit at a time with a blue light. She did a beautiful job, again, and was also able to etch the existing tooth this time, since the tooth was not so sensitive as it was last week, which may help the extension hold better. She was pleased to see that the exposed nerve was still red, indicating that it is alive.

I thanked Dr. Ti profusely when we were walking out, both for the beautiful, careful work she did and also for staying late to accommodate us. She told me that she loves to do this kind of work, especially on front teeth, and then she told us there would be no charge for this visit.

Wow. All I could think was how God had gone before us. How else would we have received this kind of extra special care?

By the way, Seth now knows that he cannot use that tooth to bite down on anything. At least not until the tooth has developed enough for a more permanent cap!

At the entrance to Concordia, after the tour and before the dentist!

In the Lion's Grove Garden

This Suzhou garden was built in 1342 during the reign of Emporer Zhizheng of the Yuan Dynasty. It's famous for its artifical hills and caves of different styles. It was fun to climb up the narrow rockery stairs and in and out of little caves. Do you see the lion's mouth open in a roar in the picture below? It was so neat to be back in Suzhou with my dad and mom!
Checking out a bonsai display in one of the little courtyards.
The parents of this cute little guy wanted a picture of their son with Madelyn... nothing new to her. Chinese people are always touching her face (they love light skin) or hair and admiring her, and she has been asked to be in photos a number of other times. Gwen jumped right in!

Beautiful carved wood inside this building in the garden.

Scott was having fun with the zoom lens...

Another roaring lion!