Dress Up Fun

There are so many benefits to having older sisters.... You can check out all her hot friends and they just think you are adorable. Your older sisters can pave the way for you in school, be your playmate at home and serve many other wonderful purposes. Saturdays can be pretty slow some days, so Ally and Eve like to come up with an assortment of fun games, the latest being 'Let's dress up Cooper!' I called my dad to tell him how hilarious Cooper looked and before I told him what was going on he just happened to hear me say "Put your dress down, Buddy". He did a double take over the phone. Anyway, just thought I would share the fun pictures of Cooper, living it up! He had a blast.

Tequila Samples at WalMart!!!!

So, every day is a new day here in Shanghai, ripe for new experiences. You just never know what you are going to get. A few days ago I took Ally's friend Emma home on my scooter. She and I were both in awe as we passed one guy on a bike with not one, but TWO airconditioning units strapped to either side of his bike. The next poor fellow we passed was pedaling along carrying a 15 foot metal pipe. Yep, you got it. Everyday is so exciting. My favorite so far was my most recent trip to Carrefoure (the French owned Chinese version of WalMart). Here I am, quietly wandering through the juice/soda aisle when an employee offers me a sample of orange juice and some sort of rum mixed in a little dixie cup. I just about fell out right there in the middle of the store. Wonders never cease! I really need to carry my camera around and get some good shots for the blog.

Computer Problems SUCK!!!

I am so tired of computer problems! Of course, before we left the US Lee insisted on getting a new computer. He said he didn't want to deal with computer problems in a place where we couldn't communicate effectively. Honestly, I was annoyed, to put it mildly. But, we struck a deal in which I was promised a piano here in Shanghai and he got a new computer and a snazzy new gun safe. So here we are, and I am having the worst computer problems! Now is the part where I have to admit Lee was completely right (I HATE having to do this!). Our household goods are still in customs, even though we have just passed the 2 month mark. Our wonderful new computer is sitting in a container in some port, just taunting me. I have been using Lee's old laptop since we have been here and it died almost a week ago. I am so frustrated and if we had our nice shiny new computer here I can just about guarantee that I wouldn't be without a computer all day. You have no idea how much you rely on your computer until you don't have one anymore. So, here's my tribute to my husband for being so right about the computer issue. Everyone please pray that our household goods will get through customs SOME TIME THIS YEAR!!!! :) I am thankful, however, and especially here where there is so much poverty, to even have this problem to complain about.

Here's a few pictures of the house. The first is a view of the kitchen, followed by the living room. The third picture is our third floor loft, which we affectionately call the "Cultural Hall". We plan on using this room as a guest room, movie room, craft room, toy room, etc. Hence the reference to the all purpose cultural hall! The last picture is a view of our stairs leading up to the second floor. The second floor has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Maybe I will put those pictures in the next entry.

Settling Down, Finally

I am pleased to report that we are finally settling down. After spending what felt like enormous amounts of money on things like sheets for 4 beds, towels, cleaning supplies, towel hooks, rugs, etc.... we finally feel settled into our new place. Our neighbors to the right are a rather loud Chinese family. We had to bang on their door within our first week here because the music was so loud that we couldn't even talk in our living room. We also had to put a note on their car asking to vacate our parking space. I guess there's really not that much difference in having neighbors, whether it's in China or America. Our neighbors to the left are wonderful. Magdalena and Faulk are from Bulgaria and Germany. They are very easy to talk to and have 2 children, a 6 year old boy and 3 year old girl. Cooper loves to play at their house already.

Ally and Eve love their school. The bus picks them up in the neighborhood at 7 am and drops them off at 3:45 pm each day. They have made friends and are really enjoying their school life. The school is very international, even though it is called Shanghai American School. It is a very big campus ranging from pre-k to 12th grade. The girls take mandarin each day and I am pleased so far with their progress. Our ayi, Ing, is very excited to practice both Chinese and English with them. The school bus is really nice. It is a chartered bus, like a tour bus with padded fabric covered seats and all. Plus, it actually has seat belts, unlike all the taxis. We have stowed Cooper's car seat in the storage closet because we just don't use it here.

I am settling into the school year rather well too. After the girls leave I go to the gym and then walk Lee to meet his shuttle for work. Then Cooper and I hang out for awhile. Tuesdays we have a scripture study group and Wednesdays we have a play group. Then one Thursday a month we have a relief society lunch date at a restaurant to celebrate the birthdays for that month. Also, there is a Family Home Evening group that meets on Fridays to make FHE packets to exchange. Every other Monday there is a lunch at someone's house where everyone brings projects to work on, whether it's cross stitch or quilting or scrapbooking or whatever. So, I can be busy busy busy if I choose. Also, the shopping here could make us go broke if I am not careful!

I think that's all I have time for right now. I will try to get some pictures of the new apartment posted soon. Also, if anyone is interested, I am on Facebook now and have an album from our Hawaii trip posted on that site. Keeping up with people is so easy with modern technology!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Lee and I bought electric scooters this week. We are having a blast scooting all over our side of town. They only go about 25 mph, but are great to take to the grocery store or to friend's houses. We put on kid on the back of mine, and one on the back of Lee's with Cooper standing in front of where Lee is sitting and we can all get where we're going (as long as it's pretty close). I'll get some pictures of that up soon too.