Home for the Holidays!

We were so excited to be going home for Christmas. I don't think Greg was excited as we were.  I think he was worried that I wouldn't come back to Shanghai. We did lots of shopping for our family and friends in Shanghai so we had lots of luggage to take home.  Our flight out of Shanghai was delayed and we sat on the plane for 2 hrs before take off. After a total of 16 hrs on the plane, we landed in Detroit. We missed the only connected to Raleigh that night. We stayed in a hotel and had a 6am flight home.  We boarded that plane on time and was taxing from the terminal when we heard a loud noise.  It sounded like the plane ran over something.  The pilot came on and said we had to be pulled back to the gate. Something wrong with the front wheel. After about 30 minutes, the pilot came on again to say that it was just the steering part of the wheel and they had left out a pin.  They were going to put the pin back in and we were going to fly that plane home. After another hour, we finally took off for Raleigh.  When the wheels hit the ground at home, I cried a little because I was so happy to be home!

We stayed a few day in Raleigh before Christmas.  Spent lots of time with the Abbondanzios and eating at our favorite restaurants. We spent Christmas at Greg's parents house. I was so excited to see Carly, our dog. She was so excited to see us too. We stayed a week at Greg's parents house and then went back to Raleigh for a few more days before leaving for Shanghai.  It felt different to be home in our house.  It felt temporary. We weren't able to unpack and most of the house was still shutdown from being gone. The kids had lots of play dates with their old friends that week. We had a great time with our family and friends over the holidays.  It was sad to leave again but at least we knew it would only be 5 months before we are back home.

I did get on the plane but it was hard. I had a different feeling arriving in Shanghai this time.  I had the feeling that I can do this. Only 5 months to go......

Anna, Crystal and Natalie

The Abbondanzio's tree.  We didn't put one up in our house since we were only there a few days and not for Christmas.

Greg's parents had their house really decorated pretty for us for Christmas.

Carly loved her presents!

Jackson loved his too.  He was a little sad when we had to leave most of them in Raleigh.  In June, it will be like Christmas again.

Greg's Dad

Greg's Granddaddy White, cousin Joel, Aunt Joyce, Ron and cousin Laura

This was our last night in Raleigh. Beautiful sky.  I can't wait to see NC skies again!

Christmas Decorations in Shanghai

Even through Chinese don't celebrate Christmas, some places attempt to put up decorations for the foreigners. They don't always get it right.

Tree decorated in a big hotel of just bears. The bears seemed a little large for the tree.

This was a really cool crystal tree.  You can see the detail in the next picture. It was individual hung crystals to make the shape of a tree.

We went with Greg's friends from work to see the lights in the city.

Our neighborhood attempted to put up a tree in our community center.  They just stuck in the branches of an artificial tree and didn't fluff it out.

This was a Christmas cake made of wood outside Carrefour shopping center.

I really laughed at this tree!

Snow in Shanghai

Everyone told us that it doesn't snow in Shanghai.  Well, we have had 3 or 4 snow falls this past winter.  Our last snow fall was at least 1 inch of snow. It caused lots of traffic problems. The kids were really upset that they had to go to school in the snow. The kids brought in two bowls of snow and wanted me to make snow cream.  I had to explain to them that snow here isn't real clean due to the pollution.  They weren't happy about that.

Grocery Shopping

After 8 months in China,  I have finally got grocery shopping figured out.  Since we don't have a car, I have to scooter to get groceries. I visit 5-6 different grocery stores every week or two. I also visit the "fresh market" at least once a week too. It's a little more challenging since they only speak Chinese and I don't speak any! I normally go everyday or every other day. I have to watch the weather to know when I'm not able to go. Veggies here don't last as long as they do back home. I can fit things under my seat, in my little trunk and 2 big bags under my feet. This is normal life in Shanghai!!

Kid's new toy - RipSticks

Ok, I'm not sure what Greg was thinking when he let the kids buy RipSticks.  The street in front of our house is cobblestone and they don't have any place around the house to ride except in the main street.  So, they have learned to ride them in our family room.  Our floors are marble and the wheels are soft. I'm really hoping that it's not scratching the floors.  They are having fun riding around the house and have gotten really good at it!! Greg takes them on the weekends to ride at the metro station.  They have a huge open concrete park type area there. I make them wear helmets and wrist pads. They really don't like that.

Hong Kong - Day 2

Day 2 of our Hong Kong trip was overcast and cloudy.  We wanted to take a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain but the mountain was in a cloud. Instead, we toured around Hong Kong. We took the ferry across the harbour. Hong Kong is stacked between the harbour and the mountain.

There is even a YMCA in Hong Kong

!

Since I'm from Salisbury, NC, it was cool to see a road named this in Hong Kong.

We stayed at the Marriott.

Really big Apple store in Hong Kong.

Port where we took the ferry across the bay.

This was our boat.  Its principal routes carry passengers across Victoria Harbour, between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It was founded in 1888 and carries over 70,000 passengers a day, or 26 million a year. It has been rated first in the “Top 10 Most Exciting Ferry Rides” poll by the Society of American Travel Writers.

Hong Kong did have some Christmas decorations.

Beside of the harbour was this avenue of the stars.  We didn't know the acting stars of Hong Kong, :-).

Inside the ferry boat.

More Christmas decorations

These are the double decker trolly buses that we rode across Hong Kong. You could get off and on at many places.

More unknown fruit.  We didn't know what the yellow round fruit with black dots were.

A winter Christmas scene in a mall.  It was a ski resort and had a moving ski lift.

Hong Kong money.  The kids are collecting money from all the countries that we visit.