Thanksgiving: Chinese Style

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving in our own special "Chinese" way.  As you might guess, Thanksgiving is not a recognized Chinese holiday, so Jamie had to work and LBean had school.  But, in some ways that was okay with me.  It felt like a normal, routine day for our family and I wasn't so homesick for family (plus it helped knowing that we would be flying back to the US in 3 weeks).

LBean's school had a food drive, so we were able to make connections between what LBean was doing at school and the American Thanksgiving holiday.  Also as a family, we created a "thankful" tree that we hung on our wall and added new "leaves" after dinner for things that we were thankful for.  And thanks to some really thoughtful friends, we had plenty of Thanksgiving crafts to keep us busy during the weeks leading up to the holiday.

My girls LOVE to craft!

Although Thanksgiving is not a Chinese holiday, the local restaurants and hotels know who their target audience is and there were many options for Thanksgiving dinner.  Thanksgiving night we got together with several expat families from Jamie's company at a local German restaurant for a traditional meal of turkey, cranberry salad (mmm, I had seconds) and even green bean casserole (although it was obvious that the green beans were fresh and not from a can, which meant a slightly different texture).  I have to say that it was the first time we've ever been within walking distance of where our Thanksgiving meal was going to be.  One of the wives brought Jumer's rolls and I brought our family's traditional sugar cookies...in the shape of turkeys of course.  Before we moved, I purchased a Tupperware container for all our cutters just like my Aunt Dorothy's (our family's official sugar cookie baker) because I knew it was my responsibility to bring the tradition to China.

Mark had the official duty of carving the turkey, which was so good!

EBean with Cathy, whom I affectionately call "China Grandma".
Cathy really isn't old enough to be a grandma, but in the summer when I
was telling the girls about how they were going to like Cathy and she was
going "love on them",  LBean said "like a grandma?"  LBean got it right,
Cathy loves on them like a grandma and has mothered me a
when I needed it!

Those bright orange turkey sugar cookies!

We ended the night lighting a few Chinese lanterns, watching some fireworks and enjoying the laser-light show at RainboWalk.  It was a nice evening and it was really fun to get together with other company families.  Although the employees see each other at work, the spouses run errands together, and the kids go to the same schools, it's rare to have an opportunity for whole families to get together.

Lighting the lantern

...and up it goes.  There's actually a bit of a trick to it.
You have to hold it just long enough to allow a sufficient
amount of warm air to build up and carry the lantern away.

EBean and I were in for a treat on Friday morning.  We were able to Skype with Jamie's family who were all together at Jamie's sister's house ending their Thanksgiving dinner (it was Thursday evening there).  We literally could have made a Skype commercial...it was so cute.  The computer got passed around Jamie's family (who were all sitting around the kitchen table) and EBean and I were able to spend close to an hour talking to everyone.

Our family has so many things to be thankful for and our time in China is one of them.

Papa Joe's Visit

Looking at the fish in the pond by our apartment.

Papa Joe was able to come for a quick visit in October before flying back to the US.  Because he'd been in Asia for around two-and-a-half weeks, we tried to have lots of things that reminded him of home.  We had chili with cornbread, pork chops, cheesecake, grapefruit, but I was unsuccessful in finding diet caffeine-free Mt. Dew.

Sorry LBean, this is the best photo
you & Papa Joe!

Papa Joe & EBean

After we picked up Papa Joe from the airport we went back to the Shanghai Fabric Market to pick up the girls Halloween costumes.  On Sunday we took Papa Joe and a co-worker of Jamie's from the States to Walking Street.

Unfortunately the end of Papa Joe's visit over-lapped with the start of the stomach flu being passed around  our family.  EBean and I did manage to take Papa Joe back the airport and we can't wait for him to come back soon!

Hong Kong Disneyland

This post is mostly pictures, they're worth more than a thousand words right?!  We ended our October holiday at Hong Kong Disneyland.  It is a much smaller park than Florida, but it was the perfect size for our children.  HK Disneyland is much like a scaled-back Magic Kingdom.  I don't know if it's because we went the week after a national Chinese holiday or what, but it was not crowded and we were able to walk right up to rides and walk on.  And, if the girls wanted to go on a ride again, it wasn't a problem.  The longest wait we had was 20 minutes.

For anyone that has traveled to the Magic Kingdom recently, it takes hours of planning and researching to find the right restaurants & character meals and you have to book months in advance.  You will find none of that in Hong Kong.  There are two character meals to choose from and we walked up to every restaurant and sat down immediately.

We stayed on the grounds because HK Disneyland is on its own island and it is a bit separated from the rest of Hong Kong.  We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, which reminded me of the Grand Floridian in Florida.  This was probably the closest that I will ever get to staying at the Grand Floridian!   The special touches for the girls were really neat.  They had their own slippers with Mickey on them, bath robes, step stools to help reach the sink, plastic cups, etc.  

The park was decorated for Halloween, which was fun for Jamie and I to see.  For our tenderhearted children it provided opportunities to be brave and overcome some fears.

I felt as if the park was evenly split between adults and children.  The subway stops outside the park and there were lots of teenagers and young adults going through the park.  It seemed as if the adults were more interested in getting pictures taken with the characters and didn't spend as much time on the rides. The emphasis on the Disney Princesses was significantly less than in the US and it was nice!

LBean in the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel

EBean dancing and singing on the way to the
park entrance.

In front of the water fountain at the entrance

Love the Halloween decorations, the Mickey is made
of plants and pumpkins

Our first picture with Mickey & Minnie

"Main Street USA" leading up to Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Snack break with my rice krispie treat

Jamie and I in front of the Castle

Posing with Snow White

Peering down the well

LBean made a wish

Happy Halloween from the Club House gang

Grandma Callie got to ride the rides too

We loved the Dumbo ride

Jamie enjoying his Disney Dim Sum, yum, yum

A close-up of the Dim Sum

Jamie took this amazing photo of the Cinderella statue 

Riding the carousel

Sitting on the carousel

Riding the tea cups

LBean watching the tea cup ride from the safety of her
non-moving tea cup

The Chinese doll in the Small World ride.  We liked this
Small World ride better than the one in Florida.

This is the train, we faced into the park.

With the Minnie statue at our hotel

Mickey left LBean a new pair of sunglasses
on her pillow

Getting ready to have breakfast with Mickey and friends

LBean and Pluto

Love this picture, such a difference from the last time
we went to Disney in Florida

We see this face sometimes...the life of a 2 year-old is tough

EBean was really fascinated by Goofy

Look at those rockstar girls

Look at these rockstar ladies

This picture cracks me up because I'm leaning
over that funny way because I'm lifting up LBean
so she can get her face in the helmet.

Getting ready to drive her car

The train station all lit up for Halloween

Watching the spooky Halloween night parade.
Please note that LBean pretty-much looked like that
the whole parade.  She loved the Headless Horseman, but
told me after the parade, "I never want to do that again."

The castle lit up.

The night-time fireworks.

Mmmm, Mickey waffles for breakfast.

Crafting in Prince Eric's playroom.  It was a free program
at the hotel.

Going through the Mickey maze outside our hotel.

A view of the back of the Disneyland Hotel