Golden Week - Part I

It's Golden Week! Seven days to celebrate national day here in China. I'm finding that there is some truth behind the words when people tell you to leave the country during this week -- listen! We didn't know any better, and after just arriving two months ago, where is there to run to already? I feel there is so much left to uncover here in Shanghai.

Although, with everyone else off work too, that leaves 1.4 billion people in China exploring with us.
Day 1 our driver was off too, so I told the kids to find some tennis shoes and we were going to do some walking. They huffed and puffed for a bit, but soon, caught on to the idea of fun! As we left the apartment compound, they explained that their first order of exploration would be to count the number of cigarette butts they could find. (Okay, seriously, this was not the type of exploration I had in mind... but fine. Whatever keeps them busy.) By the first corner they had counted 42 and were bored (and disgusted) with that game!

We enjoyed the walk downtown, where you can see daddy's office in the background, and then headed over to Tom's World for some arcade. There was a little ice cream in there, and a few nibbles of bakery for Miss P's 1/2 birthday celebration. BTW, when did this squirt become 18 months?

Another afternoon was spent at the Shanghai Aquarium...

And my favorite of all were a few different outings amongst the nature of Shanghai. Our whole family was together on these days, which made them extra special...

Century Park is near the kids' school, with great views of the city, and a beautiful green space. You pay a small amount to enter -- basically to keep the park clean, and then you are free to set up picnic, tour on boats, run and play, or enjoy the amusement rides. We did all of the above, and the kids had a riot right here in our own backyard.

 

 

We toured the Zotter Chocolate Factory with some new friends who have a great IOWA connection! How amazing this place was! After leaving, the kids repeated the entire process of Bean-to-Bar chocolate making. I was shocked they paid that close attention. After tasting more than 250 types of chocolate, I was in a cocoa-comma!

And, of course, we squeezed in a couple pool days before they closed it down for the season.

 

But it was this day that captured my heart. As we strolled the river walk, admiring the city and people, we stopped for popcorn and beer :) My amazing hubs started the inquiry... what is your love/hate relationship with Shanghai? Around the table the answers were great! We all had many on our lists, but overall: Cade loved the tall buildings, but hated all the smoking; Alayna loved learning to speak Chinese, but hated the taxi rides; Jarin loved that it was just our family, but hated the pollution; and I loved the city life, but hated everyone touching/photographing the kids. We couldn't have been more right on. All those things we love about being here... and then there are the others that keep us appreciating the Midwest of America.

Stay tuned for Part II of our Golden Week adventures coming soon!