Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Brandon in China - Post #2


Day 3 was an opportunity for Brandon to experience a good ol' Chinese market. We went to a market that Sabrina and I like the best. This is the Hongqiao Pearl Market. And to our surprise we found a Sioux baseball jersey. I told the store owner that this was the most popular university in the US and that if she got more of these shirts...they would sell very fast.... :) Let's see you top that...Bison fans. :)




We then got a good bite to eat at Blue Frog - one of Sabrina and my favorite places to eat and then headed down to the Jade Buddha Temple. It was a first time to visit the Temple and it is a must see for anyone visiting Shanghai. As with most Buddhist Temples there area number of chambers with various Buddhas each symbolizes something different. The smell of insense is everywhere as well. This temple also had a nice koi (sp?) fish pond...Very interesting....



Until next time...







Saturday, June 16, 2007

Brandon in China - Post #1

Post #1 - hopefully we'll have some time to make a number of posts in the upcoming week. We are blocked out of the blogsite again so we have to do some work arounds to make this happen.

After a fast paced trip to the US for a business meeting I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the Wixo parents at the Devils Lake cabin. They are doing very well and living the "cabin life" on the weekends. If you are in the area stop in and have a cup of coffee. Having their son's family in China and the Hayes family touring the midwest on weekend soccer tournaments doesn't leave a lot of time for fellowship at the cabin. However, like I said I did get to spend some time at the cabin hanging around the camp fire having a few beers, eating mom's pancakes for breakfast, riding ATV, and I even got to sleep in one morning until 9 AM. :) But as all good things must come to an end, I pulled together my belongings, drove to Minneapolis, and picked up Brandon for our long journey to Shanghai - home.


Brandon and I left for China on Tuesday afternoon and arrived Shanghai Wednesday night. A long flight and we were both very tired. After a big, big hug from Sabrina at the front doorstep upon our arrival, a good nights sleep, and an early morning, Brandon finally got to see his brother and sister. Caden and Ava have added some pounds, a few new teeth, and have developed a few new skills since Brandon last saw them in February. It was a great morning to just lay around and enjoy each others company. Brandon and I only managed to venture out to the pool and grocery store on Day #1 as we both were battling a slight case of jet lag.





We have much more in store - so keep checking back.


Until next time - Tony


p.s. I have no clue why the blogger decided to underline the paragraph above. ??

Friday, June 8, 2007

Back in the USA

Quick Post -

I had to go back to the US for a meeting this week and a few of my co-workers and I decided to drive our Victory Motorcycles (Polaris makes them) to the off-site meeting. Though we ran into some rainy and chilly weather, it was still a lot of fun to get back on the bike. Riding my motorcycle is one of the things I miss about living in China. The guys at work also took the last couple of weeks to change my handlebars on my motorcycle... see if you can tell by the pictures.


Tony.