We'll Be Home For Christmas...

First of all - sorry for being delingquent in our blogging...

Sabrina had Christmas music playing the other day and the song"I'll Be Home For Christmas" came on. I listened to this song with a new meaning this time around as we'll be home for Christmas very soon. We leave for the US of A this Wednesday December 12th.

Last evening (Saturday) our housing complex - Bellewood Villas - put on a Christmas party. It was a good time. There are a lot of really nice families in this housing complex and just about all of them have kids - of all ages. Santa paid a visit. All the kids gathered around Santa as he opened his bag and the first present he pulled out was for Caden. This is Caden and Ava's first experience with Santa and Caden was not about to go up and get his present from Santa. Ava was next and was a little more open to receiving her gift. In addition to this there was a ham dinner, various other "fixin's", and deserts. The party was put on so early because most of the residents here in Bellewood will be heading home for an extended time for the holidays.

Anyway, we'll be home soon and hope to see you all while we are back.

Until next time - "Anyone who thinks a husband and wife are created equal, has never seen a husband wrap a gift." :)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife, Sabrina - Dec 6th:

Halloween in Shanghai

Today is Halloween in Shanghai and in our little housing development of Bellewood. This is Caden and Ava's first "real" Halloween. Caden is dressed as a giraffe and Ava is a toucan.

The Bellewood staff threw a small Halloween party for all of the kids and some adults. Somehow I don't think Caden and Ava really enjoyed the party as they were very "spooked" by all the people dressed in costumes as you can see by Caden's expression...

After the party the typical "Trick or Treat" started and we swear kids were coming out of the wood work because we ran out of candy just like we did back in our wonderful neighborhood of Copper Creek our first year. Oh well, we know better now...

Until next time...trick or treat!

Pawlenty - Dodgeball ??

Sabrina, I, and a few other ex-pat friends from Minnesota attended a reception for the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty in downtown Shanghai this past Friday evening. This was a small reception with about 50 people or so. The Governor and his entourage were on a trade mission to China & India. The reception was held on the roof terrace of a restaurant called -"Element Fresh". The evening was a bit cool but all in all it was a nice event with a very relaxed informal feel. We were able to visit with the Governor on multiple occasions about various topics from the global world we live in to what it is like living and raising twins in China. Just having the opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine or a Tsing Tao (brand of Chinese beer) with the Governor was fun.


Shad, here is your picture.... :) {I think you should be able to click and save the picture if you want it.}

Not my best pose - but neither is it for Pawlenty. After the reception we met up with our new neighbors - the Sagans - at one of our favorite hangouts - Malone's. They just arrived in Shanghai and work for IKEA. They are originally from New Jersey but lived for 8 years in Sweden prior to moving to Shanghai.
And finally Halloween is just around the corner....most of you are familiar with Ben Stiller - correct? Here is a picture from one of his more memorable movies... "Dodgeball".

With a few days more growth...maybe I have a shot at winning the best Halloween contest. (Sabrina was not impressed when I grew this on the long holiday week we had here earlier this month - personally I think it looks kind of like a I should "saddle up" but Dad, I think I'll leave the mustache to you. Love you man!)

Until next time: "Enjoy life, real life..." Frank Sinatra

Port Tour - Korea

This is going to be one of them boring blogs for some of you...

The last thing that a "land locked" guy from North Dakota ever thinks about when he was growing up is a sea port and I did not have much exposure to it as well in the flat lands of the prairie. So when the opportunity presented itself to tour the world's 4th largest port in Busan, Korea I jumped at the chance. Though my job has nothing to do with balancing the trade deficit, my indirect responsibilities do have a bit to do with sending product out of these ports bound for the US of A.
Anyway this port is considered a "deep water" port. The water depth at the vessel "berth" is 16 meters or about 45 ft deep. This will accommodate the world's largest cargo going vessels. These vessels are capable of loading 50,000 tons. To put that in perspective each container (the size of a semi trailer) can weigh up to 40,000 lbs. So technically one cargo ship can haul about 2500 semi trailers.

To be considered an "ant" in this large area among these gigantic cranes & hoists is an understatement. The area of the this port was 647,000 sq meters or about 160 acres.

One other thing I found interesting is all of the cranes are operated on electric power.

These are the containers that I mentioned earlier - they come in 20 foot and 40 foot lengths. You see them all over the highway system in the US.Until next time:

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Yuyuan Gardens

Sabrina and I took some time on Sunday to visit Yuyuan Gardens in Shanghai. This week was a long holiday week and we let Ayi watch the kids so that we could see some "sites", have lunch, and so on. Information about Yuyuan can be found at http://www.yugarden.com.cn/. This garden is located deep in the heart of Shanghai and it is very beautiful. It is centuries old and was built during the time of the Ming Dynasty. The area is quite "touristy" but still very beautiful and we enjoyed the casual time.

Also providing some pictures of the twins. Caden starts baseball next week and Ava has her first dance recital in November.

(just kidding - but they are growing fast.)

"It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb." Oprah

What the heck is a "moon cake" anyway?

One of the traditional holidays in China is the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Cake Festival. I have added a brief review of what this holiday is all about below if you have the time or are interested. Sabrina and I took part in this as we put the kids down to bed, grabbed our moon cake, and sat out on the front porch to eat our cake and watch the moon. We could see the moon off of our front porch big and bright in the sky as you can see in the picture below. The weather and temperature was perfect as well. In the busy and hectic world in which we live it really makes you think about the simpler more important things in life. So the next time you look at a full moon - think about the Moon Cake Festival...

The taste for a moon cake must be an acquired one because neither Sabrina or I were fond of it. The closest thing I can explain it tastes like is a very rich fruit cake. Not our favorite by any means...

Taken from a Google search of "Moon Cake Festival":

The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.
The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romatic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.
The moon cake is the food for the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky.

World Wide Web

This evening I was looking at the "hit map" of our blog site. I was surprised to see hits from around the world...places like Argentina, Germany, and so on. Not sure who they are...

Until next time...

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship" --Louisa May Alcott

A Big Rainstorm - But Not Quite A Typhoon

A Big Rainstorm - But Not Quite A Typhoon...at least that is what we are experiencing here in Shanghai. It is raining but I would not say it is heavy rain, it is windy but nothing a person from North Dakota is accustomed to. So far not a big deal... apparently now they are calling it a tropical storm. I expected to wake up this morning with blowing straight line wind that rips the leaves off of trees, rain coming down sideways, and ankle deep pools of water. Nothing...

For you geographically challenged folks....Shanghai is located near the yellow X. I think the map I copied is old because the storm is now west of us.

Until next time...

Ponder this...whose getting more "air time" these days - OJ or Obama?

Life Is Back To Normal

We can't see our actual blog site because all of the routes we used to view it have been blocked by the higher powers to be. So unless you hear that we are back on line - please understand that we are "winging" it with the hopes that the formatting will look fine for you on the "outside". :)

Life is back to normal here. Sabrina and the kids arrived about 2 weeks ago. It took only a couple of days to get their internals clocks re-adjusted. Sabrina flew back with her Uncle Tom and the flight went very smooth. There were not major blow-ups to speak of. I think our kids are becoming routine frequent fliers. Heck, at 1.5 years of age they are already GOLD on Northwest Airlines - so they should be.

To all that we saw this summer while we were back - we just wanted to let you know that we had an awesome summer. It was great to spend time and see everyone. Our friends and our families are what we miss most about the USofA. These are precious times to us and we appreciate all that everyone does for us when we are "on-the-road" but still we feel we are home. We over the course of the summer we spent many nights in many different homes and our kids got used to their pack-n-play portable cribs. Again, thanks.

With that I'm going to close out with just a bunch of pictures randomly taken from different times over the course of the summer. Our babies are not babies any more as you'll quickly see...

Grandma Sandi...

Uncle Chad...Caden's first haircut was not a pleasant experience...
Angie, one of Sabrina's friends at Jessica's family's cabin on Lake Minnetonka..The Wixo cabin on Devil's Lake is always a treat. Here Brandon caught a finch that had stunned itself by flying into the window. Obviously his little sister and brother think he is about the coolest ever...

A hot sun burnt & baked 4th of July picture on Devil's Lake...Sadie & Brandon after a morning fishing...
Just a whole lot of Wixo's...
Grandpa Tony...
Cousins are always the coolest to hang out with...

Grandma Sylvia...

The STMA group threw a nice gathering for us at Ginger's house...always good to see everyone again. And finally back in China...

Until next time...

"Never eat more than you can lift..." Miss Piggy

Shut down again

Bear with us...we can't access our blog site again.

We can only access this area...but can not see the actual blog. We'll try to figure something out over the weekend.

Tony

Getting the Groceries in China...

So this past week was another on the road - Sabrina and the family will finally return on Friday the 31st of August. Not much to write about so I'll give you a little hint as to what the grocery store looks like. I took these pictures this past spring at the local Carrefour, a French grocery store which is the most popular in China. I have been to the local Wal*Mart - but trust me it is much worse than what you'll see below. The pictures should pretty much speak for themselves.

This is the way we buy our milk. It is ultra high temperature treated or UHT milk. It is sold warm and has an unfrigerated grocery self life of something like 6 months or so. We buy it and keep it in our pantry until we need it. It tastes a little bit different and I really only use it on my cereal and oatmeal. I get my calcium through a calcium pill and cheese. :)

Bread is a staple of our diet. It is extremely cheap and is available in just about every "farmer" & French loaf you can imagine.

This is something you find in the pet, I mean meat section of our grocery store. For about 158 Chinese yuan (about $22 US) you can buy your very own fresh live turtle. The eels are much cheaper as you can see...

Snakes are even cheaper yet but not as fresh....mmmm.

Care for some baked chicken or roast duck. It is easy to tell the difference because the head is left on the bird when they cook it and then hang it for you to pick and buy. A chicken like this costs about $2 US.

No this is not the fish cleaning station at our lake cabin on Devil's Lake....this is fresh fish - chopped into pieces just as if it came from the boat. The heads are used in a variety of dishes including fish head soup.

Now you see why we lose weight over here... because we eat so healthy. :)

Until next time...