and everybody survived to talk about it!!!

At my young age of 37, I have finally stepped into true motherhood and made my very first turkey… with stuffing.  Not just any stuffing.  Italian sausage and fresh sage stuffing.  And I made pumpkin pies.  And I made my sister’s jello salad.  Of course, Ms. Zhou was laughing the entire day as I studied the turkey trying to decide which end was up.  I was laughing the entire day because she actually threaded dental floss into a proper needle so that she could actually sew the turkey together after it was stuffed.  A needle… seriously!

Success!

As with every Turkey Day overseas, we were lucky to spend it with Todd and Tonya, Cooper and Bauer.  Our families have grown together while overseas.  It was an excellent Turkey Day and the leftovers were fantastic!!

Spelling – why can’t I remember spelling homework?  Of course I had spelling homework.  I just don’t remember having any!  For the tactile side of Maddie, she made her spelling words out of play dough… and not just any play dough but purple, sparkly play dough.  She’s so cool – and so zen in some of the pics!

I’ve been meaning to get this posted for some time now.  Right after school started, we joined our fellow teachers and headed to Shanghai’s water park called Dino Beach.  We had no idea what to expect, but had an idea that it would be over the top.  Afterall, Shanghai does do things over the top….. indoor Ski Hill, indoor Fishing Pond.

Getting into the park was a bit insane as the concept of a line is foreign to many, but we did manage to get in, get our things into lockers, rent an inner tube and have a great time.  We floated down the lazy river a couple of times and Amelia LOVED this part because she kept throwing herself off of the inner tube into the water… she had floaties on so she just floated down the lazy river on her own.  There was a large water area for small kids too which Maddie took Amelia all over… up and down waterfall stairs, down slides.

The highlight was the wave pool.  The wave pool was “on” for 30 minutes and then “off” for the thirty minutes. Andy took Maddie out to the back of the wave pool at one point as she held onto her tube for dear life but she was laughing the entire time.

The afternoon got BUSY.  They had allowed well over 10,000 people into the park and you could tell.  The wave pool was a sea of people but the interesting parts happened when we spotted… underwear.  Apparently, there are a number of people without swimsuits so they dropped trau and swam around in their underwear… which would hang off of their bodies once they got wet!

That was our cue…. exit left!!

Enjoy the video below….

It was definitely one of those holidays that just seemed to go on forever.  Between the parade at school on Friday morning, the neighborhood Halloween Party on Friday night, the Halloween get together at ballet on Saturday and Trick-or-Treating on Saturday night, I think we tapped into every ounce of Halloween enthusiasm a 6 year old and 2 year old can have!!!!  We raced home from ballet on Saturday afternoon and I managed to shove a grilled cheese sandwich, cucumbers and watermelon down both girls throats.  (Like I would let them have copious amounts of sugar/Halloween candy on an empty stomach!)

Eva, Maddie and Amelia

We put all of our candy in two bowls and left a sign next to the bowls saying that we were trick-or-treating… that worked out well! We ran into all the kids in the neighborhood.  It reminded me of my Halloweens growing up…. a safe neighborhood where every neighbor knows every neighbor where every kid knows every kid no matter the age.  It was nice and it will always be one of my fondest memories of Shanghai!  How lucky we are…

Of course, the only thing missing was dad but he was here in spirit and we saved A LOT of candy for him!