Wet Wednesday

A wet start to Wednesday in Shanghai - and subsequently a puddle-filled walk to the bus stop. No problem for the kiddos as they quite liked dressing up in their raincoats and gum boots.

Great Wall Marathon 2012 - Beijing

A series of photos from the Great Wall Marathon in Beijing in May 2012.  A good 8 or 9km section was on the Great Wall with around 2,500 steps - this was the most challenging bit - but the view and general scenery was spectacular.  The remainder of the course was flatter, racing on roads and through a small Chinese village where we were cheered on by the locals!   I ran the half marathon (21.1kms) in 2 hours and 43 minutes and placed 182nd in the men's half category out of about 500 runners.  The organisers offered full marathon (42kms), half marathon (21kms), 10km and 5km fun runs - but the number of total runners was capped at 2,000.  

Max's kindy journal 27 May

Max continues to be a great tidy up helped this week!  He sings our tidy up song along with the teachers, but in Chinese.  He made sure all his friends were helping out too so we could move on to the next activity.  Fantastic work!

During circle time the children enjoyed singing the wheels on the bus with each of them having their own verse including their name. 

This week we continued our focus around the weather with clouds, rain and thunderstorms.  We sing 'rain, rain, go away' so we can enjoy our outside time when the sky is grey and 'itsy bitsy spider' too!  On Friday, we used our musical toys to create a loud storm.  Everyone had great fun creating different noises to mimic rain and thunder!

Join the club

We have jumped on the bandwagon called Nespresso with a new machine, an aerocino frother and dozens of beautifully colored coffee capsules. The popularity of this whole concept is incredible and has got to be one of the biggest marketing success stories of this decade. Admittedly the coffee is very good.

Orders please

Here we are in Beijing - Sunday lunch with some friends - replete with lazy susan. Oh and a slightly-larger-than-usual sized menu at the restaurant.

Kissing trains 2

Trains kissing

We took the new high speed train from Shanghai to Beijing - top speed 310km/h. The train line was only completed last year and has proven to be quite popular - a good alternative to oft delayed flights. We swiftly covered the distance in just under 5 hours. A bit of iPad entertainment, a few walks to the dining car and some games helped pass the time for Zara and Max. After disembarking in Beijing, the kids spotted another high speed train on the adjacent platform and proclaimed that the trains were kissing.

Band aid saves the day 2

Band aid saves the day

This weekend we are in Beijing. Great Wall half marathon attempt for Dad tomorrow - and a weekend away for the rest of the family. Max took a tumble on the street at Wang Fujiang and decided he needed a bandaid to make it better. He said it was his lip that was sore so that's where the bandaid ended up. A close up shot to follow.

Spotted in China

No doubting the ingenuity of the Chinese.

Pretty darn cute

Taken in the busy lanes of Tianzifang.

Max kindy report card 14 May 2012

Welcome back Max!  We all missed your smiles.  Max has been having some tears during drop off and after lunch but this is very normal with the change in routine after a long break.  He enjoys playing for most of the day with his friends and he had no problem remembering people's names or our circle time songs.  Great job!  We had a surprise visitor when a little bird flew into the classroom on Monday!  Ms. Sheri was able to catch it and give everyone a peek before we released it outside.  We celebrated two birthdays this week!  Nolan and Aishi both turned two and brought in special treats to share with their friends.  Everyone loved Nolan's panda bear cake and Aishi's fish cake!   

During outside play we brought out the bubbles and everyone enjoyed chasing them around.  The children loved how each one was different sizes and colors. 

With the warmer temperature here to stay we have been talking about the weather and things in the sky. During art we created our suns and clouds.  We also celebrated our mom's by creating a mother's day project and during circle time we practiced saying 'happy mother's day.'  Everyone was very excited to have a small gift to give to their mom!  We hope every mom enjoyed their special day with their family! 

 

Potty boy 2

Potty boy

This week Max has made good progress in toilet training. He initially didn't want to use the big toilet but happily had a visit on the potty. After a few false starts, and a couple of accidents (including in the supermarket when I forgot to put a nappy on him) he eventually managed to get something to show for his efforts. He now spends most of the time at home without nappy and just this weekend told us for the first time that he needed to pay a visit to the potty. Oma and Opa are staying - and have christened the potty the "throne". It comes out more as "frone" when Max says it.

Helping the man 2

Helping the man

Today's outing was to a tyre shop to have four new tyres fitted to our car. Max of course relished every moment in the workshop and declared that he was "helping the man". He picked up the air hose and pretended to fill up the tyre with air. When he pressed the valve and the hydraulic air pressure shot out, everyone in the workshop jumped slightly but he just carried on.

Scooting

After a month and a bit in Australia, the kids are back in Shanghai and roaring around on scooters. This is a "new stage" in growing up - a journey like the one below 6 weeks ago would have been done in the Phil & Ted's double pram. Now I almost have to jog to keep up with them.