Father's Day Celebration - 2013

Today was a very special Father's Day celebration as Emily and the kids planned a day of activities.

The fun began with Father's Day Cards from the older two kids at breakfast.

Miriam thanked me for being her father over these "looooong ten years" and teaching her what faith is.

Asa's was a bit more abstract as he drew a self portrait, declared "I love QQ" (a Chinese messaging tool that I don't think he has ever used) and signed his card "Love, Dad".  He confessed he had done a lot of the card "with his eyes closed" - LOL!  Wow, I love this creative guy!  He can really make me laugh.

After lunch we trekked out to the site of the Shanghai Expo where The Power Station of Art was showing an exhibit called "Andy Warhol: Fifteen Minutes Eternal".  We took the subway to the exhibit, which turned into more walking than we anticipated, but one benefit was running across a photo boot within the subway.  We took a family picture - less Silas - which the kids loved.

Once we arrived at the exhibit, not only did we learn a ton about Andy Warhol's life and work, but the kids had a blast painting their own masterpieces and we enjoyed exploring this huge power station full of art.

Emily and Silas enjoyed some of the Andy Warhol Cow Prints

Asa Enjoyed the mirrors in this exhibit about the impact of China's rapid development.

At the museum, I also got in a picture with my sweetie and the new T-shirt she gave me for Father's Day.  God bless her, she went to all the trouble of taking a silly picture from a small tea shop I like called "Super Daddy" and putting the mascot on a T-shirt for me.  It was weeks in the planning!

For dinner we went across the river to the Pu Dong side of the old Expo site for some American BBQ at Bubba's Texas BBQ.

Her is our whole crew with our great food - notice that Emily has written "Love Dad" with ketchup on one of the plates!

Even Silas got into the BBQ action - here is gnawing on a rib bone!

Children's Day 2013 Celebration

International Children's Day is a Chinese holiday our family - especially the kids - have fully embraced since arriving in Shanghai back in 2007.   Here are the kids before the older two headed out to their school celebrations.  Indeed - "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!" Psalms 127:4-5. What a gift to parent with my best friend - Emily Meyer! 

This year's celebration began at school on Friday (May 31).  Here are Miriam and Asa outside there school where they only had a half day of school and it was entirely focused on carnival type activities. Asa's favorite was the dart game and Miriam liked the lily pad jump.

On Saturday, the celebration started when Emily and I serving the kids breakfast in bed.  They were thrilled!

We served the kids their second course on paper plates with honorary titles related to their names and our prayers for each of them.

Later, I took each of the three older kids on a "Daddy Date".  What a treat to spend time with them and get to know their unique personalities better.  

My first date was with Asa who ate his chocolate cake treat as a fast as he could and then promptly ran outside to smash bugs that were landing on the store window.  I learned that Asa isn't a big talker, but loves a good adventure.

Here are a couple of highlights from our adventure in a new part of our neighborhood - a massive blow up crayfish.

And a lamb stick from a street vendor

On Sunday (June 2), I took our girls out - starting by taking Miriam to a book store where she picked up a copy of "Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: World War II".  This girl loves to learn!

We then went for an ice cream treat that featured a huge chocolate ball filled with a variety pack of flavors.

Here is the description of the "Belgium Blossom - AKA the huge chocolate ball!

My last date was with Salome (AKA: Lo Lo) who I took to get a donut and play a game of memory.

She enjoyed a strawberry smoothie with our game of memory - which features cards that follow a "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" theme.

Our date concluded with a small ride outside a grocery store in our neighborhood - one of Lolo's favorites!

I love the mix of Chinglish on the side of the car!

Big Daddy Date to The Aquarium and The Bund

One family tradition we have recently enjoyed starting is having "Daddy Dates" with the girls and "Guy Time" with the boys.  The big idea is to spend dedicated time with the kids.  Typically this is dedicated 1:1 time, but this past weekend we had the chance to have a very special "Daddy Date" at two of my favorite spots in Shanghai - The Shanghai Aquarium and the Bund.

At the aquarium the kids not only enjoyed creating fish themed crafts, but also interacting with the many types of fish on display

Asa, Miriam and Crystal (a good friend's daughter) stand in front of the Shark Mouth on their way into view Sharks and Sea Turtles.  As you can see from Crystal's paper they were also on a scavenger
hunt looking for facts about the sea animals.

Asa enjoyed posing with various animal figures found throughout the aquarium and the Emperor Penguin was his favorite.

At the end of the tour / scavenger hunt the kids had a chance to touch small sharks!  It was interesting to see how timid Miriam and I (Joab) were to touch them while Asa spent over a half an hour petty them like there were puppies!

 

 

At night we slept right next to the fish inside the aquarium!  In fact, the kids and I were right between two walls of Moon Jelly Fish that had neon lights shining on them.  Fortunately, the neon lights went off around mid-night and didn't come back on until about 6 am!

The time at the aquarium ended with breakfast where I found the kids had created their own jelly fish with a small coin purse and mini-flashlights!

What a special time at the aquarium with Miriam and Asa!

Since we were already in the Financial District (called Lu Jia Zui), I thought we would wander down to the Huang Pu River as it has a great view of The Bund on the west side. 

While enjoying a special treat at Starbucks on the river, Asa decided to use the muffin wrapper to create a "Muffin Man" out of his chocolate muffin.  I love this guy's creativity!

Two of my favorite buildings on The Bund are the old HSBC Bank Building (on the left) and the Customs House (on the right).  Asa joked that we were "going to London" when we cross the river to see these old buildings, which isn't too far from the truth as these are some of the most famous buildings that represent the old British Concession.

In front of the HSBC Bank Building are two iconic bank lions - one with his mouth shut and the other with his mouth wide open.  The HSBC legend is that these two lions represent two of the original bank chairmans - one that was very talkative and the other very tight lipped.  The kids and I enjoyed having fun with them - not Miriam trying to pull Asa's head out of the lion's mouth!