Busy Busy

The past two weeks have been quite busy.  My boss from Paris and his boss from Utah were here for the past two weeks.  This called for long days and a lot of meetings during the first week in Shanghai.  Then for the 2nd week my boss went to Beijing for some meetings and the COO and I headed to Japan.  We first went to Nagoya which is where is son is serving a mission.  Elder Stevenson was kind enough to help arrange for us to go to breakfast with his son.  Elder Stevenson came and met us in Nagoya the night before and came to the breakfast with us.  Then we all jumped on the bullet train to go to Tokyo where we split ways and we went to work while he carried on with his church duties.  He's busy getting ready for a new temple groundbreaking.  While on the bullet train we went past Mt. Fuji.  There are only a couple months out of the year when it isn't covered with snow.  Apparently the locals have a saying that you are crazy not to climb it once and you are crazy to do it twice. 

This picture turned out blurry but it is in front of the Tokyo temple.

We had great meetings in Tokyo and then jumped on a plane to go to Hong Kong.  Once in HK we met up with my boss again for a meeting the following morning.  After that meeting my boss flew back to France and the COO and I flew to Xiamen to meet with our factory.  The following night I left for Shanghai and he went back to Utah.  Both of us were exhausted but it had been a very good and very productive couple of weeks.

Last Sunday Jen spoke in church and she did an awesome job.  She was very well prepared and gave a great talk.  Her mom tried to come out to Shanghai this week but all of the flights were full and she wasn't able to come.  Hopefully she can come out in November.

While the bosses were in town we had a chance to go see the pro tennis tournament.  We went to the semifinals and it was very interesting.  I'd never been to a tennis match before or really watched much of it. Nadal and Roddick were in the tournament but didn't make it to the finals.

I got back in town just before the weekend and we had fun with the kids.  Will and I enjoyed some meet on a stick, one of his favorites.

 Will is speaking more and more in both Chinese and English.  He's picking up new words every day.  He's got several classes that he goes to each week.  He has a science class, dance/music class, and a class that seems to have the theme of "let's do what you can't do at home" class.  Will really like the later class because they get to do things like color on walls, paint the floor, throw things etc.  The class is taught by a Chinese lady and the three other students are all Chinese so it's good for Will to go and interact with them.  They were surprised at first that Will could speak/understand what they said but they are used to it now and just treat him like the other kids which is what we were hoping for.  

Will also loves to play at the indoor play areas.  He is now big enough to play on the zip line which he thinks is so cool.  Here he is hanging and going for a ride!  June is still growing big checks.  

Food on a stick

When my sister visited us she noticed that there were so many food items here that came on a stick.  On Saturday we went out to lunch and had pot stickers, but not the frozen ones from Costco - no, these ones are actually good and don't stink up the house, and meat on a stick.  Here is Will going to town on the meat on a stick.

"Checks" going out for a stroll.

This is Will cruising on his bike.  You will notice that there are no pedals on this bike.  Instead you balance on the bike and use your legs to push yourself along.  Never saw these in the States before but I think they are pretty cool.  Now that Will is finally tall enough to reach the ground he thinks it is pretty cool too.

Never being one to skip a meal here is Will grabbing a bite to eat while playing at the playground.  I wish I had a picture of what he did today.  We had some friends over and all of a sudden their four yr old boy says disgustedly "mom! Will is drinking oil!"  Sure enough, there was our star with a big bottle of cooking oil in his hands and a shiny coating on his mouth.  The 4 yr old followed this with "he thought it was apple juice".  This isn't all that surprising coming from Will.  This is after all the same kid that will grab a brick of cheese and run away and hide so that he can eat it and the same kid that craves butter in the middle of the night and likes to eat cream cheese straight out of the tub.  The boy likes his dairy.  

Wow, a new post!

It's been a couple of months since our last post but we've figured out a way, we think, to post again from home.  Hopefully this post will work and we can start posting again.

This week is a holiday week here so the office is closed all week.  This is the time of year with the best weather and today was really nice.  The past few days we took a little vacation that started in a place called Moganshan.  It is in the mountains about three hours drive from Shanghai.  We stayed at this fun bed and breakfast for two nights.  Our friends, the Breinholts, came with us and we had a great time.  I took my bike with me and met up with some other people from SH and we went for a long bike ride through the hills while Jen went for a run in the mountains.  It was awesome to be in the mountains again.  Then we drove to Hangzhou.  This was a mistake to go during the holiday as it seemed that everyone else here had the same idea!  It was a complete zoo.  Millions, literally, of people everywhere you go.  After two nights there we took the new high speed train back to Shanghai.  The train was cool - 45 minutes to cover what would take 2+ hours in a car.  fast!

Will and June are growing so fast and are super cute.  Will's English has been improving lately and he is speaking more and more every day.  Here are some recent pictures.

Here is Will in his new hat that he got for his 2nd birthday and his second hand sport coat and tie studying up.  He sits here next to the bookshelf so often that Jen got him a little chair that sits on the floor so he can relax and read.

June is sporting her bow from aunt Hilary.  We put these bows on her nearly ever time we go out so that people won't ask if she's a boy or girl.  You would think that the pink dress would be a give-a-way but nothing surprises us here anymore.

This is up at Moganshan on the mountain top where the bed and breakfast house was.  It is a quaint little place that we really like.

This is from the B&B that we stayed at.  It was an old house that has been turned into a hotel.  It really was like you were staying at a friends house as the family room, kitchen, TV room etc were all commons areas and then there were 9 bedrooms with a number on each door.  We met some really nice families that were also there on vacation from Shanghai.  It's a great way to get away from the city.

Here is June in her pink fluffy suit.  Super cute.

Here is Will proceeding to say that something is "Hao Bang!"  which means Awesome.

Will learning to make friends...

June is focusing on growing bigger cheeks, this is her new favorite thing to do. 

Me and Jen going out for street food for breakfast this morning.  Steamed pork buns and hot soy milk.  yummy.  

This is Gus and me before last week's race.  I had my first top ten finish of the season and was our team's highest overall finisher for the 3rd straight race. Gus and I rode together this week at Moganshan, he is a super-fit triathlete from Australia that is training to win the Ironman in Taiwan next month.