We Made It!

Well, after a tearful good-bye, lugging our 10 suitcases, 2 carseats, double stroller, and 8 carry-ons we finally arrived in Shanghai around 10pm Tuesday night. We had a 12 hour flight to Japan with a 2 hour lay over and then a 3 hour flight to Shanghai. The kids actually did surprisingly well. Brady even told us and actually went to the bathroom on the plane! There was a couple empty seats next to Chad so they were able to sprawl out and nap which was nice.

Brady with all 10 suitcases on the way to the airport :)

Our helpful family at the airport!

Kids on the plane

Mr. Hou (our driver) met us at the airport and was able to get all of our luggage in the minivan and we headed back for a cramped drive to the hotel. Next morning we went to check out our apartment. Without not seeing it before we lucked out. The furniture was actually decent :) The biggest thing we have to get used to being here is the different types of smells all over, including our apt! We then ventured out to Ikea to go shopping. However, we were all soooo drained and exhausted it wasn't the greatest trip. My patience with the kiddos was definitely tested! Brady didn't last the whole trip though, he crashed half way through..

Brady a tad tired in Ikea :)

Thursday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to the apt to unpack. We then headed out to Carrefour to go shopping. I can already tell I will be spending a lot of time here :) It has a floor like a department store and another floor is a supermarket. Grocery shopping was interesting. I'll have to remember my phone next time to take pics of some of the items. We were looking for just plain potato chips, but had a hard time. They had Blueberry, Spicy Fish, and a bunch others I can't remember. We did pretty good though finding a variety of foods that we like. The only thing we couldn't find was a good pizza. Once again very different types, definitely no pepperoni and sausage :(

Today we gave Mr. Hou the day off to go and explore around our apt. We made it to both of the clubhouses and walked around the compound. It's great weather here right now, around 21 degrees Celcius (still getting used to this) today, which is around 68 degrees.. Kids had fun running around and playing at the playground and checking everything out. It is pretty cool that neither kid has even made a comment about the language, people, or surroundings being different. They are just going with the flow and I think that's pretty neat.

Pics from around our apt compound

Tomorrow we are venturing out to Walmart for another shopping day. I can definitely see how one would need a nanny, cook, and maid. You cannot just run out to the store real quick. It's pretty much a one stop shop per day. Hopefully it will get easier, but for now it's been very overwhelming shopping. It's just so many different things that I need to get used to.

I have so much more to talk about being here for the first couple of days, but I really need to go to bed :) I can't wait to get over this jet lag!!

More to come..