Our Golden Week...

This past week was the National Holiday Week. The kids were off of school for the whole week and Chad was in India until Thursday afternoon. So, with no ayi or school it was up to me to keep them occupied :) Also, with a lot of our friends away on vacation we had a challenge, but I think we succeeded!

We started the week off at a new indoor playground in the French Concession called BB Gym. We met up with some friends from the other side of the river for a full day of fun! Will definitely be coming back here once it starts getting cooler out.. The best part was.... We pretty much had the entire place all to ourselves (which NEVER happens here)!!!

Tuesday, we gave Mr. Hou the day off and walked around our compound. Rilynn rode her bike and I pushed Brady in the stroller. Was a BEAUTIFUL day out!! One of the great things about living here is that you never know what you will see when you walk out that door :)

Check out this lovely outfit :) The fashion police would have a fit here!!!

Have absolutely no idea what this man was doing with this snapping turtle on a stick, but wasn't going to find out! LOL

Wednesday, I organized a playdate at the place we had been the week before for the bike outting. We had 7 families join us for a full day of playing, eating, and bike riding... Was an awesome day!!

Look!!!! An empty street :P

Good friends from Hudson.. The kids had fun seeing them twice this week :)

Rilynn found out her friend was a monkey just like her! Will be sad to see them repatriate to the US in December :(

Lauren and Brady really getting into following all the catepillars at the park :)

Brady making friends with the locals. He is definitely the social butterfly :)

Hard to tell but his pants and shoes were soaked. He took a nice little dip in some water. He was having so much fun that he didn't want to leave!

Finally Thursday came and Chad was back! We stayed at home and let him relax :)

Friday we went to check out a new park, called Zhongshan Park. It's always fun checking out the locals in the early mornings at the park. You see a lot of people practicing Tai Chi, walking backwards, kids flying kites, old men playing board games, and so much more... Like this guy balancing a stick on his head! Lol

We opted to pass on the bumper boats, but at times our boats turned into them anyways :)

Our boat :)

What are the chances we are all going to fit through this little tunnel?!?

This man was right off shore playing a very unique instrument..

Inside this park there was an indoor park, called Fundazzle. It was a huge area for the kids to burn off some steam! 2 new indoor parks this week.. SCORE!

All in all, it was a GREAT week! Best part of it was I *think* that Brady is finally fully potty trained!! We have been struggling with the poop part and he did really good at home. We'll see how he does at school this week! Fingers crossed :)

We had Chad home for a few days, but now he is off again to the US. I'm ok with this trip as he is bringing back with him some very important luggage.... My dad and sister!!!! The 23rd can't come soon enough, but we can't wait :)

PLUS- Great news from my youngest sister Valerie (the one who will be visiting).... Jeremy proposed to her last week and she said YES :) Congrats!!!