Railway Museum

Yesterday I was able to volunteer to help out with Brady's field trip to the Shanghai Railway Museum. They had been learning about trains in school so they were all pretty excited when we got there, especially Brady! The first thing he saw was a large train outside and immediately yelled to his teacher that it was a passengar train :)

 Simulated ride from Shanghai to Suzhou

 Brady's class

Happy Birthday Brady!

Feburary 12th was Brady's 4th birthday. He is growing up so fast and I can FINALLY say he is officially potty trained. Woohoo!! Boys and girls are completely different, plus being a little stubborn boy doesn't help :)

His birthday was on a Sunday so for breakfast I made some yummy yellow cake birthday pancakes with powdered sugar and sprinkle syrup (thanks Pinterest!). We then played Wii, opened presents, and had soccer practice. Then ended with dinner (Brady's choosing) and then cupcakes.

He has been begging for a balance bike. These bikes are very popular here. They do not have pedals so the kids have to use their feet to move. However, it teaches them balance so they usually can just go right to a big bike. He was disappointed when we brought the presents out and no bike. However, when we were all done Chad went to grab it and he was so happy :)

Birthday Cake Pancakes

New Bike!

Per his request, chocolate Cars cupcakes with yellow frosting :P

The following Friday afterschool we had his birthday party with 9 of his buddies. We had it at Lollipop which is an indoor playground. The kids loved it and I also did as there was no cleanup :)

New favorite toy, Hot Wheels carwash. Rilynn and Brady washed every single one of his cars :)

BOOM go the Fireworks!!

Chinese New Year finally ended and went out with a bang! The 15th day marks the Lantern Festival and the end to the festivities. So of course this must be celebrated with LOUD and MANY fireworks all over the city and even right outside our window.

The videos don't do it justice just how loud it really is. Being right in the middle of the city the sounds echo off of the buildings and surround the entire apartment. It seriously sounds like we were in the middle of a war zone. They started around 8 and went until after midnight. I have no idea how the kids managed to sleep through the entire thing!!

Standing on our porch outside our living room. Being able to stand outside I could hear how loud it really was!! I thought it was bad enough being inside ;)

This video was taken out the window of our dining room on the opposite side of the house. These were the one's that I couldn't believe the kids slept through as they were shooting them right outside their bedroom window!