Summer Toes! (And where they might lead you...)

Summer has arrived in Shanghai with hot, hot days and sandals. Two weeks ago I was out and about and found this great confetti/metallic nail polish and thought to myself "This would be great for my toes for the summer!" (Those of you who know me, stop laughing. It is not that unthinkable that I might actually paint my nails sometimes!)

So I took it home and started putting it on and a certain little girl wandered over and said "Mommy, your toes are so pretty!" Hmmm, I'm sensing an opportunity here. So I said to her "Vivi, would you like your toes to be pretty too?"

"Yes!" she said, so we got started.

She was very patient waiting for them to dry and really enjoyed the final product!

Summer Toes!

Could it be? Underneath Cousin Zachary's hand me down Soccer t-shirts (as seen in the pictures above), Conrad's old jeans and neighbor Gabriel's cast off tennis shoes might we find... a   g-i-r-l??? (Grammy and Aunties can keep your mouths shut here about hereditary natures...) I was afraid to hope. I thought we had lost the plot earlier this week when I tried to suggest that she wear the adorable pink skort from Aunt Fran. It's probably already too small but it obviously hasn't had enough wear so I brought it out and when she saw it she screamed at me "No! That's pretty!" And that's bad why? "I want cool!" 

I'm not sure where to go with that, have tried to convince her that pretty and cool CAN coexist, but as you know with toddlers, some days are better than others. Well, hope surged anew when she came downstairs this morning very proud of her clothing selection for the day:

The first dress she has worn in over 18 months!

From summer toes to a summer dress. My tomboy is showing her feminine side!

Happy summer to you all~

Sleeping in Shanghai

You've all heard of "Sleepless in Seattle", right? Well, on the other side of the world the polar opposite happens everyday, far outside of what one would expect from a regular sleep schedule. One thing I have learned in my time here is that the Chinese seem to have a unique ability to sleep ANYTIME, and ANYPLACE. So much so that Bernd Hagemann, a German who has lived in Shanghai for nearly 10 years has devoted an entire website to the pictures he has captured in that time. If you have a few moments and need a good laugh, I recommend that you check it out: www.sleepingchinese.com

Unfortunately for me I don't usually have my camera handy when I see some of the more bizarre circumstances. Last Tuesday however, I did. I was on my way into our local superstore to do some grocery shopping and passed by the nail salon stall out front. 

And saw this:
I don't even know where to go from there. It doesn't even look comfortable!

I hope you are all well and getting enough sleep~

A Diamond Jubilee

I've said it before: the best part of living abroad is the exposure the kids get to International culture. The imported foods section of one of our grocery stores has a little flag next to the label/price of each item identifying its country of origin and Conrad and Vivi have a lot of fun looking at them, identifying some, naming the friends they have from each country, what languages they might speak and on and on. (Who needs Pre-School?) But mostly it is a lot of fun to learn about their friends' cultures from their friends themselves.

Some of you may or may not have noticed that this past weekend was the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation of the Queen of England. Not an event my children would normally have celebrated in our life in Indianapolis but, as you know Toto, we don't exactly live in Indianapolis anymore.

One of our weekly highlights is a standing playdate with some friends on Tuesday afternoons. One of the families, my friend Lisa and her boys, is British and as they had offered to host this week Lisa decided to use it as an opportunity to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. We started with a yummy chocolate cake made by one of the other British mums. All of the flags decorations were made by Lisa and her boys.

Vivienne plays in the Royal paddling pool under the bunting of Union Jacks.

Conrad decorates his crown.

His official coronation!

Vivienne makes a crown and a Union Jack~

Queen Vivi asks: Badminton on the lawn, anyone?

The Royal subjects pose for photos;

(Lollipops for anyone who stands pretty for the picture!)

After dinner and bath that night I turned on the tv to find the BBC's live footage of the Queen's motorcade heading to her luncheon at St. Paul's Cathedral. I asked "who wants to see the Queen?" and Vivi and Conrad came running to watch. I was trying to explain to them what a motorcade is when Vivienne asked "Is that the Queen in the front on the motorcycle?"

All in all, it was a really fun day. The kids enjoyed all of the activities and I enjoyed chatting with the British mums, as they shared their "Do you remember the Silver Jubilee?" stories and sang some of the songs appropriate for the occassion. At 84 years old, Queen Elizabeth is an amazing woman. Congratulations to her on this momentous occasion~