Andie in China! (#tbt)

First selfie in China together!

 So this post has been forming in my head now for two weeks, but due to the start of school and horrible Chinese internet problems (fighting with google), it is only now being realized. Andie says if I get it posted on Thursday, it’s ok, it can be a #tbt. I’m doing my best to get it done while it’s still Thursday in the States. ;) So here goes…

When our time in Germany was done,  we flew home via Moscow and actually arrived after Andie did. She was picked up by our lovely ayi, Amy, and taken home where she slept most of the time she was alone. J We got in on a Saturday, which was mostly spent unpacking and chatting about the end of summer, and I sat down with her to make a calendar.

SPOILER ALERT!

Donnie always makes fun of me for my teacher-y tendencies to plan out our adventures, but Andie welcomed it. Also, it helped me make a schedule for Amy who would be taking care of Paul while I showed Andie the gorgeous city I live in. Hehe.

Life is good.

On Sunday, we rolled ourselves out of bed fighting the jetlag to climb to the top of Nanshan mountain. It’s a hike that is not for the weak of heart, or knees. Andie showed me up by taking the steps two at a time, but it was so cool to have her with me after imagining her with me so many times. We made it to the top and all the way across, about a 3 hour hike. It was sweltering, but Andie was a trooper. We made it home, and although we looked like we had already been swimming, we gathered up Paul and headed over to the pool at another apartment complex. It was a relaxing afternoon, but we were thankful to be back in the A/C that evening.

Hmm pedis

Volfoni!

The next day, I took Andie for a day in China Light. We had an indoor workout session, then headed to Sea World to get our nails done. From there we met Donnie at one of our favorite happy hours spots called Volfoni. It was a fabulous day, and Andie even admitted that it was easy to forget you ever lived in China. The China Light days are good to have, to remind yourself that although you live so far away, it can still feel normal. But they are not cheap by any means.

A real Chinese meal.

From one end to the other.

A China Light day had to be followed with a full on China day. So the next day we geared up and headed out to Dafen. I've posted about Dafen several times, and not much changes each time I go, but I was excited to show Andie what it was about. We took the subway out there, then had some Chinese food for lunch, then wandered the art stalls. I bought a new painting for my bedroom, and Andie showed some masterful haggling skills and took home two really cool paintings of HK. You'll have to ask her for pics, because I didn't get to capture them. We grabbed some much needed ice cream and then took the subway home. We were exhausted from the heat, so we just chilled at home for the evening. Our whole day cost less than our bill at HH the previous day, TIC (This Is China).

I have to say the next day I tried to talk Andie out of. I wasn't ready to face another full day in China, and I wasn't sure I could successfully navigate us to where we were going. Andie said suck it up. So we went to Dapeng Fortress.

OMG. It was like Amazing Race.

Dapeng Fortress is the most historical site to see in Shenzhen, since Shenzhen is only 30ish years old. It's an old fortress that was built many times over, but most recently used to fight the Opium Wars. I've been meaning to visit it since we've arrived, and I know Dad has wanted to travel out there. All I knew about getting there was that it was very far and that we'd need to take a bus. Ugh. I did some research, and took screenshots of bus numbers and bus station names (written in Chinese) and we set off around 11am on our adventure. It was an epic journey. After some waiting and an additional cab ride, we made it to the Futian bus station, but the bus to Dapeng wasn't listed. And it was all written in Chinese. So we tried to match symbols and eventually picked a line to stand in. When that bus arrived, we showed the driver the bus stop name, and he said YES! So we jumped on and rode a couple of hours out of town. Not quite knowing where we were supposed to get off made the journey endless, luckily the ticket taker helped us out and we disembarked in Dapeng (a section of Shenzhen). We boarded another bus we thought would take us to the fortress, but when I showed the bus driver he shook his head, and wrote another bus number into my phone's calculator. We jumped on that bus, and just as we were deciding how long to ride before giving up and going back, we arrived at the fortress! It was the best feeling. :)

The fortress itself isn't so exciting. It's old and beautiful and fun to wander around. We arrived around 3pm and it had been raining, so there weren't very many people around. We took some photos and pondered about eating, and then boarded the bus back to Dapeng. (It took us 4 hours to get there and we spent 45 minutes wandering, sheesh). After a quick meal at KFC, we were back on the way home, confident in our path. We got home around 7, exhausted and sweaty and collapsed into bed. :) I will take Dad out there when he visits, but we'll have to get a driver. lol. I did take a lot of pics:

After much needed rest, we woke up the next day, worked out, then met some friends at the pool before catching a night flight to Clark, Philippines. It was a short layover, and after a short 4 hours of sleep we were off to...BORACAY!

Early flight!

Boracay was basically the same as the last time I was there, but even more like heaven because we had Andie there too. The White Beach was super windy, so after a windswept afternoon there, we opted for a day at Puka Beach. It was a glorious trip. The details aren't so important and I mostly just remember feeling so content, savoring the last days of summer.

Lots of sun, water, swimming, laughing and good food and drinks. I love Boracay, and I was so happy to share it with Andie. I think she liked it too. :)

A few shots in no particular order: (I put the really good ones on FB already.)

Our trip back home was longer than expected, so we were happy to be back in our beds late Sunday night. Monday was low key. Andie and I made our way out to Luohu to do some shopping. She got some new phone cases and some gifts for home. That place is always an adventure, and Andie handled herself well. We met up with Donnie for some Mexican food, then headed home.

The days were going by faster now, so on Tuesday, we set out for another hike. We took Honey with us this time with the intention of going to a temple afterwards, but we were too spent from the hike. We opted for sushi with H&Z in the mall instead. Then headed home for naps.

The next two days are sort of mashed together in my mind. We came up to school to do some work, and on the second day, we left to go to the Chiwan Temple. I took Dad there in April, and it was easy to get to. So Honey joined us again, and we made the short trip to the temple. Andie got into the spirit of the temple and hung a ribbon on a tree, attaching her wishes to the tree is supposed to bring good fortune. From there, we headed back to school, changed clothes and headed out to dinner and then drinks at The Village. The Village has a really cool house band who plays all of my favorite songs, but half of the band was missing. It was still fun, but we decided to call it an early night because we were headed to HK the next day.

Hanging on for dear life!

Friday, bright and early, Andie and I caught the ferry over to HK. We dropped our luggage at the ferry terminal and took the quick subway ride over to The Peak. The Peak is a famous view point on a mountain in Hong Kong. It's supposed to be exceptionally beautiful at night, but we were there at 9am, right when it opened. There was hardly a line (which later was not the case) and we hopped on the tram up to The Peak. The tram ride was funny. We didn't get seats, so we stood near the back, and literally had to hold on because it when pretty much vertically up the side of the mountain. It was good strength training, I guess. There's a whole mall up at the top of the mountain, but we made time to go do some picture taking and viewing before we shopped. The view was spectacular. It was a rare, clear day in HK and we could see all around. The sky was blue, the water was blue, there was a breeze, and it wasn't too crowded. As time wore on, more people arrived, so we wandered around the mall to shop and eat before making the long-ish journey back to our hotel (after picking up our luggage).  After a quick nap, Donnie arrived with Paul and we all had dinner up in the lounge of our hotel. It was the eve of Andie's last day.

Andie's last day started with a delicious breakfast buffet, then packing up our hotel and heading down to the subway for a long ride out to Disneyland. We got a late start, and the lines were much longer than when we were there last time. So around 11:30, we finally started our tour of the park. Paul was crabby, mostly because he didn't sleep well, it was hot and we had to wait in loooong lines. We made our way to Andy's Toybox (since Paul has become obsessed with Toy Story as of late) and rode a few rides there. We had some food, and then Andie went with Donnie on Space Mountain while I watched Paul play in the water fountains. By 4pm, we were all too hot and too tired of the crowds to do anything but head back. The HK airport is really close to Disneyland, so we rode with Andie over to the subway stop, got her ticket all set, then said our goodbyes. Paul sobbed until he fell asleep on the subway and he slept all the way back to our apartment in Shekou. 

More time on the subway.

Getting situated.

Cutest toys around.

The best part about Andie's trip was being able to share my life with her. She can now close her eyes and see my life, which for me, makes her feel so much closer. She knows the struggles of life here, she knows the perks, she can sense how I feel about things without speaking. I am so lucky to have her in my life, and I'm so grateful for such a long stretch of time with her and to be able to do so much with her. It's hard not seeing her everyday, but she's always nearby, and now she feels even closer. I love you, Andie. Thank you for the visit. :)

Love you. And I love being your sis.

That's all I can manage to write right now, and I've missed my deadline. So, love to all and know you're in my heart.

Overdue Post: Last Days in Munich

Augustiner Keller

 Although we've been back in Shenzhen now for nearly two weeks, I haven't had the chance to blog about our last week in Munich. It was pretty eventful, so I've added lots of pics, but I'll try to keep my explanation short.

Our yummy spread.

Most of the days we just hung out at our apartment, but we ventured out on one of those lazy days to the Augustiner Keller. Paul had a blast playing on the playground, and we enjoyed a picnic and a sunny afternoon. It was a great day.




When the weekend rolled around, we rented a car and headed out for some fun in the Alps. On our previous trip to Salzburg, we had planned on seeing the salt mine there. Unfortunately we weren't able to see it, so we made the trip down to the mines and an alpine slide that Donnie had read about.

The salt mine was super cool. It was just enough information balanced with some fun things like riding a train into the mine, then riding down these long wooden slides deeper into the mine. Paul loved those parts. The tour was only an hour, which was perfect for Paul's attention span. We bought some big pieces of salt and then made the short drive to the alpine slide.

Daddy and Paul in our crazy miner outfits.

Inside the mine selfies.

A collapsed tunnel inside the mine.

One of the slides. We all rode down as a family.

They found a dead guy stuck in salt. This is just a model.

The alpine slide was only a five minute drive away, and when we arrived I was immediately nervous about it. We had to ride the ski lift up to the top of a pretty tall mountain, with the intent of riding a toboggan attached to a rail all the way down. the entire ride was 2.2 km. But Paul was fearless. When we got to the top he was very upset to find that he wouldn't get to ride down by himself (you have to be 6 to do that). So he climbed onto Donnie's lap and off they went. I was only a minute behind them, but they went so fast I didn't even see them on the track in front of me. My fears were unfounded. It was a beautiful ride. Cool and fast and the scenery was unbelievable. I would've gone again, but we left in search of food.

Looking down on the slide from the ski lift.

Nothing scares this guy.

Top of the mountain, waiting for our turn.

We drove back to Munich that night, and went to bed early. The next morning was an early start, Donnie had planned an exciting trip to Europa Park. Europa Park is one of the top rated amusement parks in Europe, and Donnie wanted to get there when it opened. So we left around 5:30am to get there by 9:30am ( it was all the way on the other side of Germany, near France).

The day was cool and rainy, which made some of the rides difficult, but overall it was amazing. It is separated by countries in Europe, and each section has a series of rides that can entertain any age. We never waited in line more than 20 minutes, and we even caught a really cheesy ice skating show. We spent about 5 hours playing in the park, then worn out and ready for rest, we headed to a hotel nearby.

Ready to start the day!

This was the coolest kids' playground ever!

Can you spot Paul the Viking?

Paddling down the river.

Crazy London cabs.

Paul loves the spinning rides!

After a short night's rest, we got up and drove another hour to a race. We had signed up for a half-marathon at the beginning of the summer and had been working towards training for it. The race didn't start until 9:45 and by then it was a little warmish and we were anxious to get started. This was the first race we've taken Paul with us on. Thirteen miles is a long way for a little guy to sit in a stroller for, but he watched, then napped and even ran across the finish line with us. It was a tough race, we struggled through it and I have to give credit to Donnie for pushing Paul in the stroller for most of the way. It took us a long time, but we finished! I even got a prize for finishing, but there was no fancy fanfare or even medals. We stuck around for the kid's race, and Paul struggled through to finish his 400m. He was very proud of himself for finishing, and so were we. :) Hopefully, it's the beginning of his running career.

Before the run, we're Number 1!

Happy family before the race.

Kilometer 18...almost there.

Ready for the kid's run!

After the race, we made the long drive back to Munich and had a few lazy days, partly because we were tired from the race, but the rain had come again. But a few days before departure, we found out there was a festival not far from where we lived. So we made the short walk down there and had some fun on the rides and yummy fest food. Paul was a bit grumpy, so we cut our time short and headed home.

More fun rides!

Paul's first ferris wheel!

Loves driving cars with Daddy.

So then there it was. Our last day in Munich. We had such a beautiful summer, lazy days and full days, yummy food, fun in all parts of the country. We were sad to see it end, but ready to start another chapter in China. Munich will be a place I treasure for my whole life. I'm sure we'll be back soon in the next few years, and I'm happy that Paul has these memories of our time there. 

We had our last meal at the Hofbrauhaus, then ended the day with a stroll through downtown and left early the next day for Hong Kong. So many bright adventures await. Some of which I will write about soon. :)

Had to stop by here.

Last meal. YUUUUM.

So, auf weidersehen, Munchen! We'll miss you and thank you for the good times. Love to all.