We arrived back from beautiful Yangshuo to the pollution of Shanghai. The AQI (Air Quality Index) reading was over 300. Shanghai has never been this high in the AQI readings. Beijing had many bad pollution days last winter, but Shanghai stayed under 300.

On Friday, we woke up to 400 AQI. A fog had rolled into Shanghai. The pollution attached to the fog to create the worst pollution index to date. By mid-day, the AQI was over 500.

This is the view from our deck that morning…

Same view on a clear day…

Over the weekend, the AQI cleared to drop below 300. On Monday morning, we checked the AQI levels before sending the girls off to school. The levels were the low 200s. By the time the girls arrived to school, the air quality spiked to over 400AQI. Concordia cancelled school and the girls returned home for a POLLUTION DAY – that is a new one!

The girls spent the morning doing homework. After lunch, we went over to the Lee/Wang’s for an afternoon play. Ellie and Eleri have been playing more this year which is nice as they live four blocks from us at Tomson Rivera. Since Emersyn and Ethan have classes together this year, they have become friends. We all had a fun afternoon “hanging” at the Wang’s home…just like a snow day! However, we are hoping for no more Pollution Days!

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 286 user reviews.

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We started this tradition of a Thanksgiving Adventure Trip to Yangshuo. This is our 5th Thanksgiving in Yangshuo. We didn’t go last year and everyone missed the adventure. Five families are sharing the Thanksgiving adventure. It is the usual gang of past Thanksgivings to include the Jenkins (Jennifer, Scott, Sean & Sophie) and the Brennans (Judy, Dan, Danielle & Erin). This year two new family joined us â€“ the Gandys (Lisa, Mark, Kaitlin & Will) and the Jacobs (Rachael, Mike, Joshua and Alyssa). The Jacobs are from Australia and this is their first ever celebration of the American holiday. We have 20 people in total with 10 kids and 10 adults.

Thursday, Day One Adventure

We met at the airport gate. The Gandys and the Brennans were at a 50th birthday party the night before. Lisa and Dan both came home with food poison. Judy and Mark managed to slide pass the bad food. Dan almost didn’t come on the trip as he looked terrible. He was moving slow all weekend!

We left Shanghai at 8:50am – on time – to arrive in Guilin at 11:25am â€“ on time! Erin was asking if this was the airport with the metal palm trees. Of course, the adults had no idea, but she was correct!

We gathered our luggage and piled into the bus. It takes about an hour to drive to Yangshuo. We are taking the super highway with tolls.

We ALWAYS stay at the Mountain Retreat. The rooms are basic, but the hotel and the location are fabulous.

The best part of the room is the covered deck to enjoy the view.

The view from our deck.

In the past, we have stopped at the rest stops to buy beer. Two rest stops and no beer, we had to wait for the beautiful river view to enjoy our beers and ginger tea. Worth the wait!

Judy, Mike & Rachael

Jim & Mark

We couldn’t unpack the bags fast enough to get out the water shoes for the kids. They ran for the river and the dam.

These next few frames tell a story. The kids were trying to cross the river at the dam. It was flowing faster than in past years…

Eleri had a idea, so she went back along the dam…

to get this really BIG bamboo stick…

Then, she got the big boys to put her plan into action…

It worked as the big stick gave the kids something to hang onto as they crossed the dam.

Now, they could get to the other side without falling in the river to explore!

All the kids find a bamboo stick. A stick is VERY important for their time playing in the river. Each night they tuck their sticks away for the next day.

The bamboo stick is used for digging out seaweed – a river activity!

Sophie, Kaitlin, Erin & Josh

We don’t know what this sign says, but we joked it says to stay off the dam!

Sophie & Erin

When the kids need a break from the river since it is a bit cold, they play in the grass area. This is one of my favorite memories of our time in Yangshuo. The kids are unplugged and having fun together. The range in ages of our gang of kids is Danielle the oldest as a Freshman (14) to Eleri the youngest as a 4th grader (9). They all play together making up games.

Or have a bamboo stick fight with the VERY big kid, Scott…

The adults watch the entertainment of the kids on the dam while drinking beer and ginger tea watching the sunset. Jim was on a work call all afternoon. Lisa and Dan took afternoon naps after their long nights with food poison!

We enjoyed a glass of wine and snacks on our deck before our Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving celebration started in front of the fireplace with appetizers/snacks and wine we brought from Shanghai.

Jennifer, Eleri, Emersyn & Josh

Judy had American crackers and American cheese as a special treat for us. The smile on Mark’s face is for the simple joy of crackers and cheese!

Thanksgiving dinner was two tables – a kids table and an adult table – just the way we like it!

Dinner started with pumpkin soup. It was fine, but needed some spice!

The next course was mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing and jelly (not sure why – TIC). The mashed potatoes were as bad as they look – soupy and sticky!

Second course was the turkey which was very good. It also included a side of beans and gravy.

The final course was cheesecake…that was still a bit frozen. No worries as I had all the fixings to make smores. Our Aussie family had never had a smore. This is Josh enjoying his first smore at the age of 14!

Eleri loves smores – nothing like a roasted marshmallow!

Friday, Day Two Adventure

After breakfast, we began the day at 9am with rock climbing. We climb with Insight Adventures which does many of the Concordia trips. We asked for a different rock this year. They took us to the rock called Baby Frog Rock. The Moms and Scott were sitting this climb out, therefore, we had 10 kids and 3 adults climbing.

There were five ropes set up for the crew of climbers. Eleri was one of the first climbers of the day.

This little ledge, not too far off the ground, later became known as Gandy Ledge. When Mark climbed, he only made it to this ledge!

Eleri climbed higher than Gandy Ledge, but not far. The rock was really cold and hard to grab.

Emersyn ready to climb!

Close to the top, Emersyn fell off the rock. It is a bit scary swinging, but she found her footing and continued.

Emersyn made it to the top. She only climbed this one climb.

The kids resting between climbs.

Emersyn, Josh, Alyssa & Nick (our guide)

Eleri climbed one more time as she is our little monkey. She was waiting for the rock to warm up, but this rock wasn’t in the sun.

Eleri at the top with a big smile! This is the first time she has ever made it to the top of a climb.

Jim climbed every climb more than once!

The rock climbing Gang!

Sights of Yangshuo near the Baby Frog Rock. Walking the cows home…

Clothes and rice drying in the sun…

This little, old lady with no teeth is outside the Mountain Retreat each year. I buy flowers from her each time for 5rmb. I alway give her more.

This is what happen when you get teenagers up before 8am…

We talked about rafting, but decided to wait until tomorrow. Nick, our Aussie climb guide, join us for lunch and ONE beer. FORTY large beers later and many laughs, he left the crazy Americans. Mark and Scott are the entertainers of the group…get them together and we were laughing all afternoon.

More water fun for the kids after naps and lunch.

Judy ordered an hour foot massages for the ladies! A perfect after lunch treat! The boys were giving us a bad time, but they ALL went back to the rooms for an afternoon nap after too many beers.

The girls grabbed a half hour foot massages when the ladies finished!

We had dinner reservations at Luna at the Village Guest house. We loaded the vans for the short ride to the Guest House. The kids ran for THEIR trees. The old crew has trees they have claimed and have named their trees. We left them in the courtyard to play in the trees.

Dinner at Luna’s was excellent. We drank three bottles of wine for dinner as there were too many beers at lunch. Our bill was only 600rmb per family – considerably less than past years due to less bottles of wine.

Saturday, Day Three Adventure

The day started with a slow, relaxing breakfast.

Then, it was off for a biking adventure – all 20 people! It took time to find bikes for this crew. We didn’t get far when we had to pull over to take a photo of the water buffalo on the side of road.

And, the life size ladies for a car race the next weekend.

Brenda & Judy

Brenda & Jennifer

Now, for the adventure to begin on the road to the Dragon Bridge.

We crossed a dam where the locals were working at moving stones and rocks…

Through the countryside…

Up and over the next dam…

Walking bikes along the dam…

Through the villages…

Finally, we reached the Dragon bridge…

I really don’t know how Jim remembers the way as we would all be lost without him. We were looking for a place to eat when I recognized the door to the lunch spot we ate the very first time with the Humes. I remember the door because we walked through a house walkway to get there. Sure enough, on the other side was the restaurant.

Judy & Jennifer enjoying the view

We still had to get home. The gang climbed onto their bikes to begin the trek back to the hotel. We have 18 bikes on the road – we are an interesting crew! Jim and Eleri along with Scott and Sophie are on tandem bikes.

Rachael & Mike

We took a more direct way home with a few less dams to cross.

We had a few bike repairs along the road. Jim kept losing the chain on his bike and Scott’s handle bars needed to be tighten. By the time we crossed the bumpy roads, Scott was holding the bars up.

As we were getting closer to home, Sophie asked Scott why it took so much longer to get to the bridge this year. His reply…we have the Moms! The past two bikes trips have been Dads and Kids while the Moms shopped.

Upon return of our ALL day bike ride, it was time to relax at the tables by the river. A little wine with the last of the cheese and crackers was well earned.

After afternoon drinks, we moved to the fire place. It was Mark’s birthday – turning 46. Lisa arranged an apple pie (the best option) for a surprise. The hotel gave it to us free of charge! We sang him happy birthday to enjoy our pie before dinner!

On Thursday, we had to share the fire place space, but tonight we took it over early. We had our dinner at the fire. Mark and Jim kept the fire roaring. Mark and Scott kept the crew roaring with laughter! I really can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard for so long!

Then, it was time for smores!

Emersyn

Sophie

Judy

Sunday, Day Four Adventure

Yesterday, we arrived back too late from biking for the rafting adventure. Both new families wanted to experience the rafting. A few takers were going first thing in the morning to enjoy the calm river morning. Eleri was in, but sleep was more important for Emersyn. When the group arrived at the rafts, they made the kids ride with the adults. The experienced crew wasn’t there to tell them NO! They still enjoy the peaceful ride down the river. It is just more fun with a friend.

Before leaving, we took a few family photos as we have NONE for the year. I always put a family photo on our Christmas card, but not this year!

Another fabulous Thanksgiving in Yangshuo. Before we leave, we always think this will be the last one…but, then we get here to have so much fun! It was a very fun group of friends to share Thanksgiving – thankful for the amazing friends we have made in Shanghai…even if most of them are from Michigan!

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 168 user reviews.

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Emersynâ€™s passport expires in December 2014. Our China residence permit is due February 2014. Since passports are only good for 6 months prior to the expiration, Emersyn would get half a year visa. It is much easier to get a full year visa, therefore, another run to the American consultant for a new passport. This will be Emersyn’s last five year passport. The next passport will be a full 10-year passport.

Emersyn passport photo from December 2009

Emersyn’s new passport photo…she has changed in the past 4 years!

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 183 user reviews.

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For the study of the Great Depression, the 8th grade students live a week on 90rmb ($15). On Sunday, we went to the store to find Emersyn food for the week. The students had to purchase the food at a store that would give a receipt, therefore, we couldn’t buy at the wet market. We have a local store, Jia Deli, across the street. Emersyn’s goal was to get foods with protein or she would be hungry. She was going to buy apples, but two apples cost 12rmb ($2) – too expensive! The only vegetable she could afford was Bok Choy because it is cheap. Here is the break down of her food for the week:

Great Depression Food Costs rmb ($):
Bok Choy……..4.30 (0.71)
Noodles……..10.70 (1.76)
Rice mix…….13.60 (2.24)
Peanuts……..11.50 (1.89)
Spice Mix…….2.90 (0.48)
Spice Mix…….2.90 (0.48)
Eggs (8)……..8.20 (1.35)
Jelly…………..9.50 (1.56)
Peanut Butter..17.90 (2.94)
Bread……….10.00 (1.64)
Egg less 2….(2.06)(0.34)
TOTAL……….89.44 (14.70)

Since she was over 90rmb, she took 2 eggs out of her food for the week to be at 90rmb.

Below are rules and assignments for the Great Depression experiential activity. This experiential activity will help you better understand the hardships that many people experienced during the 1930s and early 1940s. Please remember that while you will only spend one week under these conditions, the Great Depression lasted for over ten years. As you struggle with daily living and going without modern conveniences, think what it would be like if you had to live the next ten years of your life under such conditions.

Activities and Rules:

November 2nd â€“ Great Depression experiential experience begins at 6:00 AM (Saturday)
Turn in all electrical appliances to parents, including iPods or MP3 players, cell phones, and electronic games.
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students will not use hot water on this day.
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.

November 3rd â€“ Great Depression experience day two (Sunday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule
Walk for forty-five (45) minutes in your area
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.

November 4th â€“ Great Depression experience day three (Monday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students will not use hot water on this day.
Spend fifteen (15) minutes entertaining your family (board games, cards, storytelling)
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.

November 5th â€“ Great Depression experience day four (Tuesday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Do your homework by candlelight/flashlight
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.

November 6th â€“ Great Depression experience day five (Wednesday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students will not use hot water on this day.
Wash your uniform by hand, do not use dryer and wear the following school day
Do your homework by candlelight/flashlight
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.

November 7th – Great Depression experience day six (Thursday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Begin writing Great Depression report. (Handwritten using cursive writing)
Do your homework by candlelight/flashlight
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.

November 8th – Great Depression experience day seven (Friday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students may not use hot water on this day.
Students may eat lunch at a â€œsoup kitchenâ€ on this day.
Continue writing Great Depression report.

Experiential experience ends when student goes to bed or at midnight.

Algebra exception: Students in algebra may use their laptop computers if needed, but students must work in a common area, such as at the dining room or kitchen table. Students will not need to use their laptop computers for English, Social Studies, or Science. Textbooks, pencils and paper will be used instead of computers.

Camera exception: Students will need to have parents take pictures of their home experience. Parents may take as many pictures as they wish. Students will need four pictures that will be used to develop a bulletin board to display this experiential experience.

Emersyn divided her food into seven days so she knew how much she could eat. Her noodles were packaged into 18 bundles. That gave her two bundles for dinner with four left over.

Day one of the Great Depression – Saturday

This was a busy day for Emersyn. She rose early to enjoy her last big breakfast. She packed her half pb&j for the day. Emersyn needed to be at Concordia by 8am to help with the Robotics tournament. This was a hard test as there were cookies and sandwiches for all the student helpers…just not the 8th graders! She ate her lunch at Hayden’s before they went to a workshop together in Puxi. A quick dinner run back at our home after the workshop for her noodle dinner shared with friends. Hayden had fried rice with chicken. She has three pieces of chicken for the week. Bella had a potato and an apple.

Hayden, Emersyn & Bella

Emersyn dash from her dinner to the One Republic concert with a few of her 9th grade friends she meet on the leadership trip. Her first concert with friends with NO adult supervision. Of course, Mr. Nie drove so I knew they would be safe!

Day two of the Great Depression – Sunday

Eleri, Jim and I left Emersyn sleeping – when you are sleeping, you can’t think about hunger. We took the metro to the dive shop and then to lunch. When we returned, our teen was so excited to see us. We don’t usually get that kind of a reaction. The quiet house was too quite for her. The 45-minute walk requirement was easy for Emersyn. We do it often taking Roxi for the last pee walk of the night. It is a great time to catch up in the life of my teen. We always do “one more loop” which adds up to three more loops.

Day three of the Great Depression – Monday

Emersyn discovered that an egg for breakfast and half a pb&j was not enough food – she was starving by the time she arrived home from school. With the extra four noodle packs, we added noodle for breakfast. She would eat half and save the other half for lunch. She also saved her rice for lunch. Now, her meal plan included noodles morning, noon and night!

Day four of the Great Depression – Tuesday

Emersyn did her homework by candle light in her room. With the lights off, she could truly enjoy the view from her room.

On this night, the WFC had picture of ladies in the lights. The picture would vary to four different ladies. The angle from the deck was a bit off to see the true beauty of each lady in lights.

Day five of the Great Depression – Wednesday

Wednesday is fencing night for Eleri and we arrive home late. First, Emersyn took her cold shower. She is like me and LOVES a nice, long hot shower. Next, she hand wash her uniform. I told her to wring it with a towel to get all the water out as it will make a big difference in a wet or dry uniform the next day. She did a great job as she had a completely dry uniform to wear…with a big smile.

Day six of the Great Depression – Thursday

Emersyn now has plenty of food as she has enough bread to have a FULL pb&j sandwich. She has her noodles, wild rice and peanuts for lunch. Noodle soup for dinner!

Day seven of the Great Depression – Friday

To enter the “Soup Kitchen” for lunch, students had to memorize a bible verse. Emersyn is so tired of her noodle soup that any other soup would be better. She went to the “soup kitchen” for minestrone soup and bread – bonus! She said it was DELICIOUS!

After school, Emersyn went to Bella’s home for her last noodle soup. Then, Bella, Hayden and Kaitlin went to the High School Play. After the play, the girls have organized a pig-out sleep over at our house for the final night. The girls came home at 10pm. Jim and I had just returned from LaCasba with their pizzas. The girls decided they would eat their hot pizzas at 10pm, but wait until midnight for the “goodies”

The pig out began at Midnight!! I purchased America chips for 35rmb ($6) a bag. I picked up Ben & Jerry’s ice creams at 69rmb ($12) for a small tub! I made homemade chocolate chip cookies for the girls. Kaitlin brought plain m&m’s, gummies and other candies. The pig-out session was welled stocked! They also raced for their electronics at midnight.

Jim and I were in bed as they were laughing and having fun at midnight. This apartment has concrete walls so we don’t hear a thing…just a bark from Roxi when they get too loud. They were up until 4am when they dropped!

I believe the week was a good lesson in life about basic needs. Emersyn now knows what it feels to be truly hungry and unable to get more food. For Emersyn, there was an end – for some people it is everyday with no end in sight.

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 230 user reviews.

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The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s major thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as “the race that stops a nation”, it is a 3, 200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. Conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria, on the first Tuesday in November.

In Shanghai, it is a luncheon held by the Australian Expat Association. It begins at 10am with all the ladies and the men attending in their fine race attire and HATS! The hats are very important.

I attended the Melbourne Cup fours years ago with some Yanlord ladies. This year, Rachael was organizing her Aussie friends and a few American friends. I purchased my feather hat piece in Bangkok. I hand carried it to Phuket and back to Shanghai! The challenge of the day was finding a “race dress” since my closet is full of Mom clothes.

The race begins with champagne, of course. It is a day of drinking and eating, but fun!

Judy, Brenda & Rachael

Judy had on the perfect “race dress” with flowers at the bottom to match her hat.

The three Americans at our table.

Brenda, Judy & Jean

Nicole & Rachael

For the Melbourne Cup race, horses were action for the Calcutta. The table pools their rmb to bid for a horse with opening bids at 1, 000rmb. All the money collected today from bidding/raffles/silent auction went to charity. At the event last year, 350, 000rmb ($57, 000) was raised for various charities.

Our table had horse #1…which was not a winner. There is a prize for being last so half way through the race, we were cheering for our horse to be last.

However, our table was a bigger winner for the raffle draw. There were ten prizes for the raffle draw. I bought one ticket since I never win – Judy did the same for the same reason. Judy won a pair of shoes from Mary Ching’s private collection. Both Judy and I are not shoe women, so we laughed as we had no idea WHAT she won. Nicole won two nights at the Peninsula Hotel with spa and dinner. All the prizes on the raffle were expensive give-aways.

It was a fun day “at the races” spent with friends.

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 278 user reviews.

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Friends with young children organized a trick or treat. Everyone brought bags of candy to be given to the children. Since the buildings are secured, the candy givers were waiting in the lobbies.

Eleri had so much fun with her jelly fish costume on Halloween that she decided to be a jelly fish, again. She had to tape new streamers on her umbrella since they all fell off last night. She passed on the wig for a nice french braid.

Josie and Ellie were spending the night so they join in on the fun. Josie is a hippy girl and so very cute. Ellie wore Eleri’s disco dress.

It was a fast trick or treat, but still fun to get one last candy run in for the year!

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 269 user reviews.

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Halloween – the MAIN event. Concordia has conferences on Thursday and Friday for ES and MS students. Conferences equals no school. I scheduled our conferences for Thursday after lunch. Therefore, no school on Friday after the fun!

Since Wednesday was a no school night, we had dinner and a movie. After the movie, Emersyn was ready to “look” for her Halloween costume. Eleri was going to be a witch or a vampire wearing the same dress she wore to Lili’s on Saturday – easy! Emersyn wanted to be a broken doll. She wasn’t liking any of my ideas. Eleri and Emersyn began looking on the internet for ideas. Emersyn was finding all kinds of ideas, but I had just one comment…”when you begin at 10pm the night before Halloween, you must find your needed materials in this house” Emersyn decided on a dark angel because Bella and Hayden were going to be zombies or something…something to have fun with the makeup! In all the internet search, Eleri had a change in plans. She was going to be a jelly fish. She gathered the streamers from the birthday party bag and planned to make her costume in the morning before conferences.

Conferences ran a bit longer than plan. We dropped Emersyn off at Bella’s house in the new Green Villas to begin the makeup fun. Eleri still needed to finish her jelly fish costume so we had to get dressed fast for the Main event. Eleri’s costume turned out great!

We picked Lili up to take her with us to the new Green Villas. Green Villas trick-or-treat was from 6-7pm. We started the night at Bella’s house to see Emersyn. I needed my photo because I knew I wouldn’t get one later!

Eleri, Ellie & Lili

The zombies were taking a long time to get their makeup just right as we dropped Emersyn off at 3pm. When they came downstairs, they looked great.

Our zombie was still adorable with “blood” dripping down her face! Bella did a great job with the blood. She made it from chocolate and kitchen items.

The gang of girls having too much fun!

Kaitlin, Bella, Hayden & Emersyn

Ready to hit the streets for candy!

Eleri, Anna, Ellie, Lili & Stephanie

Hayden’s Mom, Lisa, and neighbors were hosting an after trick-or-treat pot luck. Lisa had hot dogs while everyone brought side dishes. The hot dogs tasted very good on this chilled Halloween night. We left at 8:30pm when the party was going strong as the Concordia families did not have school. But, we promised to have Lili home around 8:30 because she DID have school. Also, Jim was ready to go since he had been out late Wednesday night for a work dinner. It was another fun Halloween in Jinqiao.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 154 user reviews.

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Jennifer’s tennis friend, Nancy, puts on a big adult Halloween party each year. It is held at Bubba’s on the Cool Docks on the river on the Puxi side. Costume is required attire. Jennifer signed us up for the Gong show performance. Scott would be lead rapper to “Baby got Back” while Jennifer, I, Jim and Justin (Jim’s nephew) would be backup dancers. Jim is always game for anything!

On Tuesday, Jennifer and I went to H&M to see what we could find for our backup dancer costumes. H&M has cheaper clothes that can be a bit more styled for the younger generation hitting the night clubs. We found many short, tight skirts at H&M. Our only problem was that Jennifer and I aren’t a size 2. Most skirts came is sizes 2, 4 or 6. We finally found two short, black skirts in a size 10 we both liked…on the hanger and on our bodies! We tried finding shoes as neither Jennifer or I wear high heels. We found these black boots with very high heels. If I wore high heels, I would wear them again as they were stylish boots. The boots were 359rmb ($60) so we passes as both of us said no to the possibility of wearing them again. We went looking for tops to compliment our skirts. We found two large sizes to try on. On the way to the dressing room, I noticed these two high heel boots on the bottom shelf in the sales area. The boots were a size 39 to fit Jennifer and a size 41 to fit me. One was black and one was tan at 70rmb ($12), they were perfect – meant to be! Next, we needed to find dresses for Jim and Justin. We hadn’t heard from Justin as he was on the road, but he is game for anything, too. We needed to find stretchy material as the sizes are small at H&M. We found black tank dresses for 99rmb ($16). We had a very successful shop for our Halloween adventure.

That night, I told the girls I went shopping for new clothes to wear to school. I was tired of looking like a rag-a-muffin at school and I wanted their opinions on the clothes. The expression on their faces was priceless! Needless to say, both girls said no to my new look for school. I am not sure how I am going to walk in these high heel boots we purchased or how long they will remain on my feet.

When we heard from Justin, he told us he had a co-worker with him, but he was game, also. Eleri and I went back to H&M after school on Friday to get one more large black dress.

After we dropped Eleri at Lili’s house for trick or treating, we raced home to get ready since we stayed longer than planned talking to Bindi and Morgan, as always. We ordered pizzas for the crew. Justin and his co-worker, Jared, came over for pizza and makeup.

Emersyn and Sophie, Jennifer’s daughter, were in charge of makeup. Emersyn had some very glitter and bright makeup from when she was younger. It was not used so it was perfect. She first put makeup on me like Ms Faith showed her. It was too nice and needed to be MORE. She had fun putting way too much makeup on everyone!

Emersyn did Jim’s makeup…

Emersyn and Sophie did Justin’s makeup…

Both girls said Jared was the easiest to put makeup on as he didn’t blink…

Scott and his back up dancers…

Justin and Jim showing us they are still “Manly” in a dress…

Justin, Brenda & Jim ready for the party…

Jennifer and Brenda dressed to perform…

A live band entertained us who was also dressed…

There was some really great costumes at this party. My favorite was a girl dresses as Richard Simmons (no photo). She was young, crazy and fun. I don’t have many photo at the party as it was dark and any movement created a blur.

Jim with a round of shots before our performance…

Justin traded in for the purple hair towards the end of the evening…

It was a fun adult party. We didn’t leave until 1:30am…my feet were killing me. But, it was fun being tall for a change!

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 205 user reviews.

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Lili invited Eleri to come trick or treat at her compound, Vizcaya. Vizcaya always celebrates Halloween on the weekend. Eleri wasn’t sure what she was going to be for her first trick or treat of the year. She decided on a super spy. A dig through the Halloween bin – the left over costumes from past years. She found Emerysn’s Medusa dress and gun from past years…she was ready.

Eleri being Eleri…

Both Jim and I took Eleri to Lili’s house this year. Lili was so cute as she was dressed as I dream of Jeannie. She has the perfect look and hair for this costume.

The super spy and Jeannie…

The girls had fun running around getting candy. Jim and I walked around with Bindi and Morgan. It was fun as it was like being on Johnson Avenue. Many families were out and about serving food along with beer and wine. We had to leave the fun early since we had another party.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 242 user reviews.

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Halloween seemed to creep in too fast this year. After the International fair, Eleri and I went to Pines to see what our luck would be for pumpkins. We had NO luck so we purchased two very small, but orange pumpkins. The larger pumpkins were light orange and too flat for carving. We did take a couple fun photos of the Halloween display.

From Pines, we had to go to the Superbrand Mall for another dress for the Halloween party. We decided to swing by City Shop to buy some expensive Halloween peeps the girls have been enjoying. The peeps are 32 rmb ($5) for one box. City Shop had one tall pumpkin that would be good for carving – our luck was back! We grabbed it for 80rmb ($13) with a big smile on Eleri’s face.

Eleri and I went home to decorate the house. Emersyn was at a sleepover birthday party and Jim was still in Beijing for business. We decorated the front door…that no one sees but us!

Eleri put decorations around the house with plenty of webs.

On Sunday, we finally carved the pumpkins. Emersyn was busy with a pile of homework, therefore, Eleri made all the decisions on the face. She drew the face on the pumpkin and Jim was the master carver.