The Lion King was playing in San Francisco. I was thinking we did not need to go to the performance as we have seen it many times. Well, not many times in Eleri’s life as she doesn’t remember seeing it except at HK Disneyland. The Lion King was Emersyn first performance at the age of 3 in San Francisco. We took Emersyn to see it in Shanghai when she was 6. We saw it San Jose when Emersyn was about 9 and Eleri was 5. Since Eleri can’t remember seeing the show, we decided we did need to see it again after all.

Traffic to the City was terrible this Wednesday night. We had no time for our nice dinner in the City. Therefore, we had In & Out Burger in South SF. We will still running to make the show. Andy dropped us off while he parked the car. He ran and made it just before the curtain went up. We all enjoyed the musical and we were glad Eleri wanted to see it.

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 267 user reviews.

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Every year, Terri and Andy take the girls to see the Nutcracker. A nice dinner in the city before the performance to make the night extra special. The girls always look forward to their night in the City to see the Nutcracker. Grandma generally goes with them to enjoy the tradition.

The girls have a collection of Nutcrackers Terri and Andy have bought for them over the years. The Nutcrackers add Holiday cheer to our fireplace.

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 259 user reviews.

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On Monday, we went to see Santa. The local children were still in school so we knew we could see Santa with no lines. This year for the first time, the Mall had a fun set-up for waiting in line. We took a few fun photos of the giant ornaments while we waited for Santa – about 5 minutes!

No photo with Santa as the idea is for you to BUY their overpriced photos which I always do. Eleri wore her antlers the whole day at the mall – looking adorable. Then, we set off to do some Christmas shopping at the Mall. We left Grandpa at Starbuck’s. We were gone so long he thought we forgot him!

The girls did find a Christmas present they wanted – a Ferby. I had just read they were the hottest toy of Christmas 2012. Hum, our girls never have the hottest toy as they don’t know what is available in the toy world. I do love our commercial free tv life. The original Ferby was released in 1998. I completely missed this Ferby toy craze since we weren’t in the kid world. The new 2012 Ferby has been updated for technology – an app on the iphone/ipad.

Grandma bought a Ferby for Eleri and Terri bought one for Emersyn. Grandma had already purchased a necklace for Emersyn for her Christmas gift. The girls went home to play with their Ferbies. Eleri loves over feeding her Ferby with the ipad app. At the end of the day of playing with Ferby, we wrapped them up to go under the tree. I guess it is always fun to have a pre-christmas play! The toy doesn’t have an off button so I am sure we might hear a few noises from under the tree.

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 188 user reviews.

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The girls and I flew home for the holidays a week ahead of Jim. We had doctor appointments to get through the first week since many doctors are closed between Christmas and New Years. Sunday was a rainy day so we skipped the farmer’s market for tree trimming. No Jim meant I had to drag the Christmas boxes down from the attic! Andy had already pulled the tree out of the attic to set it up – good thing as I would not have the muscle power needed!

The girls love to decorate the tree. Eleri began taking out the ornaments while Emersyn untangled our garlands beads. Then, we went to work putting together our Christmas tree.

All the fun Christmas hats were found in the boxes.

The Christmas tree completed – beautifully done by the girls.

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 260 user reviews.

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Eleri wanted to get bangs. I like the look of no bangs, but it is Eleri’s hair. I was a bit concern as she has funny waves in her hair, but it is hair and it grows back. First, Lee, the stylist, gave her side bangs. Those bangs that hang just below the eyes that you push to the side. Well, that is fine for an adult, but not for an 8 year old as they would be in her eyes all the time. I said to cut them at the eyebrow. He was cutting away so I went back to reading my book. The next time I looked up, he was still cutting and her bangs were very short. I said “ting” for stop. He was trying to get them straight and not taking into account the wave of her hair. The are now short and not straight, but slanted!

It may not be the best haircut, but Eleri has a great attitude about it! A reflection of her personality!

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 221 user reviews.

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Bindi and I are always looking for an activity for Lili and Eleri to do together. Lili is still Eleri’s best friend, but it is hard to find the time since they are in different schools. There is a good fencing program here in Shanghai provided by Shanghai Dragon Fencing. However, there is a time and dollar commitment with the gear and all. The Community Center was offering a 7 lesson program by the same group – perfect to see if they like it. Well, they love it! The class consist of 6 kids – 4 boys and 2 girls. The class was held on Friday at 4:30 (not the best time).

I took photos of our little fencer one day as I had the SLR camera at school. Here she is showing the coach the various positions and moves.

All geared up.

In this class, the gear is a plastic sword.

Lili and Eleri had very good form and balance. Maybe all that gymnastic has finally paid off!!

At the last class, there was a fencing tournament. I had completely forgotten, but I did have my pocket camera in my bag. I took a few photos, but video taped most of her matches. No video posted until Jim has time as that is out of my technology ability!

For this tournament, each match lasted 2 minutes. At the end of the 2 minutes, if there was a tie, the coach used official fencing rules. A coin is tossed and the winner has priority. Having priority means if no one scores, the person with priority wins the match. Overtime was 20 seconds. Since I am not up on my official fencing rules, the time given to our kids may have been shorter to get through all the matches.

Eleri had four matches. In three of the matches, the match ended in a tie. In all three tie matches, Eleri lost the coin toss each time to give the opponent priority. In all three matches, Eleri scored in 20 seconds to win the match. Eleri won all four of her matches.

Eleri won the tournament as she was the only one to win all four of the matches.

It looks like we will be investing time into fencing. Lili loves it too! The Shanghai Dragon Fencing is opening a new facility around Chinese New Year in Jinqiao. The old facility was WAY out so Eleri will begin when the new facility is ready – On Gaurde!

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 286 user reviews.

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Eleri’s music concert began at 6:30, therefore, another meal in Jinqiao – another Blue Frog dinner! It is best to meet Jim at the Kerry so he can work while we order food. This time, I did take before photos – in front of the large nutcrackers on display at the Kerry Center.

Tonight’s concert was for students grade 1-4 in Ms Camp’s music program. Eleri has been practicing all the songs and she was very excited to perform.

We sat in our assigned seats in the HS gym – way at the top. We could see our little singer as she sang with the group. Being short has one advantage, the front row seat.

Eleri’s class was performing to “Ding Dong! Merry on High”. She had a little dance and ribbon routine. No video as we had camera problems. I had noticed the camera had no battery to plug it in that morning so I was feeling prepared. However, the chip had no space. By the time we found space, she was done performing. She also was performing on the other side of the gym – a little hard to see.

Eleri was all smiles when she finished!

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 185 user reviews.

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The annual SEA (Shanghai Expats Association) Children’s Christmas Party is one of Eleri’s favorite activity each year. They have craft tables set up all around the room. A table with beads, a table for making puppets, a table for making Christmas ornaments and more. It is Eleri’s kind of party! When the SEA Courier magazine was delivered, Eleri was in the ad for the party!

As parents, it is not our kind of party! The food is a little too kid friendly serving chicken nuggets, french fries and pasta. But, as Moms, we take one for the team. However, I try not to take one for the team alone…I talked Faith and Jennifer into going with me. Last year, Jennifer and I took Eleri and Sophie to the party. Faith had left early for Christmas before the party to join us. Since Faith was bring Avery and Riley this year, Emersyn was in for the party.

Looking festive!

Avery spent the night with us on Saturday. The girls had fun getting ready together.

At the Four Seasons Hotel, we took a photo in front of the big Christmas tree before going upstairs to the party.

Crafts, crafts and more crafts!

The definition of a true friend – going to the SEA Children’s Christmas Party with you!

The first year Eleri and I went to the SEA Christmas Party was 2009. Sean was sick and Eleri and I went with Jennifer and Sophie at the last minute. The girls made their Gingerbread houses at the party. Eleri’s house crashed to the floor when I was getting out of the taxi. Now, we make them when we get home. It is much easier to carry the kit.

Eleri’s house did not start with a good foundation. She had used the roof as walls so she had no finished project. She decided a storm blew through and knocked it down. She just needed some red ruby slippers!

Emersyn did not want to build her house, but eat the candy and frosting.

Sophie was the only one that built her house. She took it home for her family to enjoy.

A few of the ornaments made with love.

Emersyn added the saxophone to her snowman – cute.

Eleri loved it and wants to go again next year. I have already talked Jennifer into going for another year of Holiday cheer!

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 279 user reviews.

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Emersyn had her first band concert of the year – the Christmas Concert. The Christmas concert was performed by the Middle School Band – 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade. The concert lasted a little less than one hour to enjoy the songs of Christmas.

The 7th & 8th graders perform together. They played four songs:

Christmas Magic
We Five Kings
Deck the Halls with Chips and Salsa
A Crazy Mixed-up Christmas Concert

Eleri sat with friends from her class which made her all smiles.

I don’t have photos of before the concert. Now that Jim works at the Kerry Center, we stay in Jinqiao. The girls and I go to the cafe to get homework done. Then, we meet Jim at the Blue Frog at the Kerry Center for dinner. Next time, I will need to get a few before photos!

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 227 user reviews.

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Justin is staying the weekend with us as he travels through Asia for business. I gathered Eleri from a sleepover birthday party (12 eight/nine year olds) which she reported was fun, of course! Then, we went to the Dulwich Fair. The Dulwich Fair is fun when the weather is nice since it is mostly outside. However, today was not a nice day – it was cold with wind and rain! The Dulwich Fair is more for the children while the Concordia Bazaar is all about the shopping for the ladies. We grabbed some food in the cold before Jim left for the airport to get Justin. The girls took off with their Emersyn’s friend, Avery, to have fun.

When Emersyn was “tired” of Eleri, Eleri and I went to the kid zone to see what fun we could find. We found cupcake decorating. I needed 2 tickets for this event. The women selling tickets wasn’t the nicest. She wanted to see me a full book at 100rmb for 20 tickets – nonrefundable. I needed 2 tickets for 10rmb. It was 3pm, we would never use all the tickets. She did give me the request tickets, but not happily. At Concordia, we have a similar chip system to pay for food and drinks at the bazaar. The only difference is we buy back what people don’t use and we don’t force them to buy a full set of chips. They can purchase one chip to buy a soda!

After scoring my two little tickets, Eleri had fun with her cupcake. She did not eat the entire cupkae as the frosting was VERT sweet – even for me and we all know I have a sweet tooth!

After the kid zone, Eleri ran off with Riley. I sat outside in the cold with Dan and Paul drinking mulled wine. It began to rain so we found cover under some tents while we waited for the girls to finish. When the fair finished, the girls and I walked to the corner to wait for Jim and Justin. The van chaos outside Dulwich was worth a short walk to the corner!

We took Justin back to our apartment. The girls had used their new window markers to greet Justin.

After a nice rest and warming up, we left for dinner. I had made reservations at Lost Heaven, one of our favorite places. We walked the two blocks to the ferry. Lost Heaven is on the Bund and so easy for us to reach with the ferry.

On the ferry

The View

At dinner, Eleri was making a rose with her napkin. She is talented in all things making!

After dinner, we did a quick walk on the Bund. It was cold with a bit of small rain. But, we needed the photo with the Pearl Tower on the Bund.

Back at the house, I told the girls to get on their pj’s while we took the dog down. By the time we were back up, Justin was asleep in the chair at 8:30pm. I should have taken a photo, but I always think about it when I am typing! Justin slept in the chair until 10:30pm when we woke him to send him to bed. The jet lag and getting up early caught up with him.

Justin slept in on Sunday morning as he was exhausted. We had one day to show Justin Shanghai. We started with the underground copy market thinking Justin would want something…but he did not. The girls and I purchased new Uggs to keep our feet warm in the Shanghai winter. The next stop was the fabric market to get custom shirts for Justin. Both Jim and Justin had shirts made. Emersyn had black pants and a white shirt made to wear for MUN in Beijing.

The plan was to have lunch at Wisk, but Justin wanted to go to the new Cross Fit gym. He belongs to one in the Bay Area. The boys went to work out and burn calories while the girls went to Wisk for a chocolate lunch. After Wisk, the girls and I walked to the Dragon Fly for a little nail pampering. The girls had fun! The boys reported the Cross Fit was fun! It was a perfect afternoon!

Back home for showers for the boys and homework for the girls. Emersyn now loves sushi which was the dinner plan. We walked to Jim and Emerysn’s sushi place. Justin enjoyed the sushi while Eleri and I ate the cooked “stuff” at the table. It was a late night for a school night. A couple of girls were going to be tried in the morning! Monday morning, Justin was on his way to the airport at 5:45am for his next City on his business tour – to Beijing.

The girls and I had dinner with Justin on Thursday night as he passed through Shanghai on his way home. Jim was sitting at the airport waiting for his very delayed flight to Korea. Our ayi made homemade dumplings and the girls enjoyed having Justin to dinner. Emersyn was debating with Justin regarding her MUN topic – illegal human organ trafficking. The girls were teaching Justin Chinese while he enjoyed a few beers – the only way to learn Chinese!

Justin was staying at the Grand Hyatt two blocks from our apartment. He decided to keep his hotel room for the night so Emersyn didn’t have to give up her bed. At the end of the evening, Roxi and I walked Justin to the side gate.

It was fun having Justin in Shanghai!

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 208 user reviews.

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