Halloween this year is on a Sunday. Jim has been making crepes for breakfast on the weekends. Today, he made Halloween pancakes. Terri had given the girls pancake molds for Halloween one year. Halloween is Aunt Terri’s favorite holiday.

The girls have Chinese lessons on Sunday. After Chinese, Elle has a Sunday play date with Ana Paola. Jim and I have known her father from the gym for a couple years. Just this summer, the two girls met at the pool. After lunch, it was time to try on the costumes to get photos and have everything packed to take to Jinqiao.

Emmy had said this summer she wanted to be Medusa. She read the Percy Jackson series of five books. The series have Greek mythology woven into the stories. She knows all about the Greek Gods. Emersyn had designed her dress. She drew it on paper to take to the fabric market. The dress cost more than I wanted to spend for Halloween, 250rmb ($35), but how do you say no to an original Emersyn design.

Elle had decided to be a panda bear for Halloween on our trip to Chengdu to see the pandas. She got a panda hat, panda gloves and a panda purse for candy in Chengdu. We just needed the panda body. Elle’s panda bear suit cost more than I wanted to spend for Halloween, 250rmb ($35), but how do you say no! It is well made with a lining to keep it from being itchy.

When she puts her head down, she looks just like a panda. Jim put the SF hat on our panda. The Giants are in the World Series this year (must have been the good luck from Eleri’s birthday at the game this summer). They have a player they refer to as The Panda – Pablo Sandoval.

Our friends, Mary and John, host a fabulous Halloween party. The fun began early at 3pm since it was a school night. The Humes invite us, the Jenkins (Scott, Jennifer, Sean & Sophie) and the Bishops (Dan, Faith, Avery & Riley). It is fun to spend this holiday with our friends. Everyone bought a yummy dish to add to the meal. John was the master chef on the BBQ with chicken and lamb skewers. Mary makes the best pumpkin cookies of which I ate too many. My tummy hurt at bed time from one (or more) too many cookies.

It was time to put up the Halloween decorations. We pulled the Halloween bin out to begin the decorating. A fun task the girls love to do. The putting away task will be mine- Not fun!

The girls had fun with the cob webs strung everywhere – but they were concerned the ayi would clean it all up! We were ready for Halloween.

Eleri had a classmate’s birthday party on Saturday in Jinqiao. After dropping her off, I had the task to find some pumpkins which is not always easy in China. I needed a pumpkin for the family to carve and Elle needed a pumpkin she can carry to school for Friday. My first stop was Carrefour on a SATURDAY – the worst day to go – hoards of people! Since it was pouring rain, more people were shopping and not outside playing. The pumpkins were very, very sad at Carrefour so I passed hoping for better luck at Pines. I did buy more Halloween decorations which made a couple girls happy.

My next stop was Pines with high hopes as I wasn’t sure where to go next. Pumpkins are generally at the Expat stores as China does not celebrate Halloween. The local wet markets won’t carry large pumpkins. Pines had VERY large pumpkins at a VERY large price. The pumpkins that were left, we large and flat. The flat part doesn’t make for a good carving pumpkin. I found the last tall pumpkin at 140rmb ($20) – SOLD! There were no small pumpkins for school. I had to buy a green Japanese pumpkin for Elle’s school fun.

I went back to the birthday party to wait for Elle. I called home to see how things were going. Jim was working on Emmy’s Medusa snake hair. We had purchased rubber snakes at YuGardens. Jim was too busy to talk. When I asked Emmy how it was going, she commented, “I don’t have to be Medusa, I can be something else”. Hum, that good!

The Medusa snake hair was on plan B. The first plan was to glue snakes to a wig. Since that did work, Jim created a plan B. Jim is very good at finding a solutions to any problem. He got an old baseball hat and cut off the bill. Then, he sewed the snakes onto the hat. By the time Elle and I got home, Jim had been sewing snakes for 3 hours. He was a bit grumpy, which I can’t blame him. I poured him a glass of wine as he sewed the last of the snakes on the hat. It looked great and more importantly Emmy had a big smile.

After dinner, we began the carving fun. The pumpkins in China have a thick skin, but very little seeds and insides. Jim, the master craver, went to work with his helps.

The helpers have more fun as the master craver does all the work.

Elle drew ten different pumpkin faces to choose for the family pumpkin. She was very pleased to have her drawings.

For Grandma and Grandpa’s last weekend in Shanghai, we decided to see some of the sights. Our first stop was the Jing’an Temple on West Nanjing Lu. The Jing’an Temple (静安寺; literally “Temple of Peace and Tranquility”) is a Buddhist temple. The first temple was built in 247 AD, at the time of the Kingdom of Wu, during the Three Kingdoms period. Originally located beside Suzhou Creek, it was relocated to its current site in 1216 during the Song Dynasty. The current temple was rebuilt once in the Qing Dynasty. The temple is located in the middle of the City which has grown around it. After living in Shanghai for four years, we had not visit the temple until today.

This structure is located in the center of the courtyard. People throw coins into the openings for good luck. It is harder than it looks! Elle was picking up all the coins that we missed for retries. It took a few tries for me to get one in.

Our next stop out and about in Shanghai was the Shikumen homes (石库门), literally “stone gate”, is an architectural style for residential buildings in Shanghai combining Western and Chinese elements that first appeared in the 1860s. At the height of their popularity, there were 9, 000 shikumen-style buildings in Shanghai, comprising 60% of the total housing stock of the city. The Shikumen homes/neighborhoods are slowly being torn down. It is interesting to walk through the streets to see these homes before they are all gone.

We left the Shikumen neighborhood for YuYang Gardens (Yu Gardens). There are actual gardens at YuYang, but I have never been to them. Mimi and Papa toured the gardens when they visited us in Shanghai. We go to Yu Gardens for the shopping. The area around the gardens has many old style buildings. YuYang is touristy, but interesting. The Grandparents also needed to see the zig-zag bridge. I don’t think anyone really saw it as there were too many people. We did enjoy a bit of shopping.

Before dinner, we stopped by Xintiandi. Xintiandi (新天地) is an affluent car-free shopping, eating and entertainment district of Shanghai. It is composed of an area of reconstituted traditional shikumen (“stone gate”) houses on narrow alleys, some adjoining houses, which now serve as book stores, cafes and restaurants. Most of the cafes and restaurants feature both indoor and outdoor seatings. Xintiandi means “New Heaven and Earth”, and is considered one of the first lifestyle centers in China. Xintiandi is near the site of the First Conference of the Communist Party of China.

One of the restaurants had this poster for Octoberfest.

After dinner in the French Concessions, we enjoyed the beautiful evening on our deck.