Balloon Animal?

Dear Friends,

We had never seen a balloon animal backpack quite like this before.

Love,
H & B

Utensils Sets

Dear Friends,

I just love these utensil sets for kids.  Not exactly what you would find in North America or Europe.

Love,
H

Oreos

Dear Friends,

We have not tried these green tea ice cream Oreos ...YET!

Love,
H & B

Barbie's Matchbox Car

Dear Friends,

We think Barbie left her Matchbox car in the Former French Concession. Would have LOVED to have seen the driver of this!

Love,
H & B

Lantern Festival

 Dear Friends,

We went to the last night of the lantern festival with a few thousand of our closest friends. So glad we saw it and so happy to never have to endure the crazy crowds again.

Love,
H & B

Chinese Sugar Zodiac

Dear Friends,

These are characters of the Chinese zodiac made out of sugar. He pours it on the marble template, puts a stick in it and waits for it to cool. Yummy, sugary works of art.

Love,
H & B

Saturday Run

Dear Friends,

While we do find many nice places to run, we often have to go through places like this to get to them. Sorry about the photo quality, it's not easy trying to snap a photo on a phone in the middle of a long run. Actually, I cannot do it, the credit for this goes to my running partner.

Love,
H

Local Band

Dear Friends,

On a sunny afternoon walk through one of the local parks there were numerous bands fighting for attention. Each had their own speaker to make sure you heard every note!

Love,
H & B

Candy Floss

Dear Friends,

The Chinese can set up ANYTHING on a bike...even a cotton candy machine.

Love,
H & B

Laundry Day

Dear Friends,

Just another sunny laundry day in Shanghai.

Love,

H & B

Door

Dear Friends,

While we cannot claim that every building has a door as beautiful as this, they do pop up  in the most unexpected places.

Love,
H & B

Dessert

Dear Friends,

After a lovely dinner, we were delighted by these chocolate ice cream bites. They were perfect with the wine and the view.

Love,
H & B

Tai Chi

Dear Friends,

In addition to the kites, there were many individuals and groups out and about for their morning exercise.

Love,
H & B

Kites

Dear Friends,

An early morning stroll on the Bund was a true cultural experience. There were many men out early flying kites. This guy even let me fly his kite for a bit which was the first time I EVER had a kite off the ground. I should have stuck around for some more flying tips.

Love,
H

Best Dressed

Dear Friends,

We have seen the best dressed dogs in the world here.  Sorry this one is looking at the camera for you.

Love,
H & B

Pearl Tower

Dear Friends,

We actually made it across the river during our staycation. It was fun being tourists in our own town.

Love,
H & B

Horse Purse

Dear Friends,

While we have seen some unusual things here, we have not seen a person actually using one of these yet.

Love,

H & B

Night on the Bund

Dear Friends,

We loved the view from our room on the Bund. Our staycation was fantastic!

Love,
H & B

Puxi Checkers

Dear Friends,

Brad loves that he gets to play hockey a few times a week.  I wish the rink was a little closer so I could go watch more often.

Love,
H

Hockey Fans

Dear Friends,

We all bundled up and trekked out of town for Brad's hockey game one Saturday night. I loved having all the friends to keep me company in the stands. They were fantastic entertainment and the hockey was great too!

Love,
H

Pop Rocks

Dear Friends,

Good news!  China has their own version of Pop Rocks.

Love,
H & B

Carrefour Chickens? Ducks?

Dear Friends,

We could probably post for six months just by taking photos at our local Carrefour.  This is the dried poultry isle.

Love,
H & B