First Month of School

The first month of school has gone as well as I could expect.  We are finally in the routine of it all and the boys seem to be happy.  It is a pretty weird feeling as we walk the hallways of the elementary school and my two babies are grown enough to be attending the school and carrying their big boy backpacks.  Lincoln is getting an incredible amount of academic work done.  Every week he brings home a massive stack of completed work from the week. Here's a few samples of what they've worked on.

 This is something Logan made on his 1st day. 

 Lincoln made this on his first day. 

 Funny story...the below picture is what came in the outside sleeve cover in the front of Lincoln's binder when we bought it.  A few days before school started as we were getting his supplies ready, he drew the above picture and put it back in the clear outside sleeve on the front cover of his binder.  Ricky and I thought it was so sweet.  After the first week, I pulled his binder out of his backpack and noticed the drawing was flipped over to again show the original picture, which is below.  The next morning I flipped it back around to show Lincoln's drawing.  That same afternoon when I pulled out his binder I noticed he had turned it back around to cover up his drawing.  I guess my sweet little guy was too embarrassed to have a picture saying I love you mom and dad on the front of his big boy first grade binder.  

 This is a picture Lincoln drew of a house fire. Hopefully he's not seeing our future. Not sure what prompted that subject.

Daddy dropping the boys off at their classes. 

RC Phillips Photography

The RC Phillips Photography website has been redesigned and is now up and running.  It houses a blog that Ricky writes and also a portfolio with a sampling of his beautiful pictures. I'm so glad that he's found a way to turn a passion of his into a small business.  He's great at capturing precious, fun and memorable moments. Check it out!

RC Phillips Photography

Oh The Things Children Say

Here are a few funny things our children say that make us laugh that we actually remembered to write down.

We were quickly walking into the hotel while on our trip to Idaho when Logan was apparently in front of Lincoln and going too slow.  Lincoln said, "Will somebody please get this walking carpet out of my way?!"  (That's how you know he's a Phillips! He's five years old and quoting Star Wars.)

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We were driving around running errands one day when it started to rain. Apparently Logan wasn't impressed with the speed in which Ricky was responding to the rain.

Logan said, "Hey, do you have any wipers up there?"

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Lincoln was moving all of his apps around his ipad, spreading them over numerous pages and frankly making a mess of them.  When I asked him why he did that he innocently replied, "I did it to make room for more games."

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We were out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant last night.  I started talking to Lincoln when he said, "Mom, sshhh.  (He was listening to a server speaking Spanish.) He speaks the minion language!"

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This conversation took place between Ricky and Lincoln.

Lincoln: How about you and mom spend your own money and Logan and I can spend our own money.

Ricky: What are you going to spend your money on?

Lincoln: Legos! The more Legos we buy, the happier we be.

Goodbye Friend

We received sad news on Friday that one of Ricky's best friends from his high school/college days, Dan Fiske, has unexpectedly passed away. Ricky will be attending the services in Oregon so that he can visit with Dan's family and other friends and say his last goodbyes.

1963 - 2013

1st Day of School

I can't believe my little guys are already starting school again. Since Lincoln is starting 1st grade, he had to transition to a new school.  Since the new school also had a great pre-school program, we decide it would be best to move Logan over also.  They've been in school for three days now and so far they are adjusting well and seem to like it. Here they are the morning of their first day...

Lincoln wants to be a jet pilot when he grows up. This is his first year having to wear a uniform.

 When Logan grows up he wants to be a trash truck driver. 

Watch out for these big boys on campus!

City of Shanghai

We had a couple of days to tour around the city.  We covered a lot of ground and saw a lot in the two days we were there.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Jin Mao Tower - It's an 88-story landmark skyscraper in the Lujiazui area of the Pudong district of Shanghai. It has an observation deck on the 88th floor that we went up to for a panoramic view of the city.  It was an amazing site to look out and see buildings as far as your eyes could see. There were a few grassy areas but we're told they often charge to use a park. It is truly a concrete jungle. 

This is the Jin Mao Tower 

This is the view from the observation deck on the 88th floor.

• Oriental Pearl TV Tower - At 468m (1,535 feet) high, it was the tallest structure in China from 1994-2007

• Jade Buddha Temple - is a Buddhist temple in Shanghai, China. As with many modern Chinese Buddhist temples, the current temple draws from both the Pure Land and Chan traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. It was founded in 1882 with two jade Buddha statues imported to Shanghai from Burma by sea. These were a sitting Buddha (1.95 metres tall), and a smaller reclining Buddha representing Buddha's death. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• The Bund - (meaning 'embankment') is Shanghai’s world famous waterfront which stretches for 1 mile along the western bank of the Huangpu River. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Jing'an Temple -  The Jing'an Temple is the most  famous landmark in the Jing'an District. It is the oldest landmark in the city, dating back to 247 AD, built more than 1,000 years before the official beginning of Shanghai in 1292. Originally located beside Suzhou Creek, the temple was relocated to its current site in 1216 during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). In contrast to its name, ‘Jing’an’ which means "peace and tranquility" in Chinese, the small, brightly decorated temple is a very popular attraction and often busy with visitors.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This man painted all of these pictures with the outside edge of his hand. I bought one as my souvenir for this part of the trip. It was pretty fascinating to watch.
  
  
  

• Underground shopping - small store fronts set up underground at the major subway station where any knock off item a tourist could want, is sold.  Tailor made suites, bags, knick knacks, clothing, souvenirs, etc. They had it all. You better brush us on your negotiating skills before you intend to shop here or you'll pay for it.
  
  We picked up a few little fun things for the boys.  They love to use chopsticks so these training sticks were perfect for them. 
  
  These toys fold into little balls and pop open once on this magnetic card. 

• Massages - who could pass up a 90 minute relaxing oil massage for $32??  We couldn't so we went back a second night for a 100 minute foot/body massage for $25.  That one wasn't as good but it was still worth it to me. 
  
  This was a real sign that I took a picture of in one of the massage parlors.

• The food - since I don't eat rice or seafood and I'm not an adventurous eater, I was a little nervous about finding things to eat in China.  I packed a few granola bars in case I had to eat them in lieu of a meal. Luckily we found some places to eat at which included McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Haagen Daz Ice Cream, Subway, an Italian place and a Western Burger restaurant. Overall I think we did pretty well and we still found a few new menu items to try. 
  
  The Chinese version on a Cesar salad.
  
  Pizza from Pizza Hut had never tasted so good.
  
  I loved the Coke Light cans.  Similar to our Diet Coke but doesn't taste exactly the same.
  
  We tried an Italian restaurant and the garlic bread hit the spot. 
  
  All of the noodles were imported.
  
  This is the Chinese version of a food truck. They had areas were half a dozen were set up in the morning to serve those going to work and they were slammed.
  
  Starbucks for lunch one day. The menu in China is about a third the size of the menu in the States.
  
  This was breakfast at the hotel.  They had the best fruit selection ever.  I was very proud of myself for trying the dragon fruit (white with seeds) because I thought it was pretty adventurous.
  
  This is the Western style burger.  It was huge. I had to cut in down but it was the closest thing I had all week to what is served here at home.
  
  I tried this creme puff from Choux Creme. It was SO yummy!  

• Shanghai Maglev Train - It is the first commercially operated high-speed magnetic levitation line in the world and only the third Maglev line to be operated. The train line was designed to connect Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the outskirts of central Pudong where passengers could interchange to the Shanghai Metro to continue their trip to the city center. 
  
  
  
  
  Our top speed on the train was 431 km/h (267 mph)

We relied on taxis, tour buses and our Chinese clients for transportation.  I am again very grateful that we made it home alive. It is one crazy city to drive in. There was a ton of shopping malls and districts but the reality is that everything was so much more expensive there then it is here in the States.  At first I was excited because they don't have taxes but even then it was still more and therefore also not worth the hassle of lugging it all the way home.  It was very very hot and humid so if I were to go again I'd go in the fall.  I learned they don't really sell sweatshirts because it's never really cold there and they don't sell shot glasses except in the underground stores. Overall I liked a lot of things about the city and would go back again.  The difference is that I feel like we saw everything there was to see in the city so it would be better to go explore some of the smaller outskirts next time.

Our Big Red Tour Bus

Our hotel was in the Big Thumb Plaza so they had this statue in our hotel lobby.

The rocks/art outside the City Center Mall

This was a Catholic church right behind our hotel.

Radisson Hotel Pudong Century Park

Ricky riding on the top of the tour bus over the river and into the city.

We took a few minutes to check out this underground Apple store.

The bridges and architecture were just amazing.  It was like every building was a piece of art.