The kids had Good Friday off from school so we decided to do a little weekend trip to a nearby city called Hangzhou. We picked Meagan up from the train station as she was getting home from a school trip to Nanjing to learn about the Japanese invasion of China. She learned about the horrific things that happened during that time. She said it was very sad and disturbing but also very neat. We took Meagan from one train to another and took the train to Hangzhou. We got in and got into our hotel and went to sleep. The next morning we got up and had a breakfast made by the hotel we were staying in. We wanted to go to West Lake and asked how to get there.
We were told that it was only about a 15 minute walk but with our kids it took a little more than 20 minutes. We got down there and found all these boats that would take us to the little island in the middle of the lake.
Before we got to the island we stopped at these cement statues in the water called "3 Pools Reflecting the Moon".
Our boat driver told us it was the place that is depicted on the 1RMB note. We now wished we had started figuring out where all the places on the money were and tried to visit them all. We walked around the island and took a few pictures.
This one was fun and after we took it we noticed all the other people around us wanting to do the same. It was kind of funny.
Then we got back on our boat and went back to the main shore and decided we wanted to walk over and see the Leifang Pagoda.
It looked really cool on the outside but when we got into it we found that it had been rebuilt.
They built it over the old pagoda and we could see the foundation of the original pagoda that had been built over a thousand years. The view from the top was pretty cool also.
Each of them got a few small presents. 
Then they started to hunt for eggs. The rule was that Meagan and Heidi could only get eggs that were higher than their waists. 
They had a hard time finding all the eggs. Emma 
and Eric
found theirs first and then tried to help Meagan and Heidi find all the hard ones. They loved opening up their eggs and finding all the yummy little candy that was inside. 
Oh what fun and joy!!!
We had a friend bring us back some egg dye from America.
Eric put his egg in the orange and thought he had to sit and wait for it to turn colors. 
We told him he could color it with crayons 
or put it into many different colors. That opened a whole new world for him. All the kids had a great time. Meagan even still wanted to decorate eggs that she put off hanging with her friends until she was all done. 
Each of the kids picked out their one favorite egg to share. Meagan's was 3 differnt colors that said "Live, Love, Learn".
Emma decorated one that was orange and called it a sunset egg.
Eric's favorite one was his first one that he put in the orange dye and left it here for a long time. 
He also wanted his picture taken with all the eggs he decorated. 
Overall I think that decorating Easter Eggs is one FUN activity.
We got to watch a movie on how Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist and took his syrup to a local soda shop that would add water to it for a drink. One busy day someone accidentally added seltzer water and ice and that was the beginning of the most popular drink in the world. (or so they say) Then we watched how it went all over the world and Shanghai became the first city out of the US to sell the most bottles. I can't remember the amount but it was a lot. After living here in China and feeling like I am the only person in the world that doesn't drink Diet Coke I was not surprised to hear how many bottles are sold. Then we got to watch the production line. It was amazing to hear that they are able to run over 1500 bottles a minute through the different machines. We got to see how they wash the bottles, fill them, and package them. It all was pretty cool. 
We even got to see what happens when packaging gets jammed and cans go flying. Lastly we all got a little souvenir. A bottle of Minutemaid Orange Juice and a Coca-Cola notepad. I know a lot of people were disappointed they didn't get a free can of coke but we were glad we got the juice instead. Besides everyone likes orange juice, right? 
That is the fastest train in the world. 
It took us 45 min to drive out to the airport and 7 minutes to come back to the city. Then we all got on the subway
and went down a few stops to the place we would play for a few minutes and have a snack.
Then the children all got back on the bus and went across the river to Puxi to People's Square and had lunch. They had been given little booklets of things to look for or hear while they were there.
I had a luncheon I had to be at so David met Eric here and took him the rest of the way on his fieldtrip. They ate lunch and then walked to the river where they caught a Ferry boat back to Pudong which is the side of Shanghai we live on
. Then back onto the buses to return to school.
Eric's friends invited him to go home and play with them and he was so excited and I got a few extra hours to finish things up and take the Heidi birthday shopping, finally.
We got to watch a fun sea lion show
and then see lots of animals while we were on the bus. 
The kids loved all the animals. There was a place where you could feed the lemurs. Some of the kids loved it while their parents were freaking out and some of the kids were very nervous just like their parents. I kept wanting to take a picture with Eric and the lemurs but as you can see in the picture he wasn't too sure and had to make sure he kept an eye on them.
It was great because we definitely wouldn't have learned as much if it was in Chinese. The museum was also hosting a dance festival with dancers from Mongolia. Emma and her friend Alli wanted to get their picture taken with them in their very cool costumes. 
Emma and Alli went all over and had a great time. At the end the girls were supposed to write down somethings that they had seen and did. While they were doing this these Chinese boys kept watching them and wanting to watch them write.
I guess sometimetimes they are as fascinated with us as we are with them. David took Eric on his fieldtrip because I was in Hong Kong for a Women's Conference and therefore didn't take as many pictures but here are a few of the things Eric did at the Science and Technology Museum. Emma still has 2 more fieldtrips, one to the insect museum and one to Century Park. I don't know if Eric has any more but it is fun to get to go with the kids now that nobody is home. It definitely keeps me extra busy!!!!
