Best Family Dog EVER

Finally, the moment Molly, the family pug, has been waiting for:  Hudson can play.  The two of them are so cute and sweet.  Molly will get a favorite toy (stacking cup, stuffed penguin, or stacking ring) and take it to Hudson.  Once he notices it, Molly will run over to the dining room table area (about 8 feet away). This is just far enough that Hudson has to work at getting there by going across about 4 feet of hardwood, slippery floor.  Once he gets very close, Molly will just let him touch either the toy or her feet which makes Hudson giggle hilariously (me too) and Molly runs around the table, but comes close enough so Hudson can get to her and not get frustrated.   They play like this until Hudson can barely go any more.  Check out these videos of what I am talking about.  You can hear me laughing louder than Hudson.  So much fun!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf6QX2YpX0I

Tiny Minds

Having been in the education profession for most of my adult life, I take pride in my technology knowledge and skills.  I tried to keep up with the "kids" in my classroom and my own children.  Emily and I have done face time on our iPhones, we even did a three party video chat with our daughter Maureen a few years ago when she was in Germany studying.  Emily can "see" Hudson anytime she wants to during the day using video chat.

Now that Maureen is in Berlin completing research for her PhD, we manage to "see" her most days for a chat.  Since we provide daycare for our 10 month old grandson, Hudson, he gets to see his Aunt Maureen most days.  She can watch him crawl and pull himself up on the furniture.  He gets so excited when her face pops up on the computer screen.  He even reaches for her to pick him up.  Amazing.  I can't help wondering what Hudson's world will be like when he can see his Aunt in Berlin on a daily basis.  Maureen even turned her computer around so we could see the view of the famous TV tower and church out her balcony.  It boggles the mind that I can see out Maureen's apt. window in Berlin while sitting on my couch in Prairie Village, KS.

Below is a screen capture that Maureen did while Hudson, Joe and I were visiting with her last week.

We received an iPad from the kids for Christmas.  Hudson goes crazy over it.  It is just his size.  He really wants to take control over it.  His world will be unimaginable.

Retirement Projects

Of course, my most special retirement project since last summer has been caring for our grandson, Hudson Gallagher Fors.  We joined the Kansas City Zoo and during the summer and fall we managed to visit the zoo at least once a week.  Although Hudson seemed more interested in watching the children, Joe and I enjoyed the walks.  The zoo is really a great walking zoo. Hudson always dresses for the excursions.

We will look after Hudson almost daily until he ready to transition to daycare and then preschool.  Since we live so close to these schools we will be able to do the drop off, pick up, and after school care.  Should be fun.  He is such a joy.

However, when we weren't watching Hudson, I enjoyed making things.  I made wine cork wreaths last winter.

Our daughter, Emily, loves to entertain, and is the hostess for many couples' baby showers.  I made a couple of diaper cakes, and my latest experiment was making a diaper trike.  These are really easy and fun to make.

Chimpanzee Escapes in Kansas City

Yesterday, I was whisked back in time by a news report about a chimpanzee that escaped from its owner and was chased, or rather it chased people, police, kicked in a police cruiser window and generally went crazy. Why was I taken back in time?  When I was young and living in Grand Island, NE only a few houses from my Grandmother's house, there has been severe winds one summer night.  In those times, everyone listened to the radio.  The next morning, a broadcast came on warning people to stay away from Ryder Park, a local ballpark near our house.  During the winds the night before, the Drive In Theatre had been hit hard.  So hard in fact, that the small zoo had blown over releasing several monkeys into the neighborhood.  The monkeys had been spotted near the ball park.

Of course my mother immediately jumped into her car, picked up her mother and headed two blocks to Ryder Park.  They had just pulled up along the street on the north side of the park and rolled down their windows when a flash jumped into the car.  Sitting in the backseat was one of the wild monkeys.  I'm not sure who was more scared Grandma, Mom, or the monkey.  The police were nearby and rescued the monkey.  Our family was showered with movie passes by Wally Kemp, the theatre owner for catching one of the monkeys.

I'm really glad I didn't hear about the escaped chimpanzee yesterday because I would have been compelled to go to the scene in memory of my Mom.

Hudson is the happiest baby ever . . .

Our grandson, Hudson Gallagher Fors, came into our lives on April 29, 2010.  Making his debut at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, MO changed not only his parents' lives, but ours as well.

We had so much fun while his Mommy, Emily, was on maternity leave.  We went for strolls, shopped at the mall on really hot afternoons, and Joe and I "helped out" by watching Hudson so his Mom could train for a triathlon.  Hudson and his parents loved spending time at their country club pool all summer long. Aunt Maureen even got to fly back from Amherst, MA for a couple of weeks in the beginning and again in August for a week before her school year started.  Maureen made him a hat with ears to wear for his newborn photo session.

After his Mommy returned to work, Joe and I started caring for Hudson.  It is so much fun to watch him grow and change each day.  We go for strolls back and forth between their house and ours here in Prairie Village, KS.  It is a 2.5 mile round trip which is just perfect.  We also got a zoo membership, so now we can go to the zoo.  It is fun to pack a picnic lunch and spend time at the Kansas City Zoo.  There is a new polar bear exhibit which is our first and last stop when we go to the zoo.

Ready to go to the zoo.

Watching the polar bear wait for his fish.

We have lots of fun during the day.  Hudson loves to play, sing, read books, and kick and move.

Strolling to our house

Hudson is so happy, he keeps us all laughing.

Pudong Airport via Maglev Train

As we all gathered for our last breakfast in China together, we reflected on our wonderful experiences.  We exchanged email addresses and promised to keep in touch knowing full well that rarely happens but wanting to continue the bond the eight of us had shared over the past 9 days.

Our bus was loaded and headed out of Shanghai.  We drove by the site of the 2010 Expo which is almost fully built and will open on May 1.  Our guide had one last adventure planned for us and that was to ride the fastest, most expensive train in the world.  The Maglev train travels at 270 mph.  Our luggage headed on to the airport, as we boarded this world famous train.  Our trip of 19 miles took us around 7 minutes with the train reaching speeds up to 431 kmph  (267) mph.

We beat our luggage to the airport.  After checking in, getting boarding passes and going through immigration, we headed to gate C91 for Beijing.  A brief stop in Beijing had us boarding a bus to the International Terminal where we continued the 16 1/2 hour flight to San Francisco, leaving a part of us in China, but taking much more with us.

On to Shanghai

We gathered our belongings, met in the lobby, and headed for the airport for our early flight to Shanghai.  Flying within China seemed easy, however, our guides took us to check in and walked us to the security gate each time, so we never felt vulnerable or insecure.  Joe and I were lucky enough to have an empty seat in our 3 seat row which allowed me to have a window and Joe got the aisle.  Since Xi’an is in the geographic center of China, having a window seat gave me lots to look at.  Lunch on the flight was a very spicy red pepper mini-wich which I eagerly offered to Joe.

Upon our arrival in Shanghai we walked at least a mile to baggage claim.  The airport is extremely modern and beautiful.  This time we had added a third bag to our collection of checked luggage.  We were met outside the gate by our guide, “Annie”.  Our bus was waiting to take us to Pudong  to the Oriental Pearl Tower (the highest tower in all of China).  To the Chinese it is known as “two dragons playing with a pearl”. This was a great starting point, and a very popular place for tourists.  It has several observation decks at various heights.  We went to the deck with not only floor to ceiling glass, but the floor was also glass.  It was dizzying, but interesting and allowed us to get a 360 view of the city of Shanghai.  We spent lots of time there viewing and going through the Shanghai History Museum. Pudong is the fastest growing urban area in the world. The Pudong district sprang up from farmland in less than 20 years. Pudong houses some of the world’s most architecturally innovative skyscrapers. One looks like a bottle opener with a large trapezoid opening near the top. The Pudong New Area is larger than Shanghai itself. There are more than 6,000 skyscrapers which serve as the headquarters of international banks and Fortune 500 companies.  Most of these building also have light shows and colorful lights at night which we found out and got to see first hand later.

Our bus crawled into Shanghai through one of the three tunnels and headed to the restaurant and theatre.  Since we were a bit early, we were allowed to go to a Silk Factory which happened to be on our way.  We got to see the process of soaking the cocoons of the silk worm, the spinning, and we even got to experience the stretching of the spun silk. There was even a bit of time to shop for the handmade silk products.

The restaurant was a noisy, rowdy, popular place with lots of people there for a company celebration.  This restaurant was once again family style with unusual and very tasty dishes.  From here we went to the famous Shanghai Acrobatic show at an old theater.

All of us were pretty spent, a few slept or dozed during the amazing performance, so we were all really happy to arrive at our hotel around 9:30.  This hotel is the Central View Suites located along Nanjing Road.  This is a well know location.  Nanjing Road is like the 5^th Avenue in New York City, only longer and with more world famous brand stores. It has long been the main shopping street in all of China. In addition to individual shops and boutiques, it is home to several of Shanghai’s most notable department stores, shopping malls and supermarkets.

Joe dashed out to get beer and coke before retiring to our luxurious suite.  Tomorrow we have Shanghai to explore all on our own.  Before Annie left, all of us asked about going on a river cruise.  She delightedly offered to not only hire a van/cab, but to get the tickets and accompany us to the dock and go with us on the cruise. 

Our group met at breakfast and made plans for the day.  Some of us wanted to go to the Cyber Mart, so we decided to start with a taxi ride there.  The concierge arranged a cab for us and we were off – on our own in a very foreign yet western seeming crazily busy city.

We enjoyed looking and being badgered to bargain and buy.  We purchased a Canon battery pack for our digital camera,  a couple of solar chargers for various electronics and Joe got some headphones.  Most of these were name brands that may not have been real name brands, but the price was right.

After gathering for coffee at the corner Starbucks, we headed out to walk to the Yu Bazaar. This turned out to be quite the foot expedition as we wandered through neighborhoods packed with little shops and people.  The streets were winding, narrow and busy.  We finally reached the Yu Bazaar. This area is complete with ceremonial gateways, rosewood lanterns, traditional pagodas. However, it was constructed to look this way intentionally in the 1990’s. It is one of the best places in Shanghai to shop for gifts and souvenirs.  Haggling is expected. A man talked me into following him down some alleyways to a house.  Once inside the courtyard we saw lots of watches, bags, luggage, wallets, etc.  I scored two Prada bags (I’m sure they are not real Prada, but they look perfect) and we were off.  Later, I found some other requested items to take home for souvenirs.  I was relieved and excited to find these items.

Our friends Peter and Dana, and Joe and I hailed a cab back to the hotel.  We took a 7 minute break to drop off bags and we were off for more adventures.  I was determined not to waste a minute of our time in this amazing city.  We grabbed some lunch at Wagas, and then began our walking journey to The People’s Park.  Along our walk we noticed many vendors selling merchandise and even one group offering French wine tasting.  This turned out to be a 1 to 1 ½ hour walk.  In the Square, there was a silent protest taking place.  I think there is a protest there almost always.  The people gather, hang their complaint on a wire, or bush, and walk around in front of the government building.  We were told that occasionally, an official will come out and ask what their grievance is.  That’s it.  The area is interesting and a very quiet, beautiful, park to enjoy. In the late 1800’s this area was a racecourse. The park has been created now to include trees, a small lake, flowerbeds, and manicured lawns.  There is also a Chinese garden, a rock formation and a lotus pond.  Groups of retired Chinese play mahjongg and chess, ballroom dance play with their grandchildren and enjoy the outdoors. 

We all met in the lobby at 6:20 to head to the river boat cruise of the Huangpu River.  The boat departed shortly after 7:00 and traveled along both sides of the busy waterway; first on the Pudong side to view the lighted, Times Square like skyscrapers with ever changing light shows as well as the Oriental Pearl Tower and the returned along the Shanghai side which in front of what is known as The Bund, colonial era government buildings.

We arrived at the hotel around 9:00.  Some of the group met for drinks, went our for massages, or just headed to their rooms to pack for the long day heading back to the USA tomorrow.  Big event tomorrow: riding the Maglev Train to Pudong to the airport.