The Kids are All Right

Summer break is over.  Vermont was amazing.  So were Chicago and Connecticut.  Non-stop fun with all of our favorite people.

One of many trips to Dairy Creme with our besties.

Lots of quality bike riding.

Water fun in CT with Aunt Liz and Uncle Jamel (not pictured!)

A whole day and night without kids in the big city.

Eleven cousins and zero trips to the ER.  Unprecedented.

So much fun and love and fresh air that I was worried about getting these kids on the flight back to Shanghai.  But, you know what?  It was fine.  The kids were all right with coming back to Shanghai.  Maybe because it's only for another five months.  Maybe because they were exhausted.  Maybe because it's not so bad here!  In any event, they were all seemingly ready to get back, see our friends here, and start 5th and 8th grades at Shanghai United and kindergarten at the Child Academy.

Eli and Teacher James on the first day.

The next 4.5 months will fly by.  I'm already torturing my fellow Mindegros with lists of places to go and things to see before we go home.  They humor me.  Mostly.  Last weekend, I dragged took them to see the Jewish Refugee Museum.  Between 1933-1941, over 25,000 Jewish refugees sought safety in Shanghai.  The small museum does a nice job of telling their stories.  Many, many with happy endings.

Sometimes, Matthew does the dragging...

In front of the beautifully renovated synagogue in Hongkou district.

I've also decided to focus my last few months here on food.  How is that different from my previous focus you might ask?  Uh, good question.  I want to try food from every region (Sichuan -- check; Yunnan -- check), and be able to recreate some of it when we return home.  Maybe not the tongue or lungs though.

Restaurant Sichuan food (some of you might recognize the liver/tongue/lung dish on the right).

Homemade Sichuan food from our Sichuan-born Ayi.

Yunnan fried goat cheese.  Sugar and pepper on the right for dipping.

I'm not leaving China until I figure out what to do with these guys.

Spring's Chinese chive and egg mega dumplings.

Feast at Harry's house.

Eli testing out the mooncake molds.

Cookies I made from the mooncake molds.

I'm experimenting with rice noodles.  So far so good.