Shenzhen

Nathan has been stuck on the Mainland since the beginning of June. He is waiting for a special work visa. During this time he doesn't have his passport and is not able to come into Hong Kong. The kids and I have been crossing the border on the weekends to visit.

The Marco Polo 35th floor has been his home. The kids enjoy the complimentary mints at the front desk and the pool. There aren't an abundance of parks and places to take the kids around the hotel so we spend the time playing lots of games of Phase Ten and the photo below pictures us playing pass the pigs. The World Cup has begun and we have been catching some of the matches on the TV at the hotel. We even woke up at 2:30AM to catch the first US match. Jane stayed up for about 15 minutes then decided to go back to sleep.










We attempted to visit the library on this day but were told the kids were not allowed in. We found out later that it opens later allowing the kids in. Across the street from the Marco Polo is the Ferrari dealership. In Michigan seeing such cars would be rare but we see Ferrari's on a fairly regular basis.








What might you find on a day out in Shenzhen?
Crocs of all kind




You might see these cute kid's picture inside a department store



Bethany and I found the kids pictures in Children's world in Huangchangbei. This was their photo shoot for ET Club.

















A day out shopping lead us to the book store that has a huge selection of English books. I came prepared to spend some money. I found American History books, a Hardcover Fancy Nancy that will be a birthday present for Jane Shhh.. A Spiderman book for Elliot for Christmas shh.
Full price value over 100USD. The Fancy Nancy book alone would cost $18.
I got the lot for $30USD possibly could have gotten less if I bartered even more, but I felt like I was getting such a good deal I was satisfied.

Videos

I have found myself a little loss for blogging inspirations since I finished our trip to Michigan. I thought I would spend this blog highlighting our videos. We post them on Vimeo.com under the username outypants.
Soon I will have a Shenzhen post since Nathan has been there for almost two weeks and might be there for longer. We have spent two weekends and soon a weekday visiting him- I have quite a few photos to post.


Is this the indication of a blog in decline? Posting videos and talking about posting a blog soon. Sheesh!

May I offer an alternative if you are looking for a well written and interesting blog concerning family life in Hong Kong and featuring the cutest Australian kids The Harveys site

DD and CC from outypants on Vimeo.

At the Pool from outypants on Vimeo.

HKG - GRR from outypants on Vimeo.

seven gardens from outypants on Vimeo.

Jane's Lego estate may redeem this post yet.

Comments

I had an issue on my page that wasn't allowing comments. I think it is fixed now. Sorry about that.
Thanks Renee- for the heads up.

The Romans

Mario Kart on the Wii -the kids had so much fun playing with the help of Joy and Uncle David



















Jugo


















Uncle Marti who calls Benin West Africa home was in Coleman during our visit and Jared had just returned from his travels.








Joy put on her gown so we could have a picture, the day before Graduation. She was Salutatorian

Frakenmuth Michigan

We visited Frakenmuth, MI with The Romans. We stayed at Zehnders Splash Village the waterpark inside the hotel and ate at Zehnders restaurant for lunch. Frakenmuth was founded in the 1800's as a mission to the Chippewa Indians.






Elliot enjoyed the piggy back rides from Emma.

The waterpark has 3 slides and giant bucket that periodically dumps water. The hotel is adjacent to Bronners Christmas Wonderland







Bronners is the size of one and half football fields dedicated almost entirely to Christmas paraphernalia. An ornament for every hobby and personality you can imagine. The founders are Christian and throughout the store it is clear that Jesus is always the reason for the season. You can spend hours just viewing the giant store displays. Visited by 2 million people a year from all over the world. On a Monday morning we could hear people in the store not speaking English and taking photos.





The Glockenspiel plays the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin three times a day