A long climb up a mountain

May kicked off with a long weekend for the girls and, as part of Kiddo’s birthday present/celebration, we took a family trip.  We asked Kiddo what she wanted to do for her birthday this year, would she want a party with friends or something like that and she said that she wanted to “take a trip with mumma and dada and just a family getaway.”  Can do!

We headed to Moganshan and the bamboo mountains there.  We also got to Xinshi and the ancient town there.  It was a cool trip.

The downside of it was that it was a holiday weekend in China, so a LOT of people were on the road.  Normally it would be about a 2.5 hour drive to cover the 160km, but with traffic it took 5 hrs.  UGGGG!  Thankfully we were on a bus as part of a tour group, so we could all just chill and read and not worry about traffic.  

Kiddo had a blast and there were a number of other families and kids as part of the group, so she had peers to play with and pal around with while there.  The hike was gorgeous.  The views were awesome.  The resort thing that we stayed at was cool and had a ton to do, including kayaking and a petting zoo type area.  There was also horse riding, more trail hikes, a pool, a play area for kids, massage, salon, etc.  We didn’t get to do any of the other mentioned activities, but we are talking about maybe getting back in August before J goes back to school; not as a tour group, just as us where we can explore more at our own pace and just chill.  

Xinshi was beyond awesome.  It can be dated to it’s established date of 308AD.  Yeah!  That’s right, 308.  Not only that, it was a key town on the Silk Road and is one of the Seven Ancient towns of Jianguan.  Sorry, but that’s freaking AWESOME!  Over 1700 years of history.  Just marinade on that for a minute.  America was founded in 1776 and will be 250 years old this year.  So, Xinshi, at 250 years old…. The Byzantine Empire was still at it’s peak and was still 2 CENTURIES until the first stages of The Great Wall was built.  I’m just mind blown.

We had some fun.  We got some pics, but mostly had pics taken.  Seriously, Chinese people saw us and were falling over themselves seeing us.  Especially when J and I needed a coffee so we sat down at a little local cafe and got coffees.  The shopkeeper brought us coffees and a juice for Kiddo, but also gave us sunflower seeds; which it seemed like was a thing, as every placed we passed, the local were sitting and eating the seeds.  We taught Kiddo how to crack the seeds and eat them and she happily sat for half an hour munching right along.  The locals lost ALL their bananas seeing that.  A little white girl with light hair munching a local snack with her white parents, looking for all the world Western, but acting Eastern.  I’m not lying when I say that about 4 people literally tripped over their own feet they double took at us so hard.  Full on to the ground.  

We got a treat and it was the same thing.  People stopped to take pictures with us.  The fact that we didn’t go to the Starbucks or anything like that, but instead did the local thing is what I think people were amazed at and freaked out over.  The fact that we ate and drank local stuff and acted like locals sitting on steps and just being out of the way, but having a snack/treat, was what really got to them.  It was super fun and super cool.

We got home and chilled, but the spring weather has been great.  I’m starting to walk more, so the girls took me out to a park they go to and showed me the walk there.  We got some great views of Shanghai and just got family time to chill.  Kiddo loves to take pics and close ups of flowers and the like, so she did.  She also wanted to get a pic of J and I together.  She’s the sweetest little thing.  The next day, the girls went to get their toes done so they would have cute toes to show off in the nice weather.  They also went to the climbing gym to get some of Kiddo’s wiggles out.

Since then, it’s just been catching up and life.  I needed to get to Costco, follow up with a doc, pick up my meds, and stuff like that, so it’s been a busy week for me, especially with the girls going back to school on Wednesday, so the holiday extended into the week and a lot of stuff was closed or on limited hours until Wednesday, so it kind of forced me to push things back.  It was nice, however, to have the days with the ladies and to just be a family.  

Let’s go, Kiddo…. You have about 22 days of school left in the year.  It’s getting towards the end.  Next thing you know we’ll be on our summer travels and you will get to see Beer and Thailand again.  We hope it’s just as fun as this last weekend was, if not more.