Asia Part II - Shanghai

We had a great time in Shanghai! We arrived later than planned due to our delay in Vietnam. We were busy with work but I did get Saturday off to tour around the city. Two of the ladies from the Target office were nice enough to be my tour guides for the day.

LOTS of pictures to share...


Shanghai airport


Big temple in the middle of the city

People throw money into this huge thing for luck

A turtle-dragon? Outside the Yu Gardens

Part of the Bazaar at Yu Gardens


The Pearl Tower

That's the financial tower on the right - tallest building in Shanghai


Looking across the river at The Bund

Pearl Tower


A shot from the other side of the financial tower (now on the left)

The arrow is pointing to the 100th floor observation deck where we went to check out the views of the city


Me, Lucy, Brandy looking up into the ceiling of the financial tower observation deck.


Looking down through the glass floor of the 100th floor observatory!

We're looking DOWN on the giant building next door!


Looking out over the river (hard to get a good shot with the glare on the glass)


Looking down at a park - the cars are teeny!

Working with a vendor at the Target office


Yep, I ate a big bowl of RAW fish for lunch one day!


We had dinner on the river one night - it was beautiful! The restaurant had a beautiful patio overlooking the water.

Cool buildings along the water


Looking out across the river.


China countyside as we were driving to factories


The view out my hotel window.

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Asia Part I - Vietnam

Well - here I am in Vietnam! We left Mpls at 12:45 Sunday afternoon. We flew for 13 hours to Tokyo, walked to our next gate and flew 7 more hours to Vietnam. We arrived at the hotel 12:30am Tuesday morning local time.

First class was fun! I didn't get any pictures but thoroughly enjoyed my fully reclining seat, snacks, watching 2 movies, 3 tv shows, and napping. But, by the second flight I was ready to be on the ground!

I called Ryan and checked email for a bit, showered and went to bed for a few hours. We met for breakfast and then got picked up at 8am.

We toured two factories and I got to work with people that I email back and forth with quite a bit. We accomplished so much more in person - it was great!

We had an amazing lunch at one of the factories - spring rolls, soup, tofu, beef, rice, veggies.

We also spent a lot of time in the car! Probably about 3.5 hours total. The traffic is insane! EVERYONE rides scooters and the weave in and out of cars, in the wrong lane, with as many as four people on a bike! We saw an entire family - mom, dad and two kids - on one scooter!

We were supposed to leave Vietname at 1am Wednesday time. We got to the airport and were told it was 2 hours delayed when we checked in. After various updates, our current estimated departure time is 6:40am. We're sitting in the business lounge at the airport - all on our laptops. All exhausted! I think I've slept a total of <8 hrs since leaving Mpls. YIKES!

The pictures below are not in order but here's a glimpse of Vietnam!


Me, Lynne, Patrick, Kate by the sign with our names at one of the factories.


Look at all the balloons on the back of this bikes!

Production lines at the factory.

After dinner.


I had just followed this dress that I worked on all the way through the production line!

View out the hotel window.


Motorbikes!

Really nice bathroom at our hotel!

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Visit to Iowa

We spent the past weekend in Iowa and were lucky enough to see my sister Meg and her family and Ryan's family. We spent one day in Des Moines enjoying Rex and Myla now that they are home from the hospital. It was so great to actually hold them and snuggle. And Quinn kept us entertained - he's a ham! We spent the rest of the weekend at Ryan's sister Steph's. His parents, grandma and Aunt Debra visited too. Brenna talks a TON - can't believe she'll be two on Friday!

Lots of pictures - enjoy!


Cuddle time with all three!


Uncle Ryan doing double duty


Miss Myla before her bath

Time to eat


Peace and quiet

Fluffy hair from his bath

Quinn size pumpkin


Q-ster

Uncle Ry and Myla


Quinn's BIG boy bed! The duvet cover was my most recent sewing project.


Happy Aunt D

Sweet baby


Grandma and Brenna

New coat and snowpants! (just in time for snow in OCTOBER!)

Reading with B

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Babies Wanted!

I've been sewing a lot lately - mostly burp cloths. They've made great baby gifts and I'd love to start selling them. If you know of anyone having a baby and you need a small gift - here's your opportunity! I have boy, girl and neutral patterns. Shoot me an email! Tell your friends!

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September News

The last two weekends I've gone to the library used book sales. Between the two sales I got 28 books for $14! That's less than the price of one new book at Target - gotta love it! I think I'll be set for a while...

We sold our entertainment center from the basement! We had it posted on Craigslist and it didn't take long to find a taker. After she picked it up Ryan moved the old tv down and rearranged the basement. It looks so much cozier and hopefully will get some use now that there's a nice tv down there. Now I've just got to hem the curtains and find some art for the newly empty wall!

I also hit up a garage sale yesterday and got some great clothes for the twins and books for Quinn. I'm turning into quite the bargain hunter - Ryan must be rubbing off on me!

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