Our Weekend

We finally got word that Isla’s passport was ready to be picked up, so she and I ventured down to the consulate early Friday afternoon. Getting the passport took minutes, but finding a cab and making our way back to Kangqiao took nearly two hours. That’s what you get living in the biggest city in the world, I suppose. We made it back to the Upper School just in time to watch Isaac’s basketball team play their third game of the week. Isla was wide awake and alert for the first part of the game, but by half time she was confident enough in the Dragon’s lead to snooze for the remainder of the game. They pulled another win and have a 3-0 standing for the division league games. Hooray!

We celebrated with family snuggling and tacos… our favorite kind of evening.

 

On Saturday morning, Isaac headed back to school for the SCIS Dragon Cup, a basketball tournament where our 3 campuses compete, and the focus is on sportsmanship and teamwork, rather than the mighty W. Isla and I joined a group of our favorite gals for some shopping at the Concordia Christmas Bazaar. Isla made sure to dress for the occasion, and I must say she was looking adorably festive!

Isla fell asleep during her post-bath blow dry… I’d say we’re making progress with her baths..

We made a stop to Starbucks for some warm holiday sips and then walked to the bazaar. It was my first trip out (other than neighborhood walks) in Shanghai with our stroller, and I am pleased to report that it handled beautifully, even navigating through throngs of people at the bazaar. We spent several hours enjoying the merry atmosphere, admiring goods at the dozens of booths, and we even made a few purchases.

We bought a small bamboo nativity scene at this bazaar last year and love it! It is so fun to incorporate collectibles from our travels and international homes into our holiday displays (and everyday decor for that matter!).  We’re saving ahead for next year, because I’m pretty certain our Christmas collection needs this incredible dragon boat ark. All of the accompanying pairs of animals are from the Chinese zodiac. So cool!

All shopped out.

Once every corner of the bazaar had been explored, Isla and I hightailed it back to the school to catch Isaac’s final game of the tournament. After the Dragon Cup wrapped up, we headed to the Lower School to join many of our lovely coworkers for a Thanksgiving celebration. The spread was delicious, the company was cheery, and we had so much fun introducing Isla to her SCIS family!

We awoke Sunday to moody gray skies and drizzly rain. The gloomy weather prompted us to postpone the photo shoot we had planned, but we happily spent our day snuggled up inside together in our jammies. Isla was awake for most of the day and was full of smiles and sweet baby babble.  She is getting stronger every day and can hold her head up for long stretches of time. She loves to be propped up over our shoulders so that she can look out the windows at “her trees.”

“Can you believe Daddy put my pants on backwards?!” Haha!Loving Daddy kisses!

Chatting with Daddy.

Smiles for Mommy.

Baby girl is getting a little leg chub- love it!

World’s cutest belly button. Yep.

That afternoon, as we listened to our beloved Charlie Brown Christmas album, I put our favorite pork roast on the stove, and Isaac hauled out our Christmas decorations. We began to deck the halls, and got the tree up and partially lit- finding warm white Christmas lights here has proven to be a frustrating challenge, and therefore our Christmas tree decorating is stalled. Even in its “partially festive” state, the house felt so sparkly and warm- I just love Christmas decorations! We wrapped up the evening with steaming cups of cocoa and this season’s first viewing of Elf.

Our aforementioned Chinese bamboo nativity.