Thanksgiving in Cary

We had a nice little turkey day down in Cary with the Lanes.  Allison and Phil hosted their first Thanksgiving and did a fantastic job!  They had a HUGE spread for 20 people and it was all simply perfect.  It was a great day too so Charlie, Isabella and her other cousins had a big time playing outside in some leaves.  Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Charlie and I missed James at the finish line of hist half marathon so we took the victory picture back at the house :(

Hugs

Daddy making a pile

More cousin snuggles

plus Isabella's cousin Maddie

Helping out

Wish we had a video of this.  Charlie "sang" on the mic at full volume for a good 20 minutes.

Giving Granny a kiss before heading home

Busy weekend

Operation Potty

After keeping two potties in the house for a few months with lukewarm reception from Charlie we decided this was the weekend to go full force and actually put some effort into getting him potty trained.

So we woke up Saturday morning, threw out all the diapers, threw on some big boy underwear and didn't look back.  We spent the next three days repeating "If you need to go pee pee or poo poo tell mommy and we'll go to the potty" and "Are your underwear dry? Big boy!  Mommy is so proud of you for keeping your underwear dry!"

On day three he is doing an awesome job!  We certainly aren't accident-free but every day there are fewer accidents so we are on a good path.  He will head back to school for two days tomorrow before we have more days at home again for the holiday.

Holed up in the house, we are getting cabin fever a little but I'm couldn't be prouder of my big boy.  I took a lot of pictures because he looks so freakin' sweet in his big boy pants :)

Last moments in diapers

(the only action shot we took)

We had several parades

Daddy showing Charlie the "Chinese Pee Pee Boy"

Thomas stickers were a great incentive.  Here he is sharing them with Marley.

Making play-doh

Dressing up in his Native American garb from school

Playing with play-doy.  Charlie is cutting his steak (motor skills aren't quite there for actual molding and rolling).

Our holiday creations (Christmas tree, turkey and pumpkin).  And yes, James put up the Christmas tree prior to Thanksgiving while we were playing :)

Goldfish treat

Haircut!

I love the curls but a clean-cut boy is pretty cute too...

Helping the fireman up the ladder to the couch

5 Firetrucks!

Happy Birthday Izzy!

We headed down to North Carolina Sunday to celebrate niece Isabella's first birthday.  She is a real sweetheart and had a great party!  It was nice to catch up with the family too!

Great Grandma Meier was there!

Birthday Girl

These things were fun but hard to blow

Mmmm, cake

Presents with Mom

"Excuse me I'm trying to vacuum"

Uncle James

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Charlie and Isabella's cousin on the other side showing her how the blocks work :)

Crazy Grandpa

A bunch of Lanes!

Great picture with Aunt Allison

Big Boy

So while we were away for a week and a half, our baby boy turned into a big boy.  I swear he grew two inches and just looks so much more "boy-like" than before.  He had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa... thanks to them for coming up to stay with him!

In some gifts from China

Marl trying on the hat too

Proof Grandma was there

Little Emperor reading about trucks

Proof Grandpa was here

Dump truck and beans

Reading

China Trip - Shanghai

Our final leg of the trip was in the very-modern city of Shanghai!

Here we go!

We rode a high speed choo-choo (as Charlie would say) from the airport:

"Weeee"

Charlie's two favorite things

We went next to the World Financial Center, the second tallest building in the world:

World's second tallest building

Cool views

The next tallest building is being built next door

A visit to the Jade Budda Temple.  We couldn't take pictures of the Jade Budda but it was pretty cool:

The Jade Budda Temple

There were some fish there

Then to learn about silk:

How silk is made

James trying his hand stretching the silk

So a few people drive motorcycles here

Yu Garden:

Outside the Yu Garden

Fish petting with Simon

Inside the Yu Garden (we are starting to look tired)

We had some more school visits the next day:

Visiting a teaching college

Visiting an elementary school

Cutie-pies

English class.  "Excuse me, how do I get to Starbucks?"

That night we took a boat ride to see the city sky-line.  It was amazing (the pictures don't capture it):

The Bund

Pretty shot of the moon

On our last day, it finally rained.  Boy were we lucky the prior 11 days!  This is what the same skyline looked like in the nasty weather (it is fog, not pollution) as we explored the Bund:

Coffee and dessert at New Heights

Our last picture. Posing like many of the Chinese tourists we saw :)