McLain Family Blog: The clock is ticking

The countdown has begun for the second annual trip to the U.S. (home???) for Rebecca and the boys. This means that Rebecca scheduled a "let's spend some time together but really just shop the whole time" trip to Shanghai for her and I. We actually had a great time picking up some gifts, eating some great food and actually spend time together!

Both Ro and Ri had field trips Friday, the day we headed out. Rowan got to dress in street clothes to go visit a farm. It's almost evil how cute he can be.

To counterbalance the cuteness, he's been working on his "scary eyes" (his words). Just in case cute doesn't work, he wants to be sure you know things will get ugly in a hurry. I've decided it's best to just give him what he wants. Always.

First stop on our date weekend was to the orphanage. It was children's day, so there was a celebration of the hard work put into the orphanage. Overall, the orphanage was impressive. Above is one of our friends giving a speech.

I was holding her foster child, who I'm pretty sure won't end up a colts fan.

Who's that in the back row? That's right, we didn't know that Riley's field trip was to go to the orphanage and perform. That's how I roll.

Finally, we made it to the JW Marriott in Shanghai after lunch and round one of shopping. Here is the view from our room on the 54th floor.

In the morning, we headed out to the park in front of the hotel. The next few shots are of a massive match making event held in the park on Saturdays.

Thousands of parents and prospective mates were in attendance.

Here's some closer shots of the postings, which listed annual salary, age, cost of apartment, etc.

This is the hotel we stayed in. A side note: Above the 59th floor lounge is the highest library in the world (echo, echo, echo). Unfortunately, upon making the climb up to it, it was closed for renovations.

11 people, 750 kg??? I'll let you do the math on the per person average weight.

View from just off the bund (see below).

We decided to hit a restaurant we had heard quite a bit about - M on the Bund. Nice food with great views. Above is the old banking district before all of the foreigners were kicked out of Shanghai.

View of the bund to the right.

My view, best in the house.

View of the iconic Shanghai skyline, Pudong. Perspective - the bottle opener building on the right is about 30% (too lazy to look it up) taller than anything else in the city...

Thanks to my lovely wife, who noticed it on the menu, I was able to check Pavlova off of the Facebook "100 things to Eat Before You Die" list. Don't see many with dragon fruit, I bet.