Fifi's Journal: Lukas's Graduation

Taking a break from travelogues, even though the next trip technically took place before the events of this edition of Fifi's Journal.

However, I thought it would be a good idea to commemorate this big event in a more timely fashion - Lukas' VPK graduation!

Original manuscript below:

Lukas's Graduation Ceremony

On Saturday, it was Lukas's graduation ceremony. It was rainning outside.

Before the show started, we watched a video talked about students what they want to be when they grow up. Lukas said he wanted to be a teacher in the video.

After the video, the whole school sang a random song. The girls from VPK3 peformed diffrent dances. One of the dances is a cheerleader dance.

At the end of the graduation ceremony, Lukas got a candy necklace and a diploma. Me and my parents were proud of him because he graduated from VPK4.

Last, we got Lukas's painting. It was a colorful pineapple.

The graduation ceremony was awsome!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Lukas!

It's slightly belated due to date's proximity to the Chinese New Year activities this year, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to commemorate Baby Lukas' second birthday!


What a year it has been for Baby Lukas, too!

Less than a mere month after celebrating his first birthday, his whole life literally shifted to the other side of the world as we moved from Florida to Shanghai, China!

Celebrating Lukas' first birthday in Florida one year ago!

Not unlike big sister Fifi, Baby Lukas has obviously spent a large portion of his life living in Asia - in fact, almost half of his whole life so far has been on this side of the Pacific, and that ratio is only going to get bigger for the near future! Living in China seems to have made an impact on his development as well. He is chatting quite a bit these days and it's clear that he has a preference for speaking Chinese instead of English, although he will often mix the two languages, most notably using the English "No" in place of the numerous Chinese words for "no", such as "bu yao" (不要) or "mei you" (没有), while continuing the rest of the sentence in Chinese. For example, if he sees Cherry getting ready to go, he often assumes she is planning on leaving him behind (why he assumes this is quite beyond my comprehension, since this very, very, rarely occurs for real) and he'll start crying out "No zou (走)!" or "Don't Go!"

Meeting Maternal Grandma for the first time

And Maternal Grandpa

Baby Lukas' first walk on Shanghai's famous Bund

Besides Shanghai, Baby Lukas also got to experience other parts of China and Asia, too!

Going on his first large family vacation with Grandpa and Grandma to Jiuzhaigou

Having fun with Big Sister in Japan

Exploring Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan

Meeting Great Grandma in Taiwan

Meeting Great Grandparents in Taiwan

Of course, it wasn't all travel and fun and games, we studied too, as Lukas started twice-weekly toddler classes in the fall:

OK, I guess it's still pretty much fun and games!

We went through another Christmas season:

And experienced Chinese New Year... in China!

So here's to another great year for Toddler Lukas!

The Clan's China Adventure, Episode 11: Activities with Just One Kid

Wow! The clan has been here for over six months already! Everything is really starting to click on all cylinders now as we have adjusted to our life in Shanghai, be it the crowds, the air quality (which has actually been pleasantly clean for most of the summer), Grandma moving in (by surprise no less), and, in Fifi's case, starting school for the first time!

An Auto Awesome interpretation of the neighborhood pool from above

We've also come up on a bit of a holiday season here in China, having celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival, where we got a few days off, and getting ready to celebrate China's National Day in October. For Mid-Autumn, we decided to take a trip to visit the in-laws in Wuxi, but not before celebrating with our neighbors at the apartment complex!

Some Dance students were invited to perform at our Mid Autumn banquet

Hand-made moon cakes!

For our latest trip to Wuxi, we decided to see some of the sights. Wuxi is something of a mini "Hollywood" town in China, as many "period pieces" have been filmed here due to the large "Ancient China" movie sets in the area. Among these are the "Water Marsh Town", inspired by one of the great Chinese classics, "Heroes of the Water Marsh" （水浒传):

Hanging out with the driver

Traditional style family meal

The main gate of "Water Marsh Town"

A Kung Fu show was included in the price of admission:

I really, really suck at archery

A film crew!

A mockup of the Imperial Palace

A sampling of the films shot here

The next day, we went to a nearby park that I'd gone to with Brother Ming a while back called "Dragon Head Island" （龙头渚):

Fifi experiences her first Chicken Prep

Fail

But the title of today's post is mostly about our adjustment with Fifi spending most of her week at school. The biggest impact to myself has been that drop her off at school each morning. For Mommy and Lukas, the change has been much more drastic, as they were accustomed to Fifi's presence every day, all day. So, I took a week off shortly after school started to hang out with Mommy and Lukas at home, and during that week, we did quite a few activities together!

The Shanghai Zoo, with only one kid... how long as it been!

Add caption

I remember riding these way back in the day in Taiwan

How did that cat get in there? Note the baby monkey clinging to the mommy monkey, too!

One of the coolest (and free!) museums in Shanghai - the Shanghai Wushu Museum!

Master Huo Yuanjia of "Fist of Legend" fame!

Hah!

While hanging out with just one kid is quite a bit more relaxing, we definitely missed Fifi's company. Fortunately, she is doing quite well at school, and of course, we save most of the fun activities for when she's around!

Boating at Century Park

A nice bridge with water lilies at Century Park

Finally, a performance!


Stay tuned for more super exciting adventures!