Visit from Japan

My mom came with two of her grand daughters, Shiholi (8 years) and Nahoko (5 years) to see us in Suzhou.

Akiva and Kenaz were very excited to meet their cousins. So was Naho-chan. She wanted to sleep, take a shower with her cousins.

First day, we had a brunch at dim sum restaurant near the lake. We had excellent shrimp dim sum which Akiva always loves. Later we went to a silk factory to see the process of silk making. It was Sunday. We had a really hard time to find a taxi to go anywhere from there. Jesse took one for Kenaz to go home first so Kenaz (and Jesse) could take a nap. The rest of us couldn’t find a taxi for a while. Kids still had a good time running around out side. My mom and I were freezing cold. Finally we found a taxi. We didn’t want to go anywhere. We decided to go back to close to our apartment and grab some Cold Stone ice creams (it is great to eat ice cream in cold day which makes me feel warm!).

Next day we went to a Stone Forest Garden. All kids loved there. It was like a big mystery stone mountain with caves and tunnels.

Kids went up and down to find a way out. Kenaz was a little bit frustrated keeping up with older kids. Three hours after Kenaz was tired and slipped off from slippery stone stars. It was time to go get lunch. We went to our favorite gyoza dumpling restaurant.
Monday, we went to a Shanghai zoo to see pandas. Shi-chan and Naho-chan were really looking forward. We left Suzhou early to catch up a zoo feeding time. We got the zoo on perfect time. The pandas were eating bamboo trees. Tigers were having fiesta. My high light was a baby gorilla and fight between daddy gorilla and silver boss gorilla. I had goose bumps to look at their small nature. We were at zoo too long. We almost missed our train.

Tuesday early morning, my mom, Shi-chan and Naho-chan took off. It was a very short visit. However, we all had a great time.
Shi-chan and Naho-chan are wonderful kids. They are very mature for their age. I was very surprised how Shi-chan was able to re-direct attention when my boys got too wild or started attacking her (as if she was a monster and they the super heros). Naho-chan fit into Akiva and Kenaz as if she was always their sister. She was able to teach Akiva how to pose in front of camera like a cutie. Later, when Akiva went back to his preschool it was a picture taking day. His teachers were amazed how well Akiva posed to camera. Naho She often guided Kenaz when he didn’t want to walk. In fact, Shi-chan and Naho-chan took care of my boys at home. Jesse and I could relax and sit on the sofa (normally Akiva and Kenaz jumping on us if we sit).