Birthday outing
On Tuesday afternoon we celebrated Myles' friend Angelina's birthday (her mother, a former English teacher, prefers we call her by her English name). She just turned six, and like his other Changping friend, Dudu, her parents have made the rather unconventional choice of not keeping her in kindergarten this year (Dudu does attend part-time, but not every day, full days). Kindergarten is not compulsory in China as it is more like a nursery school or day care. It is probably because both of these families have made some unconventional choices with respect to their child rearing that we've gravitated towards each other. At the parks and playgrounds, I usually encounter grandparents minding children, and grandparents aren't necessarily motivated to make new friends with a foreign family. I had a similar situation when we lived in more international neighborhoods in Shenzhen, except there it was the nannies and ayis that weren't interested in making my acquaintance.
For her birthday, Angelina's family hosted us, Dudu, and a few others kids from a small, new, local private school for lunch and cake, followed by an outing to a local farm that is a year-round "Country Fair," as Angelina's mother described it. She told me the place was called Xiang Ju Lou, though I wonder if there is another name it is known by because I did not find any information about it on the Beijing Kids website. As close as I think it is to Shunyi, I can't believe it isn't on the expat radar.
This place was huge, and since it was midweek in March, deserted except for the farmers and a few employees. One of the highlights was the huge playground/amusement park, filled with rustic entertainments. It was such a nice change of pace from the disproportionate noise of the motors, music, and buzzers of the tiny amusement park in Changping Park.
We got lost in a labyrinth.
A zipline, from which it was difficult to drag Myles away.
A barrel on a track.
Swings for little children.
Swings for older kids, powered by adults.
And all kinds of other climbing and sliding amusements, built mostly of wood and heavy rope.
Another highlight of this farm was the hands-on agricultural demonstrations. Similar to what we did Halloween weekend at Green Cow, the kids enjoyed shucking corn and carrying loads of sticks on their backs. Myles and Brigid could shuck corn for hours, but probably because it is something they only have to do for fun. If we had to live on a farm, I wager they would not find it as much fun. I could be wrong, though. They do fight over turns with the vacuum cleaner.
This farm also sports fruit orchards, livestock (which includes normal farm animals like horses, cows, pigs, and goats, but also a few regular exotics like a pair of reindeer, a camel, and ostriches), horseback riding, and a snow-machine created hill for sled-riding.
I am hoping that I can find it on my own so we can return. The kids really enjoyed it, and with some Claritin I would enjoy it more. I suspect it gets insanely busy during better weather and on weekends.
For her birthday, Angelina's family hosted us, Dudu, and a few others kids from a small, new, local private school for lunch and cake, followed by an outing to a local farm that is a year-round "Country Fair," as Angelina's mother described it. She told me the place was called Xiang Ju Lou, though I wonder if there is another name it is known by because I did not find any information about it on the Beijing Kids website. As close as I think it is to Shunyi, I can't believe it isn't on the expat radar.
This place was huge, and since it was midweek in March, deserted except for the farmers and a few employees. One of the highlights was the huge playground/amusement park, filled with rustic entertainments. It was such a nice change of pace from the disproportionate noise of the motors, music, and buzzers of the tiny amusement park in Changping Park.
We got lost in a labyrinth.
A zipline, from which it was difficult to drag Myles away.
A barrel on a track.
Swings for little children.
Swings for older kids, powered by adults.
And all kinds of other climbing and sliding amusements, built mostly of wood and heavy rope.
Another highlight of this farm was the hands-on agricultural demonstrations. Similar to what we did Halloween weekend at Green Cow, the kids enjoyed shucking corn and carrying loads of sticks on their backs. Myles and Brigid could shuck corn for hours, but probably because it is something they only have to do for fun. If we had to live on a farm, I wager they would not find it as much fun. I could be wrong, though. They do fight over turns with the vacuum cleaner.
This farm also sports fruit orchards, livestock (which includes normal farm animals like horses, cows, pigs, and goats, but also a few regular exotics like a pair of reindeer, a camel, and ostriches), horseback riding, and a snow-machine created hill for sled-riding.
I am hoping that I can find it on my own so we can return. The kids really enjoyed it, and with some Claritin I would enjoy it more. I suspect it gets insanely busy during better weather and on weekends.
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