The kids and I had a great opportunity a few weeks ago to go out on a US Navy Fighter Ship. It was so much fun!!
This is our crew on the boat ride out to the ship. Our friends Brooklyn, Savannah, and Jennifer joined us on this adventure!! More home school friends listening to the commander teaching about how the ship works. PROUD TO BE AMERICANS!! Dru and David with mommy in front of one of the helicopters on the ship! "If I were just a little taller!!" "Hmmm, If mom wasn't looking I could...." This is the POWMIA table set up in the mess hall on the ship.
We went out on an outing yesterday with the home-school meet-up group. We went to the Nature Reserve which is very near our home. The hike was not to hard and the kids had a great time playing with all of their friends. We had lunch on the hike and then headed down.
A couple things worth noting: First, the kids all brought a back pack with our lunches and water bottles in them. This way momma can go without a back pack!! :) The only downside is when 2 of the 5 leave there back packs half way up the hill and you have to go back up to retrieve them!! On the positive side, I had decided to skip my morning run since we were going on the hike, running back up the hill, I think more than made up for my missed run!! Zoee, Kyle and I ran up the hill in 7 minutes (On the way up the first time it took us about 15-20 mins to walk up). The second exciting news is that while walking back down for the second time David took a drink of his water and his 4th top tooth fell out. You can see from the photo that he is beginning to have more gums than teeth!! He actually started crying, because he is worried about what he is going to be able to eat!!
Here is toothless David and a picture of the most recent lost tooth!!
Here are the kids on the hike with some of their friends. You will notice that Zoee and Kyle are missing!! That is because they went ahead with some other friends so I don't have any pictures of them on this hike!! Oops!!
This is a Lizard that Jezrielle spotted on the hike!! I'm just glad we spotted it outside and not in our house!!
Many people have asked for pictures of our house. I decided to do a video tour!! This is my very first attempt at editing a video so please excuse the mistakes!! Enjoy!!
We spent 5 days at a retreat in Thailand. It was a nice time of rest and renewal on the ocean. The kids had a great time getting to know other children whose families live in Northern Asia. I thought the best way to share would be to show a short slide show of our stay.
With all of this swimming fun you can imagine that we had a couple pool mishaps!! Mom even had to jump in (with all of my clothes on top of my bathing suit) and rescue one of the boys from their brave attempt at breathing under water!!! All was well in the end, and from that point on we left swimming to the ocean only!!
I also wanted to share with you my first experience with eating fish with the head and fins still attached. I had no idea what I was ordering, but when it arrived I wasn't sure that I would be able to eat it. I was very proud of myself I overcame and ate it!! It was really not very good. It tasted about as good as it looked!!
BEFORE
AFTER
Here are a couple more pics I wanted to share. Did you ever wonder how they transport pineapple? Or where you might find motorcycles riding down the side of the freeway? Or did you ever wonder what happened to the good old days of riding around in the back of a pick up? We we found the answers to all these questions in Thailand!!
I went on an adventure with my friends Sarah and Lori. I don't know much about Hong Kong yet so Sarah and Lori planned the whole day. I was really just along for the ride!! :) After taking a train and a bus to get to Sai Kung we got on this boat: After we got on this boat my friend Lori noticed that she left her cell phone somewhere between her house and this boat!! So she spent the boat ride making phone calls trying to find her phone. She left my cell phone number with several places hoping we might get a phone call back from someone during the day saying they found her phone. I felt really bad for her not only because she lost her phone, but if you can imagine trying to make a phone call on a boat while it sounding like you are sitting on top of the motor.
This is a picture of the pier as we came to the island: Then these were some of the old village houses. The main site to see on this island was an old catholic church. There used to be missionaries on this island. These ruins are from the housing of the priest. And then the bell is in front of the old catholic church that is there.We received a phone call from Lori's phone at this church!! But they hung up before I could answer and then shut the phone off. :( On this Island you can even see the evidence of Christianity being brought to the island in there old cemeteries. There are crosses on almost every grave. You probably wouldn't think that is strange in the US but here in HK you don't ever see crosses. There are graves every where you go. We have one on the corner of our village as you walk in and I have never seen a cross before going to this island. Once we hiked across the island we came to a gulf coarse which we were hoping to be able to cross to get to another island. But as you can see from the photo it was all fenced off. Lori called the gulf coarse office to see if they would let us cross and they said no. :( So we turned around and took a boat back to Sai Kung. We had lunch in Sai Kung and walked around for a bit. The one thing worth mentioning while we were there was this sign: It is hard to read but it says Duran District. If you haven't had this fruit than this might be a little confusing. It is horrible smelling but I guess tastes great. I have not yet had the privilege of getting to try it. This restaurant makes a special section for those ordering Durian so that it does not bother those not eating it. I have heard mixed reviews on it. Mike and Lori both think it is awful. I will let you know my opinion once I get to try it!!
The rest of our day was spent shopping at the biggest Ikea in either HK or the world I am not sure which. But it was definitely big!! We did end up getting a phone call from the bus station adn Lori's phone was found and we went and picked it up!! She left it on the bus!! :)
So it has been a while since I have posted anything. A couple weeks ago was the Moon Festival. This is one of the biggest holidays here. Before we went to celebrate, we wanted to figure out what it was we were celebrating. Here is what we could find on the myth behind the moon festival:
A man got a pill from a wizard that would make him able to fly. He was suppose to wait a year to eat the pill. His wife ate the pill before the year was over and she floated to the moon. She asked a bunny on the moon to make a pill so she could go back down. The bunny is still making the pill. Every year on the day celebrated as the moon festival her husband visits her on the moon and that makes it the biggest and brightest moon of the year.
They also eat moon cakes every year on this day. The story behind the mooncakes is that there was a war and they hid notes inside of mooncakes to tell all of the chinese that they were going to attack the Mongols on this day. The Mongols didn't like mooncakes so they never new about the upcoming attack. (I don't know if this is real or mythical)
Here are the pictures of all of the lanterns that were set up during this time:
This is Kyle and Elliott pretending to be the alligator behind them.
Can you guess what David is being?? I'll give you a hint Pssss.
I think I may be able to see her tonsils!! Jez makes a great Hippo!! :)
This is the traditional Chinese American pose. They always show the peace sign when taking a picture with Americans!!
These are photos of moon cakes. They all have egg yolk in the center. They may look really yummy but don't let that fool you!! Kyle is the only one who really liked these. I thought they were kinda gross!!
Last weekend we had to go to Macau to get our passports stamped so that we could stay in Hong Kong another 90 days while waiting for our permanent visas to come. Since we had to go to another country for the day, we figured we might as well see the sights and create some memories. So, we did the Chinese thing and crammed as much into 3 1/2 hours as we could. It was a fun time. We were originally just going to walk around the city, but then we got nervous that we would get lost and miss our boat back to HK. So
we hired a mini van for the afternoon and he kept us on schedule and we got to see a whole bunch. Plus, ride around in an air-conditioned car!
First Stop, McDonalds!! No trip in Asia is a trip if you don't visit at least one McDonalds!! We ate both lunch and dinner at McDonalds. I would be ok with not ever eating there again!! Maybe an occasional Mcflurry would be ok!! :) Zoee is holding Flat Stanley in this picture. I think this is the 5th country that Flat Stanley traveled to. He was a class project that Zoee did when we were in the states. So his first trip to Asia was made in an envelope, then the second trip was on the plane with us.
Then we did a quick pass by a female buddhist statue. Not real sure the story behind this but the tour guide suggested we take a picture. :) Then, we were onto the needle building (can't remember the actual name) which is the 10th tallest freestanding building in the world. They allow you to bungy jump off this building for a price. I asked Mike if I could do it but he said NO!! :) LOL Instead we opted to just get a nice family picture in front of it. Then, we just looked to the right and were able to get this photo opp in front of the president of Macau's residence. It is the pink building in the background. After this photo opp we drove around and saw many beautiful churches. Macau is known for its old churches and for it's many casinos. It is Asia's Las Vegas!!
The next thing we toured was an old fort. It was very neat but due to our crunched time schedule we only could tour it for about 15 minutes. This was our favorite place. If we get an opportunity to go back we will spend a lot more time here. Right next to the fort was the St. Paul's ruins. It was neat, but not to much to see. Just a big wall!! As we were driving around you couldn't help but notice all of the motorcycles around. They were everywhere and not to many road rules for them. They kinda travel in a clump and will squeeze through vehicles wherever there is a space big enough. This photo doesn't really do it justice but it was hard to get a good picture of it. This blog is getting kinda long especially when I think all of this took place in a 3 hour time frame. The final thing we saw in Macau was the Grand Prix museum. I would love to go back sometime to see an actual race. They transform the whole island into a race track. They shut down there roads and the race goes right through the city. It is really neat! Then we made the 3 hour travel home. One long boat ride, Three trains, one bus ride and a lot of walking later and we arrived back home.
Here are a few more pics we wanted to share. This is a purple flower that Jez spoted and asked us all to stop so she could take a pic. Then we are in front of a fountain in the city square. These are 2 of the many casinos in Macau.
