Home - It feels good

It is SO good to be home!  This weekend Andy, Ali, and Brady came into town and Lucy and Brady finally got to spend some quality time together.  It started out by playing with the water in the dog bowl:

Brother and SIL meet again. :)

Norm and cute LaRue (Norm's pretty cute too!) :)

More fun with the dog bowl.

Then Grandpa took them on around in the wheelbarrow.  Does it get more fun?

On Saturday we headed to to the park to play in the water.  Here's Auntie Ali and Lucy splashing around.

Lucy really thinks she can walk when she sees her very mobile cousin prancing about.

Brady anxiously anticipating the water coming in.

Cute brothers.

Father and daughter - aw .... I love this pic.

More time splashing around together.

It's so good to be home with the fam.  I love it.

HOME!

We're home! I haven't even pulled my camera out of the bag yet, so no pictures today. I just wanted to let you all know that we are home and loving it. More soon!

Mama, I'm coming home

ONE MORE GET UP!!!! Whoo Whoo, Whoohooo! (As Butch, the Coug, would say). We board in about 20 hours. As luck would have it, however, the Shmoo is getting both of her top teeth. One has come through, but judging by her need to gnaw on any and everything, as well as her extreme fussiness, I think the other one is right behind. This is really the first time she has been fussy with teething. Poor girl - I wish I could do it for her.

Here are some pictures from the "Henna Party" we had last night with Bob, Jen, and the girls. This is the third year of a tradition Pete and I call "summer henna." It all started two years ago in Turkey when we were hennaed as part of a wedding celebration. The henna tattoo faded fast, but it stuck around on Pete's fingernail all summer. One day in the fall when we were already back to school, Pete declared he was not letting go of that summer feeling until all the henna was gone from his finger. Last year, right before summer, we were invited by one of our students to the Afghan Embassy. Again, the henna came out and Pete made the declaration again. Thus began the tradition of "summer henna." When we were in Singapore over Easter Break, we bought some henna in Little India for this year. I really like this tradition - it will be fun when Lucy can join in on the party. :)

This last picture describes how Pete and I feel about our VERY TINY kitchen. We are constantly breaking things because there is not enough room for anything. Needless to say, we are looking forward to a summer of counter space.

Well, sorry for no Shmoo pictures today and for being such a bad blogger the past few days. It has been crazy, crazy busy getting ready to leave. So, I sign off from Hong Kong and hopefully my next blog will be from the U.S. of A ... Mama, I'm coming home!

One more ...

work get up! Hooray! The kids are done - we just have to go into school tomorrow until 11:00am to close up shop. The last two days have been crazy with graduation and prom. I am truly exhausted and in much need of summer. I can't wait to spend my days with Pete, Lucy, and the rest of our family. We head to Macau tomorrow for the weekend, then we come back, pack, and get on the plane on Tuesday. Summer, summer, summer time!

No More Mondays!

There are many toys I like to play with.

Look at the new shoes Auntie Katy bought me!

There are no more Monday get ups in the 2007-08 school year. This makes me smile. Four more work get ups and we leave for home a week from tomorrow!

Father's Day at Ocean Park!

The weather wasn't too bad today, so we decided to take Katy to Ocean Park. It was lots of fun and I think it was a good way to spend Pete's first Father's Day as well.

Both Pete and Katy spent a buck or two trying to win Lucy a stuffed animal. Neither succeeded, so Pete ended up buying her a gigantic stuffed dolphin at the end of the day.

Here's the ride up on the gondola to the other side of the park. It's a bit scary, but the views are gorgeous.

Here's a little video of the ride.

At the top, we visited the seals. I just love seals.

We can see our apartments from the top of Ocean Park. They are the three lovely towers in the middle. Count to 42 ... that's our floor.

Lucy riding a statue.

Pete bought a new hat in Lamma last weekend and it did not surprise me one bit when he made me take this picture today. Silly guy.

After our bathroom break, we were just in time for the dolphin show! Yeah!

We left the show early and headed for the sharks ...

And for more underwater entertainment, we headed to the Atoll Reef.

It was a fun day ... I think Lucy even enjoyed it, although I have to say at this point she gets more excited about Cheerios along the way than she does about the dolphins. Cheerios are pretty good though ... I see her point.

Finally, I just want to say "Happy Father's Day" to my Dad and Norm. I am so blessed to have you both in my life. It was great to talk to you today, Norm, and, Dad, we will call you tomorrow morning. We knew you were still in BBR today.

Now on to the last week of the 2007-08 school year - what a year it has been!
5 more work get ups ... 9 (single digits) everyday get ups until summer!

Saturday

Just a pretty basic Saturday around here. The weather has been so gross! We really wanted to take Katy to Lantau today to see the "Big Buddha," but it didn't seem like a great thing to do in thunder and lightening. I hope we can get there before we leave though.

All Gussied Up

Pete got all gussied up tonight for the 8th Grade Dance he had to chaperon. He wore his new suit that he had made in Shen Zhen a couple of weeks ago and he looked very dapper. Here he is spruced up with his favorite gal (well, one of his favorite gals):

We are down to five more work get ups and 11 more every day ones!

End of the year = Busy!

So, I've been a bad blogger this week. It just seems like time is flying by these days, especially with Katy here. Last night Kate and I went with a bunch of girls from school to "Sex and the City." I thought it was good. I mean, it was cute and entertaining. Believe it or not, I kind of missed the "Sex and the City" craze - I've really only seen a few episodes. I knew enough to enjoy the movie though and it was fun to go out with the girls.
Here's Lucy in the outfit that Pete bought her on his China trip. Marianne declared today that she needed to wear it because it was soon going to be too small. I'm sure we'll pull it out again this summer.

SIX more work get ups and TWELVE more everyday get ups until summer! Yippee!

We Left the Apartment!

Hooray for us! We actually got out today and took Auntie Katy to somewhere other than Ap Lei Chau (our neighborhood). We took the ferry over to Lamma Island and did our favorite hike between the two towns there. It was a beautiful day (although VERY hot and humid) and lots of fun.

Katy still is refusing to let me take her picture, so here are some of the other ones we took:

Pete and the Shmoo at the top of the mountain. Lucy has discovered her tongue and is constantly sticking it out and doing weird things with it, as you can see below.

View from the top ... I think I've posted a picture exactly like this before.

On the other side we stopped at Rainbow Restaurant for some tasty food. At the end of the meal they gave us this complimentary not-so-tasty dessert.

This is Pete's face after he tried it.

And here is a view from the ferry ride home. All in all it was a great day. Guess what Pete and Katy are doing to bring the day to a close as I post this? That's right ... poker. :)

On last thing ... There was a huge group of South Africans eating at the restaurant as well. All of a sudden they broke into song and I caught it on camera. I think it is really neat. Hope you enjoy as well.

Lets see ... I haven't done the countdown in a while, so where are we ... 1, 2, ...
9 more work get ups (single digits ... whoot whoot) and 15 more everyday get ups until summer! Hooray!