Banana tree

We have a banana tree in our backyard.  Bananas starting growing in September and we have been patiently waiting for them to ripen ever since.  Last week, they finally started to ripen.  We have been eating them for snacks.

Our banana tree

Last weekend the kids helped me make some banana muffins.  Tommy has been taking a cooking class after school on Tuesdays.  He has had 3 classes, and he is pretty sure he is a master chef.  We made some muffins with chocolate chips, some with walnuts, and some with a crumb topping.

My little bakers

I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but they were delicious.

Observation Wheel/Mid-Levels

We were very excited to visit the Obervation Wheel.  We had been watching the construction of it and were excited it was finished.  The Observation Wheel is a large Ferris Wheel right on the Central Harbor front that provides great views of the Hong Kong skyline.  You are completely inclosed in a clear gondola.  It moves very slowly, 3 revolutions take around 20 minutes.  We took the Star Ferry to get there.

View of the wheel from the Star Ferry

In the gondola

Tom and the kids with the skyline in the background

 The area at the base of the Observation wheel contains a great promenade for viewing the water and taking pictures.  We saw several wedding parties as well as a crew filming a scene for a movie.  There is another area which can be rented out for private functions.  It currently has a European style carnival with rides.  We did not visit the carnival (the rides are mainly for older kids and adults), but the kids enjoyed looking at all the rides from the wheel. 

View of the harbour

The European Carnival

Wedding parties on the plaza

After we rode the wheel, we decided to walk to the Mid-Levels to find a restaurant for dinner.  The Mid-Levels has a wide variety of restaurants, almost every kind of restaurant you can imagine.  After looking at some menus for a variety of restaurants, we decided we really wanted some American food.  We got a recommendation for a hamburger place.  It was really good. 

View of the mid-levels from the escalators

Our food.  We each got a cheeseburger.  We also got some fries and chili cheese fries. 

The kids split a milkshake

The restaurant had some fun signs

We had a great day!

Trip Home!!!

We made our first trip back to the US for Christmas.  We were all very excited to go home.  (Although Tom had a business trip to St. Louis in November so he had just seen everyone.) 

Tommy and Charlotte with Santa at the airport

Eating at the airport lounge before our flight

 We had great flights home.  The kids were so well behaved on both flights, and our flight from HKG to DFW got in 90 minutes early so we were able to catch an earlier flight home to STL. 

The kids got to go in the cockpit before the flight to STL

We had a great time visiting with family and friends over the holiday.  We had a great time in Columbia celebrating Marie's birthday and seeing Aunt Kim's family.  We also really enjoyed seeing Grandma Trudy and Grandpa Harry's new place.  They had fun doing an incredible pinata with Uncle Justin and Lilia.  The kids especially enjoyed seeing their cousins.  They had fun at the Magic House and at Bounce U.  Of course we had a great Christmas and New Year's.

Katherine at the Magic House

Charlotte

Lilia and Tommy

Merry Christmas

Tommy made a poster to celebrate 2015

cousin movie night on New Year's Eve

Overall, we had a great trip.  We were sad to leave and are planning on coming home for a longer amount of time this summer so there is more time to see people and go places.  We were glad to see a couple good friends while we were home, but are hoping to see many more this summer.  We are looking forward to having visitors this spring.