Chinese New Year-Disneyland

We were so excited for Aunt Kara, Uncle Patrick, Lilia and Katherine to visit over Chinese New Year.  They arrived late Saturday night.  After spending Sunday exploring the local area and resting to try to recover from their jetlag, we headed to Disneyland on Monday.  The kids had a great time riding all the rides.

On the Disney train

Cousin love while waiting in line

Perfect sized seats.

The first thing we did when we got there in the morning was get line tickets for the girls to meet Anna and Elsa later in the day.  They had been at Disneyland the last couple times we went, but the line was always too long (or closed) for a meet and greet.  After lunch it was our designated time.  Patrick and Tom were happy to take Tommy to another part of the park to ride a roller coaster while we waited.  We only spent about 10 minutes in line.  Katherine was scared, but the big girls were very excited.  I am happy that is checked off the list.

Charlotte with her Anna pigtails and Lilia with an Elsa braid

We stayed until the night parade.  They put on a good show and I thought it was worth staying for.  Unfortunately, since it was so crowded, we had to get spots for the parade and wait for awhile before the parade started.  It had been a long day and Lilia was still jet lagged, so she ended up falling asleep about 5 minutes before the parade started.  It had been a long day for everyone and we ended up carrying 4 sleepy (or asleep) kids out of the park.  It was an exhausting, but fun day.  

Hiking

One of the great things about living in Hong Kong is the warm weather.  The weather is warm enough to be outside all year, we just have to keep an eye on the pollution levels.  Not having a car, we do a lot of walking to get places.  The kids have built up a good endurance and are able to walk much further than when we first got here.  We really enjoy going on hikes.  Hong Kong is 40% county parks and nature reserves so there are many hiking trails.

In January, I decided I wanted to start doing more family hikes.  I had been looking for a hike to do that wouldn't be too difficult.  I found a website that listed top HK hikes in different categories (most challenging, most romantic, most scenic, etc).  I decided we would try the best hike for families.

The directions for getting to the hike were a little vague.  We spent some time walking back and forth before we were going the right direction.  When we finally got to our turn, there was a huge hill to walk up.  Charlotte was pretty tired by the time we got to the top.  I then realized (after 30 minutes of walking) we were just at the entrance to the trail.  The trail (which was a paved road that had the occasional car) continued straight uphill.  After awhile, there was a old house they had turned into a museum that we enjoyed going through.  After we walked uphill for awhile more, we were all pretty worn out.  The kids did some complaining and were wanting to take frequent breaks for drinks and to eat the snacks I had brought.  We were almost ready to turn around, but then we noticed a wooded trail on the side of the path to explore.  It was called Sir Cecil's Ride.  Suddenly the kids had a surge of energy and started running up the steps.  We walked around a little more and decided to turn around and head home.  The kids said they didn't want to do another hike for awhile.

Tom and the kids on Sir Cecil's Ride

Tommy has been very motivated to climb Cloudy Hill which is a large hill by our house.  The trail is accessible from our neighborhood and I have climbed it several times with friends.  Tommy and I attempted to climb it with friends earlier this year when it was still very hot.  We made it halfway before turning around.  He was pretty exhausted by the time we got home.  Early February, Tommy decided he was determined to climb to the top.  Charlotte said she wanted to go too (although she didn't want to go to the top).  We all went and Tom and Tommy were going to go as far as they could and I was going to turn around with Charlotte when she got tired.  (I didn't even know if she would make it to the start of the path, you have to walk uphill in our neighborhood quite a bit before you even get to the entrance.)

Ready for a hike up Cloudy Hill.  A princess dress is perfect hiking attire.  

On the path

 Charlotte made it much further than I expected.  She made it about 1/3 of the way,  The last part was a stretch of many, many stairs.  She was practically running up the stairs.  She was excited to get to the top where they had a picnic area and she could eat the snack I brought.  Then, we headed back and Tom and Tommy continued.  They only made it to the halfway point before turning around.  

The next week, Tommy wanted to try to climb it again with Tom and Uncle Patrick.  This time, they made it further than before, but turned around before reaching the top.  It was very foggy, so they couldn't see the top and Tommy was very tired (he had been sick the day before).  They decided it was better to turn around early since they didn't know how much further they had to go.  I think they made it about 3/4 of the way.  Patrick tried to run ahead to see if they were close, but must have turned around right before he reached the top (there was no visibility)

Tommy with Patrick in the background.  You can see (or not see) how foggy it is.

Tom and Tommy at their turnaround point

Tommy and Uncle Patrick 

Last weekend, Tommy decided he wanted to try it again.  He decided he wanted to try it with me.  He was so excited.  He did great the whole way.  He was even running up the stairs toward the end of the ascent.  He definitely had more energy than I did.  He was so proud of himself when we reached the top.  He can't wait to do it again.  He had plenty of energy, even on the way down.  He told me he was ready to do it a second time right then.  I told him we should wait for a different day.  

Tommy at the top of Cloudy Hill

Tommy in front of the power station at the top

Chinese New Year celebrations

Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday of the year here.  Both kids dressed up in traditional Chinese costumes for school.

Charlotte with her lai see packet

 

Charlotte's class also had a CNY performance.  All the kids dressed up and they sang songs in Chinese and did dances.

Charlotte lined up with her class.  She is in the pink dress in the left corner.

The lion dance.  Charlotte is playing a drum in the group on the left.  She told me she had to play the drum loudly to scare away all the bad things from last year so they would have a good year.

Charlotte with some of her friends after the performance.

After the performance, the teachers gave each of the students a lai see packet.  A lai see packet is a red envelope given to children or employees/service workers for Chinese New Year.  They usually contain money.  Typically, each packet is supposed to contain a single bill and it is customary to go to the bank to get brand new bills for the packets.  You never give an amount of money with a 4 in it because the Chinese word for four is very similar to the word for death.  The lai see packets the kids got at school contained a gold chocolate coin.  It was good practice for the kids to learn how to receive the packets.  They are given and accepted with two hands and the kids said xiexie ("shay-shay" thank you in Chinese) to their teachers.  

I have been substituting teaching at the kids' school occasionally.  I worked most of the week before Chinese New Year.  The last day before their school break for the holiday was February 13th (or 13 February as they say here).  It was interesting to me that the whole week Valentine's Day was never mentioned at school.  Charlotte didn't bring home any heart crafts or anything.  The whole week was focused on Chinese New Year.  I loved not having to send valentine cards to school and not having the kids bring home 25+ Vday cards with candy.  (I did see several Valentine's Day promotions at many of the restaurants around town, so I know it is something they recognize here, although it could be something they promote to just cater to the expats).

Tom's birthday

We had a good time celebrating Tom's birthday.  It fell on a Saturday so we had the day to spend together.  We started the day with breakfast in bed for Tom.  We made pancakes, eggs, fruit, yogurt, and tea.  The kids had made cards for Tom as well.

After a lazy morning, we went to the country club for lunch.  Tommy and Tom went out for a hike and Charlotte stayed home to help me make his cupcakes.  We combined several different recipes and made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chip cookie dough inside with peanut butter frosting. Charlotte loves to help me cook/bake.  :)  We also made some homemade pizza.  Both kids helped decorate the pizzas.  Since Tom's birthday is on Valentine's day, they decorated it with a heart.

The cupcakes were amazing!

 Tom's birthday was also a big day because that evening, Kara, Patrick, Lilia and Katherine were coming to visit.  We were all very excited to see them.  Their plane was arriving after the kids were going to be asleep, so they made signs to show them where they were staying and where Tommy and Charlotte were sleeping (Tommy was giving up his room and bunking with Charlotte for the visit).

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.