California

We were all very excited to go to Southern California while in the States.  My grandma (Ya-Ya), aunts, uncle, and cousin live there and we hadn't been out to see them since Tommy was a baby.  We had been meaning to visit for awhile, but life kept getting in the way.  We decided it was a high priority while we were in the States this summer.

We also decided to spend a few extra days and visit Legoland.  Tommy has always loved Legos and wanted to go to Legoland.  The reviews said it was great for Lego fans, but was aimed at the younger (under 10) crowd so we thought it would be a good place to visit while they are young.

Tom ended up having to go out to LA for work a few days early, so the kids and I flew to San Diego by ourselves.  After stopping at In-N-Out Burger, we went to visit my Ya-Ya.  She and I had a good talk while the kids played.  Charlotte colored several pictures for Ya-Ya.  Thea Dana also came home from work during lunch so it was nice to have a short visit with her as well.

Tommy, Ya-Ya, and Charlotte

Tommy and Charlotte with Thea Dana

After our visit, the kids and I drove up to Oceanside, near Legoland, where we met Tom.  We spent 2 days at Legoland and had a great time (I will do a separate post about our visit).  On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel in Oceanside.  We made a brief stop at the ocean to play in the sand and at least put our feet in the Pacific Ocean (from this side) while we were so close.  The kids had a great time running away from the waves.  Tommy liked watching the surfers and asked Tom and I when we could teach him.  He was surprised to hear we didn't know how.

Here comes a wave!

Then we drove up to my Theo (Uncle) Mark and Aunt Nancy's house for a family get together.  It was really great to see everyone.  Thea Dana and my cousin Derek (who was working when we stopped by on Wednesday) drove up from Chula Vista as well.  Tommy had a lot of fun talking to Nancy's grandson who was only a few months older than he.  They spent over an hour talking about video games and roller coasters, two of his favorite subjects.  Charlotte had fun chasing the dogs around and feeding them who knows what.
We spent the night in San Diego that night.  Sunday morning, we stopped by to say good bye to Ya-Ya, Thea Dana and Derek before heading to the airport to fly home together.   It was sad to say good bye, but we had a wonderful trip with many great memories.

Family time

After our weekend at Innsbrook, we spent a little over a week with my family.  We very busy with a trip to the zoo, 2 visits to the Magic House, a sleepover with their cousins, a trip to the Des Peres pool, trips to the library, several visits to see Grandma Trudy and Grandpa Harry, a visit from Aunt Kim and Uncle Dave, visiting the new children's area at the History Museum, and trips to local parks and splashgrounds.  

In front of the carousel at the zoo

Tommy and Oma on the zoo train

Elephants

Tommy and Lilia in the beanstalk at the Magic House

Fun in the baby hospital

The special exhibit at the Magic House was on China!

At the Des Peres pool

Splashground fun

Eating popsicles with their cousins

Sleepover

We had a great week!

4th of July

We all really look forward to celebrating the 4th of July.  We spent the holiday weekend at Tom's parents' condo in Innsbrook, right outside of St. Louis.  Their condo is right on the lake, so we spent the weekend swimming and playing in the sand and just enjoying being outside.  The weather was perfect, it was actually a little chilly in the evenings.  I can't remember the last time I was chilly in Hong Kong.  Innsbrook also puts on an amazing fireworks display for the 4th.

Girl time-Emily painted Charlotte's nails and then Emily let Charlotte paint her nails.  She was so excited!

Swimming with Grandpa

Cousin pic while waiting for the fireworks

Tommy got to jump off the dock this year and was so proud

It was a great weekend!

Summer Break

We were very lucky to get to go back to the States for 4 weeks this summer.  The best part was Tom was able to go with us the whole time.  He worked from the St. Louis office during the week, plus 2 business trips to LA, but at least we got to see him in the evenings and on the weekends.  The kids’ school year lasted until the end of June.  The weather was very hot and humid and we were all looking forward to a change. 
The kids did great on the flight, they are becoming veteran fliers.  I was excited to see several of the movies they had on the plane as well.  We all managed to get at least a few hours of sleep.  Overall, the flight went smoothly for a 14 hour flight.

Ready to watch some movies on the flight.

 We paid for our flights with miles, so we had an overnight layover in Dallas.  Although we were anxious to get to St. Louis, it was nice to break up the trip.  The kids had fun swimming in the hotel pool and we were all asleep before our plane would have landed in St. Louis had we continued.  Our jetlag woke us all up at 3 A.M. the next morning, but that worked well since we had a 7 A.M. flight to STL.

The kids were excited to go swimming at the hotel after a 14 hour flight.  I was ready for bed.

We were pretty tired and jet lagged the first few days, although Tom and I did manage a trip to Target on the first day(I made MANY subsequent trips over the weeks).   We also celebrated our 10 year anniversary on day 2 with a steak dinner out.  

We had a very busy 4 weeks planned.  We wanted to spend time with both families and had a fun vacation to San Diego scheduled to visit family and Legoland in the middle.  It was going to be a busy and fun July.

Last Day of School

Today was the kids' last day of school.  They have had a great school year.  They both had really great teachers and have made some very nice friends.

Charlotte and Tommy ready for their last day.

Charlotte finished Reception, which they call also call Kindergarten (or Kindy) here, but is more akin to pre-K in the US both age-wise and curriculum-wise.  She will move over to the big school next year and start year 1.  It is the same campus, but she will be in a different building.  She will move to a different playground and will get to have PE twice a week, including swimming first term, and attend weekly lower school assemblies.  

Tommy finished Year 2 which is like 1st grade.  He will move to Year 3 next year which is part of the upper school.  He will get to do bigger kids things like vote for student council and attend overnight camp.  They are both staying with the same class of kids next year and are excited about their new teachers.  

Charlotte's class had a little get together at the end of the day to present gifts to her teachers.  Her head teacher is retiring and moving back to Australia and several of her classmates are going to different schools next year, so it was nice to have one more event to take pictures and say goodbye.  

Charlotte's Reception Blue class

Charlotte with her teacher, Mrs. Menear

Charlotte and Mrs. Fraser

Charlotte with Ms. Baxter and her friend Shriya

 Tommy was completely unemotional about the day.  He is definitely looking forward to summer.  I did get him to take a quick picture with his teacher before we headed home.

Tommy and Ms. Saunter

Junk Boat!

Last Sunday we took a trip on a junk boat.  Renting a junk boat is a popular thing to do in Hong Kong.   We have some very good friends who are moving back to the US after a 3 year stay in Hong Kong.  A group of about 50 of us rented the boat for the day as a going away party for them.  It was also Father's Day so it was a great day for a celebration.  There is a wide range in the type of junk boats.  Ours was a very large party boat.  It was perfect for our group which was about half children.  It had 4 different levels with a disco, 2 karaoke areas, a Jacuzzi, a full kitchen (it included a full meal), a large area with tables and seating, and a sun deck for lounging and sunbathing.  It was an amazing boat for our first junk boat trip, but it will be hard to top (or even come close to equaling) on subsequent trips.

Our boat for the day

Karaoke

Tom, Tommy and Charlotte waiting to get in the water

Relaxing in the Jacuzzi

We boarded the boat at 10 AM and it sailed for about an hour until it reached an area with calmer waters for us to dock and swim.  The boat had a double slide off the back and a diving platform at least 10 feet above the water.  It also had an inflatable "trampoline" the kids had a great time playing on.  The trampoline might have been effective with a smaller group, but ours was always full of kids and if you went out onto the trampoline surface you would instantly just sink to the middle.  You couldn't stand up, much less jump.  Tommy had a great time playing on it anyway.  Charlotte was the youngest on the boat and there was only one other kid younger than Tommy so he really had fun trying to keep up with the bigger kids.  We had a lot of fun going down the slide and jumping off the platform (well except Charlotte.  I couldn't blame her for not trying, I found it a bit intimidating myself).  It was the kids first experience really swimming in salt water.  They kept commenting on the salty water.  

Jenneke and Charlotte in the water.

Tommy in midair after going down the slide

Tommy and Charlotte on the trampoline.  

After over an hour of swimming, the kids were ready for a break.  We dried off and relaxed on the boat.  Tommy has had problems with seasickness in the past and was complaining his stomach hurt.  He spent a lot of time cuddling with Tom or I and I was getting quite nervous considering we were scheduled to be on the boat for 6 more hours.  Luckily after a rest and a meal, Tommy was feeling much better.  We got back in the water for more fun.  The boat had some kayaks and we took a few trips around the boat.  

Tom and Tommy

Tom and Charlotte

Jenneke and Charlotte

We also went out on the speedboat to go tubing.  Tommy took the first turn.  He was on the inflatable raft with 2 other boys.  He held on for the first 2 turns (the rule was if you fell off you were finished, if you stayed on you could keep going).  It had started to rain while we were out and was starting to get heavier, so we headed back to the boat for safety.  After a 20 minute wait, the rain had stopped and we went back out.  I had a turn and managed to hang on.  Then Charlotte joined me.  We held onto the handles together and I laid slightly on top of her to keep her from flying off.  We stayed on for our turn and Charlotte had fun, but she didn't want to take another turn.  Tommy got one more turn with Tom and fell off this time.  He hit the water hard and was happy to be finished.

Tommy on the raft with our boat in the background

Tommy in the middle ready to hang on

Overall, it was an amazing day.  We all had a great time.  The weather was perfect.  The previous 10 days had been extremely hot and sunny.  Luckily, Sunday was overcast with a few occasional showers.  Other than the brief break when we were tubing, the rain didn't affect us at all, if anything it helped cool things down.  After we got home that evening, it rained all night long as well as having heavy downpours off and on for the rest of the week as a tropical storm had moved into the area.  We got very lucky we had a good day.

We had a great time and our group is already planning a trip for next year.

Junk boat by Tommy

Tommy decided to do a guest post on going on our junk boat trip last weekend.  Here is his entry.

I liked going on the junk boat.  My favourite part was when we went on the tube.  I also liked swimming out to the trampoline and jumping on it.

Love
Tommy