HKG104: The Price of Tea in China

we were supposed to travel to GZ with josh this past friday and stay through this evening. late on thursday, we decided to cancel our portion of the trip. i had been badgering josh to send me the weekend itinerary for this work-related event, and he finally did late last week, which also spurred him to look more closely at it himself. because he knows the train schedules, he noticed that hong kong travelers would not be returning to hong kong until well after 9 tonight. that alone was cause for alarm, but we also started thinking that the trip just might not be suitable for kids who are the ages ours are...specifically quinn. he is one tough customer these days, and having him lose his 2yo doo-doo while trapped on 3-hour bus ride (or two-hour train ride) wouldn't just annoy us...it would annoy 50 other people. as it turns out, canceling our portion of the trip was a good call. there was only one other child on the trip, and rainy weather canceled most of the fun stuff they had planned. if we'd gone, we would have had a 3-hour bus ride (and two-hour train ride) to be stuck in a hotel room...granted, a room with a very beautiful view, but 2yos don't care about fantastic views!

so, while i was eager to FINALLY learn the price of tea in china, i am glad we stayed here in hong kong. the kids and i had another grand adventure today. we headed to a play place called playtown candyland. it was a little like CEC sans mouse. and pizza. the kids had a BALL. there was a ball pit complete with air guns to use to shoot sponge-y balls at high velocity. quinn spent the entire 1 hour and 45 minutes we were there in that ball pit. livie had a ball playing on some rings, a gigantic playscape and slide, in the ball pit, and making friends with a couple other kids. she also tried playing around on one of those electronic dance floors (like dance dance revolution), but it was not operating correctly. the mall that housed this place was also pretty fantastic. we did a little shopping, ate at a mcd's that was bigger than a postage stamp and had plenty of seating, we checked out a delicious-smelling bakery, and then we met a cute little fuzzball of a lab/chow-chow mix puppy while we waited for a cab.

we are all exhausted after a great day!

this is at the end of our adventurous day. livie's been begging me to let her hold la fu, and i've been refusing thinking she'd likely hurt him or get scratched. she's been watching the way i pick him up holding him under his arms and bottom, and she wanted to try. i found la fu dangling by his arm pits a couple times today and found him being subject to an invasion of his personal tail space, but she finally nailed it this evening with this cradle hold. as you can see, la fu was happy as a little clam.

our shopping today was to get a pair of flip flops for olivia. of course, quinn wanted some, too. livie got barbie and quinn got "chicken shoes." he calls the parrots on the movie, rio, chickens...these shoes have those parrots on them, so they are chicken shoes. q has never worn flip flops before, and watching him try to figure out how to walk in them was priceless.

the bug has added another monkey move to her repertoire...climbing the poles on the playscape downstairs.

livie mid-dance before the dance floor went kaput

q annihilating the ball pit with his air gun prowess

livie climbing the pole at the playscape. she now has a nasty little spot of missing skin on the top of one foot...the one she was using as leverage. OUCH!