HKG012 : Not the Best Day Ever

here's what happens when you spend an hour plus boycotting your nap and your mother eventually gives up and walks you to the park.

the result of enjoying some ice cream. see the badge thing hanging off livie? that's her octopus card...more on that later, but it's the card we use to pay for the trams, buses, and MTR (subway). each person has to have their own card, which is why livie has one.

ice cream in progress. quinn is the slowest eater EVER.

quinn learned to climb the spring thing from watching sissy. here, he's contemplating hanging off of it like sissy does...not quite ready for that...mommy had to rescue him. (random note, i saw a sign on the playscape today that indicates it is from a company in missouri!)

quinn and olivia made up their own game on this slide (climb it and then "bowl" into each other)...they did this for about 30 minutes this morning. this afternoon, they did it again and roped in other kids. it was like a kiddie pileup on the slide.

this pic is for peyton f. peyton, this morning there was BIG construction on the street outside our favorite playground. that yellow arm you see was pounding on the pavement and making this spectacular booming sound. that silver car in the forefront is one of the fancy cars i was telling you about this morning.

well, today started out great, was great right into the middle, and then took a slight turn for the not-so-great. we started out at the park and had a blast playing. livie and quinn played really well with one another for a long, long time. after that, we ran for a restroom break and then to catch a tram into wan chai to meet up with josh. the tram ride out was relatively uneventful except that quinn started pushing levers/gears on the dashboard while i was trying to pay for us and get us off (the pay area is near the driver and is the only way you can pay/exit)...VERY embarassing. i am 99.9% sure i got cussed out in cantonese.

once we linked up with josh (also no small feat as wan chai is very busy and crowded), we went back to his office to meet candy, the office manager in HK...she's been helping us a ton and it was great to meet her. we had a great lunch (italian), and then josh walked us back to the tram stop. this is where it got REALLY crazy.

i forgot to consider that the 1 o'clock hour is the standard lunch hour in HK and did not think about the fact that the trams would be very crowded trying to go home around 1:30. i did try to put q in the baby bouso with him facing me, but he's just too big, so i wasn't really hands free. getting onto the tram is a pretty major deal b/c there's a turnstile, and getting through that with a baby, a bag, and a stroller and while also directing a 5yo is a pretty major feat. two young people helped me and livie get on the tram, which was a huge help/relief. i spent the entire tram ride trying to keep quinn from pushing buttons and levers that were located near us at the back of the tram (it was so crowded that we basically stood in the small area just off the turnstiles...and there was a control center of sorts back there). getting off the tram was easy b/c i am now very familiar with the stops in the happy valley area.

once we got off the tram, we headed off to get groceries for dinner and some ice cream for the kids. this went fine except that i accidentally shoplifted a can of mushrooms. SO embarrassing (had put it in the folded up stroller shade). once we got home, there was much nap boycottage, which of course leads to mutiny (much sass and generally icky behavior). i got us all out to drop off laundry and have some time at the park before dinner, and of course quinn fell asleep in the stroller on the way there.

it wasn't terrible, but it just wasn't our best day. i have got to figure out how to travel lighter so we can get on and off the trams without so much hassle. i am not sure how i will accomplish this though considering i have two small kids...one still in diapers.