HKG032: First Playdate

i asked quinn to gently wake sissy this morning. i followed him to her room to find him cuddling with her.

the kids think the sectional is a playground. here, quinn has managed to get himself stuck under it. there was furniture on one side and a wall on the other, so he literally couldn't get out. i have no idea how he got under there in the first place...i was working on laundry when i heard the call for help.

happily scooting bug

sliding bug

climbing quinn

this is the kids' dinner tonight : rice, spam, chicken tender, and carrots. it was going to be chicken, rice, and carrots, but the bug specifically requested the spam. ewww.

i belong to a recipe message board from which i get great ideas. today, someone posted and reviewed a recipe for risotto that got my mouth watering. i haven't unpacked the oven yet, so i couldn't make a REAL risotto, but i got as close as i could. using the rice left from making the kids' dinner, some chopped choy sum, garlic, the oil left from cooking their chicken, ricotta, mozerella, and hungarian salami, i came up with a concoction that looked strange but was REALLY good. i had two plates of it. i don't think i could have convinced anyone else to eat it, because of how it looked, but it was really tasty.

this is the end result...not pretty, but trust me, it tasted much better than it looks!

this is not a great pic, but it's the general idea of what our skyline looks like at night.

today, the kids and i had our first actual planned playdate. it wasn't just a random encounter in a park...it was a real, live playdate! wooo hooo!

the kids had a great time, especially livie, and i was glad to get the opportunity to talk to a few other expat moms. i, again, got some great advice. we even had the opportunity to look at a school for livie thanks to the kindness of these women. i really liked what i saw, and we will be putting in application this week there and at one other school.

the playdate was quite an adventure and ran right into lunch and nap time so we didn't do much else this morning. quinn, once again, boycotted his nap. he also, once again, passed out cold as soon as his bottom hit the seat in the shuttle when we headed out for errands this afternoon. it is really HARD to move a 35-pound 38-inch tall sleeping child. and a stroller. and keep track of another child. and we did all that for what, you ask? to go to the bank to take care of some financial stuff (as one does at a bank). was it a success, you ask? nope. big, fat FAIL. why? because the bank lobby closed at 4:30 p.m. in the bustling metropolis of the central district in hong kong (home to 7 million people), the bank hours are from 9:30 to 4:30 for four out of five of the work days. is that not INSANE?!? so, back to the bank we go tomorrow morning.

tomorrow afternoon, the rest of our furniture will arrive. this is pretty darn exciting, but also will be quite difficult since josh won't be home from GZ until several hours after the furniture arrives. i will have to get the monkeys out of the apartment to keep them from climbing all over the pieces and parts.

in other news, my 3-function oven arrived today (it's a microwave, convection, and toaster oven all in one. it's made by kenwood and looks like a lot of fun). i am STOKED. i don't know what i will make first. i know the kids and i will be making some cookies this weekend. woooooooooo hoooooooooooo!