HKG038: There's a Lesson Around Here Somewhere....

....i believe it is "don't go open air market shopping with the kiddos and NOT expect a lot of tears!"

this is the aftermath of allowing a 2yo to have chocolate pancakes (with ice cream) for dinner.

q looking soooo sad on the mtr (this was on the way to dinner after the disaster at the market)...a minute later, he was laughing hysterically as josh played a game with him that left him hanging off this grip. sometimes, it's really hard to get q to smile/laugh, and other times, it's super easy and his pure joy gets the rest of us laughing right along with him.

kids snuggling on a bench at the zoo

flamingos...not pictured (or heard) is a major flamingo throwdown. there were some flamingo words being shared...unhappily. it was entertaining and LOUD!

very tall crane-like bird

timeout for snuggles in one of the botanical gardens that surrounds the zoo.

today started out pretty slow...just putzing around the apartment for a while before heading out to the zoo. our new apartment is a mere three stops from the zoo...very different from getting lost for eight hours before finding the zoo like we did a few weeks ago. today, more of the animals were out and about, and many more people were, too, since today was a public holiday. we had a great time at the zoo, and then returned home for what was supposed to be quinn's nap. you know where this went, right? *sigh*

after a non-napping afternoon, we headed out again to check out the ladies market in mong kok. this was an adventure of epic proportions. the crowd was immense, the market was densely packed with merchants and wares (and very little walking room), and the kids were on their absolute worst behavior. there was much potential for this outing to be fun, but alas, it was not. there's nothing worse than trying to bargain with a merchant while your kid's screaming bloody murder for the toy you are bargaining for.

after much angst and woe and two quickly-procured small toys (one of which produced many, many tears because it was not the coveted toy that cost a ridiculous fortune), we headed toward the tsing sha sui area of kolwoon to look for dinner and then to pick up the star ferry to head back to central. josh tells me that this particular ferry ride is on the 101 things to do before you die list.

dinner was an adventure; we went to a place that was called a pancake house, but it was actually a chinese restaurant that offered a few western-style dishes, lots of chinese food, and had a pancake dessert menu. being the stellar examples of parenthood that we are, we got the kids these pancakes, which come with ice cream, for dinner. josh and i shared an alfredo seafood dish and an appetizer of rice pasta stir fried in a delicious asian sauce called XO sauce. the food was great, but it just wasn't enough to keep us full with the four hours of walking we did this afternoon. josh and i are both hungry again. it's a good thing i made a pan of apple crumb cake this afternoon (another recipe i got from my favorite cooking message board)!