HKG077: Slow Sunday

today was a nice slow day. i got out for a nice brunch with a friend and to round up some craft supplies for me and the kids while josh and the kids had some fun at the pool. we also headed out to the closest city playground for a change of pace, and livie had a ball playing with a little boy who befriended her. quinn had a fantastic time having daddy all to himself and getting into his own brand of trouble. we rounded out the day with a tasty dinner and a bit of fish drama.

my little poopers, monica and chandler, can't keep their tank clean for more than five minutes. despite cleaning their filter 3x this week and emptying 50% of their water 1x this week, i once again could not see them this evening. so, it was onto 100% fresh water. trouble is, their air pump was no longer working when i finished the cleanup and plugged it back in. right now, they are in extremely cramped quarters where i can be sure that their filter, which also pumps some air (but not enough to maintain their big tank), will keep them sufficiently aerated until i can get a new air pump tomorrow. i think i will buy two so that we don't run into this situation again.

today is a day that i really, really, really miss the convenience of target, walmart, and petsmart. everything closes early here...especially on sunday. there is no way i could go out right now and find an air pump, but if i were in texas, it would be a 15-minute errand. this is frustrating...right up until i remind myself how much fun we are going to have in the wet markets tomorrow when we head down to get the new air pump.

look closely at monica's mouth...looks like she's saying "ooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuut!"

q with his snack of chocolate butter bread, which he rejected! on the days that q naps, i have realized that if we do not get him up after 1.5 hours of napping, he's going to fight sleep come bedtime. here, he's looking really sleepy b/c i just woke him up.

la fu looking cute...he's 100% back to himself today.

dessert tonight was a small piece of banana laffy taffy...q decided it was for decoration rather than eating.

my new 'do

pals...la fu loves him some sissy. he seeks her out and very patiently tolerates her attentions when they get to be too intense. he is suuuuuch a good kitty. livie has recently begun to tell us that la fu is better than baby kitty, and while i can understand where she's coming from (baby kitty wouldn't let the kids near her without swiping at them or nipping at them), i feel horrible when she says this, and i have to remind her how special baby kitty is, too.

HKG075 & HKG076: Lightheaded

the kids quietly relaxing after some fun in the pool

we can't find q's new goggles, so before i went to the salon, i went out to get q a new pair and then dropped them off at the pool...this gave me a perfect opportunity to get a pic of my family of fish. josh and the kids LOVE water. livie can swim underwater very well and is close to being able to swim the breast stroke and back stroke. even quinny can swim a few feet with a floaty on. josh is a regular fish having grown up with a pool, competed in swim, and worked as a life guard. i am nearly petrified of water and can barely swim. i am okay to handle the kids in the shallow end by myself, but i am no good in water deeper than my chest or in any kind of natural body of water where you can't see or anticipate your footing. i am way more of a liability than i am an asset.

bug looking eerily grown up while playing games on josh's computer. she was playing curious george games on the pbskids site, but she still looks very grown up here!

la fu did not want to be left out of the morning's computer time, so this is how he ensured he would be included.

blogger was down yesterday, so i am cramming two days into one post. yesterday was pretty quiet, so there's not much to say about it. livie came home from school on thursday with a sore throat, so i kept her home on friday. we had a couple of appointments in the beginning of the day, but spent most of friday at home lounging around and quietly playing with la fu. i entered full-on panic mode about la fu thursday night when i found that he'd not used his litter box in more than 12 hours. i called in to the SPCA where we adopted him and got a quick appointment to bring him to the emergency vet there. he was running a fever and the suspicion was that he'd relapsed into kitty flu. as much as this sucks for la fu, it was better than finding out he had some kind of blockage in his pipes.

today, we have kept it slightly low key. we putzed around the apartment most of the morning, and then around noon, i headed out to the general post office to send some goodies back home while josh and the kids ran out to the wet markets to get supplies josh needed to make dinner; he made bulgogi and steamed rice.

the outing at the post office was definitely a learning experience. i have to say that i miss the convenience of fedex kinkos and the ups store. i spent a lot of time running between a store on the property and the actual post office while i was trying to get all the items assembled and addressed correctly. there was none of this one stop shopping stuff...not even at the same level as the USPS, which is perfectly serviceable, but just isn't as much fun as the ups store or fedex kinkos where there are all sorts of things you didn't know you needed until you see them.

while josh had the kids out, he also got their hair cut. quinn is about 3 pounds lighter and sporting a very cute near-buzz while livie got a sympathy trim (she wanted a hair cut but not to actually have her hair cut :-). after some quiet time and a boycotted nap attempt, josh took the kids to the pool while i went to get my hair cut. i am about 6 months overdue for a hair cut, and since i have very thick hair that had become very long, the situation was becoming dire with the recent heat and humidity. i, also, am about 3 pounds lighter. i asked for shoulder length, but some how i ended up with chin length. i think i am okay with this b/c it is sooooo much lighter and cooler! fortunately, both quinn and la fu, who think my hair is their personal playground, are okay with the new 'do.

HKG074: A Sick Day

today has been another low key day with two more family members falling victim to whatever virus ails us. when i picked livie up from school, her teacher told me she'd been complaining of a sore throat. late this afternoon, la fu started acting funny. i love my bug very, very much, but i have to admit i am far less worried about her than i am about la fu b/c she can tell me what hurts and i can understand her body temperature and behavior. i cannot do any of this with la fu. i am checking on him periodically and plan to cozy up with him and my nook in a few minutes, but if he's not his rambunctious self by noon tomorrow, i am packing up his furry self for a trip to the vet. la fu did have a pretty tough case of kitty flu when he was rescued by the SPCA, and i was warned by the vet at the SPCA that the stress of moving house could cause him to relapse into the kitty flu, so that may be all that's going on, but again, since la fu can't tell me anything, i just don't know. and i don't want to take any chances.

since we are all contaminated now (i, too, have a touch of this virus), we will mostly be staying home tomorrow after one quick appointment in the morning. we will bake something scrumptious, do some art projects, and play with la fu if he's up to it.

the morning started with la fu being his usual self...here, he's performing a cat scan of the pantry.

since a virus is keeping us confined, we entertained ourselves by dressing up...here, q is sporting one of sissy's butterfly clips. i also painted their nails today. this time, q requested only black paint while livie is sporting a pattern of black, pink, and metallic green.

bug looking cute

q passed out cold and looking gigantic on our small couch

q boycotted his nap today, and as a result passed out cold in the taxi on the way home from school. he slept thru my depositing him on the couch, most of a movie, me cuddling up with him, and sissy being her usual talkative self.

at one point, q sat up and looked like he might wake up, but no, he just melted into a puddle on the carpet and went back to sleep.

shortly after we got home from getting sissy from school, i noticed that la fu was acting strange...very subdued. he purrs thunderously every time i approach mansion la fu, but he's not out scampering around, investigating every nook and cranny, and wailing for me to add more food to his bowl. he has me very, very worried. if he's not back to himself by noon tomorrow, i will be taking him to the vet.

right before we left to get sissy from school, la fu curled up next to quinn. i should have realized then that something was amiss ;-p

HKG073: Loogies

today dawned sneezey with a chance of snottiness for quinn, so we laid low. we normally have playgroup on wednesday mornings, but we stayed home to contain the contamination. quinn is mostly happy...just a little snotty.

fortunately, quinn does not yet know how to hock a loogie. i am sure that if he did, he would have found more creative ways to deal with his output issues today. even though quinn doesn't know how to hock a loogie, i am exposed to them every.single.day. loogies are a part of everyday life here. spitting is such an issue here that there are signs in some public/gov't places telling you that spitting is cause to be fined. a week or so ago, quinn and i were out and about when someone hocked a loogie right next to us. my son, who thinks nothing of playing in dirt and/or shoving his hands into his diaper to check out the status/contents thought that the loogie was disgusting...he told me "eeeewww gohs!" again today, quinn and i were having an apple/gatorade break while sissy was in dance class, and we watched a nicely dressed young business man spit in the street repeatedly. ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. this grosses me out to no end. since having the kids, i no longer have the weak stomach i once did, but listening to and watching someone hock a loogie makes me nauseous.

so, other than having my stomach turned by disgusting manners, the day was pretty low key. we took sissy to school, picked her up, and took her to dance class. quinn and i had some street market adventures, and then went to get sissy and come home for dinner. once again, la fu was the highlight of our day today. he loves it when we are home to play with him all day. he is becoming more and more interactive with the kids. i am now useful only for cuddles (gee darn), cheek scratches, litter box maintenance, and food provision. oh, and i provide endless recon/attack opportunities at night. though la fu is sleeping more at night than he did a week ago, he is still spending a lot of time running the la fu 500 and performing surprise attacks on our feet. now that my duties have been outlined for me, i am finding that la fu has shifted all play responsibility to the kids and josh, though he will also cuddle with olivia. sometimes, la fu lays across this built-in we have in the dining room...it's tall, so when q walks by it, he is at the exact right height to receive head baps from la fu. this makes both of them deliriously happy. i need to capture this on video because it's pretty darn funny.

livie and la fu sharing a snuggle. that's livie's flamenco dress...we had just gotten back from class.

kitty bliss...la fu is being snuggled by me while livie scratches his chin and quinn scratches his tummy. i think he liked it.

look closely at la fu's tail...he was talked into playing dressup with livie. my mom tells some pretty great stories about our family cats, tinker and rusty. they came to live with us around the same time that kimmy and i were born, so they grew up with us. they let us do anything we wanted to them, and they never scratched or bit us. i think that la fu will be to livie and quinn what tinker and rusty were to me and my brother and sister. tinker is the reason i am a cat person today...he was 17 pounds of chilaxed love (by the way, his full name was tinkerbell...he didn't really live up to his name). he was super chill and very, very sweet. he's been gone for more than 20 years now, but i still think of him often and miss him.

la fu playing with olivia

q insisted on wearing his swim goggles most of the day today...called them his gasses (glasses).

sweaty boy. i am not a huge fan of the buzz cut on a baby boy, but i think we're going to have to go really short on q's hair. it's very humid here...not as hot as texas, but much, much more humid. quinn is usually dripping after just 10 or 15 minutes outside.

see that yellow tag on the back of q's shirt...it's a citronella stamp. i am testing these out to see if i can keep the mosquitoes off the kids without slathering them in chemicals. right before i put this on quinn, he got dive bombed by a mosquito that came in livie's open window...the window that will have to remain open until the air con situation is fixed once and for all. tonight, i put these stamps at the heads of each of their beds to help ward off the hungry little suckers that think my kids taste so delicious.

HKG072: The Squeaky Mouse

this cracked us up...this is on a billboard outside a real estate office.

the gardens here never cease to amaze me. they are so lush and healthy in the middle of all the noise and air pollution and while surrounded by acres and acres of concrete.

this is another nature shot that i love. this is at butterfly bay. i love the juxtaposition of that beautiful mountain with the buses, taxis, and high rise buildings. peyton f., do you notice that green taxi? it turns out that the green taxis are only allowed to be in an area called the new territories. i did not get a picture of this, but along the highway, we saw several signs depicting a green taxi with an x through it and arrows pointing down the highway...the green taxis were not allowed on this part of the highway. funny, eh?

today was another public holiday in hong kong...buda's birthday. after enjoying a slow start to our day, we took a bus ride out to butterfly bay. our intention was to look around and also to have some quiet time reflecting on the life of a sweet friend. we had hoped to find a butterfly garden or conservatory, but did not. in fact, i cannot find any history on why butterfly bay is named as such. while our friend is never far from our minds, we are sad to have not found the peace and beauty we wanted to experience to commemorate her.

once we returned home, we just kept it pretty quiet. we had a relaxing brinner (breakfast for dinner), played with la fu the wonder kitty, and then went out for ice cream.

today, we broke out a new toy for la fu...it's a squeaky catnip mouse that hangs from a stretchy string. he loves it. he just finished playing with it after nearly 2 hours of non-stop play...the only reason he's done now is because we had to hide it from him...the squeaking was keeping the kids up.

i know i have said it already, but la fu is an awesome kitty. he plays with ALL of us. i still miss my frank and my baby kitty desperately, but i am very thoroughly enjoying the la fu kitty. i volunteered at the SPCA last weekend, and while working in the cat room, i got to know a lot of kitties. i met a lot of sweet and playful kitties, but none like la fu. we hit the kitty jackpot with this little guy.

HKG071: Mellow Monday

after the insanity of dealing with construction crews most of last week and all the fun we had this past weekend, we kept it really low key today. we kept it so low key, in fact, that i have NO pictures of the kids or our activities. we skyped with dear friends this morning, had a leisurely lunch here at home (vs. scarfing something from 7-eleven before finding a taxi to school (after being exiled from our house all morning)), took livie to school, got q down for an actual nap, got livie from school, went to the pool, and then went to the playground. i made thai-style peanut chicken to go over the rice i made in my new rice cooker, and now the kids are tucked into bed. voila! mellow monday. i can't leave you with no images, though, so here's an image of funny text on a package of chicken sausage. i just can't get enough of the packages and signs around here...the translated english provides me with a lot of entertainment.

proper? as in i won't hear any smut about my food...no scandals? oh, that's good :-)

HKG070: Cheung Chau Beach

today started out lovely and low key...josh made me my favorite breakfast, we hung around the house, i opened my fantastic mother's day gifts (and petted the early one)...i got a couple of pretty shirts and a combination rice cooker/slow cooker. i can't wait to use it!! we also went to a store called wing on...we noticed that q's shoes are getting too small, so we went in search of new shoes for him. we also were looking for outdoor shoes for me and josh and something suitably dance-y for the bug. we found all of that and more. wing on is a true department store...one in which you can find bedding, mattresses, electronics, clothes, shoes, purses, toys, makeup and everything else under the sun. we had a ball. everyone is suitably outfitted in new shoes, and the kids each got one new toy.

after our adventures in wing on, we headed home for a quick lunch, and then headed back out to meet up with people from josh's work. the office organized a beach meetup today; we headed out to cheung chau beach, which is about a 40 minute fast ferry ride or an hour-long regular ferry ride. we saw some beautiful scenery, rock formations, the opening to a cave, and a very pretty beach. we also saw preparations for the bun festival that will take place soon.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com