HKG107b: Crocodile Bites

how could i forget to add this?!?! here's a great video of quinn telling me about his mosquito bites (i forgot to put spray on us yesterday before we went to the city playground near us. i don't know what it is about that playground, but we get bitten about 10x more there than anywhere else). enjoy!

HKG107: Vortex

today was a pretty awesome day. we met up with our new friends this morning and took them to the fantastic park we found the other day. the walk was hot and sweaty, and just when we were just about to the park, the skies opened up and a whole lotta rain fell down. it rained hard for several minutes, but as soon as there was a break, we made a bee line for the sports center where the kids had a great time playing for about an hour.

the sun came back out, and we headed to the playground for some playtime, had a quick lunch, and then watched the kids play on the grass for a while. it was a super fantastic morning.

livie made it to school on time, and quinn got a good nap this afternoon. we were all set to have another super fun time this evening with the kids going over to play and hang out with our friends while josh and i attended a work-related dinner, but the dinner was canceled. livie was brokenhearted at the news that she would miss out on time with the girls, but she perked up once she saw josh.

while olivia was in dance class this afternoon, quinn and i got some fruit and a drink and then went to a playground. on the way, we passed our favorite street vendor...the one that sells pet fish. quinn begged for a new fish, and i told him we'd go back tomorrow because we couldn't keep a fish with us all evening (we had been planning to go straight from dance class to our friends' apartment). while we were playing, we got the news from josh that the dinner had been canceled, so after a bit more playtime, we made a bee line for the pet fish vendor. though quinn was clamoring for another shiny orange fish, we got a sucker fish. the little poopers keep their tank pretty messy, and though i change the filter and some water every few days, the tank really needs some more help. we named our sucker fish vortex. vortex may need another like-minded friend to help him with his BIG job. we will see how he does this week, and reassess before we go back down to the wet markets next week during dance class.

interesting blue building near the sports center

the five kids frolicking in the grass with a beautiful view of the skyline behind them

the five kids posing with the memorial statue in the park

this crappy cell phone camera picture doesn't do it justice, but that's the harbor. i think i just found my jog spot. this area is a pretty easy walk from the apartment, and there's a nice, well-maintained jogging path all around the memorial park. i bet this will be beautiful at night. now, if i could just find the energy to go jogging in the evening ;-p

no idea...my phone was acting weird today, and this picture proves it. i have no idea why the pic looks like this, but it is kinda cool!

q hogging the train. i had to lure him out with the promise of lunch and juice so that his friend could get a turn. q is not into sharing, and i really don't know how to fix this.

bug on the rings...i love the tongue of concentration. i did not do this as a kid. josh says he did.

bug looking grouchy in her poncho. this is sad, not funny. when i asked her why she didn't want to wear it, she told me it made her look fat. it's recently come to our attention that a not-very-nice girl that livie sees occasionally told her that she was a little fatty. my emotions about this are so conflicting...anger at the not-so-nice little girl, extreme sadness for livie, and my mama-bear hackles going into cheerleader overdrive to boost up my beautiful daughter. mean people suck.

q looking non-plussed in his poncho. he gave me a slight bit of grief about wearing it, but after we got home, he's been wanting to wear it about every five minutes.

HKG106: The Case of the Missing Beanie Babies

there is a thief among us. he specializes in microscopic stuffed animals, specifically beanie babies. he waits until no one is guarding the collection of three million of them in his little girl human's room, and then as quick as he can, he steals one to claim it for himself.

i am having to beg livie to share her beanie babies with the cat. la fu has a favorite that is supposed to be a skunk, but it looks more like a black and white squirrel to me (splitting wild hairs, i know), so i call it skunky squirrel. he carries it everywhere and loves for us to throw it for him. in other la fu news, he has learned to play fetch. he brings us toys and yowls until we throw them. you know how a dog gives you "the look" until you throw the toy? well, la fu gives the toy "the look" until you throw it.

we had a very low key day today. after several days of sleeping a more normal schedule, q was up at the ass crack of dawn today AND he refused his nap. there was a lot of whining and tantrums from him today as well as THREE pretty tough knocks on the head. q is very, very clumsy when he's tired. we did get out for a quick park adventure at the big city park that's near us, but otherwise, the kids contentedly played with their toys today. this was a nice turn of events, except that they had to dump out every single toy they have to play with them. i think i need to purge some toys AND rethink my storage system ;-p

la fu hatching some paperwork and cuddling his skunky squirrel. yes, i put that there. he's not usually that nice to skunky squirrel...he's usually tossing him in the air to catch him and shake him or bringing him to me so i can throw him and he can run him down and attack him ;-p

this afternoon, la fu liberated this unicorn from livie's room. he just happened to lay down next to q's book; he did not steal that.

super tired q trying to muster the energy to have "his turn" at brushing his teeth. that's a brand new toothbrush. he threw his other one in the toilet about 10 minutes before i snapped this pic. it's a good thing i had a supply of them!

bug looking pretty even though she's blowing spit bubbles with her toothpaste.

bug being silly

quinn looking cute

HKG105: Playing Hooky

today was a pretty awesome day. we met up with some new friends who are living in HK for part of the summer. i met the mom on a babycenter message board, and that's how we got in touch and planned to meet up once they were in HK.

we all had a bit of playtime at the apartment this morning, and then we walked down into the wet markets so they could enjoy all the sights, sounds, and smells. we had a fabulous time. we stumbled upon a coffee shop that had a pretty nice-looking lunch menu, and there we got some good grub to keep the wee ones going. our timing was such that we missed livie's school bus and i would have gotten her to school about 45 minutes late by taxi, so i just kept her home. with her having such a short day, it doesn't make sense to take her in late. she had a fabulous time playing with two sweet girls, and q did pretty well with playing with a sweet boy close to his age. quinn is still definitely in the parallel play stage with a side of possessiveness the size of texas. this always makes it hard to get him involved in playtime with kids his age. i look forward to him becoming more interactive with his peers.

this afternoon, we got some time in the pool and at the playground before we called it a day. today was a pretty magnificent monday!

q was super tired after our morning adventures. we got caught in a quick and heavy rain storm, so his cute outfit had to come off. as soon as i got him into warm, dry clothes, he turned into zombie baby...in the toy box.

this morning, i was running around trying to get a few things done, so i asked olivia to pick up the toys in the living room and pick out an outfit for q to wear. this was worth 12 bucks HKD. she eagerly agreed to earn some cash, and got busy with her duties. she picked this adorable outfit for q. i very rarely put q in these adorable button-down shirts...he usually spends most of the day trying to unbutton it and/or covers it in food or playtime mess. i didn't want to poo-poo livie's choice though, so i put him in it. he looks dapper, doesn't he? i have two friends back home (you know who you are) who dress their kiddos impeccably, and they have passed on some adorable stuff to us. i need to dress q in it more often...and bring a tide pen with me everywhere ;-p

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!

HKG103: Slow Saturday

today was mostly a very low key day, but we did have a couple of small pet-related adventures. i took the kids over to this small side street where we always see people sitting out sipping coffee while their pooches have play dates, and we've been dying to go over there and pet a few dogs. we will have to try this again because we saw just one pooch today...he was an adorable french bull dog whose "color scheme" was just like a boston. he looked a little like a boston who'd been hitting the gym and the beer a little too hard. he was super friendly and adorably snort-y. i love short-nosed dogs for all of the interesting verbal expressions they have...there are surprisingly a lot of different ways to snort your message :-)

this evening, the kids and i stopped by an office we pass by every day. it's one that we stop to look in the windows because there are several office cats in this office; one who looks JUST like la fu. we took a chance and stopped in, and not only did we meet four cats, we met four very nice and very accommodating ladies who were more than willing to tell us all about their office cats. they also invited us to stop in anytime, which we will do...as soon as we get some treats for the kitties. the kitty who looks like la fu...she's 25 years old!!! we could tell she was advanced chronologically just looking at her through her window, but i never would have guessed she was 25.

q abusing woody. i am not sure how i am going to do it considering the depth of q's love for this woody doll, but i am going to have to kidnap woody and toss him into the wash...he's getting a little grungy...prolly b/c q drags him everywhere and purposely rubs him in the dirt!

cutie bug posing so i can get a pic of the flower she wanted to put in her hair

HKG102: Best. Playground. EVER!

well. okay. it's the best playground ever if we are forced to play without our friends. this playground does not rival any playground that contains our pville/austin friends. heck, you could give us a few pebbles and some dirt, but if we had our pville/austin friends to share it with, it'd be better than ANY playground. have i mentioned we miss our friends?

today was a day of breaking from the norm. josh has to be oot for the next 5.5 days, so to get some extra time with the kiddos, he worked from home this morning. we divided and conquered for quick errands before meeting up at mcd's for lunch, and then josh was off to work/GZ until the middle of next week.

i have been making a list of adventures to take the kids on to break up routine the next few days. today, we started out our adventure to-do list with trying to find the indoor play place we had tried to find last week. we found it. we ignored it for about 45 minutes though, because in front of the building in which it is located is the BEST. PARK. EVER. first of all, the park is on a huge expanse of green...green! did i mention green? GRASS...there is grass! and the grass? it's right next to the harbor. oh, yeah, back to the park. it appears to be new and in great condition, and it has a train theme. i give you three guesses as to who LOVED the theme.

the kids had an absolute ball. they ran from one attraction to another non-stop for 45 minutes, and then we went to investigate the indoor play place. it, too, is awesome...will be a good option if/when the weather is too terrible for us to play outside. i think there is a pool in the sports complex, too, this requires further investigating. the sports complex is under renovation/expansion, and one woman told me that the pool wasn't open yet, but i did see a few kids playing in the playground with wet swim trunks on...methinks the pool is OPEN.

for the next few days, i have several adventures planned, and i am looking forward to watching the kids experience each one. we will definitely be going back to this area over the weekend. and stares be damned...we WILL be bringing a picnic lunch :-) (eating outside is a no-go here. anytime i have the kids eating outside, people stop and stare. really. it's very annoying. now i know how the monkeys in the zoo feel.)

quinn wanted some daddy time, so he climbed up behind josh in his chair and gave him a bear hug!

train-themed park...quinn's eyes lit up when he saw this!

another train...q loved this one and stayed in it for a long time

q in the train

q the conductor

bug perfecting her monkey ring prowess

view of the harbor and part of the park from a pedestrian bridge that is next to the park