20,000 Steps Later (Days 2-4)

Day 2-  We started early this morning.  I mean...really early...as in the boys were bright eyed and busy tailed by 3:00 am.  It was expected but since we were staying in such close quarters we did everything we could to keep them quiet and happy.  Everyone was finally up and moving by 7 or 8 and it was off to breakfast.  I stayed behind to wait for my parents and was so proud of myself for getting directions to a yummy 'jook' (rice porridge) place.  Between the little English the security guard at the apartment could speak and my very (very) broken Cantonese I was able to find the place and my parents and I were well fed.  Dylan was asleep on my back by 9:00 am and slept through all of breakfast. Thankfully Hong Kong is full of little bakeries here and there that we were able to stop and find him something he could eat on the go.

After breakfast, we went for a nice walk along the harbor.  Our first stop was the LDS church office building.  There's something about walking inside and feeling the peace and stillness.  They had nativities on display from all around the world. 

 

 From there we slowly made our way to the Star Ferry to take us across to the Kowloon side.

 

 Dylan was a champ the whole time.  He didn't mind being piggy backed everywhere we went and spent majority of the time in Hong Kong attached to someone. 

 We hiked up a hill and found the Hong Kong Temple.  A few years ago when I went to Hong Kong for my Ye-Ye's (grandpa's) funeral we were able to meet with one of my mom's old church friends and he told us of how the Hong Kong Temple came to be.  Pretty interesting story.

 After walking to the temple and eating lunch we headed to a Buddhist Garden.  It's amazing that such a quiet, peaceful, outdoor place can exist in the middle of such a busy city.

Dylan was thrilled to finally be able to run around and stretch out his legs.  Thankfully he didn't protest too much when it was time to put him back in the carrier.   By the end of this day we had walked well over 20,000 steps and the kids did AWESOME.  Brooke and Connor walked most of the way and were happy about it.  No meltdowns or tears.

 Day 3-My parents took the kids in the morning leaving the rest of us (Troy, Taylor, Brett, Heather, Jackson, and I) to explore.  We started out with a delicious breakfast courtesy of the same place I had gone the day before.

All the food you see above plus a little more cost maybe $13 and left us all feeling very full and satisfied.  We were able to find some pizza to satisfy Brett's hankering for American food.

We then headed up to Victoria Peak.  The tram ride up is always fun.  I'm not sure what the incline is but it's pretty steep.

Unfortunately we picked the wrong day to go up and it was pretty cloudy.  So much that we couldn't really see the harbor.  Bummer but it was still fun.  Then we headed to Stanley Market and finished off the morning with a later lunch at Din Tai Fung.  I wish I had gotten a picture of our meal.  It was heavenly.

The afternoon was spent walking around some more and shopping.  The uncles loved every minute of it!

Day 4-We spent the morning in Hong Kong then headed to the airport to begin leg 3 of our trip.  We are so grateful my parents were able to join us on Hong Kong.  As always, it wasn't nearly enough time but it was time well spent.  I'm especially grateful that we were spend time with MaMa and that Brooke and Connor have memories of her.

Gellin' Like Magellan Part I

Over Christmas break we flew to Hong Kong and Tokyo.  Ever since Brooke was born I wanted to go back to Hong Kong and have my grandma (mama) meet another one of her great-grandkids.  She met the oldest one, Jason, when he was 11 months old.  He's now 10.  Troy's brother moved to Tokyo about 1 1/2 years ago and we wanted to visit them so we decided to take the plunge and travel half way around the world.

We left Denver Saturday, Dec 19 in the evening.  We had a short 2 hour layover at LAX before crossing the Pacific.  I had already mentioned that to Troy that I wasn't comfortable with such a small window at LAX but there wasn't much we could do.  When we landed in CA we had to book it to get to the international terminal.  Thankfully we made friends with a small group of college age girls from the University of Wyoming that were headed back to Australia for the holidays.  They were so helpful in getting our stuff to the terminal.  It wasn't easy for us to carry Dylan on our back, 2 carry-ons, a car seat, and 2 kids through the airport at 9:30 Denver time.  Although Brooke and Connor were excited for the big trip you could tell they were exhausted.  We made it to the ticket counter to check in Dylan around 9:45 and we had 10:30 flight to catch.  We got him squared away and proceeded to head to security.  We had to show our boarding pass prior to getting in the security area and found out that the ticketing agent in Denver had given us the wrong tickets so we had to go back to the ticket counter and get the rest of our tickets.  We went through priority screening which I don't think was any faster.  They weren't too happy with the gallon size bag of pouches that I had brought for Dylan so I ended up having to get patted down instead of TSA testing each pouch individually.  By the time we headed to our gate it was well past 10 and we walked right on.

The kids were pretty excited to be on such a big airplane and to have their own TV screens.  After taking off we were quickly fed dinner then they dimmed the lights for the duration of the flight.  Dylan didn't last too long after dinner and spent 8 hours sleeping on the ground.  He started out in the carseat then we transferred him.  I like to think that the hum of the plane's engine helped keep him sleeping.  Brooke and Connor stayed up well past midnight Denver time watching movies but we finally had them settle down.  They started in the sleeping position posted above but then we quickly moved Connor to the floor and they both slept for a good 7 hours.  The adults didn't sleep very well but at least we had some good flicks to watch.

We arrived in Hong Kong around 6:00 am.  The kids did awesome on the flight.  We quickly found a bathroom to freshen up and headed towards baggage claim to meet my parents.  Then...Dylan had the biggest blowout.  We didn't have our luggage yet so we had to change him back into the dirty clothes he wore the day before.  And I had to dig into the recesses of my brain to figure out how to ask for a plastic bag to put his yucky clothes in.  It was difficult but I managed to get a garbage size bag.  We met up with my parents then hopped on a bus to drop our luggage off at my aunt's apartment.  The kids were beat and quickly fell asleep on the hour long ride.

We met up with my aunt then headed off to dim sum.  Yum yum!!!!  We were able to meet up with Mama at lunch and had a nice short visit.  Afterwards we walked around the harbor, visited a fireboat museum and a small playground.  The kids were happy to stretch out their legs and get a good amount of energy out and we were just happy to not be on an airplane anymore.

Then we headed to Mama's apartment.  I have fond memories of when I visited when I was a little younger than Brooke's age.  I told Brooke of a time that we visited when I was around 5 or 6.  Yeye (my grandpa) was still working at that time and would ring the apartment when he was leaving for work or coming home.  We could watch him on the security camera on their TV.  I remember thinking it was the coolest thing to see my Ye Ye on tv.  He's famous!

We decided to make this a short day.  We had an early dinner then headed back to our apartment that we were renting.  I really wish we had taken pictures of the place.  It had to have been somewhere between 500 and 600 square feet for 9 people.  It was our family, then Brett & Taylor, and Heather and Jackson.  There were 3 bedrooms--literally rooms for beds.  Brett was too tall for the beds so he and Taylor ended up sharing the sofa bed.  Brooke slept in the maid's quarters on a tiny bed just perfect for her.  The boys shared a bedroom, Heather and Jackson were in another, and Troy and I were in the last.  For tight quarters I think we managed it very well. 

That's it for Day 1 in Hong Kong.  Stay tuned for Day 2 & 3!!!

Playing Catch up...November

November was Troy's travel month.  He traveled 3 weeks in a row.  Luckily it wasn't for the whole week but by the time he was done I was ready for him to be home for good.

The kids and I managed to keep ourselves busy and entertained.  We recently bought an air popper.  The kids had never seen popcorn pop so they were really excited to see the first kernel pop.  Who knew watching popcorn pop could be so entertaining.

I do have to give kudos to the kids.  They were so good while Troy was gone.  Now if only we could keep them being good all the time.

 

One of the weeks that Troy was gone Dylan had a little run in with the piano.  I think the piano won.  I had no idea that he had hit the piano until 10 minutes later.  I thought he had just fallen in a small hole head first and the crying was from being scared.  He settled down quickly after but came running up to me 10 minutes later and lo and behold had a nasty bruise.  The top picture was taken shortly after the run in.  The second was from a couple days later.  I thought he looked like a kling-on.

My old roommate, Tracy, came out to visit and attend a speech and audiology conference.  It was so good to see her and catch up on old times.

My friend, Kristen, and I flew down to San Diego the weekend before Thanksgiving for the USA Invitational Half Marathon.  This is the race that I've had my eye on since last Winter.  I had been sick with a nasty cold leading up to this race so I wasn't sure how it would go.  I was just going to be happy to finish it.

 Needless to say...we finished it.  Both of didn't feel great going into it.  Kristen had been having back problems and well...I just felt like I was breathing through a coffee stirrer straw.  My official time was 2:05:16.  I felt great up until mile 9 then it quickly went downhill.  For starters...it was HOT!!!!!!  It was 55* at the start and probably somewhere close to 70 by the end.  I don't know if it was the humidity and/or the heat but I was also ridiculously thirsty which is unusual so I drank at every water stop after mile 9.  And the whole breathing and coughing thing didn't help.  We were glad to be done and even though it wasn't a great race for either of us we would do it again.  It was a great course with great support.  I signed up to run Ogden again in the spring hoping that I can redeem myself from last year so hopefully I can qualify again.

We treated Brooke and Connor to the Lion King.  It's a great musical and I loved watching the kids' reaction to everything they saw.  Definitely a must see with kids.

Sadly, this is the only picture from Thanksgiving-Troy and Taylor getting for the annual potato peeling contest.  It was short-lived.  Taylor cut his finger not even a minute into the contest.  We hosted this year and had the Austons, Halls,  Wilsons, and Taylor over.  Total of 11 adults and 4 kids.  I must give myself a pat on the shoulder.  I cooked everything except for the ham, salad, and pies and everything was on the table ready by 4 when I said that dinner would be ready.  That's a first!  Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and the company was great.  I definitely need to remember to pull the out camera next time.

October

October was the start of a 2 week Fall break for the kids.  I figured it was about time that I took Brooke to a hair salon to get an actual haircut.  I had no idea what she would want to do but offered her some suggestions.  Who knew that she would be up for chopping off 6 inches!  We all love it and it is so much easier to brush her hair now!  Yay!!

At the beginning of Fall break we headed to UT for a very quick weekend complete with golf cart rides.  Troy had a high school buddy pass away from bone cancer and we went to his funeral.  His friend, Clint, died 2 days before his 35th birthday leaving behind a wife and 3 kids.  The people that spoke at the funeral (including his wife) gave a beautiful tribute to a man who loved life, family, and the gospel.  Both Troy and I left the funeral feeling inspired and uplifted.

 

We made our paper chain counting down the days until Hong Kong/Tokyo.  Can't believe we're looking at less than 20 days from now.  Yikes!!!!  And Yahoo!!!!  We've been looking forward to this trip for so long that I can't believe it's here.

 The weather held up and friends invited Brooke and Connor to play at the reservoir.

I finally got a new pair of glasses.  The kids wanted to try some on for size.  I have a feeling that we're not too far away from seeing some specs on one of them.

Connor finished off another great soccer season.  The last game was a bit rainy and chilly but the kids did great.  I even think that his team went undefeated.  Go Monster Spiderbats!!!!

 

 

 

 

We also hit up the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  I love this zoo.  It was a beautiful day to go out and be amongst the animals.  Dylan was a little unsure of the giraffes and budgies. 

Troy's mom and Taylor came out the second week of Fall break and Troy and I headed south for a little getaway.  We hiked Manitou Springs Incline.  It was no joke.  About a 2000 ft inline made up of railroad ties in about less than 1 mile.  Then a nice 3 1/2 mile jog down the trail.  Our legs were screaming by the time we were done.

 

We also found a fun 1000 piece puzzle to do at the place we stayed at.  We were able to finish it and found that there's one piece missing.  Can you find where the piece should be?

Dylan has decided to show his independence starting with feeding himself.  On this particular morning I had an early piano lesson so I thought I'd try leaving him in the high chair and let him have at it.  I quickly discovered that he was more eager to feel the yogurt squish in his hand as opposed to eating it off the of the spoon.  Nevertheless he was a happy kid.

The kids made out like bandits this year especially at our ward trunk-or-treat.  I went through 3 bags of candy and still didn't have nearly enough for all the kids.  I even emptied out Dylan's basket into my bowl at one point.

I kept the donut tradition alive this year.  We had 2 fryers going and it made it so much faster to get them done.