Disneyland HK 2010

 Disneyland Hong Kong = Awesome. It was decorated for Christmas already which made it extra special. We started off our day with a character breakfast, Mickey being the first one we met. Kohen could hardly stay in his seat to wait for him to get to us.

 Kennedy and Pluto

 Kohen and Pluto

 Kohen and Goofy

Kennedy (Kohen) and Goofy

Anybody notice Aly missing? Yeah, she was completely petrified of Pluto and Goofy. She summed it up nicely when she said, "I don't like Dogs." Unsure of Goofy's species and to cover her bases she added, "Or tall people."

Guess who else wasn't a fan?

 Poor baby! Pluto kind of snuck up on Ander and this ^ is when he discovered he had a visitor. Immediate. Sheer. Terror. I felt so bad!! Pluto backpedaled away as fast as he could but the damage was done.

 Before we left for the park we met a special visitor in the lobby. Aly's face illustrates how they all felt I think.

 Then the Princess we had been waiting for arrived. BELLE. She was the most gracious, well mannered,  and let's be honest, well trained princess ever. She listened to all three talking at her all at once, she asked them questions, and when they gave her pictures they'd drawn to give to her "friends" (ie: other characters) she remembered who each one went to. She was great.

Us with Buzz Lightyear while Ander caught a nap in the stroller. (Aly still recovering from Pluto/Goofy trauma).

 We met up with some of our friends when we rode It's A Small World, it was all decked out for Christmas...

 Aly HATED it.

Lost Baby Story:
Yup. It's true. I had let Ander out of the stroller at one point, letting him run around a little. When Nathan and the kids walked up to continue on I thought Nathan picked up Ander as I pushed the stroller on and away we went.
2 min. later: Nathan passes me without our son in his arms (!!!!!!!). Realizing what happened I didn't even say anything, just left the stroller, turned around and ran back, searching the crowds and the area, my heart jumping out of my chest the whole time.
As I neared the scene of abandonment, unbelievably I see our friends walking up the hill, Lori holding a content Ander in her arms. I was so relieved!
As Lori handed Ander back she tells me that they were walking innocently along when a young Asian couple approached them holding Ander and said, "Excuse me, do you know who this baby belongs to?" And Lori said, "As a matter of fact, I do!"
After my panic subsided we chuckled at the situation. That would be like us walking up to an Asian at a U.S. Disney and asking if they knew who this random Asian baby belonged to. But for us, it worked, thankfully!!!

The nice thing about HK Disney is that it opened in 2005 and is quite small, especially compared to others. They are currently expanding it but I have to say it was so perfect for us. Two days where we didn't have to rush and we still saw everything and rode our favorite rides many times. 

Except the Dumbo ride. Again, Aly's face says it all. 45 min in line to go around in a Dumbo car 5 times (I counted) wasn't anyone's idea of fun.

Now they only need their loin cloths. 

 The view of the Safari ride from Tarzan's Tree House.

 Sing it with me now, "He's got the whole world..."

Space Mountain Report: Kennedy- wanted to cry. 

                                           Kohen- did cry. 

                                           Aly- LOVED IT. (????)

My parents used to do this when we would travel, put the two chairs together and it makes the perfect toddler bed. Very useful when we all have to sleep in a room together.

It was a magical 2 days with our family. Even with the occasional melt down, Nathan and I would smile and sarcastically remind each other we were in the "Happiest Place on Earth!" We hope to do Disneyland again someday, though I would appreciate going in the U.S., where you can by snacks other than dried squid or $10 popcorn. Well, I suppose the popcorn is still $10.

Kohen has a new B.F.F. who came home from Disneyland with us.

Thanks to Toy Story 3, Kohen informed me he will be taking Woody to college with him because he would never, EVER throw him away. 

Chinese Turkey Dinner/HK 2010

  Well, Thanksgiving dinner was a lot like the build up to this post... it left something to be desired. I am a fan of traditional Thanksgiving dinner so when everyone cried "PEKING DUCK...YES!" I was outnumbered but decided to go along for the ride. 

  This is the crispy beef that I tried (What, you've never seen cuts of beef that look like dried worms before?) and actually quite liked. But the much anticipated duck was a bit of a disappointment. 

Check out Nicole's post to see the video clip which answers why we all broke out into "Fa Ra Ra Ra Raaaa, Ra Ra Ra Raaaa!" And some better pictures of how they actually wanted us to eat the duck... The sauce reminded me of the black blood that came out of Penguins mouth when he died on Batman. But aaanyway, you can at least see and get a feel for the rest of the spread and the great company we had at dinner.

So overall, my rating was just okay. I mean, the duck didn't even have it's head still on which isn't very Chinese at all is it? Still, I would be willing to try duck again if the opportunity arises. Just no Penguin blood this time. 

FA RA RA RA RA!!!!!!!!

Lantau and Big Buddha

 Our kids got a peek at Disney on our way out Thursday since the Metro from Disney is all Mickey-fied.

 The nicest metro train I've ever been on with lush couches and Mickey ear handles.

But we had to forget Disney for the time being, we were on our way over to see the Big Buddha, which is not the technical name but an accurate one. We met up with our friends and headed out on the long Gondola ride up the mountains to see Tian Tan Buddha.

You have to take a long, beautiful, ride on a gondola up and over to the mountain top with the Buddha.  Did I mention they have glass bottom gondolas?! It was freaking me out!!! We were so high up and all I could think was just, what if?

 But that didn't stop the kids from getting a closer look. And after the shock of it wore off it was hard to deny how beautiful and how cool it was. Much better than lame-o glass bottom boat rides Nathan and I have been on in say, Mexico.

At some point along the long ride I worked up the courage to take a picture myself...

You can see Big Buddha off in the distance...

All of my kids (but especially Aly) were excited to see their friend Jaydn again. She moved to HK almost 2 months ago and took her mom with her, much to my chagrin. That's right, I said it. Chagrin.

I'm aware this is Photography No No #1- shooting straight into the sun- but it's the only picture that shows even a few of the 268 stairs that must be climbed in order to see this massive statue.

This is most of the kids up with us Thanksgiving day, minus one little boy probably trying to avoid Aly, and Aly probably trying to find said boy. Aaand Kohen.

Kohen disappeared on us (for like the millionth time) and we couldn't find him anywhere up at the top. After searching and starting to get a little worried we discovered him nearly finished climbing back up the 268 steps. Where were you?! we asked. His answer? "I went down to get the bottled water out of the stroller to share with everyone." He had the right idea I guess, but really? Back down and back up all those stairs when you can buy water at the top?! Oh well, we were all sleep deprived that day and maybe not thinking clearly.

 Jaydn and her Daddy, and Aly with hers.

 And a family pic under the massive Tian Tan Buddha. We all hurried back to our hotels to change and get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner in downtown HK.

Disney for Thanksgiving

 Our kids have been working hard with their good behavior to earn a trip to Disneyland. They had a lot of time to get this chart filled in right up to Mickey's ears.

 Wednesday before Thanksgiving the kids went off to school not knowing where we would be going when they got home. That afternoon we called them into the kitchen and finished coloring in the chart and asked them if Dad should call Mickey and see if he had room for us to come. So Nathan 'called' Mickey and he said he did have room but we would have to hop on a plane right away!!

One of the things I do when we travel is dress the kids in these comfy outfits. That way they always have a light jacket, it's comfortable enough to sleep in, and the material washes well for all those inevitable spills. If you ever see these at Costco again, let me know!
Anyway, we dressed the kids and headed off to the airport. We got in to Hong Kong a little late (man is that a slick airport though, love it!) and didn't get everyone settled till a little after midnight. But we were excited for Thanksgiving with friends the next day. There were 4 other families plus us, all ready to have "Chinese Turkey" for dinner...... To be continued........

He Eats Like a Man

Before I give you the low down on our Thanksgiving, I have to post a couple pics of Ander. He is such a great kid, I feel really lucky that he has been so chill. He is forever patient with being drug all over town, through nap times and the occasional bed time. 

 I had to include this pic because, well, Ander eats like a man. I never had to cut up sandwiches for him, he just picks them up with two hands and eats them. My 4 year old doesn't even do that! She prefers to open it all up first. He eats pizza like this as well. And he eats a lot of it!

Lastly, this boy is on the move! He is more of a climber than we've had before- end tables, kitchen table, the kid's fort, and the latest was the ladder to the top bunk! He was calling out and I knew he needed help but I was still surprised to find him so high up. As long as he doesn't decide to climb out of his crib any time soon, it's all good.

As Good As It Gets

How was your Thanksgiving?
This year, this ^ Kindergarten spread was as close to a traditional Thanksgiving meal as I got. And I have to say, it was actually really good.

 Kennedy was in tears that Kohen was teasing her by saying he "massaged the turkey". But turns out each kid in his class really did get a chance to massage that turkey, put in stuffing and make cranberry sauce from scratch. It was just delicious, actually.

Some of the fun randoms brought in for the potluck portion are McDonalds chicken nuggets, soy eggs, "sandwiches" from 7-11 that had a thin layer of egg rather than cheese, and other undecipherables. Always an adventure.
But the food the Kindergartners made was truly delicious. My son has now made more of a Thanksgiving dinner than I have. True story.
More on our non-traditional Thanksgiving to follow...

Just Too Much

There was just so much that we did that I am having a hard time calling it quits :) After we got back from Toroko there were several nice late dinners out without children. Mmmm, Thai food. (Not to be confused with Taiwanese food.)

One of many advantages of having guests for so long was that our children got so much time with their grandparents. And their grandparents got to come to school several times for special events. Like Kennedy's Writing Celebration where she got to read out loud her first published piece this year. 

And Grandpa and Dad got to swim with Kohen at the end of his first swimming unit while Gma and Aunt Tara and Laynie and I watched. 

 There was lots of sight seeing while kids were in school...

 A trip to the flower market, I love that place.

 And the Grand Hotel.
And since we were unable to fit in a trip to PingXi to let off lanterns, Nathan of course figured out a way to bring the lanterns to us.

 On everyone's last night we painted and let off our lanterns from our top balcony.

 It was the perfect way to finish off weeks of fun.

I had to add this picture, I love it. Especially Kohen, note he is holding his chinese queue braid out for you to see and appreciate. Love it!
Miss you Bonnie, Norm, Tara and Laynie!!!!!

Kennedy's Baptism~

A few weeks ago Kennedy turned eight. We believe 8 to be the age of accountability and that also means that she is now old enough to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You can read more about our beliefs on baptism here.

So November 11th was the day. It was a little different in that it wasn't a Stake event. Kennedy was the only one being baptized on this night and so we had to make sure we let everyone know when and where and have everything in order. Our ward is awesome and lot's of family and friends came to support Kennedy.

 Even more special was her Grandma and Grandpa Jensen and Aunt Tara and cousin Laynie who came all the way from Idaho. It meant so much to Kennedy (and her parents) to have them here! It was hard not having all of our family with us but it made such a difference having these special guests here. It felt like the special event that it is.

 As I helped Kennedy get dressed I couldn't help but think about how it seems like the last 8 years have all gone by inexplicably fast. We are so proud of Kennedy and the girl she has become. She is a kind, smart and thoughtful girl who I know will continue to make us proud.

Love you Kennedy!