Field Trip to the Zoo

 Abby's class (and Micah!) I love that she has Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese and American friends within her class!

 Abby's face was priceless just after feeding the giraffe!

 Micah taking his turn to feed the giraffe an apple.... what else would the giraffe eat, right?

Today Abby's class took a trip to the zoo so we tagged along. My cousin, Melissa, is in town hanging out and helping me while Adam is with his students on a 9 day trip to southern China. We're having TONS of fun with her and it's great to be able to show her our city!

I'm trying to get things wrapped up here. We have 18 days until we move back to the States. It still seems quite surreal and it's definitely overwhelming to think about all that needs to happen between now and then. All in all, we're enjoying our last weeks here in China; spending as much time with friends as possible, saying goodbye to different places as we introduce Melissa to them AND of course, drinking TONS of Bubble Tea!

Hong Kong

Each day they choose someone to open Disneyland. Just so happens that we got to do it yesterday. We were the first ones in the park; the staff gave us about a hundred stickers and took a ton of pics of the kids with Mickey and Minnie. Then they wanted us to line up and take pics with the whole staff in front of Mickey. All the while, everyone else was still outside the gate, staring at us and wondering why in the world we got to be in the park and they were still standing in line.  After about 20 minutes of picture taking, etc... they had us all shout, "Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland! The park is now OPEN!" It was a lot of fun to be able to take pics with Mickey and Minnie without having to stand in a line and we're thankful for cool experiences like this that I'm sure we'd never have in the States.

Micah was not sure what to think about Mickey

Abby was enamored with the princesses! She couldn't get enough of them and just kept smiling!

Micah on the bench

Abs, LOVING the magical experience of Disneyland

The kids are LOVING having grandpa and grandma here! Adam and I are also loving being able to send the kids to breakfast with them and take our leisurely time in getting ready and to the restaurant each morning. Gotta love grandparents!!!

Lovin' Pooh

Micah and the paparazzi... we should have had our own booth for people to take a photo with the kids. Micah never minds and is always happy to oblige or even be held for a photo-op.

Went to Discovery Bay. Having fun on the beach!

The kids loved playing in the sand

Taking a stroll with gram and pops

Discovery Bay

Downtown Hong Kong

We went to Noah's Ark on Monday and it was one of the coolest things I've experienced. It's a life sized replica of the Ark in the Bible. Here is info on it if you're going to be traveling this way. Definitely check it out!               http://www.noahsark.com.hk/eng/index.php

They did a fabulous job of recreating the animals

The Ark from afar

Was trying to capture how big it was but not sure you can really tell

We went to play on the beach after the tour. (You can see the Ark in the background). While we were walking around this monster of a boat, we were talking about how amazing it is that Noah built this whole stinking thing (on his own and by hand!!!) simply out of obedience to God.  It didn't make sense at the time, the world thought he was crazy, yet he was faithful to what the Father wanted him to do. There are times when what God asks us to do doesn't make any sense to us or to the world, but yet, how much better off are we when we follow the plan that He has for us. May we be as faithful as Noah.

I love the fact that no one has any inhibition in this country.  I had to run up to "Shopper's Street" this evening after the kids were down to get some stuff and being that I was kid-less, I had an opportunity to really take in my surroundings and just check people out. I passed quite a number of people on the walk and may have glanced in a few windows (no, I'm not creepy but if you leave your curtain open with the lights on and I walk by at night - I may happen to take a peek.... be forewarned!)  On my walk these were some of the things I saw: Men stretching, people doing tai chi on the side walk and others doing it in their homes, dancing, exercising, people riding bikes and carrying multiple passengers while balancing, lots of foot massage/body massage places, hair salons, little grocery shops, shoe/boot repair shop with a group of people playing games inside, and lots of security guards everywhere. It was a lovely evening for a walk as we had a rain last night and though it was a little foggy, the air was clear. Anyway, back to no inhibitions... I love the fact that people do whatever they want here; things that in the States people would give you a look like you were crazy or just a plain dork. I love the fact that people wear whatever they want - albeit it stripes and plaid together or something of the like. (My dad would fit in well here with his own unique style of dress :) hehe... love you dad!)

In other random news: I am going to Beijing tomorrow on a girls' trip. Should be a fun day to spend with some friends for me and I sure appreciate my sweet hubby taking care of our wonderful kids all day so I can have some Mama time!

Abby and I are doing a photo shoot on Sunday and likely will be on a BILLBOARD in the near future in our city. Haha... Will fill you in more after it takes place but someone was looking for a foreign 3 yr old and mom... guess that's the marketing key to success. If you look at most advertisements around here, most things have pictures with foreigners... Uh, yeah we're not really sure what we're getting into but at least Adam is coming with us and we figure it'll be a good China experience!    

Our days...

Our days are spent much the same each week it seems. Usually at least one day a week some friends and I will take our kids to a play place to let the kids burn off some energy. There are tons of indoor play places around here. It costs anywhere from 15 rmb ($2.30) to 35 rmb ($5.50 - the expensive end of things!) for a couple hours of play. 

This is a new play place that they just put in at Emart, a store where we often go to shop. The kids love riding the gauntlet! 

Abby with some of our good friends here... on a walk at Trash Mountain. 

This is another pic from the play place.... when the kids have to go to the potty instead of actually taking them to the bathroom.. they sit on these little pots that have a plastic bag lining and go right in the middle of everyone. For the little boys, the parents hold up the pot and the boys "shoot" into it. When finished, you tie up the bag and carry it to the garbage can to throw it away!!! It's a pretty funny/gross and a little bit different but you know, when in China.... Abby always seems to wait to go potty on these pots, of course,  much to my dismay.  

 
Family pic at Trash Mountain

We often see people writing with these big paintbrushes (with water) on the ground. We're not really sure what it says but it is some form of Chinese art. Often people will crowd around to watch as the person (usually an older man) writes with about a 6' pole/paintbrush - often times writing different characters at the same time with different hands. Pretty amazing!

Valentines party with some friends! 

The kids just got some darling clothes from Grandpa Brad and Grandma Kate. Micah got these brown shoes and he LOVES them! One day the shoes were all he wanted to wear.. he just kept admiring them! 

Abby and Micah sporting some cute new duds! Thanks again Grandpa and Grandma!

New School

Adam's new classroom

1/2 of Abby's new classroom

Cafeteria....

This is kind of a silly pic as you pretty much just see the hallways... exactly what you wanted to see, I know! :) You can see part of the student lounge in this pic... each of the floors have these lounges for the students. 

Over the Christmas/Chinese New Year break we moved into our new K-12 school. Hundreds of hours, 170 + truck loads, 4 flights of stairs with a non-functioning elevator, and LOTS of sweat equity brought us to this beautiful new school! We are so thankful and it truly is a miracle to see how everything has worked together perfectly. I'm sure that I could get a lot better pics... will try to do that next time I'm at the school. 

Chun Jie Kuai Le!!!

More Pics from Chinese New Years Eve