Tannenbaum

When we had the camera with us we tried to get pictures of the kids next to Christmas trees that were scattered about Hong Kong.

Tree Assembly from outypants on Vimeo.

Twas the Season

There were moments during the Christmas season that I really felt like it was the season. Decorating while listening to Nat King Cole sing the Christmas song, walking through TST looking at lights and decorations. Watching Christmas cartoons and my favorite movie It's a Wonderful Life. These moments were rare and the season came up rather quickly. I would have not believed that snow made that much of a difference but it does. I also attach Christmas with home and the familiar, so just being here even with Christmas displays at all the malls and most of them actually say Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays! It wasn't the familiar and had no real comfort that usually comes with the season for me. I am not complaining- Jesus is celebrated every day in my heart and life and I am happy to spend His birthday wherever my husband and kids are. Also I didn't mine the 75˚ on Christmas Eve. We were able to have a party at our house on Christmas day. It was fun and full of good times and made a great memory for me.

Photos in order from top to bottom
Jane by Ocean Terminal display
Hung Hom lights
The girls the day we went to the Nutcracker
Family photo at the Harbor
The kids attacking Nathan at the Christmas party
Ping and Bethany
My friend Esther and her cousin

Ping Shan Heritage Trail

The oldest Pagoda in Hong Kong

It is always amazing to see how the trees grow around buildings and structures.

This was called the "Old Well" Nathan asked the kids if they wanted to jump in and he bent down to pick up the grate covering it and was surprised to find he could actually lift it up.

We were taking photos in these rounded doorways we thought it was amusing to have a photo of Jane in front of the toilet sign







This sign says Glory Christian Church refreshing to see a church after visiting the temples.




Ping Shan Heritage Trail from outypants on Vimeo.

Lung yeuk tau Heritage Trail

There are various heritage trails all over Hong Kong where you can walk through old villages see temples, some churches and older buildings. Nathan and Elliot went on one the other day. It had walled villages and lots of parks along the way.






Happy New Year- don't know how long this has been up I guess it is always appropiate.





AJi Ichiban is a popular snack/candy store where you can pick and choose bags of yummy treats. They are almost as common as 7-11's.

Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail from outypants on Vimeo.

Family Visits

Shane and Shanda ( Nathan's younger sister and brother) came to visit us for two weeks. It was so great to have family here. I was feeling a little spoiled having the Annis visit followed right after by a Sweeney visit. It would be nice if we could have people come more often make us miss home less. We kept Shane and Shanda very busy doing all the tourist stuff and then some. The kids had people to carry them around, play games with them and some extra hugs aside from mom and dad.
Shane had a cantonese lesson from a very friendly taxi driver. That amused us all especially the kids- they have never heard a driver be so chatty and interactive. I was able to experience three new events, one that was on my list of things to do before we leave Hong Kong. The Peak at night, Dim sum and the other thing was to catch the laser light show while hearing the music play. That one wasn't on my list but hey it was something I had never done before.
Nathan took them hiking and they did the extremely difficult Pat Sin Leng hike. They got really burnt but I think they appreciated the views.

Mish Mash S&S from outypants on Vimeo.

Last Day out with S&S from outypants on Vimeo.

Visitors in November/Shenzhen

I am having trouble with blogger changing the format of my captions and photos. I am new to using it and don't really know how to fix it. So I apologize for the format.

We had a visit from our good friends Mike and Jodie from Traverse City. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and the Krohns. We often talked about how fun it would it be to be over here together and for 10 days we got that chance.


 I visited Lo Wu for the first time. A busy gateway between Hong Kong and mainland China. 
Lo Wu commercial city is a giant shopping complex.  You can get your nails done, buy illegal dvds and designer knock off accessories and clothes, or get your own made all in one place. 

It was an overload to my senses upon first entering. The second hand smoke lingering on every floor, with shouts of clerks outside their stalls yelling " hey missy, missy" trying to get my attention. 
It took about 15 minutes for me to adjust to the noise and smell and think clearly.

 My big purchase was a gray coat They started out at a sell price of $950 ($135)I bought it for $250 ($35) - the inside tag price read $3500 HKD ($500) I don't know if that is relevant or not
but all in all I felt I walked away with a good deal.
 The kids and Nathan visited the kite park while I shopped. Then they had pizza for dinner. Finding good pizza in China is hard to do but NYPD is good by American standards. The owner said he would like to open one in Hong Kong on the Island we can hope he open ones up in the New Territories.

The picture of the kids on the step in front of the station was taken not only by me but by several other tourist and locals.

Jane practicing for her Christmas program and our day out.

Lunch in Shenzhen from outypants on Vimeo.