What have I been up to???

I'm giggling because I just told Steve that I'll give this a go, but in the end 'I may delete it'.

I started our family blog back in June 2008. You know, to let family and friends in on what we were planning to do this time out of the States. Little did I imagine where we'd be, mostly because we're now a family of 4! (sorry Libby - 5)

~Side note: I can't believe Steve just interrupted my writing to show me something. He gets so annoyed if anyone speaks to him whilst he's typing. Humph!

A day in the life...

Steve had always been an early riser, but Ethan George has him beat lately. Let's say around 5:30  he'll wake and maybe cry a bit and then start playing around in his bed. He has a musical bear that  he'll turn on and then sit and look at a few books I leave in the corner of his crib. There's an alligator xylophone that sits on the window sill in reach - maybe he'll pound out a few notes. Or there's always some sort of activity out of the window (he's 21 floors up overlooking a beach and waterway that has small fishing boats all the way up to huge cargo ships going by). Eventually we'll hear his nook hit the floor, that is his signal that he's had enough 'alone' time and it's time to come and get him. This act has just recently been followed by 'uh-ohhhh' - which makes us smile and jump up to go to his rescue.




Gabriel, who is now 14 1/2 and taller than Steve, is not such an early riser. He gets up and dresses and heads out the door with a breakfast smoothie by about 7 am.  He's got a lot on his mind right now. Some of his close friends have announced they'll be moving or changing schools. Then there's his music. His tastes range from the oldies to, well, a range that astounds me. Beatles, The Ramones, and Queen all the way to Green Day.  He requested an electric guitar for his birthday last Jan and has been playing faithfully on his own since then. He has one of Steve's coworkers helping him along and endless Youtube vids to learn whatever. He's with his 2nd band that play together after school. We're amazed at his ability, and how much he can do in such a short time. -I've noticed his sketching has taken a back seat, for now. He does, however, plan to study art in the future, so I'm sure he'll get back to it.

Back to my day...

Steve also leaves early, between 6:40 and 7:00am.

Then Ethan George and I are on our own. We take Libby out for a walk, stop by the playground and fit in a quick swim when we can. Then there's morning nap around 9am til 11am.

Naptime... here's where I get a few things done around the house, maybe read and journal, catch up on email/FB, throw something together for lunch, iron, and sometimes sleep.

There's an afternoon nap too. That's for preparing dinner if we're home. But we go out too. Always something going on. And I love going out a couple times a week. Maybe take the ferry into Central, HK Island and run errands or there's plant street in Prince Edward (a few blocks of plant and flower shops), check in on the boys out at the school (50 min from door to door by shuttle bus to the train station, ride 3 trains, and a short walk from the station to the campus) or just stay here and wander around our island visiting with friends.

Oh my, it's getting late and I must get some sleep. Gabriel and I just caught up a little on Once Upon A Time. We're still midway in season 1. What a creative expression of the classics! Fun.

Love to you all. Sleep well.
Tammy

Walking Home from Mongolia with Rob Lilwall

 Last Sat. afternoon Tammy, the boys and myself had the opportunity to walk with Rob Lilwall and his companion, Leon McCarron, on the final stage of their 5,000 kilometer walk from Mongolia, through the Gobi Desert and China, all the way to Rob's home in Hong Kong.  The reason for the walk, besides the adventure, was to raise money for the children's charity Viva.  The guys started back in November and after 6 months on foot made it to the border between China & Hong Kong on Friday evening.

Rob's journey made the front page

I first became acquainted with Rob last year when we arranged for him to come speak to the  students at the school where I work about his first big adventure where he cycled from Siberia to London.  The stories he shared with the school were inspiring to student and staff alike and so when he announced that he would be participating in a new adventure walking from Mongolia to Hong Kong for charity, we were excited to see how we could be involved. For that reason we have been doing  morning assembly updates, showing video, photos, and blog entries so the students could follow along on the journey.

Rob & Leon at the finish!

On Saturday Tammy and I joined about 60 other volunteers to walk with Rob & Leon on the final leg of the trip. The route would start in Discovery Bay, go over the mountain near the Trappist Monestery, and down into Mui Wo where the journey would end at the beach in Silvermine Bay.

I would not want to carry that pack!

In hindsight, we probably would NOT have brought 16 month old Ethan George.  Although the hike was only about 7 kilometers, hauling the baby with stroller and carry-all, on a hot humid Hong Kong day was pretty tough.

But, we wanted to do it as a family!

Anyhow, the big moment as we waited at the Discovery Bay pier to begin was wondering where Rob would be joining us.  He ended up arriving on a small "junk" (boat) and as the junk approached Rob suddenly jumped in the water and swam to the group to applause and cheers of "well done".  We could all only imagine what it would be like to have been walking for 6 months straight and now, to be joining friends and family for the final 7 kilometers.

With Rob and his wife Christine

We all journeyed together for about 2 hours until Rob & Leon, leading out front, reached the Silvermine beach.  They dove into the water together completing an astounding 5000 kilometer odyssey.

It was a family affair!

Afterwards we joined with everyone for a celebratory dinner and welcomed our friends home after a long, and fruitful, adventure.  For Tammy, myself, and the friends with us, we considered it a real privilege to participate in a small part of their grand journey .  Our family raised HK$ 1200 in donations for the walk but we felt like the blessed ones being able to join in on Rob & Leon's special day.

 

20th Anniversary!

Ah yes, the baby!!

Just a quick little post to celebrate my wife Tammy and I's 20th anniversary.  As I mentioned previously on my blog, Tam & I met nearly 22 years ago (actually Oct 8, 1990) in Hong Kong and we married about a year and a half later on April 4, 1992.

We celebrated by heading over to Macau for a night at the Venetian hotel.  Each room there is like a mini-suite and the hotel laid out a chocolate shaped heart filled with different chocolate pieces surrounded by rose petals to celebrate our little evening!

The Venetian Hotel (and Casino)

Although it is our 20 anniversary...we do have a 15 month old baby!  Our 14 year old was good for a night alone by himself, but the little one came for our romantic getaway for 2.  Yes, 3 is a crowd in such circumstances...but we love him so we made a way :) !

And our evening out for dinner was wonderful.  We had originally made reservations at Morton's Steakhouse but we made a last minute decision that with Ethan, a dinner at Morton's may be more of a challenge than we would like so we fell back on our traditional Macau favorite, Fernando's.  Fernando's is a Portuguese staple in the former Portuguese colony and we have been frequenting it for at least 20 years.  Fresh bread, chicken, veal, salad, and Portuguese fried rice washed down with Sangria (for Tammy) and red wine (for me).

We also had a drink with some new friends we had just met and had gotten married.  One of the things Tammy and I love are the interesting people we meet on this side of the ocean.

Anyhow, we had a wonderful night reaffirming our marriage and looking forward to the next 20 together!