1st trip to HK (Part 3)

We spent the second half of the trip seeing our friends & family and doing some shopping as well.  It was easier to do all that after we moved to kau kau's place.  We were finally in the city, yay!!!

One of the reasons to fly back to HK despite all the things that worried us was to introduce Ali and Nate to our relatives.  And whenever we met up with someone, we feast.  Yup, eat, eat, eat all day.  One of the most satisfying meals was the "pun choy".  Never heard of it, well, here is a picture for ya!

Basically, they put a whole bunch of food (prawns, chicken, mushrooms, roast pork, fish balls, etc.) and they filled it up in a huge tray.  It is so so big that it can feed 20 people.  We did have some veges on the side, but we still couldn't finish the tray.  And the best of all, it tasted so good!!!

Nate with his "yee por".  Yee por was so delighted to finally meet the kids!

My mom and my aunt's family:

One of Ali's favourite desserts is the mango tapioca dessert.  Kai mama gave me a recipe for it, but it was not as good as the original one in "Moon Kee".  Gosh, it's so damn good!!!

The highlight of the trip for Ali and Nate gotta be the playdate at Trevor goh goh's house.  Auntie Emily first spoiled Ali with "high tea".  Look at Nate!  Third wheel!!!  LOL

Nate had a great time crawling around and playing with Trevor's toys.  Ali had a blast hanging out with Trevor - ride ons, slides, sand table, etc!  It was awesome!!!  Thanks for such a wonderful playdate!

One of my high school friends took us to a really cool private club.  The place is amazing.  It has a 3 level play area and the place is HUGE!!!  Lots of cool play structures and neat toys to entertain the kids.  Both Ali and Nate had a wonderful time.  The buffet there was really good too.  We casually asked about the cost to join the club.  Apparently, it costs half a million Canadian for the initiation fee!!  Oh my gosh!!!  People are so wealthy!  Or that, we are just too poor.

Zoe, Ali and Helen:

Nate fully enjoyed crawling around the padded area, while mommy enjoyed the view of the marina.

After we finished eating at the Marina Club, Ali really wanted to go home to nap.  5 minutes into our cab ride, both kids just passed out.  Instead of going home (still had to take a subway and then a shuttle bus), we decided to let the kids sleep in the mall...in our arms.  Many people walked by and gave us the "WTF" look. Ummm....what do you want, people??  Look at the kids!!!  Don't judge us!

And of course there is my niece, Maddy!  She looks so much like my brother when she is upset and so much like her mom when she smiles!  I can't believe how chubby she is!  Om, om, om!  Can't stop biting her thunder thighs!!

Dai dai somehow managed to find the best-tasting "baos" (buns) for us.  And I am not kidding.  They are the best Chinese buns we have ever had.  Ali loves it!  (Actually me too).  They were so good that we had them every morning for the entire time we were at por por's house.

Ali and Nate got to meet two of my best high school friends.  They are actually brother and sister and we hang out so much their parents know my family quite well too.  We haven't seen each other for a long time and it was nice to finally have our kids play together.  Jason took quite a liking to my girl.  Step back, Jason!!  Don't get too close to my girl!

Kau kau and Sue kau mo (uncle and aunt) really really spoiled Ali.  One of Ali's most recent obsession is Mc mug and Mcdull (piggy cartoons from HK).  She is so into it.  We looked high and low to find the merchandise but we couldn't find any.  Once kau kau found out, he searched some more and got her a whole bunch of mcmug stuff.  Ali is SO spoiled!

Ali and the babes!!  For some reason, it looked like she was about to crack a whip to the two babies....hahhaa.

This was the first time we celebrated the Moon festival in HK.  (We always go during Summer or Xmas time.)  And it was so much fun!  Both kids had never played with lanterns before.  They had a great time!

Coming back home was quite uneventful.  Just really sore arms and shoulders and back.  Nate was on me (awake/asleep) the whole 12 hour flight!  Re-sleep train was a MAJOR PAIN.  He was so used to nursing 3-4 times a night and held all the time and slept with us, that he threw a major tantrum when he got home.  He cried for 4 hours for the first night.  The second night, just a tad better and eventually slept through the night again by the end of the week.  Ali also threw a major tantrum when we were driving home.  She was so scared to use the public bathroom that she held her pee for the entire flight.  She wanted to go to potty so bad and the fact that she was so so tired that she had a serious meltdown in the car.  Although it was nice seeing everyone, but I think the next time we go back to HK will be when Nate turns 5!!!

1st trip to HK (Part 2)

Nate only slept for 3 hours the whole time, so naturally, he passed out when we got back to por por's house.    Instead of sleeping, my boy decided to flirt with all the flight attendants on the plane.  Ali, on the other hand, woke up at 2:30 am.  Poor daddy.  The next night got better, it was 4 am.  Don't get me wrong, Nate was up all the time.  But I also had my secret weapon - nursing him to sleep!!  Oh yeah baby!  I know it is not a good habit, but that's the only way to keep the noise level down and get some quality sleeping time.  Of course, Nate LOVED the nursing part (he does not like bottles one bit!) and nursing to sleep, wow, that's like a dream came true for my little man.  I had to pay dearly for this.  More on sleep training later.

Ali "helping" por por with the chores:

Por por lives pretty damn far.  Like REALLY far.  We seldom went out (especially the kids were still very jet-lagged).  One of the favourite things to do was to go biking by the seaside.  My mom bought this crazy tricycle (she couldn't do a 2-wheeled one) and Ali just loved it!

Like I said, my mom really lived really far away from the city.  From where she lived, there are quite a few fruit trees.  Bananas and papayas, yum!

And pomelo!  Have you ever seen a pomelo tree?  This is my very time!  So cool!

After taking some pictures, it's mommy's turn to pedal.  Man, this thing is hard to steer, I tell ya!

People also drove all the way out here to enjoy BBQ and taking the boats out.

When we were biking, it happened to be low tide.  We got a chance to bring Ali out to take a look at the water.

Kids were usually SOAKED by around 10 am.  So hot!  (And people kept on telling me it's a lot cooler already!  Huh?!)  Whenever we can, we tried to give them a few baths a day.

 

1st trip to HK (Part 1)

Hubby and I were DREADING this HK trip for months.  We were worried that the kids wouldn't adjust well to the time difference, the hot weather and the fact we will have to re-sleep train just freaked us out.  We just finished sleep training with Nate (no more night feeds!) a week or two before the trip and we had to do that again??  Well, turned out what we worried about...all came true!!  Arrggghhh....  

Nate completely happy cruising around our departure gate:

Ali completely mesmerized with the humongous airplane.  She stared at it for a looooong time and kept on asking when we could board.

Por por is on the same flight with us and she was trying to show Ali all the different planes.

A very content toddler, but grandma already looked kind of defeated.  LOL.

I managed to smile still.  Well, that's before take-off....right...

Nate was just too excited about this whole plane experience.  It turned out the bassinet was a bit too small.  He is a skinny baby, but he is too long for it.  So what happened you think?  Turned out Nate loved mommy a lot.  Yup, por por was able to give me breaks from time to time when we were heading to HK, but on our way back, I was holding him 12 hours SOLID.  No joke.  My arms were asleep and my back and shoulders were aching for a few days.

Nate: "Nap?  Sleep?  What's that?  Time to play, mommy!"

Poor little Ali was SOOOO exhausted but she was so uncomfortable that she couldn't sleep.  She tried sleeping on the floor, then a minute later, climbed onto the seats (por por and I took turn sitting somewhere else with Nate), then back to the floor.  She kept on doing that for a long time.  Ali got really frustrated and upset and after an hour of struggle, she finally fell asleep.  She was able to sleep for 6 hours on the entire flight.  We think that Ali could have slept longer if the seat belt sign wasn't on (we had to bring her back to her seat, poor Ali!)

My little angel finally got a little bit of rest.  The silly girl insisted to sleep with her luggage.  Yup, that's my girl. 

Merry-go-round

Ali's best friend at school is leaving.  His mommy is expecting twins (boys!) at the end of this year so it makes sense for them to send Dominic to somewhere close to their home.  We took advantage of their summer break and went to the Burnaby Village Museum for a playdate.

Taking the streetcar with Dominic.

"Waiting" for the streetcar at the station.

Since the PNE visit, Ali got really fascinated with blacksmiths.  We just happened to catch one of the blacksmiths in action.

Can't miss the cowbell!

Ali and Dominic just LOVED running on the field.  They had so much fun.  That's what the kids love, good company and a place for them to run around.

And their favourite - merry-go-round!  I think we were on it 4-5 times.  It doesn't make sense for the pregnant lady to go with the kids, so I went with them.  Man, I was so dizzy after.

 

Thanks for the wonderful playdate, Erin.  Ali and I had so much fun!  Good luck with the pregnancy!

Sebastian turning 3!

Just got back from a really hectic vacation.  Now it's time to blog!  Not on our vacation, but the stuff before our trip.  Ali's little boyfriend is turning 3 and before we head to the party, we had a little playdate with her friend, Isla.  The gals really enjoy their time together.

Daddy is exhausted pulling the two little ladies around the neighbourhood.

Time to do some cleaning, girls!

While the spray bottles are out, why don't we clean the cars, girls?

Both our kids slept in a bit and we were late for the party, but just in time for the cake!

Mason enjoying his snack on the big boy chair:

Ali and her handsome bf, Sebastian.  Isn't he adorable?

Sebastian's mommy has never heard of Gangnam Style.  Seriously??  No way!  Maggie's mommy pulled out her phone right away.  Mason and Ali know it quite well.  You should see the way they dance.  Hilarious!

 

Thanks for the awesome birthday party, Any and Erik!