Biking in Sha Tin

Mother's day started off with a homemade breakfast of Raisin Bran and tea brought to me in bed. It was really sweet. Austin and Ally were excited to bring me the cards and clay bowls they made for me at school. Steven surprised me with a huge print of hundreds of the best photos of our time here in Asia.

After destroying the house in only 2 hours, we decided it was time to get out of it. So we packed up the car with our bikes, snacks and gear for an adventure in the New Territories. Driving alone is an adventure. It takes both of us concentrating hard to figure out where we are going. We successfully made it to Sha Tin, despite the fact that we thought we were going to Tai Po. But it didn't matter as the bike trail goes between both places. Once we parked in a garage, we had no idea how to find the bike path. We asked several people, but we were more confused by asking. So we trusted our insticts and headed towards the river that we had driven over. Some how we made it. We started at Sha Tin Park. Ally and Austin rode their own bikes and we ran beside until we could find the bike shop. This was Austin's first time riding without training wheels outside of our basketball court at the apartment. It was a little shakey. A crash into the wall, a crash into the sister. By the time we got to the bike rental shop, the kids were ready to ditch the bikes. So it was perfect that there was a three wheeled, covered bike where they could ride in the back with style, well maybe not style.... The bike shop had a guy who could speak English so we managed to arrange for them to watch the kids bikes while we rented theirs.

Then we went down the trail along the river. Sha Tin is basically the burbs of Hong Kong. But in true Hong Kong fashion. It's full of high rise apartments and shopping malls. The river was a sewage brown and the sky was grey. (There was no fog or clouds that day.)

The trip to Tai Po is 11Km. Not far in our pre-kid days, but endless in our post-kid, riding a huge circus bike days. Besides the 3 wheeler wasn't allowed to go that far. So we went as far as we could, doing a round trip of the river trail. We rode past the Sha Tin race track and stopped in our tracks! Staring down at us were race horses in a high rise.

On the other side of the river, we stopped to watch teenagers run a rock walkway. Rocks are set upwards. I think it's to "massage" your feet, but I am not sure. Anyways, the kids were rolling in pain and their parents were laughing hysterically. Ally and Austin jumped off the bike, took off their shoes and made it about 2 feet before they decided it was much better just to swing on the bar.

After the ride, we headed back to the car, finding a more direct way through a shopping mall. We stopped at McDonalds for a treat. As the only Gweilos in the area, and the only Gweilos carrying two bikes through a mall, we received looks of looks. Right near us was Snoopyland and The Heritage Museum, but we were all hot and sweaty and not feeling the greatest. Home was all we wanted. Even though we got lost, we still made it home by 3. We all sorta collasped inside. By then we all had sore throats and felt, well, felt like crap. Austin and I tried to lay down. We got up to try to eat dinner, but he vomited all over the dining room floor. Multiple times. And no we just couldn't make it to the toilet.... We got it cleaned up. Austin tucked in our bed. Ate pizza. And we're in bed by 6pm. What a mother's day. You know you are a mom when you are cleaning up vomit.
Happy Mother's day to all.

Biking in Sha Tin

High Rise Horses
Austin at the wheel
Strong Man
Strong Woman!

Making it across the rocks...

Alien Ally

Poor Ally has been getting ear aches almost every time she goes swimming. We try to put drops in and blow dry her ears, but we just can't prevent the pain. Last week she woke up two nights in a row crying. Each night it was a different ear. So I took her to the doctor and they were both inflamed.

With swimming at least three times a week, we had to do something. So I found out the name of a place that makes custom ear plugs. Ally and I headed down to Central together. We had to wait a long time in the office. Of course, it was lunch time. So the office guys kept feeding her candy. Just what I needed a hyper, hungry 5 year old in a doctor's office. Once we got in the process was quick. They stuck a string wick in her ear. Then they mixed a green putty and injected it in her ears. She looked like a space creature and couldn't stop giggling. After waiting 5 minutes, they pulled the string and out popped her molds.

We have to go back next Saturday and pick them up and check the fitting. Hopefully, this will be the end of ear aches and ear space exploration.

St Stephens

It was a nice day today. But after sleeping late and calling the relatives, we felt we should explore somewhere close to home. So we packed up our beach gear and caught our shuttle down to Stanley. From there we walked about 10 minutes to St. Stephens beach. This is the beach that Steven and I hung out on when we came here for vacation 10 years ago. We haven't been back till today. It's a small pleasant beach that looks back onto Stanley. There is a small sailing center and a food kiosk and best of all some trees for shade. We were all happy to be outside. Steven laid back on our mat to finish his book. The kids climbed trees and started to explore. They started to build an elaborate sand palace complete with a moat. It wasn't long before the caught a decent sized green crab, with the help of a local, to live in the newly constructed abode. They sounded out the word KEEP OUT (with a little help) and wrote it in the sand to protect the crab. I am sure he would have been happy if he could have just lived quietly. But the kids were constantly putting him back in the bucket to remodel his home. Austin then decided to snorkel. He wasn't out past his knees when he spotted a sea urchin. So we got the bucket and scooped it up. I was amazed to see such a creature drifting in the sand so close to the shore. Now the kids have successfully captured two decent size sea creatures and were on a exploration high. They quickly made freinds with an older, local lady and gathered sea snails off the rocks together. After terrorizing every creature we could find, we decided it was time to head to the club and take a dip in the chlorine to kill off anything we caught from playing in the polluted bay. Overall it was a nice day.

Checking out the view at St. Stephens Beach.

Making a home for our captured crab and looking back towards Stanley.

Dad enjoying his Sunday.

KEEP OUT

Look what we caught. A sea urchin and a green crab.

Austin holding the sea urchin.

Ally holding the sea urchin.

Befriending a local.

Cinco de Mayo! Ole!

Realizing it was Cinco de Mayo and there was not a sombero in sight. We decided to take matters into our own hands. At 10 am that morning, we invited 4 familes over for BBQ fajitas, coronas and margaritas. Amazingly, or just thirsty, all said yes. So after our swim lessons we headed to the grocery store. In typical Hong Kong fashion, it took us 3 different grocery stores to find the ingredients. Margarita mixer was the hardest to find, but the American Club store came through. With 8 adults and 12 kids, we started chopping and cooking. The kids menu was easy: Quesadillas, baby carrots and fruit skewers. We scrambled online to find recipes for fajitas and spanish rice, adding in beans and toppings.

We considered the night a success and were validated with a noise complaint from management. Of course, it was us complaining of noise the next morning.... anything that made noise. Our heads hurt.

International day

Ally proud to be an American

Austin among his international classmates.

Kids saying hello in different languages.

Watching the Maorie performance.

Austin, cool, with his hands in his pockets.

Ally and Jasmine.

Ally parading across.

African drummers and singers.

Friday was International Day at their school, HKIS. We understood it was an international school, but the assembly really helped you see how international it really is. Parents and kids filled the gym. The kids dressed from their home country. And for many bi-racial kids, they had to pick just one. The assembly was really well done. In between various performances and songs, classes stood up, while they read they nationalities represnted in that class along with a slide show of the country flags. Afterwards, they kids paraded by class over a small stage outside and headed back to their class for an international lunch of dishes brought by the moms. Our dish was Kraft mac and

Labour Day

Looking back at the Parkview Apartments, where Jacob and his family live.

The view of Central, if only the air was clear....

Discovering life on the trail.

Who knew Hong Kong was so green. Christina leading the way.

This is it -- the top of the hill. Opps, sorry more hills ahead.

Ally catching a ride.

Dad still smiling even when he's dying....

We did it! Our final decent down the creek gully to HKIS.

May 1st is Labour Day in communist countries. So we celebrated by labouring up some high hills of Hong Kong. We joined Austin's best friend, Jacob, and his family on a morning hike from the Parkview apartments down to HKIS. It could be called the "hike of a thousand stairs", but the truth is it is a relatively mild hike for Hong Kong. In fact, despite the hills, Austin, Jacob and his sister, Sydney ran it most of the way. Ally, on the other hand, worked hard to complete the trail. She needed all the cheerleading, hand holding, blue berry bribing and even dad carrying to make it. But she did.

After the hot hike, we went to the club, where we did the nestea plunge into the pool. (OK so we put on our swimsuits first and walked in the stairs, but it still felt that good.) We had lunch and popsicles and hung out till dinner. The club was packed with families enjoying the day off in the middle of the week.