trick or treat

Halloween night we went up to "Little America" to trick or treat with our friends. Its the biggest Halloween party I've ever seen. 

Gage said, "Dad, look at all my candy! I am never ever going to be hungry!"

Noah went as Magikoopa from Super Mario Brothers. And Gage was King Boo. The ideas were all their own and they were very specific with what it should look like. I can't tell you how happy I was when we found Noah's blue circle glasses. Whew.

Are you scared? 

We also had a small Halloween party with friends from our condo. 

me, Herni from Brunei, Naoimh from Ireland, Dana from the US, Kate from England, and Maria from Prague. 

And another super fun party with one of my favorite friends where I helped take some photos. The kids' costumes were adorable.

Gage loved the donut on a string game.

  

And Jonette's carmel dip was amazing. 

Happy Halloween! 

Happy Halloween

Don't let my smile fool you. I screamed and jumped and looked over my shoulder 50 times that night. And I'm pretty sure I never let go of Dave's arm on any of those haunted trails.

Happy Halloween!!!

Hong Kong!

Dave and I spent a weekend in Hong Kong. 

Now one of my favorite cities.

I suspect its one of my favorites because Dave was there. He carried my bag for me and has the best map reading skills. 

And the egg tarts. The egg tarts were so good.

We loved Soho. It was such a neat neighborhood. With its crazy signs, sideways buildings, outdoor escalators and so many neat shops tucked in every nook and cranny. Not to mention yummy restaurants. Soho Spice was amazing.

Longest outdoor escalator in the world. My mom would have loved it. She has a thing for outdoor escalators.

Pottinger Street

We rode on the tall skinny trams to get around. Or Hong Kong's subway, the MTR. Or we caught a taxi a couple times - and were super glad we had the hotel write down a couple destinations. Not everyone spoke English like in Singapore. And our few Mandarin phrases did nothing in this Cantonese town.

We visited the Man Mo temple on Hong Kong Island.

And Dave flirted with the street entertainment outside. 

One night we took the star ferry from Hong Kong Island back to Kowloon to see the light show on the promenade.

We were totally unaware that it was China's National Day and thousands of people had been lining up for hours to see the fireworks right where we were planning to be. Whoops.

I wanted to ask those people what it was like when Hong Kong went from being a British Colony (startng in 1842) back into the hands of China in 1997. Hong Kong is still very separate from communist China. It's capitalist with a free market system. They have their own currency and a totally separate judicial system. But still, a lot must have changed.

We did catch sight of the fireworks. And they were incredible. We heart Hong Kong.

Hong Kong: flower market and dim sum

We spent one morning strolling through Hong Kong's flower market and the bird market on Kowloon.  The flowers were oh so fresh and gorgeous.

The birds were gorgeous too. But I have to admit I loved the cages even more. See the sweet porcelain bowls for the bird seed? These guys are stylin'. 

For lunch we hit Maxim's Place for dim sum.  Complete with smiling old ladies pushing the carts round and round.

My favorite. Xiao long bao, super yummy dumplings with soup inside. Even better with the vinegar sauce on the side. 

 Egg tarts.

Dave was the happiest man on earth. He still says this was his favorite part of the trip. Sweet ladies who loved to hear his Cantonese 'thank you' just kept bringing him more and more food. He loved it.

Hong Kong: the peak

We took the tram up to Victoria Peak.  It seemed more like a slow roller coaster, I swear the thing went straight up! 

I was so impressed with how much greenery and water wound itself around Hong Kong.  Huge sky scrapers set in one of the prettiest places.

The view from the top.

Sunset.

Which we romantically shared with 100 other people.

Hong Kong: the LDS Temple

 

The Hong Kong temple.

We are so gratful that we got to visit. We know that a lot of people in SE Asia save and save for years to be able to attend the temple. We are so touched by their stories of sacrifice and love. And we hope we hold the temple a little more dear because of their examples of strength.