Sanity Break!

I realize it must appear that we travel quite a bit, but I call these mini holidays we take, our “sanity breaks”! We need these “sanity breaks” to help us stay positive and keep us appreciating the many different ways of life in Asia!

This weekend we were able to spend four days in one of our favorite places, Hong Kong! I love Hong Kong because there is something for everyone...shopping for mommy, eating for daddy, and playing for the kiddos! We were blessed with beautiful weather and, thankfully, healthy children!

Not too many things are straight forward in China, so when I went to book the tickets on a Chinese website, I should have known that what appeared to be so easy would somehow turn into a bit of a nightmare! I booked our tickets directly to Hong Kong from Tianjin, which is great because the airport is 15 minutes away from the Disneyland Resort Hotel where we stay! After many phone calls with C-trip (the internet site!), I had all the tickets ready. (When you fly to Hong Kong, it is considered international still). The Thursday before we were scheduled to leave I received another call from C-trip - our flight to Hong Kong had been cancelled by the airline and could we just go on Friday. Danny and I really wanted to have 2 full days exploring, so we decided that we would just fly to Shenzhen (city close to HK border in mainland China) and take a bus across the border to Hong Kong. One would think this would be easy enough to change, but I ended up on the phone about 20 more times, had my credit card denied due to so many charges and refunds being put on it by this company, and in the end, Danny's co-worker booked the tickets for me!! So much for my independence in China!!

In the end, things actually went smoothly and our trip to Shenzhen was just fine!! I was so excited that we were going to ride a bus across the border. I kept telling Danny that I was really becoming a "local". He was not quite as amused by the whole thing. We were both picturing a very crowded bus, and in the end, he was very happy, and maybe I was a bit disappointed. After we bought our tickets for the bus, we were led into a VIP area for about 10 minutes while we waited for our bus. Then we were escorted to the awaiting bus, which was air conditioned and very nice. After that we were taken to the border crossing where we unloaded, walked through security, got our passports stamped, walked out and boarded a bus for Hong Kong. It was just too civilized for me!! I guess maybe I will just have to get on a Tianjin bus and ride it's route to get a true China bus experience!!

This was very interesting...this man came on and videotaped all of us on the bus. We later found out that they do this in case you get robbed so you could possibly identify who it was!!

The journey did take up a good part of our day, but after we checked into our hotel, we made time for some shopping. My dear Brits have gotten us hooked on one of their large department stores, Marks and Spencer. I love their food items and have decided that their cookies are my new Girl Scout cookies for the time being!! I buy boxes and yet, they are still gone within days!! To get around Hong Kong this trip, we decided to be like the locals and take the marvelous public transportation system called the MTR. At most of the stations, you walk right out and there is a huge mall - can you imagine just jumping off the train, having a shop and then going to the next station to shop some more. You can understand how happy I was and how irritated Danny became as the night went on!!

This was one of the malls we visited! I believe it had 13 floors of food and retail!!Even though we weren't on the "mainland" anymore, they still had plenty of fakes. I thought this guy was great with his rolling purse store!! I'm assuming he needs to move quite frequently to assure he doesn't get into trouble!
After a long day on public transportation, Eens still had energy to smile for his mommy!!

A day in the life of kindy!

Today I was able to spend the day with my dear, sweet, rambunctious Eens! Every morning the children present the "Today Show", which is a very detailed, student run circle time. They each have a certain day of the week and each week they have a different role to play. It is a fantastic way for the children to improve their oral communication skills and it has really given Eens confidence to speak in front of others! I wish my teachers would have done something like this starting in Kindergarten. I used to be so shy speaking in front of others (now, not so much!)!

Today Eens was the host of the show, so I was very excited to get to watch him! The different segments for today were weather and calendar, Mr. Bear, what number am I?, topic talk, and something special. The kids all take it very seriously and each week they are given a score on their performance. It has been very fun to watch Ethan's scores improve as the year goes on. He went from speaking very soft and mumbling the way Eens does, to now lifting his head and speaking loud and clearly!

After the "Today Show" we boarded the bus and went to the Tianjin Planning Museum. We could not bring our cameras in, which is unfortunate because there was a very cool model of the city of Tianjin. It gave me a much better perspective of how big this city of 10 million really is. The kids all seemed to enjoy looking at all the models of city, while getting in trouble every so often for trying to pick up the miniature cars!!

We went to McDonald's for lunch and the kids couldn't have been happier. Especially when they were given money to buy their own ice cream. Yum!!

Next stop was Ancient Culture Street where we could take pictures, but my battery pack died!! It figures because I really wanted to take pictures of all the lanterns that were still up from Lantern Festival and Eens, of course! The kids were given a picture treasure hunt while we were walking down the street. It is always fun to see places through a child's eyes!

A new place to play

Recently, a very good friend introduced us to a new place to play inside and have birthday parties! I do not have high expectations of kids play places here in China due to the fact that most of the ones we have went to are dirty, not functional, or so busy that it is impossible for the children to play! This new place actually makes the kids use sanitizer before they can play and they must also take off their shoes straight away. This puts my mind at ease a bit! It also has plenty of room for the children and they provide supervision!

Last Saturday we went to a birthday party there. All of the kids had a ball running around, riding in the cozy coupes, playing the computers, and eating the yummy food that they serve! I had to giggle when Tigger came out carrying our friend's birthday cake!! Such a China thing to do since they love cartoon characters!! But, I must admit, my kids were very enthralled with the whole thing!!

It's coming to an end!

Thankfully, at least when it comes to our sleep, the end of Chinese New Year is in sight! On Sunday, February 28, the Lantern Festival will be celebrated, which will mark the end of the celebrations. The Lantern Festival is always celebrated 15 days after the start of the New Year. There are several different reasons for this, all relating to different religions. Many parks will be lit with beautiful lanterns, children will try to solve riddles that are on the lanterns, and families will gather to eat glutinous rice balls (sounds yummy, right?!). There will also be another full round of fireworks going off for much of the night!

I found these two articles a bit entertaining (and a little sad at the same time) about Chinese New Year...

Top Chinese New Year Gift - Cigarettes

35 Killed in 7,480 Accidental Fires

These are two of our neighbors houses that are all decked out for the New Year Celebration.

I love looking at all the red hanging in all the windows. The red helps to keep out the Nian (the monster) and most of the characters shown on the banners signify fortune, happiness, or luck! May the year of the tiger bring you much love and happiness!!

Mommy and Daddy Time

Since we were at Club Med, it meant that Danny and I got to spend some much needed time together during the day!! We played tennis, golfed, shopped, did water aerobics (I never thought I would get Danny to do this!!), laid by the pool, had lazy lunches, and went snorkeling. I love to snorkel and it had been so long since we had the opportunity to do this together! We took a boat around the island (pictures are below of the scenery) and then we jumped off the boat! We saw tons of fish, along with a few lovely jellyfish - they are not my friend!! We were very close to the coast, so there was quite a bit of coral within arms reach! It was a wonderful way to spend the morning!!

We had to take this "mini" boat to the "big" boat - I thought we might tip at any moment!!
The view of "our" beach from the sea!This is the spot where we snorkeled. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue and crystal clear!

Just an interesting rock formation!!

I am so grateful for all of the time I got to spend with the love of my life!!!!!

Beach Babes

One of my favorite parts of the trip was spending time at the beach. It was a public beach, so it was very busy, which I really enjoyed! I love people watching and I was very entertained! I also loved watching the kids let their imaginations run wild with their sand creations and their water charades! Eens and Coop were convinced that the water would “get them”, so every time a wave would crash in, they would run so the water couldn’t touch them! Of course, Coop ran into a few people while doing this, but no harm was done! The girls were content making “stew and cakes” in the sand and having mommy and daddy taste them!!

On to Club Med

I believe I have an addiction, and unfortunately for Danny, it starts with a C!! On Tuesday we left the JW Marriott to go to Club Med Phuket. We would have loved to stay there the entire trip, but when I booked the trip, they were full for the first two nights! Club Med is located on Kata Beach in Phuket. As we got closer to the hotel, the scenery looked a lot like a Carribean Island...there were shacks set up everywhere selling local specialties and most of the restaurants were open air. This was the largest Club Med we have stayed at thus far and it was fantastic once again!!

One reason this trip was extra special for all of us was because our dear friends were vacationing with us!! They were able to get rooms the first two nights through the British website, so they were there to greet us straight away!! We were all absolutely thrilled to be there with them!! They are truly like a part of our family and we couldn’t wait to make tons of beach memories with them away from China!!

Unfortunately we couldn’t entirely escape China!! Many of the mainland Chinese families have begun traveling over holidays and Thailand is a destination spot for them. We caught one father pulling down his little boys’ swim trunks right beside the pool and letting him go potty right there - even though the toilet was less than 10 yards away. Then, the grandma from this same family moved Danny’s beach towel from his chair and proceeded to cut her toenails right beside the pool on his chair. It was a bit much for me, but thankfully Karen was there to laugh with me!! Seriously, some social graces when one is at a resort would be highly appreciated!!

The kids spent hours on end in the swimming pool. It was a perfect depth for them to swim in and by the end of the week, Eens was swimming underwater!! Well done my sweet boy!! Coop recovered quickly once he was reunited with his Lucy and he was jumping off the side and swimming with his life jacket! El learned a new trick and that was to swim with snorkel gear! I’m hoping on our next beach holiday we can take her snorkeling - she loved staying underwater indefinitely!! She’s much braver than I was at 8!

The kids also loved our daily cocktail hour at 4:00! This trip, raspberry blue slushies were a big hit. Also a favorite was Milo with ice!! As for the adults, we enjoyed our beach drinks and just spending time together!!

After the sun went down, we manned the dinner table taking turns, and trying, but not always succeeding, in leaving at least one adult at the table at all times!! I'm not sure if we ever had a conversation longer than 5 minutes due to all the getting up and down, but the kids sure had fun!! After dinner we sometimes watched the show or played games with the Mini Club, but it was really hot, so I was in bed by 10:30 every night!!

Coop still recovering...what a sweet little boy when he is sleeping!!

Of course, the favorite part of the meal was the ice cream for the kids!!

We have never had the pleasure of vacationing with another family before and I can honestly say it was the best. Club Med was a great place to go because we all got family time, adult time, and the kids got their friend time. It was also nice because all we had to do was make our reservations and show up. No one had to plan where to eat or how to entertain the kids because it was all done for us!!