Happy Mid Autumn Festival!

I can't believe this year is more than three quarters of the way done.  I felt very strongly about celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival this year, which, as Michael will laughingly tell you, previously we barely celebrated it but this year I was somewhat fixated.  I think because it's a really important holiday in the Chinese lunar calendar, and the kids are getting old enough to take part and enjoy in this stuff.  Plus, having Covid around has made me realize how much I jump at the chance to participate in anything social or memorable or slightly different.  I went and got lanterns for everyone, made a whole fuss about allowing Lola to eat mooncakes (kid's got it good, immediately jumpstarted into the custard mooncakes from the Peninsula, rather than the old-timey traditional double egg yolk lotus paste stuff we were accustomed to as children).  Wednesday was the public holiday, but arguably Tuesday night is what it's all about.

On Tuesday evening, I took the kids to Frites, where we enjoyed a nice restaurant dinner before we walked over to Victoria Park. There was coloring, there was eating, there were lights, and there was general mischief.

I got the boys these amazing lanterns, which are light up plastic buses made by a very popular Hong Kong toy company here of local transportation vehicles, and they are just the best things ever.  The remote wands that come with them also play music and light up the vehicles perfectly.  I got Lola a bunny lantern because she told me she loves bunnies, and also because I figured she would get plenty of play out of her brothers' lanterns as well (though let the record show I was very ambivalent about this because I hate when girls get bunnies or dolls and boys get vehicles or aircraft).

However, I have to say, as beautiful as the photos and the lanterns were in the festival, it paled in comparison to when I went in years past (I think I last went like 5 years ago).   I am still grateful that they were doing it and that we had something to go see, despite the pain of getting the kids out late at night.  We bumped into our friends there and managed to get a few pictures together, which also made me happy.  Small blessings and pleasures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going back in time now, to recap the missing bits of September, I enjoyed a really amazing ladies hotpot/durian tasting dinner right before Mid-Autumn Festival, with my besties.  I am not a fan of durian (and after this experience continue to believe that I am not a durian fan - maybe some things just have to be ingrained in you during your formative childhood years) but the occasion was delightful, mainly because nowadays any opportunity I have to hang with friends and for our kids to play together is just brilliant. 

First, a money shot of the durians.  Four durians = 7kgs and man oh man if you could have had a whiff of the pungent smell that this carton brought out!!

We had an amazing spread for dinner.  I salivate looking at it now.

Hotpot forever.  It was a great party and I'm so happy it happened.

Here are some pictures from when the kids have gone on playdates, gone to the science museum, attended playgroup at home, gone to other friend's houses, played with much older or much younger siblings, and just generally enjoyed the close and wrapping up of summer.  The boys are so big now, I can't believe we are getting close to have two year old twins!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The boys continue to attend Mandarin playgroup in the mornings, but now that Lola goes to school during the afternoon she is free to attend the playgroups with her brothers and it's quite sweet how much she has taken to doing this!  She loves teaching others and this completely allows her to do so, while feeling confident in her abilities.

 

Lola got to the go to Legoland a couple of weeks back where she met up with her friend.  The power of the Legos... I get it now.   The kids have been on some amazing playdates recently.  Here is Lola hand in hand with an older sister of her friend following a playdate at Maggie and Rose one Sunday morning.   Lola loves the older jie jie's.  Bless her heart, she told me recently she wished she had a younger sister.  I could only laugh and shake my head and say no more mei mei's.  She also in a hilarious moment somehow explained to us that she wished she didn't have two younger brothers because she "can't handle the two of them together!"  

  

The boys have also made friends with another boy who lives just down the block, so that has been really easy and nice.

 

Lola continues her her swimming lessons at the American Club, but that also continues to be a pretty relentless battle of trying to convince her to put her head under water.  So far, my best and most compelling argument seems to be that she needs to learn how to swim before she can go cage diving with sharks (yes, this is something she wants to do) - and she has not yet come up with a way to refute me on how she can do so without being able to swim.  But when the time comes to put her head in the water... nada.

While Lola is at the pool, the boys are playing in Eagles' Nest.  I've since braved going by myself with the boys to Eagles Nest on the weekend, and they are so well behaved and will wait for me and sit on the slides properly and not run around like crazy (though my fear isn't about my boys but rather the bigger kids who are hyper and excited and come barreling around the corners).  But still, it was enough to have me sweating profusely as I ran after each kid and crawled into tiny spaces and tried to keep them corralled together. 

                                         

And finally, the kids have also been to a lot of birthday parties, one of which had the most OTT cake I've ever witnessed, and that's including wedding cakes. It's been great seeing how Lola has become a lot less shy and is totally participating in all of the songs and dances and activities at the birthday events.  It's a far cry from her own party when she turned two!