Brrrrr It's Been Cold Here!

Hong Kong has been unusually cold these past few weeks, at one point dropping down to 6 degrees Celsius and staying there throughout the week.  It would be totally manageable but for the fact that over the years my winter wear has literally dwindled down to a few cotton long sleeved shirts, some thin black leggings and a few super tired cardigans or casual hoodies. Yikes.  For someone who actually really loves shopping, I just have not had the time or inclination to indulge in retail therapy.  I fully plan on taking the kids to Japan for some skiing this Christmas, so I will need to consider some cozy new winter apparel stat.  My old lady bones are frail and cannot fend off the cold any more!

Not much to update here as life continues apace in the daily buzz of ordinary, routine activities. 

Strawberry Picking!

We went strawberry picking today!  The kids started off the morning with some math and Chinese language review, then ice skating at ICC, followed by a long trek out to Tai Tong Eco Park after lunch.

it was just amazing weather.  We went with one of Lola's oldest friends (someone she has known since she was 3!) and her mom and younger brother.  The kids are all so much bigger and louder and funnier than when we all first became acquainted.

The farm/park was a bit more disappointing this time around.  They have clearly been renovating and amping things up since Covid.  Gone are a lot of the wild open fields. They built a car racing track (like with real cars, and not go karts either) which seems like a very dangerous and bad idea, and significantly cut down their strawberry fields.

They have improved the animal lodgings for some creatures, though much of it remains to be improved. They still have ostriches and peacocks, though this time I saw their horse stables for the first time.

They still have the large sledding hill though, which provided Lola and her friend a lot of fun, as well as many bouncy castles and cars which provided the boys with a lot of delight.

For me the saddest part is undeniably the loss of so many wild plants and randomly growing veggies and fruits every where.  But I still managed to track down one chili plant in the same place as last time, and this time I grabbed a few hoping I can use the seeds to grow some of my own plants.

I am not sure what makes this particular set of plants so enticing, but it always had at least 5 or 6 butterflies circling it.

Mid January Progress Report

Happy MLK!  Here are some random updates for the first half of January.

Right at the beginning of this year, Lola's cousin Aegis was coming through Hong Kong for some school interviews as their family will be moving to Hong Kong this summer.  She and her dad Colby stayed with us for a day and a half and our kids were so excited to have the opportunity to be with them.  We had dinner together two nights and the kids played together very well.  There was playdoh. A lot of playdoh.

Michael continues to be on the other half of the world. He has been gone 2 weeks and I am not really sure how I am going to make it another 3.5!  The kids have been taking turns getting sick with endless ear infections and fevers. Some times it really feels like 8:30pm cannot arrive soon enough.  He has been sending us really beautiful pictures from the Outer Banks, though, which makes me anticipate our trip down there this summer.  One super cute development is his "cooking show", i.e. narrating his steps as he makes his dinner while chatting with the kids over their breakfast.  The boys, especially Al, love it. 

The boys have been signed up for a longer school day on Mondays and Wednesdays this month,  where they get to stay on in the afternoon and do more math and STEM extracurriculars.  This means they get a fresh homemade lunch dropped off for them and they eat at school - so cute!

Everyone who has seen the boys recently said they've grown so big.  They do seem quite tall.  They graduated to a soccer class for bigger kids - four year olds!

Recently I have been working with Lola on her Chinese writing and reading skills.  I have also restarted her piano lessons.  The challenge has been to get her to practice, which is not-so-fun and all the effort is behind-the-scenes grunt work.  My respect for my parents has increased multifold as I realize how much tenacity and discipline is involved in teaching, instilling and cultivating skills.  

I think the rumors about metabolism falling off a cliff after you turn 40 are still, thankfully, largely untrue. But due to a complete lack of discipline when it comes to snacking, eating candy and chips, traveling a lot, and eating out all the time (I know, I don't mean to sound as ungrateful as that came across), I have come to realize that to preserve my own energy and mental health I need to work out more and sleep more. 

To be fair, working out was challenging for a long time because of my diastasis, which made running and yoga non starters for me.  Last fall has brought a new gift to my life, which is a gym membership that is close by, and which offers me a place where I can do zumba, barre and (my least favored) weightlifting (But i like the idea of burning fat while sitting, and who doesn't want to be more toned?)

While the diastasis remains an issue, time has improved the gap a bit.  I have also started private tennis lessons, playing (albeit very poorly) once a week with a female instructor.  Doing zumba and barre has also reawakened in me a desire to dance ballet - an activity I haven't touched in 25 plus years.  I now try to attend an adult ballet class when I can fit it into my schedule, and I laugh to myself when I am in front of the barre, thinking how I have come full circle since I was 12.  There is  comfort and exhilaration in learning an entirely new activity and knowing that I still can, and also in returning to an activity that is rooted in my past and finding the latent muscle memory.

Happy Birthday to Al and Teo

The boys turned 4 just before the new year (wow, such a milestone!  Though, every year feels like a milestone!) and we did a mini celebration at home on the day, but their big party was this past Sunday.

We hosted it at MyGym and it was a blast.  It is one of the boys' favorite places and they opened up the whole gym floor for free play.

Flying solo with 27 kids in attendance, I had no time to take pictures and certainly no time to be in them!

But the important thing is that lots of fun was had.  The cakes were gorgeous and tasty - including a smash cake with lights and real buses!  The only problem was that they somehow did the math as two 4 year olds and made their cakes for 8 year olds! Whoops.  Good thing I caught it before it actually got delivered to us.

It was still beautiful and delicious.

The boys have been such a delight recently, really growing into their personalities and just so sweet, rambunctious, silly, happy and earnest. I love that every birthday party I get a very tangible milestone to mark and compare their progress and growth. The biggest contrast has to be between their first and second birthdays.  I think back to their first birthday, when we were at the height of the pandemic and could only invite one family to our home, when every one was crying at the end of the party, when we could barely get a family picture together (and by barely I mean we failed).... four seems a walk in the park!