Our Five Year Anniversary: Love, Marriage, Babies' Carriages!

 Michael and I celebrated our five year anniversary this past Saturday.  

 It was a really great celebration - not because of any flashy presents (in fact, there were none), or fancy dining experiences (we had dinner at home, eating filet mignon that accidentally got mashed into hamburgers- details below), or even anything special (we went to Maggie and Rose with the kids and hung out by the sprinklers for an hour).  

But it was a nice pocket of time that Michael and I carved out for ourselves, where he respected the occasion by not doing any (or much) work at all, and I allowed myself to relax and not get caught up in any spiraling thoughts about dissatisfaction or malaise.  And there was a bottle of champagne - a nice bottle of Perrier Jouet which never fails to buoy things, let's be honest.  And a lemon meringue tart as well - freaking fantastic, let's be honest.

The day was off to a great start because Lola and I went over to a playdate at her friend's house in Sai Wan Ho.  We were there for about 3 hours and Lola had an amazing time.  I was a bit horrified at how rough the boys played, the other two mamas sighed over how polite and precocious Lola was, and we all had a blast.  This was an apartment at which I had discovered a previously unknown (to me) variant of passion fruit, so clearly I had a connection with this woman!  

While Lola and I were on a playdate, Al and Teo had an amazing time playing and enjoying a little picnic in Quarry Bay park, where they got to sit in the shade but watched and listened to large boats that passed by.  (Side note: I know this sounds SO ignorant, but it's only recently come to my attention that there are actually a ton of ferry piers all over Hong Kong and Kowloon.  I have only ever been on the Star Ferry, which is the iconic boat that criss crosses Victoria Harbor between Central and TST, and ferry boats between Central and Cheng Chau, Lantau and Lamma, as well as the boats that go to Macau, but there are actually a lot of other ferries that go between Wan Chai and TST, Central and Hung Hom, and Sai Wan Ho and Kwun Tong, just to name a few.  Lola's insatiable love for public transportation makes me want to explore all of these routes, especially as a lot of them are going extinct!)

Then we came home, enjoyed a wonderful lunch, after which the kids all retired after lunch for a nap.  Ah, the hours of 1:30 to 3:30 PM - the quietest time in our household.  

The afternoon passed quickly with a lot of fun at Maggie and Rose - this club has been a savior during the pandemic.  Because it's a private club, it can be a lot more controlled than a public restaurant or play space.  While it's still subject to the social distancing measures in place, it feels a lot more controlled because the number of people permitted entry are already limited in the first instance.  And while there have been busy moments (particularly rainy weekend afternoons) at the club, for the most part it has been a really empty and wonderful oasis for us.  We often head there on weekday afternoons to discover that the entire club is ours, and I take a lot of pleasure just soaking up having the space to ourselves and not having to worry about interactions and crowding and all the other stuff that we worry about nowadays.  It's also just really lovely.  I love the roof and the oasis that they created.

There is something so nice about being outside with space but also still surrounded by huge, tall buildings and knowing you're in the midst of some of the busiest stretches of Causeway Bay?  It appeals to me deeply.  Or maybe it's just because we can't get out of Hong Kong and with beaches closed and parks packed, there's nowhere else to go!

The boys love water and they can sit there and play non stop with the sprinklers.  It's a win-win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we finished at the club, we leisurely paid a visit to one of my favorite stores in the same building, Book Castle.  It's a toy store and book store wrapped in one, packed to the gills from floor to ceiling with all kinds of, well, toys and books!  And we managed to find Lola a really pretty rhyming Curious George Happy Birthday book which was great.

Then we returned home to enjoy a dinner of steak and salad.  Michael, Lola and I ate at the dining table while the boys retired to their rooms for their pre-bedtime milk and bedtime. We have an amazing helper that is a great cook but she has worked many, many years for a vegetarian family.  Asking her to prepare steaks without any further detailed instructions may not have been my best move.  She pounded our filet mignons and it appears she marinated it with garlic, rosemary and other assorted herbs. Then she cut the meat in half and fried them until they resembled chewy, well done hamburger patties.  Ah well.  Lesson learned and we enjoyed our very expensive hamburger meat in good humor.  I am still constantly grateful for all of the help that we have.  

I ordered a handmade lemon meringue tart from a French baker, picked up fresh that morning, and we all enjoyed that after our dinner.  Michael inhaled his slice in, I kid you not, about ten seconds.  Lola and I looked up and we were both agog at how quickly he finished it.  She even asked him what happened to his slice... haha.

Five candles for five years.

To round out the post, here are some recent pictures of the kids playing around and enjoying hanging out with each other.  

Lola loves being a doctor.  Good thing Al and Teo have her around because she is really keeping on top of their blood pressure, temperature and cholesterol....

The boys.  Ahhhh, they are so cute. Here they are in sweet hats that were gifted to us by a dear friend.  They look... a lot alike don't they?  Michael and I are preeeetty certain the boys don't need DNA tests.

Lola likes her brother's hat.

Her brother is less certain how he feels about it.

Here are Al and I, chilling alone together in a rare opportunity one early morning.

I feel like this is a Michael face if there ever was one.  Teo isn't so sure about grass.

The boys love to drink water.  They really love to drink water out of straws.

Brothers.  It's too early to tell if they like each other.  I'm going to go with (if their fights over toys are any indication)... not really.  But they're still super smiley.