Home at Last… and Awake at 4:30am

 

 

Both Josh and Zoë slept fitfully on the 12-hour flight back, albeit not as comfortably as during the trip over.  We arrived home at midnight and by then Chris and I were so tired from not really having slept on the flight, but the kids were bright and perky and wanted to play.  Zoë was up at 3-ish, wanting to go to the washroom, wanting to wash her hands, wanting some milk.  I finally surrendered and got up with her at 4:30am and she’s as bright and chirpy as can be.  Someone’s going to crash later…

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Our flight home was delayed by over three hours, but thankfully, we were notified ahead of time so that we actually had time to go to the spray park with the cousins before we left for the airport.

The water was really cold, but it was another perfectly beautiful summer day and the kids had a blast.

 

 

 

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Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

iheartfaces – Fix-It Friday # 64

 

The original

Fix-It # 1

 

Fix-It # 2 

Please head on over to iheartfaces to check out other edits of this photo.

iheartfaces Fix-It Friday # 63

 

The original photo:

Fix-It # 1 (Basic)   

Fix-It # 2 (Background a bit desaturated)

Please head on over to iheartfaces to check out other edits of this photo.

Wild and Free

 

We are heading back to Hong Kong after three weeks of fun with the cousins, outdoor play, and absolutely gorgeous summer weather.  These three weeks have flown by way too quickly.  While we look forward to getting back into a routine of sorts and getting ready for new schools for both Josh and Zoë, I know that we will miss all miss Grandma, all the aunties and uncles, and most especially the cousins.

It’s been almost non-stop fun every waking moment for the kids.  Josh would wake in the morning and immediately go brush his teeth and change himself –without being told, –when he hears that his cousins are up, too.  Sometimes he would wake Zoë up and both of them would hurry out of the room.  When all of the cousins are together, it could be quite chaotic and loud.  Very loud.  Inevitably somebody has to referee.  Sometimes there’d be tears.  But minutes later they’d be playing together like best of friends. Gales of laughter, squeals, endless chatter about Star Wars, princesses, and inane topics.

We’re going to miss all that.  Until next summer.

Hardware Store: Costume Department

We had to go to the hardware store to get some stuff for clearing the yard, cleaning out the garage.  Zoë had a ball playing “dress up.”

A Recipe for Dirt Potion

 

(…or every child’s dream and a mother’s nightmare.)

The kids absolutely LOVE playing in the backyard.  It used to be just running around, playing with water.  Lately, it has evolved into making dirt potions.  They would gather up loose dirt and put it in bottles or whatever containers that they can get their little hands on.

 

 

Never mind the clouds of dust that fly up, that cling to their clothes, that stay under their fingernails.  Never mind that they have streaks of dirt up and down their legs and arms, on their cheeks. 

 

They would patiently scoop dirt up with a spoon or with their bare hands into a container, fill it up and then carry the container over to the bucket which they had filled with water and crushed sidewalk chalk and stones and grass and other icky stuff. 

 

Then they would happily dump, dump, dump.

 

   And then they would stick their fingers, their hands, their arms into the icky goo and stir.

 

 

They had one single objective:  To make the most potent dirt potion for Uncle C.  This was one activity where all of them really cooperated.  No bickering.  No teasing.  Everyone of them played so well together.

We just had to look past the dirty clothes and grimy arms, legs, and faces.  They were having so much fun.  Some days, a little dirt is not all that bad.   Even when your daughter turns her brand new all-white shorts to brown.  Even when the water gathering at their feet during shower time is muddy, even after several washes.  Even when you have to soak and scrub the clothes and shoes they had on. 

(Little K, right before coming in for a shower.)

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Head on over to Communal Global and link up and share with us what your ‘Today’ is like.

iheartfaces – Week # 60 : Purple

 

If you were to ask Zoë what her favorite color is, you’d most likely be told it’s purple or pink.  Most days, though, it’s purple.  Give her a choice between purple and another color, she’d choose purple almost every single time.

Here she is wearing one of her favorite tops.  Even though it’s a bit too small for her already, she would still insist on wearing it.  Because it’s purple.

 

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For more “Purple” pictures, please head on to iheartfaces.

  

The Boys’ Club

 

It has begun. 

The boys are sticking together.

They said that no girls are allowed in their boys’ club.

They’ll probably change their tune in 10 years’ time.

A Touch of Butter

 

We went visiting with Chris’ cousins and they had a pet gecko, a leopard gecko.  Meet Butter.

 

Some fun facts about Butter –courtesy of a 12-year old girl:

• Geckos store food in their tails.  They can go for a month without feeding.
• They eat worms and crickets and baby mice.  Butter apparently prefers live worms to the dried ones in the bottles from the pet store.
• They make very clean pets and are quite easy to care for.  Butter does her poopies only in one corner of the tank.
• Geckos can live for 20 years and they lay over 100 eggs. (???)

Zoë was especially fascinated with Butter.  She dragged Chris and me into the room to show us, but warned us beforehand not to be scared.  She then went out to get Josh and her other cousins to come in from their outdoor play to see Butter, too.  Josh and Big K looked and left to go back to their water blaster. Little K stayed behind and was as fascinated as Zoë.

At first, when we suggested that we take Butter out from her tank, Zoë firmly told us to keep Butter where she was.  She preferred to watch and not touch.  But when she saw Little K beside himself with glee holding Butter --

Zoë decided that she, too, would like to hold Butter.

All I can say is that she is a lot braver than her mommy.

Come Follow Me

For more WW fun, please visit A Beautiful Mess, 7 Clown Circus, Live and Love Out Loud, and 5 Minutes for Mom.

Day at the Beach

 

We’ve been having wonderful, perfect weather of late and we decided to take the kids to the beach.  We went to White Pine Beach in Port Moody.  We got a bit lost following the directional signs (go figure!), but we eventually did manage to get there.

 

 

I wish we have beaches like these in Hong Kong.  The pine trees, the picnic tables, the cool, fresh air…  It was sunny, but the wind was cool and refreshing.

 

The kids had tons of fun playing in the sand, digging away, building sandcastles, scooping water, running around.

 

 

 

 

What’s your “Today” like?  Please share with us and link up with Communal Global’s “Today”!

 

A Morning with Five Kids

My sisters-in-law had errands to run one morning and Chris and I were at home with five kids –ages 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2.  Chris was working, so basically I was babysitting.  I brought along my go-to entertainment pack – my face-painting kit, –and we had some fun.

Big K and Little K both preferred to have the “art” on their arm…  Big K wanted a dinosaur and could not be swayed to have something else.  I’d never done a dinosaur before, but it turned out well, with enough directions from Big K on what he wanted the dino to look like.




I suggested a spider for Little K.  He agreed, but wanted a spot of blue, instead of red on the spider’s back; then he wanted me to draw a web with the “sticky parts.”




Josh wanted a full face paint.  He wanted to be a superhero and could not decide which one.  He asked me to make one up.  I didn’t want to make him as scary-looking as the ones that I did before (see here and here).  Originally, I’d planned to draw a simple lightning bolt on his cheek, but he said that that wasn’t “superhero” enough.  I then decided to draw a sun on his other cheek and told him that he could be a superhero who could control the elements. He didn’t like that. He wanted me to take away the sun, so I painted over the sun and put in another lightning bolt.  He wanted a mask, too, so I added one, except that it looked like glasses.  I thought he looked pretty cute, though, don’t you think?




The girls were easier.  They knew what they wanted from the get-go.  Both wanted butterflies and flowers.  Here are the girls with their butterfly and flower faint paints.

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Josh and Big K entertained themselves acting out Star Wars scenarios. Meanwhile, Little K, Baby K, and Zoë took off the armrest covers and pretended that they were raincoats.

Chris and I survived the morning with our sanity intact. It was quite fun actually. The kids had their usual share of bickering, teasing, fighting over toys, but it was really lovely seeing them all play together and enjoy each other’s company.  I wish we all live closer and that we can get together more often...