Now that we're on our countdown to leaving Okinawa, the big question looms...where next?!?!
Well, the short answer is:we don't know yet.
However, the long answer is: Dear Air Force, please, please keep us overseas! We tried for a long time to get an overseas assignment!
Brendan has offered to help. He said he'll write the places we don't want with a "x" over them and send it to the Air Force. I wonder if they'll listen to a 4 year olds pleas?
So the new question is...where do we want to go? And the answer to that is, well, we're fickle and it changes all the time. Top of the list is Europe. But mainland Japan (Yakota in Tokyo) is looking inviting as well. And of course, there's Hawaii....sucks to be stuck there for medical-but we could live there! And we're looking at Korea again...
In reality, there's just no telling where we'll be. We'll know as soon as March-or as late as August. So, keep your fingers crossed everyone-and let's hope there's a reason to keep renewing those passports!
And PS- Mom and Dad-we're still hoping you find a civil service job wherever we go next! Maybe? Please?!?!
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
3 Years! Really?
We arrived on the island of Okinawa 3 years ago today and those three years have simply flown by!
This is Brendan and me, Sunset Beach, Nov. 2007-our first time out exploring in American Village! It's amazing to think that he's younger in this picture than Kieran is now. I can't believe he's grown up so much! I miss this baby in the picture-but of course, I love the ornery preschooler we have now. <3
This past 3 years has been filled with adventure, on and off of Okinawa. We explored, shopped, ate and made our merry way around Okinawa. We added a family member-Kieran-and new adventures began with him and navigating his challenges. Jason deployed and I took a Space-A flight with the boys to visit family in the States. We went to Hawaii twice for medical stuff/surgery and then finally got to take a real vacation this summer to Hong Kong!
This last year is going to be busy! We've got two vacations planned (Sapporo Ice Festival and Tokyo), Brendan will start kindergarten and we'll be preparing to PCS. Right now, we're just trying to fit in everything that we haven't done in Okinawa, as well as things we can't do once we leave. I find it a little sad every time I look out at the ocean, knowing I only have one more year to see it whenever I want...but I'm definitely going to enjoy the last year we have here as much as I can!
And, here are a few more early pictures.
This past 3 years has been filled with adventure, on and off of Okinawa. We explored, shopped, ate and made our merry way around Okinawa. We added a family member-Kieran-and new adventures began with him and navigating his challenges. Jason deployed and I took a Space-A flight with the boys to visit family in the States. We went to Hawaii twice for medical stuff/surgery and then finally got to take a real vacation this summer to Hong Kong!
This last year is going to be busy! We've got two vacations planned (Sapporo Ice Festival and Tokyo), Brendan will start kindergarten and we'll be preparing to PCS. Right now, we're just trying to fit in everything that we haven't done in Okinawa, as well as things we can't do once we leave. I find it a little sad every time I look out at the ocean, knowing I only have one more year to see it whenever I want...but I'm definitely going to enjoy the last year we have here as much as I can!
And, here are a few more early pictures.
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| Playing at Marek Park (the playground isn't even there anymore!) Nov or Dec. 2007 |
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| Christmas 2007-First Christmas in Okinawa. Brendan is 18 months |
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| Baby Kieran is home! Sept 2008 |
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| Halloween 2008 |
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| Kieran, 1 year! This would be after being stripped down-he had cake and icing all over! |
Thursday, 11 November 2010
this and that
I'm behind on blogging about Hong Kong, and will hopefully catch up-but here's a little about what's been going on in our lives lately.
Me-not a whole lot. I've been feeling not so great lately and have been trying to figure out what's up. So far, nothing concrete. So, I'm back to a couple more doctor's appointments in the next couple of weeks. And probably have to "donate" more blood.
Jason-he started taking a Japanese class and is now learning hiragana. Nothing like being here 3 years and taking it with one to go, huh? In any case, he's catching on rather quickly.
Brendan-being as crazy as ever. That kid has the WILDEST ideas-and is seriously smart. The connections he makes between things just blows my mind-and sometimes leaves me saying, "huh?" He's been doing really well in preschool this year-almost zero problems. He's still got attitude at home unfortunately. We're in for a rough ride with this one I think. He's starting to really "get" his letters and letter sounds-he's quick to tell us that he "just discovered that blanket starts with B" and other things like that. I am now realizing how tricky English is-he thought that "seed" started with "c"-and had a hard time understanding why it actually started with "s."
We had a very interesting conversation in the car the other day that went a little like this:
Brendan: "What's going on in China?"
Mom: "Where did you hear about the battle of China?"
Kieran-talking more than ever! People are amazed that he is just 26 months-he's literally holding entire conversations. Sure, they are simple conversations, but full sentences and such. It's nearly impossible to believe that he once had a speech delay-he's more talkative than most 2 year-olds we meet! His current favorite thing to say is "okay Mommy" when I tell him to do something. He's for the most part a very good two year old-the exact opposite of Brendan. It's refreshing, that's for sure! Nothing like a kid who (mostly) does what Mommy says!
Us- we're looking forward to a busy winter and busy 2011! We're going to have visitors for Christmas-Mama, Papa and Uncle Ian are coming to visit and we're all pretty excited. It'll be our last Christmas in Okinawa, so we're going to hit up as much of the holiday stuff here as we can. Then, we'll be headed out to Sapporo for the ice festival in February-it's hard to tell who is more excited for that one! This will be Kieran's first introduction to snow, and Brendan's first time that he will actually remember. After that, it's the usual Oki stuff until the end of May, when we go to Tokyo (and yes, Tokyo Disney!). Then, in November, we'll PCS from Okinawa.
Speaking of PCS'ing-we have no idea yet where we'll be going to. We're keeping everything crossed for another overseas assignment, but also are being realistic-Jason will put on MSgt in April, and overseas assignments for MSgts in his career field are few and far between. There was only one lone assignment on this last round...so we're not holding our breath (but toes and fingers are definitely crossed!). We'll have two cycles to pick up an overseas assignment and if nothing is open....stateside it is. We'll know by March at the earliest and August at the latest.
Today we went up to the northern most part of Okinawa-so here are a few pictures from Hedo Point!
Me-not a whole lot. I've been feeling not so great lately and have been trying to figure out what's up. So far, nothing concrete. So, I'm back to a couple more doctor's appointments in the next couple of weeks. And probably have to "donate" more blood.
Jason-he started taking a Japanese class and is now learning hiragana. Nothing like being here 3 years and taking it with one to go, huh? In any case, he's catching on rather quickly.
Brendan-being as crazy as ever. That kid has the WILDEST ideas-and is seriously smart. The connections he makes between things just blows my mind-and sometimes leaves me saying, "huh?" He's been doing really well in preschool this year-almost zero problems. He's still got attitude at home unfortunately. We're in for a rough ride with this one I think. He's starting to really "get" his letters and letter sounds-he's quick to tell us that he "just discovered that blanket starts with B" and other things like that. I am now realizing how tricky English is-he thought that "seed" started with "c"-and had a hard time understanding why it actually started with "s."
We had a very interesting conversation in the car the other day that went a little like this:
Brendan: "What's going on in China?"
Mom: "What do you mean, what's going on in China?"
Brendan: "I'm wondering if the battle of China is still happening."
Mom: "The battle of China?"
Brendan: "yeah, is it still happening right now?"
Mom: "Where did you hear about the battle of China?"
Brendan: "I watched it on Mulan."
Mom: "Oh. That was a long, long time ago. It's over now."
Brendan: "Like 100 long ago?"
Kieran-talking more than ever! People are amazed that he is just 26 months-he's literally holding entire conversations. Sure, they are simple conversations, but full sentences and such. It's nearly impossible to believe that he once had a speech delay-he's more talkative than most 2 year-olds we meet! His current favorite thing to say is "okay Mommy" when I tell him to do something. He's for the most part a very good two year old-the exact opposite of Brendan. It's refreshing, that's for sure! Nothing like a kid who (mostly) does what Mommy says!
Us- we're looking forward to a busy winter and busy 2011! We're going to have visitors for Christmas-Mama, Papa and Uncle Ian are coming to visit and we're all pretty excited. It'll be our last Christmas in Okinawa, so we're going to hit up as much of the holiday stuff here as we can. Then, we'll be headed out to Sapporo for the ice festival in February-it's hard to tell who is more excited for that one! This will be Kieran's first introduction to snow, and Brendan's first time that he will actually remember. After that, it's the usual Oki stuff until the end of May, when we go to Tokyo (and yes, Tokyo Disney!). Then, in November, we'll PCS from Okinawa.
Speaking of PCS'ing-we have no idea yet where we'll be going to. We're keeping everything crossed for another overseas assignment, but also are being realistic-Jason will put on MSgt in April, and overseas assignments for MSgts in his career field are few and far between. There was only one lone assignment on this last round...so we're not holding our breath (but toes and fingers are definitely crossed!). We'll have two cycles to pick up an overseas assignment and if nothing is open....stateside it is. We'll know by March at the earliest and August at the latest.
Today we went up to the northern most part of Okinawa-so here are a few pictures from Hedo Point!
Monday, 1 November 2010
Hong Kong, part 2
Our first morning in Hong Kong we were up pretty early-a little before 7am. I was up a lot of the night-had trouble sleeping, so by the time 6:45ish rolled around, I was ready to get going.
After getting all 4 of us ready, we headed down to our (free!) breakfast in the hotel restaurant, where, I am ashamed to say...we pigged out. Really pigged out. I've never seen my boys eat that much in one sitting-and I got fearful glimpses into the future-and our future grocery bills! Breakfast was wonderful though-and it was great to fill up on a meal that was included in our room price!
Next stop after breakfast was back up to the room to load up Kieran in the Ergo and pick up our backpack with the waterbottles, sunscreen, camera and Kieran's accessories (diapers/wipes/extra clothes). I'm not sure which weighed more-the backpack, or Kieran in the baby carrier! Then, we set out to conquer the MTR.
We walked the 2ish blocks to Jordan Station-the nearest MTR station to our hotel- and descended down the steps into the "unpaid" area-full of shops, ticket machines, info booths, and aha-an ATM! We withdrew money ($1USD=$7.2ish HKD) and promptly realized that we should have familiarized ourselves with HKD denominations ahead of time! Luckily, we're not strangers to foreign currency, so after a quick glance at what we got out of the ATM, we were good to go!
Next stop...info/ticket sales booth. We had to decide exactly what type of MTR pass we wanted to get. We decided to get the Tourist pass for each of us adults-72 hours of unlimited MTR rides, as well as including one ride on the Airport Express-and the regular Octopus card for Brendan-since he could use that at a child rate. Kieran was free!
For our first excursion in Hong Kong, we decided to head to Ocean Park-why not start a vacation with a trip to an amusement park? We thought after a day of traveling, it would be nice to start with a "fun" day for the boys. Ocean Park is part amusement park, part aquarium and was quite a bit of fun! Unfortunately, a good chunk of the amusement park stuff wasn't geared towards the kids, but that's okay-they had fun anyways!
In order to get to Ocean Park, we had to first ride the MTR a few stops, and then get off and ride a bus there. It was a long ride-at least it felt that way-as it was standing room only on both the MTR and the bus. I think it took about 45 minutes total to finally get to Ocean Park. Luckily, we bought our tickets at the MTR station, so no waiting in line for that once we got there!
It was a very hot day-and very humid. We're used to hot and humid, but it seemed even hotter and more humid (to me at least!) in Hong Kong. We're typically not out all day in Okinawa-so walking around all day was definitely a challenge in that heat.
The first thing we noticed about Ocean Park is that it's pretty big-spread out-and not easy to navigate. We spent a considerable amount of time just walking from place to place-not so lovely in the heat. We initially rode up to the "top" of the park (it's on a hillside) on a series of outdoor, covered escalators. While the covers were nice-keeping the direct sun off of us, they were not opaque, so there was a bit of a greenhouse effect while under them-and sadly, no breeze. We were sweating it out by the time we reached the top!
We went on a ride with the boys-a moving observation deck type of ride-and got to see the park, and surrounding areas-it was quite the view! We went next to one of the aquarium displays-it was so nice to be in the air conditioning! The aquarium was nice-but we're used to the aquarium here in Oki-so it was a little underwhelming for us. We did however go to the "Jellyfish Aquarium"-nothing but various kinds of jellies-and that was really neat! There are so many different types of jellies-and they range in size from pretty darn tiny to wow!
Unfortunately, the boys were too short to ride the two rollercoasters there...but Mom and Dad weren't! Jason and I took turns riding the coasters-and taking a break from the walking around. Brendan was big enough to ride the flume log ride-and he got to ride it-twice! Once with Mom and once with Dad-what a lucky kid! We also rode in a cable car from the "peak" of the park down the hill. The boys really liked that a lot.
The other highlight of Ocean Park was the panda exhibit-this is the first time either of the boys had seen a real panda! They both loved it-Kieran really loves bears. He was very excited to see the real pandas...as well as the stuffed ones in the requisite exit-through-the-shop end! Lucky for us, as silly as it seems, we collect magnets from each place we visit. The boys are thrilled-they get to pick a new cool magnet to stick on our fridge (at their level, so they can play with them) and we're thrilled-magnets are pretty cheap! So, we avoided having to purchase one of the expensive stuff animals or t-shirts and came home with a panda magnet instead!
Day 2 in Hong Kong was for sightseeing. We decided to go and see the world's largest seated Buddha-the Tian Tan Buddha. It is on Lantau Island-the same island as the airport and Disneyland Hong Kong. We took the MTR to the Tung Chung Station, and then hopped on a a cable car to Ngong Ping-a 25 minutes ride with some amazing views! Unfortunately, the perfectly clear skies we enjoyed the day before at Ocean Park were nowhere to be found-a typhoon began heading towards Hong Kong (yikes!) and the skies were very hazy-so our views were definitely limited. However, we rode in the crystal cabin-which has a clear bottom- and got to see lots below us-including several waterfalls!
We got off the cable car at Ngong Ping Village-basically, a little tourist attraction with shops, restaurants and 2 theaters (one showing a kids story- A Monkey Tale, and the other showing Walk with Buddha, about the life of Buddha). We walked through the little village area and up to the base of the Buddha...and then up 268 steps to the top! Kieran rode on my back in the Ergo (and slept the whole time) and Brendan did a terrific job of climbing all 268 steps!
The Buddha was so impressive-and encircling the base of it were more statues. After walking around and looking at everything up at the top, and admiring what we could of the view, we took a quick photo op and then headed back down the steps-next stop-Po Lin Monastery.
The monastery was very beautiful-lots of gorgeous flowers, painting, lanterns, carvings, everything. The ornateness of it was impressive-lots of detail on absolutely everything!
After walking to the Buddha and the monastery, it was time for lunch. We found a Turkish restaurant and had some really good food-in fact, the dish we ordered for the boys was so good, we decided we needed to find a recipe and make it at home! After lunch it was time to see "A Monkey's Tale"-a cute little interactive children's movie that illustratees some of the principles of Buddhism. The boys (and us!) really enjoyed it! After the show, it was gelato time...and then, unfortunately, as we were eating our gelato, the cable cars closed down due to the weather. We ended up being stuck for about another hour or so-but the cable cars finally opened back up and back down the mountain we went!
Unfortunately, being stuck up on the mountain, we weren't quite sure what to do with the rest of the day-it was late afternoon and we were left with less time than expected. We decided that it would be a nice time to head down to Victoria Harbour and check that out.
It was still light out when we arrived at Victoria Harbour (we had quite a long MTR ride to get there) and we wandered around the waterfront area for a bit, marveling at the cityscape and enjoying the sights. We decided to go walk a bit and find something for dinner.
As we headed into the city area around the Harbour, we quickly realized that we were unlikely to find an affordable, kid-friendly restaurant in that particular area-it was mostly high-end (very high end!) shops and hotels. We ended up heading back down towards the waterfront and stopping to eat at McDonalds-not exactly gourmet fare, but not too pricey, and definitely kid friendly! McDonald's was very busy-it seemed to be one of the few fast-food (and therefore, lower priced) options around. After finally finding a seat, we sat down and enjoyed our dinner-while Kieran made a 2 new friends two ladies fell in love with his hair and spend a lot of time waving to him and snapping his picture!
We decided to visit a camera store near the McDonalds-we figured we had just enough time to stop in and then go see the Victoria Harbour light show. Unfortunately, we spent a lot more time in there than we initially planned...and of course, in true kid fashion, Brendan had a bathroom emergency literally minutes before the show started. By the time we found a bathroom and finished up-the show had already started and we missed a good bit of it. We decided to come back again another night-it was too impressive to not see the whole thing.
After the show ended, we headed back to the hotel and crashed-we were all exhausted-and Disney was the plan for the next day!
After getting all 4 of us ready, we headed down to our (free!) breakfast in the hotel restaurant, where, I am ashamed to say...we pigged out. Really pigged out. I've never seen my boys eat that much in one sitting-and I got fearful glimpses into the future-and our future grocery bills! Breakfast was wonderful though-and it was great to fill up on a meal that was included in our room price!
Next stop after breakfast was back up to the room to load up Kieran in the Ergo and pick up our backpack with the waterbottles, sunscreen, camera and Kieran's accessories (diapers/wipes/extra clothes). I'm not sure which weighed more-the backpack, or Kieran in the baby carrier! Then, we set out to conquer the MTR.
We walked the 2ish blocks to Jordan Station-the nearest MTR station to our hotel- and descended down the steps into the "unpaid" area-full of shops, ticket machines, info booths, and aha-an ATM! We withdrew money ($1USD=$7.2ish HKD) and promptly realized that we should have familiarized ourselves with HKD denominations ahead of time! Luckily, we're not strangers to foreign currency, so after a quick glance at what we got out of the ATM, we were good to go!
Next stop...info/ticket sales booth. We had to decide exactly what type of MTR pass we wanted to get. We decided to get the Tourist pass for each of us adults-72 hours of unlimited MTR rides, as well as including one ride on the Airport Express-and the regular Octopus card for Brendan-since he could use that at a child rate. Kieran was free!
For our first excursion in Hong Kong, we decided to head to Ocean Park-why not start a vacation with a trip to an amusement park? We thought after a day of traveling, it would be nice to start with a "fun" day for the boys. Ocean Park is part amusement park, part aquarium and was quite a bit of fun! Unfortunately, a good chunk of the amusement park stuff wasn't geared towards the kids, but that's okay-they had fun anyways!
In order to get to Ocean Park, we had to first ride the MTR a few stops, and then get off and ride a bus there. It was a long ride-at least it felt that way-as it was standing room only on both the MTR and the bus. I think it took about 45 minutes total to finally get to Ocean Park. Luckily, we bought our tickets at the MTR station, so no waiting in line for that once we got there!
It was a very hot day-and very humid. We're used to hot and humid, but it seemed even hotter and more humid (to me at least!) in Hong Kong. We're typically not out all day in Okinawa-so walking around all day was definitely a challenge in that heat.
The first thing we noticed about Ocean Park is that it's pretty big-spread out-and not easy to navigate. We spent a considerable amount of time just walking from place to place-not so lovely in the heat. We initially rode up to the "top" of the park (it's on a hillside) on a series of outdoor, covered escalators. While the covers were nice-keeping the direct sun off of us, they were not opaque, so there was a bit of a greenhouse effect while under them-and sadly, no breeze. We were sweating it out by the time we reached the top!
We went on a ride with the boys-a moving observation deck type of ride-and got to see the park, and surrounding areas-it was quite the view! We went next to one of the aquarium displays-it was so nice to be in the air conditioning! The aquarium was nice-but we're used to the aquarium here in Oki-so it was a little underwhelming for us. We did however go to the "Jellyfish Aquarium"-nothing but various kinds of jellies-and that was really neat! There are so many different types of jellies-and they range in size from pretty darn tiny to wow!
Unfortunately, the boys were too short to ride the two rollercoasters there...but Mom and Dad weren't! Jason and I took turns riding the coasters-and taking a break from the walking around. Brendan was big enough to ride the flume log ride-and he got to ride it-twice! Once with Mom and once with Dad-what a lucky kid! We also rode in a cable car from the "peak" of the park down the hill. The boys really liked that a lot.
The other highlight of Ocean Park was the panda exhibit-this is the first time either of the boys had seen a real panda! They both loved it-Kieran really loves bears. He was very excited to see the real pandas...as well as the stuffed ones in the requisite exit-through-the-shop end! Lucky for us, as silly as it seems, we collect magnets from each place we visit. The boys are thrilled-they get to pick a new cool magnet to stick on our fridge (at their level, so they can play with them) and we're thrilled-magnets are pretty cheap! So, we avoided having to purchase one of the expensive stuff animals or t-shirts and came home with a panda magnet instead!
We got off the cable car at Ngong Ping Village-basically, a little tourist attraction with shops, restaurants and 2 theaters (one showing a kids story- A Monkey Tale, and the other showing Walk with Buddha, about the life of Buddha). We walked through the little village area and up to the base of the Buddha...and then up 268 steps to the top! Kieran rode on my back in the Ergo (and slept the whole time) and Brendan did a terrific job of climbing all 268 steps!
The monastery was very beautiful-lots of gorgeous flowers, painting, lanterns, carvings, everything. The ornateness of it was impressive-lots of detail on absolutely everything!
After walking to the Buddha and the monastery, it was time for lunch. We found a Turkish restaurant and had some really good food-in fact, the dish we ordered for the boys was so good, we decided we needed to find a recipe and make it at home! After lunch it was time to see "A Monkey's Tale"-a cute little interactive children's movie that illustratees some of the principles of Buddhism. The boys (and us!) really enjoyed it! After the show, it was gelato time...and then, unfortunately, as we were eating our gelato, the cable cars closed down due to the weather. We ended up being stuck for about another hour or so-but the cable cars finally opened back up and back down the mountain we went!
Unfortunately, being stuck up on the mountain, we weren't quite sure what to do with the rest of the day-it was late afternoon and we were left with less time than expected. We decided that it would be a nice time to head down to Victoria Harbour and check that out.
As we headed into the city area around the Harbour, we quickly realized that we were unlikely to find an affordable, kid-friendly restaurant in that particular area-it was mostly high-end (very high end!) shops and hotels. We ended up heading back down towards the waterfront and stopping to eat at McDonalds-not exactly gourmet fare, but not too pricey, and definitely kid friendly! McDonald's was very busy-it seemed to be one of the few fast-food (and therefore, lower priced) options around. After finally finding a seat, we sat down and enjoyed our dinner-while Kieran made a 2 new friends two ladies fell in love with his hair and spend a lot of time waving to him and snapping his picture!
We decided to visit a camera store near the McDonalds-we figured we had just enough time to stop in and then go see the Victoria Harbour light show. Unfortunately, we spent a lot more time in there than we initially planned...and of course, in true kid fashion, Brendan had a bathroom emergency literally minutes before the show started. By the time we found a bathroom and finished up-the show had already started and we missed a good bit of it. We decided to come back again another night-it was too impressive to not see the whole thing.
After the show ended, we headed back to the hotel and crashed-we were all exhausted-and Disney was the plan for the next day!
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Hong Kong, part 1
We got back from a week in Hong Kong on the 2nd of September...life got it the way of blogging again! I need to be better at this!
So...Hong Kong. It was fantastic! I never in a million years thought I would set foot in Japan...well, I never in a million and ONE years thought I would set foot in Hong Kong. (I wonder what country a million and two years will bring me to?!?!)
The flights from Okinawa to Hong Kong were short and pleasant. We flew China Airlines (not Chinese as we first thought, but a Taiwanese airline) from Naha (Okinawa)-Taipei-Hong Kong. Each leg of our flight was about an hour and 20 minutes-nice and easy! And...we got food, meals!!- on each flight! Amazing!
We landed in Hong Kong at about 4pm on August 26th and set about doing the normal things one does when traveling internationally- pick up bags, clear customs and immigration and then figure out how the heck to get to the hotel!
We laughed at the "American" things we saw-things we hadn't seen in quite awhile...7Eleven, Circle K and others that we see on base/locally in Oki-Subway, Burger King, Starbucks...
(Although, interesting enough, upon googling, it turns out that 7Eleven is a Japanese company...who knew?!?! We don't have them in Oki however. )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven
We opted to take a bus-and while more expensive than the train, it was an nice option-we got to ride in a comfy tour-bus seat and take in some of the city while making our way to the hotel.
We were amazed...we thought Okinawa was rather urban-Hong Kong was urban on steroids! The sheer number of skyscrapers (admittedly missing from Oki) was staggering...building after high rise building of offices and apartments. Traffic was pretty crazy- people obeyed the traffic lights and signals, but it was utterly crowded and if the light turned green-you'd better not be in the crosswalk! It reminded me of the traffic in Rome-though there were actual crosswalks with lights.
Our hotel was a very pleasant surprise! Although we were hoping it would be nice, you never know how it really is until you get there. Online reviews were mostly positive (and the bad ones were for stupid things, like the staff not smiling enough at check-in) but still....it's a bit of a risk. Luckily, we picked a very nice hotel-and would stay there again in a heartbeat! We stayed on the premier level, which meant our own check-in desk, lounge with free cocktails (!) and afternoon snacks-and the best part-a delicious, FREE, buffet breakfast. We filled up so much at breakfast every day that we rarely had to buy lunch-even for the kids! I have never seen them eat so much at one sitting!
Our hotel was right off of Nathan Road-a big tourist area loaded with markets, shops, and best of all, very close to the MTR (subway)-meaning easy access to all the sights. Travel around Hong Kong is best done by subway-it's quick, fairly cheap, and convenient to most of the things we wanted to see.
Our first night, after checking in and sampling a few of the free apptizers, we decided to head out and just check out the area. I loaded Kieran into the Ergo (our baby carrier), put some water bottles for us in the backpack-Jason wore that- grabbed Brendan's hand and off we went! The Temple Street Market was literally a couple of blocks away, so we headed that way just to see what it was all about. That reminded me a bit of being in Mexico-lots of stalls selling all sorts of things, from jewelry to clothing to toys to electronics-and everyone haggling over prices, salesmen trying to get you to stop and look, restaurants becokning you to sit at their tables....it was somewhat of a madhouse-and I loved it! We got a donor kebob to eat while we walked-okay, so yes, we traveled to Hong Kong and our first meal was a Turkish one-and just took in the sights. After a short stint at the market, we headed back to the hotel to get to sleep-we had big plans for our first full day!
So...Hong Kong. It was fantastic! I never in a million years thought I would set foot in Japan...well, I never in a million and ONE years thought I would set foot in Hong Kong. (I wonder what country a million and two years will bring me to?!?!)
The flights from Okinawa to Hong Kong were short and pleasant. We flew China Airlines (not Chinese as we first thought, but a Taiwanese airline) from Naha (Okinawa)-Taipei-Hong Kong. Each leg of our flight was about an hour and 20 minutes-nice and easy! And...we got food, meals!!- on each flight! Amazing!
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| In the Taipei airport during our layover. |
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| This way to customs! Woo-hoo, we're in Hong Kong! |
We laughed at the "American" things we saw-things we hadn't seen in quite awhile...7Eleven, Circle K and others that we see on base/locally in Oki-Subway, Burger King, Starbucks...
(Although, interesting enough, upon googling, it turns out that 7Eleven is a Japanese company...who knew?!?! We don't have them in Oki however. )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven
 |
| Haven't seen a 7Eleven since we lived in the States... |
 | |
| Our happy travelers....the boys love seeing new things! |
We opted to take a bus-and while more expensive than the train, it was an nice option-we got to ride in a comfy tour-bus seat and take in some of the city while making our way to the hotel.
We were amazed...we thought Okinawa was rather urban-Hong Kong was urban on steroids! The sheer number of skyscrapers (admittedly missing from Oki) was staggering...building after high rise building of offices and apartments. Traffic was pretty crazy- people obeyed the traffic lights and signals, but it was utterly crowded and if the light turned green-you'd better not be in the crosswalk! It reminded me of the traffic in Rome-though there were actual crosswalks with lights.
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| Car, people and signs everywhere! |
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| This is actually nothing for skyscrapers... |
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| so tall, I couldn't see the top out the window of the bus! |
Our hotel was a very pleasant surprise! Although we were hoping it would be nice, you never know how it really is until you get there. Online reviews were mostly positive (and the bad ones were for stupid things, like the staff not smiling enough at check-in) but still....it's a bit of a risk. Luckily, we picked a very nice hotel-and would stay there again in a heartbeat! We stayed on the premier level, which meant our own check-in desk, lounge with free cocktails (!) and afternoon snacks-and the best part-a delicious, FREE, buffet breakfast. We filled up so much at breakfast every day that we rarely had to buy lunch-even for the kids! I have never seen them eat so much at one sitting!
Our hotel was right off of Nathan Road-a big tourist area loaded with markets, shops, and best of all, very close to the MTR (subway)-meaning easy access to all the sights. Travel around Hong Kong is best done by subway-it's quick, fairly cheap, and convenient to most of the things we wanted to see.
Our first night, after checking in and sampling a few of the free apptizers, we decided to head out and just check out the area. I loaded Kieran into the Ergo (our baby carrier), put some water bottles for us in the backpack-Jason wore that- grabbed Brendan's hand and off we went! The Temple Street Market was literally a couple of blocks away, so we headed that way just to see what it was all about. That reminded me a bit of being in Mexico-lots of stalls selling all sorts of things, from jewelry to clothing to toys to electronics-and everyone haggling over prices, salesmen trying to get you to stop and look, restaurants becokning you to sit at their tables....it was somewhat of a madhouse-and I loved it! We got a donor kebob to eat while we walked-okay, so yes, we traveled to Hong Kong and our first meal was a Turkish one-and just took in the sights. After a short stint at the market, we headed back to the hotel to get to sleep-we had big plans for our first full day!
Monday, 23 August 2010
Yikes!
Vacation is almost upon us, and once again, I've been seriously remiss in blogging! I think about it...and then don't do it. Start bugging me and I'll try to do it more often!
The boys and I have been enjoying our summer, well, not really vacation, since we all stay home, all the time! Brendan's preschool has been on summer break though, so I guess it is a vacation.
We have been doing various activities around Okinawa-we visited the Okinawa Prefectural Museum recently to check out the Acient Egypt Exhibit-complete with mummies!
Brendan loved it-he is such a history buff-I have a feeling that history will be his "thing". I remember being pretty fascinated with historical things at a young age-but not that young.
Kieran liked the museum too, although he was a bit young to appreciate it-and was tired and cranky. He really enjoyed the stop at the play place when we ate lunch. Both boys did! We went with our good friends-and had a great time.
We also have done a few trips to the zoo-we're annual pass holders, so we go fairly often. We also went to Neo Park-which is a zoo-esque wildlife park. Both boys thoroughly enjoy animals of all kinds.
We've been doing hippotherapy as well. Kieran is working on strengthening up his core muscles and Brendan is working on strengthening up, but is also going to be learning how to properly ride a horse this year! I'm very excited for him.
Brendan loves riding! Kieran is not so enthusiastic about it-it's a lot of work for him. Both boys ride bareback, and Brendan has just started using reins. We are so lucky they have the opportunity for this-and the best part is that the program is free to us-it's all run by volunteers! We help out by bringing in corn oil and cider vinegar weekly for the horses.
We're getting ready to head out for our first non-Okinawa, Asian adventure-we leave for Hong Kong very soon! We're all really excited-and hoping for good weather. The boys and I are looking forward to Disneyland-I'm pretty sure that's going to be a favorite day for all three of us! It's going to be Jason's first Disney experience-so I'm excited for him as well. After this, I'll only be 2 parks away from visiting every Disney Theme Park on the globe....
The boys and I have been enjoying our summer, well, not really vacation, since we all stay home, all the time! Brendan's preschool has been on summer break though, so I guess it is a vacation.
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| Playing the drum at the museum. |
Brendan loved it-he is such a history buff-I have a feeling that history will be his "thing". I remember being pretty fascinated with historical things at a young age-but not that young.
Kieran liked the museum too, although he was a bit young to appreciate it-and was tired and cranky. He really enjoyed the stop at the play place when we ate lunch. Both boys did! We went with our good friends-and had a great time.
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| Brendan, Kieran and our friends Calista and Alexa checking out the dinosaur. |
We also have done a few trips to the zoo-we're annual pass holders, so we go fairly often. We also went to Neo Park-which is a zoo-esque wildlife park. Both boys thoroughly enjoy animals of all kinds.
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| Zoo fun! |
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| Feeding birds at the zoo |
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| Neo Park |
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| More Neo Park |
Brendan loves riding! Kieran is not so enthusiastic about it-it's a lot of work for him. Both boys ride bareback, and Brendan has just started using reins. We are so lucky they have the opportunity for this-and the best part is that the program is free to us-it's all run by volunteers! We help out by bringing in corn oil and cider vinegar weekly for the horses.
We're getting ready to head out for our first non-Okinawa, Asian adventure-we leave for Hong Kong very soon! We're all really excited-and hoping for good weather. The boys and I are looking forward to Disneyland-I'm pretty sure that's going to be a favorite day for all three of us! It's going to be Jason's first Disney experience-so I'm excited for him as well. After this, I'll only be 2 parks away from visiting every Disney Theme Park on the globe....
Saturday, 3 July 2010
Okinawan Jumping Worms
It has been forever and a day since I've updated! I keep putting it off, but no more!
So..what we've been up to:
We're home in Okinawa and glad to be back! Kieran is doing exceptionally well-he recovered perfectly from surgery and you'd never know his hand ever looked different, minus the small scar. He did have the IP joint stiffen up due to the pin and then the brace, so we're working hard with OT to get that back to normal. While he may not ever have quite normal range, I don't think it's going to make a difference-he's adapted perfectly already. (That's both good and bad-good, because he's able to do everything, yet, bad-since he's able to do everything, he isn't as likely to work on his own to get that joint moving.)
Jason's parents came for a visit. We all enjoyed seeing them. I'm sure they especially enjoyed seeing Jason, as they hadn't seen him since we moved, and of course, the boys...since let's face it-that's who the grandparents want to see anyways. :p
We spent a week with both of them here, and then Jason's dad had to leave. His mom stayed for another almost 2 weeks. We got out and did a bunch of stuff around Okinawa-Pineapple Park, the Aquarium, beaches, castle ruins, Shuri Castle..the usual stuff. I think they both enjoyed Okinawa, though the humidity and heat was a bit much for them. (And it wasn't even that hot or humid yet!).
We're back to the norm now...Jason back at work, me back to entertaining the boys and keeping them out of trouble. We just bought Brendan a bike, so he's working on learning to ride that-he's doing great! Kieran is cracking us up daily. He's speaking in little two (and sometimes 3!) word sentences, so we hear lots out of him! He loves to yell out "big truck", "big bump" and when something is loud, he yells "loud"...as loud as he can!
We're counting down the days until a family vacation-we've decided to go to Hong Kong in August-Sept. We're really excited-we plan to take the boys to Hong Kong Disney (though I'm pretty sure I'm the most excited about it!), and see as much of Hong Kong as we can in 7 days.
Although there's lots more, I'll save that for upcoming posts...and hopefully will not take so long between posts!
Oh yes. The jumping worms. I almost forgot.
We bought a new shed and moved the old one...underneath it was mud and worms. We decided to move the worms into the flower garden area. I tried to pick up one worm...and it literally curled up and jumped away from me. I've never seen anything like it! The worms here are skinny and move rather quickly when they're about to be picked up...about as different as an American earthworm. :)
So..what we've been up to:
We're home in Okinawa and glad to be back! Kieran is doing exceptionally well-he recovered perfectly from surgery and you'd never know his hand ever looked different, minus the small scar. He did have the IP joint stiffen up due to the pin and then the brace, so we're working hard with OT to get that back to normal. While he may not ever have quite normal range, I don't think it's going to make a difference-he's adapted perfectly already. (That's both good and bad-good, because he's able to do everything, yet, bad-since he's able to do everything, he isn't as likely to work on his own to get that joint moving.)
Jason's parents came for a visit. We all enjoyed seeing them. I'm sure they especially enjoyed seeing Jason, as they hadn't seen him since we moved, and of course, the boys...since let's face it-that's who the grandparents want to see anyways. :p
We spent a week with both of them here, and then Jason's dad had to leave. His mom stayed for another almost 2 weeks. We got out and did a bunch of stuff around Okinawa-Pineapple Park, the Aquarium, beaches, castle ruins, Shuri Castle..the usual stuff. I think they both enjoyed Okinawa, though the humidity and heat was a bit much for them. (And it wasn't even that hot or humid yet!).
We're back to the norm now...Jason back at work, me back to entertaining the boys and keeping them out of trouble. We just bought Brendan a bike, so he's working on learning to ride that-he's doing great! Kieran is cracking us up daily. He's speaking in little two (and sometimes 3!) word sentences, so we hear lots out of him! He loves to yell out "big truck", "big bump" and when something is loud, he yells "loud"...as loud as he can!
We're counting down the days until a family vacation-we've decided to go to Hong Kong in August-Sept. We're really excited-we plan to take the boys to Hong Kong Disney (though I'm pretty sure I'm the most excited about it!), and see as much of Hong Kong as we can in 7 days.
Although there's lots more, I'll save that for upcoming posts...and hopefully will not take so long between posts!
Oh yes. The jumping worms. I almost forgot.
We bought a new shed and moved the old one...underneath it was mud and worms. We decided to move the worms into the flower garden area. I tried to pick up one worm...and it literally curled up and jumped away from me. I've never seen anything like it! The worms here are skinny and move rather quickly when they're about to be picked up...about as different as an American earthworm. :)
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