What animal are you?

I will not go into the details of why I came across this website, but the questions are sort of fun, and it will tell you what animal you are when you are done!

http://www.jokesandhumor.com/tests/animal/


I was surprised to find out that I would be a BUMBLE BEE!

Before you grouch about it, I know that I have not been a diligent blogger. I make no excuses, and may or may not be better about it in the future. With that said, here is a photo from Brandon's OSUT graduation. You can see he has two badges under his ribbons. He made sharpshooter on his rifle, and expert on pistol and grenade. (I think it was grenade, but definitely pistol)

Caty made a competitive academic team, and is excited to participate in that, as well as the drama team at school. That girl likes to stay busy, and like me, will have to learn to pace herself.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to everyone!

I am doing as well with blogging as I do writing my grandmother. :(
Anyway, this is Brandon's Company presenting themselves for the first time in their berets. Brandon hates it, and says it itches like crazy, but still wears it because he EARNED it! He has done very well in the Army, and has discovered a lot about himself in the process.
Soon he will finish training on the M1A2 Abrams Tank, and, hopefully, I will update this more frequently.

Funny for Moms!

I have been remiss in updating this blog, my aplogies! It has been very busy, and I have not had time to go through the hundreds of photos I took while in Hong Kong. I did get this funny today: The Mom Song by Anita Renfroe. It is hilarious, if you are a mother, and possibly if you are a child living at home listening to a mother. Enjoy, and I will update soon (I hope!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8

Hong Kong Day 5 and heading home...

Day five was a very long rainy day and venturing out,even with an umbrella, was a messy business. I am so thankful I had such nice weather for my excursions at the beginging of the week! While Chris had to get out in it for work, I staid at the hotel and actually slept quite a lot! I must be tired because sleeping during daylight is normally very difficult for me! By about 8 PM the rain cleared out and Chris and I went to Kowloon for an hour or so. We browsed some shops, including the one with the scripture in Chinese that some of you know about from his previous trip, and had dinner at a pub that is probably where Bennigan's got their idea from. The relics on thier wall seem original and ancient, though!
So, it is Friday afternoon at home but Saturday morning here. We are packing and preparing to head to the airport. It has been a fun time and there are a number of people I would like to bring back here but I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoO glad to be coming home. I miss my family and friends!
Blessings!

Hong Kong Day 4

When I start a new post it autofills the possible titles with previous ones. This morning that was helpful as I could not recall how many days I have been here! Ha! Thursday was rainy and I was feeling a little beat up from all the travel and sight seeing so I spent most of the day reading Sanditon. A novel started by Jane Austen but completed by "Another Lady". It was typicall Austen fare, which I love, and was very funny in some parts. I scared my Asian neighbors at a restaurant by laughing out loud more than once. I did make one excursion to the Jade Market. As it was raining I have no new photos but will post one or two from previous days outings. Chris does not have to go to Macau today so perhaps we will venture out for a bit together if the weather allows.

Just outside the Times Square Mall in Causeway Bay is a wall of golden mice. (I had always heard that it is the year of the Rat but the locals in HK say the year of the mouse) The wall is there so that you can take these papers you get when you shop and make a wish on them. You then throw the paper against the wall;if it sticks your wish will come true.


This is a life size display of the 2008 Olympic Mascots here. Between the Olympics and New Year's, it is VERY festive here!

Hong kong Day 3

Well, I am back to the hotel earlier than expected. It was a real adventure today! I set out this morning from Causeway Bay and took the subway to Central where I made my way to the Mid-Level escalators. This is a series of escalators that get you up a very steep hill, in my case, to Hollywood Street. I browsed the antiques along that street until I reached Man Mo Temple. This temple is known for its spiral incense sticks that people buy and hang from the ceiling for goodluck. I do not do well in incense and the thikness of the smoke in this building was not something I could do for long. I did find one dated from last September and it still had a lot of coil to burn. Wow! From here I went to Cat Street where there are more antiques and some jewlery stalls. Afer purchasing some trinkets I grabbed lunch at a Subway and then headed to the bus terminal. I managed to get on the correct bus to Aberdeen, where you will see photos from my experience on a junk boat, but from Aberdeen, I got on the wrong but to Stanley and ended up in Kowloon. Not a big deal as this is an area I am familiar with now and was able to hop off and head back to the hotel. When I arrived at the hotel they were stripping the wood floors in one of the rooms near me and the fumes were terrible. It really made me feel ill but the staff brought me an air purifier that I think I have working properly. Chris keeps telling me I have to just go with it here, but I could not go with the fumes and I was definitely too tired to go away from the hotel. All's well that ends well, I say. Enjoy todays photos!


This is my super cute Junk boat driver. He has a local to pick up when he took me out so we went riding through the parked boats in the area. I say parked because they were not docked. After he picked up a lady from her Junk, he hit two other boats and got caught on someones anchor rope. I was a bit worried about going into the water at that point. I can swim fine but it was very dirty with the trash the water residents throw in.


I am pretty sure the rules of boating are universal but no one in this harbor seemed to know. This is not the most compelling photo in the world but the fact that all obejects in it were moveing at fairly high speed made it a very compelling moment for me. I was totally compelled to send up a little prayer asking to make it back to land safely. When the old lady we picked up jumped off the boat, I tried to go with her until my little old man pointed out we were on the other side of the harbor!



Though his boat skills are a bit questionable, he did a great job snapping a photo of me as he managed the boat controls with his feet! My smile is so big because it was as much from fear as fun! This may also be the only proof I have that I did not just download all the other photos that you see here! :)

Final photo for the day: anytime I am in a moving vehicle here, I stay in a constant state of amazement that there are not more crashes. They literally have one to two inches between vehicles a lot of the time. This is from the upper level of the bus I thought was going to Stanley. The bus rides,all by themselves, were a lot of fun and were a great way to see a lot of Hong Kong Island in a short amount of time.

Hong Kong - Day 2

Wow! Day two was busy!I started the day heading over to Hong Kong Park, a lovely oasis in this sea of high rise homes. From there I rode the Peak Trolly to Victoria's Peak for a spectacular, even if cloudy, view of Hong Kong. I had planned to head out to Stanley in the afternoon but Chris called and changes in his work schedule and meetings made that evening the only chance for me to head over to Macau and meet some of his coworkers from Shangahi. I rode a highspeed ferry for about an hour then took a bus to the Venetian where several of us had dinner and visited over about the course of three hours!
I am becoming something of a 'pro' at riding the subway now and love the Octopus Card which can be used in the subway, on buses, trams, and even at 7-11 and McDonalds. (Which is sort of a fancy place here. They are all McCafe's with Ikea seating and tables and a coffe bar as well as the typical food counter)
So, here are some photos to give you a sampling of the day!

This one is for Caty, who was skeptical when I told her about this sort of public potty!


As I walked through the lush garden, the skyscrappers would peak in at times, creating an unusal visual contrast!


Even after the tram ride up the hill, I had to take several escalators to get to the top viewing deck of The Peak!

The clouds hid much of the expected view but you can still see a large section of buildings. While many of these have shops on the first three or four floors, everything above that is residential. (There are some that are either hotels or corporate offices as well)

It is almost New Year's here and there is much activity to decorate and prepare for the biggest holiday here. Apparently these live mandarine orange trees are for luck. People would walk by and pick a fruit and eat it! I started to pick on, because I love mandarin oranges, but felt like I was stealing so left it on the tree!

Hong Kong Day 1

Well I spent my first daylight hours in Hong Kong and they were fun and adventurous. I rode the subway by myself to the Mong Kok area and the Ladies Market, then to Nathan Street where I took the wrong subway exit and had to spend about 20 minutes finding my way to where I should have started! The important thing is that I know the subway stop for our hotel and the exit F is my Friend to get back where I need to be! HAHA! While the above does not sound like a lot, it took about 5 hours today! I am posting photos from my excursion today. The haze is NOT my camera today, just the air here. :) Tomorrow I am headed to Victoria's Peak and to see some of the Temples in the area.

The view from our hotel room.


Some tasty local treats!


The Ladies Market where you can get knock-off anything!

Hong Kong - Arrival

After some number of hours in planes, airports, and immigration line that I do not care to add up, I arrived at Hong Kong. My first trip to Asia! Chris met me at the airport and we took a taxi to the hotel before heading to the subway system for a quick tutorial. Chris wanted to make sure I knew how to use it and where the hotel stop is before letting me loose on the city this week!

While on Kowloon Island, I snapped a quick shot looking back at Hong Kong Island. My camera is not good at night shots but I what you see above is said photo. It seems I have a dirty lens as well. Will clean that up before heading out as the standout tourist today!

One sense that is getting worked more than it is accustomed to is the olfactory . Many strange, though not all unpleasant, smells clung to us as we walked last night.

I am excited to explore HK and that is not nearly as British as I expected.

I am finally going through email that is weeks old and found one from my mom with a great photo from the baby shower we had for Will. This is four generations of girls:
Nana
Mom
Sabs & me
Hanna, Caitlin, Olivia, & Norah
Will could not help being the only boy in the picture.
He was born on Jan 5th and weighed 9 lb 7 oz! And 22 inches tall! Go Sabs!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2007 was going to be the year that I got my Christmas cards out early, had my shopping done weeks in advance, and just lazed about through the holiday and enjoyed time with my family. Then I woke up from my little day dream: are you surprised that I never even got the cards signed!? Or that I did my shopping on Christmas eve? I now sit humbly at my computer and type my belated well wishes to family and friends.
The big hurdle was a printer that died midway through printing the annual update so I will add that below to close out this entry. I promise to start on the letter and cards in October this year to have a better shot at actually getting them in the mail to you!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)

>>>>Begin Christmas Letter <<<<

Merry Christmas!

We hope your year has been a joyful one. Our year has been full of changes and logs of excitement! Too much news to fit into one letter but here are some highlights:

Chris has finally left the telecom industry and is par of the PMI division of a great design firm in Dallas. They are working on what is currently the world’s largest construction project in Macau China. Chris has been and will; be spending time there, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. He is also just a few credits away from finishing his BBA. Yippee!

Michelle has had lots of changes at work starting with reorganization at the beginning of the year that took her back into a technical role. She worked hard and got her Red Hat certification in the summer. Caitlin was very disappointed to learn that mom did not actually get a red hat when she was done!

Brandon is in his senior year of high school and having a great time. He is in a lot of art classes and getting to explore what mediums he likes best. His jewelry teacher is submitting some of his work to competitions. He has also joined the Army and will leave in August to become a part of an M1 Abrams Crew. His enlistment is only for three years so college is not far away and he is guaranteed a spot at the school he plans to attend for a degree in photography. He and dad enjoy riding motorcycles together now that he has his own class M license!

Caitlin is getting close to finishing book one in Suzuki Strings and should have her recital before the end of the school year. Fifth grade has a lot of challenges but she is rising to them all and having a wonderful year in school. She and two of her best friends have started the “Waki Pak” and have great fun being silly at recess and any time they can get together outside of school. Her and Brandon had a great time traveling this year including a trip to Disney with her cousins Hanna, Olivia, & Norah and then to Michigan where they explored the sand dunes on Dune Buggies with Grandpa and Honey.

You are each in our thoughts and prayers throughout the year but especially at this time that focuses on family and friends.

With much love to you all,

Chris, Michelle, Brandon, and Caitlin

Welcome and do come in..

This is my first time to enter a blog entry and it is not nearly as exciting as I thought it would be. There is a pending trip to Hong Kong that will likely make it's way to these electronic pages so check back soon and often to see where this thing goes.

Blessings.