Halloween

We had a great Halloween weekend!  The weather was beautiful (even cool!) and we had lots to do.  Saturday evening we went to the American Club for a Halloween Barbeque.  They had an amazing spread for dinner, and tons of Halloween-themed desserts.  For the kids, there was a bouncy house, a haunted house and a parade.  Fin loved it...and Nolan was his usual happy-go-lucky self.

Fin is going through a big-time princess phase, so after much debating over whether to be Cinderella or Belle, she finally selected Cinderella. 

This is the only family shot where we're all looking in the direction of the camera.

Since it's the year of the tiger, it was a no-brainer that this would be Nolan's costume.  Surprisingly, he was the only tiger we saw all weekend!

On Sunday, our building had a (lame) magic show for all of the kids.  I have no clue why, but the kids seemed amused by it and it killed some time before trick-or-treating.

Then Dave and I took turns manning our door and taking Fin to do a bit of trick-or treating.  Nolan hung out at home to welcome all the kids who came by for treats.

This picture was taken shortly before the biggest sugar high kicked in.

Then Dave and I decided we needed some Singapore Noodles as our Halloween treat, so we dragged the kids to Stanley for dinner and some boat-watching.

Green Stuff

I decided to do something completely out of character and actually make Nolan's baby food. I went all domestic one afternoon and whipped up some pea, apple and green bean purees. Luckily, Nolan has LOVED everything so far - his smiles have made it worth my effort!

Saturday it was a gorgeous day, so Dave and I went for an afternoon hike.  It's wonderful to have lots of trails just a few minutes from our flat!

The Past Week (or so)

It's been a busy ten days with GJ and Claire visiting.  We had a GREAT time hanging out with them, and I'm happy that my mom finally got to see the sights in Hong Kong.....unlike last time, when she was stuck on baby-sitting duty.

Right before GJ and Claire came to town, we took Finley and Nolan to a Halloween Festival at the American school.  Fin got a "scary manicure", played in a bouncy house, picked out a pumpkin AND tried cotton candy for the first time before Dave and I had enough of the chaos and crowds.  Typical Nolan slept through the entire thing....

 

On GJ and Claire's first day, we took them to Shek O for some beach time.  They loved it as much as we do!

Then GJ "stole" my camera for the week since she left hers at home.  We're total idiots who neglected to take any family shots until right before it was time for her to head back to Chicago.

I'm going "au natural" thanks to a case of pink eye and my second strep throat of the month.  Sorry for my scary makeup-free face.  Lovely, huh?!

Food and Friends

Oh Nolan.....he's lucky that he's so cute and that he spends 99% of his waking hours with a smile on his face.  Since Beijing, he's decided he is always hungry and as a result we're back to middle of the night feedings.  To try and get back an uninterrupted night of sleep, I decided to start him on cereal.  With Fin, I waited until she was almost six months - but this guy seems starving!

Here he is digesting his very first bite.  He looks shocked and freaked out, huh?!  Too funny!

But he's actually not hating the rice cereal like Finley did.

Day two he even finished the mini bowl I made for him.  Hopefully I'll be getting some good sleep soon!

Here's big sis Fin back in '08 trying to avoid her first meal.

And here's Finley pretending like she really enjoyed it.



And friends....right now, Finley probably mas more friends than the rest of us combined.  Here she is with her friends Jack and Alex - digging in the dirt and playing with rocks.  Apparently this is what I have to look forward to when Nolan gets bigger.

And here she is today with her friends Lucie and Zoe.  Every Thursday afternoon, Carmelita and Finley have a playdate with Lucie, Zoe and their helpers.  It's awesome - the girls play, the helpers make them dinner, they eat together and then the helpers even give them a bath.  This may be why Thursday is my favorite day of the week. ;) 

A Whole Lot of Nothing

Even though this little guy looks like a total chunker, we found out that he's pretty much average - 50th percentile for weight and 50-75th percentile for length.  I was so shocked I had them re-weigh and re-measure him! 

Carmelita and Fin went to a playdate on Friday, so my friend Jessica and I took Nolan on a walk in Tai Tam Country Park.  He loves the BOB and loves being outside.

Speaking of Carmelita, here she is.  Dave and I joke that she loves Nolan more than we do....but seriously, she is SO great with him and Fin.

This morning we went to Ocean Park.  Nolan slept through the whole thing, but Fin loved it.  Unfortunately, I no longer have the excuse of being pregnant and not being able to ride the rides...nor is it no longer hot enough for me to play the whole "it's too hot for Nolan to be outside so I'll just stay home with him and you can take Fin" card.  It was actually a good time though!

Finley and XXL Dave braved the scary Frog Hopper ride for the first time!

Despite the unsure expression on her face, she insisted on riding the ride several times before we convinced her to try something else.

Before we went home, we stopped to see the panda bears.  I named this lazy one Dave.

 

Only in Asia is there someone dressed up as a goldfish at a theme park.  After all, they're auspicious creatures.  Lucky or not, Finley loved meeting Goldie.

This Week

Jana came to visit this week!  We spent lots of time at the pool, went to the beach, shopped, ate and drank....everything was done to excess. 

Jana and I manage to dine at places with cool bathrooms, no matter what continent we're on.  (This is at Dragon I here in HK.)

Case and point: Here I am in the loo at Kong in Paris (Jana and I dined here in June 2006)

Jana helped me out by being my nanny for the week.

She was kind of lazy about it though, so I guess we'll keep Carmelita around.

Fin and I took her to our favorite beach (Shek O).

And now Jana leaves in the morning.  She loved HK, but is probably relieved to get away from the Crazy Korns.

Nolan is Four Months Old!

Four months old and loving life.

And here's Fin at 4 months.  =)

The Great Wall

There's really nothing to say about the Great Wall except that it was awesome.  We had beautiful weather for our outing and opted to hire our own private guide who was wonderful.  Finley had a blast walking/running/exploring and we all had a lot of fun seeing the amazing views and such an amazing sight.  I'm so happy we were able to share such a cool experience with Finley and Nolan - it was a very memorable day and worthwhile trip.

Our first view of the Wall, while riding up in the gondola.

Our view - one direction

Starting out our 1.5 hour walk from Tower 14 to Tower 6 (at Mutianyu)

We probably took more family pictures that day than we've ever taken.

A little hazy thanks to Mainland China's notorious pollution, but a pretty clear day compared to what we could have been stuck with.

 Another view while on our walk.



Heading back down - Dave took Finley down the mountain on a tobaggon while Nolan, our guide and I took the chairlift down.