Guan Yin

Over the last few years we have been observing the construction of an enormous statue in a valley not far from the place where we catch our minibus into town. It is finished now and revealed as Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy). Located between Tai Po and Tai Mei Tuk, Guan Yin faces Plover Cove and is the world's tallest bronze statue. It is 76 metres tall and is surrounded by Tung Tsz monastery.

 

This one is not my photo, as we have not actually been this close to the statue. Guan Yin was built supposedly to promote Buddhism to the general public, but I suspect the builders hope that it will turn into a successful tourist attraction like the Big Buddha on Lantau Island.

Have you ever seen...

...professional birthday cakes for dogs?

Bogus Birthdays

My friends Amy and Rachel and I have a fabulous tradition whereby we buy each other birthday presents from an op shop / thrift store. 

The uglier the better.

The items must be worn in public, preferably at work, for at least an hour.

Here are some of the examples of these oh-so-attractive items.

That one's not so bad! you say? Well, if you knew Amy you can appreciate the horror she felt at having to wear this BEADED (shudder) top with mesh sleeves.

Here's Rachel modelling her stunning gold plastic necklace.

This was one of my lovely gifts. There is nothing redeeming in this garment. Nothing.

And yet another attractive present for me last year: a short-sleeved sweater with shoulder pads featuring a flag from some sort of country other than Australia.

However, today I got Amy back with this charming silk grandmother-of-the-bride number. Five sizes too big as well! What do you think?

"I carried the watermelon"

Last night I went out with some teachers from school to see a live theatre performance of "Dirty Dancing". Some of us even dressed up in 1960's attire inspired by the movie. Before the show we dined at an Italian restaurant.

We celebrated two April birthdays: Amy's...

and Cath's.

Just between you and me and the rest of the world wide web, the performers' faux American accents were terrible and the acting was frankly unbelievable. However, I was with a fun-loving group of women, and we definitely had "the time of our lives". I especially loved the beautiful stage sets and jaw-dropping dance moves.

After the show we posed together on the harbour at Tsim Sha Tsui.

Tirzah was rather confused about why I would want to see a show featuring ballet performers getting all muddy on the stage. I think I'll leave that "Dirty Dancing" explanation for a later time!

Wordless Wednesday (fifty)

Creative Keegan

When I think about Keegan's skills, I usually focus on his sporting ability. However, lately he has been showing a strong artistic side as well. We are so proud of our son!

Here he is holding a self-portrait in watercolours that he is currently working on during art class at school.

In computer class Keegan was shown how to create comic strips using software called ToonDoo. He made a series of twelve funny little comics for a Roman project he handed in last week.

 

Also for his Roman project, Keegan created this Roman helmet out of cardboard, sticky tape, aluminium foil and a broom.

The children have been imagining what our future house might look like in Australia. Keegan drew this picture of his dream bedroom, complete with drum kit and cricket ball rug.

The kids have also made Pinterest boards with items on their wish lists for decorating their dream bedrooms. You can see Keegan's Pinterest board here, but I might as well tell you it all centres on one particular theme. No prizes for guessing the subject!

Baby Shower

Tirzah's kindergarten teacher is expecting twin girls next month. Today we attended a baby shower to celebrate their imminent arrival and farewell Mrs Davis. The baby shower was held at the estate clubhouse where Mr and Mrs Davis live in Heng On.

Doesn't Veronica look beautiful?

Lots of presents to spoil the Davis twins!

This was a game where each child tried to guess what the baby item was inside their wrapped package.

We weren't really sure why the children were blindfolded for this game. (I think maybe it was supposed to be the adults!) Anyway, Tirzah got to feed Mr Davis some baby food, and he had to try to name the ingredients.

This is what she fed him...

And this is the face he made while tasting it!

Jemilla took a turn feeding Craig some baby food too.

It's like a roast dinner in a jar...

But obviously didn't taste like it!

Mrs Davis received a gorgeous caricature of her R2D class.

Can you spy Tirzah in the bunch?

Group photo with all the kindergarten children at the baby shower

And here's Tirzah with her dear teacher. We love you, Mrs, Davis, and we pray every day for your babies to be healthy. We can't wait to meet the girls!

Have you ever seen...?

...a curving escalator?

Spring break

We have had a week of holidays from school after Easter. The weather has been cold, wet and dreary the whole time, but the children have kept busy playing on the computer and with each other.

Tirzah and I made some no-bake biscuits.

And Jemilla baked a batch of enormous and delicious Anzac biscuits.

As a family we saw the 3D movie "The Croods" and loved it. This was only the second movie Tirzah has ever seen at a cinema.

One afternoon we travelled to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum to see a special exhibition called "Fabergé: Legacy of Imperial Russia". (Sweeneys, you would have loved this!)

There were over 200 exhibits in total on loan from Russia, with the highlight of course being the Fabergé Easter eggs on display. 

Visitors were not allowed to take photos inside the exhibition, so these photos are borrowed from other sources.

 

Besides the amazing eggs, we saw many other rare and exceptional artworks, silverwares, and jeweller adornments in a variety of precious metals and stones.

Before leaving the museum, the kids played a game of giant ludo in the Children's Discovery Gallery.

This is how I spent most of my Spring Break...packing boxes. We are returning to Australia in July and will ship most of our books, toys, and clothes.

When the shipping boxes were delivered, a huge roll of butchers paper accompanied them, so the chidlren have enjoyed drawing themselves on the sheets of paper.

Do you like their artwork?