Lo-Lo

I know the Croakers have left, but I wanted to do one last post featuring Elora, my 11 year old niece. "Lo-Lo", as Tirzah calls her, has a special place in my heart as the oldest of all the cousins. Among other hobbies she likes to dance, play the violin, collect Beanie Kids, play hockey, and read books. During this last visit I was so impressed with her sweet nature and willingness to look after the little ones. I pray that as the years go by she will continue to grow to be more like Christ. I love you, Elora!

Another lost tooth

Don't you agree that with Keegan's new missing tooth he looks a bit like this old Norman Rockwell painting? I think it was for a Kellogg's Cornflakes ad in the US.

Have you ever seen...? (eleven)

...this many types of lamingtons, including Green Tea, outside of an Aussie school fete cake stall?

They came, they saw, they conquered Hong Kong

After tea last night the Croakers shared one last treat with us: ice creams from the local supermarket.

Then they took their bags and left Forest Hill...

waited in Tai Po for the bus to the airport...

and waved good-bye as they headed off to America for the next part of their holiday.

Big Day Out

Saturday was a very busy day with the Croakers.

First we took the #26 mini light bus to the Tai Po bus terminal...

...where we caught a #271 double-decker bus to Tsim Sha Tsui.

We had a little walk at TST to the waterfront.

This was the sunniest day we have had all week.

We then took a ferry to Central...

...where we hopped on a 15C bus to the Peak Tram terminal...

...in order to catch the tram up to the Peak for lunch and some souvenir shopping.

The Croaker Family

The Harvey Family

Delenn was very popular with the tourists.

This was the tram going backwards down the hill.

Glad we didn't have to wait in that queue!

We then rode the trams on Hong Kong Island for a while.

Hong Kong has so many people!

There was another demonstration parade to observe from our tram windows.

After some more shopping in Wan Chai we took the MTR back to Tsim Sha Tsui.

We watched the "Symphony of Lights" together on The Avenue of the Stars at TST.

The children enjoyed a short play at a nearby playground...

...before it was time to catch the train home again. Here is Flynn at 10 o'clock at night happily chatting away to the people sitting near him on the MTR.

Needless to say, the children (and the grown-ups) were all quite tired on the following day.

Father's Day 2010

In Australia, Father's Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in September. So it was a surprise to find that Hong Kong had a different date for this event, and it crept up on us before we even were aware it was happening.

We managed to scrounge up a suitable but last minute Father's Day card and a chocolate bar (Violet Crumble). As I happened to be out shopping with my sister for the afternoon, Jemilla organised the signing of the card and took it upon herself to add something on my behalf.

Isn't that sweet?

Gifts

The Croakers brought from Australia a suitcase full of goodies for us. Some of them were early birthday presents, and here are some of our favourites.

Cheese and chocolate for me...what more could a woman want!

Tirzah received a Dorothy the Dinosaur t-shirt.

The soccer outfit, batting book, and cricket card game were all for Keegan.

Jemilla loves her new birthday Barbie and Lip Smacker chapsticks.

Among Craig's presents was a huge box of Nutri-grain breakfast cereal.

Thank you so much, Croaker family!

Happy families

The children have had this week off school so that they can spend more time with their cousins. They have been getting on quite well, as you can see from the following photos...

Our two families take up a lot of space at the local Fairwood restaurant!

Tirzah and Delenn both love The Wiggles

Elora has kindly played Barbies with Jemilla whenever she asks.

The boys have enjoyed countless deliveries of Super Cricket.

Today I was happy to engage in one of my favourite past-times...shopping...at Mong Kok markets. Elora was brave to accompany Carla and I because we set a hard pace and didn't get home until 7:15 pm.