May 2010 Hong Kong Disneyland

The Hong Kong Disneyland adventure begins with a very cool train that takes you from the main train lines (MTR) on Lantau Island on a short ride to the park itself. The windows are even shaped like Mickey.


Inside the train there are cool reminders of Disney characters all over.

Nice statue of Pluto.

The handle bars are even shaped like Mickey - - Christina is being a monkey on the train below.
The grand entrance...


Here's the rocket at the beginning of the "future world" section. It emits mist to keep the visitors cool.
The "Main Street" park entrance leads up to the castle. Main street USA is lined with shops, everything from basic souvenirs to very expensive Disney jewels, gold, and crystals.
Jessica and Christina on the Orbitron.
Jessie and Daddy driving! Oh how fast they grow up.
Even Christina can drive at Disney!
The carousel is always a favorite in our family.
These are the "Leaky Tikis." Also a nice place to cool off.
After the cool 3D show called "Phil har Magic", Christina got her face painted. It was quite ornate!
On the Safari side, we met elephants and other wild creatures on a boat ride down the river.


A rhino was after these fellows...

The Disneyland Parade came through in the afternoon.
A classic shot.


We also went to It's a Small World exhibit, a nice quiet gentle ride through the exhibit.






We also enjoyed the fireworks display, the Space Mountain ride (Christina and I rode that scary one twice!), an encounter with Stitch, and a super show from the Lion King musical. Too bad we weren't able to take photos on those, though...

All in all, a fun time.

May 2010 - International Day - Harbour School

Jessica and Christina dressed up as a Cowgirl and a Native American Indian for International Day at School. Here we are ready to zoom to the bus stop on our scooters.
Howdy y'all!
How!
We made Rice-Krispy Treats and Pigs-in-Blankets for our American food offering to the Interantional Feast! :-).

April 2010 - Cebu, Philippines

We took an awesome vacation to Cebu. We just always love going to beaches. Cebu easily rivals the Caribbean for nice cool, clear water that you can see all the way down to our feet! The water is not terribly salty, either. Anyhow, it was hot and beautiful. Nice to see some clear blue skies after a particularly hazy spring in Hong Kong.

We stayed at the Shangri-La Mactan, arranged by our friend Ella from the AA PH office. Note Jessica's foot visible standing on the sand at the bottom of the water. It was a wonderful family place to stay. One of the best parts was that they put a hamper near the beach with the prior day's old bread in it. Then we were able to use the bread to feed the fish. If you stayed nice and still, in 5-10 minutes you would be totally surrounded by parrot fish, silver fish, angel fish, etc., etc.Not sure if you can see the fish - but it was great fun feeding them!

We met some other creatures, too. Sand crabs were all around.

Even though we got some new very covering swimsuits, we still got sunburned on our faces, hands and feet - the sun was SO strong there.

Below is a nice shot of the flora in the beach area.

The beach-side bar and grill was awesome. They had American food, and lots and lots of ice cream. I've never met a more ice-cream loving people than the Philippine people. Yummy! Even the airports are jam packed with icecream that they pack in dry ice so you can bring it home with you. They have a large Nestle Plant and several local brands, Magnolia was a good one, can't recall the others.The other countries around Asia we've visited aren't as "into" the colder treats, but the PHilippines love cold deserts, smoothies, ice cream treats, etc., and a special treat called "Halo halo", which translates to "Mix Mix". You get a nice tall desert glass, and there is a bar of things to put into it (carmel pudding, coconut, fruits, tapioca, and much much more). You take a spoon of this and a spoon of that, then top it all off with shaved ice, then you mix! Delicious.
We ended up eating most meals here. We were just too busy on the beach to leave it and get cleaned up for a restaurant.

At night they had entertainment - we got to see a show of native PH dances and costumes.

It was really fun.
Dad and the kids were able to take in a little kayaking during the day.

Nice calm clear waters. They took fed the fish out in the deeper water, too!

Sunsets were nice.

This was an unusual activity - going walking in the water in a giant beach bubble. First you get in it...Then they start to blow it up.And they keep blowing it up...Until you're ready to hit the road! It is easy enough to stroll on the beach...But then it gets REALLY hard when you hit the water! You just roll and tumble around. Very hard, but very giggly work!

Jessica had a turn, too.



The "Kids Club" gave us even more entertainment. They had dinner and movie nights, and general fun play time too. Mom got to take a nap :-).


We sure had fun!