The Year of the Dragon

We've spent the past week celebrating Chinese New Year and welcoming the year of the dragon. Nate had the week off from work, and we really enjoyed having him home (but unfortunately MSU does not celebrate CNY and I still had all my class work to do). We kicked off the week with a lovely potluck with friends and ended the week with a BBQ in the country park with friends. In between, we had lots of great family time.

The first couple of photos are from the CNY fair they had at our apartment complex. There were lion dancers, so this is Finley checking out one of the lions.

This is one of the employees dressed as the god of wealth, handing out lai see to everyone (with chocolate coins, not real money). As you can see, Finley was not sure what to think about the costume. This is by far my favorite photo from CNY because Finley's face cracks me up.

The next several photos are from the flower market in Causeway Bay. Part of CNY is cleaning your home and decorating it with flowers and plants that have various auspicious meanings.

A sea of citrus.

Lots of beautiful orchids.

We got some for our house, too! (And Nate decorated them with lai see packets.)

Finley got these safety glasses with his hand-me-down work bench from Nate's boss. He will finally wear them, and it is just too cute.

Funny story about this photo. One night around 9:30pm, Nate closed the door between the kitchen and the living room and it stuck. The door knob broke and it absolutely would not budge. Had to take the entire thing apart to get the door open again, which wasn't easy because the part you can see in the picture was completely stuck. Meanwhile, Finley was sleeping about 15 feet away while we were banging around on the door. Eventually, we got the door open. Funny thing is this is the second door this has happened to! I just hope Finley doesn't get trapped alone anywhere because of one of these door knob incidents!

The next two photos are of CNY decorations at one of the malls.

We made our own pork dumplings for CNY...yum! There are plenty of leftovers in the freezer, too!

We went to the HK Zoo one morning. It's not much of a zoo, especially compared to the NC Zoo, but there are quite a few birds and monkeys there. I found it hilarious that they also had a raccoon on exhibit in the monkey area. It was a great outing-- free and very toddler friendly! There was a big playground, and everything was stroller-accessible (a rarity in HK).

These monkeys were swinging all over the place!

Another morning we went to the Museum of Coastal Defense in Shau Kei Wan. Another great outing. Only 10HKD/person ($1.25) and also very toddler friendly. Most of it was outside, and there were great views, as you can see in the first two photos below.

One of the bunkers we went in.

Tromping around through the ditches. (Look, there's grass...in HK! That alone was worth the price of admission.)

The indoor exhibits.

Soldier Finley.

1940's Tank

And to top it all off, here's a short video from Nate's iPhone that we took at the CNY fair at our apartment complex and at the zoo. Click here. It was a great week!

Lost Photos from MI

The last night we were in MI over Christmas, Nate and Finley and I took a stroll out to the beach as the sun was setting. It was cold, but it was beautiful. It was a wonderful little family moment. I found a few photos on the iPhone from that night that I had forgotten about.

Chinese New Year post coming soon...

21 Months!

Finley is inching closer and closer to being 2, which is just crazy if you ask me! Finley is constantly surprising me with what he says these days. On Friday, I was walking down the street, wearing Finley in the Ergo carrier. As we passed a couple, they politely said, "Morning." So I said, "Morning." And then Finley said, "Morning!" from inside the carrier! Too cute.

Things are super busy for Nate and me. Nate came back to having to proof report cards, and I came back to immediately starting my 3 classes for the semester, which are supposed to add up to about 42 hours of work per week. What have I gotten myself into? And I have been asked to start tutoring the younger child of the family I tutor for, so now I'm going to be tutoring twice a week! Luckily, Finley started sleeping through the night again. Praise God for that! Nate and I were getting pretty burned out with waking up 3 times a night over the entire Christmas break. I'll tell you, we spent a record number of hours in rocking chairs this Christmas! (But we were so happy to see our family that it was worth it!)

One thing I appreciate about being back in my own home is being able to have free reign over the kitchen. I really enjoy cooking and eating, particularly trying new things, and Nate is generally very supportive of that. Here's one of my creations from this week. Green soup (I like to call it Detox Soup) with Olive Oil and sourdough bread to accompany. Trust me, it was even more green in person than in the photo! Just in case you're wondering, the main ingredients were caramelized onions, spinach, kale, broth, and lemon juice. Very healthy, and didn't even taste "green" if you ask me. I had to do something to make up for all the Christmas treats we have around the house!

A Snowy Christmas in Michigan

Unfortunately it's about that time. Time to fly back to HK. We've had a great time in MI visiting both sides of Nate's family and playing in a little snow. Finley had his first experience sledding. We couldn't go very fast because he wouldn't hold on to the sled, but he still loved it. It was very cold (at least in my opinion), but Tim and Marcia have an amazing fireplace, and I drank at least 2 cups of hot tea daily to compensate. Finley continued to have a terrible time with sleep, but has otherwise been a pleasure considering all we've put him through over the past few weeks. We can't get over how much he's talking and how many new words he's learning every day!
Here are photos from our time in MI.

Beautiful Sunset at Amy & Jim's

Kisses for Baby Aydin

Opening Gifts at Tim & Marcia's

New Tennis Gear for Fafee

And a Club Cover for Cooper

Stare-Down with the Dog

Will They Fit?

A Football for Finley


He Likes It!
Opening Gifts with the Fischers- GG's Turn

A Puzzle from Uncle Cooper

Nate's Old Coat that Jane Brought for Finley

Sitting with Grandma Jane
Playing with Amy and Grandma
The Big Tree at the Dennisons'

Let it Snow!

Riding in the Wagon and Eating Pine Needles

Fun with the Phone

Going Sledding!



Christmas Tree Aftermath

Singing and Playing with Faf

Why, you ask, have I been so good about posting photos quickly over Christmas? Well, as soon as we get back to HK, Nate goes straight back to work, my 3 (!!!) graduate courses begin, and we're all going to be terribly jet-lagged. So I'm trying to do what I can in advance. On that note, here's the link to our Christmas video which includes footage from my grandparents and parents' houses, as well as both sides of Nate's family's houses. Click here to watch the video. We'll blog more sometime after we get back to HK. Until then, we would appreciate prayers for safe, easy flights and quick recovery from jet lag. Happy New Year!

An Allen Family Christmas

Christmas with my family this year may have been the best yet. It was so fun to be with them and Finley, who is becoming such a (hilarious) little person. Let's go through the photo first, then I'll give you an update on what else Finley is up to these days.

Rolling Around with Aunt Jessica

A Christmas Eve Tradition: Reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Christmas Morning- Dennison Family Photo

My Parents and Maddie

My Sister Jessica and Husband Brett

Finley Eating Wrapping Paper

My Parents' New Paintings from Hong Kong

All Natural "Chicken Poop" Lip Balm from our Stockings

Nate's Fancy New Tennis Duds

Finley and Brett Hard at Work on a New Puzzle

New Photos and Frames for my Parents

My Mom's Out of Control (and Delicious) Coffee Cake

Christmas Morning Brunch

Finley Shouting "Hi!!" at Everyone from the Stairs

Barnette/Allen/Dennison/Crisp Family Photo

Peek-a-boo with Granny

Being Silly with Papa

Jumping on Grandmommy

Sweet Cuddles

It is always amazing to us how much Finley grows and changes when we come back to the States. I don't know if it is from taking him out of his comfort zone, all the attention he gets from family, or what. He's been learning so many new words everyday that we can't even keep up with it, and he's been combining two words much more frequently. Here are some highlights of our time in the States (so far) besides the language explosion:

• Finley's hilarious pretending to talk and laugh on the phone. He was so into Nate's grandma's phone we could hardly get him to give it back to her when we had to leave her house!
• Watching Finley play and interact with his grandparents and other family.
• Playing with my parents' dog, Maddie, who he calls "Mannie". He misses Maddie so much that he still talks about her all the time and cries out for her when he's upset!
• Finley's serious love of baths, which includes him laying on his belly and blowing bubbles in the water until absolutely all of the water has drained from the tub and we drag him kicking and screaming onto dry land.
• Finley's love of cars, which causes him to feel the need to go out and look at cars, tell them bye, and talk about them frequently. He was particularly interested in my parents' white car for some reason. (I will admit, it's a nice car.)

One thing that's not been so great this trip is sleep. Finley usually gets over jet lag in about a week, but his sleep has been pretty bad ever since we got here. He was up for a while each night when we were in NC, and then it started getting better before we left. But when we got to MI it got worse again, and now it seems to be getting increasingly worse instead of better. Now he's throwing terrible tantrums before bed, won't drink his milk, bit the crud out of me last night, and takes forever to be rocked to sleep. Then he wakes up multiple times in the middle of night, wants milk, and takes hours to get back to sleep. We don't know if it's a phase he's going through, extended jet lag, being scared of ever-changing surroundings, or a combination of them...but we sure pray it gets better soon!

More pictures of Christmas is MI coming soon...