The Party

We had a very low-key party for Elise and 3 of her playmates (and their families) the weekend of her birthday.  We played at the amphitheater playground and then moved inside for the food.

The kids were too cute pulling each other around in the wagon!

How cool are these cheap grocery store balloons?!  But be careful not to pass out blowing them up!

The birthday cake!  Elise's first time getting to have a piece of real cake with frosting!

Hard to keep the fingers out of the frosting for photos.

Yep, she loved it.

Happy 2nd Birthday Elise!

Things have been crazy, but I'm getting the birthday photos for our special 2-year-old up as quickly as possible.  It actually took Elise a few days to own up to being 2, as she apparently so enjoyed being 1.   I would say, "You're 2 now!  Yay!" and Elise would say, "No, I 1 year old," and shake her head like I was being silly to suggest such a thing.  

Finley gave Elise her first gift, a bath tub for Baby.  

Granny and Papa gave Elise dress-up clothes and play jewelry that she wanted to wear much of the day.

Sneaking a birthday kiss.

Our gift was a (second-hand) doll house and some new dolls.  Both kids are really enjoying it!  Elise likes to make the dolls use the little wooden potty, and Finley likes to put the dolls to sleep and cover the whole house with a blanket.

Chef-in-training, thanks to the Crisps!

P.S. Sorry I don't have photos up of all the gifts she received.  But thanks to everyone!!

Boat Ride

Finley and Nate got to ride on a fancy boat with a family from school!

In The Crib

Elise found it hilarious this morning to sit beside her animals in her crib!

Elise's First Day of "School"

Elise had her first day of "school" last Thursday, and she was so excited!  She loves her new ladybug backpack, new teacher, and new friends.  She's so proud to bring home artwork to show us, and chats away about all the exciting activities she gets to do at school.

Mid-Autumn Festival

We had a great Monday night Mid-Autumn Moon Festival!  We decked the kids out in their glow sticks and took our owl lantern down to the beach for a little walk at dusk.

Back at home, Elise tried her first moon cake.  She took it with her to the potty!

Finley couldn't get enough of the glow sticks!

Earlier in the day, Elise had fun playing doctor.  (It takes serious concentration to listen to a baby's head!)

We Love HK!

This post is a little sampling of things that make life in HK so interesting. 

Let's start with this beauty, a huge box of ice cream mooncakes we were gifted for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. 

Then there's this, the GIANORMOUS golden orb spider. These bad boys are all over the place right now and they are truly as large as my outstretched hand (and you know I have long fingers). I even saw a photo of one of these that caught a bird recently. Oh my gosh-- stuff of nightmares. 

But back to the beautiful parts of HK.  Seriously, is this not gorgeous?  This is the view from a junk boat trip we did one night with our church small group.