The last week and a half went by in a flash and all too soon it was time to leave. I have to remember the next time we book our trip home, two and a half weeks is just not long enough. Still, it was better than nothing.
Ryan loved every moment he had with his cousin, Hayden Koh-koh. Of course there the occasional fights and tears but they were quickly forgotten. Poor Teagan was left out of many of their "boy" games but it won't be long before she'll have another partner to even out the equation!
Star wars fanatics
In action
As always, Mum prepared a delicious Christmas spread, plus many tasty contributions from other Aunties, cousins and my sisters.
Once again, the camera only came out after I started digging in! (so most of the turkey is already gone and all you can see of the roasted fish are the bones!)
One thing we really miss about Australia is the lovely neighbourhood parks. Shad always enjoys taking the kids out to play and never fails to come back with beautiful photos.
Hayden high in the air
Action heroes in battle
Buddies again
Ryan was extremely excited to be able to "sleep over" in Hayden's room. They didn't need much prompting to go to bed each night.
Zonked out after lots of giggling and story telling
Morning routine - wake up, walk out to livingroom and turn on Playhouse Disney (great when they're old enough to turn on the tele themselves so we can sleep in!)
Kids' definition of heaven - breakfast at Pancake Parlour
Finally, Mia is big enough to sit at the table with the rest of us
Since we've been in Hong Kong, I've really missed our girls' night outs with my mum and sisters. I was really looking forward to this one as it will be awhile before we can do this again once Tania leaves for London. So Karen and I left the kids with their fathers and we went to a cosy little Izakaya on Smith Street dinner and enjoyed some quality time together.
Daddies and kids sharing a pizza dinner on the deck at Karen's and Alan's place
Precious time together
No idea what we were laughing about but just looking at this photo makes me want to burst out laughing again!
The weather was a little crazy while we were there, cold and wet one day then scorching hot the next, Melbourne weather at its finest! So we made the most of the sunny days.
Satay lunch at Shad's parents' is always a hit
Ryan with his great grandmother
Four generations - Maternal Great Grandmother, Paternal Grandparents, Paternal Grandaunt, Parents, Paternal Uncles and Kiddies
All snug and comfy in Uncle Tony's and Nick Jek-jek's arms
Being in Hong Kong has meant missing out on spending precious time with many of our close friends and being apart of the special moments in our lives. So we were very happy that we were around to celebrate Jasmine's, Jo and Jensen's daughter, first birthday, and our baby girls finally met each other for the first time.
Birthday girl getting some help from Dad and big brother in blowing out her candle
We trooped out to Healeville Sanctuary for a little "animal fun", unfortunately we chose a day when the temperature reached a scorching 30+ degrees. After three hours, it became obvious that it was time to go. Grumpy and cranky kids, and, hot and bothered adults do not make a good combination. Still, all of us had fun seeing the Australian fauna, for the first couple of hours anyway!
Our picnic lunch of super yummy fried chicken and chips
Shad tucking into his fried dimmy (Australian version of dumpling)
Little Miss Stylo-Mylo
Teagan chomping away on a potato cake that was almost as big as her face :)
Karen and her Mini Me
Hitching a ride with Sleeping Beauty
Dad and his girls
"Slip slop slap" - slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat, now we're ready for the outdoors
Getting tips from the boomerang man
The Han sisters
Cold icy poles to cool down some very hot kids
One still very hot kid, it's definitely time to go home now
On our final day there, we squeezed in one last short visit to a park near Mum's place. The boys brought along their boomerangs and torpedo launcher and had a blast.
With Tania moving to London, it will be sometime before all of us will be together again. So here are some photos to keep us going until then.
This is how it started
Along came these two
Followed by these four
Altogether we make one happy family!
Kong-Kong and the two missies
Still time to squeeze in some Wii
Wonder who's having more fun?
