Random

The Japanese American Society held their annual cultural event and we went.  Rylee was happy to make this Pikachu. 

They have a lot of cool things, but I got busy and forgot to take more pictures! 

A sweet little doggie.  Levi is the best! 

One of the teachers gave this hat to Rylee after the school play (Peter Pan).  I believe it was a hat for one if the Indians.  She loved it.

And I don't know what this is.  But I don't have a lot of photos of Delaney, so it's going in here.

Marian's Birthday

 Marian had another birthday.  She is a tough one!  She doesn't need anything or want anything, so it is impossible to shop for her. I spent hours on Amazon looking for suitable things and managed to find sufficient to please her.  She was very cute though; she knew exactly what she wanted to eat: Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, chicken enchiladas for dinner, and an ice cream cake for dessert.

I'm not sure where I went wrong.  I made the cake the day before, and yet it was melty when I took the springform pan ring off.  Still tasty though!  Just messy.  

 I used this recipe from "Our Best Bites" and made it in a springform pan.  It was fabulous!

With her loot pile. 

Sneaking a selfie with my girl! 

Rylee was enthralled. 

Gift from Delaney. 

I do love this kid!  She's so amazing!  

Pi Day 2017!

The annual tradition continues!  And this year we had a total of 24 pies with a whopping 12 different kinds served up, and 3 more that were brought in by friends.  There were some old favorites and a few new ones.  Here are links to them:

Toll House Pie
S'mores Pie
Butterfinger Pie
Lemon Chess Pie
Chocolate Chess Pie
Chocolate Truffle Pie
Black Bottom Chocolate Pie (From the mom of one of our awesome sister missionaries)
Heath Bar Pie (This was not good.  It was mushy and messy.)
Banana Cream Pie
Girl Scout Samoas Pie
Irish Beef Pies
Chicken Pot Pie

Friends contributed a Sweet Potato Pie, an Apple Pie and a Cheeseburger Pie.  All were met with enthusiasm. I do not know how many people came, but a lot of pie was consumed! Nary a morsel was left 48 hours later.

Heath Bar Pie.  It did look nice, but it was a bit runny. 

The Girl Scout Samoas Cookie Pie.  Rich and delicious! 

It has turned my photo sideways.  But here we have the amazing S'mores Pie and Lemon Chess. 

A very happy Sister Bready, enjoying her mom's chocolate pie. 

Joshua and Far East Drama

 So.... I have mentioned that Joshua was in the Drama Club and acting in the play.  He was also selected to participate in Far East Drama.  What is Far East Drama, you ask?  It is merely the competition of 12 or so teams of DODEA schools in the Asia area who all get together and compete.  This means that Josh spent the week I was in Hong Kong, puttering about Korea and honing his acting skills. He flew out Sunday morning and returned Friday evening.

Why so long?  Well, there were 12 teams and each team presented their plays and monologs.  They were judged on them and awards were presented.  Joshua said they were rather outclassed by the really good schools, but they were not the worst.  He was pleased with the performance and all that he got to do.

Here are the only photos I could scrounge up from his experience.

Hong Kong: The End

 Thursday evening was the start of the Asian Women's Conference.  And it went 9-5 on Friday, then 8-1 on Saturday.  ZERO photos of that.  Why?  Well, because I was busy and there wasn't much to photograph.  But it was amazing and fabulous and I loved it. I took lots and lots of notes and have grand ambitions to be a better me. The ladies there were delightful and friendly and wonderful and the speakers were incredible, and somehow you can't really take pictures of all that. But trust me when I say it was marvelous.

Thursday after Conference we went to the big mall in Kowloon and wandered around.

Saturday we did Conference for a few hours and ran off early to catch our flights home.  Ug.  It takes forever.  Train, bus, plane, more train.... But I made it safely home. Dan and Marian and the dog were waiting at the train station to drive me home and all was right with the world.

Night view from the hotel room.  We were on the 21st floor here!

Morning view from the hotel room. 

The way to the MTR trains.  It was crowded. 

Look what is at the mall! 

If you can zoom in, you can see that a pound of See's Candy is $498 HKD.  That's roughly $65 PER pound! Crazy! It was over $5 for two pieces, which is all I purchased.  

This is the mall with the indoor skating rink.  Cool! 

I was so proud of myself!  I managed to fit all my stuff, plus all my recent (and copious!) purchases into the suitcase and backpack.  Joy!

Saying goodbye to my lovely view. 

Almost home!  Okay, fine.  I was on the correct continent, but still had a taxi ride to the train station, a trip on the Shin, and a short drive and THEN I was home! 

  

In case you wondered what the Shin looks like.

And this is what a Shin ticket looks like.  If you happen to have an office of super nice folks where you buy the ticket in advance, they might even write the important stuff in English for you.

This was another style of Shin.  Very NASA.  

So yes, I made it home safe and happy and tired.  It was a wonderful trip!