Hong Kong: Temple and Victoria Peak

 Thursday morning we checked out of the MetroPark Hotel and shlepped our baggage over to the Temple.  We did the 9am session and it was lovely. We went across the street to visit the Mission Office, and were a little disappointed that the Distribution Center didn't open till 12:30. We traveled across the river and checked into the Holiday Inn Express.  We dumped our luggage and ran off to see Victoria Peak.  Which was not as easy as it sounds!  We had to take the train, then roamed around till we figured out which bus we needed, and we took the bus over to the area and wandered around some more.  Eventually we found the tram station and took the tram straight up the mountainside to the top!

The weather was perfect!  The air quality was great and we could see far far away.  It was pretty amazing. I had to take selfies from every angle. There was a Bubba Gump Restaurant there at the top so we had dinner there. Then we took the tram back down and hot-footed it over to get to the start of the Women's Conference.

Me at the Temple!  Lovin' it!

Hong Kong Temple shot.  Be impressed.  There was a bunch of construction making it unsightly, so I was delighted to get a good photo.

And there I am! 

This is an exciting moment.  I am not adventerous, but we managed to find the right bus and we took it.  I know, me, on a bus!  I did it!

Posing at the wax museum display.  Yeah, I'm cool.   .... or not!

View from the top. 

Just to prove I really did go up there! 

And the other side.... 

Lynnette and I were trying to see if we could recognize the "Stark" building from the Disney Iron Man ride.  

And I loved this with the boats. 

I'm sad that you can't see that the sign says something about being at the highest point. 

This sign is to say "I love you" at the top.  I think it is sweet.

Hmmm.... I sure took a lot of photos of myself! 

It was just so impressive! 

And here is Bubba Gump's restaurant. 

On the tram.  It only faces up.  So when you go down.... you go backwards!  Yikes! 

It was a good time!

We interrupt this series with an Important Message

So, we learned 2 months ago that we would not be staying in Iwakuni. I was rather heartbroken, as I had my heart set on another year here, and kind of hoped we'd get to live here forever.

Okay, fine.

I didn't expect forever, but I love it here so very much and honestly, we expected them to approve an extension for a 4th year. But, they said no.  Unequivocally, no.

We have been waiting since then to find out if where they said they wanted to send us was, in fact, where we would actually go.  This morning we had web orders!

(Mostly) Officially, we will be moving to Okinawa Japan this summer.  I know, it doesn't seem like much.  A move from Japan to Japan is largely the same..... unless it is you.  Moving from Iwakuni to Okinawa is like moving from North Dakota to New York City.  Nothing is the same but the country.

Now we wait for more things- to see if Dan can change his NLT date to something earlier than Aug 14, we wait to get movers scheduled, wait to see when we fly over.....

So the fun begins anew!!

Hong Kong: DisneyLand!!

Wednesday we took the train out to DisneyLand!  It was an absolutely perfect day.  I got to hang out with someone I really like, and the weather was perfect, and there were no lines.  I couldn't have  done a thing to make the day any better! We rode all the rides we wanted and I did Space Mountain, the Iron Man ride, and their version of Thunder Mountain twice.... no lines!  We snacked, we shopped, we walked, we talked, we saw a show, we rode rides, we took pictures, and we had a really great day. And I have a multitude of photos (yes, mainly selfies!) for you to enjoy.

I know, I'm a dork.  But this is me and the 12th story view from the hotel.

Look at me!  I'm on the streets of Hong Kong! 

I'm on the MTR train and it is almost empty.  Cool beans! 

There is a special Disney train that takes you right to Disney. 

Lynnette HATES having her photo taken, so don't tell her.  But I figured in 10 years I'll be thinking "Who was Lynnette?"! Now I'll look and remember. 

I'm so excited to be here! 

We arrived 15 minutes before the 10am opening and the entry was pretty empty. 

Rats.  You can barely tell that I'm hanging out with Iron Man. 

 And I found Buzz Lightyear.

 Seflie with the Castle!

 Me and Woody!

 I crack myself up.

Yeah, I think I'm funny!

 So.... these guys came walking out and I wanted a photo of them.  But not up close, just from here.  Sadly, they walked right up to me and Lynnette grabbed my phone and giggled and took pictures while I cowered in terror.

 He got right up in my face and I didn't even know what they were saying but I did not want to be there.

Lynnette thought it was hysterical.  But I was totally intimidated and apparently have no talent for hamming it up.  I just froze.

Then he backed off a little for pictures. 

So I posed for pictures. 

 And the sun was heading down behind the castle as we left.

 We went to dinner at a local little place and the menu was unclear.  One would assume that the servings are for one, and we did.  And ended up each ordering meals that were for 2 or more.  Oops!

I could not finish it!  But I enjoyed it very much.  

Hong Kong: The Arrival

 Tuesday morning I had to leave as soon as the kids left for school.  I told them I needed selfies with them before I left so I would have pictures to look at while I was gone. Callie slunk away and disappeared.  Marian was thoughtful enough to dash over, pose briefly and then she ran off to school, which she was a few minutes lateer than she wanted to. It was a terrible photo, but all I could get, so it gets posted.  Delaney and Rylee love me enough and took the time to get decent shots with me.  I love my dumplings.  Josh had left on Sunday for Korea, where he spent the week competing with 12 or so other Drama Teams at the Far East Tournament.  So I got nothing for him.

I took the Shin to Fukuoka, flew to Hong Kong and took the trains to the hotel.  I roomed with my amazing friend Lynnette, who came out from Yokosuka and we had a fabulous time together.  We spent Tuesday evening strolling the Ladies Market and spending money.

One horrid picture of me and my darling daughter Marian.

Hugs with Delaney. 

And me and Rylee. 

The view from the 12th floor of the MetroPark Hotel in Mong Tok.... or was it Kowloon?

The Ladies Market.  It is several blocks of these stalls of goods for sale and lots of special deals for you, today only, just for you. 

 Me, having too much fun burning cash at the Market.  I think we were out till 10pm.... maybe later!

I sampled the more palatable (to me!) foreign options at the breakfast buffet.  Everything on the plate was yummy.  And I went back for more.  

President's Day Trip

We had grand plans for President's Day but things didn't quite go as planned.  It poured rain and the stuff we wanted to do was closed.  So we went to the big YouMe Town mall and had a good time finding fun things in the shops and we had an amazing lunch at the pancakes and burgers place there. It was a succesful outing and the kids were amazing.

Here are pictures of our shenanigans:

I don't know what this is, but I'm amused.

This also amuses me! 

Selecting lunch options. 

Yeah, he's cool. 

My cute little girls. 

Why yes, that is a mountain of whip cream on the strawberry-banana pancakes. 

Sneaking a selfie with Callie. 

Josh is ready to dive into this tastiness. 

Who wants whip cream when you can get ice cream with your pancakes?! 

The bacon cheeseburger. 

Marian and her delicious coconut cream pancakes. 

We polished it all off.  Okay, Rylee had one pancake left, but that was all!