We packed our bags and headed to Hong Kong to visit Tiffany's parents for 10 days. It was a spectacular trip and a vacation of a lifetime! We were very excited to experience new cultures and see the other side of the world!
Here we are on departure day ready to check our bags. We got up bright and early to catch an early flight to San Francisco. Everyone was so excited to finally be leaving!

The Boys scoped out our plane as we waited to leave. Trevor thought we were taking the prop plane all the way; yeah... No Thanks!

The flight to San Francisco wasn't too bad - When we got there we ate and Trevor got to see the big 747 that we were taking to Hong Kong. I think the best part was after takeoff on the main flight and he said (nice and loud) "Hey - We didn't even crash!"

Overall, the 14 hour flight to Hong Kong wasn't that bad. Normally you get to see about 4 movies which helps take away 8 hours, but unfortunately the sound was not working the whole flight! Luckily we planned for every imaginable scenario and had 2 movie players,40 DVD's, 2 Nintendo DS's, 1 Sony Playstation Portable, 3 iPods, batteries, coloring books, books, magazines, blankets, candy, snacks and water. With the failure of the in-flight movie, we finally let the kids play their Nintendo's (and a few new games to play on the flight) which took up a good 3-4 hours. That pretty much set the scene the rest of the flight as the kids eventually fell asleep and through the night. Woo-hoo! The flight to Hong Kong is pretty cool as it doesn't go directly from SFO-HKG, it goes over western Canada, Alaska, the Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands, Siberia, over Tokyo and finally Hong Kong.


Here are Garrett and Trevor with about 2-1/2 hours left. Luckily Trevor had his Mento's to keep him happy. "Just give me my Mento's and nobody gets hurt." Garrett was watching the movies that were still playing without sound trying to figure out what they were saying.

Finally we landed about 6 PM (the next day, since HK is ahead 12 hrs). It was so nice to get off the plane and stretch! Tiffany's parents met us at the airport to help us home on the Metro. I found a really cool website that you can navigate around and see all the buildings in Hong Kong and thought I'd add a screenshot above. (The link is here)

After taking the Metro under the water to Hong Kong, we finally made it to Tiff's parents apartment.(or flat as they call it) I think the kids had just enough energy for one picture then they crashed.
We vacuum packed/brought some sleeping bags for them to sleep in, and they took turns sleeping each night on the airbed. Trevor was so tired the first few days he slept anywhere. After that he wanted to sleep in mom and dad's bed.

After getting all unpacked, we relaxed for a little and I enjoyed the sights. As you can see, Gary has the most boring office view in the world... LOL.

Here's a picture of the pool down below on the 2nd floor. I guess they are putting the cover on it because the 80 Degree weather and 80% humidity are so cold they need to keep it warm-LOL.

I woke up early the next day and Gary was up reading. I realized nobody else was awake yet so I took the opportunity to go back to sleep.

What's the first thing you do after you fly 7000 miles for vacation? Play Nintendo DS of course. I did catch the irony of Trevor wearing his batman pajamas and the fact that the tall building behind him (2 International Finance Centre '2 IFC') was the one Batman jumped off in the movie "The Dark Knight"

After everyone woke up, we ate breakfast and went down to take the Star Ferry over to Kowloon. Here's Tiff and Trevor bright and cheery!



We walked around and shopped in Kowloon for a while and took in the sights. Here's Teri with the boys looking over Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island.

Luckily it wasn't very crowded and we were able to get some good shopping in-LOL. I believe this is where we put the little kid-strap on Trevor's belt so he wouldn't dart off or get lost in a sea of people. I kid you not, every street you looked down had about ten thousand signs hanging and about 50% of them were for hourly hotels. (LOL)




Here we are headed to the 'Ladies Market' which is where you barter for prices and swing some deals. Carter was looking forward to talking his way into a good deal on a watch.

"Follow me dad! There's some watches up here!" Which was easy for Carter to say as I was trying to fight Trevor from trying on every pair of sunglasses he saw.

Yeah, great - that's all we need; Bargain priced, wall-to-wall tents with Toys-R-Us toys..

How much for the Ferrari jacket? 30 HKD? ($8 US) Good bartering skills Carter! I guess Trevor's just planning ahead...

Time to head back home - it's been a long day and the kids are still jet-lagged!

Some buildings on the way up the hill to Tiff's parent's place. You basically take a taxi everywhere here. Prices start at $16 HKD ($2 US) and get to about 60 HKD ($7 US) to get around - it's so much cheaper than US Taxi's!

We walked down from their apartment/flat one day - so beautiful with the trees and the park. They have a bird zoo there too which was fun to see.

One day down - thought I'd get a shot of the city at dust. Err... I mean Dusk. Actually the air didn't seem to smoggy that day - I guess it gets worse!

One of the days we went down to the market to see how Chinese people shopped for food. It was an eye-opener!

They eat just about every part of every animal here, and there's a lot of food every day. Tiffany said I was lucky I couldn't smell - LOL. Right after the fish area a man pulled up in a truck and pulled out a full size pig that was gutted. He pulled it out with a big hook and it slammed onto a cart. We all watched as he grabbed the gut sack and cart and wheeled it into a shop. (Dragging the guts on the ground) The kids thought it was cool, and I think Tiff tried not to throw up.. LOL.

After the pig incedent, we came upon the chicken salesman, who just so happened to be pulling out a few for a customer. They hold their wings and cut their throats - I got this shot just before. It was here that Tiffany declared that we "keep walking FORWARD!" haha.
I guess Garrett was checking on the prices for the dried squid. "How much Garrett - do you want to split it with me? - What do you mean No? Okay then..."
They did have a big candy vendor up the way here - she had lots of good candy. We all got some.

Remember on 'Fear Factor' when they have to eat those 1000-year old eggs? Yeah, well I guess you can buy them right here for cheap. This was another "Dad, it smells bad here" moment.

Seriously, these outdoor tents go on forever - you could spend all day here and never see the same thing twice. "Uh, How much for the chicken talons?"


We took a double-decker bus over to Stanley Market one day. It was a great trip over to the other side of the mountain! This might be a good place for me to explain how the Chinese people organize and line up for things... They don't! If your first in line for something, it means your fifth; you see, they come up on the sides and just squeeze in past you - which is awesome if you're the passive aggressive type like me.. HAHA!


On the road to Stanley Market - they have a lot of nice houses up here!


Finally - after about a 30 minute bus ride over, we made it to the Famous Stanley Market. They have lots of good deals here on clothes, shoes, etc. Here you can see Garrett observing the cement - "The cement here is just like ours back home! Amazing!"


It was hot that day - so the boys bought umbrella's to fit in and shade themselves. Luckily, the umbrella's doubled as weapons to poke out each others eyes (or enemy's), so that made this portion of the trip especially magical and easy. Luckily they were distracted by a group of about 20 Chinese tourists from.. China that were here. They were a little older, and I must tell you that I found out having 3 boys in China is good luck. I also found out having boys with Blonde hair and blue eyes is like seeing David Blane or David Copperfield on the street, whereby everyone is just drawn to them. The last cool part about this is the fact that none of them will leave you alone until they get to take a picture with the blonde haired 'Warlocks' and rub their head for good luck. They would rub Garrett's and Trevor's head and say "Good Ruck!" and walk off. LOL!

As we went through the extremely narrow, small and non-claustrophobic alleyways to look at clothes and shoes, Trevor would always point out that they would have 'little chairs' in which he could sit upon. So naturally, I got his picture in one that was "just right".
On the way home from Stanley Market, we took a 'Junk' ride to see the floating restaurant and see how people lived on their boats and fished etc.




Oh yeah, that's the other sweet thing the kids picked up here. Peace! Apparently it wasn't cool enough to stop in the 70's, 80's or now, so they (and by they I mostly mean Garrett; bless him) decided to do peace signs in nearly all the pictures. (or the advanced Vulcan/Mork and Mindy peace sign he found under a bench somewhere)



For sale: one slightly used speed boat. Good condition, never wrecked. Might be there when you go to pick it up, might not be.

Yeah, I don't think I'd eat any fish in this harbor, but that's just me - probably the stuff they sell at the market, yummy. LOL!


Here we are swimming at the pool. Even though it was 80 degree's the humidity was what made it seem so hot.
I need the music to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch this" playing right now.

You know you did a lot each day when the kids were falling asleep at the dinner table.

We went up to Monkey mountain and were greeted by the troops. Ohh - they said 'NOT' to feed the wild monkeys, which explains why they all were following us.
"Hi guys -yeah, uhm, there's nothing to eat here.. Just move along"

This guy seemed to be the leader. I shall call him "Mini-me".
They sure put on their 'sad' faces while we were there. In this shot it looks like the wise monkey is giving advice to the boys. "Grasshoppah - you must always listen to your parents..."
After we went to Monkey mountain, we went and saw the light show from across Victoria Harbour. They do a light show every night at 8 PM, which was pretty cool. You couldn't see much of it from the flat though.

Disneyland! We took the metro to Disneyland Hong Kong one day - it was great! Talk about no crowds (it was a weekday) . It's obviously a smaller version of Disneyland California, but they did have Space Mountain, Autopia, Toy Story etc. The biggest ride was Space Mountain which we did about 4 times in a row. Hey, if there's no lines... why not!

This is at the entrance to Disney HK, Mickey Mouse surfing the whale - pretty cool.

Beaker was here - this thing was pretty cool, they would drive around and talk to people!

We took a stroller for Trevor since he tends to get grumpy after walking with those small feet all day.
Pull Carter - C'mon! They say if you can pull out the sword you get to keep it.
Garrett went with the more official "movie style" approach.

Trevor tried forever - "Trevor, we're leaving..." Here he's putting his back into it.

Garrett was so excited he finally got to drive by himself.


They had Tarzan's house here too. Since we went during Halloween time, the park was under the Halloween theme.
"Mission Control, we have some un-identified spacemen on our radar..."
The boys got some Magic Mickey hats. Too bad they couldn't use their magic to beam us home faster..
Finally back home.
The next day we got up to go see the 'Big Buddha'. We had to stop and get our favorite drinks "Pomelo & Mango Juice" they were so good!
We passed an old cemetary on the way to the big Buddha. It seemed to go with the October theme.

Here we go taking the tram on Lantau island all the way up to see the big Buddha. It was a cool ride, much better than hiking all the way.


We made it! Now just to hike through the village and make it past the dangerous vendors trying to sell stuff.

The Tian Tan Buddha the worlds largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha. It's 112 feet tall and weighs 250 tons.
Here's the kids before they hiked up all the steps. In the big bowl next to them is a giant slinky which they push down the stairs once a year - We'll have to make it next time.
Carter counted the steps going up - I think there were about 220-ish. (I'll have to get a recount when he's back to verify)



On the Buddha's chest is the swastika - more appropriately known as Manji in Japanese. “In Buddhism, the swastika signifies auspiciousness and good fortune as well as the Buddha's footprints and the Buddha's heart. (literally, "the character for eternality" 萬字), and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the omote (front) manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the ura (rear) manji. Balanced manji are often found at the beginning and end of Buddhist scriptures (outside India).

No Trevor, these are not frisbees.

"Everyone say Chee... Oh, hello there." Holy Cow Trevor!
Taking the metro trip to Southern China - Shenzhen! Time to do some serious shopping.

We made it! - the hotel in the background with the rotating top is the Shangri-lah hotel, it was nice.
Here's a shot down to the plaza area and the big mall on the left where you go shopping and never come back. Just kidding. As soon as you take the escalators up to the mall you are greeted by tons of people saying "Halo - you want fine jewelry, you want watch!" and every possible combination (shoes, luggage, clothes etc.) you can imagine.

"You wouldn't like it when I'm angry.. I rip my sleeves off!" Here I am having a suit made for about $140 US.
The boys all tuckered out while the girls were lost in neverland. Here they are relaxing with a little video game action.
After shopping in Shenzhen, we took a trip to Splendid China which is there version of Disneyland. (but without regulations.. LOL) Here we are at the Mongolian Horse battle - they fought battle sequences and shot arrows and did horse stunts with a cool audio track and weapons 'clanging' in the stands to simulate the live action in front of us. Too funny.


Here's the boys with Gary - Tiffany's dad.

As you can see, it was very crowded at Splendid China too - And wouldn't you know it, the one other person in the park decided to sit in our picture! MAN!
This is another place where we can refer to the differences between Disneyland and Splendid China - where else will they let 3 year old shoot arrows? "Trevor, please stop shooting over the wall into the crowd behind this building..."

They have some very talented acrobats in China - here's two of them doing a coordinated smile for us.

Trevor- "I can do that.."

The boys liked the martial arts show. The topic throughout the night was whether or not the blades on their swords were made of real metal. I submit that they were - Carter was still skeptical.


The last show of the night was pretty cool - they had everything from live horses running through, to elaborate dance routines and acrobatics.


We lost Trevor early - but luckily he woke up after a little while to see the show, then fell asleep again.



This was a really cool part of the show - they did a cool laser tunnel and had a 'ghost' or fairy appear and float out of it.

Finally! I got to see some dancing dragons in China!

We've got another man down- Too much fun for one day!

We went to go visit Gary at his CIA office one day.

The boys taking a picture with Elsa - Gary's assistant, she was so nice!

We took the trolley up to the peak to look out over all Hong Kong - it went straight up the mountain!

At the top of the peak we went to Madam Tousoud's wax museum. Here you can see the original 7 Beatles - a rare sight. This was before they realized they didn't need 3 people playing the cow bell...

My fellow American's... Read my lips - No more school!

Here's Carter posing with George Bush. The economy was hard on Carter...

Some serious 'Zen' action going on here with Gandhi

Pavarotti has got nothing on Carter

Apparently Johnny Depp has a few extra kids he didn't know about...

"I'd recommend using the Sandwich on this one Tiger"

Carter giving Tiger Woods a few pointers before his shot.

"Let's get ready to rumblllllleeee!"

Garrett decided to take the boxing route with this big Sumo wrestler...

Here's Trevor before he went on Hydroxycut.. WOW!

I wish I had more pictures like this - the girls working here wanted their picture with Trevor.

Here's a shot from the top of the peak. I think I see my house from here!

Well - that's it! It was a great vacation and we did a ton! Here's our parting shot from the balcony at her parents building. Until next time!