A Brief Stop in Hong Kong

After we said our goodbyes and left the beautiful island of Okinawa, the first stop on our agenda was Hong Kong. We spent a couple of nights there and did as much sightseeing as we possibly could. We found Hong Kong to be a fascinating place! We loved it.

This first picture shows Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. Truly, my small camera doesn't begin to do it justice. I really believe that watching the sun set and the lights come up in Victoria Harbor ranks as one of the top 5 all-time coolest things I have ever seen. It was just breathtaking. We ate dinner at a restaurant on top of The Peak (a high point that overlooks the harbor) and watched the sunset. As the sun went down, a million lights flickered to life. There was something about the combination of the lights, the water, and the mountains in the background that made it unique and utterly amazing.

We did some shopping at Stanley Market. While we were there, a group of giggly, Chinese schoolgirls spotted Brandon. They pointed at him and whispered and giggled amongst themselves. Then, one brave girl approached Brandon and said in her halting English, "You.....are.....so.......very.......handsome." And then she held up her camera and mimed taking a picture. So, Brandon obliged and posed with these girls.

Brandon with his giggling admirers.

At a market place, there was a wax sculpture of Bruce Li that Brandon wanted to pose with.

Doing a little shopping. The kids bought some awesome souvenirs.

Shopping at Stanley Market.

I didn't expect the topography of Hong Kong to be so attractive. I didn't know that it was so mountainous. Mountains just rise up out of the sea and then, nestled among them is this giant, bustling, tropical city.

Another picture of the pretty scenery of Hong Kong.

We wished we had more time to spend in Hong Kong. But, the rest of our vacation called, so we boarded a red-eye flight bound for Fiji.

A Couple More Fiji Pictures.....

Disclaimer: OK, so this posting and the one that follows are out of order. This one is supposed to come second, but I can't figure out how to switch them around. Blogging is so frustrating sometimes! Anyway, if you want the story of our Fiji trip to make sense chronologically, skip ahead and read the next posting first. Then come back and read this one second.

Somehow, these pictures didn't make it into my first post. I think I may have accidentally deleted them when I tried to upload them. Oh well, here they are now....


All three boys got SCUBA certified while we lived in Okinawa, and they were able to dive quite a bit in Fiji.

This picture of me was taken shortly before I saw the shark. That's why I'm still giving the "OK" underwater gesture. (More about the shark in the next posting....)

Logan and Savannah in a sea kayak. I love this picture because you can see through the clear water to the reef below. Also you can see the quaint little resort on the shore with the huts we stayed in. (More about the resort in the next posting...)

All in all, a great vacation!

Ahhh... Fiji

We started our trip to Fiji by taking an overnight flight from Hong Kong to Nadi, Fiji, which is on the main Fijian island of Denarau. Then we boarded a water taxi to take an hour long ride to the tiny island of Amanuca, where our resort was located. The seas were calm, the weather was beautiful, and the water of the South Pacific was amazingly clear and blue. On the water taxi.

This is our resort on the TINY island of Amanuca. The island was so small that all it had on it was two smallish resorts. No town, no local population, etc. The only way on or off the island was the daily water taxi that stopped by, or by renting a helicopter. Every day a boat from the resort would go out to meet the water taxi to collect the new guests and to gather supplies like vegetables, Cokes, and beer that had been sent over from Denarau.

How about that water? Pretty, huh. The island of Amanuca is only a stone's throw away from where the movie "Castaway" was filmed.

In this picture, you can see the people in the green and blue Hawaiian shirts greeting the new arrivals on the boat that has just arrived.

The twins in the sea kayaks.

Because the resort was so small and so isolated, the pace of life was extremely slow. Wonderfully slow. I would sit for hours at a time and look out at this view of the ocean while I sipped drinks and read books. It was heaven.

This is our little hut that we stayed in. The resort was made up of several dozen of these thatched roof huts, and then an open-air building that housed the restaurant, bar, office, etc.

At sunset they would light torches along the patio and cover all the picnic tables with linens to make a nice atmosphere for dinner.

Did I mention how clear and beautiful the water was? It was amazing. I was really impressed. And that is saying something since we were coming from the crystal clear waters of Okinawa. We snorkeled out over a huge coral reef that was right in front of the hotel. Tons of fish, big and small. Even a shark encounter!
Logan underwater.

Dylan underwater.

I want to say that I have never been so scared as when I came face to face with this freaky shark. At one point, the shark was in between me and the shore! All I can say is: moment of panic. Finally it moved aside and while Shane chased after it to take these pictures, I swam for shore. I was swimming so fast Shane said all he could see was a blur on top of the water. I wanted to kiss the sand when I got to shore. It took me a while before I had any desire to snorkel again....but I did. I couldn't resist.

Me swimming for shore at lightning speed.

Logan's favorite afternoon pastime, playing Scrabble, sipping on a banana smoothie, and gazing out at the ocean. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon! The resort didn't have a fancy sound system, but one of the employees at the bar brought a boom box and propped it up on the counter. They only seem to have brought one CD, however, and so we heard the same music playing the entire week. "Hey Soul Sister", by Train, will forever remind me of that vacation because I must have heard it 1,000 times that week!

Here are the guys unloading the shipment of supplies that would come each day. The would form a human chain and toss the boxes of food and bags of produce up the steps to the restaurant kitchen.

While SCUBA diving one day, Shane caught this lobster. He brought it back and asked the resort's chef to cook it up for him for lunch. Tasty!

Savannah got her hair braided at the resort's spa.

Hangin' out.

One afternoon, the boys went deep sea fishing with a friend, Enrico, whom they met at the resort. They caught some delicious fish!

The resort chef, once again, prepared our catch and served it to us for dinner that night. Yummy!

You can see we liked it; we ate it down to the bones!

Australia! Welcome to the Land Down Under.....

We flew into Australia on my birthday, July 11th. This picture above shows me celebrating my 37th birthday on the floor of the overcrowded Nadi, Fiji airport waiting on a delayed flight. Good times!



Once we got to Australia, our first order of business was to find the kids a school. We didn't know which part of the city we would be living in, so we tried to look at schools all over the city of Canberra. Brandon chose the Canberra Boys Grammar School, which requires a fancy-pants uniform to be worn daily. See below.

The twins and Savannah chose Emmaus Christian School. It is much smaller than Brandon's school and requires a more casual uniform.

We have loved the topography and scenic countryside here in Australia. Not too far from our house is a huge National Park called the Tidbinbilla Nature Preserve. The mountains are beautiful and the fields are full of animals like kangaroos, koalas, emus, platypus, etc.

Below are some pictures of our day spent at Tidbinbilla.

Dylan and Savannah are sitting quietly- waiting to see a platypus.

The boys looking for wildlife.

Shane and I both think the topography of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) closely resembles the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Having a spring picnic at Tidbinbilla.

These next two pictures were taken on the top of Mt. Ainslie, which is one of the hightest peaks in Canberra. There are great views of the city from the lookout points.

Below is koala in a tree at Tidbinbilla. Did you know that koalas are very picky eaters? They eat only a few specific types of eucalyptus leaves, and these leaves by themselves are not very nutritious. Because of their not-so-healthy diet, they are very lethargic. They have to sleep 22 hours a day because they don't have enough energy to stay awake longer! It seems like natural selection would have led them toward a richer diet, but no. They are quite content to sleep their lives away.

A little stream in Tidbinbilla.

OK, I have to say that kangaroos are EVERYWHERE here! Not just in zoos, not just in nature preserves, but literally everywhere. They are on the side of the road, grazing in the field behind my house, etc. On a typical drive to school in the morning we will see about 50 kangaroos. Amazing! This one in the picture below was on the side of the road. We pulled over, rolled the window down, and I took this picture out the window. Check out the little joey in the pouch. So cute!

We were driving along and so these kangaroos in the field, so we stopped and I took this picture of Shane with the roos in the background.

Believe it or not, Brandon has turned 14 years old! Unbelievable. For his birthday he got a set of cricket gear and he is now playing on his school's cricket team.

It is springtime in Canberra, and it is beautiful! Every year, Canberra has a festival called Floriade. It is an outdoor festival that has vendors selling food and trinkets; there are rides for the kids; but the main attraction is the thousands and thousands of flowers that have been planted months ago and cultivated for the festival. I felt like I was in Holland because it was tulips as far as the eye could see. It was really beautiful.