Bye Bye Bubbles, Hello Wet Season

Noelle is flying over the ocean somewhere between Hong Kong and Chicago right now.  We were all sad to see her go. Noelle is an amazing person. She is compassionate, intelligent, sensitive, strong, patient (this was tested over and over by a certain 2 year old), responsible, and wise beyond her years. I have really enjoyed getting to know her on a whole different level and truly enjoyed her company.  She is such a good role model for my girls. As sad as we are to see her leave, we are just as excited to see her take her next step in life...she'll be off to college in about a month and has loads of planning to do before she leaves. I know we will think of her as we are experiencing the rest of the vacation, whether it's when we see bananas, broccoli, or tomatoes, hear Jingle Bells from our dryer, cross a spider's path, or yell out a  "bugism" like "plant it, hola muchacho,  home skillet, or darn it, your butt's not free." So, to Noelle, have an awesome rest of your summer and thanks for embarking on this trip with us. The best is yet to come.

One more time playing the pretending to be asleep in Noelle's bed game. You would be surprised how long this game can keep them entertained.

This morning's view from Noelle's room. It seems wrong that Cole will now have a room to himself with a king size bed and private bathroom. Anyone want to come to Hong Kong for two weeks?

We were well aware that the summer months here in Hong Kong are considered the wet season. Sometimes, it's easy to forget - when you're in the midst of the hustle and bustle and skyscrapers - that we are on a tropical island.  We were quickly reminded of this the last 2 days. It has consistently rained, sometimes in just the little spurts that are annoying yet not significant and other times, like buckets of water being poured over your head unexpectedly. Unfortunately, yesterday and today were rainy ones. We planned on going to Ocean Park for Noelle's last day. This is a combination zoo, aquarium, and amusement park and is supposed to be amazing. This was not meant to be. We didn't want to let the rain spoil the whole day, so we headed outdoors, anyway. Our day began with brunch at our favorite 24 hour diner, The Flying Pan.  This was our third time here...it's just good American style breakfast food and always makes our bellies happy. From there, we went to Hollywood Road to see the Man Mo Temple. Although pictures were not allowed to be taken inside, I was able to get a few before we entered to capture a sense of the temple.  It was built in 1847 and was architecturally fascinating. There were coils of incense hanging from the ceilings and people were in there lighting more incense as they prayed.  As much as it made me sneeze a bit and made my eyes burn, it really added to the ambience.

The temple is situated on a street full of antique stores. I cautiously entered one with Cole in my arms (he is quite squirmy when motivated by things he shouldn't touch) and stayed just long enough to see something I thought my mom would love. After about the one and a half minutes that I trusted Cole in the place, I headed outside with him where I was better equipped to perform damage control. Cole and I ended up catching a taxi to go home for nap time (ok, he hailed the taxi. Again. We crack up at the sight of him raising his arm when he sees a taxi. I will remember to snap a photo of it one of these days. One driver actually stopped for him). Todd, Noelle, and the girls continued to brave the rain and had a lovely afternoon.  That night, Todd and Noelle went out for dim sum. They described the place as a complete hole in the wall the size of our family room with the most outstanding food they've ever consumed. The turn over rate is incredibly fast as you have to order while you are waiting outside and the food is ready for you when you are seated.  It sounds like an experience that went beyond just a dinner.

There are loads of funny signs here...some are just oddly translated from Cantonese to English. I have enough pictures to fill up a whole post about it...here's a preview.

This isn't a particularly good photo, but it does show how darn humid it was...I had to wipe off the lens of the camera every time I took a picture.

This is a door right inside the temple. This was the only interior picture I could take.

Wanting to go back in...but, desperately needing to stay out.

The humidity gives a nice haze to the photos...kind of fits with the Temple's atmosphere.

There was a tiny temple outside the door of one of the antique shops. It was also burning incense.  I don't know the significance of it.

These beautiful lanterns lined the streets.

Cole was convinced there was a train inside the temple. He did get the "stink eye" from an elderly Chinese lady that was closely watching him.

An example of one of the windows on Hollywood Street.

And a random shot...I mentioned before about Cole's wanting to be naked all the time...I asked Skye to help get him dressed before dinner. This is how he came out of her room...

The rain is supposed to let up tomorrow and we will head out to have some more outdoor fun. We were going a little stir crazy today being inside all day except for a little trip to the mall attached to our apartment building.  Friday is a no work holiday here and Todd is off for the Fourth of July. I've had all day to research what to do and have planned a busy four days including Ocean Park and riding a glass bottom cable car to see a giant Buddha on Lantau Island.