It's almost over!!!!!

Yes, that's two of the hottest men in China. We went out to dinner with our friends to a local mall and they still had Christmas lights up in May. It's freakin' sweltering outside and they were trying to keep the Christmas spirit alive. These two hot men (and I mean literally hot in case you were wondering) wanted to pose like some of the local Chinese men. When it's hot, you will see some of the men walk around with their shirts pulled up.
Somebody needs to tell them what scat really means. Frank was laughing because this is supposed to be a very hip store for teenage girls and it's called "Scats". If your not sure what the definition is...it's a scientific term for poop.
Vika had her last modeling gig a few weeks ago. We've estimated that she has done probably close to 25 modeling jobs over the three years we have been here. That's $150 per job. Let's just say she has a good start on her college fund.

These clothes were actually quite cute.
She has become quite the pro at posing.

Yes, we actually have a Dairy Queen here. It was quite the treat for us to actually have good old American ice cream.
They have your traditional chocolate dipped cone, banana split, parfaits, and of course the blizzard. They always have to add their Chinese versions but we stuck to the traditional blizzards.
Rachel, Jonny, and Mahika enjoying their ice cream.


We went to dinner with Rachel's friend Mahika and her parents. Mahika has been one of Rachel's best friends the entire three years we have been here. We went to Spaghetti House which was really good. Who would have known we could find good Italian food in China.
After three years here, we finally found a fun cool place to hang out and eat. We used to just stay here in Shekou and go to Seaworld but Coastal City Mall is now the happening place since Seaworld is all under construction. This was just being finished when we first got here and was finally all completed about a year ago. They have two movie theaters, tons of eating (Western food even), ice skating rink, and lots of shopping. The cool part is this open plaza. This is so much better than around our house and is only about 20 minutes away.
What's up with the crazy eyes Rachel? Just shows how much fun we all were having.

Last Chinese Beach Adventure

We had a four day weekend because of the Chinese May Day holiday. We weren't planning on going anywhere but decided at the last minute to go out to Lantau Island in Hong Kong for one last beach adventure. Lantau is one of the outer islands in Hong Kong. The airport and Disneyland are on Lantau along with the Big Buddha that we have been to but we never made it to the beach side. Several people had talked about it being nice so we thought we would go check it out. Of course like anything else here, it isn't an easy task to get to.

We left the house at 7:00 in the morning and after a taxi ride, hour wait to cross the border, 45 minute bus ride, 10 minutes on the MTR, walking several blocks, and a 40 minute ferry ride we made it to Lantau 4 hours later. Since this was a last minute idea we didn't have a reservation for a hotel but thought we could find one to stay over night. We searched and since it was a holiday the prices were high or the places were full. We did find a place that had a VERY small room that barely fit a double bed in it for $80 US a night. We decided it just wasn't worth it so we stayed and played at the beach for a few hours.
We had a quick lunch of fried rice on the beach and after swimming and playing in the sand decided to take a little walk around the beach. Lantau has lots of trails to hike but we were short on time and just took a little walk along a path before we had to start our 3 hour trek home.

The day was cloudy and a bit hazy so the view wasn't as nice as it could have been.
Rachel stayed home to study for her IB tests which start this week and Jonny was in Hong Kong at Youth Conference for the weekend so it was just Nicole and Vika with us, along with the Galicia's, for the day.
This is the front of a dragon boat that was up on shore.

We took the 4:00 ferry back to Central Hong Kong where we could catch the 6:00 ferry to Shekou.
On the ferry to Central we passed this Junk boat. It isn't an original but a tourist boat that you can pay to go out in the bay on. It still was pretty cool to see.

A very long day full of travel for just a few hours at the beach. Just a typical Chinese adventure where it is a huge hassle, expensive, and just not worth it. We enjoy the beach but here they just don't cut it. They usually are dirty with no waves at all. I'd much rather just stay home and if I want to go swimming, I'll go to a swimming pool here. I'll save the beach adventures for California and cool places, not China.

A few weeks ago it was Nicole's birthday. She is not 11. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. For her birthday she wanted to play basketball and have a hair wash.

Nicole is our girly girl who wants to be a tom boy. She loves to play basketball and will mostly wear basketball shorts and shoes so that she is already to play but occasionally she pulls the girly stuff out. She got some very girly earrings and of course, basketball clothes.