Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania

We went up to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving.  We spent 7 days up there and Ben worked from Trina and Robert's home.  This trip was amazing.  The whole thing was great.  It was so relaxed and it was just what I needed, personally, amidst quite a few crazy months.  And this was our first road trip without a baby.  Um, hello!  It was amazing!  We only had to stop twice each way, and that was to buy some fast food and make a quick potty stop.  We got there so much faster this time because we didn't have to stop to feed a baby or change diapers.  This is life-changing.  :)

Oh Claire and Ella.  They are 5 weeks apart.  As soon as I saw what Claire's current personality was like I was overjoyed because she and Ella are basically personality twins.  They're both smart but sassy.  And adorable.  It took Ella a couple of days to get out of her typical I hate everybody mood, but once she was comfortable she and Claire were inseparable.

The day before Thanksgiving we drove an hour and a half to the priesthood restoration site on the Susquehanna River.  They recently finished the visitor's center there and it is gorgeous!

They had lots of activities for kids, which I thought was awesome.  They had a huge touch screen that you could pretend to write with a quill on.  They also had this wagon wheel you had to spin to help Joseph move in his virtual journey.  The wheel was highly fought over.  But let's be honest, when you have 9 kids age 9 and under and 1 wheel, it's just going to happen.

We were able to walk just a little ways to see both of the Hales' homes.  This rock wall is pretty special because when they were restoring both homes, the state of Pennsylvania told them that they couldn't rebuild the cabin on its original stone foundation.  So they used those stones to build the wall.

They raised 9 kids in that tiny cabin.

When Emma was, I think, 5, they built and moved into this home just a few hundred feet down the road.

The senior missionaries told us that the plates were supposedly between 40 and 60 pounds.  Each kid got to take a turn trying to lift a box that heavy.  The Butler kids were all great at it but the Macbeth kids... not so much.

Ever since our trip to Hong Kong where we were able to spend so much time with different senior missionary couples, I have grown to respect senior missionaries so much more.  These two were great  They even told us that we were their favorite group they'd ever had.  I'm not sure how that worked since there was a lot of crying and constant interruptions from Ella asking if those were giant donuts on top of the hutch. 

Ben is the best dad.  I love him.

(And I love that tiny little guy he's holding, too)

P.S.  Thaddeo has finally stopped promising to stay little forever.  I am crushed.

This is somewhere close to where Joseph and Oliver Cowdery were baptized.  

I thought the mud looked dry, but it was still wet and really slippery.  Robert, Claire and Trina fell (Trina while she was holding little Natalie).  Trina was hurt enough that her leg was still in pain when we left a few days later.  I'm just amazed that Natalie wasn't hurt when I saw the fall.  I am so sure there were angels there that day.

These two played with their dolls almost all day every day.  But most of the time they would lock themselves in the coat closet to play.  It was basically the cutest thing ever.

The kids gearing up for Thanksgiving dinner.  Alan had a great idea and on his own he drew place mats for each member of the family.  Each paper had a picture of a Thanksgiving food like turkey or stuffing.  We each got to color in our own.  I though it was adorable!

Now let it be known that when we first met Natalie when we walked in the door, we were told that she doesn't really like anyone other than Trina.  Apparently Robert is just recently in her good graces.  But if anyone can woo a baby, it's Ben.  He has some serious baby magic.

He also loves taking naps with babies.  Go figure.

Uncle Robert did the traditional craft on Black Friday.  The kids made these fuzzy little guys.

Our last day there, the kids played outside almost all day in the warmer weather.

It was a great trip and I'm so glad we went.  The cousins all had a blast playing together and we parents had a blast putting them all in bed and laughing all evening over stories and youtube videos.  The whole 10 hour ride home the kids kept talking about how much they missed their cousins.  But the good part about that is that it's a true sign that the trip was a success.

Ella's First Hair Cut

There is no hiding it.  I am completely in love with Ella's hair.  It's blond, she has tons of it for her age, and most importantly, she has the most beautiful natural curls.  I'm not trying to brag here, but she seriously gets compliments wherever we go.  The biggest question I get is, "Is her hair naturally like that?!"  Yes, yes it is.  I never ever get tired of its beauty.

But then the little woman heard about this silly thing called "hair cuts" and wanted to know what that was all about.  I would quickly give a vague answer or change the subject because I wasn't emotionally ready for her to cut her hair.  But she persisted and would keep asking for haircuts.  After a few months I realized that her hair was getting so long it really was getting time to cut it.  After an incident when her hair fell in the toilet, I realized that chopping off a few inches may not be the end of the world.

So one day when Thad was being Thad and threw a ton of mulch in Ella's hair while they were playing in the backyard, I gave her a bath, got her redressed, and realized that I should just get the cut over with while her hair was wet.

So I plopped her on the island stool with Netflix playing in front of her, put Ben's Darth Vader apron on her backward, and got to work as quickly as possible before her wet hair started drying and curling.

This is a picture from our Thanksgiving trip in Pennsylvania.  It's amazing how much 4 inches takes away from someone so small.  The saddest part of the haircut for me was that it had some sort of Sampson effect.  Ever since then she has stopped being a mama's girl and only wants Ben.  It is beyond depressing for me but Ben is soaking it up.

She still looks completely adorable, but I won't mind growing it out again.  :)

Halloween

We were scheduled to go trick or treating about 36 hours after we flew home from Hong Kong.  It took me almost 2 weeks to get over my jet lag so you can imagine our exhaustion that day.  But we made it special and made sure the kids were pumped to celebrate Halloween.  

Lily was Elsa (again), Skyler was Spiderman, Thaddeo was Leonardo, and Ella was dressed up in the new Cinderella's wedding gown.  I remember last year when she was dressed up as Anna from Frozen and whenever people would ask, "Who are you?!" and she would look at them weird and say, "I'm Ella."  Well, this year that would have worked.  :)

Ben took the kids while I handed out candy.  He dropped Ella and Thad off after 45 minutes because Thaddeo had fallen asleep on Ben's shoulders and head.  Do they have to grow?!

I lost 3.5 pounds while we were in Hong Kong.  After putting all the kids' candy in a communal basket it didn't take long for me to gain all that weight back.  *sigh*

Hong Kong Oddities and Laughs

Here is just a random list of things I've noticed differ between Hong Kong and the U.S.

• Toddlers and young children are really well behaved.  Maybe it's because the expectations there are different, or maybe it's because people typically have one, maybe two kids, and so they're easier to control.  Also, parents never look at their children like they're a nuisance.  They always look at their children with love.  I only saw one toddler out of control on the whole trip.  ONE.

• Because you have to walk tons in HK, they make it easier for the blind by putting textured pathways along all the sidewalks and inside buildings for them to follow.
• Since it's closer to the equator, the sun sets much earlier.

• People really respect the elderly and those with small children and are encouraged to give their seats to them on public transportation.
• Toddlers and children don't have car seats or booster seats in their cars.
• You can talk to strangers and they are kind and friendly and open.
• They drive on the left side of the road and being in a bus is similar to being in the Knight Bus.  I'm impressed I didn't see anyone killed.  The roads there also make no sense, and that's saying something coming from someone native to Raleigh.
• They often wear backpacks on the front.  I have renamed them "frontpacks."

• Escalators are everywhere, inside and out -- yes, escalators outside.  I wouldn't have survived without them.  When we were trying to get to a certain restaurant one night we rode the world's longest escalator to get up the mountain.  Google or youtube it.
• When you eat at a restaurant, they don't bring everyone's food out at the same time.  They bring out one dish at a time -- whenever it's ready.  Also, they either don't have you tip or they include a 10% tip in your bill.

• People are on their feet all day.  You walk everywhere and if you're not walking, you're probably on a bus, ding ding, or subway standing, because there are rarely seats available.
• The Chinese believe that hot water is much healthier for you than cold and so if you order water at a restaurant, expect it to come out of a kettle.
• There is very very very little sugar or salt used in their food -- and hardly anyone is overweight. 

• Hong Kongers don't seem to know what dessert really is.  A lot of their desserts are made out of beans (hence the bean popsicles above).  I also loved the Dreyer's ice cream flavors: New York Style Blueberry Cheesecake and more particularly American Raspberry & Rose.  Rose???  Also, corn is a big dessert there.  It was very entertaining watching people buy their cup of corn from the dessert menu at McDonalds while we were at Ocean Park.  I can just imagine my kids' reactions -- "If you finish your whole dinner you can have a bowl of corn!"

Some pictures I took on the trip when something off caught my eye...

A spa in the mall across the street from Mum and Dad's apartment.

Yum?

#21

As opposed to the non-flying ones.

• I wish I had a picture of every hilarious English shirt I read in Hong Kong.  They don't wear shirts that read in any other language -- just English.  And unless it was a brand name printed on their shirts, odds were it was wrong.  One of my favorites said, "Lime your life.  Travel yourself."  I wonder how many Chinese people come to America horrified at all the wrong Chinese tattoos they see here.

Hong Kong Trip -- Ocean Park

For our last day in Hong Kong we decided to go to Ocean Park which is part theme park, part zoo, and part aquarium.  It was a lot of fun.  It was worth the trip for the zoo alone.

When I saw the panda I was so excited.  I am not going to hide the fact that I'm a total animal lover (as proven by my pink dolphin post).  When I saw the panda I started getting misty eyed and in my head I was thinking, Heather, get your act together!  It's a panda!

Then we walked over to the Australian animal exhibit.  They had this introductory video you had to watch before you went in and I told Ben that if they had koalas I was going to freak out (in a good way).  I was obsessed with koalas as a kid.  I can remember pulling out my parents' encyclopedia as a kid and writing a secret report about koalas.  For fun.  That is the level of my animal nerdiness -- it goes all the way back to my early years.  So when we walked in and saw the koala, there is no way I would have known what my reaction was going to be.

This is the first picture Ben snapped while I was still in the Oh my gosh I'm looking at a koala right now phase.  And then all of a sudden it all became so overwhelming that this happened:

To be fair, I'm pretty sure that exhaustion from the trip played a hand in it.  I had a good little cry right there in front of the koala.  I'm so glad he was asleep and wasn't able to witness it.  The other people around me on the other hand....

(So much for my goal of not being "that" American tourist)

(Also, you may be wondering why I even posted this embarrassing picture.  It's because Ben threatened that if I didn't post it, he would.  That's why).

While I was still dabbing my eyes Ben told me that after my reaction I absolutely had to have my picture taken with the koala.  This is me not looking like I just had a breakdown over fulfilling one of my childhood dreams.

We also got to see a kookaburra.

And wallabies.  They didn't have kangaroos.  Bummer.  Although, if I'm being truthful with myself, it was probably a good thing I didn't get to see kangaroos because I might have cried all over again...

Then we hopped on a gondola to take us to the other side of the mountains to the other half of the park.

So glad climbing these up the mountain isn't my job.

It went all along the ocean so we could look into the South China Sea.

Ben and I rode a couple of their roller coasters before I decided that I couldn't do anymore.  Theirs were really rough and choppy.  My head was banging in every direction and I couldn't handle it.  Although riding a roller coaster at the top of the mountain that takes you plummeting toward the ocean is its own type of thrill.

We went to a dolphin show.  Now, while I am not a fan of whales, I am a huge fan of dolphins. 

Let's just be honest.  I cried through the whole show.

(But I wore my sunglasses so nobody could judge me)

This taught me that I absolutely have to go to Sea World.

We got to see a sloth and in the video you can see that they're not quite as slow as you might guess.

P.S. I will never make fun of Kristen Bell's sloth video ever again after my reaction to the koala and dolphins.

A starfish for Ella.

The next day we flew home.  Flying to and from Hong Kong we flew East.  So now Ben and I can say that we have flown around the world.  In doing this I have learned that I never want to live in Greenland, Russia, or Mongolia thank you very much.  I also learned that your ankles can swell up on long plane rides and give you serious de ja vu to when you were last pregnant.  I also learned the joy of having your flight home delayed and getting stuck in the Toronto airport for hours just to get home at 2 AM.  I also learned that it takes us over a week to get over jet lag this serious.  Most importantly, I realized how wonderful home is.  As much as I loved the adventure of Hong Kong, it was so needed to come home and get back to the daily grind of homeschooling and going to work.  And I won't even mention how excited Ben and I were to eat our first American food after the trip.

Every single day of our trip was packed with activities and with all the walking we did each day, we were exhausted by the end of it.  But I'm so glad we did pack it in otherwise the trip wouldn't have been as worthwhile.  It was a great trip that we will remember forever.