I'm thanking the Lord he made you...

Hello! We had a rather uneventful weekend. We attended a Karate demonstration for Ash and hit up a mall where the cotton candy is to die for (I think I like it more than the girls!). It actually has a distinct watermelon flavor that we will brave a hours worth of public transportation for:). Then today we watched the UFC 106 and walked to a new park that Hoss showed us. It was nice and the walk there was on a pathway with trees, so it was very enjoyable. In all it was a relaxing weekend and we are ready for a busy Thanksgiving week. And so, in the spirit of the upcoming holidays (not Christmas for all you early decorators!) I wanted to post this link (I'm not sure how to load the video) of Johnny Cash singing a heartfelt Thanksgiving tune on Dr. Quinn. I used to love that show and it was one of the few we were allowed to watch. I'm thankful for everyone I have come across in my travels. I hope that your lives continued to be enriched and stimulated, and that you always have a friend to share your journeys with. May your thanksgiving table be full of memories and your heart warm with love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA7ujUJCIdE&feature=player_embedded#

The Playgoup Safari!

My sweet girls need some lessons about looking at the camera! Oh well!

Here's some pics from our playgroup adventure. We went to a local park with Monkeys and birds and had a safari! Life is finally normal. When we arrived he had some major stuff to take care of and this weekend was the culmination of it all...Luckily for us it went well:) Anyways, now we can relax and get into the rhythm of life here and start looking forward to the holidays. This week the weather here turned and it has been nice to pull out the sweaters and coats. It's not cold in North American standards, but it did hit 52. Hope everyone is doing well. Love to all!

Like a Sweet Red Cherry

Today I promised Ashlynn we wouldn't go anywhere. This comes after dragging her around sightseeing with us yesterday and she is a homebody to the extreme. We have to bribe her to even go to the park. She just likes being home and playing with us. So anyways, I figured I would get around to telling one of our move in stories...It's not the best grammatically, but it gets the job done.

When we first arrived here in Hong Kong it was a Friday and Hoss was called away to a conference, in Bangkok, on the following Monday. I was alone for the week; feeling a bit overwhelmed and wanted the beauty of Montana back (we had just finished vacationing there), but I was trying to make the best of it. At any rate the place where we were staying had a pool and I was determined to find a swimsuit so I could take the girls, mine had gotten lost in transit. So off we go into the crowds of people and onto the joys of public transportation. (I had a fairly good idea of where I was going as one of the ladies helping us get adjusted had pointed out a department store.) So we arrived and I managed to find a suit, but trying it on was nearly impossible because the dressing rooms were the size of a bathroom stall and with me and the girls it was a little squishy. Never mind the fact that Brielle kept trying to peek under the stall to see who was next store:) So just as I'm struggling the top on over my clothes (we all know the hazards of trying on swimsuits) I have to keep reaching over Ashlynn to pick up Bri and then as I finally am shrugging on the bottoms she decides to play with the door and out it swings with me chasing it like a waddling penguin. It sounds funny, but when you are jetlagged and not into the big city life it was just another thing to add onto the discomfort. Let's just say I pulled the swimsuit off and figured it would work. Then as we were walking to the tram stop I noticed, about the same time as the girls, a Toys R Us and since I was trying my hardest to help them happily adjust to this new place, we went up to the store and looked down every aisle. Now, about this time the girls decide they are starving and have to pee so we asked around until we found a bathroom and thankfully it was right next to the food court. So, we once again squished into a stall together and took care of the business at hand. After this we sat down to a fabulously western meal of KFC. By this time it was getting dark and I was terrified I might miss the bus stop without being able to identify the buildings I needed to so we hurried off and hopped on the tram. The whole experience had charged Ashlynn and left me exhausted. She was just a talking away about the toy store and Hong Kong and going to the pool. I was trying to keep up and making sure Brielle was still snuggled into my side when I noticed the bag with my swimsuit was missing. Now with how many places we had walked, and been, I had no idea where it was or when I might have put it down and with all of the people constantly swarming it probably had been picked up right away. And also, as it was getting late I couldn't go back to try and find it anyhow. So, I will admit, this was my lowest point and the tears started falling; right there on the stupid tram. It was just too much and I didn't want to be there. I had a fabric grocery bag in my purse and I used it to wipe away my tears and hoped no one was noticing. But poor Ash kept going and I had to ask her to stop because I wasn't keeping up or giving her the answers she was looking for and she was getting frustrated. Well, kids are pretty perceptive and she looked me in the eye right then and told me: "It's ok mommy, I love you like a sweet red cherry" then she gave me a big hug. I think it was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. There have been lots of moments in my life but those words are something I will remember for the rest of my days. What a sweetheart. What a crazy life. I still long for the peace of Montana and the beauty of the mountains, but I am ok here in the noise of the city.

Chi Lin Nunnery

Here we are starting out on our adventure. This building had miniature replicas of old pagodas and traditional buildings to show the architecture of how the tresses and pieces were put together.

So cool and bright in the sunlight!

The front guard gave Bri a map and she proceeded to direct us the whole way.

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More pics of the pagoda.

If you click on the pic you can even see the koi fish!

I borrowed the thought of this picture from a cool one I saw that our friend Andy took.

This was the enterance to the nunnery.

I caught a cool dragonfly on this one and a bee on the flower on the next one, you'll have to click on it to see the details...

The end of the day they were all tired and this is the picture of what I term as the "Paquette scowl". It is an expression they all wear naturally, even when they are content. Too funny!

Today for Veteran's Day we went sightseeing. It was a beautiful day and we saw a park, a nunnery and the History Museum. The park was so serene it was incredible and then the nunnery was awe inspiring. We weren't able to take pictures in the nunnery but the golden statues celebrating Budhha and his followers were amazing. They were larger than life and full of symbolism. It was really cool and even the girls were completely quiet as we walked through the different halls. Then we had a picnic lunch at a different park and then headed off to find the History Museum which had a special exhibit on the last hundred years of China. I am always surprised and find it facinating to view the histroy of the world through another countries eyes. Anyhow, it was great day and thank you to all those past and present who have served. We owe so much to you.

The Parks and Thanksgiving Decorating

Here are the girls putting up Thanksgiving decorations. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, second only to the Fourth of July. I'm not sure how the homemade-suncatchers made it into the Thanksgiving box, but the girls were excited to put them up too:)

Here's Brielle putting up some of the window decorations in their room. She insisted on wearing the hat. Too cute!

Now for the park pictures...

She was feeling sassy as you can see!

Driving the plane.

Little sweeties!

Notice the multi-levels of playground!

Did I say bratty or sassy;)

I am calling this the year of the parks! Exploring all the wonderful parks here keeps us busy and quite happy; Coming from Tunisia we are SO grateful to have a fabulous park on every corner. Today we found another great park that is up the hill from us and it is flat, open and fenced in. Hence they can finally ride their bikes and kick around a soccer ball. Yeah!!!!! Oh, and it has a patch of grass that is not fenced in!!!!!!! This is a big deal and terribly hard to find in this concrete jungle. There are tons of parks, but not so much grass...lots of trees and shrubs and plants...and if you do find grass it is fenced off and marked as forbidden. So, yippee! I have yet to find a park I read about with a 'moving parts castle" but I am hopeful and we will save that for another day.

Oh, and to my family...just wanted to bring up my happy thought as I was writing this. I remember going to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. Waking up in the mornings to Grandma in her bathrobe mixing up some cranberry orange juice and sneaking us raisin cookies. Then the card games and fun days that would eventually find us at the kid table for a yummy meal. Those are some great memories and I will always cherish them. Rest in peace Grandma. I will always love you and hold my memories of you close to my heart.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

You have no idea how hard I tried to get a good picture of both of them before we left. This was as good as it got, sorry Bri!


Hiding in the bounce house! Ash sans costume.

Bri was taking a juice break, it was just not a good night for pictures with her.

Tattoos and Face Painting!

Here's Ash getting ready to swing at the Pinata. She had a reversible dress and decided to be Cinderella instead of Sleeping Beauty halfway through the night.

Brielle playing the ring toss game.

A family shot, now you see why I take the pictures:)

Getting loads of treats

Brielle had the cutest "trick or treat" ever. I should of recorded it. I would've given her the world if she looked at me like that!

And this was the end of a fun night with friends!

We don't belong here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The enormous Navy flag. My batterries went dead after this so there's only three pics...

I was trying to get a picture of the color guard. They brought them down, at attention, on the elevator. It was pretty impressive.

A mural on one of the hanger bay doors.

Last night's escapade...a story for Grandpa

So the USS George Washington is in town for the first time ever and to foster relations they hosted a reception onboard their vessel. Now, let me say that this was for the bigwigs. We didn't get an invite until their 400 people maximum ended up with just over 200 reservations, or so I was told. At any rate, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to smell diesel fuel and enjoy the gentle sway that only a Navy grey ship can bring so we took up the offer. We started off at Fenwick Pier on Hong Kong Island and they ferried us out about 45 minutes to the ship. Now, let me stop at this point to say that Hoss got an important phone call just as we were getting ready to board and so I enjoyed a bit of people watching while he took it. There were sailors (with the pale skin that comes from working below decks, out to sea for too long) coming off and an endless stream of black clothed, fancy-dressed diplomats climbing on. The best was when I saw two Brits with a full jug of Carlsberg and two full mugs trekking it to the ferry. Now, if this were sailors they would have gotten a small smile and a "I don't think so..." but as the were diplomats the officer on deck simply looked at them with a generous smile and said "Ahhhhh a booze cruise." Anyways we ended up on the last ferry going out and took our seats in the closest row to the door. The ride out was uneventful, but once I stepped off the ferry I knew I was truly out of my element. I will try to describe to the civilian side what I saw. We landed on the aft, lower portion of the ship and had to walk up a series of stairs. Now if you've ever been on a Navy ship you are used to the dull, grey interior. I would have to say that this wasn't it. Every landing had a different mural and the floors were a spotless blue. Even the railings on the ladderwells were covered with blue canvas. Yes, I am describing what felt like Officer-country to me! And as I mentioned we were the closest ones to the door, hence we were the first ones off and onto the ship...So as we stepped up from the last ladderwell onto the quarterdeck I saw the red carpet rolled out and lined, on both sides, with sailors. When they saw us the Boatsman's Mate at the end started piping us on board and the minute his whistle sounded the seaman lining the carpet (In dress whites) went into a full salute. Now, as a former enlisted sailor I have lots of experience with the red carpet and officer-country and I can tell you I stayed FAR away from both with full fear of a reprimand at the hands of some grumpy officer looking to take it out on me. The only time I touched the red carpet was when I was the one on the side saluting, we never walked on it. So, as I heard the piping and stepped up I felt like running, trying to enjoy the moment was the farthest thing from my mind. But I got the nudge and full-grin from Hoss and I stepped onto the red carpet. However, that's not the last of it...As I stepped onto the carpet of death, guess who stepped onto the other side?! The Captain of the ship himself. He was waiting to personally welcome each and every guest. All I could think was wow and I shook his hand, glad to have the shocking experience over with. But, it wasn't over...as we stepped into the first hangerbay I saw an even longer red carpet. This one stretched the entire length of the hanger bay and was lined with every State flag. It was a very cool sight to behold, but again Hoss and I looked at each other and took a deep breath to keep us from walking around. This was the grand entrance that lead us to the reception in hanger bay two. It was incredible. The food was delicious and had roast carving stations, fresh rolls, vegi and fruit tables and fabulous trays of hors d'oeuvres being carried around by poor sailors in tux tops. Now, I say poor because when I was in it was mandatory for newbies to spend 90 days of "cranking" on the messdecks. It meant 12 hour days of stinking like food, washing dirty dishes and every once in a while throwing on the tux tops while the stressed out cooks took their anger out on your petty mistakes. As you can tell just walking onto the decks was bringing back all kinds of memories. Memories of a life that felt a hundred years past. I even had to stand at the opening, where the elevator comes down, and just feel the moments pass. I remembered so many mornings when I would stand in that same area and watch the sunrise while the horizon rocked up and down. Those moments, before I started my day, were some of the most peaceful minutes I have ever experienced. There is nothing so beautiful as watching the sun come out of the sea with not a single other thing to get in the way. Anyhow we socialized for about an hour and then they held the ceremony. It started with an introduction from the CO who greeted us and welcomed the Admiral in charge of the group. Then the Consular General spoke. It was fairly boring. After this they took people up the elevator to the flight deck to see the aircraft and others were escorted on tours. We left early without seeing anymore as we were trying out a babysitter and had already been gone a few hours. Anyhow, just thought you'd appreciate the memories...Oh yeah one more. Looking at the pad eyes in the deck (the recessed dents in the deck that have a cross over the top so you can tie down the aircraft) brought back all kinds of memories from my Shellback ceremony. At one point they brought us "pollywogs" topside and there was a guy with a fire hose washing down the decks...The decks were filthy from the aircraft fuel, engine grease, and all kinds of other nasty stuff and the worst of it had collected in the pad eyes. Well, our job at that time was to dry out the padeyes, with our mouths. They aimed us one facing the other and we blew as hard as we could to empty the water out and got drenched and gross in the process...crazy, but the certificate and feeling at the end was well worth it. Hope everyone is well!