Rachel's "Beat It"

She sang, "Feed it... feed it..." after hearing it played on the car stereo!

Hong Kong 2012 Dec 10-15

Monday
0445 wake up
0530 leave the house
0600 reach airport
0730 take off
1130 land
1330 reach Holiday Inn Express at Causeway Bay in one taxi, lunch at Ho Hung Kee comprising wanton mee, lean pork congee, fried beef dry horfun
1440 get room, crash
1650 walk to St Margaret's Church, sound test, music practice
1800 walk back to hotel
1900 meet Ho Mei at Times Square, walk to Hysan Place for Japanese dinner
2200 return to hotel, crash

Tuesday
0900 wake up, breakfast at hotel cafe
1000 taxi to Ocean Park
1945 taxi to hotel
2030 dinner at Ho Hung Kee
2200 crash

Wednesday
0930 wake up, brunch at Chung's Cuisine at Times Square
1230 walk to St Margaret's Church, wedding
1600 walk back to hotel, crash
1745 taxi to Watermark Restaurant at Pier 7, wedding dinner
2300 taxi to hotel, crash

Thursday
0830 wake up, breakfast at hotel cafe
0945 MTR to Disneyland
1100 met park ambassadors Fion and Arthur, private audience with Mickey and Minnie
1800 MTR back to hotel, tapau Macs dinner at hotel
2100 crash

Friday
0300 wake up, breakfast at hotel cafe
0930 MTR to Disneyland
1630 MTR back to hotel, Rachel naps with Matt in charge, the rest go shopping at Times Square, Sean gets new boots
1900 walk to St Margaret's Church, TF picks us up to his place for dinner with SM, N&A and G
2330 TF sends us back to hotel

Saturday
0900 wake up, brunch at Super Star Seafood Restaurant at Times Square, browsing Page One
1330 back to hotel pack up, check out
1415 walk about Causeway Bay, supermarket shopping
1615 taxi to airport
1800 dinner at airport
2000 take off
2345 arrive
0015 reach home in one taxi, crash

Another Servicing Due

So I told Rachel, now three, that I might not see her tomorrow morning as I'd be taking the car 'to be fixed' after dropping Sarah off at school, and then going on to work from there.

She could ask me, 'Daddy's car spoil?'

This little girl appears to be practising deductive reasoning!

1. The car will be taken to be fixed
2. Things that need to be fixed are broken.
3. Therefore, the car must be 'spoilt.'

So proud of her.

Finally

We officially have the "new" place!

Let the reno begin.

17 May ...

... will always be a significant date for me.

This year, it means getting entered on the Register of Patent Attorneys (UK). After 4 years of rather horrid exams, am I glad!

Twenty years earlier, it was the the day St. Josemaría Escrivá was beatified. I was there in Rome to witness it and I hope I don't have to wait a further twenty years to visit Rome again!

Can't help looking back over all the things (and people) that have happened in between ...

Nighty Night!

Last weekend we started letting Rachel sleep out of her cot at night, on the mattress on the floor beside the bunk bed with the older girls. She's doing good! No getting up and walking around in the dark. And so far all fine healthwise, talking a lot and very demanding, telling me things like "Don't eat your dinner!" while trying to drag me away from the dining table because she wants me to play with her.

 S's off to Bangkok this week for a few days. And again next week. The hardest part I find is having the two older girls taking turns to sleep with me at night when he's away. It's all that getting kicked and smacked by flailing limbs in the middle of the night. Sarah is especially bad! I don't know how co-sleeping parents do it. I get very bleary eyed and grouchy after a few days of it.

Matt's back to having the middle room to himself at nights, where the cot remains for Rachel's daytime naps. We'll keep his arrangement in the new place, assigning Matt the smallest room so that when Rachel is napping in there in the afternoons, she blocks out minimal precious real estate.

We get the keys 3 July! Can't wait! And presently agonizing over window treatments... argh... can't decide!!

Like Fish?

There's a beautiful pond at our church. Someone recently donated about a hundred young koi and they're lovely, swimming languidly around. Last Sunday we stood there, enjoying the view.

"Look Rachel, do you like the fish?" Sean asked.

Rachel watched them for a while. "Ya," she said. "I like eat fish."

Chock-A-Block

11am we all go to church for Sunday Mass.
12pm we go home and Sean goes to fetch his mom home from hospital.
1pm Father Mario comes to our place for lunch.
2pm Sean returns.
3pm Contractor Jeffrey comes to our place for a preliminary consultation; he and Fr Mario leave before
4pm when estate agent Serene arrives and we exercise our option to buy the flat we've been eyeing.
5pm Serene leaves and we start tidying and staging our place for yet another viewing at
6pm when our agent Elaine brings potential buyers round.
6:30 they're gone and we all go to my parents' place for dinner.
8:15 Elaine calls to say one of the earlier viewers wants to see our place again that very night so
8:30 we say bye bye and thank you for a lovely dinner to por por and ah kong, and get home at
9pm to receive Elaine and the buyer with their agent.
11pm they all leave, and our flat is (almost) sold.