Love is in Stiles: July 2015

Hello all!

June was such a lovely month.

Maverick

is adorable. As usual.
However he also has been getting his '1 year old molars' and he can be so grumpy!
He ADORES dogs. Which is not the best sign for us, because Scott is allergic to dogs, and neither of us are big pet people. Whenever we pass a dog (which is about every 50 feet in Discovery Bay, also known as 'DB- Dogs and Babies') he says "Woof Woof!" in the most adorable high pitched baby voice ever.
He has been learning lots of animal sounds. Dog, monkey, cat, and cow. Of course both the cat and the cow are just "mmmmm".
He loves to read books. Almost every day he brings books to my lap one by one, for half an hour. Sometimes he even lets me finish them.
He loves to wear other people's shoes around.
Climbs everything.
Actually can pay attention to t.v. for 5 minutes in a row. I know- why am I broadcasting this to the Internet, this is not really a good thing! But man oh man does it help to be able to turn on Curious George or Sesame Street when I have to do dishes or cook something. P.S. Why did no one ever tell me Sesame Street was so annoying- wish I had known before he got hooked!

In other, less baby related news, my parents are again traveling back and forth between Hong Kong and Macau every 50 days. Their mission is a true story of patience, but they bear it very gracefully, and we are very happy that they are nearby to see Maverick grow.

Scott is working over time. The business is going great, and people are constantly asking him to speak at things. In June he spoke at an event for the Thomson Reuters Foundation at Trust Forum Asia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSRSBriPKn8 if you want to watch it!) about the Domestic Helper situation in Hong Kong. He loves his work, has a great team, and they have been getting quite a bit of media attention! In June there was a CNBC article about them.

I am mostly taking care of the baby. In June, however I also took a photography course from a local photographer, Baljit Gidwani. A friend in our branch, Ai, took the course from him and loved it, and since then a bunch of the ladies in our branch have taken it and learned so much! Also, on June 10th me and Scottie celebrated our 4 year anniversary! I am so grateful to be married to my best friend, my role model, my biggest supporter and fan, the funniest guy I know, the sweetest, most loyal, smartest, hardest working, silliest, best father, handsomest, man in the world. Gushy, gushy, gushy, etc etc etc. You know the drill ;) But really. We love each other more every day and I am so blessed he chose me.

But on to the pictures!

Dragon Boat Racing
A holiday in HK, where teams compete boat racing in narrow boats with drums beaten to keep the beat.

The DB Dragon Boat Festival

Cheung Chau Island
One of the little islands close by is Cheung Chau. Every year they have the 'Cheung Chau Bun Festival'. We missed it this year because Maverick was teething so badly. There are parades, music, food, performances... The most famous part happens late at night, where there are bamboo towers covered in traditional Chinese buns, and people climb up with harnesses and grab as many buns as they can, Legends of the Hidden Temple style. Hilarious.
Sorry, that was a tangent.
The rest of the year it's just an adorable fishing village. And on one side of the island there is a pirate's cave! When I heard this I was so excited and knew we had to go. I got myself pumped for this cave like a little kid, but was mostly just expecting it to be a hole in the side of a hill, like a smallish bear cave. The real thing was so amazing- it was like the type of pirate's cave you would see in a movie! We were walking along the walkway on the edge of the island, when the walkway ended abruptly and I thought we had gone the wrong way. Then Scott spotted a man asleep in a small nook of the rock, who was selling flashlights. We bought two, and he pointed us down a dark crevice with a ladder. We climbed down about 12 feet, and we were in an underground cave. It was about 3 feet wide and 50 feet long, a straight hallway across to another ladder up, on the other side of the island's tip. I was elated!

In Cheung Cha I saw this kind of store for the first time in real life. They sell 'gifts' to leave for your beloved dead ones to have in the afterlife. These fake, miniature items ranged from boom boxes- to iPhones (with chargers of course)- to vice sets with cigarettes, booze, and beer.