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. 







The ladder we took down into the cave. 
Pirate Scott and First Mate Mav in the cave once used to hold real pirate booty! Argh!  
The view from the end of pirate cave!

Other


Maverick chasing and loving on a doggie.  "Woof woof!"
My photography teacher, Baljit. 


In May it starts to get hot and humid in Hong Kong. Like really hot and humid. The AC and dehumidifiers are run all day every day, no one is in the parks later than 9 am, and my glasses fog up every time I step outside. 
 But for some reason or another (probably by my insistence) we spent quite a bit of time outdoors this May! One of the highlights was a hike we did from our city, Discovery Bay, to the next small town over, Mui Wo, where some friends live. The took us about 3 hours, and was about 8 miles long. It went up and over the 'mountains' between us. It's gorgeous being up there on top of everything, surrounded by rolling green hills, where you can see the sea. I felt like I was in The Sound of Music. Minus the Nazis, and the singing, and plus a sea. So mostly just the rolling green beauty. 
Anyways. 
Scott was carrying Maverick on his back the entire way, which was very impressive. I could hardly carry our water bottles. We did end up going the wrong way at the beginning, so essentially we added 45 minutes onto our commute. It was so steep you guys! Scott's iPhone pedometer app equated the climb to more than 100 flights of stairs. It was gorgeous up there, and I loved the experience. But for me, I'm glad I did it once, and once is enough. :) We have friends that seem to do this hike every week- intense! 
We got to the other side and released Maverick at the beach. He was so grateful to be free he just kind of stumbled around, sitting in the tide and tossing sand. "Free at last! Free at last!" 

Hike to Mui Wo

A view of Discovery Bay. 



The hills are alive, with the sound of music.





Maverick really enjoyed the hike, as you can tell. 
The town on the beach you can see there is our final destination. I love that you can see other islands past in through the haze. 
This is actually at the other side of the hike, near the end! No idea what the signs are saying but we can imagine they are congratulating us. 



Just a casual cow crossing in Mui Wo.

Disneyland
Elder and Sister Holbrook took a P-day to come to Disneyland with us! 

Good old Mormon humor. 'Garments' for sale at Disneyland. 


Mav loves the carousel. Every time we pass by it he signs "more". Here he is staring longingly as we wait in line. 




They let me take a picture with Prince Charming ;)
Maverick is getting so big these days! He seems to notice everything, and think he is big enough to do anything we are doing. 

He: 
  • says "Mama" "Dada" "mo" (more) "Sssss" (shoes) "ball" (this is very high pitched) 
  • tries to say 'thank you' in baby sign language, and it looks like he is blowing you kisses, very adorable
  • likes to hold phones up to his ear and have you talk to him (whenever I am on the phone he says "dada?")
  • loves to give kisses (mostly to only other babies)! Any friend he meets immediately gets a slobbery mouth kiss. There is a cute baby girl at our church his age, and he follows her around and attacks her with kisses, and she tries to squirm away. His first girlfriend ;) He also saw a baby at the park, and after only two seconds of eye contact, lunged for the kiss. I had to drag him away.
  • Knows everywhere mommy 'hides' the snacks. And finds very clever ways to get to them. 
  • Finds lots of ways to climb up to what he wants. He can utilize stools, chairs, boxes, toys, strollers, bikes, couches, etc. He will also charm you into picking him up, and then he will snag the item that he wanted that was near you. He uses people. 
  • Knows that we can't go outside without shoes. So he will put on my flipflops, sit on his bike that is in our living room, and wave bye-bye, to signal he wants to go out. 
  • Loves to throw food, and make messes.  Conversely he also loves to put things away, and sweep. His organization makes my heart happy. 
He definitely has his awful days, and he always bolts when he sees me get out diapers. And he has taken to ripping his diaper off if we put him down to nap without clothes, and then will dance in circles buck-naked. But the boy is so fun, and very happy, and active, and healthy, and charming. 
See you next month!
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