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!"
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| A view of Discovery Bay. |
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| The hills are alive, with the sound of music. |
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| Maverick really enjoyed the hike, as you can tell. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Just a casual cow crossing in Mui Wo.
Disneyland
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| Elder and Sister Holbrook took a P-day to come to Disneyland with us! |
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| Good old Mormon humor. 'Garments' for sale at Disneyland. |
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| Mav loves the carousel. Every time we pass by it he signs "more". Here he is staring longingly as we wait in line. |
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| 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!
