Breakfast At The Lobby Lounge, 6/21/09

We'd been trying not to buy much food in preparation for moving, so Stella and I took to eating breakfast in the Lobby Lounge. She loved it. They have enormous muffins with a separate giant muffin top that's basically like a crumb cake. I'd order her muffin without the top so they'd wind up bringing us 2 or 3 carrot raisin bran muffins instead. They would then package what she didn't eat in a very small Four Seasons Hotel bag, which she'd proudly carry back to our flat as if she'd been shopping in the gift shop. At breakfast they'd also give her a special Hong Kong Four Seasons Hotel coloring book. She'd color and label all the staff in the coloring book, "Mandy, Cyrus, Eddy, Daphne" and all the other people that have been so nice to her. She'd tell me to draw black glasses on one of the bellman in the book to make him look like Cyrus.

Issy's Birthday Party, 4/25/09

Summer and Stella holding hands.

Ethan's mom, Annie, playing ring around the rosy with Stella, Summer and Ethan.

Parachute time--Issy is in the blue dress.

Waiting for the bus to the ferry with Holly and Ethan.

Issy's party was so much fun. It had been an Amber rainstorm earlier in the morning so we were worried about the ferry not being able to take us to Discovery Bay, where Issy lives. The ride over was very smooth and everyone was very excited. We took the ferry with Holly, Ethan and Summer.

When we got to the party Issy's mom, Caroline, had made Indian headbands for us to put together and wear. There was a lot of food and plenty of toys to play with. They played "parachute time" and pass the parcel. All of the kids were so good on both the bus and the ferry!

Ocean Park 4/21/09

On the way home, everyone is hungry and sharing snacks.

Eating Sienna's popcorn by the carousel!

Ethan and I on the swing.

Natalie and I about to go down the slide.

We went to Ocean Park with Natalie, Sienna, Ethan, Clara, Summer, Parker and their moms. The weather was perfect and it was not at all crowded. We played on the playground and saw the seal show!

Summer's Birthday Party

Stella is really going to miss Summer when we leave. These are photos from Summer's birthday party. I'm glad we landed in time to go. Stella talks about Summer all the time and it was fun because most of Stella's friends (and mine) were there.

Back to Hong Kong!!!

Stella is sooooo happy to be here because we don't really have much else to do aside from socializing and playing with her. The hotel had an Easter party where they hired a children's play company to bring in crafts and equipment. She told me as we were leaving that, "Party Fun, Mama!!!" We have been so, so busy just trying to maximize our time here.

In the second photo, she is listening to a Dora the Explorer walkman that her friend Summer gave her for her birthday. She dances around the house listening to it. She is also wearing her panda headband from Ocean Park (Hong Kong's SeaWorld equivalent).

Busy Birthday

Stella's birthday and Easter was very fun but we'll blog about that later since most of the photos are on the La Jolla computer and we are in Hong Kong right now. The highlights were a joint birthday party between Stella, Jack and our friend Bryan. Bryan was celebrating his 34th birthday but it was fitting that he share his party with two 2-year-olds for a number of reasons that I won't get into on Stella's blog. :) Then, we had combo Easter/Stella's birthday at the Cebron's house where Stella ate cake, played piano and ripped open her presents.

Zai Jien

Goodbye Hong Kong, for now. We had an emotional trip home as neither of us wanted to leave. Stella flew extremely well, per usual. She enjoyed her pod on Cathay Pacific much more than I thought and had basically no jet lag. She told me the other day that she wanted to play LEGOs and jump with the Little Boy. That means go to the hotel playroom. Me too, I thought to myself.

I'll leave it at that for now as there is still so much up in the air.