Christmas 2019

It's been a while since we updated this blog.  With Dana doing frequent Facebook updates, the news we would post here is usually old.  But we thought we'd post the link to our Christmas letter here.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=14-2zhnt-GhcfExGrlHVAME1mepWDESOn

First Basketball Game

it was an exciting day as we headed to Lakeside Lutheran for Luke's first basketball game. He played at noon against St. Matthews. They played hard.  Luke was a bit unsure at first.  He gained his confidence after making a basket. He made great passes. The team worked together well.  Toward the middle of the game, Luke scored another basket,  this time a 3 pointer!  An amazing shot!
He was so proud of his 2 winning games that were played back to back.
We celebrated post game getting pizza with Aladodo and Papa.

Go Home Day

The Asiana captain with Luke

Since almost the day we met Luke, he’s been asking/telling us “Go Home”.   Sometimes it means he wants to go back to the hotel or move on to the next thing, but sometimes it’s a question about when we’re going to America.  Well, today is “Go Home” day.  

The trip has been long for everyone, but I have to imagine it has been longest for Luke.  While things like the Safari Park and Disneyland are fun, I’m sure he just wants to move forward and get to America.  And it will be good to “Go Home” and start family life with the seven of us.  While traveling, the family dynamics are always a bit different – sometimes better and sometimes worse.  I love the aspect of spending time together and not having to worry about work or the daily concerns of life since it allows more time to focus on everyone.  But always being together and not being on a normal routine can create tensions and frustrations.  So Luke has probably seen the best and worst of us as a family and he’s still willing to be a part of it all so that’s a good start.

The Blechacz family followed us to Hong Kong, arriving at the Sky City Marriott yesterday. We saw their family of eight at breakfast this morning all dressed in red outfits with "Hong Kong Disneyland" logos.  They are headed to Disneyland before leaving on Sunday.  

Luke in Chicago, officially a US citizen now

After breakfast, we finished up packing and took the shuttle to the airport.  The check in took a long time because they were having trouble entering Luke’s visa into the system.  Normal visas allow a stay of a certain length and generally require a return date or round trip ticket.  But his IH3 visa is essentially a one-time, one-way visa.  Apparently the computer system, at least for Asiana, was not easily accepting that.  But eventually we got checked in.  Our flight to Seoul was delayed by about 40 minutes so we had a little extra time at the airport.  The check in area of Hong Kong International reminds me of Seoul/Incheon International with a large hall and aisles for carrier check in.  I didn't spend too much time exploring the rest of the airport as I was trying to catch up with the blog, but it seems to be a shopping center than also happens to handle air traffic. We walked by several high end stores on our way to the gate and Cami and Dana spent some time shopping for last minute souvenirs.

Luke was excited to get off the ground in Hong Kong and the flight to Seoul was uneventful – about three hours.  His one request was a window seat and with seven seats on the aircraft, we had a couple of window seats for him to choose from.

Luke enjoyed his window seat

Setting sun near Korea

 Once we arrived in Seoul, we had to go through a screening process in order to transfer to our other international flight, but we did not have to go through immigration or customs, which was a first for us at Incheon International.  We waited a little over an hour to board our next flight. The flight to Chicago took a while to get off the ground.  We were a bit late leaving the gate and then sat on the runway waiting for a take off slot.  After a long day of travel, we finally arrived in Chicago around 7:45pm, about 30 minutes late.

It was good to be back on American soil, but we weren't able to go home yet.  We had to clear customs and immigration and I knew it would take longer because Luke's paperwork needed to be processed.  We were finally released around 8:45pm where we were greeted by Grandma and Grandpa Meier (Bruce & Bonnie), Brian, Stacy and Hank Raemisch, and our driver Stefan Wahe, a dad of three adopted kids, host of Jacob and tireless advocate for children who need a forever family.  Grandma had hugs and kisses for everyone including Luke and had packed little snack bags for the ride home.  Ben rode with his buddy Hank in the Raemisch car while we piled our luggage and everyone else into our van.  It was nice to be behind the wheel with a small sense of control after being driven around in crazy traffic for the last three weeks.

Ian and Luke sleeping

Our journey wasn't over yet.  When we rolled in to our driveway a little before midnight, there was another surprise waiting for us.  Some of our friends had offered to remake a room in our house, but we were not ready for the surprise they had waiting for us.  The whole dining room, living room, kitchen, and our bedroom were transformed.  The dining area had been repainted with a mock blackboard, several walls had been painted a light blue, pictures from our trip were hanging on the wall, the living room table was white and Dana's Midwest Airlines chairs were up in the bedroom.  The house looked amazing.  I'm pretty sure we threatened the kids with severe punishment if they messed it up that night.

Everyone was excited to be home and it took a while to calm down and get into bed.  We were finally home - the journey has begun!

Luke with his paperwork in Chicago

Blackboard and new curtains in dining area

Kids artwork hung on clipboards - how creative!

Pictures from our trip!

A new table in our kitchen area!  Plus curtains.

Midwest chairs and a nicely made bed!

Alex was happy to see his toys again.

Riding High in Hong Kong

Our ride

Hong Kong seems to be a city that could take weeks to fully explore, but we were on our last full non-travel day.  With everyone worn out from a long day at Disney, we wanted to do something closer to the hotel that wouldn’t take up the entire day.  Since we are on Lantau Island, we decided to try to the Ngong Ping cable cars that take you to Ngong Ping village.  

We lucked out with great weather for Disney.  It was unexpectedly sunny and I have the sunburn to prove it since we forgot the sunscreen.  But today’s forecast was calling for overcast and possible rain and the forecasters were accurate.  It was cloudy and foggy when we woke up and the mountain peaks were obscured with fog.  It was pretty, but not the best for sight seeing. But since it was our last day, we figured we’d give it a try anyway.

When we arrived at the cable car station, the lines were longer than expected and while waiting in line it started to rain.  We bought a few ponchos as insurance and hoped for the best.  When we boarded our cable car, it was raining again.  We were nice and dry inside, but our view was obscured by the rain and clouds.  We had opted for a crystal cabin, which meant the floor was made of see through glass.  It was neat to see the rain falling below us.  About 1/3 of the way up, we heard a couple rumbles of thunder and then the we stopped briefly.  I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous and things got awfully quiet in the car.  We resumed our ride soon enough but then the wind picked up.  The cars are designed to allow the natural breeze into the cabine to keep the ride more comfortable without using A/C, but when the wind starts whipping around, it makes a lot of noise and the mood in the cabin was definitely a bit more tense until the wind died down a bit.

Looking down at the street

View of trail from the bottom of our cable car

On the top of the mountain, there is a gift shop and they have the photo you took when boarding already printed out and ready for sale when you get off the cable car.  After you leave the gift shop, you enter a tourist village filled with shops and restaurants.  We stopped at a martial arts show before making our way to the Big Buddha statue that is the main attraction on the mountaintop.  Apparently it is the second largest Buddha statue in the world.  To get to the statue, you need to climb over 250 steps and Dana did that with Alex strapped to her back on wet cement – impressive!   While the rain had stopped, the foggy/cloudy skies meant we couldn’t even see the Big Buddha from the bottom of the steps.  We all climbed the steps and took some pictures at the top.  Even with the fog, it’s a gorgeous view from the top.  It did feel a bit odd making the journey to see a Buddha statue since I’m not a Buddhist.  

Ngong Ping Village

Ngong Ping Village looking toward Buddha

Steps up to the Big Buddha

When we got down the steps, we stopped for lunch at a noodle place.  Then we watched the Motion 360 movie about Lantau Island that aims to make you feel like you’re actually riding in a helicopter by blowing wind at you or spraying you with water and moving your seat.  It was a nice way to explore the whole island in a limited time.  I wouldn’t mind doing the actual island tour if the opportunity were to arise again although I’m not sure I’d make the trip to Hong Kong just for that – it’s a long flight!

As we queued up to go back down, it started to rain again, but it didn’t last for the whole ride down.  There wasn’t any noticeable wind on the way down and since we survived the trip up, we were less nervous on this leg of the journey.  After we disembarked, we stopped at a grocery store near the metro station and picked up some noodles, drinks and snacks for dinner since the kids wanted to get back and swim.  

Once we returned to the hotel, we went swimming, then ate our dinner and packed up our stuff.  Tomorrow we’re heading home.  

One last swim in the pool

Disneyland

Welcome to Disneyland

Today was our Disney adventure.  We had considered cancelling this experience, but a friend of ours had given us a gift and specifically wanted us to experience Hong Kong Disney.  So we set off from the hotel on the 10 am shuttle, planning to make a full day of the experience and returning on the 8:45pm shuttle.  Dana had done some research and we found that Disney offers a meal plan for lunch and dinner plus a snack.  Food at Disney isn’t economical, but this was a better deal than buying it a la carte if you intended to stay the whole day.

Our time at Disney started off a little rough.  When we left the hotel it was a bit cool and we had even brought along jackets as the weather forecast was showing overcast skies and temps in the upper seventies.  By the time we arrived at the park it was sunny and warming so the jackets got dumped into the backpack and we were getting warm.  Add hot to being tired and not having a plan of attack for navigating the park, and the wait of getting through the gates, getting the meal tickets, etc. and we weren’t all being as patient as we could have been.  

Luke loving the runaway mine cars ride

We started off with a train ride to the other side of the park – Fantasyland.  We rode a few rides and developed a plan for the rest of the day.  We grabbed a snack, made our way through Toy Story land and then moved to Mystic Point where we ate lunch at Explorer's Club Restaurant.  They had food selections from various countries like Korea, Japan and southeast Asia.  From there, we headed to Grizzly Gulch, the area where Ian wanted to go because it had the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars roller coaster.  Alex was too short to ride, so I went on the ride with Ben, Cami, Ian and Luke.  The kids loved it so much, they rode it again and this time I stayed with Alex.  Because the lines were short, they rode it a third time.  Later in the day, we stopped back at this area for three more rides.  It was definitely the favorite ride of the day and the one that generated the most smiles and laughs.  

We also made it over to Tomorrowland where Alex and Cami enjoyed several rounds of the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters game.  We also ate our dinner at the Starliner Diner in this area where they served a Darth Vader burger although it was hard to figure out how to order it.

The parade at night

After dinner, it started to get dark and we watched the parade of characters when it was all lit up.  This was quite a spectacle.  After the parade, we tried to get back to Grizzly Gulch for another roller coaster ride, but that area of the park had already closed for the day so we ended up riding the Mad Hatter Spinning Teacups as the finale ride for the day.

Our shuttle bus back to the hotel left at 8:45pm and the fireworks show that closes the park started at 8:30pm and the walk to the shuttle bus took 10+ minutes so we finished up the last souvenir purchases and watched a few minutes of fireworks before racing back to the bus, arriving minutes before it pulled out of the lot and headed back to the hotel.  We were all exhausted, but I think everyone had a good time.

Ben would like this car.

Several expensive cars outside our hotel.  Cami's choice!

Alex loved the characters.  Here with Sophia the First.

On the Merry Go Round

Actors dressed as toy soldiers in Toy Story Land

Tomorrowland

The elusive Darth Vader burger

Star Wars eggs.  There were character eggs all over the park.

Rice shaped like Mickey tastes better

The parade at night.

Goodbye, Disneyland Hong Kong

On to Hong Kong

Waiting in line at the train station.  We're on Z817.

We finished up packing and were ready to go when our guide Kelly arrived at 10:45am.  Our luggage was quite a load, so it was nice to have the help of the bell staff.  At the train station, Kelly helped us get our bags inside and then we said goodbye and headed through immigration since we would be leaving China to go to Hong Kong.  Even though Hong Kong is technically part of China, they are separate enough to have different passports and immigration policies.  Originally, I thought the train was a high speed train, but it was more of a traditional train with a top speed somewhere around 70 or 80 mph since we were going faster than cars on the highway.

About halfway through our journey, we slowed down to pass through Shenzen.  On the trip, Luke seemed to be having a difficult time.  I think there was some sadness due to the fact that he was leaving China.

Luke looking out the train window

Once we arrived in Hong Kong at the Hum Hong station in Kowloon, we found a driver with an eight passenger van just big enough to fit our luggage and passengers.  I hopped in the front left seat next to the driver.  A weird feeling being in that spot when I'm not driving, but that's a reminder that we left China and moved to Hong Kong, a former British colony.  Beyond the driving on the "wrong" side of the road, our initial impression of Hong Kong was that it was cleaner than Guangzhou.  We also liked the fact that apparently the water is safe to drink.  

It wasn't long before we arrived at our hotel which is right near the airport.  Luke started to get excited at the site of the airport and I think he was disappointed when we unloaded at the hotel - the Sky City Marriott.  We asked the front desk attendant to explain to him that we had a few days in Hong Kong before leaving.  He seemed to understand, but I can tell he just wants to "Go Home", a phrase I've heard from him often.

Sky City Marriott - our new home for 3 nights!

The Sky City Marriott is a beautiful hotel, full of international travelers.  It felt vastly different than China and even the Garden Hotel.  There were British, Australian, American, Chinese, and Indian people mingling for business or pleasure.  The location of the hotel is on beautiful and mountainous Lantau Island in Hong Kong.  We chose it because it is close to Disneyland and close to the airport.  The downside is that it is isolated from everything else - you can't really walk anywhere.  But they do have shuttle bus service to a nearby subway station that has a good sized shopping area.

Since we were pretty wiped out from traveling, we decided to order some pizza and then go swimming.  The only delivery options were Pizza Hut and KFC so we went with Pizza Hut.  We thought the prices were fairly reasonable, but when the pizza arrived, we realized a large pizza in Hong Kong is not the same as a large in the US.  It ended up being enough for everyone, but no one was stuffed from dinner.  

Dana in the pool.

Then we went to the pool.  It was indoor and warmer than the Garden Hotel and attached to a men's and women's locker/changing room.  The changing rooms had a small hot tub, steam room and sauna.  We spent some time in all three, but mostly in the pool.  It was a good way to relax before heading to bed for a good night's sleep since tomorrow is Disneyland Hong Kong!

A Quick Run

In front of the Zhongshan Monument

One of the things I like to do when traveling is to explore an area by running.  Up to this point, I haven't done a proper run in China.  We walked a lot, but the opportunity to sneak away for a quick run hadn't presented itself.  With today being the day we leave, I was either going to run this morning or miss the opportunity.  I've found that now that I'm adjusted to the different time zone, my body has returned to being a morning person.  I'm normally up first, usually by or before sunrise.  So today, when I woke up just before sunrise, I decided to give the run a try.  I quietly left the hotel just before 6 am and hopped the subway to Yuexiu Park.  My plan was to run for 25-30 minutes and be back at the hotel by 7:15 am or earlier since we were planning to meet the Frankes for breakfast around 7:30 or 7:45am.

Subway is less crowded at 6am

At 6am, the subway corridors are very empty and I had to wait a few minutes for a train.  I got to the park a little before 6:30 am and started my run.  I ran a bunch of steps and saw a lot of sites that we didn't see the first time through.   Along the way, I encountered many senior aged Chinese that were out exercising and workers who were sweeping the pathways to keep the park looking great  About 20 minutes into my run, I got to the Zhongshan Monument.  At that point, I figured I should turn back. Unfortunately, I had zig-zagged my way to this point and didn't remember exactly where I was.  So I ran in the direction I thought I had to go.  After a few more minutes, I felt like I was in a new area and not going in the correct direction so I stopped to look at the map which was all in Chinese, but it did have some pictures.  But in my rush, I mistook a circle on the map as the "you are here" marker and set off in the wrong direction.  After several wrong turns and a few more stops at the map, I found my way back to the metro station although by then it was 7:20 am and my 30 minute run was over 50 minutes. The station was busier, but the trains were more frequent so I made it back shortly after 7:30 am before anyone got too worried.  Not the best way to start a travel day, being behind schedule before  you even have breakfast, but we should have enough time to eat, finish packing and get to the train station for a noon departure.

Downtown Guangzhou from Yeuxiu Park

Guangzhou's ancient city wall

Canton Tower

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