hot pot and "nature" walk

Last week we met some friends at a favorite little restaurant to enjoy a Hot Pot meal. Its good to do on cooler nights because you are basically sitting around an open flame :o) We ordered the spicy broth and it was delicious!

I love living in Hong Kong, the weather, the food, the people, the opportunities... all great. What I don't really love though is the fact that we are living in a city where we have limited outdoor places to play and explore. I'm noticing this more as Jack gets older... Even the parks (which there are many!) don't really have natural play areas... they're all cement and landscaping. Right outside our estate is a large canal for flood control, around it there is a bike path. This is our main playground at the moment. Here are pictures from our walk today.

Throwing leaves down the drain.

Putting seed pods in the ditch.

Driving a car on a tree.

Playing in the ditch right outside our estate. All the other mothers/maids look at me like I'm crazy when I let him get in, but it's just a little dirt and water :o)

In six months...

Our life is going to totally change! Baby Thompson #2 is expected to be arriving mid-Sept! We are SO excited for the addition to our family. Sometimes I already feel huge, but other times it seems I hardly look pregnant. Like these two pictures... looks totally different...?

Went in for my first appointment last week at 12 weeks, and everything looks great. Heres the first picture of our new little one.

boys at play

We spent the morning over at my friend Jamila's this morning. They boys had a blast playing

outside in the cool air. The weather today is perfect! Cool, sunny and not humid!

This is the first good picture of the three of them that we have gotten in months! Josiah (22 mths), Jack (18), Malcolm (20).

And... picture time is over!

Rubik Cube Genius?

Bryan and I found Jack playing with the Rubik cube a couple of days ago. He was so serious, it was great! He likes to turn the sides... if only he could actually solve it :o)

not too many pictures...

I realized earlier this week when I went to update our blog, that I haven't really taken any photos since last week. So, I took a few and now can share :o) We had a play time over at our place yesterday and Jack and Malcolm had a really fun time playing together. Things got a little crazy when Josiah showed up, not because of him, but we thought because "three's a crowd". :o)

I took Jack in for his 18 month drs. check yesterday. He weighs between 24-25 lbs, and is 32.5 inches tall. Both are between the 50-75th percentile for his age... pretty good. He also stacked blocks like a champ for the nurse. She asked me tons of questions about him and his development and the whole time he kept trying to open her drawers and grab her stamp pad... not sure how impressed she was :o) We think hes pretty great though!

my new blog

just wanted to let you know that I have started a new blog just for me (Emily). So I can share some of the projects that I have been working on. I've linked it under our picture on this blog if you want to check it out! enjoy....

Malaysia, truely Asia...

At least thats what the ads always claim :o) We really did enjoy our time there though! We took a ton of pictures, so here is just a sampling of our time over the last week.

On the way to our beautiful and remote island location we had to spend a night in KL (Kuala Lumpur) The hotel that I had booked for the night was mistakenly reserved for Jan 15th, not feb (opps), so we made it work :o)We were able to go into the city for an enjoyable evening as well.

Here we are arriving at the island/hotel. The Perhentian Islands are two islands off the coast of Malaysia. Also, a few shots around our beach. Jack and Bryan are standing on the porch of our little cottage.

This little island had some great wildlife, which we took in as we did some hiking every day. There were trails though the jungle which led to other beaches and hotels. We were VERY startled to come around the corner and see several large lizards (bigger than Bryan!) in this garbage pile.

There wasn't much to do, except enjoy the beautiful beach and water. We really enjoyed play with Jack and relaxing by the water.

One afternoon Jack crawled up on my lap and was asleep within seconds, I guess he was tired :o)

We ate lots of great food. Jack ate friend rice or a noodle dish two meals a day for the week. He was in heaven! I said it was going to be hard for him to come home, where I feed him peanut butter and jelly :o)

Some friends from school happened to be staying at the same place we were. So, one morning they graciously volunteered to watch Jack, so Bryan and I could go on a snorkel expedition. It was really great! TONS of fish, and a sea turtle! A first for us both!

On the weekend we headed back to KL for Bryans school conference. They have a Chilis (my favorite in the world!) yum! On Sunday, while Bryan was busy, Jack and I took in the local park, wading pool and pool at the hotel. It was a fun way to end the trip.