The Zhao Family

We've had quite a bit of fun here in Hong Kong the last two weeks. We've managed to visit two of the biggest theme parks here, Ocean Park which covers the space of two mountain sides and Disneyland Hong Kong which is smaller than the size of Six Flags in Largo. Both have very exciting and very different things to do and you can imagine we try to make the most out of both.

Let's start with Ocean Park. Hong Kong's most popular and longest running theme park and still great for kids and family.

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A park so big it took all of us to figure out where to start. Clayton's very serious about getting started.


Let's go see the Panda's first. They actually have very active Pandas playing and running around the park. The kids enjoy their entertainment quite a bit. And we love the mascot!


And now onto some serious fun! We hit the Ferris Wheel and a bunch of other games. From the looks of Abbey, we think she's afraid of heights especially when the boys and I are trying to rock the carriage.


Merry Go Round, Boat rides, Flying animal rides, live bird shows, and gigantic mythical creatures to entertain us, you bet the kids had a lot of fun!



Must. Take photos. with cute animals.



Or be eaten by the Shark



The best park was the 10 minute ride on the Cable Cars that are suspended very high above the air to connect the park between two mountains along the riverside. The kids really love the ride but have no idea how high they are above the ground, however Abbey was not too please when we try to rock the carriage on this mile long ride going steep escalations and steep drops.


Two days later: Disneyland Hong Kong !

It's pretty incredible the amount of money Disney put into this theme park. They've integrated their own train line into Hong Kong's intricate train system to have their own Mickey Mouse trains. And when you get out of the train station you are at the entrance of the park. The day we went was not the best weather, in fact at times it was pouring, however we did go and did have a great time!


The train line with Mickey Mouse and right out of the station is the Disneyland sign. Quite convenient.



Here we are!! (Note to our kids in the future: You can't say we never took you to Disneyland) Our friend Karrie shouffered us around the park. Greatly appreciated her hospitality.


Look who's all geared up for the day!


One of the biggest advantage of going to the park on a rainy day is that you definitely don't get the crowd and hot sticky weather. So took advantage of the situation. Thanks to the rain, there was absolutely no line, in fact there was two people or less in front of us to take photos with the characters. So we spent about 15 minutes taking photos with each character and they absolutely played their role and let us take as many photos as we want. In fact so many pictures were taken that the park's photographer gave me half of her booklet of photo numbers (you know the ones you take up to the counter before you leave the park to buy photos with the characters) which was over 20 of their pictures, you can imagine how many I took.











Very pretty Alice got out from her Wonderland. The boys got 3D shades for their 180 degree IMAX show treatment of Mickey and Donald's music extravaganza. I got to say that I've never experienced it and found it very very cool to have simulations of wind, water, and smell while watching a 3D show on a 180 degree panoramic screen.


And lastly how can you skip the ride with Dumbo! And yes they did end the night with fireworks! There are many other rides and things we did there as well but just can't post so many things here. Overall the kids had lots and lots and lots of fun going to these theme parks.

I think coming to Hong Kong is more exhaustive than at home because everywhere we go, we must walk unlike the good'o usa where we drive everywhere to the closest entrance. However public transport is extremely convenient and everywhere and at very close intervals between each other. Oh yes, did we mention we've been splurging on all the local yummy street vendor foods?



Before we get into the food and funfair and coming to Hong Kong, Abbey's brother told us there was a crawling competition on one of the days when we're in HK. So of course, Cayleigh got signed up. The photos above showed how we prepared our daughter to get ready for the competition and she was all ready to go too! Then we did something by mistake. Thinking that giving her some food and snacks would perk her up but instead that backfired. Instead of crawling all she wanted we the snacks and not crawling and that is literally 30 seconds before the competition started. So mom desperately tried to lure her, even with Brennan's help to crawl to the food. The photos below show you how much she like that method. Nevertheless at the end she did get a cert and a little prize.





Clayton found his hero at the mall where Cayleigh competed.



Here's our daily journey to everywhere we go.



Abbey and I get the luxury of actually holding hands while the grands are enjoying time with the kids. (Brennan's helping push his sister)



Grandpa is teaching Brennan to use chopsticks. We're almost getting there for Brennan to use on his own.



Eating dinner on street venues contains a bare table with think plastic table cover, plastic stools, lots of noisy people, and of course yummy delicious foods!



Just makes your mouth water...



The best part of street tables is that when people know you're about to be finished with the table, there's a flock of people hovering around the table to claim it for them as you can see. Not like we didn't do it, but just show you how much privacy we have compared to the volume of people here



Street market food are great too. Everything is fresh and made on the spot to be consumed on the spot.



Finally some rest at home and spending some quality time with their cousin, Amo!



Cayleigh is like 3 inches short than Amo who is 3 weeks younger.



Can you believe this whole family live here? I am just kidding. Here is grands with their two children and five grandchildren.

Hello everyone, it's been a crazy week for our family. After a crazy schedule at work, we're finally packed and flew to Hong Kong. After arrival, our schedule was even more packed to go to places, visit family and friends. Finally a few minutes to sit down and update this blog.







A little excited to fly to see the grandparents in Hong Kong? Is it worth the 18 hour straight flight? It's pretty apparent what the answer might be.





These planes have built in TVs and the kid are taking full advantage of the situation.



I am always amaze what kind of people I run into. For instance we had some trouble getting our plane tickets and suddenly these Chinese looked so confused and out of place but I just know they are going to the same place. What do I do? of course offer help! and then offer even more help. At the end we end up with our family, two sets of elderly couples and a interesting young lady all walking like a little mafia navigating through the airport of JFK.



Someone's already a pro.



Someone can't be bothered with extended travel. Beauty before age.





Who said the food tray can't be used in any other way?

Words, texts, writing, etc: Literature arts are not strong points in me as you can tell. Over the many posts we have been updating, we probably have more photos than words contained within this blog. Like the adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words" "畫意能達萬言" and on top of that, we even have videos too which may mean we're writing a lot?

Anyways, work's been so crazily busy that have not had the chance to write something decent here. To further impede this process Abbey's been doing my whole family taxes and helping a friend with hers too while trying to keep the family together. So the last thing on her mind is letting everyone know how busy she is/we are. It's almost midnight and this is the best time to post something after everything's been accomplished for today.

Cayleigh's almost walking. She's crawling very fast and loves to go up the stairs. She can stand on her own now but just afraid of that first step. But very soon we'll be afraid of all the places she's running to. Clayton is starting to read words and is a copy cat of his older sibling. Brennan is spelling words and loves to test the science experiments from the kits that mom got him.

So I will try to continue this legacy less words, more photographs.













Brennan's in a swim class that his closest age peer is 2.5 years older than him. He has a bit of catching up to do but he did great!











Mom did a great job taking these photos of Cayleigh have fun in her swim class.





Clayton somehow didn't like the last session but this time he love every minute of it and swims like shark!



Daffodill meet Cayleigh.

My apologies to our fellow blog readers. Work's been really crazy the last couple weeks since they've expanded a whole new building and I'm responsible for deploying and setting up all new PCs for the new building. I've heard your requests, Marj! and give you a small update of the recent nice weather outside!


















Brennan's not in any of the photos b/c his punishment was not allowed to go outside. His siblings sure enjoyed the beautiful weather outside!

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog. Lately we haven't been taking photos enough to keep update this post with new photos, however do enjoy yourself with these videos that I've neglected to post.


I am not sure if my boys were helping me out or I was on my own.



My angels and my sleeping angel is taking her beauty nap.



She's got mad skills at 11 months, so proud of her. It was her couple times playing with it and suddenly we were surprised when she picked them up and put them in the slots so they can connect with the main rotating gear. Cool beans.


I maybe be meanest dad, but it shows that my girl is nobody's fool!




On the snowmagedon of Jan 2010, we simply went to the back of our house with our cousins and sled down the hill from the school! The boys had so much fun!






Boys learning to play the drum and of course Brennan shakes his body to the music.





Act I: Planning and coordinating


Act II: Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal


Act III: Camera, lights, Action!



This is from 2008 Chinese New Year when Brennan was performing, any difference?