First Day in Hong Kong!!

We made it to Hong Kong and are having a great time (minus severe jet lag!). After an incredibly LONG flight on Cathay Pacific, we arrived at 6:30am in Hong Kong. We've been going non-stop ever since (and I think that it is definitely wearing on us...and our feet!).

On our first day (Dec. 26), we stayed on Lantau Island and rode the Ngong Ping 360 cable cars up to the Po Lin Monastery and the Giant Buddha. Susan and Paul then went to Hong Kong Island with Chris and Haylee and crashed the night with them while we stayed in Lantau and walked Piles the dog and rested up.

Here are some pix from our first day!

This is the house that we are staying at...note all the luggage! Yikes!

Piles, the dog we are walking while we stay at this house. He's already gotten me in trouble by peeing in front of someone's house (the old man who hollered at me and was appalled had to get out a bucket and wash down the walkway)

The gondola that we took to the Po Lin Monastery. It was a very nice long ride (after we waited in a VERY long line for about an hour and a half) and the 9 of us got to have a gondola all to ourselves. It went over the water, hills and mountains. Pretty great view!

The Giant Buddha! It doesn't looks so giant in a wide angle lens. As soon as I upload some of my pix from my other camera, I'll definitely share them!

Ok, well pix from days 2 and 3 will be coming soon! We spent day 2 in Kowloon and today we spent the day in Hong Kong Island. Tomorrow we are going to Macau...so I better head to bed early because I am B-E-A-T BEAT! ;)

Hong Kong and Taiwan, here we come!

Holy cow, I can't believe that it is already time for us to head off to Hong Kong and Taiwan. I have to admit that Adam and I have been totally neglectful of the holiday season and haven't properly wished our family and friends a happy holiday and merry Christmas. Heck, I've even missed a bunch of birthdays over the past few weeks too. So for all our family and friends reading this- you will probably get belated Christmas cards and will have to bear with our photos and stories from our vacation.

I recently purchased a brand new lens (Canon EF-S 10-22mm wide angle lens) and hope to get some amazing photographs from the trip!! If we have internet access abroad, we will definitely be sharing some stories and posting photographs! Love you all!

Below is a photo from 3 years ago on our way back from Michigan and our stop in New Mexico! It's amazing how quickly time has gone by (2 years ago we were in Beijing around Christmas, and last year we were in Key West!).

Camping at the Kern, Garden Updates & Disneyland!

I can't believe it is almost November! Things have been fairly uneventful, other than work (we moved in 1900+ students into Mesa Court in September, so its been busy). However, our garden is going great (no thanks to us...Renee and John are out there every day and we get out there when we can, which isn't saying much). We've had okra, basil, green chili peppers, bell peppers and tomatoes. Our carrots are still growing and our strawberry plants are going strong!




A few weeks ago, Adam and I made the leap and renewed our Disneyland passes so that we could join Amy, Kevin and the family while they were out here visiting. I'm glad that we have our passes again, but we haven't had a chance to go out since. Luckily a ton of friends have passes as well, so it won't be long before we get to go again.



Adam and I also headed out to the Kern River over the past weekend to go camping with Jennifer and my other co-worker Mitch. It was an incredibly nice break away from Irvine and work. We got to relax along the Kern River and I also spent some time stargazing, which you can't really do in the OC...I forgot how easy it is to see shooting stars- that night I saw 4!

Can we can fit everything into the car...?

Dinnertime!

Mitch reading by the fire...I need one of those headlights!!

On our hike, Jennifer found the perfect rock on the river

Mitch is wearing purple, wearing purple...or something.

Flyfishing on the Kern River

Jennifer and I on our hike!

California's fall colors- yellow & brown =)

Part of the river in our campground

Eggy casualty

Our Garden

UCI has a community garden for faculty & staff and my friend Renee had a couple plots with her husband. She was totally amazing and set aside some of the garden for Adam, Jennifer and I to use. She has been teaching us all the tricks of the trade (she is an amazing gardener and always brings us things like garlic, tomatoes, peppers, etc. when she worked in our office). We went to the nursery and bought some seeds and plants and are now well on our way to getting some tomatoes, green onions, carrots and bell peppers of our own. Unfortunately, something has been getting into our strawberries!! So exciting!!

Absolutely love our plot! Renee and John made it beautiful (and not just a dirt mound!)

Adam and Jennifer getting into the dirt

Jennifer and John noticed they were twins in their Celebrate UCI shirts

Drew's Goodbye!

This morning we saw Drew off as he headed on to his next adventure- working on his PhD at University of Texas! It is super sad to see him leave, but also very exciting because he is going on to an amazing next step in his life! As a little memento for Drew, Jennifer and I (with Adam's supervision) made Drew a photo album and it was ASTONISHING how much the four of us have done in the past year together- from camping in Big Bear, Sequoia, and Yosemite to eating, eating, and more eating! I hope we continue our memories together. Road trip to Austin is in order!

Last "West Coast Family" Friday night dinner at Cham Sut Gol

The photo album for Drew- hilarious cover shot

First page of the album- it took us almost 20 hours to complete! That's 40 man hours!

Yesterday we helped him pack his truck. This man has sooo much stuff. Wow.

But amazingly it all fit in the truck!

Drew's last time at his house in Mesa Court

This morning in our classic West Coast Family order- Drew, Jennifer, Adam and Emily

Very last WCF photo in Irvine at 8am on 8/10/08

And away he goes from Mesa Court Housing...

The card for Drew (from someecards.com). So mean and so funny!