Random Snaps From Hawaii

I took our camera that can go underwater to Vail because I knew it would be okay to get wet in the snow, what I didn't realize was that a lot of our Hawaii pictures had never been downloaded from the camera and we haven't used it since our trip last September. So here is a random assortment of pictures from the camera from our trip to the Big Island.

Playtime and Beaver Creek

We arrived in Eagle on Thursday, Heather had to finish up a couple things at work, so Finley and I played on the playground and in the limited snow around.  There is sure a lot less here this year than last, shows what January vs March means.  We also grabbed a hot chocolate on our walk.  Finley had trouble holding the cup with the paper that keeps you from burning your hands.

On Friday, Heather's friend's daughter Kennadie came to play.  We took the girls to an indoor play gym and gymnastics center and they had a blast.  We went out for lunch and milkshakes at the "Tic Toc Clock" and then the girls got a great nap in.  We made cookies that night and got everything together for our early Saturday morning.

Heather was teaching her Form Your Own Team group at Beaver Creek, so we woke up early and left the house before 8 am.  Heather went into work while Finley and I made a snow cat and a snow man.  It was really snowing hard and the fresh snow didn't work so well for snowman making.  Heather had given us olives to use for eyes and it worked great, just like Finley had been planning. We headed back to Beaver Creek to grab something to drink and it was chocolate cookie time.  Finley and I each had a cookie and after we got drinks, Finley had another.  Such a healthy breakfast...I told her to pretend we were in France.

We then went to rent her some skis and get her an annual pass for Vail-Beaver Creek (free!)  I wasn't going to ski since I am not comfortable enough on skis with Finley alone, so I was free to use the gondola.  Finley got fitted for her skis and helmet, we took the cable car (gondola) to the beginner slopes and after the second run, Finley was a mess.  She was crying, I was frustrated and it was time for a break.  We went in to the ranch for some water and Heather was there with her girls.  Everyone had a snack and Heather gave me an edgie-wedgie for Finley.  That solved all the tears and she made about 5 more runs on the different slopes at the top.  The edgie-wedgie gave her the confidence to ski, though she kept complaining about one boot.  And I was having trouble locking the boots in the skis, so I decided to break for lunch and see what was up with the boots at the ski shop.  Turns out, she had two different sized boots on...whoops!

We had pizza for lunch and went back up to ski a few more times on the beginner slopes. We took the gondola back down to build a snowman and play in the snow.  Finley made snow angels and had a blast.  We headed back up the gondola to go tubing, which was Finley's favorite part of the day.  All the staff were cracking up at her directions.  She would want to go first, then second, lane one, then lane three, then a race...it was hysterical.  One of the guys at the bottom couldn't believe how many times she tubed.  Though at the end she was making me pull her in her tube instead of pulling it herself.  On the first run of the magic carpet she got tripped up with her tube and they had to stop it.  After that I took her tube up for her and she promised to remain still as a statue.  That didn't stop her from singing, which entertained everyone on the magic carpet. 

After tubing was done, we met back up with Heather and headed back to her house.  Uncle Steve (Heather's dad) came over to watch Finley while Heather and I went to dinner at The 10th on the top of Vail.  The gondola ride was long and cold, but the dinner was amazing and we got to ride a snow cat.  Finley was jealous that I got to ride another cable car and the snow cat.

Having Fun!

Rodeo Festival

It's Rodeo time in Houston, which means Rodeo Festival at Finley's school. We pulled up this morning and I said, "look Finley, a pony!" She wasn't excited at all...her response was, "look Mommy, it's Micah!" Micah is her best buddy at school and he was walking into school. That pony has nothing on Micah. Finley loved petting all the animals, except she was a bit wary of the duck and the chicken. All the baby goats were so cute! After the pony rides and petting zoo, Finley played in the hay and listened to some music while enjoying a snack. The final station was a craft decorating a cowboy hat. Finley spelled Finley and Mom on the hat...aww...

So Happy to be Home!

Hong Kong, Day Six

Finley was back to her old tricks again this morning, she woke up before 6 am and played with her animals for a bit. We had an early breakfast and headed over to Hong Kong Island on the Star Ferry. Our goal was to take the Mid Level Escalators. When we arrived, the escalators were going down, which meant we had to walk up several flights of stairs. After a bit, they reversed the direction, it was much easier taking the escalators up and the stairs down, it is how it should be all the time. We took the Star Ferry back to our hotel and grabbed some lunch along the way.

In the afternoon, we headed out to New Territories to see the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. There were 430 steps to the temple, it sure was a day for climbing. The temple was amazing. We climbed to the top of the bell tower pagoda and went inside to see all the Buddhas. Finley liked all the animal statues the best. We headed back down the steps to the train to get back to the hotel in time for dinner.

We had early reservations at Nobu so we could be certain to see the light show outside with the music. Finley was not a happy camper at dinner and didn’t want to try much at all. She had some shrimp, edamame and rice. She turned up her nose at lamb and Kobe beef. I know she loves lamb, so I am not sure what was going on there. And she needs to learn to like Kobe beef, because it is amazing.

After dinner we headed out to the Avenue of Stars to watch the show. Hong Kong needs to take some tips from Disney to improve their sound system a bit. Finley really enjoyed the show. We headed over to take the colorful ferry (Finley had been admiring it all week) to Wang Chai. When we got to Wang Chai we had a single purpose: to ride the double decker tram one last time. We took the tram all the way to central to take the Star Ferry back to the hotel. We looked for the model train, bus and tram shop all throughout the terminal, but couldn’t find it. Finley was disappointed and so were we. I took a picture of the information, so hopefully we can order the models online.

Good night and good bye to Hong Kong!

Hong Kong, Day Five

Today Finley finally got caught up on her jetlag. She awoke at 7:30 am after both Clifton and I were up, she finally got some much needed rest. Which was just in time for our day in Macau. We walked down to the China Ferry Terminal in Kowloon to catch the ferry to Macau. We ended up booking a ferry to Tapai, which meant our taxi ride was a bit longer, but not a huge deal.

Old town Macau was bustling with tourists. We walked through the town square, enjoyed an ice cream snack and headed over to the ruins of Sao Paulo church. Finley was most excited about going up the steps to the top. She loves her steps. We headed up to the fort and saw amazing views of the island, along with a few cannons. Next on our agenda was the cable car to the old lighthouse. It seemed like a far walk, but cabs were impossible to find, so we ended up just walking all the way over there. The ride to the top was quite short and Finley thought we were going to see a big Buddha like on Lantau Island. She was just as pleased with the church and lighthouse at the top after a bit of a walk, but we were all disappointed that you couldn’t go inside the lighthouse. That would have been quite neat. We took the cable car back down the mountain and figured out the bus we needed with the help of a couple of locals. We went over to the Hotel Lisbona since it was one of the original hotels and was done up extravagantly. It did not disappoint. I would equate it with the old part of Las Vegas, very over the top and gaudy. We grabbed a meal at the hotel and cabbed it back to the ferry terminal. After the hour long journey we realized the ferry was headed for Hong Kong Island instead of Kowloon. It wasn’t our day for ferries. But we did get to cross under Victoria harbor in a taxi cab. The toll for the tunnel was nearly equal to our cab fare. Finley fell asleep in the cab, but was awake enough to watch the light show from our room when we got back to the hotel.