6. Take the tram up to the Peak in Hong Kong

One Sunday afternoon when Amanda's parents were here we headed to The Peak in HK. The tram ride up was pretty cool. It's pretty steep at times. Once at the top we did some shopping and had dinner at Bubba Gump. Because it was rainy it felt like we were inside a cloud. Unfortunately, this also meant that we couldn't properly see the skyline (which is generally the whole point of heading up there in the first place). Something tells me we'll be back...




43 done, 57 left...

4. Walk on the Great Wall

We spent Amanda's birthday on The Great Wall with her parents, her sister Carly and Carly's friends Erin. We ended up on the Mutianyu section after hearing that the Badaling section is too busy. We had a wonderful day hiking between the various towers. It was definitely windy up there and we were happy we brought our jackets.

Needless to say, Kaid loved the wall and fantasized that he was part of a battle. He found a stick that he used as a gun and was running up and down the wall looking for enemies. The best part about this is that recently Kaidyn has been giving his Scottish accent a go. This made for an entertaining afternoon.


The sledding down the side of the mountain on the metal track was a big highlight of the day. Safe? Not likely. Fun? Absolutely!


We had lunch at The Schoolhouse restaurant near the wall. It is a restaurant that used to be a school. Appropriate for Amanda's birthday lunch!

42 down...58 to go!

Patsy, T-Bone and CHINA

Amanda's parents just left yesterday after spending three weeks with us. We spent some time in Macau and Hong Kong (and Zhuhai for some massages), and then headed to Beijing and Xi'an for a week. Amanda's sister Carly and her best friend E-Cre joined us in Beijing. A great time was had by all and here are some pics from the last three weeks.

Also-it needs to be noted that my mother-in-law begged me for a country song to go along with the slideshow she knew would be put up here.

This one's for you, Patsy...







Also, Mandy misses you.

64. Visit a night market

The night market in Chiang Mai is apparently beyond belief! Hundreds of vendors selling anything and everything. Amanda picked me up a sweet Killers t-shirt that she was hoping I would not like so that she could have it. I am wearing it as I type so her plan was not successful.

Hers' a couple pics:




41 down, 59 left to go!!!

In other news-the out-laws arrive tonight and they are bringing 4 suitcases full of shmag for us. Amanda and the kids are vibrating with excitement and can't wait till they get here. I am just hoping Tom will fix our stovetop and Pat will do what Pat does best...cook good things and clean our fridge!

47. Go in a Buddhist temple (and learn more about Buddhism in general)

The girls went to Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai and learned a lot more about Buddhism while they were in Chiang Mai. This particular temple is over 700 years old. They met a buddhist man who used to be a monk and chatted with him for quite some time about the Buddhist way of life. While they were there they also saw a lot of monks in training-young boys who were spending a couple of weeks at the wat taking classes.





40 complete...60 left!!

2. Bathe an elephant

Here are a few pics of the girls bathing some elephants.



39 down...61 left to go!!

The real surprise-as told by Amanda

Hello all!

Several months ago I began hatching a plan to do something special to celebrate Kylisha turning 16 in March and Danika turning 16 in April. With Danika's mom's blessing I booked a surprise four night trip for the 3 of us to Thailand. We left Thursday and just returned today. It was an action-packed and fun-filled weekend of surprises and laughter.

I have been saying to Les over and over the last two weeks that everything seems right with the world again-Danika being here with us has been wonderful. She is like a daughter to us and we love her very much. Of course-Kylisha has been pretty happy to have her around too!

Now-back to the surprise. I told the girls we would be spending the weekend in HK and that I had lots of surprises planned. Lies. Instead of heading to the ferry terminal we ended up at the airport and flew to Bangkok. Then it was on to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a weekend with the elephants at Elephant Nature Park. We spent the weekend learning about and interacting with elephants who have been saved from horrendous abuse. Some have horrific physical injuries from land mines or illegal logging. Some have suffered physical and mental abuse and have been malnourished and passed from owner to owner. But, they have all been saved by an amazing woman and are living the rest of their lives in peace and happiness in a beautiful sanctuary in northern Thailand. Words cannot begin to express what an amazing experience it was. Hands down the greatest weekend!





Saying goodbye to D. Humes tomorrow will be rough (for more of us than just Kylisha). But-we are thankful to have had this time with her and the memories will last a whole lifetime.

Love you, Dani :)