Hong Kong

Hong Kong was amazing! We really enjoyed our time there. It was not the most stroller friendly place, but neither is Boston. We managed to maneuver our way through all the forms of public transportation, including the little trams that run down the middle of the streets. Like Singapore, we really enjoyed the food and the nice clean subways.

The first activity there was heading to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha. It was big. We took a cable car up the mountain to the little town where it is. That was really cool. We learned afterward that there has only been one car that has fallen off the cable since they started to use these in 2005.

Dad and son getting back from a diaper change. Thankfully this one did not involve an outfit change.

The next day we spend some time just puttering around the city. It is such a fascinating place. We also took a Star Ferry across the harbor. These are really old ferries that run on diesel and electricity (or something like that). They had great views and were air conditioned. We were always happy to get an air conditioned refuge from the humid heat. I thought that I was in Miami again. On the ferry we gave Isaac some water (or at least tried...sometimes my aim is not so good).

Later that day we took a tram up to Victoria Peak. It was an incredibly steep ride-we learned that this tram has had no accidents. That was good to hear when we were cruising up the hill. At the top we got some fantastic views of the city.

The first shot here is from when we were waiting for the tram. The second shot was taken at the peak. On the way back while we were waiting in line for the tram, Isaac had a moment of stardom. All the people in line around us were taking pictures of him and posing with him. He was totally loving all the attention and obliging them with lots of smiles and giggles.

In general this kid was exceptionally popular on the trip. He might have had more pictures taken of him by strangers than by us. It seems that people really liked his big blue eyes-who wouldn't? It was really entertaining to watch him react to the attention he was getting. Now he is having to adjust to his more quiet life at home.

Here are some shots of wandering around the city on our last night in town. Aleks is getting handy with the camera. He was also enjoying the wide angle lens that we got in Hong Kong.

A hot day vacationing is not complete without a cold treat at the end. Thankfully Hong Kong (and Singapore) are filled with 7-elevens (kind of like Dunkin' Donuts in Boston).

Now for some nice shots that Aleks got of us around the hotel. Isaac is just getting cuter and cuter by the minute. He is getting less camera-intrigued and doing a better job at smiling at the camera, rather than staring at it like it is some alien creature-with the exception of one of the shots below.

A family portrait in the elevator.

One of the new experiences for Isaac this trip was going swimming. He was never quite sure what to think of it, but he did not complain. At least he has a really cute swimsuit.

I think that an appropriate subtitle to this trip would be "adventures in breastfeeding". Needless to say finding a good place (air conditioned, moderately discreet) to feed Isaac was a bit tricky and we had to do it about every 3 hours. Here are shots of a few of the places we went. Not included are the couch in the posh women's department store (Aleks felt a little weird about taking a photo there), some random bench in an office building, and a couple of LDS churches.

Here are a few other random shots. We liked this promenade along Kowloon Island that gave us great views of the Hong Kong Island. There were a few fisherman hanging out-this one was kind enough to pose for us.

We could see this building from our hotel. All over Hong Kong they use bamboo for scaffolding. I think that it is safe to say that unions probably do not have the foothold there that they do here.

Singapore fun!

So, I am pretty overdue for getting this post up. We got back Monday from a fantastic trip to Singapore and Hong Kong. Work took us to Singapore and a multiple day layover allowed us to hang out in Hong Kong. Trying to adjust back from a twelve hour time change has been exciting, especially since it has been coupled with Isaac figuring out how to roll himself on to his stomach, but not quite figuring out how to get back. So, he has been waking up at night somewhat disgruntled about his sleeping position. The good news is that yesterday he rolled over from his stomach to his back for the first time! Unfortunately Aleks was the only one to witness and Isaac has not had a repeat performance since. Anyway...

This first post in a series will show some of the Singapore fun.

The trip began with A LOT of time on an airline. All I can say is I love Cathay Pacific. They were so great to us and Isaac. That was huge for a 16 hour flight followed by a 4 hour flight. Isaac did great! Here he is in his little bassinet on the plane,


Once in Singapore, we had some nice relaxation time in the hotel. Previously when Aleks and I have traveled, we stay in hostels and cheap places since all we do is sleep there. This time (in part because my work was paying) we stayed in much nicer places. It was so great since we had a little baby in tow.

So excited!!!

This is taken at Boat Quay (pronounced key) on the Singapore River. It was beautiful!
One thing that we enjoyed in Singapore were all of the scary signs with not so subtle messages.

Here are some from the zoo (yes, Aleks did take a picture in the men's room):

Here are two from the subway (unfortunately we did not get any of the ones about dengue and the warning labels on the cigarette boxes-scary!).

Here is a montage of photos from our outings. First is a temple from Little India in Singapore. The rest are from the zoo-which was amazing.

We had a nice dinner in Chinatown at a restaurant which conveniently had a mirror wall. On our way home that night we saw a stand with durians-some famous fruit in Singapore. We had heard so much about them that we decided to get one. Laura thought it was DISGUSTING-Aleks thought it was unlike anything he had ever eaten (but he did not eat very much)! We had to dispose of it in a plastic bag and put in a garbage can in the hotel by the elevators. The hotel elevator area stank until the next day when they emptied the garbage. I guess that we had the experience now.

When I was conferencing one day, Aleks and Isaac went to a Chinese Garden. It looks like they had a lot of fun. Isaac is getting good at sucking his fingers, as you might notice from the photos.

Finally some shots from our hotel window-we were on the 23rd floor. Aleks is getting quite handy with the camera (as you can see from the second shot).

Family Reunion

We had a nice trip to Ithaca last weekend to see all of Aleks' family. It was fun to see all the little kiddies. Isaac is the runt of the clan and seemed to enjoy himself. We were glad that all of his family could meet him.

Here he is with his Uncle Mike the first night there.

We had a nice picnic at a park on Cayuga Lake the first evening. Thankfully I married someone with a good eye for photography, so here is one of the great shots he caught of the sun setting over the lake.

Day two we headed out for a walk in one of the many gorgeous gorges around Ithaca. Here is the crew as we got going.

A major objective was to get some family photos. We decided to save a ton of money and use our camera and tripod. Overall we think the photos turned out great.

Getting set up.

The whole clan.

The siblings.

Four month check up

So, I am behind on posting and will try to put up some more photos soon. But in the meantime, Isaac had his four month check up today and did great. He is now weighing in at 15lbs 1 oz (50th percentile), 25" long (58th percentile) and 44cm head (90th percentile). His doctor's comment when I mentioned how much we like his large head was: "yea, he's really got a melon there!" He sure does and it is pretty dang cute.