Times Square Xmas Decorations

 Hong Kong has a mix of everything and when it comes to Christmas decorations it's no different.  There are the traditional decorations - common to what is found in NZ malls and shops - and then there are the decorations that go up at Times Square......  I'm not sure what's going on but they are bright, colourful and different !  The only common thing these photos have in common is Hannah's 'model' pose !

Visiting Santa Claus..

It's been abit quiet on the blog front for a while as have been battling illness - mine and Hannah.  It's been a rough couple of weeks but hopefully I'll be back on track for the big day on Saturday.  Being sick last week has completely thrown me out so thankfully have a couple of days up my sleeve to get sorted.

Paul had today off today and as the girls are now on holiday we wanted to do what is, I guess, part of our Christmas tradition is to go and visit Santa.  The girls were very excited about it.  Victoria was abit confused as she had had a visit from Santa at her school last week and was adament that she had already seen him.  But much excitement once we got there.

We visit Santa at one of the malls here - Pacific Place.  As far as I know it is the only place that you can visit Santa and he's a very special one as he comes all the way from the USA !!  They bring one over every year !!

Stopping at a display on our way to see Santa

All ready just in case something goes wrong - the fire extinguisher is part of the display

Waiting outside Santa's Log house

With Santa - even allowed to sit on his knee !!

Family shot with Santa....

After letting Santa know what they would like (the request from either of them hasn't changed each time it asks.  Hannah would like a Belle Princess doll and Victoria would like an Ariel Princess Doll) a hug goodbye.

Heating Up Challenge

I wish it was heating up !!  The last couple of days the temps here in HK have started to drop - ok we've had highs of 24s and lows of 18 but believe me we find that cool !!  Apparently it's meant to drop to as low as 12 during the week and we'll have highs of 18.....yes, we're abit soft now !! 

The Southern Girls Challenge this time round was to use heat on our creation.  I followed a sketch from Scrappin' Patch for Francine's sketch challenge ending 11th but due to children getting sick was unable to upload on time.  Oh well, I'll be working on December's one for sure. 

I created a flower out of paper and used a glue gun to stick it all together and then used it to adhere to the layout.  I even managed to adhere the rose bloomer to the flower and the prima flower on top all with the glue gun too - which wasn't my intention but worked out rather well.  I used glossy accents on the cascading water from the fountain and I embossed the butterfly - not that you can see either very well. 

Winter Uniform

The month of November was transition month for Hannah at QBS.  The weather is unseasonably warm for this time of year - up to 25 degrees.  It's fantastic being out but for us, it can be abit "chilly".  It was actually difficult to figure out what uniform it was best she wore but now that we're now in December - the 1st which is pretty scary - she has to wear it all the time.

Her PE uniform is long sweat pants - but have yet to take a picture.  Hannah has Sports Day on the 14th so will make sure the camera is charged up for that !

Practising for the Christmas show..

Next week, next Weds 8th to be exact, is Victoria's Christmas concert.  She has been practising the songs and knows all the words.  Today a friend came over to play - it's sad as Sophie and her family are leaving HK to embark on a new adventure - and they'd been singing all afternoon.  So I suggested to them let's put on a show....so they stood on the "stage"

The other snippet I got of the girls was when they were playing with the puzzles.  Apparently....it was a race.

Sophie and Victoria are just great friends and I know that Victoria is going to miss her.  They're both in the same class at school and have known one another since we arrived in HK.  Sophie's older brother, Joshua was in Hannah's class at Woodlands.  To all the Kerr's - it's not goodbye you're just embarking on a new adventure !.....but you all will be very much missed.

Colour

I nearly forgot to get this layout uploaded.  I've been abit busy since I completed the layout working on a mini album for a good friend - I'm not saying anymore just in case she reads this but all will be revealed soon.

The Southern Girls Challenge this time was to use your favourite colour.  This opened up a whole lot of possibilities.  I ended up going with purple and torquoise with of course abit of bling - can't get by without some sparkly bits now.  I think being in HK has opened up the door on the bling as everything and everyone has it in some shape and form.  I used papers from Basic Grey's Euphoria collection, some Prima swirls, Bo Bunny flowers and Kaisercraft Rhinestones of course with inking.

Top 3 place

The scrapbook challenge that I submitted my Rugged layout for at Southern Girls was placed in the top 3.  How faBulous is that !!!  Check out the blinkie in the side bar !!

Trick or Treat...?

I know this was a couple of weeks ago but better late than never.  Both girls celebrated Halloween at their respective schools but in completely different ways.  Hannah had a Halloween Disco in the evening from 6pm - 8pm up at her school.  She was so very excited about it and I guess for her it would have been a big deal.  Going out when it's dark and all dressed up too.  She wanted to go as a butterfly so I went and find some wings and a tutu.  She wore her ballet leotard and was very happy with the result.  I got in the act and found a witches hat to go with the black ensemble I'd found in the wardrobe....

Victoria was not happy about being left behind and wanted to get changed too.  She still wasn't happy as she wanted to come with us.

The above photo (my formatting has gone wonky and not sure how to fix it) of Hannah and her friend Darth Vadar aka Vivienne.  Hannah had a fantastic time out and upon getting home she was in bed fast asleep within 15 mins - a record.  She still had to be woken up at 6.30 the next morning to get ready for school.

The following day was Victoria's turn.  They had a party at her school and she dressed up too.  She wanted to go as Snow White so I headed off to Pottinger St in Central (THE place for costume attire for any age).  Found the outfit in question and had one happy girl getting ready for school.

Posing with the witch again....

Snack time was party time.  Victoria with her friends in the Rabbits class.

Outside in the playground after face painting.  This is unusual as she doesn't normally like her face being painting.  I think she liked the result !

Rugged...

The Southern Girls Challenge this time round was for Travel/Transport.  I did a layout using Little Yellow Bicycle's "Pack your bags" collection.  The paper came from my kit club that I belong to in Hong Kong.  It was a hard decision as to what photo(s) to use as I've still got all my Europe adventures to select from, my Japanese adventures and all those other travel/holiday photos......but in the end found this one.  It was from my very first trip to the Milford Sound.  We'd stopped at the entrance to the Homer Tunnel and were just amazed by the view !! 

Cooler weather....

Now that the weather is cooling down it's rather pleasant to be outside.  You can actually be outside without melting now and THAT has to be a good thing.  It's so exciting as the temperature has now dropped below 30 degrees.  Yes, that is something to be happy about.  So with the rennovations all complete, the landscaping all done, the girls are now able to enjoy the outdoor activities.

Heading to the swings at the back of the apartment block.

The swing area...

Striking a pose....

The podium area....perfect for scootering....

Scootering with her Princess Disc player..yes and the music is playing and yes, it's loud !

Action shots

Introducing Miss Happy.....not

Strike a pose..

Catch up.....South Bay School Trip for Victoria

It's been a while since my last update and lots has been happening.  I don't think I'll try and do it all in one post as it'll be rather long.....

I'll begin with Victoria's first ever school trip since she started at Woodlands.  Her class - Rabbits - had their school trip to South Bay beach.  However, we have been to South Bay a number of times before but not with school.  For Hannah's first school trip in Nov 2008 we also went to South Bay.  This is a photo of Victoria at the beach 2 years earlier....

and this is her now.....

Our trip began with the bus.  Everyone was so excited to not only be going to the beach but going there by bus with their mum, dad, grandparents etc

Upon arrival games were set up.  The first game to play was Parachutes - this was a real crowd pleaser and they all knew just what to do.

Next was the beach races...

then finding shells....

then tug of war...

and the last on the menu was exercise

After the beach friends and I took our girls out to lunch at Times Square.  There was a robot display which the girls really enjoyed.  Victoria with her friends - Ariel and Sophie.

Glittered....

I managed to get my hands on the new Lost and Found collection by My Mind's Eye.  It's just gorgeous.  Once again the layout worked perfectly for the latest challenge by Southern Girls Challenges which was to create using glitter.  And this collection has it in abundance.  The green background is actually the "reverse" side of the glittered stripes.  It seemed such a crime to cover it all up ........  The simply perfect tag has got the red glitter on it too.  It's a good thing I doubled up on this collection - so much fun to be had with it !!!

Top Deck lunch

A couple of weeks ago, yes, I'm a little behind, Paul had one of those rare occassions where he had the weekend off work. This is a real treat as it doesn't really happen so wanted to make the most of it. One of 'the' things to do in HK is go out for brunch over the weekend as many places do buffets with a bottomless glass of bubbles !! It would be fair to say that we really haven't done that but that has now all changed. We went took the girls, with friends, to Top Deck. This is a restuarant on the top floor of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. It's a fantastic place to go - food's great, area for the kids to play - with an employee supervising, it's situated in the middle of Aberdeen Marina and of course a bottomless glass of bubbles.

You can sit outside but we were inside as thought it would cooler and more pleasant. I took photos of going there and leaving but none WHILE we were there...never mind good excuse to go back !

On our way to the Jumbo on the ferry.

Leaving the ferry terminal.

On the ferry....

Heading back to dry land from the Jumbo

The view of the restaurant. It's HUGE and we were on the top floor....