Home is where your heart is.

We are back in HK. It is nice to be home. We had a great time visiting the States. We were able to see a lot of friends and family. Returning to HK has been challenging at times but over all it is nice to get back settled in. Beau took me to California Pizza Kitchen the other night. It is nice to have a few comforts of home around.

Jorie, who prefers Marjorie these days, has started at her new school. ISF, if you want to see what her school is about there are pictures on their website at www.isf.edu.hk. She is learning Mandarin and so far she is doing great and learning a lot. I have a friend that is helping with the language, it is so fun to see her light up when she can use the Chinese that she knows.

Audrey will be starting school in another week, I am looking forward to her reaction. She will also be in a Mandarin intensive program. Both of the girls will be speaking Chinese before long and I will have no idea what they are saying. Hopefully Beau will be able to keep up with them.

Beau and I recently hiked to the highest point in our area. It was a beautiful hike through lush jungle. We passed a small waterfall and went through areas that were shaded by trees with tropical flowers. I was able to push through despite my fear of coming across a snake or other frightening creatures, and made it to the peak we were aiming for. Later in the day I told one of my friends where we had hiked and she said we were brave to do that during snake season. Holy cow, I couldn't believe it. I am so glad we were safe. There are several highly poisonous snakes in Hong Kong. Not to mention spiders, Beau recently came across a very large spider while hiking near by, he walked into the web and looked up to see a spider that was 5 inches in diameter. I am so glad I wasn't there to see it.

We also recently went to a beautiful beach where wind surfing and kayaking are popular because of the cove that keeps waves relatively low. The next beach outside of the cove is a great place for surfing apparently. It is nice to see some of the more untouched places in HK. Such a contrast from the big city with skyscrapers. Amazing that tropical beaches and lush jungle landscapes are so close to such a huge city.

The first two pictures are the views from our apartment. You can see the mountain that we hiked and Disney land with Central (downtown) in the background. There is a picture of the whole family on a hike and Jorie and Audrey posing with a Dragon boat, there are dragon boat races every year for a festival celebrated in early summer.

One of those days!

It's Friday night we are all packed up ready to go to California. All we need to do in the morning is see Beau for the first time in a few days and get to the airport in time for lunch and say good-bye to Beau for two weeks. Thats right I am flying for more than 13 hours with 3 children under the age of 6. (OK so Jorie will be 6 next month, but still) Some say I am crazy but I say "thats just how it is".
I am really excited to see friends and family. Then there are the few things that I am looking forward to; driving my Odyssey, shopping at Target, Costco, Trader Joe's etc., can't wait to see the beach, the Woodbridge Lagoon, and parks that are not infested with biting sand flies, so annoying! I think it will be fun to relive our experiences as we visit with friends and family. I have been thinking I should post a recent e-mail that I sent to Beau at the end of "One of those days". It just goes to show you that aside from the few variations we all have similar experiences. I am sure you can relate in some way.

Gema is my Helper, HK for Nanny. Octopus card is what we use for public transportation.

From: Amy Lefler
Date: June 15, 2007 5:14:55 PM GMT+08:00
To: Beau Lefler
Subject: adventurous day

Beau,

Now you might be thinking, is she being sarcastic or genuine about this title "adventurous day"? The fact is I am both. It was an adventure in that we didn't know what we were doing from one moment to the next however there were things that happened today that I simply could have done without. So looking on the bright side, I have learned a few things today, you might say the hard way.

1. Never leave Discovery Bay with the children and without cash.
2. Never trust that Gema know's where she is going even if she thinks she does.
3. Never leave the house for the day without enough umbrellas to cover us all.
4. Never leave the house without sufficient feminine hygiene products, or at least bring a sweater to tie around my waist.
5. Never go out with the children and assume that they have enough credit on their octopus cards.

I did plan sufficiently in a few areas however, you could say lessons learned in the past, the hard way.

1. I had diapers and wipes for Bentz.
2. I had snacks and drinks galore for the girls.
3. I had my emergency stash of one cliff bar. (thanks to the Hydes)
4. I had treats hidden in the bag that I could use for bribes if necessary.
5. I had my phone and it was charged.

So hopefully I will learn my lesson and maybe next time we will actually make it to our destination. But hey McDonalds always tastes better when you have traveled on two ferry's to get there and who really wants to see a bunch of Dinosaur bones anyway? I guess we have until November to try try again.

Hope your day has been better than mine.

Love you!
Amy

If you ever have a bad day just know that somewhere in the world someone else is too and it just might be me!

Sorry no pictures, too many little fingers have been playing with our camera. Hope to post more soon.

Amy

Life

So no matter where we live in this world we get into routines and life just happens. Every once in a while I have to take a big breath and soak it in. School, gymnastics, groceries, "I want a snack" 50 times a day, Beau working late, rain storms, what's for dinner, reading the same book again, I don't want to go to bed (the kids), collapsing at the end of the day (me), and then it all starts over again.

So what is special lately? Birthdays; Beau April 21, Buddha May 24 (public holiday, yeah), Bentz May 29 (one year, wow that was fast). Bentz got his first hair cut, so handsome! Bentz is drinking cows milk, no more mommy milk. Finally had some of our pictures hung in our apartment.

Beau and I are 30, a friend of mine cleared up what 30 is; "30 is not old it's just the end of being young." No matter what everyone older than me says "you're not old" and people younger than me don't really have much to say. I believe that is because 30 is the end of being young!

Another thought: While discussing how great it is to have a babysitter, a friend said "we had kids so they could be around" what a great thought, I have to admit I need to be more appreciative of the great kids I have, but we all need a break sometimes!

I think that is enough for now. Hope you like the pictures. Hope all is well with you! We are so excited to go home for a visit.

Tai O

A few weeks ago we visited a 300 year old fishing village. There were a lot of interesting things to look at. Dried fish fresh fish cooked fish. There were houses on stilts above the water and bridges and loads of boats. There were a couple of Buddhist Temples. We enjoyed wondering around the village for the day. The girls picked out some fans and really liked the dried sea horses. Beau and I were impressed with the dried shark skins. It is so neat to show so many different things to the girls within a short bus ride or ferry ride. We feel so fortunate to be here in Hong Kong. We hope you enjoy hearing about our experiences. We look forward to sharing more with you.

more Thailand pictures

Phuket Thailand

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Thailand. We had fun riding Elephants through the jungle, riding a speed boat around to a few islands, snorkeling, having the girls hair braided, getting massages(so affordable), swimming and eating in the pool, playing at the beach(the water was so warm), collecting seashells, and riding a motorcycle around exploring.
Hope all is well with everyone, we look forward to seeing a lot of family and friends this summer when we are in the states for a few weeks. We love you all. Take care!

The Lefler Link Begins

We are official Bloggers!

We hope this will make it easier to keep in touch with everyone.

Here we are in Hong Kong. Shortly after arriving we celebrated Chinese New Year while recovering from Jet Lag. The picture shows Peach Blossoms which are for good luck. We are holding our hands together which one does and says "Kung Hey Fat Choy!" ( shaking hands in front of you) this means something to the effect of "May you get lots of money in the new year"

So much fun!

There is a picture of Bentz with a red packet which kids receive with money, once again "Kung Hey Fat Choy" The girls thought this was pretty cool and can't wait to buy a new Barbie with the money they received.

There is also a picture of Jorie and Audrey in their Chinese style dresses with matching purses. Unfortunately the dresses fell apart before we made it home from church. Good thing I took a picture the first few minutes they put them on.

I guess that will do for now.

There will be more to come.

The Leflers