Hong kong-erific

A few pictures from the Easton Family Summer Vacation Extravaganza Extraordinaire. Because England had control over it for a long time Hong Kong is a really interesting place and it has a really different feel from the mainland. For starters everyone had amazing English (which is good, cause we don't speak Cantonese) and they drive on the wrong side of the road. We spent most of our time hanging out at the pool in our swanky hotel, but here's a few pics.



Here we are at Victoria's Peak looking down over the skyscrapers of Hong Kong. To get there we took a rickety tram up a 45 degree angle (No exaggeration). I was fine when we were gaining speed going uphill - but I got a little more nervous when we were gaining speed on the way back down, knowing there was only a small cement wall and a 90 pound Chinese girl at the bottom of the hill to cushion our fall.



Mike's nickname amongst our team here is "rou" which means meat, and he lived up to that name this week. We found a public BBQ pit on the beach - and we made the most of it. We bought a metal grate for a buck, found perfect coals that had been abandoned, scavenged for skewers and made some awesome meat. And for his birthday dinner - Outback Steakhouse.


The awesome beach right next to our hotel.


Our first night we spent inside the city at the cheapest hotel we could find. Hong Kong is known for it's millions of people and it's small spaces and this was no exception. The bed was waaay to short for Mike so we had to pull it out of it's little nook so his feet could hang off the end, which meant we had to move the chair to the other side of the room. The bathroom was also pretty epic. No TP, one towel, the shower head came out of the wall right above the toilet, and the space between the wall and the toilet was so small that there was barely enough leg room for me. I didn't ask him, but I imagine Mike had to do some creative pooping.

Honor System Security

Mike and I are headed to Hong Kong for a week of vacation. Mmmmm... Vacation.... So picture this... There we are at the final leg of airport security and it happens. We run our carry-ons through the machine and security spots a Swiss Army pocket knife in Mike's bag. Awesome. We've all been there. You're way too far into the process to do anything about it and at that moment you know you have lost your trusty pocket knife forever. It will be added to their endless pile of of miscellaneous knives, liquids, lighters, gels, explosives, etc. never to be seen again.

Security hands Mike his bag. He starts digging for the knife and then the security lady says "No, no, it's ok, just don't use it on the plane." As I fight to keep a straight face, Mike responds very solemnly "Don't worry, I won't. I promise." Apparently airplane security in China is bassed on the honor system. We were happy to keep the knife, but it makes you wonder about the Chinese security policy.

Active

Yesterday I went to the doctor and she listened for the baby's heartbeat. First she heard it on the left side of my belly, then on the right. She would find it really strongly for a while and then it would disappear. AKA our child is already a little spaz and wouldn't hold still long enough to get a reading. The doctor said "your baby is very active."

Active is an interesting word. This word used to describe an adult may imply they are involved in many activities in the community or they are sporty, but when used to describe children, "active" has different connotations. Don't get me wrong I'm super thankful that our kiddo is healthy and strong enough to be swimming around in there... but I can't help but wonder what we are getting ourselves into. Could this be our first glimpse of our child's personality?

Our little Avocado

I'm 17 weeks along and this week our little sea monkey is the size of an avocado. At our last ultrasound we got to hear the heartbeat and we got our first ultrasound done. Still no word on weather or not it's a boy or a girl. According to the poll on this blog about 72 percent are pretty sure it's a boy. We'll see! In China the average couple doesn't get to know the gender - but apparently being white makes us above the law. You may notice that my ultrasound says VIP which means very important person in case you didn't know. So far, so good.