Payback

For lack of inspiration or motivation or because I have a cold, I'm borrowing an idea from my best girl, Teach, who borrowed it from her friend who borrowed it...I forget...Anyway, it's a list and everyday you post something about yourself.  Now, considering the twins are WALKING now, I highly doubt you'll get a little treasure from me every day.  Especially since the babies have just now spilled their snack and Anaya is fighting Rosie for what's on the floor.  Rosie has not yet learned that Anaya always wins.  Okay, so the list.  Here it is:

Day 01 — A favorite song
Day 02 — A favorite movie 

Day 03 — A favorite TV show

Day 04 — A favorite book
Day 05 — A favorite quote 

Day 06 — A fun fact about me

Day 07 — A favorite photo

Day 08 — Something I crave 

Day 09 — Pet peeves

Day 10 — A photo of me taken over ten years ago 

Day 11 — A photo of me taken recently 

Day 12 — Something I bought recently 

Day 13 — Something I want to buy

Day 14 — An old photo 

Day 15 — My celebrity crush 

Day 16 — A favorite food

Day 17 — A photo of my family

Day 18 — A baby photo

Day 19 — A fun memory 

Day 20 — A hobby of mine

Day 21 — A favorite recipe 

Day 22 — A favorite joke

Day 23 — A video 

Day 24 — A travel story 

Day 25 — A favorite photo

Day 26 — A funny (true) story

Day 27 — A child I love

Day 28 — A place I love 

Day 29 — A person I love 

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

I'm going to start with numero uno:  A favorite song.  I have a lot of all-time favorites, like Goo Goo Dolls - Iris, Jessica Simpson's version of Angels, Etta James - At Last, The Black Crowes - She Talks to Angels, SHeDAISY - Lucky 4 You (Viva #23!)...But right now, I'm really loving that Brad Paisley song, Anything Like Me.  It's about finding out he and his wife are having a boy and he imagines getting payback if the boy is anything like himself.  I think it's scary looking into Anaya's eyes and seeing a reflection of myself.  I like to kid and say she's a lot like my sister, but who are we kidding?  Apples don't fall far, right?  I think the song also makes me think of the boys being just like Alan, based on stories he's told me.  I want Cathey and Bill to know that I cannot get Adam to stop hanging on the towel bar in the bathroom ;-)

 

How Thoughtful!

The other day, Adam was eating his lunch, drinking milk out of a cup Alan had brought him back from Okinawa when he was here TDY, before we moved here.  After lunch, he told Alan, "Daddy, thank you for bringing me this cup.  Since you brought me that, I'm going to give you something I don't want anymore."  He disappeared to his room and reappeared a few minutes later, holding a tin, car-shaped box, painted like Dale Jr's old #8 car.  This was ironic because that was something Alan didn't want anymore when Jr's number changed (what a nightmare...but that's another story), so he gave it to Adam.  So here he was giving it back!  Only, it was filled with flashcards that were for learning to read.  Adam told Alan, "You can have these cards to use, since I already know how to read."  How thoughtful!  I had been thinking Alan needed to brush up on words like "stove" and "umbrella."  ;-)

To brag on Adam for a minute, he totally can read!  In fact, I put him to work most evenings, reading bedtime books to the babies.  And, often, he reads his own bedtime books as well.  Last night we played this SpongeBob Cranium game that's for ages 7+ and he read all of his own cards!  He's doing amazing and we're so proud of him.  What a little smartie...that's why I don't question his fashion sense.  When you're raising a prodigy, you have to just trust them and let them shine.  If he wants to be Sheriff Santa Woody the Waiter, who am I to stifle that creativity?

Leveling Off

The twins are thirteen months old today!  The last month has been full of so many laughs and having two is really starting to get fun.  Everyone seems to be dealing with the fact that this is life - like it or not - and trying to make the best of it.  We have at least as many good times as bad, which was not always the case in the past.  I think it probably has a lot to do with our ability to laugh at situations, though.  The fact that there are two of them working against two of us seems to not be a fact at all.  It seems that there are four of them working against two of us - plus Adam, so like six, really.  This month the focus seems to be on walking.  The race is on to see who can do it first.  They are both standing without any help and seem to have contests to see who can stand the longest.  Audie seems to be ahead in the balance department, but I think Anaya has an edge in her willingness to try.  She's the daredevil of the two, so I think she's more likely to give it a shot.  I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Another thing that has increased dramatically this month - fighting.  People think, "With two, you have built-in playmates, that must be great!"  Yeah...half the time.  The other half, we have built-in "I'm tired of this same ole' playmate" fights.  In the past, it's been Audie who is more guilty of picking on Anaya than the reverse - and he still does his share of button-pushing.  However, Anaya now takes the cake for being the Picking-on Queen.  Poor Audie gets poked, prodded, and pinched constantly.  Ears, eyes, hair, nose, you name it - if it sticks out, it's fair game.  And his pacifier doesn't stand a chance - she steals it first chance she gets, even if she already has hers.  All the while, looking at me, grinning, as if she's unaware of what her hands are doing.  "Who me?"  While we're on the subject of Anaya - It is really becoming obvious that God broke the mold on this one.  She is truly one-in-a-million.  She loves to dance and talk.  She said her first word this month - "Adam."  She can sign that she's "all done" and wave bye-bye and clap and tell us how big she is.  Her sweet smile is her biggest weapon and that one top tooth poking down only adds to the ammunition.  She's precious, right down to her little toe, and getting a snuggle out of her is a little piece of heaven.  She's easy on the eyes, for sure.  But...She kicks and screams when you try to change her or dress her or fix her hair, or get too close or walk away, or tell her "no"...or just whenever she feels like it.  She finishes every meal covered in it, but is my best eater - my little Miss Piggy.  She splashes every last drop of water out of the tub.  She looks me in the eye while she knowingly disobeys.  She is high-maintenance, demanding and unwavering in her desires.  She is such a mess, it's scary.  And to think, one day she'll drive.  Oh, good Lord.

Then, there's Audie.  Audie has these giant, dark-as-the-night puppy dog eyes that never let you believe he's guilty of anything.  He's got mad-fast crawling skills and is, without a doubt, the more playful of the two.  BREAKING NEWS!!  THIS JUST IN:  HE JUST TOOK TWO STEPS!!  Does it feel like you were there??  Seriously!!  Just happened!!  Back to the regularly scheduled program... He's sweet and cuddly almost always, but the boy isn't afraid to get his fit on either.  He'll definitely let you know when he's not happy.  He's generally a pretty good sport about his sister needing so much attention, which is quite gentlemanly of him.  He also said his first word recently - "ball."  As far as he's concerned, everything is a ball right now.  He loves playing and wrestling with Adam and Daddy and can't wait to be able to keep up with them.  I think he really looks up to Adam and admires him so much.  Just yesterday, Adam was reading Audie a book about animals and was pointing and naming all the animals.  When Adam left, Audie grabbed the book and started imitating what Adam was doing.  Now if we could only instill that whole "lead by example" thing in Adam, we'd be golden.  To contrast Audie's playfulness, he's also pensive and analytical and extremely curious about everything from the toilet to the surround sound system.  He loves to have fun and laugh and joke.  He loves life - except when life hands him five teeth at once.  He doesn't eat as much as Anaya does, but he eats more than Adam so I think we're still doing alright.  He really takes after Adam in the sense that he's our little sweetheart and is such a ham, and that is a good thing.

Here is a mini-scrapbook from this month:

 Seriously?  One of my favorites:

 Vogue

 Ta-da!

 Gettin' jiggy wit it...not really, just standing there, but it looks like he's dancing

 Anaya trying to shut Audie in the closet (pay no mind to the closet - I know exactly where everything is)

 Anaya stealing another ball from Audie:

 Playing nice for a bit - Audie teaching Anaya that everything is a "ball":

Thirteen months down, about 215 to go...but who's counting?  Buckle up!

Big Buddha Day!

The next day, we took a day tour to see Tsing Ma Bridge, Tai O Village, The big Buddha at Po Lin Monastary and ride a cable car. As I said before, Michelle has a little conspiracy theory. So when a "company photographer" boarded the bus, she was suspicious. Our first stop was the Tsing Ma Bridge. According to the brochure, this is the longest suspension road/rail bridge in the world, at 1,377 meters.  The upper deck has three lanes heading each direction and the lower deck has two tracks of railway and two emergency lanes so that the bridge may stay open during typhoon conditions.  It really is pretty amazing.  Here are some pictures:

Now, while we were here at the viewing platform, the "photographer" was doing us all a bunch of "favors" by snapping pictures for us.  I asked Michelle to take my picture and as I was smiling and she was just about to snap the picture, she was suddenly elbowed out of the way by the "photographer," who was screaming at me, "Ma'am!  Right here!  Ma'am!"  It was really quite hilarious - especially since, according to Michelle's Chinese birth year animal (the monkey), she is "more famous than most," not me.  I was wondering what the hell was happening and Michelle was checking herself for bruises...and I guess he snapped a picture somewhere in there.  We boarded the bus to head across the bridge, to the fishing village.  Fast forward to the end of the day: When we got back on the bus to head back to the hotel, we all had a little souvenir to purchase:

I love that I'm nearly laughing.  You bet your ass I bought that plate.  Priceless.

Next stop: Tai O Village.  This is a rare example of a Chinese stilt-house community.  The people here have built their homes on stilts above the water because they do not feel safe on land.  That's not the only reason I'd call 'em crazy.  Here are a few pictures:

In case you haven't thought that far - there is no plumbing in these houses.  Apparently, there is sometimes a waste pipe that goes straight down into the water.  That makes me pretty confident that I would never use that ladder...or buy fish from this guy:

We went in a temple here and I saw this warrior:

The tour guide insisted this was not an obscene gesture.  I don't know - it looks pretty obscene to me.  I wouldn't be messing with that guy.

You could also buy dehydrated fish here in the village.  They do this to the fish so that they keep longer.  Then, they just rehydrate it and cook with it.  Maybe you'd like some dehydrated squid to take home?

Maybe not.

FINALLY, we get to Po Lin Monastery - home of the biggest Buddha I have ever seen.  The Buddha is about 80 feet tall and, with the base, over 100 feet tall.  The visibility was really poor, unfortunately, but you get the idea:

After seeing the Buddha and hearing about the development of Buddhism, we went down to the actual monastery:

"Maybe you'd like to take a swing?" the tour guide asked...Why yes!  I would love to!

The tour included lunch in the V.I.P. dining room where the monks dine.  Shockingly enough, dogs weren't allowed in.  It was a vegan meal, which I was skeptical of.  No meat?  Not even bacon?  It was actually delicious!  Which was great, since it was Michelle's last meal.

The final adventure of the day was a ride back down the mountain, about 5.7 km, in a gondola (which is why Michelle thought she was having her final meal).  This cable car ride was quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.  It would have been so amazing if the day was a clear one.  Just gorgeous.  The most disappointing part, though, was the end, when we were over the water and the water was filthy with trash of all sorts.  Coming from Okinawa, where cleanliness is a must...Hong Kong was not on the same page there.  Here are a couple of views from the gondola:

What a day!  We rested for a bit in the room and hit the Ladies' Market a little later.  That's a whole 'nother story, though, so it'll have to wait!