By now, the boys were sleeping well, at least 8 hrs each night, and waking up after 7am.  We had planned to see my friends and my relatives on this last day in Hong Kong.  We started the day by meeting Cindy, Charles and Johny at Causeway Bay; they had driven two cars and took us to Stanley Market.  The boys were so excited when we sat down to have pizza for lunch first.  They both had such a good appetite that my friends found it fascinating.  Afterward we walked around the shore and all the souvenir stores.  The boys found the paper fans interesting and so both chose one.  Since Logan had received "a diamond ring" Connor wanted one as well, I spotted a stand with some colorful rings.  Both Cindy and I looked through many to find ones that the boys liked and fitted them.  They were so thrilled to have their "superpower" rings.  Later Johny bought them some ice cream and Charles had the balloon guy made them balloon swords.  Both Logan and Connor had so much fun playing swordfight and with the uncles and auntie.  Then it was time to go; Charles drove us back to the hotel and the boys fell asleep during the ride.  We had a couple hours of break in our hotel room, then we went out to meet up with my uncle, aunt, June, Ching Ching, Rebecca, Cheuk and Edith for dinner.  This was a meal from the part of China where my dad was from, so it was reminiscing for me.  The boys drew while they ate as usual.  After dinner, it was time to say goodbye to the relatives.  We headed back to the hotel and packed up to get ready for our return travel day.

     We had a half day on our own today, and the boys were excited to stay in.  They loved the hotel. They had learned how to get in and out of the hotel from the mall quite well, and they loved using the elevator and the key card to go into our room. They enjoyed just lounging and playing games or watching TV. The half day of rest was especially nice after all the walking we had been doing. Before lunchtime, we went downstairs to shop around and grab something to eat.  I had a chance to have one of my childhood favorite lunches while the boys enjoyed some chicken nuggets.  By 4pm, we went to visit Great-grandma again.  My elder uncle was there to wait for us and we all sat for awhile to chat.  Then we said goodbye to Great-grandma; she kept reminding us that she is 100 years old and we should not wait that long to come back to see her again.  It was really nice to see her this time.  Even though she has lost lots of weight lately, she seems well and alert. My elder uncle and we then walked down to meet up with my youngest uncle and aunt at a restaurant.  Stuart entertained the boys with their drawings while I chatted and caught up with these two uncles.  After dinner, we took a few pictures and said goodbye.  This was the earliest dinner we had since the beginning of the trip.  So we had some time to walk around and the boys had a chance to watch more TV before we ended the night.

     We woke up after 7am.  We had a free day, and at the last minute, we made a decision to go to Disneyland.  The kids did not seem too excited initially as we did so much the day before and they were hoping to stay in the hotel.  It took an hour of multiple MTR trains, and we arrived right at the entrance of Disneyland which was very convenient.  The layout of the entrance along with the park is quite similar to the one in US except in a smaller scale. We noticed that some buildings and part of the main castle were just drawing facades, but maybe they were just a work in progress.  The first thing Logan wanted to do was the Astro Blasters. We basically just walked in this ride with barely any wait which was awesome.  We then made our way over to the It’s a Small World.  This ride was newer than the US one but they made it just as adorable with a little Hong Kong reference in it.  We then tried the Stitch Encounter as the English showing was next.  We sat right in front so the boys were a bit worried that they would be called on.  But they ended up having a good Iaugh and received a Stitch sticker too.  The Autopia wait was long, 45 minutes; however Logan really wanted to drive so we were in.  The cars were electric and the people appeared driving slower.  Afterward Connor kept asking to watch more shows, however since we had more time, we took a break for lunch and went for Jungle Cruise afterward.  The ride had an extra special ending of a volcanic explosion which was cool.  By then we tried to head back for the Golden Mickeys and ended up catching part of the parade.  We walked upstream, stopped and watched most of the floats.  We then waited in line for a little while and we were let into the theater.  We had relatively good seats and the show was excellent.  This was the show we had seen in the cruise years ago, but of course the boys would not remembered that.  As we were walking out the theater, Connor was ready to see the next show.  After we used the restroom, we walked past the Philhar Magic show so we walked in. It turned out to be a 3-d film and we liked it.  We then checked out Winnie the Pooh before going to the last show, Festival of Lion King.  We arrived early to wait, but somehow they did not design the waiting area with lines. Some people there were quite pushy and impatient, so Stuart and I were worried that people would create a stampede when we were let in.  Fortunately we walked in a circular theater safely.  The show started shortly and it was awesome. The costume, singing and dancing were great.  The boys liked all the shows we watched, but the Lion King was their favorite if they had to choose.  We were hoping to go to the Tarzan’s treehouse then but unfortunately it was past 6pm and it was closed.  We basically had done all the things the boys wanted at that point, but they wanted to look at the map to confirm. They came up with another round of Jungle Cruise and Astro Blasters before we leave.  Despite the size of this Hong Kong Disneyland, we managed to spend 8.5 hours there and enjoyed it very much.  The best thing was that the wait time throughout the day had been mostly 0 to 20 minutes. While we were waiting for the MTR, Logan was exhausted but Connor still claimed that he was not tired.  They both fell asleep in the train though.  When we returned to our local mall, we grabbed a very late dinner and we called it a night at 10:30pm.

    I found out a month ago that Logan would actually have a field trip this year and it was to go to the Sunnyvale Community Center for a play.  I did not want to miss the opportunity and so I signed up to be a parent chaperone, and received the last spot.  The field trip was on Wednesday, and I had arranged to take half day off from work.  I arrived at the classroom along with the other four moms before the departure time.  We watched the teacher reviewing the field trip rules, and playing some question games with the class to kill time until the bus arrived.  Shortly later, we lined up outside the classroom.  I was assigned to have Logan and four other kids in my group.  The kids were very excited and all behaved well.  Jolene and Logan wanted to sit with me in the bus, and I had the other three kids sitting across from us.  Jolene, Logan and I talked about random things all the way to the community center.  We lined up outside the bus and headed in to the theater orderly.  I had my kids arranged to sit all in a roll with me, and quickly after, the performance began.  The play was the Emperor’s New Clothes.  Since it was a play, there were just acting and talking, but the actors tried to capture the kids’ attention and made them laugh often.  Logan had turned to me to ask when the fighting part would be, so I had to disappoint him that there were no fighting part.  The show was an hour.  Some kids in the theater started being more fidgeting, but everyone stayed put the entire time.  There were a few kids, including Jolene, that needed to use the restroom.  I took her out of the theater and the teacher took over for me.  Logan had once mentioned being bored and being hungry, but at the end he said he enjoyed the show.  Once the performance was over, we formed a line outside to return to the bus.  Jolene wanted to join Logan and I in the bus again, so I placed the other three kids across from us.  Some kids resumed talking and playing in the bus, but my two kids both fell asleep on the ride back to school.  I had to wake both Logan and Jolene as soon as we arrived.  The kids followed the teacher back to the classroom to grab their lunches, and they were led out to the benches to have their late lunch.  I hugged Logan and Jolene goodbye, and returned back to work.

     We started to sleep in a bit later in the morning.  Logan woke up briefly at 5 something but returned to sleep until we all woke up around 7.  We had a free morning, so the boys played games, did some homework and we took a walk around the mall underneath.  Then we met up with my uncle, auntie and my cousin’s family for a day of sightseeing. We started out with a lunch at a Taiwanese place at Causeway Bay. After we sat down at the restaurant, my uncle gave Logan a “diamond ring”. He and my aunt had remembered that I mentioned to them two days ago about how Logan suddenly wanted to buy a diamond ring after he received the red envelope from them, and so they brought a crystal ring to surprise him. Logan was so thrilled and immediately started wearing it. Connor later whispered a secret to me; he was a bit sadden that he did not also get one. After the lunch, we hopped onto a local tram ride to the base for the Peak Tram. Logan and I sat on the upper level at the front of the tram, therefore it was fascinating but before long, Logan fell asleep.  After a short wait at the base, we boarded the tramway to go up to the peak. We took a break for some ice cream, then decided to take a hike on the path around the hill. Uncle claimed that it was a 20 minute walk but it was actually an hour hike however it was shady and scenic.  We saw the most beautiful scenery of Hong Kong there, but the boys did not seem to care too much. We took some group pictures. By then, everyone was tired from the walk; we took the tram back down and hopped on a bus to the pier. The boys enjoyed riding the short ferry ride and checking out the bay.  We shopped around at the mall by the pier briefly and the boys were able to choose a gift (Lego) given by their auntie June.  We had a nice dinner together, and the boys challenged my uncle and us with a game of Tic Tac Toe which Logan has recently mastered.  We were all exhausted despite Connors statements that he was not, and we took a late train ride back to the hotel to end a long day with lots of walking.

     Today was the day I planned to take Stuart and the boys to my parents’ graves to pay respect.  We took the MTR to the nearest station to the cemetery and we walked around to find the things for praying.  With some asking for directions, we managed to buy some incense/burning materials, some apples and a roasted duck.  We were ready to go up to the cemetery but unfortunately the line for taxi was super long.  We waited for at least 45 minutes and we were finally driven up to the hill.  After a short walk, we made it to the cemetery building.  While we were walking, we talked with the boys about the meaning of passing and being respectful.  Once we arrived at my parents’ graves, I got a little emotional and the boys were caught off guard by it.  We talked a little bit more about it and I had all of us doing just simple praying after I put out the things we brought up.  Suddenly, Connor started crying, then Logan began to sob too.  I quickly moved through what I had to do, burning the incense. Then we all prayed one last time and said goodbye.  The boys were still sobbing and they were genuinely sad.  Both Stuart and I talked with each kid separately and acknowledged their feelings while we walked away from the cemetery.  We hopped on a van to return to the MTR station, and by then the boys finally felt better.  Once we returned close to our hotel, we had a late lunch of their choice (pizza) to wrap up the tough morning outing.
    We rested for a couple of hours in the hotel room, then headed back out to meet up with Jennifer at Time Squares in Causeway Bay.  It was nice to see her along with Jesselyn and Jayden..  Jesselyn was very friendly as usual giving the boys a nice welcome that made both of them hope to sit with her at the restaurant. We ate while we chatted; later the boys played with Jesselyn as they drew.  Poor Jayden was tired and almost fell asleep on his nanny. After dinner, the kids all seemed quite energized again and ran around the lobby with each other.  We took a few pictures and finally said goodbye to them to head back to the hotel.  Logan was so tired and almost fell asleep in the MTR.  We were all asleep by 10pm.