We woke up early as usual but all of us had several good hours of sleep. We decided to go to Ocean Park today. This was the park I grew up with and it has been 30+ years since I have been there. We took the MTR and switched to the bus that led us to the park. We were on the upper level of the bus; the boys enjoyed it and Logan did not get sick. We walked around and checked out sea lions, seals and walruses, and later saw some pandas. Logan fell in love with a red panda stuffed animals at a gift shop and kept wanting to return to purchase it. Connor was looking forward to watching shows so I was keeping the show schedule in mind while we explored the park. We hopped onto a train to the Summit and saw the Thrill Mountain, but the boys were not interested to try any of the rides. The boys watched a small street show with a mountain music instrument while I grabbed some lunch for us. Afterward, we saw some penguins and a few arctic foxes which was cool. Then we headed back down to ride the cable car. Logan was a bit nervous with how high we were. And to be honest, I had forgotten how long this cable ride was and how it wrapped around the hill, and it was a bit nerve wracking for me too. But it offered a beautiful view of the hills and the sea. It took some time before we discovered that it was the same summit area where we were just earlier. We headed over to the Ocean Theater at that point which turned out to be perfect timing for the big show. We saw sea lions and dolphins swimming and performing. This performance seemed much shorter than what I remembered. The boys enjoyed it especially Connor and now he wishes to learn to swim so he can be in a show like that. Eventually we came back down with the express train, and fulfilled Logan’s wish to buy the red panda; and of course, Connor got one too. They both were so happy with their "friend" for the rest of the Hong Kong trip. Later we headed to the giant aquarium which was nice and had many cool creatures. Connor was still asking to see shows, and fortunately we saw a scuba diver feeding in the huge tank which met some of that expectation. The park was getting crowded by then and filled with groups of tourists from China. Stuart and I were a bit annoyed by many of the pushy and bad mannered tourists, but we still enjoyed the nice aquarium. By then, we were tired from the five hours of walking, even though we had missed checking out the koala bears, we decided to head out. As soon as we hopped on the bus, the boys fell asleep. We rested briefly at the hotel, then we walked back out to the mall to grab some food. All of us were exhausted that nothing seemed appealing, but we finally found something to eat that we were all happy with. After picking up some groceries and having a snack, we went down for the earliest night we had there, 9:30pm. All of us fell asleep without a single word once the light was out.

     We were up at 5 something again. It was so early that it took me a couple tries at the mall before able to pick up breakfast for us. We had some free time on our own as we did not meet up with the relatives until lunch for dim sum at the hotel restaurant. The same family from yesterday plus Rebecca’s family were there today. The boys did well greeting them, then drew in their pads at the table while we ate. Connor has been  loving shrimp lately so he enjoyed eating the shrimp dumplings. We took a walk with everyone at the mall for a bit then excused ourselves to take a nap before our next gathering.

     By 6pm, we took the subway to meet up with my elementary school friends. This was the biggest gathering yet with 10 classmates and our grade school teacher. One classmate brought his wife and an 8 year old daughter. It had been 11 years since I last saw some of them, so it was great seeing the familiar faces again. Shortly after we sat down, Connor had a bad stomachache, but fortunately after Stuart took him out for some fresh air and a short walk, he came back feeling better. The boys were probably “Asian fooded” out or the menu was a different type of Chinese food that they didn’t find too interesting, so neither of them, as well as Stuart, ate much. However, they stayed in the seats well to draw with Stuart, and at some point, Logan also went over to watch some videos with my friend’s daughter. I had a good time catching up and reminiscing some old schools stories with the classmates. By 9:30pm, both boys looked so tired that we had to say goodbye to everyone. They however seemed to have awoken enough to enjoy the subway ride back. After a snack at the hotel, the boys wanted to share the bed again. We wrapped up another late night at 11:30pm.

     After sleeping from 12mn to 5am, most of us had enough sleep. We stayed in bed until 6am, then we got up and had a small breakfast in our room. After some relaxing time, we walked around the big mall again and tried some Chinese breakfast. The boys loved the "fried bread". Later we rode the subway (MTR) to meet up with my second uncle to head over to see Great Grandma. The boys enjoyed the cool train ride and learned to read the map. When we arrived at Great Grandma’s little apartment, she was sitting on her bed and was happy to see us. She looked great and looked similar to how she was 2 years ago when I saw her. The boys greeted her with her Chinese title and she gave us all red envelopes. I chatted with her briefly while she asked about the boys’ ages a few times as she was forgetful. The boys also checked out Great Grandma’s 30+ years old turtle and were fascinated by it. I was very happy to see my Grandma and see how stable she looked. After taking some pictures with her, we left to allow her to rest. The plan was to meet up with my auntie, cousin June and her daughter Ching Ching for dim sum lunch in the mall underneath and head up to their condo for a visit. During the walk, Connor was very content holding hands with Uncle and received some compliments from him. It has been over 10 years since I came to their condo, so it was good to be back. We chatted for a bit while the boys watched TV. Then it was time for us to go back to the hotel for a late nap. Both boys claimed that they were not tired but they ended up sleeping close to 2 hrs and we had hard time waking them up. We had the evening to ourselves, and the boys wanted to have pizza for dinner. We eventually went down to the mall and waited for a table. By the time we were seated, Logan was so tired that he put his head down and fell asleep. After the power nap, Logan, and actually Connor too, did not eat much. When dinner was over, we all were quite exhausted. We walked a little more to buy some groceries, then we returned to the room for another late night. The boys wanted to share a bed for the night and we quickly fell asleep after 11pm.

     We arrived at SFO smoothly in the morning with lots of time remaining. The boys were excited carrying their backpacks, and Connor could not stop asking when we would board our flight. After eating lunch and taking some walks, we settled into our seats inside the plane where we would be for the next 14+ hours. The boys entertained themselves scanning through chapter books, playing on Tablets and drawing. They enjoyed their first in-flight lunch even though it was slightly spicy. Halfway through the flight, Logan began to complain about having motion sickness. The poor little boy dealt with it quietly without mentioning it too much to Stuart. At one point he finally threw up into a bag. We thought he would feel better afterward but it was just the beginning of it. He ate a little bit at snack time and the last meal, but he eventually threw up all he had eaten. Once Stuart was not able to open the bag for him fast enough, Logan got part of his shirt dirty. I assisted to get him changed into a backup shirt. Poor Logan was sad and quietly told us "I wish I was Connor, so I don’t have to choke". The remaining time Logan stayed quietly sleeping or watching shows. Connor stayed in his seat pleasantly playing with every activity we brought, and he periodically asked how many hours left with the flight. However he did not want to nap again after the brief initial one, and he finally took a second nap toward the end. Connor managed to sleep only a couple of hours during the entire trip while Logan probably had just slightly longer. We all were so happy and relieved when we landed. We picked up the luggage, and purchased some "Octopus cards" for the bus ride to the hotel. Logan was happy and playful again, but he still threw up another time after we had landed so we were very worried about the bus ride. Fortunately soon after we hopped onto the bus, the boys fell asleep the entire 1:15 ride. When we safely arrived at the hotel, I was extra relieved to have guided us to our destination. We checked in and dropped off our belongings in the room, then we headed back down to the mall which adjoined our hotel. We grabbed a small bite at a late night noodle place. Logan complained of not feeling well after the elevator ride (down from the 22nd floor) and after he ate just a little bit, but fortunately he kept everything in this time. We enjoyed walking around the mall for a bit and finally returned to the hotel for a late night. We were asleep quickly after midnight.

     Connor’s spring break started today.  I had errands to run and packing to do, so Connor just tagged along after I dropped Logan off at school.  In between, I promised to play games with Connor, so we played Beyblades and Uno.  Connor also wrote a story on a dry eraser board that he was very proud of and asked me to take a picture of him.

    I had to wake Connor up earlier from nap, so we could pick up Logan and head over to their dental appointments.  As soon as we entered the dental office, Logan was drawn to the iPads to play games and Connor to the Big Hero 6 on big screen.   Connor was called first.  Connor had his teeth checked by the dentist first, then cleaned by the hygienist.  He wanted my hand a few times and gave a couple of unhappy smile when he did not care for the taste.  Otherwise he did well.  He picked out a balloon figurine for himself and one more for Logan too.  By then, Logan was finally brought into the exam room, and he called for my attention as he walked by.  He was more timid with the instruction, but he did follow fine.  He had xrays taken, and waited for the hygienist while watching the movie.  He was assigned to the gentle and child friendly hygienist who I had requested in the past.  She talked with him, and she was not pushy but had her work done.  Logan seemed to dislike the water spray and suction, and she tried to avoid using them too much.  Both boys have no cavities but have an area for us to do better job with cleaning.  Logan’s two upper teeth apparently are wiggly, and he was suggested to have sealants placed on his back molars.  Because of Logan’s dislike of the suction, the hygienist suggested that he would do better with “laughing gas” to make the procedure more tolerable.  For now, the appointment has been made and I am not looking forward to that.

     This afternoon we made a trip to the Great Mall mainly to go to a specific store to look for some tall clothes for Stuart.  The boys wanted to bring the money they have in case they found something they wanted.  It was quite crowded at the mall, but the boys did well walking with us and made the entire circle of the mall without any complaints.  We spent quite awhile at the store and Stuart did find a lot of clothes today.  The boys were patient while we looked, and we all went into a large fitting room as Stuart’s entourage.  Connor got the clothes off the hangers for Stuart to try and Logan helped putting shirts back on to the hangers.  They were well behaved and made the experience easier for all of us.  After shopping there, we walked some more and ate dinner at the food court.  While we were there Logan had an inspirational thought that he wanted a wallet to hold the money and he was determined to find one.  While Stuart and I were looking at some luggage, Logan along with Connor were excited to look through some wallets.  We helped them find a small one to fit their needs.  The rest of the evening, both boys were fascinated and enjoyed having their remaining couple of dollars in their wallets.