Week 243 and Week 155.5 - Count Basie and Carols and Capoeira and a Dog

As I write the title of this post I just recently realized that I have been misspelling Capoeira.... as the i before e except after c rule must not apply to Portuguese I guess.

So a busy week for us yet again.  Matt and I went to our final event of the year - the AmCham Ball with Count Basie Orchestra playing.  Mind you, we are not event types (but I do like to dress up) but being in Asia it is hard to go a year without attending a black tie event (plus we had free tickets!).  It was fun, we met some of our neighbors, we danced at Bellini.  I would like to say that I did not feel it the next day but indeed I did by passing out at 8PM.

Sunday we swam which was great (we I mean Sophia and I) as the previous week was an unmitigated disaster with Daddy in the pool with her.  I was hoping this could be a daddy and me event but indeed it does not appear as if it will be.  We also picked up our dog we just adopted - Dawan, who is proving to be the sweetest dog ever.  Then we were going to go to Christmas carols at the Grand Coloane Resort, but Sophia was a monster on the ride over and we decided I would stay home with her (as she passed out in the car after a long bout of hysteria) and Matt took Charlotte to the carols.

Monday I brought a cookie cake to Sophia's class - as it was the official birthday celebration for the December birthdays.  I was impressed another mom was there - and it was not even her kid's birthday!  And other parents brought treats (again not their kids' birthdays).  Wow parents are nice.

Sophia had her first trial Capoeira class on Monday - as she is triumphantly turning 3 on Thursday we really wanted her to try.  She was reluctant but her encouraging sister and a bribe of chips got her started - and she was very good.  Looking forward to her being a part of that next year.

Capoeira is in a new boxing gym - which has very decent lighting for photographs:

The Saturday class has a lot of kids in it:

AmCham ball home shot with Sophia:

Charlotte helps feed Sophia:

Welcome home Dawan!

Charlotte and Santa at the carols event:

Sophia at school at her birthday celebration:

Sophia does a headstand at her trial Capoeira class:

And helps out:

Charlotte likes to touch Justin - but he plays hard to get sometimes:

Knocking Master Eddy over:

Charlotte:

Pillar:

Justin:

The girls love talking about eyelashes - telling me a borrowed mine from Tita Veronica.  Here is Sophia sporting her own:

Week 242 and Week 154.5 - Thanksgiving and our Clockenflap wedding anniversary!

November ended on Sunday and like a book chapter ending it was the last day of brilliant weather here in Macau.  Sort of that humidy t-shirt and shorts weather that evolves into a cardigan in the evening weather.  The last couple of days have been nothing short of bitter cold and rainy... for Macau standards anyway (but still a balmy 65 degrees F for those of you keeping score at home).  You know in Hong Kong the wardrobes literally change to boots and scarves on October 1st, regardless of the actual weather outside (though I think this has more to do with confined closet space more than anything else.  Did you know you can store your off-season clothes at your dry cleaner in HK?).  So finally here, across the pond in Macau, the weather catches up a month later.  Sunday we went to a charity bazaar hosted by the ILCM (Ladies Club of Macau) and it was a great day out in Coloane!

We had a busy week - I forget in fact that the fall (and maybe the spring) has lots of stuff going on.  Matt and I went to 2 Thanksgivings this year (the first one grown ups only) with majestic Karo's corn syrup pecan pie to round out one meal (or ourselves - thanks Wendy W as it was amazing).  Our second Thanksgiving was more kiddie focused - the girls loved playing with the other American (in spirit) kids - so much so that in their usual fashion, they ate nothing among all of the stimulus.  Well, ok, Sophia had 2 pieces of bread.  So we had McDonald's at the end of Thanksgiving so our kids would not starve.  I know I know - we are sellouts.

Friday morning Veronica let us do a practice run birthday cake for Sophia.  Unfortunately I could not find an Elsa that wasn't mucked in marker.  Props to Veronica who makes it look easy and now I realize that this is a hobby I have little interest in.  But the girls loved it (as it was their reward for eating all their lunches and sleeping in their room at night - 25 stickers!  Yay!)

Saturday Matt and I went to Clockenflap in Hong Kong- and it was really fun!  This is how we marked out 6th wedding anniversary.  We loved Kool and the Gang and did not like Travis live as much.  Matt did not know that Closer is basically my song to him - so we stayed through that and then left.  Made it on the 11:00 boat which was a darn miracle (thanks to the 967 bus that goes from Kowloon station to the Macau Ferry Terminal in Central - God I love how efficient Hong Kong is sometimes!)


I started to say Clockenflap in that jibber jabber way that is at the beginning of Def Leppard's Rock of Ages (whose song and video scared the crap out of me when I was younger).  The girls love how I say it though - they just laugh and laugh.

Here is a reference to this song:

The kids played with Jenny and Jason loads last week.  Here are some of the highlights:

Char smiles with her full body just like me!

Cake making!

Final cake!

Grantai Thanksgiving with the kiddos - with lovely Caia:

Coloring:

The Karaoke room in full force:

Handsome Justin:

The Taylors:

Balloon twisting:

Turkey carving:

Chandra is the uber party organizer for the kiddos!

One Grantai has an impressive cinema room:

The girls have recntly gotten into these Play Doh tutorials - Charlotte can put on her teacher voice and is dead accurate (like the girl in the Disney Toy Club videos):

Char took a photo of us - aside from Matt's head being cut off it is pretty good:

Family photo:

Matt's beloved Mexican restaurant closed this weekend:

At Clockenflap - the Silent Disco:

Kiddie play area in the mist:

Selfies!

Travis:

Misty beautiful Hong Kong at night:

ILCM Charity Bazaar - Sophia and one of her BFF's Abby:

My awesome hairdresser Andy doing Benjamin's hair:

Geoff does the ring toss - I wonder if he won the Powerpuff Girls drawing set:

Inquisitive Emi:

Charlotte and Justin enjoy an ice cream - thanks Diane!

Sophia is showing off her knickers:

Sophia getting her fringe on with Andy: