Hey Jon, What's the worst thing that could happen?

My brother Jon came to visit us for two weeks. It was so fun to have him here. We did plenty of sightseeing but also had enough time to be at home and relax. Graham hasn't seen much of Jon in his short 2.5 year life span so it was nice to watch them get to know each other. (Finley as well, but she hasn't really met anyone yet in her almost 7 month life-span :) It didn't take him long to become attached to his "Uncle Jonny" and to be honest I don't think it took long for Jon to become attached to G either.

My brother and I are notorious for our ability to make each other laugh. I laughed more in the past two weeks than I have in a long long time. Not to say that my life is laugh less without him in it :) but....he is one funny guy. Lest you think we've always been close...let me clarify. There was a time when we did anything but make each other laugh. When Jon was in high school and I was in middle school we had bedrooms right next to each other in the basement. We would fight A.LOT. about stupid, stupid things. For example, we both liked this old striped blanket to sleep with ( it was so comfortable). Mostly Jon slept with it and I would steal it off his bed. If you ever wanted to make Jon mad this was the way to do it. He would come pounding on my door swearing at me to give him the blanket back. I of course would fight back with the fact that it wasn't his and I could have it whenever I wanted---I told you we fought about stupid things. For some reason somewhere down the line we stopped fighting and started laughing together. I'm so glad we did.

We don't get to see each other very often. But, that doesn't seem to matter much. Just makes me look forward to the time we do get to spend together.

*I didn't take pictures of everything we did, so here are just some highlights*

Dim Sum at City Hall and shopping at H&M.

Church, Victoria Peak, Star Ferry.

Big Buddha

He also got a suit made. We watched glee/24. Took pics of silly people. Did lots of shopping. Spent plenty of time at the park. Ate lots of egg tarts. ----Thanks for coming Jon!!

Happy Kids

Beijing-Airport

This is the last Beijing post, I swear!

We were a little picture happy at the airport since we had some time to kill.

Graham found this car (unheard of in our part of the world) so he wanted to take it for a spin.

They ended up boarding early and we almost missed our flight.

oops.

10,000 Buddhas

Some of the ladies in my branch have been going on "outings" once a month to explore a little more of HK. We decided to join them on this outing. I left Finley home with OJ so he could study and she could nap.

Graham was a trooper. The 10,000 Buddhas is all stairs. He didn't ask me to carry him once until the very end when he fell and skinned his knees. He is still within the weight limit for my ergo so I put him in. If you know how heavy/big G is then you will understand that this was a little comical. :)

G saw these "tractors" everywhere and was so excited when Denise suggested he get inside.

(Marj, Denise, G)

There were even monkeys on the trail...once again making G's day!

Our new friends Cassie and Maleah.

The view from the top of 10,000 Buddha's. We found out later that it was a crazy polluted day. They even cancelled all the schools sports practices b/c of the pollution levels.

Good thing we were hiking in it all morning...disgusting.

This buddha/horse freaked G out.

G & M

G loves her! He always asks where she is and if we can go to her house. So cute.

I should have gotten a picture of everyone who went...oh well.

It was nice to get out and have adult conversations!

Beijing-Fireworks

Fireworks are big during Chinese New Year. I mean BIG! Any local can buy huge fireworks at the local market. They can let them off wherever they want ( even on the street in between high rise buildings :) They let them off all night long every night we were there. Graham was so excited! The first night he watched them out of every window in Nicola and Andrew's apartment. The following night however, he was able to try them out first-hand. Finley was sleeping so I stayed in the warm apartment.

Sidenote: All weekend Graham kept referring to the fireworks as airports. Every time one would go off he would yell "AIRPORT!".

(earlier in the day before fireworks)

(earlier in the day before fireworks)

(Dane and Owen)

(Graham and Andrew)

Beijing-The Great Wall

One of the "must do" things for this trip was to go to the Great Wall. I loved it when I went last time and so I wanted to go again. Probably wasn't my brightest idea ever. You forget details like that it would be freezing and that the wall is incredibly steep in many places. Let's just say Finley hated me for it and screamed most of the time. Graham, however, loved it!!

It was memorable to say the least :)

Graham waiting for everyone to get off the chair lift.

Nicola and I trying to console a sad Finley.

Andrew, Nicola, and I (and Finley) before the chairlift.

We were cold! Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Okay, don't worry we didn't buy them...they weren't even warm.

It really is such an awesome sight.

There was even some snow!

To get down from the wall we rode on a Toboggan sled. Graham was in heaven, and once again Finley is scarred for life. :)

(We didn't get a ton of pictures with our camera b/c it died but when I get some pictures from A&N I will update)

p.s. I chopped all my hair off.

It was time. I don't think I was meant to be a "long" hair person. It was driving me nuts, I never wore it down, it always got in the way, and it was HOT. So instead of cutting a little bit off I just had my friend go to town. No going half- way here...OJ was sure I would cry. He's been waiting for it. I am happy to say that it has been 2 weeks and I have not shed one single tear. It is so much more manageable this way. Its so easy and so fast. I am much too practical to have it any other way.

Now if only I could figure out a faster way to apply make-up besides not wearing any at all :)