Ian's 6th Birthday

Waking up to the family singing a non-harmonious version of "Happy Birthday" might cause some people to bury their heads under their pillow and wish for more sleep, but not Ian.  He woke up to our serenade with great enthusiasm, he was so excited to be 6.

Before going to school, Ian opened Grandma & Paka's birthday card - a fun Scooby Doo talking card with a $20 bill.  A huge smile lit up his face until he realized he couldn't use that money here.  But, his smile grew even bigger when we explained the exchange rate was 8 times the dollar so he really had 160 patacas, Ian felt like a rich kid.

At school, Ian's class sang "Happy Birthday" to him in Chinese and English and ate American style cupcakes (a new treat for many of them).

After school, we took a few of Ian's friends to the Qube, an activity center for kids.  

They spent 2 hours playing on the bouncy castles and maze,

inflatable slides,

 air hockey and foosball tables, 

or at the wii/kinect/x-box stations. 

 It was hard to pull the boys away from all this fun 

but we enticed them with frozen yogurt and cupcakes.  

According to Ian, it was the "best birthday ever".

Ian's a good natured, happy, creative little boy who loves to make others laugh.  At times he's a bit forgetful, like when he walks out the door without shoes or puts his pants on backwards, but he laughs at himself just as much as we do.  At school, his teacher says Ian makes friends with the kids that don't speak English well because he can always make them laugh - a language everyone understands.  And recently, Ian told me his purpose here in Macau is to be an example of silliness and obedience (which he claims he's the best at in class).  We love our Ian!! 

Winter without Snow (by Cade)

If you believe that Santa only goes to cold places, (Utah, Canada, Washington etc.) then you can believe Santa hates places like Macau, Singapore, Indonesia, and other places similar to us. For instance, Leah has been saying "Christmas isn't here, it's not snowing!" Luckily the weather is getting to its lowest temperatures in the low 40s, which means we can at least wear jackets and sweatshirts.

This is at the Venetian where there was a show called "Winter in Venice" which was a run-through of the seasons for Venice.

See the "snow"?? We figured out that it was most likely wet paper. It might be a good way to make your own snow!

Also, we got here just after typhoon season, so none of those to substitute for snow. We did find ice at the Venetian.  But we only had 1 day to do that!! 

This is Abby and Nattida posing in front of a lotus at her birthday at Fun Ice World.

We'll just keep hoping for some rain.

We are enjoying the difference between the winters but look forward to coming back.

Macau Grand Prix

Every November, Macau transforms it's streets into a race track for the popular auto-racing event, the Macau Grand Prix.  They erect grand stands and barriers along the streets and redirect traffic with lots of road detours and closures.  We're told this course is one of the most challenging in the world because it has some fast straights (top speeds of 170 mph), tight corners, and uncompromising crash barriers.  This event is also unique because it's the only street circuit that has both car and motorbike races.

  Although we're not auto-racing enthusiasts, we couldn't miss this big event.  And, our good friends invited us to watch the race from a unique location, the United Nations University.  From here, we had an up-close view of Maternity Bend (see map above)

and the following straightaway.

We watched one 15-lap car race (I believe they're called Formula 3 cars)

and one motorbike race (although the red flag waved, ending it after only 7 or 8 laps due to a slight drizzle of rain).

We didn't see any crashes or spin outs but there was evidence a car had hit the barriers in front of us earlier in the day and there were a few times the emergency vehicles raced to a crash site somewhere else on the track.  During the stoppage times and when the cars and motorcycles were racing around the rest of the track, we had the space to play, eat, and socialize.  It was a great place to enjoy the race.  We had fun at the Macau Grand Prix.

Macau Science Center

Every time we cross a bridge from Taipa to Macau (usually a few times a week), we see this funny looking building and every time the kids say "I want to go there", "When are we going there", "Let's go there".  FINALLY, we made it to the funny looking building!

It's the Macau Science Center and it has 5 levels of hands-on exhibits for kids with an observation deck on top.  The kids loved exploring the many different sciences including space, environment, technology, robotics, transportation, conservation, meteorology, sports, and food. 

 Astronaut Abby

Water hydraulics with Ian

Riding the train with Leah

Ian loving being behind the wheel.  

This picture reminds me of a cute Ian story.  Recently, we played a large group get-to-know-you game at church.  Everyone sat in a big circle with 1 person in the middle.  That person would say something like "change seats if you have shorts on".  Then, everyone with shorts on as well as the middle person tried to find a new seat.  The one person left without a seat would be the new person in the middle.  While we were playing this game, someone said "change seats if you have ever driven a car".  I got up along with a number of the adults to change seats.  As I was looking for a new seat, I noticed Ian was also looking for another seat and the people around him were laughing.  I stopped and asked him "when have you driven a car?".  He just laughed and found a seat.  But, I didn't move fast enough from my stunned position and was the last person standing.  I looked at Ian to blame for my losing position, but he just smiled his big toothless smile and answered me, "lots of times".  I guess toy cars and car rides, like this one, count as driving a car in his book.  Gotta love the "E-do"!    

On the observation deck with our good friends, the Knowlers.

The Ruins of St. Paul's

One of Macau's most famous landmarks is the Ruins of St. Paul's.  It's the facade of a Portuguese cathedral built in the early 1700's.  At that time, it was the largest Catholic Church in East Asia.  But, in 1835, the building was destroyed by fire leaving only the south wall.  Sitting atop a hill, the Ruins have become the welcoming image of Macau.

 The Ruins of St. Paul's image is on every Macau souvenir - postcards, t-shirts, magnets, mugs, spoons, etc.  It's even on the bags and packaging (which are EVERYWHERE) of the Koi Kei Bakery (famous in Macau for peanut candy and meat jerky).  

We visited the Ruins of St. Paul's on a beautiful Saturday afternoon along with hundreds of other tourists which meant we were part of the attraction that day too.  It was comical how many people took our picture that day.  And thanks to Kyle, we've got evidence of these Chinese paparazzi.

Picture Potpourri

I have more pictures from our Macau adventures than I know what to do with (and it's only been 4 months!).  We've taken pictures of many "firsts", strange foods, cool sights, and lots of fun events.  Sharing these pictures on the blog has been a great way to journal our adventures but there's no way I can make a post about all our pictures.  So, here's a potpourri of pictures we've taken the last 4 months that are worth sharing and remembering.

On a walk from Taipa to Cotai (Kyle's daily commute to work)

A view of Taipa from an overlook park on the Taipa Grande

The torch tower at Macau Olympic Stadium

Old Taipa Square

Hot Pot Dinner

Bubba Gump's at the Peak in Hong Kong

A waterfall along a hike around The Peak

Dancing in the streets of Hong Kong (wish we'd taken a video instead!)

Bamboo Trees

Freeze dried anchovies - a local favorite (Leah loves them too)

The dragon wall (one of our favorite landmarks) in Old Taipa

Proof that the Chinese love to take pictures of us.  And, it's contagious - one person gets us to pose with them and then others don't want to miss their chance with the "golden hair" ones so one quick photo turns into a 5 minutes photo shoot with about 20 different photographers.

A Lion Dance costume made for 2 people (a dragon costume needs more people).   Some lion dance competitions are performed on tall poles with small platforms only big enough for one person to stand on.  

Riding bikes in Old Taipa

Hot dogs and marshmallows?!?

Statue of the Portugal explorer known for colonizing Macau

Sports day at school

Reading Chinese

A gigantic Buddhist shrine

Although we spoke different languages, with smiles and simple hand gestures, Abby, Cade, and Kyle took turns playing badminton with a cute Chinese lady that was fascinated with our family.

The boys posing in front of a tongue (they made the butchers laugh) at the Red Market (most well known wet market in Macau)

Kung Fu poses

Macau mosaics