Panda Style

The movie, Kung Fu Panda, is one of our favorites and is quoted often in our family.  You can only imagine our excitement when we found out we were moving to China, home of Kung Fu and pandas.  We finally found some time to visit the Panda Pavilion.  As you can see, it brought out the Kung Fu excitement in us.

    

Kung Fu - Kisebach Style

Although pandas live in the mountains of Central China, Macau created a special place for 2 of these amazing animals, Xi Xi, and Kai Kai.  They may not know Kung Fu but they were still very entertaining.  Kai Kai was the most active and fun to watch.

 He gathered bamboo, 

sat down to eat the bamboo,

did laps around his enclosed area,

soaked his back paws in a tub of water,

wondered around in more circles,

and scratched his butt on a tree stump.

This Panda Pavilion Park is also home to a few types of monkeys and birds.  The lemurs were a big hit with our family.  Maybe it was because Cade and Abby can talk King Julien style (the crazy lemur from the Madagascar movie who sings "I like to move it, move it") so well or because Kyle and Cade got the lemurs to play follow-the-leader with them.  Just imagine Kyle and Cade standing at one end of the lemurs' cage, raising their arms above their head, getting the attention of the lemurs, then jumping sideways to the other end of the cage.  The lemurs bounced along the fence following the silly humans back and forth a number of times.  It was hilarious!!  I personally laughed more at Kyle and Cade but the lemurs were pretty funny too.

Abby's Birthday at Ice World

In celebration of Abby's 8th birthday, we went to Ice World, an exhibit featuring ice carvings by the world famous Harbin ice sculptors.  It took 50 sculptors 1 month and 10,000 blocks to create a winter wonderland of famous landmarks, a fairytale forest, a music room, a maze, and two slides.  The exhibit is maintained at a chilling temperature of -8 degrees C, which is about 17 degrees F.  Big blue parkas are provided for each visitor but it was still super cold!

Abby invited her new friend, Nattida, who has really helped Abby adjust at school.  Leah quickly fell in love with Nattida too.  The three girls held hands most of the day - super cute!

Tiananmen Square

Chinese Dragon Boat

Cade assisting the princesses up to the carriage ride.

Totem Pole Fun

The Lego block maze

Kyle and Leah coming down the ice slide

Abby and Nattida in the dog sled pulled by Simba's ice buddies

Shark found a yummy snack

Eskimos buddies

Macau Grand Prix

Xian China

China dolls

  Chinese dragon slide

On Sunday (Abby's actual 8th birthday), 

Kyle made peanut butter french toast, per Abby's request.  She discovered this new flavor combination at a restaurant here and it's become her favorite.  Then, after a nice, big lunch, she blew out 8 candles on her birthday cake.  

 The cake was a beautiful chocolate layered cake with white frosting and fruit on top.  But, to our surprise the layers of frosting had chunks of jello mixed in it - not very flavorful but it definitely provided an additional texture to every bite.   

Abby got lots of great gifts, including a Sleeping Beauty Barbie doll who Nattida says Abby looks like. 

 We love our Abby!  She has a big, kind heart, a clever mind, a beautiful smile, a talent for gymnastics, sparkly blue eyes, and a strong sense of style.  This move has been a little scary at times for Abby but she's learning to face her fears and adjust to new things well.  We're so proud of her and love her so much!

Happy Birthday, Abby Dabby Doo!

Disneyland Hong Kong

Still without a blue card (working visa), we had to leave Macau for a few days.  So, we went to the "happiest place on earth"-

 Disneyland Hong Kong!

Shortly after we entered the park, a Disneyland employee invited our family to be VIP guests.  Free gifts and personalized souvenirs sounded like a good deal.

 Little did we know that it also meant we would be the Grand Marshals in the afternoon parade.  We wore Mickey Mouse ears and overstuffed Mickey Mouse gloves to wave to all the spectators. 

  Over the PA system in 3 different languages, Disneyland announced a warm welcome to the Kisebach family from the United States who would be the Grand Marshals.  We laughed and still couldn't believe the attention we were getting!  As we drove through the streets of Disneyland we waved and smiled and air-fived people sitting on the curbs and waiting to watch the parade.  What a memorable experience!

The next day, people still recognized us as the Grand Marshals from the previous day.  Whether people wanted a picture of the Grand Marshals or pictures with the beautiful kids with "golden hair", our family is in thousands of pictures across the Asian world now (and we'll never see any of them).  But, here are a few of the pictures we have of our 2 fun filled days at Disneyland.

TOMORROWLAND

Cade's first driving experience - and the steering wheel is on the opposite side!

FANTASYLAND

 

 It's a Small World ride was fun because it had Disney characters in the many, different countries and lands.

ADVENTURELAND

 

 Tarzan's Treehouse

GRIZZLY GULCH

 Something for everyone here - even Kyle the Blacksmith

TOY STORY LAND

A large part of day 2 was spent in Toy Story Land but we forgot to take pictures.  It had some cool rides like the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, Slinky Car Spin, and RC Racer.

 After a long, busy day at Disneyland, we went swimming at our hotel and one of our favorite Disney characters showed up in his swimming attire, Goofy.  Leah met him first and gave him a high five but would not take a picture with him.  Abby and Ian weren't shy and posed with their silly friend.

And Cade got a big hug from Goofy as well as a hand held escort up to the top of the slide.  

We had a wonderful time at Disneyland!  The smiles say it all as we wait at the Disneyland train station after 2 days of Disney magic!