Hey, you're my dinner. Stop climbing off my plate!

This will not be my most verbose post as I am dead tired at 8:40 pm. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I have only slept 3 hours in the last 24. Hmmm. I think so. At least, for the first time this trip, I am tired at the correct time. I ended up making the mistake of napping yesterday late afternoon, then I didn't go back to bed until 3am. I had better sleep more than 4 hours tonight, or Katie will have a tired mommy. Perhaps this is God's way of reminding me of what I'm missing by skipping those dreaded newborn sleepless nights. While I love Alex with all my heart, a helpless, short-sleeping infant is not my idea of a good time.

Today was an adventure. A slightly dreary day, however we were visiting (get a pencil to figure this one out) my aunt Jean's sister Julie's sister-in-law Chloe. Chloe grew up in China and Hong Kong and lives here with her husband Vicki (from India) who is Julie's husband Sanjay's brother. I was trying to confuse you and I think I succeeded!

So you were drawn in by the headline, and by now you're thinking, "just get to the dinner crawling part." So I'll cut to the chase. That's good, because if my eyelids droop any farther, I won't be able to see the screen.

I do have to mention that we've really enjoyed our visit to Hong Kong. Today we got to go into downtown and experience a grocery store and shopping mall (where credit cards are readily accepted...hooray!). It was much fun. Hong Kong is a big city much like Tokyo or New York, and very easy to navigate. Drivers are sensible and stay in lanes. Folks are friendly and everyone speaks English. I am very comfortable here, perhaps because this is my second visit to Asia and I'm used to the more obvious differences, like how the language sounds and the fact that most everyone looks different from us (not Caucasian).

Here is mom and I. Brad, you my recognize this smile from our Japan Fugu (puffer fish) restaurant experience. The smile on my face says "great culinary experience, glad I did it, now I'm praying to every God I can think of and hoping that the taxi drives fast so that I can get home to my Pepto. Tonight, Chloe graciously treated us to a Hot Pot restaurant. It is tough to capture on still film, but use your imagination when you look at the prawns on the plate in the far back of the photo. Can you see that they are still alive? We're about to plunge them into broiling broth, so that won't last that long.
Chloe and mom. Hot pot is much like fondue, only better. You cook in a vegetable broth in the center of the table. We enjoyed thinly sliced, locally grown beef, octopus, live prawns, crispy fish (you eat the bones, couldn't figure out what type of fish it was, though) plus bock choy and other veggies. You cooked it, fished it out with your chop sticks or a slotted spoon, then dipped it in a chili and garlic-seasoned soy sauce. Delicious! Chloe, though a size 2 maybe, has a great appetite. She was amazed that we could not eat more. Mom had to roll me into the room and cut my pants off, so I think I ate plenty.
Chloe and I at the end of the evening. Mom is going to perfect her photo abilities (note my head is partially missing) before Katie's arrival tomorrow. Mom actually is doing really great. She has been eating with chopsticks for the past two days, as have I. Today was a bit of an odd day for her, but she hung in there. We got to go, with Chloe, to a shopping mall where I picked up a wonderful outfit for Katie and a new doll. I was amazed that the Toys R Us was filled with Caucasian dolls. I could not find ONE Asian doll. What crazy toy buyers are there in this country. Blue-eyed blond dolls are not all there are. Crazy!

At Chloe's house, we enjoyed a wonderful Indian lunch with her mother-in-law who is staying with them for an extended period.