New Year's week

Last week I went to HongKong to celebrate Monica's 30th birthday. She flew in from Canada. Michael was also there and we spent the day together. In the evening they left for the airport and they have been chilling in the Philippines ever since. Haiwen and I will join them on Saturday!

After dinner I visited Ans and Chiel. He's had a really bad hernia and is doing lots of physical therapy now. Recovery is going well (he had almost zero feeling in his legs before) but he'd like it to go a lot faster. Last weekend he walked a bit at home wearing his brace. Awesome!! It's going to take a lot more hard work but he's right on top of it.

Grandpa and kaofu (Lexie's great uncle)

On Saturday evening the New Year's celebrations began. I think I did something bad to my back by walking around in HK with a bag pack on. Ouch!!! I was K.O. for the day and my belly wasn't happy either. The plan was to leave around 16.00 to go visit auntie and uncle but I was in bad shape. Qiang, her friend and the inlaws went first and Haiwen and I joined them later.

I was in no mood for a 'Chinese' evening but it turned out to be quite nice. I wasn't looking forward to dirty bathrooms and yucky food (when restaurants get too busy, the food sucks). Turned out that we were eating in the second round and that the restaurant wasn't packed anymore and the toilets were in decent shape. I cheered up quite a bit and didn't feel so bad anymore.

On the first day of the New Year we went to the Chinese restaurant in the Westin. The food was good but when we wanted to pay they claimed we couldn't use a discount coupon. That was weird because HW had told them when we booked and also before ordering. There was no note of the coupon not being valid either. A very long discussion followed and in the end we got the discount. Their argument was that discounts do not apply to dim sum. Yeah right, that isn't stated anywhere!! They said a lot of stupid stuff but HW did not budge.

After lunch we went to visit the family's friends who live in the area. One family lives on the 17th floor and the other one on the 13th. Lexie was due for a nap so I stayed with her while the mahjong-ing took off at the 13th floor. She'd gone to bed late the night before so she was starting to get fussy. On top of that she had a bad cough, the poor thing. She slept a bit and it took her a long time to wake up. She was content just sitting with me and staring ahead blankly. At that time grandma Tummers called and we had a chat.

These last few pictures have all been taken on the 13th floor. These friends are quite rich and they have a lot of expensive things in their house. The flowers are all there especially for the New Year.

Expensive as the things may be, I'd rather not have them (or sell some, haha).

We stayed until dinner which was seafood only. By that time I was feeling quite bad again and we left after HW finished eating. Grandma made dinner for Lexie in between and I nibbled at some rice, which did nothing to make me feel better ;) Just a bit too much after a tiring HK trip and so much family stuff going on. I was simply knackered. Lexie was done for the day as well and after some extensive screaming when we got home I put her to bed. Also a bit too much for her too and she was happy to see her bed. She slept well and her cough has almost disappeared.

Yesterday HW and I joined Nicole for lunch at the Four Seasons. It was very nice and we all ate too much. Just a little Chinese section in the buffet and I steered clear from that. Some nice veggies, cheese and desserts, yum! Too bad I can't have any raw fish because the salmon looked delicious. But hey, I can have it again in a few months, no big deal.

Oh, I almost forgot! On Friday I went to the hospital for a check up and everything is OK :) The heart beat is strong and the size is good. On the 4th of March I will have an ultra sound and we should find out what the sex is. Place your bets!!