Sacha: I love Cupcakes

My Aunty Kath is the best cupcake maker in the world. They are delicious and they have glitter and pink icing and daisy flowers on them.. I have cool new sunglasses with Hello Kitty pictures on them. Also I really like the new princess because she looks so beautiful.

Arlo: Haggis and football

The last two days have been really interesting I 've eaten mince out of a sheeps gut (haggis really tasty) thought of as a delicacy in Scotland, gone to the Tantallon Castle ruins to have a look at what the toilets would have been like for prisoners in the castle (clay uncomfortable seats tried it out. Long drop too) and guess what, there is an island near by, Bass Rock, that had a very white surface just because the birds (gannets) circling the island have crapped on it so many times (got a picture in here). After all that I went and had a nice game of football with some competitive little 7 year olds.
ps. I like pies.

Karel: I like old castles

Out with all the family to Tantallon Castle near Edinburgh. Arlo has been super older cousin to Matiu, Hamish and Sol are like two peas in a pod, and Sacha and Olivia are best friends - worst friends - best friends (5 year old girl stuff - as of this moment they are still going to each other's birthday parties). Loving the history - stories of battles and seiges, kingdoms and rebelions, treachery and honour. Haggis tonight with 'neeps' and 'tatties' - hmmmm!

Sol: Hey Harry, what did you like doing in Edinburgh?

I am in Edinburgh. My friend Harry went here last year. What were some things you did that were cool? I bought some new Narnia models from the model toy shop on Lothian Rd with my birthday money.

MaryAnn: Highland Dancing

Sacha took a Highland Dancing class with her cousin Olivia today. Half way through she came over to me and whispered with a concerned look "the teacher says I'm good but I actually don't know what I am doing". By the end she abandoned conformity and shared with the class her own solo performance of some quite adventurous ballet moves. Lots of oohing and ahhing from the teacher satisfied her.

Arlo: perfect mix

What I mean by a perfect mix is that I get to hang out with my cousins who I haven't seen in 3 years and I get to do the hanging out in Edinburgh which we've only been in for 3 days and I'm already saying that this is my favorite place so far not because of the attractions but because it definitely reminded me of Nelson because it has big wide open spaces,everyone speaks english and you can find so many different cultures around the city we haven't done a lot in the last 3 days but it was Sol's birthday he got 60 pounds(130$) and saved it up and spent it all on the plane an hour later(bought a nintendo). But today we did go to the Edinburgh castle to have a look at some of the cannons and the national war museum.
Ps. If you don't like sausage rolls do you like pie's.

Karel: My Scots Connection

Funny, all this thinking of the kids connecting with my Dutch side and I forgot about the Dicksons - my Scots ancestry on Mums side. Kilts and "och ayes". Climbed Castle Hill and immersed myself in Edinburgh's history. Sunny, blue skies but with a crisp chill - blossom everywhere. St Giles Cathedral - stunning. Cooking tonight for the cousins - nice to do the normal stuff.

Karel: really love London!

Excellent three days in London. Absolutely love the place. Weather keeps on coming to the party (26-27 degrees every day). This morning a quick scoot around some of the most amazing buildings - Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye. Kids are all Tube experts - up and down escalators, spotting line transfers, chats with attendants - great stuff. Wonderful Lebanese food. Now in Edinburgh - very relaxed with family, so nice for the kids to have their cuzzies to hang with.

Maryann: can't wait to see the cousins tomorrow

Off to edinburgh tomorrow to see little bro mike and whanau. Also sols 8th birthday.

Sacha: The Queen didn't come out

The queen didn't come out of her castle because there were too many people outside and she is only used to talking to the king, the baker and the taster. The queen never gets scared except about giants.

Arlo: London galore

I think the best way to start this blog is with three words London,is,awesome!!!!First we started off with a pleasant stroll through Hyde park at 6 in the morning after waiting four hours in our cabin (sic. Hotel room) waiting for the light (I see the light). We fed squirrels and chased dogs around the massive park right in the middle of London. Then we went to the London zoo to check out the gorillas and the burmese python from Harry potter. After that we went to Hamleys (one of the biggest toy shops in the world). Then the next day we went to the Tower of London to see some of the gruesome torture instruments used in the medieval times so that was my experience of London. Oh, and one other thing, I was walking back to the cabin and passed china town and got that funny sensation of Hong Kong smell so I blocked my nose and ran to the Hotel.
Ps. Do you like sausage rolls?

Karel: in London and it's gorgeous

London arrival - Good Friday. No one in Heathrow - strangely quiet - but everything went very quickly so found ourselves at our hotel just by Hyde Park within an hour of landing! A balmy 25 degrees, very green, and just loving being here. All struggling a bit with tiredness (and VH proximity-itis) but a good sleep and a stroll around the Serpentine should help.

Mary Ann: so impressed by the kids

Amazed how adaptable they are. Sacha sings and marches her way through determinedly. Sol absorbs himself playing and seems to always be finding little bugs in this concrete jungle to play with. Arlo takes on every challenge, fearless with bartering, striking up conversations wherever he goes.

Sacha: I have got my own money

I went to the night market. I wanted the polly pocket because I forgot mine but mum didnt let me because it was too expensive.

Sol : my dream job

I went to see the dolphin show.I even saw a dolphin do a double back flip.

Arlo: today my balls went up my throat

Actualy they did three times in a row. Once on Hong Kongs most famous roller coaster called the dragon. It had three massive loops and I was in the front carriage. But the funny thing was well if any of you have been on a full on roller coaster you will know that they have special harnesses that go over your shoulders but for me I totally freaked out because I pulled the harness over my shoulders and checked to see if it had locked itself and it hadn't so I kept on checking to see if it was clicking on but it wasn't so I was totally freaked out when I realized that the roller coaster had started moving so I quickly checked another time and it had locked phew that was balls up throat part1. Time for part 2. The abyss is a ride where you get to experience the joy of free fall what happens is that you are strapped into a seat lifted about 300 meters into the air and you held there for 8 secs(me and dad counted the seconds until our doom)then I was dropped about 3 quarters of the way down then zoomed back up to feel the third part of the balls in the throat.
Ps. I like sausage rolls.

Cameras found!

Yes still don't know where but cameras found by air nz and anton is sorting it out to send then to us thanks Anton!

MaryAnn: The Dragon Hostel

So we set of in a trail of rolling suitcases taking the MTR trains, squeezed in, up and down 100(truly) escalators sacha marching with her suitcase and determined arm swinging. We eventually found it, a skodie looking entrance all trying to look/feel hopeful after a lot of gesturing we get our windowless room on the 6th floor. 5 beds in partial state of repair crammed in. Not thinking about earthquakes or fires. But it's clean! Bit of an adjustment from the hotel but everyone quickly adjusted just a room to crash in and only $18NZea! Amazing how fast things start to feel comfortable wandering streets of Kowloon.

Sacha: I can spell Hong Kong

It's very weird because there's no little houses only hotels that are very tall. At the hotel for breakfast I ate so many things I thought I ate everything in the whole place. We have pool near our room that we like to swim in and it has a spa right beside it. We bought weird jellies that spots and some had fruit. I went on a very fast train and I saw a pool out the window that had a big slide. Mummy and I are in the same room and I lost my Teddy under my bed - lucky I found her. When we were on the plane we ate lots of food - I had pancakes with syrup. We also had a lolly bag from the Buckleys which was good. and today is Mum's birthday and we are going to buy her a watch.

Sols thoughts

In Hong Kong it is weird how many people are walking on the path. you almost bump in to them. On the way to Hong kong there were 400 people on the plane.I watched 5 movies on the back of the seat. I ate 2 meal. 1 was gross and 1 was delicious. Tonight we are staying in a hotel for the first time. It turned out boring because my dad is sick. We went out and saw humongous crabs at the shop.

Arlo's awesome comment

Well everything is going splendid if you don't count mum loosing the camera and video camera and dad vomit ing in the bathroom this very second.

Did't get any sleep at all on the plane so I slept for about 5 hours then got woken up by mum to find out that for the last half hour mum had been trying to get into my room so she could wake me. She had tried all different strategies to wake she had knocked on the door, rang the room phone, then she finally went to front desk and got the master key.

One of the really weard things about Hong Kong is that the pollution is so bad that I haven't seen a spot of blue sky the whole time I've been here but the funny thing is that the temperature is just as hot as Nelson on a hot day.(It sort of feals like you are in a sort of a globe like in the Simpsons movie but the globe is made out of pollution?
Ps. You know how you talk about old people smell. Well their is a Hong Kong smell and it's really funny because the food all smells the same but tastes different.

Arlo

Travel tip from Mary Ann

Cameras can't walk to the plane by themselves.

They tend to Need some assistance especially if they have a brand new digital camcorder in tow!
Yes, there you have it! I got to the nelson airport, thought I'd made it but I RELAXED TOO EARLY!!!!

Otherwise,we're swell!

Travel tip 2: get over it and enjoy yourself, hang at least you didn't lose the kids, miss the plane, CRASH.

I didn't think I'd get into blogging but it's therapeutic I see. They are all officially asleep except me. I seem to be wide awake. This is helped by the fact that for the first time ever I slept on a plane even with Sacha all over me on my left and a nice physician snuggled up to me on my right.

We are in a hotel in hong kong island and the view it's amazing, outside our window is a complete ring of high-rise flats with bamboo scaffolding and washing the kids have been looking over to see if they can see us.

me sacha and sol went out and bought all different types of jelly for lunch some yummy, some weird.I don't know quite how you're meant to eat it on the run though. I was feeling quite conspicuous in the park sticking our tongues in plastic bowls of jelly trying to get a bite out but ending up with the whole globule everywhere. Sacha then mixed this with a cheese slice. You can imagine.

I hope they will wake up soon. Jelly is not enough, dumplings next!

MA

Cashing Up (at least trying to)

Went to get a bunch of foreign currency today. Arlo and Karel loitered at the bank for an hour and managed to empty Sol's bank account and get away with a small stash of pounds, euros and US dollars. Unfortunately Sol found out so we had to hand it over!

Spent another half hour trying to get Arlo a Cash Visa card, only to be denied because of his criminal record - just kidding, needed ID and the only thing he had on him at the time was his birthmark - which didn't get us far. Back tomorrow with the passport.

4 More Sleeps!

The mad countdown is underway.  We've decided to pack light - going for the cabin baggage only. Karel's deciding which black T-Shirt to take, MaryAnn's working out if two pairs of shoes is really enough, Sacha is having to decide which small fluffy toy will be her global companion, Solly is sorting out how much lego is feasible to carry, and Arlo is wondering if two pairs of undies is really necessary. Anyway, more packing news coming soon.