Diquattro Time

Dear Family,

It has been another whirlwind of a week. Or more acurately, two weeks. We met up with the Carli, Jeremy, Miles, and Penny almost two weeks ago in Thailand for just a day, after which they took off for Phuket and we stayed in Bangkok for Char's temple seminar with 30 return missionaries. (That week is covered in detail in Char's letter.) 

We returned home a week ago, Sunday night, at the same time that the Diquattros arrived from Thailand. So we met each other at the baggage claim in the airport Sunday night around 11pm and took two taxis home and moved in (all of us) into our apartment.

These first two pictures are from our day in Bangkok together. We visited a market, did some elephant riding and toured the canal markets by boat. I included just a couple of pictures from that day. 

Here, Miles is making friends with the local snake.

And here we have Jeremy and Carli aboard an elephant.

Monday morning, we were happy to hit the streets with Penny.

First stop was our office.

Penny met Penelope, one of the assistants on our floor.

For lunch we hit the local dumpling shop. This was Penny's first experience with chopsticks. She was frustrated but determined.

After lunch, we bought both Penny and Miles a pair of connected chopsticks with finger guides.

After lunch, we headed up to the peak on the tram ...

and took some pictures...

and visited the waterfall on the way to the site where Hong Kong was dedicated for missionary work.

On Tuesday, Char and I had to work so the Diquattros headed to Disneyland where it rained hard in the morning ...

but cleared up and got hot for the afternoon. Here we are part of the massive crowds headed home after the light show and fireworks display. 

The next morning, we headed to Cheung Chau island. Here we are playing cards on the ferry.

First stop was lunch. You can see that Penny is already getting better with her chopsticks. She was not interested in using the connected chopsticks.

And of course, we had to get bikes for all of us.

And eat the local fried potato chips on a stick.

That night we went to the Dai Pai Dong for dinner. Delicious as usual.

On the way home we walked through the gold fish market.

Next day we visited the Cup Noodles factory store and took a noodle-making class.

After making noodles we headed over to our favorite hamburger/milshake shop for lunch. Here Penny is posing with her pancakes, whipped cream and peanut brittle lunch.

That night we took a tour of the harbor on the Aqualung junk to watch the lightship.

Next morning, we headed straight to the cable-car to visit Big Buddha.

If you look over to the extreme right, you can see the Big Buddha.

That night we had dinner at the Pepper Lunch restaurant. Now, both Penny and Miles are doing great with their chopsticks. They ate much better the second half of the week than the first half.

Cindy joined us for dinner and some Macdonalds ice cream afterwards.

Finally, exhausted and asleep (almost) in our front room.
S

On Saturday, Char and I had to work so the Diquattros headed off to the ferris wheel and some lunch after a swim in the pool. Here we are late in the afternoon saying goodbye after a great week.

We loved having the Diquattros here. But, this week convinced us how much we look forward to getting home to be with all of you.

We love you all.

Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma