Christchurch, NZ

Our New Zealand vacation began in the tiny town of Christchurch on the East coast in the Cantebury region. We flew in and stayed there for two nights - it was a wonderful town, very Oxford-like, with a crisp coolness in the air that we hadn't felt in quite a long time!
The town center was lovely, with the cathedral as the anchor point...
Beautiful botanic gardens and a river passes through the whole town.
And yes, they DO take their rugby seriously! Right in the middle of town was this countdown clock to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Two excited travelers at the beginning of a wonderful journey!
The town has a tram that circles around the city, giving a slow look at everything - you just plop the stroller on the front!
A local school at lunchtime...it definitely had a British/Oxford feel!
On the tram, relaxing.
Such a beautiful city, and so clean - here's the main tram stop with a cool glass rooftop.
It definitely was cool, so some hats were purchased - we looked like serious tourists with our matching black Rugby "All Blacks" (their team name) hats! (But we were sure they thought Finn was with the team)
Finn chases some ducks in the park...
Daddy and Finn take a stroll, it was nice not to sweat through our clothes on a walk!
Feeding the ducks in the gardens - Finn loved doing this, right up until the point when one feisty duck snapped a piece of bread from his fingers!
Swings in NZ are pretty much like they are everywhere else - FUN!
Finn found this game to be "too funny."

The road out of Christchurch began on Tuesday, with the giant southern alps in the horizon...and the first of many lush green fields filled with sheep!
We often pulled the car over (not a whole lot of traffic!) and stopped for rests and scenery breaks.
So we left Christchurch, recovered from our flights, and eager to explore more. Next stop - Mount Cook!
Love,
A&E

Back from NZ...

We made it back from New Zealand, and it was the best vacation ever! We had loads of fun and took hundreds of pictures, which we'll start uploading over the next few weeks...
In the meantime, the highlight for Andy was the big Kawarau bridge bungy jump! What a rush, at the place that invented bungy jumping...
I took a big swan dive and all I could see was crystal blue water rushing towards me! If you look at the onlookers, you can see Erin and Finn (in brown hat) watching Daddy...
Mid free fall...
The big bounce afterwards...
And an adrenaline rush that didn't go away all day!
Here's a brief video of the fall/jump! (You can hear Finn get upset at the very end...he was a little worried about Daddy...)

We're doing the last and final packing and we leave on Saturday morning. Hard to believe it's almost over.
Stay tuned for more from Bakertown! Until then, see you in the USA...
Love,
A&E

#5...Shanghai

Our #5 moment - not technically in Hong Kong, but who's counting? Well, I guess us, but since it's us, we can make our own rules! Curtis showed us an amazing time in Shanghai - wonderful weather, fantastic food, and lots of fun. Shanghai, we salute your fake-watch-selling, red-flag-waving, spicy-food-eating goodness! Thanks for a great weekend.
#4-#2 moments coming soon!!!
Love,
A&E

#6...Dragon's Back???

Far from being the best day during our stay, at the time of the hike at Dragon's Back we would never have guessed that we'd look back on it and laugh so much about it later. Brutally hot, desperately thirsty, and slightly hungover...but now the source of much humor to us, Dragon's Back falls at #6 on the top 10 HK moments.
Once Sean Hanson said to us that we "look like a bunch of refugees!" in the picture below, we have never looked back on this day without a laugh.
That is one sweaty couple.
Love,
A&E

Last Weekend in Hong Kong!

It is our last full weekend in Hong Kong since we leave for our big trip next Saturday! It was a bittersweet weekend for us, as we are looking forward to coming home, but sad to leave...we had lunch at a delicious dumpling restaurant on Saturday...
Gotta make the dumplings...gotta make the dumplings...
Erin and her favorite soup dumpling!
Saturday night we went out (with Finn at home!) to have dinner at the Peak. We took in the beautiful night skyline...
The happy (Hong Kong) couple. :)
Sunday we were back at it, off on a final HK excursion. Finn makes a break for it at the subway station with a new pal!
We went to the HK Wetlands Park, a nature preserve in the far north (we could see China from the park).
Finn checks out the local animals...
"Guys, this duck isn't saying quack quack! What gives?!"
Lots of pretty flowers and such...
"Look into my eyes, Daddy. You want to give me Ice Cream..."
"Oh well, a granola bar will do!"
In the mudflats section we saw lots of tiny fiddler crabs!
And a butterfly came right up to us and almost landed in my hand. Finn loved it!
Off we go, on a long and winding road that will soon take us back to Takoma Park...
Love,
A&E

A night at the races...

For Andy's work going-away party, we went to Happy Valley race track in Hong Kong, a legendary race course that makes more money in a night (Wednesday nights only) than some race courses in the States make all year!
Here, we pose next to a horse. (Not a real one)
Let's gamble it up! Look at all that cash! ($100HK = $13US)
Andy and Paul discuss their options...in reality, Andy had no idea what was going on and eventually just said "tell me what to do."
The inexplicable between-races Romanian band. Only slightly more logical than the Mexican Mariachi band at Ocean Park.
They're off!!!
This poor old horse brings up the rear...
Yay! Erin celebrates. In 3 races we saw, we bet $300HK and won $370! That's a $10US profit, thank you very much!
A good time had by all and another Hong Kong experience for the books!
Only one more week of work, then off to New Zealand...
Love,
A&E

Shanghai'd in Bakertown!

Before heading to Shanghai for a long weekend with Cousin Curtis, we headed up to the Peak for one last view of the harbor and hike in the woods...
A view on the other side of the Peak onto Lamma Island below...
On Friday we headed to Shanghai, and this was the first view when we stepped off the Subway...hundreds of thousands of people crowding the streets for Chinese National Day!Soldiers were out in force, they must have heard the Bakers were in town!
A view of Shanghai's impressive skyline...every single building seems to be completely unique.
Finn meets Curtis' little cat!
Having Curtis host us was fantastic - he took us to all his favorite spots, including this great restaurant...there's nothing quite as exciting as pictures of food, am I right?
On day two we were blessed with perfect weather and headed to the Shanghai Museum.
Erin stretches out and enjoys a day of temperatures not in the 100's!
Finn contemplates communism, and the Chinese flag handed to him by a passing policeman...
"Mom, did you really think I would want to see old Chinese furniture? I thought this was a children's museum!"
Finn makes a run for it...but can't get past the wrought iron gates...
The three amigos in a local neighborhood for lunch. Sorry, no pictures of food.
The world's most distinguished office building for rent.
Flags were out in force for National day...60 years of the People's republic.
Curtis strikes a hard bargain at the market! They sell everything there, including terribly ugly scarves...
Two classy gents model their 100%, totally real and extremely expensive (did I mention real?) new watches purchased at a local 'jeweler.'
Just so everyone knows that Bakertown isn't always glamorous...here we get ready to watch a movie on Finn's portable DVD player in the bathtub, waiting for him to go to sleep in the other room!
We took the Shanghai Maglev train to the airport, a bullet train that rides on a magnet...270 mph! Boy did Finn love THIS train. ("train go fasss!")
Speaking of fast, Finn shows his speed...

And tests out his lungs in the Shanghai airport...echoes are awesome!

It was a great long weekend! Thanks to Curtis for showing us his town. We had a blast!
Love,
A&E