BRUCE LEE BABY

GET WELL SOON GRANDPA!!

All of us here in Hong Kong are thinking a lot about you and pray for your continued recovery to full health. You had us scared there for more than a moment Grandpa! We love you and wish that we could be there with you. Love Ingrid, Lizzie and Bob
UPDATE 2/11: You're not through the woods yet Grandpa. Our love and prayers are with you as you fight toward recovery. We're a half a world away, but we are always at your bedside. Love, Ingrid, Lizzie and Bob.

We've Arrived in Hong Kong!

We’ve arrived in Hong Kong! After months of anticipation and preparation, we’ve finally landed in HK as a family of three and are excited to begin our overseas adventure.

Ingrid was an absolute dream on the flight over. We had visions of a 15-hour flight from hell, but she was in high spirits and when not making eyes at us or charming the entire Cathay cabin crew, she was completely sacked out on either mommy or daddy’s lap. Not a single diaper blow out either, and we were well prepared with multiple outfits for her. I even packed an extra set of clothes for myself just in case!

After spending the first couple of nights adjusting in a hotel, we settled into our flat high in the clouds over Hong Kong. We are very excited about the pad though our enthusiasm has been tempered by our still not having our furnishings. And only slightly better than news that our cargo crate had pitched off the edge of the container ship into the sea was word from our transport company that our goods were never actually loaded onto the ‘overbooked’ cargo ship in the first place. Instead our stuff has been delayed by 2-weeks until the next available ship can take it. Two more weeks of sleeping on an air mattress stretched across the hardwood floors of a drafty, empty apartment. Two more weeks of Ingrid sleeping in a large suitcase as a makeshift bassinet. (pictured) Two more weeks of paper plates. Uggh.

And while we don’t ever want our little girl to grow up, we’d certainly like to see evidence of that first tooth that seems to be causing her frequent fits of rage. She’s showing all the teething signs except for actual teeth. And our poor neighbors -- an empty apartment means there is nothing but concrete and hardwood to cushion the sound of Ingrid’s wailing. Her cries ping pong off every hard surface, I’m sure we’re in the doghouse with the neighbors we’ve yet to even meet. But how will they help but swoon and forgive us when they see dear Ingrid’s little mug!?

Alright, enough of my ‘whinging’ as the local Brits would say. Furniture or not, we’ve got a great apartment. Because it towers over the protected property of the 1920’s -era Hop Yat Church along Bonham Road, it’s got knockout views of Victoria Harbour and the HK cityscape.

A grand view is helpful in making our square footage seems a bit larger than it actually is. We get a feeling of perpetual activity as cruise ships, ferry boats and container vessels come and go 24/7. Below our window cars appear as Hot Wheels, people as ants. The helicopter pads are busy as high rollers shuttle back and forth to Macau to lay their fortunes on the Baccarat tables.

We’ve also got an unobstructed view of the new ICC Tower being erected straight across the harbor in Kowloon. Upon completion in 2010 will be HK’s tallest building and the world’s 3rd largest tower. The new Ritz-Carlton will occupy the top 15 floors of the building. Martini’s in the sky are on me if any of you visit! I posted a rendered picture of how it will look once finished, and you can see it over my shoulder in the picture of Ingrid and I.

Should be neat to watch take shape, we’ll use it as a growth benchmark of our time in HK. Some people use a pencil and a doorjam to track their kid’s height, we’ll count floors of the ICC.

Ingrid seems to be impervious to jet lag as she didn’t require as much transition time as Lizzie and I. She quickly transitioned to a new light/dark sleep cycle. She is so cute and so much fun, but she will be a handful here. I’ve been working quite hard with my job, but it’s abundantly clear that Lizzie has the more difficult duty between us. Spending each day every day with our baby girl is certainly a blessing, but it’s a ton of work and made more difficult by the absence of family, friends, familiarity, and her husband for 8-10 hours of the day. We are about to begin our search for a live-in helper but its going to be rough sledding until she’s joined. If we needed any further reminder of how fortunate we were to have the help of Donna through the first 4 months of Ingrid’s life its now!

So things are going great here as we begin our overseas adventure. We miss our families and are excited for visitors. Until then, check into this site to get updates on our goings on in the Far East!

Welcome to our corner of the Blogosphere!

Lizzie, Ingrid and I are very excited to begin our new adventure in Hong Kong but sad to leave behind our family and friends. Thankfully technology has shrunken the world in which we live and this Blog will serve as a keyhole for you to keep up to speed with our lives in HK. It's like an electronic reality show, only we get to select what you get to see! Ingrid's first words and steps, evidence of Lizzie's Mandarin language lessons, and Bob's losing 20 lbs will take place half a world away, but will be accessible to you by a mere click of the mouse. We'll do our best to keep it current, and welcome any comments you might have.