Swim Meet in Taipei, Taiwan

I am happy to say that we had a great experience at our kids' first international swim meet. Having never been at any swim meet of any kind, I was amazed at how quickly they go from one heat to the next. I suppose you have to be in order to get so many events and so many heats done in a day and a half. Trey and Kyra chose to do 6 and 5 individual events, respectively. Although they competed in different age categories (Trey was in the 9/10 year old male group and Kyra was in the 8 & under female group) the heats were mixed 10 and under and were placed by previous times submitted. Because they swam each heat amongst individuals that had submitted similar times, the winner of each heat received a "Heat Winner Ribbon."

The 9/10 year old category had the largest number of swimmers, including from our own swim club, so quite difficult to place in the top 7 (the places they hand out either medals or ribbons for). So, Trey was really focusing on beating his own times coming in to this meet. Trey beat his personal best on five of the six individual events he competed in! His medley relay won a "heat winner" ribbon. However, Trey had a few minor equipment failures...In his first race (50 meter freestyle), upon diving in the water, his swimsuit fell down. Apparently, just before his heat he accidentally pulled the string in his suit too far and then couldn't tie it. He stopped and pulled up his swimsuit before continuing on...much to his dismay, he came in second in that heat by less than a second... I told him next time to not worry about the suit...he didn't particularly care for my thoughts on that. Then he couldn't seem to get the goggles to keep from leaking...turns out they had a hole in them, but didn't realize that until three races in.

Kyra also swam personal bests on several of her events. The advantage for Kyra is that she was competing in a category that, although very competitive, had significantly less swimmers in it. Kyra ended up receiving a silver medal in the 100 meter Individual Medley, getting second by 8-100ths of a second! She also received a silver medal in the 50 meter butterfly, as well as a couple place ribbons for finishing in the top 7 on other races and a couple "heat winner" ribbons. Unfortunately, there are not enough 8 year old girls on our swim club to have a relay team in the 8 and under category, but due to some late swimmers on the second day, she was put on a 9/10 year old relay team as a fill in. She was VERY happy about that! As a side note, Kyra is the 2nd youngest girls on our entire swim team...unfortunately for her, she turns 9 on December 2nd and moves into a much more populated age group!

All in all, the kids had great fun competing and, for Kyra, being on a "travel team" which has been her goal for a while now. They seem quite excited about participating in future meets. I couldn't be more proud of them both just for giving it their all. My heart was racing every time they were about to get in the water. What can I say? I'm an emotional one...

The "awards ceremony" was held at the Grand Hotel in Taipei (the building in the photograph). It was absolutely a beautiful place.

A New Grocery Store Find - Look Closely!!

So, as I was searching Hong Kong Island for some key ingredients for the Sandness cheesecakes (yes, we are making them even though the numbers will likely be down given the change in Venue...Minnesota to Hong Kong) and I stumbled across this scrumptious looking item and couldn't help but share. Sorry the picture is blurry...took it with my pathetic cell phone. We were thinking just in case we can't get a turkey this Thanksgiving, we can get a leg of some sort instead. Although, I was worried about fitting a turkey in our oven...pretty certain this won't fit. We are used to seeing the animal pieces in some of the street markets here, but this was in what is considered one of the "upscale" grocery stores.

Baseball Victory!

Well, even though the baseball season seems to have been going on for quite a while for us, there have only been two official games so far for Trey's team. Trey pitched his first game this past weekend and had a great outing. The team also came away with the victory - apparently the first U.S. team victory against a Japanese team (in this league) in the past two years!!! He pitched the entire 5 inning game and walked only one batter. It was great fun to watch, although a bit tense at times, as a mother watching...

Baseball is quite a commitment here...I think the season goes through March and involves a weeknight practice that is relatively close, a 3-hour Saturday practice that is about an hour drive one-way, and a Sunday game at that same distant field...if you can call it a field...apparently, it is dubbed "the construction site" by some. There is no "normal" ground ball on this field (not sure of which direction or how high it may bounce at any given moment), which I guess just makes the kids be more on their toes than usual...but can make for frustrating fielding at times.

Some different rituals also exist that stress good sportsmanship that include the teams separately bowing to each side and saying "thank you", as well as bowing and saying thank you at the end of the game to the umpires and a few other things that I am still learning about. Respectful behavior is highly stressed throughout.

Anyway, he is truly enjoying this baseball season ... stay tuned for future updates...

Tyson's 7th Birthday

We gathered to celebrate another birthday in the Sandness family. Tyson turned 7 this year and his choice of restaurant for his birthday meal (tradition of the family) was Outback Steakhouse - the home of nearly all the Sandness birthday meals so far here in Hong Kong. The rest of the family seems to be ok with his choice also! This cake only cost around $60 USD...hmmm...I might actually have to start baking some birthday cakes or we won't be able to afford presents!

Halloween in Hong Kong

Halloween in Hong Kong was a bit different than what we were used to back in Minnesota. The kids were a little concerned about having such a "limited audience" to trick-or-treat to...no neighborhood walk, only one apartment building to get through, but somehow they still managed to come home with more candy than they could possibly eat. Trey and I had fun picking out the costumes as they have a street market filled with costumes all year round...he was like a kid in a candy store looking at the endless options.

Craig and I also went out later in the evening with our friends and enjoyed doing some people watching in Lan Kwai Fong. (photos of the crowds)