Thanksgiving Dinner

Although Thanksgiving had a different feel here given that the kids were in school all day, it felt more like home once we had the turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, corn, green beans, stuffing, etc. on the table...I don't think any of us have eaten this large of a meal since we moved here. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are extremely thankful for our family, our friends, our health and so much more. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone as ours comes to a close and most everyone else that we know is just beginning theirs.

Thanksgiving Preparation

Since the kids had school on Thanksgiving here, Keely was my only family member that was available to help in the preparation of the Thanksgiving meal. Her "pie crust preparation" kept her busy for quite some time, which was good for me, but made for a very slippery kitchen floor!

Swim Team Photo

This is a picture of the kids' swim team...or at least those that were able to make it to the swim meet in Taipei, Taiwan.

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.