Day 16: Mickey, Minnie and the Little Green Guys

We headed off to the Hong Kong Disneyland today.  Was very much like a smaller version of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando.  Very doable in a day trip-we had a blast.  We could tell a lot of the characters she had never seen before, but she was so stinkin' cute about everything.  She had a great time, and I am pleased to say, she did not once whine.  At all.  ALL day.  She rode a bunch of rides and loved them.  She didn't get freaked out by the characters or the intensity of some of the rides.  She skipped through the park when she wasn't in the stroller.  She is just a happy kid.  Jenna, on the other hand... (kidding).  We all had fun.  Because I really do have to pack, as we are hoping to leave tomorrow, I am just going to load the pics and explain our day.  It was a nice way to say goodbye to Asia and hello to a little taste of the USA.

This is the view from our room.  Not to shabby.  Last night they were predicting downpours all day.  This morning, the forecast called for scattered thunderstorms til 4, then downpours.  We actually had very little rain-just a sprinkling here and there.  Was perfect!

Off we go to Disneyland!

Took the Marriott shuttle - Disneyland is only about 15 minutes away from our hotel. 

Rented a stroller then headed for the back of the park.  This is Sleeping Beauty's castle.  Hmmm... a little smaller than Cinderella's.  I am just sayin'.

First stop: the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland.  This was a test-not a fast moving ride, but had some "scary" parts for a 3 year old.  I am proud to say that she was not phased at all by the animals that popped out at our boat.  She thought they were funny. 

Next stop: Toy Story Land.  Very cute.  But there were a couple rides that no small child could ride.  I will point out that the vegetation in the background here is CORN.  Just like Ohio. 

Gotta love Disney.  The benches in this part of the park were popsicle sticks, Lincoln logs, tinker toys and dominoes.  Very cute.

Her first "real" ride-this Slinky Dog Spin goes around and around and around... we apparently have added yet another sensory seeker to our household.  Woohoo!  She LOVED it.  Hope the plane ride tomorrow goes half that well.  (Ugh-and hope the plane ride is not exciting, but very peaceful, calm and without turbulence.)

This was the real test-Jenna took her for a spin.  And again, she loved it.  Kings' Island, here we come. 

You will see that we are in the same clothes AGAIN.  Since we thought we were leaving and didn't need extra semi-clean clothes when we left China, I shoved all of the dirty clothes together in a bag and packed them away.  Ew. I have clean clothes reserved for our long plane ride home.  I figure if I have to spend 20 hours in a plane with these 2 jokesters, they better smell GREAT.  So, we showered and put on our stinky clothes back on again today.    I cannot tell you how excited I will be to actually do laundry.  Yes-you can write this one down in the books-I never thought I would say those words either. 

Jenna trying to talk Zoey into sequined Minnie Mouse ears.

Zoey didn't like them.  But Jenna did.  We tried to get her to wear other cute, pink ears-wanted NOTHING to do with them. 

A new (clean) shirt and a headband that she did love.  Haha.  She loves the little green guys-and this was before the Buzz Lightyear ride. 

Hilarious.  She was dying for a Buzz Lightyear jet pack toy.

I am a fairly laid-back person, but when it comes to these kind of games I can be a little competitive.  Without trying, she BLEW AWAY Jenna and me at the first Buzz game.  Apparently she has some firearms training experience.  Either that or some darn good hand-eye coordination.  Might have to sign her up for tennis...or baseball...

Her official favorite ride.  She loved it.  Jenna drove in front of us.  Zoey was a complete maniac at the wheel.  She realized she was actually steering the car.  When we got off the ride, she was talking a mile a minute and using all kinds of hand gestures, etc....-was so darn cute.  We got the message-even if we could not understand her.   This was her first favorite, followed by Buzz, then It's a Small World rang in a close third.  The Pooh ride was cute-but I don't think she recognized and of the characters.  And Jenna was screaming for me to take pictures of Eeyore every 5 seconds...

Not your basic Disney food choices...noodles and fried rice.  But pretty tasty.

The parade.  She was mesmerized. 

Loved the ladybugs!

Another spinning ride.  Loved it.

Passed out in the Lion King.  Slept right through 200+ decibels of craziness.  There is hope that she might be able to sleep despite the chaos at our house.  

Dinner at an American Cafe on Main Street.  We figured we were not in for "authentic" American food when the water they poured in all of our glasses was HOT.  The chicken fingers were grilled, not breaded, and smothered in ketchup.  She loved them. 

Closing down the park. 

Time to head to the shuttle. 

Goodbye.

Prayers are more than welcome for our trip home tomorrow.  15 and a half hours on the first leg.  To say that I am dreading this trip is an understatement, but maybe she will surprise me.  We have some things in reserve that I have brought that we haven't showed to her yet.  And hopefully we'll all get some sleep.

I will try to check in if we have time on our trip.  Going to finish packing all of the Disney souvenirs we bought.  We sooooo need to go home tomorrow.  We have no more room. 

Day 15: Say "Bye Bye" to China.

This morning we ventured by cab to Carrefour, the local chain grocery store.  It is like a superwalmart spread out over several floors.  We went to get some snacks for the plane and to see if I could get some of those Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf comic books to bring along (and maybe a DVD or 2...).  (I have hidden the goat phone.  So far she hasn't asked for it-and you can say I am being mean because I would not understand what she would be asking for, but trust me when I say we do not speak the same language but she gets her point across despite the language barrier.  I have no doubt that she would be able to tell me that she wants her phone.  No doubt at all.)  We did not find any comic books or DVDs, but  we did find some crazy goat spoons, markers, and a sheet set, and we had no problems finding some snacks.  

The little stinker under the desk.  She is very fluent in the iPhone-especially the camera/video portion.  She has also figured out how to tape and take pictures of herself-I should upload some on here-they are hilarious.

Full service here at Carrefour.  First stop-hair cut.  In the middle of the aisle??? 

If she won't smile when we say "cheese," we can just tickle the heck out of her. 

You can take your cart down a downward sloping escalator.  There are these crazy magnets in the floor that prevent it from rolling forward.  It is the best.  We could have gone up and down there for hours...they are even better than the escalators in the lobby of our hotel.  :)

We were laughing-if we had steel-toed shoes, how would that work??

They actually sell Lipton tea in China.  I just found this funny.

We have 3 or 4 kinds of Lays/Pringles at home.  These were "gourmet" flavored.

BBQ and seaweed flavored.

Finger licking braised pork flavor. 

Green cucumber flavor.

Bulk jello.

I debated about whether to include this one-but it is too funny to pass up.  Please don't take offense to this, but the top right in the picture above is this kind of jello.  LOL

My kinda girl.  Original Pringles.  Good choice...

1/4 of the ramen noodles aisle...

another 1/4th...

Now-I am all about sauerkraut on my Marion's pizza at home (don't knock it until you try it, it is delicious).  But in ramen noodles??? 

Shopping with Jim Carey.  At least it felt like it...Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest.  Ha!

Chilling.  Instead of helping mom pack. 

Again-procrastinating...

Finally I was able to stop them from calling me in to take their pictures in these crazy poses, and I finished packing. 

Saying goodbye to Maggie and Jason. 

Maggie and Jason had arranged for Chloe's family and the 3 of us to take a van to Hong Kong.  Unfortunately, we were in separate vans, so we didn't get to hang out during the ride on our last full day together.  Our driver was very, very sweet.  He heard Zoey mention "neow neow" which means she has to use the restroom-and he pulled off at the next gas station without any prompting.  We had to exit the vehicle to go through customs and leave China, then we went through a toll plaza to enter Hong Kong.  During the transition between the 2 countries, we went through this crazy maze of on and off ramps, and suddenly we were driving down the highway on the WRONG side of the road.  On purpose.  They drive on the right side in China, and on the left in Hong Kong.  We figured something was up when we got into the van and the steering wheel was on the right.  I had no idea it was doing to be mid-travel (which makes sense, but it was still a little disconcerting).

Bye Bye China...

Beautiful scenery on the way out of China.  Yes, that would be a nuclear reactor. 

We are off the mainland and in Hong Kong.  And we found out our flight home tomorrow has been canceled. 

Hmmm...wonder what there is to do here during the day while we wait an extra 24 hours for our plane ride home...hmmm...I can't actually write it here, because when Sam and Meghan find out that there is one of "those parks" here and we went, and they didn't, I am going to hear about it FOREVER.  But I think that this might be our way to introduce Zoey to our little Disn*y obsession.  It is only 10 minutes away from our hotel.  It would be a bigger crime NOT to go.  Gotta run - tickets to book, maps to study, fast pass info to research...  :)