Claire (still in her PJs) got one picture with Grandma and Grandpa Hatch before they left to head back to Oklahoma the morning after we got home.  Many thanks to them, as well as to Grandpa Rich and Grandma Jo for all their help with Seth, Kate, Grant and Zane while we were away.  It isn’t always easy to manage the lives of four busy kids, but their grandparents did a great job – and maybe spoiled them just a little bit, too!  By all accounts, the kids had a complete blast while we were gone.  In fact, we aren’t totally convinced that the kids really wanted us to come back . . .

Claire with Grandpa and Grandma Hatch

I’m not sure how well you can really see it, but here are pics of the balloon forest Claire got to enjoy when we drove home from the airport, including a decorated door and garage.  (It’s obviously late at night in the pictures – we drove up to the house after 11 pm.)  

Also here are a few pics of Claire with some of the balloons from the forest brought inside, plus another balloon bouquet brought to Claire by a dear friend.  We thought she might fly away – she’s so little and insisted on holding as many balloons as she could all at once!

We are not sure what we did to get to enjoy the blessing of such supportive & thoughtful friends!

So sorry for not posting WELL before this.  We actually did make it back home safe and sound.  The trip wasn’t exactly pleasant … but it did eventually end!  The flight from Hong Kong to Seoul was just fine.  It took about 3 hours and was comfortable enough.  Sandy, Claire and I were able to sit on the same row … which helped a ton.  The long flight (from Seoul to LA) didn’t work out quite so nice.

They couldn’t get us all on the same row.  Sandy and Claire were together (they almost told us they couldn’t even do that!!!) and I was 1 row behind in the middle seat between to big guys.  OUCH.  Not good for me.  I’m not exactly Tiny Tom, so I was pretty squished the entire flight.  I didn’t get any sleep (over the 10 hour flight) and therefore arrived in LA not feeling quite like myself.

One very cool thing happened in LA which I should mention.  We had been told NOT to enter by the US Citizen line at immigration because Claire was not yet a citizen.  So we did as we were told and got in a HUGE line waiting to pass through.  A worker came up to Sandy and told her to go sit down and she would grab her and Claire when it was our time.  Then another worker talked to Sandy and asked if she was a US Citizen.  She explained our situation to the officer who then told Sandy that the consulate didn’t know what they were talking about … of course we could go through the citizen line.  Well, sadly, the citizen line was also HUGE … but was moving a bit faster … so we switched.  Immediately upon switching, another worker asked us about our situation.  We told her and she said … “You know, why don’t you move over to line 16.”  Well, line 16 had a few people in it … but it was “rope closed”.  I expressed that and she waved off my question and opened the rope for us.  This line had like 4 people in it and I think was some sort of VIP line for returning US officials or something, because they would only allow a few people in it at a time.  As I started to move, the guy behind me also started to move.  The lady looked straight at him and said, “I didn’t say YOU could move … get back in line!”  Wow … VIP treatment.  God bless the USA.

Anyway, we made it through and then had to go the immigrant processing section.  There were like 3o people waiting there.  I gave the officer our paperwork and he told us to go get our baggage.  We finally found our baggage, but not until after I helped a lady who needed a bag off the carousel.  As I grabbed for it I noticed something on the handle.  Something like honey had spilled either out of or onto her bag at the handle area.  Fun for me.  I felt less gross after a couple of wet wipes and we headed back to the immigrant processing section.

We arrived and the officer said, “This your kid?” As he held up Claire’s paperwork.  I responded,”Uhh, yes.”  He then handed me the stuff and turned away.  I asked, “Is that it?”  He gruffly responded, “Well, unless you want to chat for an hour or two … I’d get out of here if I were you.”  Duly noted and quickly exited.

We then made it to our gate for the flight to Salt Lake.  I was now operating on less than 5 hours of sleep over a 48 hour period (didn’t sleep well the night before we left) and really wasn’t feeling well.  As I was paying for some food at a counter, I literally “drunk stumbled” away from the counter and almost fell on my rear.  Not pretty.  The flight home was good and I actually got 20 minutes of real sleep.  That made all the difference and I was ready to be home.

Arriving home was AWESOME!!!  Please refer to the pictures below.  Somebody (genius) had loaded up the area with balloons.  It couldn’t have been a better move.  Claire loves balloons and they were the perfect diversion to help her deal with all of the attention she was getting.  We had a ton of family there and it was so great to see them all.  I think my favorite was when Seth came running up and jumped onto me.  Love that boy.

Our family finally united together.

The group at SLC Airport

We spent about an hour with everybody at the airport before heading home where we found our house decorated by our good friends.  Again, balloons everywhere and a cards stuck to the garage and front door.  Most of the balloons were staked into the grass.  So Claire jumped out of the car and ran through the “balloon forest” for 10 minutes before she even went inside … simply fantastic!

Since that time … we’ve been trying to get back into the “swing of things”.  Sandy and I have not recovered well from the jet lag yet after a week.  Lack of sleep drove me to a nasty cold/flu that I’m currently dealing with.  I wake up faithfully at 2:30am each night and can’t get back to sleep.  So I continue to operate on about 4 to 5 hours per night.  Last night was my best night so far at 6 hours!!!

I had a rough couple of days last week as Claire lost complete interest in me once her brothers and sister showed up.  It really was a bit tough for me to swallow as she wouldn’t even look at me let alone talk, cuddle or play with me for 3 days.  She’s back, though, and doing well.  She loves Seth, Kate, Zane and Grant and will spontaneously grab their arm and kiss and hug it.  She loves for Seth to hold her and can’t get enough of Kate.  As I said, all is well.

I will try to be better about keeping this updated … particularly for our friends in China and Canada.  We’ll be out of school in a few weeks here and will start regular trips to Cherry Hill, our local water park … can’t wait for that!

By the way … we land at about 10:00pm on Monday evening in Salt Lake. All who would like to be there are invited. We’re flying in on United flight 6470.   Please don’t be surprised or offended if Claire isn’t ready to jump into your arms that night.  She has been pretty shy around other people and we imagine she’ll be particularly exhausted that night.

Also, please notice that there are a couple of new posts below as I’m trying to finish up before we leave in the morning.

See you soon!

This morning’s breakfast finally brought us the goodness that is the GaiMei Baau!  The concierge at the hotel (have I mentioned yet that this is the best hotel in Hong Kong THE WORLD!) recommended a place just a few minutes away … good recommendation.  The gaimei’s (as we HK’ers call them) were excellent and we’re headed back there tomorrow morning before we start our journey back home.

We then jumped on the train to make our way up to ShaTin … the first and last area of my mission.  It was so great to see ShaTin park and the ShaTin Center.  It’s interesting … because I know I keep saying how much things have changed … ShaTin really hasn’t very much.  I felt like I was back home.  We walked the bridge where I did most of my “finding” while in that area … surreal experience.  Claire played in the park and we just relaxed while walking through one of the most beautiful community parks I’ve ever been in.

We then jumped back on the train to head up to TaiPo which is very close to the Chinese border and is the area where I served the longest (a total of 8 months).  We headed to the church first and checked in with the bishop.  We still had an hour before meetings and so we headed out to the market area for a bit.  This being my longest lived area … it really felt like home.  It’s not as pretty as ShaTin … but it was where I did most of my work and where I saw most of our success in terms of teaching and baptizing.

We then headed back to the chapel and I saw two members who were still in the ward from when I was there.  Brother Lam who I recognized and Sister Wong who I really recognized … it was great to see them.  Even better, the bishop is close friends with two of the three people I was hoping to see (but didn’t because they have moved to different areas of Hong Kong).  I gave him a couple of my cards and he is going to pass them along.  One of my friends is now the stake president of one of the stakes here … crazy!  He also had some information on one of my closest friends while here in Hong Kong … Leih Yuk Bong (Leo).  Apparently he has moved to California and the bishop has lost touch with him.  I’m going to see if I can track him down so I can see him next time we’re in Cali.

Overall, it was a great trip out to the New Territories where I served most of my mission.  It is all so beautiful and worth the time spent.

Claire was dying to get back to the pool this evening … so that’s where we headed (no arm twisting needed).  Some more time was spent in the “experience shower” and we ordered a “Mondo Mango” smoothie to sip on while in the hot tub mini-pool.  Seriously … I might come back to Hong Kong next month just for another couple of trips to this pool/spa!

I’m now currently typing this last message and it is 11:45pm on Sunday night.  Sandy and Claire rounded out the evening watching the Hannah Montana movie.  Claire liteally was literally bouncing on the bed with excitement and “singing” along by the end of the show – apparently she loves Hannah Montana (and Justin Bieber, she really liked his music video when we were flipping through channels and saw him on MTVChina one day – thanks Kohl and Keaton!)   We’ve packed everything up and will be headed to the airport at 11:30am tomorrow morning.  We are so excited to get back home and unite our “more complete” family together.  Can’t wait to hold Seth, Kate, Zane and Grant and let them hold Claire.  Can’t wait for Claire to finally get to know her amazing brothers and sister.  Can’t wait to start our “new normal” and bond more fully with Claire.  Can’t wait to see you all.

So that’s it … I’m trying to get this all done before we get home because I have little faith that I’d get finish up once home.  I expect the mad crush of reality will be flattening me in about 48 hours.

Thanks so much for following us all on this journey.  We feel so blessed to be completing it and heading home.  All has gone well and we couldn’t be happier right now.  Sandy was a bit weepy about an hour ago just thinking of how blessed and lucky we are RIGHT NOW.  While the last four years of tears and frustration were very real … they seem small now.  How blessed we are to finally have Claire in our lives.

LOVE YOU ALL!

McDonald’s breakfast was the theme for the first couple of days in Hong Kong.  I couldn’t find a good GaiMei Baau (Coconut Cream Bread) place and so we defaulted to something we knew Claire would eat.  Sad, but true.  Actually, McDonald’s tastes better in China.  I know some will say that it has to do with a general lack of home “comfort food” during travel … but, honestly, I don’t know.  It’s pretty darn good.  The beef tastes better, the chicken tastes better … the fries taste the same.

OK … so in yesterday’s post I mentioned something that would keep us off the streets of Hong Kong and inside … the hotel pool and spa area.  Seriously, folks … it’s ridiculous!  If you ever have the chance to stay in Hong Kong … choose The Mira.  We knew they had a pool … we just didn’t know how beautiful the pool room was or how many other incredible amenities would exist.  There are some pictures and a video we’ll include here … but I fear they don’t do it justice.  Let’s start with the pool …

It’s beautiful … it has one of those drop off edges so it looks like the pool just terminates in the air.  Then, they have very relaxing music playing all of the time … and it’s also playing under the water, which is awesome.  The pool “furniture” consists of modern/urban round fabric lounge beds and fabric “sun chairs”.  It’s an indoor pool (which I normally don’t like) with a ceiling that is constantly changing colors and has “twinkling star lights” for lack of a better word.  You can order drinks while lounging in the connected hot tub mini-pool.  Before you say “totally disco” out loud, just trust us, it’s ridiculously serene and relaxing. Oh, and the temperature is a nice reasonable “warm” … leaving no room for anybody to get the mistaken impression that Tom screams like a little girl while entering a swimming pool.

Onto the changing/”room of complete awesomeness” room … The changing rooms consist of a dry sauna, a steam room, a private gender only hot tub (for clothes free soaking I guess), full private showers, a few “rinse off” showers and … relaxation beds:  Seriously, full on beds with semi-private locations where you can fall asleep and just relax.  AND BEST OF ALL … an “experience shower”.  Let me explain what this means.  When you enter the shower you think it looks like just a normal shower with a few extra shower heads around the sides.  But … then you notice three little buttons about eye height labeled “Fun”, “Fresh” & “Tropic”.  Pressing one of these buttons automatically changes the room into a haven of comfort and exciting possibilities (some guy from the East Coast said it was like a human car wash … but he clearly didn’t see the vision of it all).  First the light changes to green, blue or red and then the over-head water plate starts “raining” on you.  The water options will rotate between a heavy jungle like mist, to side jets massaging you, to the over head plate either raining down on you torrentially or just with a light drizzle.  It lasts for about 3 0r 4 minutes and then … you can just push the button again!  Sandy and I have agreed that if we ever move, we will put one of these in our house before a silly theater room – who needs to watch movies when you can spend all day rotating through various shower programs?  (although for the record … I still want one of those too).

So, again, coming to Hong Kong … stay at the Mira and plan at least one extra day to do nothing but hang out in the pool and spa.  We didn’t get massages … but totally would have if not for more important responsibilities (Claire).

It was actually tough to leave the hotel after our first experience at the pool/spa … but we’re glad we did.  We took a quick trip to the Hong Kong Temple to take a look around.  This was Saturday … so the mission offices were closed and nobody was really around.  I was there when they broke ground on the site … but never got to see it even reach beyond the property wall.  It’s beautiful and so great to see a temple in China.  Really an amazing blessing for the members in Hong Kong.  I feel silly to have the section about the temple be less than half of that about the pool … but honestly, there wasn’t anybody around and all we could do was look.  It was beautiful.

We then grabbed lunch at Cafe de Coral … a great little find that we lucked into on our way to a different place.  It’s kind of like a Noodles & Company with awesome Chinese food.  Claire loved it, we loved it … a win all around.  And the Coke was the coldest thing I’ve had to drink in the past 2 weeks+ … aaahhhh!

We then headed over to Kowloon Park so Claire could play on the play sets again.  I headed to ChungKing Mansion to try and find some Bollywood movies … success!!!  ChungKing Mansion is one of the few places I wouldn’t let Sandy and Claire go into.  It’s fairly seedy and about the least safe place you can experience in Hong Kong.  But it also houses tons of international souvenirs.  So, when in search of Bollywood … that’s your best bet.  I totally found a movie I’ve been looking to buy for the past year … and it was only $3 USD!  Om Shanti Om is the name of it … if you were wondering … and it’s awesome (and yes, there is singing and dancing in the movie, and no, I am still not ashamed to admit that I love it).

That night we headed back to the harbor to take in the night time view.  Once again, beautiful and awe-inspiring.  They apparently do a light show now at night … so we watched that for a few minutes.  Not bad … but not Disneyland quality.   (apparently we think the Disneyland light show is the apex of all things light show – maybe we aren’t that well traveled?)  We treated ourselves to a McDonalds’ double fudge sundae as we walked back to the hotel.  Kinda like the chicken and beef, somehow McDonalds ice cream taste’s better in Hong Kong, too.  Okay, maybe nearly everything is better in Hong Kong . . . but you probably already know that I feel that way.

Sandy and I then watched Om Shanti Om after Claire fell asleep … Sandy said she enjoyed it, even though she was asleep for about 1/3 of it (but in her defense, it was really late at night, and you do have to read subtitles).

And for a bonus, Sandy got a good long soak in our awesome bathtub using this made-from-fresh-fruit-and-vegetable  ”bath bomb” I bought for her here.   It was all “sea weedy” and smelled awesome.  We all slept well that night.

This post is for Greg and Aimee … we totally Swarovski’d we would stopping taking these pictures … but, you know how it goes.

We spent the majority of today on Hong Kong Island.

First we headed to the waterfront to take in the view … still beautiful.  I’ll never get tired or lose my awe of that amazing sight.  The sheer size and geographical footprint of the island skyscape is ridiculous.  Sandy was absolutely amazed.  It’s like looking at a 5 mile wall of glass.  Beautiful.

We then jumped on the Star Ferry (Claire’s first boat ride) to head over to Central.  Claire loved, loved, loved the boat.  And I love the smell of the harbor and the city … I seriously miss it.

Anyway, after hitting the island we headed up the mid-levels to see the old mission home.  When I was first here almost 20 years ago, if you wanted to head up the mid-levels you just had to hoof it.  It’s essentially traveling straight up the mountain on blacktop.  You would be exhausted and dripping wet with sweat by the time you made your destination.  By the end of my time in Hong Kong they had begun construction of the world’s longest escalator that does all of the hard work of ascending up to the mid-levels.  It is now completely done and it is awesome.  The escalator is still very steep, but makes it so much more enjoyable.

We finally made our way to the Kam Tong which served as the mission offices while I was in Hong Kong.  It is now a museum for Sun Yat-Sen.  We paid the money so I could see how they have changed the place.  The main structure of the building is the same … but the rooms have been changed to accommodate displays.  It was very cool to walk the halls of that amazing building again.  The part Claire enjoyed best was a 10 minute children’s cartoon that teaches about Dr. Sun.  It was pretty funny because even though it was designed for children it used adult vocabulary like “revolutionary uprising.”

We then grabbed some lunch and ate at the doorway of one of my old apartments (see the picture of me standing in front of a steel doorway below).  Lunch was some amazing ChaSiu Faahn … yum.

We then descended from the mid-levels and took the ferry back to TST.  We immediately headed for Kowloon Park and tried to find the kids’ park … sihngGung!  They have a great kids’ park with about 8 major “play stations”.  Claire had a great time and got braver and braver the longer we played there.  Very fun.

Night time brought us to Temple Street.  Temple Street is a very famous night market that is a must see while here in Hong Kong.  It was a successful outing as we added to our booty a little bit.  Sandy got two new rings to wear as wedding rings during workouts, etc.  … a jade one and a steel one, both very pretty.  Tom got an all-purpose tripod and we grabbed a couple of gift items.  The market is about a mile long and is lined on both sides with booths.  Plus there are shops on the outside of the “booths”.  There is about a 5 foot aisle down the middle where the crush of humanity meet in a desperate bid to buy something cheaply.  We got some pretty good deals when I started speaking Chinese and a number of vendors gave free stuff to Claire.  They thought I was a Hong Kong-er … or that I had been born in Hong Kong and so they would whisper … you’re a Hong Kong person, I’m not going to dicker with you … this is the lowest price.  Maybe it was just another game … but we rarely paid over 50% of the original asking price.

We were all exhausted after this excursion and didn’t make it back to the hotel until after 10pm.  Fell into bed and slept like babies.

On for tomorrow … Tom and Sandy discover the one thing with potential to keep them off the streets of Hong Kong.

Thursday was our last day in Guangzhou and was therefore dominated by preparation for that.  We grabbed an earlier than normal breakfast (at about 8am!, yes that’s earlier) and then started packing up.  By the way, I finally took some pictures of the breakfast spread … see below.  We had planned to head out on the island for a few more things … but a large rain and lightning storm kept us inside longer than we planned.

We finally decided we better head out at about 12:00pm or we wouldn’t be collecting the last of our laundry from Jenny.  We tried shopping first but were unsuccessful in finding Sandy a jacket as cool as mine … sorry, babe!

Our last meeting with Jenny was nice … we consider her and her husband friends now.  They were so nice to us and gave us ridiculous deals on our laundry.  As we were saying goodbye this time she asked me if I was Christian.  I told her that I was and she said, “Me too!”  That surprised me as I’ve met very few native Chinese that are.  She was born in Guangdong province and has never left China … so I’m not sure how she came to Christianity.  I thought that was pretty amazing.  She gave us a little book about Christianity in China (written in Chinese) for Claire.

We then grabbed some lunch and waited out the rest of the rain in the room.

We headed down to the lobby just before 2pm and checked out.  Our internet charges for the week came to 300 yuan (about $40 USD) … which I thought was great!

We joined two other families in the shuttle over to the train station.  Both families had brought their children with them … it was fun to talk to the kids (ranging from age 6 to 16) and the parents.  One of the families had a 12 year old boy that reminded me a lot of Seth … nice kid.  The shuttle wasn’t huge and so we were all on top of each other!

When we got to the train station the shuttle driver decided to stop the shuttle right in the middle of the street.  So as we all unloaded the bags we created a huge traffic jam in the middle of Guangzhou (for about 6 minutes)!

We then moved through security and headed up to the 3rd level to wait for the train.  Helen showed up a few minutes later with our visa and travel papers.  We took a few minutes to say goodbye to her and then she was gone.  Helen was very nice and very conscientious in helping us get to where we needed to be.

The train ride itself was fairly uneventful.  Claire did need to make one “pit stop” while traveling.  The only facilities on the train were of the “squatting” kind and I volunteered to help her … not a great idea.  I barely remember the procedure for male usage of squatters … trying to help Claire turned into a near disaster.

I got pretty emotional as we entered Hong Kong.  I lived most of my time in the areas near the Chinese border and so I pretty immediately started to recognize the landscape.  It is such a beautiful land and more importantly, holds such beautiful memories for me.  I had almost forgotten how lush and green the mountains and hills are … just amazing.

Claire had been doing great with everything until we actually stopped in Hung Hom (the station in Kowloon where the train stops).  She had been watching a movie on the iPod during the ride but we needed to put it away to handle the walk and transportation to the hotel.  She was not happy about that!  She proceeded to cry for the next 30 minutes.  Sandy felt like we should stop for some McDonald’s at the station before we tried to make it to the hotel … best idea of the day.  Claire must have been both tired and hungry because after this break … she was right as rain.

We then headed onto the MTR (subway) to get to the stop by our hotel.  Next came a ton of difficult walking and a HUGE staircase to ascend.  As we had been walking, Claire got into the habit of pushing her bag as I rolled it along.  She was giggling and having a blast doing this.  This turned into a problem, though, shortly.  After we went up about 100 stairs dragging all of the bags (enough of a workout for a year) we then had an immediate short staircase (about 5 steps) to descend.  I started heading down with realizing that Claire had decided to play the “push the bag” game again.  Next thing I was aware of was Sandy screaming for me to stop … too late.  Claire tumbled head first down the stairs and was not in great shape.  She ended up with a “goose egg” on the back of her head and in need of about 15 minutes of comfort.  Needless to say … it took us a while to get to the hotel.  We arrived in Hong Kong at about 6:30pm, but didn’t make it to the hotel until about 8:30pm … even though it was only about 20 minutes away without kids and luggage.  Oh well.

We then had the blessed experience of entering The Mira … our hotel.  It is BEAUTIFUL!  As I mentioned before … easily the nicest hotel either Sandy or I have ever stayed at.  Pictures below, although they don’t do the place justice.  The room is controlled by a “comfort computer” for lack of a better word.  We have “mood” buttons that automatically set the lighting scheme for different moods.  We have a 40 inch flat screen TV with a Sony Vaio entertainment system … TV, Blue-ray, Internet, etc.  The bathroom is amazing with a deep tub and separate shower.  The shower has one of those overhead rain simulators (Tom’s favorite … Sandy not so much).  Anyway, awesome!

Everybody was tired but I couldn’t contain my excitement.  So I headed out for a 30 minute walk-about while Sandy and Claire got ready for bed.  Hong Kong is still the awesome-est!  I came back to a bit of frustration as Sandy and Claire were unable to get the hot water to work.  The hotel staff responded quickly and were finally able to get it going … kind of.  We’re on the 17th floor (out of 18).  Apparently hot water takes a long time to travel up to us … so every time we need a shower or bath, we have to plan ahead by about 10 minutes.  That’s how long it takes for it to hit our pipes … seriously.  Oh well … with everything else this place has … this feels like a VERY minor thing.

That was our Thursday!

Wow … sorry about the lack of posts.  I NEED to catch up and post yesterday and today’s happenings before they leave my mind.  Since hitting Hong Kong we’ve gone into full tourist mode and really haven’t had time to put anything up.

Seriously busy day today (Friday) as we headed over to the island … saw the old mission home (now a museum for Sun YatSen) and went to Temple Street (famous night market) tonight.

Anyway, maybe tomorrow will be a slower day … but right now Sandy and I are both exhausted from carrying Claire everywhere.  She’s been a trooper.