Every year (not that we have had that many to celebrate), we scratch our heads for what to do for our daughter’s B-day party.  This year, we decided to rent the studio space from FLEX (they have great programs for adults as well as kids), and invite her Jazz teacher, Ms. Twinkle..and Mona as our facepainter!  So glad the b-day was a success (both the adults and the kids thought the 2 hours went by very quickly). There were many TWO thumbs up feedback on the finger foods catered from Posto Pubblico and the FABULOUS cakes from Ms. B’s Cakery!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Min from Flex for all of her help in making this happen- Thank you!!! ox

We went to our favorite hair stylist’s salon@private i salon the other day.  Tsukumi-san is a Japanese hair stylist (speaks Cantonese, too!) and aren’t we happy that we have met her here.  Our daughter was initially resisting to go, thinking she would get scolded (of course..she cut her own hair with a pair of scissors..I know..they are exploring…let them be..but do you know how long it took to let her hair grow evenly!!???).  Anyway…as soon as Tsukumi-san performed her magic, it was all fine. Look at that smile…feeling like a princess!

I hope you had a great holiday wherever you were and with whomever you spent your time with.  We spent Christmas in Bali and then New Years in Japan.  I must admit, we were so impressed by Haneda airport and how easy it was for us to travel this time. We will be definitely going through Haneda as much as possible.  Attaching some photos taken in Bali.  Despite a few showers, we were very lucky with the weather..about 30 degrees (86F) which was perfect! We stayed at Villa Samuan and had a fabulous time…the staff there were wonderful, our nanny was great…and we had a super relaxing holiday.

In relation to Storytime….look out for the sales coming up this week and items that came in from Moi and Cicek!!

@The Junction cafe in Seminyak. Income from selling these dolls displayed are used for the street kids orphanage, skills training and outreach to kids still in the streets in Bali.  If interested, you can take a look further at www.ykpa.org.

When it rained, it poured…but it was still very beautiful. Kaili is wearing a swimming cap here..not sure if its to prevent from getting wet or she still want to go in the pool!

How lucky are we to have Ocean Park right in the city….or at least within 10 minutes of the central part of Hong Kong Island(its an amusement park). Warning: Weekends can get quite busy…so suggest going early or on a weekday.

Scary Man from Halloween!

Bouncy Castle- ALL kids LOVE this!

After lots of playing…. happy to rest and have some ice cream.

Recommended by a friend, we headed north to the Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden.  It took us about 30 minutes by car from Central, and we were in the middle of this greenery next to Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong’s highest mountain.  There were beautiful botanical garden, river streams, woodland…and it was such a nice little get away place to have a picnic away from the busy city.  If interested in going, some things to be aware of are…. you must book parking a month ahead (unless you want to take the chance to park in the other side of the road)…and it is not so stroller friendly.  Do take food for picnic (there are great tables and chairs there).  It is a great place to teach kids about conservation and sustainable living (or even just be surrounded by nature!).  

I have been meaning to write about Tree at Horizon Plaza in Aberdeen.  If you don’t know Horizon Plaza, I am sure you will find out if you move to Hong Kong as they sell lots of furniture…AND they also have many clothing outlets.  By the way…I LOVE the Lane Crawford outlet here..you can find some really great deals (ok nothing to do with children here so you will need to make sure they are entertained somehow or by someone else).  What I really recommend is the Tree cafe located on the top floor of the building.  Tree sells wonderful interior (wood) furniture, but they also have a cafe inside.  Great kids corner with toys and books(and a nice bathroom).  If you need some arts and crafts, then pop down to bumps to babes or the bookstore next to Bumps to Babes.　By the way…one warning…the elevators could be quite annoying (they either hit even or odd floors), and it could be chaotic over the weekend. So if you can, I recommend that you go during a week day!

Horizon Plaza:2 Lee Wing St., Ap Lei Chau

Ok- was a bit behind with a bit of a flu here…will be looking to do some new brand introduction this week. And also….if you sign up for the newsletter, you may be getting some special code for a special Pre-Christmas Sale- so please SIGN UP!!! Have a great week!

what to do, what to do…with an active 3 year old…on a rainy day…PLAYTOWN in Pok Fu Lam!  Its an indoor mini amusement park (?) and great for kids who enjoy a bit of sliding, jumping, rolling…running..even a bit of screaming that they are not allowed to do much of at home.  There is a below 3  year old section separate to the older kid’s area, that has toys and mini slides as well…and a little cafe on the side for a mini break (or parents to just snack and chat with the kids).  I must admit however…everyone thinks of the same thing on a rainy day…so one must go early!

With a cute girl she met…they loved the candy wall and kept pretending to eat the candy on the wall! So cute…I melted watching this.

Needed some courage in the beginning to slide on this..but LOVES this slide and can go around and around..

…and loving to slide this way, too.

We went to Koh Samui, Thailand a few weeks ago. How lucky are we, that there is a direct flight from Hong Kong and we can get there in about 3 hours (so important when traveling with kids!).  It rained most of the time, but the villa resort was so wonderful that we were just happy to be there.  

As we checked in…there was a bear with our daughter’s name welcoming her. Needless to say, she was ecstatic!

Mommy I want to swim!

Entrance to the kids centre where its filled with activities from coconut painting, afternoon movies with popcorn. Ideal place to drop off kids and Mommy goes to….the SPA!!!

busy doing something- back and forth back and forth with that bucket… the water was gorgeous even on a cloudy day. I can’t imagine what its like on a sunny day!

It seemed like every hour, the staff would bring something to the beach…from fresh juice made out of some exotic fruit, mini popsicles..or here they are making S’mores. I had forgotten about them- it was so much fun!

My first column was published in MilkB magazine! The column is called “My Storytime” and the first story is titled, “Inspired by Kids”..about Masayo Thevenon, the designer of Zozio.  I hope the readers enjoyed reading this..and I thank Tracy from MilkB  for giving me this opportunity and guiding me through this process!