Holiday time

First in five years.  Mmmmmmmm.

And where are these likely lads off to I wonder?   To sit in the shade, I don't think so.

Happy Easter

Japanese White Eye

Matthew and I found this poor little Japanese White Eye this morning.    Not sure what happened to him but it seems today was not his day.  

School Sports day

Matthew hits the podium for the sixty metre sprint.   He wins his heat but is just beaten by Elijah, his best buddy and arch rival too.   Well done boys.  

Parent's bragging rights apply. Well done boys

A whole heap of medals won.    Well done boys.   Swimming, football, duathlon, athletics and fin swimming.   One Hong Kong record broken for swimming and three medals when racing for Hong Kong too.  Big smiles from Mum and Dad.

School carnival awaits.

Not so sure about the maths teacher' ethics....   Obviously a capitalist and not averse to a bit of mark up.

Fin Swimming - last competition for 2014shn

The Silvery Sharks Fin Swimming Club had a great final competition of the year with some great races and lots of medals being won.   Some of the younger swimmers really showed how much their fitness has improved and have the medals to show for it but Arthur and Matthew learned some very tough lessons.

1. Count your laps carefully and do not stop too early, (Matthew 400m)

2. Make sure you touch the timing board when you finish or your time keeps on rolling. (Arthur 400m)

Arthur had seven races in all some of which he was competing two age groups high than his age. He won gold in the 100m and knocked 4 seconds off his China time.   The jury is out on that one though.  Some great swimming by Ivan and LD and the little water flea, Kaa Fai all of whom slowly wore Arthur down in the 200m mono fin race to push him out of the medals.    Kara fair literally streaked ahead to win gold, followed by Ivan and LD then Arthur.   Well done boys, it was one of the most exiting races to watch and you all deserve your medals.    

Matthew missed a clear place in the 400m (see lesson 2 above).  He was five seconds clear and swam like a demon to catch up but did not quite make it. He earned a bronze for his efforts in the 200m though and a gold for the 4 x 50m relay.

HK Triathlon Association - The boys' first dabble in the realms of cyclists with pointy hats

No day of rest for the boys this Sunday.  Both Matthew and Arthur made their first forays into the murky secretive world of triathlon, albeit this was without the cycling part!    Wearing their cheap trainers, swimmers and an old school running the vest the boys were hob knowing with the skin suited kids who preferred to wear their race number on a special gadget belt and lace their swanky running shoes with toggles stolen from a a parka hood.   The boys did splendidly, both came out of the swimming pool in second place, pushed / wedged their feet into all ready tied trainers, threw on their vests and set off on the run.   Unused to running for anything other than a departing bus, they soon fell backwards but nevertheless they had fun.   

Next on the agenda was Arthur's 3000m open water swim in Deep Water Bay in preparation / selection for the 2014 Hong Kong Invitational, international fin swimming competition in December.     Despite the water looking clean and clear he swam the distance and came out with a fine coating of oil and slime.   Not ideal but his hair has a great shine!   Not sure when we find out if he has made the cut for the Hong Kong team but if not he will be swimming a parallel race in the local races anyhow.

Before that though he has the last pool race meet in December to contend with too.

Percy Thrower shows off the garden

River Silver (Mui Wo)

A quick walk around the garden in Man Kok Tsui, before the typhoon came along.

Matthew turns 7

   
A birthday celebrated with a party on the beach is always fun, especially when there is an home made cream cake involved.   How we managed to serve it up without sand in every mouthful is beyond me.   Succeed we did though.   The cake was gone in less than five minutes; his new bike we hope, will not be so quick to disappear!  It is hard to imagine that seven years ago, on 4th July, we (that is Nuch and I were getting a free helicopter ride to the hospital.)   

Matthew's Birthday

On 4th July Matthew turned 4. However, as Nuch's brother was leaving to return to Thailand that same day we were unable to have a party. Instead we all had pizza. Here's Matthew smiling as ever. Despite his smiles, all was not ideal for the little thinker though. As there was no party on that day for him he annonced he would eat the pizza, open his "monster truck" present and eat any cake but have another birthday the next weekend when we were having a beach barbeque and here would be more people there. Not to be out-done, Arthur seized the opportunity to and promptly pulled out his first and admittedly very woobly front tooth.

The Ralf Wiggum Quandry

Hmmmmmm. Jury is still out.

Ralf Wiggam has a stunt double!

I am not sure whether to be pleased or worried but Matthew has begun to turn into the spitting image of a n Hollywood film star. Trouble is it's Ralf Wiggam of the Simpsons. It's getting scarey.

Quotes from Matthew to follow as well as comparison piccies. Let's hope it's only a phase.