Fancy Dress, Wigs, Kilts and Hats...Oh My!!

Dressing up is fun and we have been doing it surprisingly often this past month.

Embassy House's 10th Anniversary Gala

Golden Week in Yangshuo, China

There are two "Golden Weeks" in the mainland of the People's Republic of China.  They are national holidays where ALL of China has those days off.

In 2010 we stayed in Beijing and enjoyed the lovely weather and were tourists in our new city.  In 2011 we went to Halong Bay in Vietnam and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  This year we were even MORE adventurous.  We decided to travel IN China with a hundred million plus Chinese!   This had the potential to go very wrong....

We had two hours of sitting in HORRIBLE traffic one night but that was the only blemish on a wonderful week.  It could have been like this...

or this....

but thankfully it was like this....

Summer in the USA

It had been almost a year since we had been in the US so imagine our thrill to be going back for 7 whole weeks.  The only possible downer was all my friends and sisters were in Houston while we were going to the sleepy town of Beaufort, South Carolina. 

Patrick and I purchased this little house on 2 acres of deep water in 2006 but had never lived in the home or spent any longer than a week there.  This was going to be a HUGE test on whether we could see ourselves living in South Carolina during Patrick's retirement years.  Since my parents moved into our house earlier this year, it is now our home base in the US.

Highlights from April, May & June

April 2012

• Easter Day Bike Ride to the Lama Temple

Spring Break in Hong Kong - April 2012

Since Patrick and Fiona went to Hong Kong last year for Fiona's broken arm surgery, they've been raving about how beautiful it was and how they wanted to go back to explore.  We booked our trip for the first week of April.

As a side note ... as you may know, China is polluted....very polluted so we tend to 'escape' China during holidays to get some fresh air.  We assumed Hong Kong would be "blue sky" beautiful like it was last year.  Not the case...at all...

This was NOT our best holiday.  We picked the wrong hotel (it was nice but not in the area we should have been).  But the main thing for me was it was 'hazy' every day.  Was it 'hazy' or 'polluted'?  I asked a local and he said it was pollution from Mainland China.  Since I am now a pollution connoisseur, I can say that HK pollution does not have the same Beijing flavor and smell. (That's a good thing.)

So much for New Year's Resolutions....

What a sucky blogger I am!  Don't even try to argue with me...I know it's true but in my defense, I sat down in May to write and my VPN wouldn't let me upload pictures.  And then I went away for 7 weeks and now I am playing catch-up.  Bear with me as I cram in 9 months of blogs into a few hours.

February 2012

•  Fiona and Patrick went to her 2nd Father/Daughter Dance with the Girl Scouts.

Escaping China To Be Sick in Thailand

Chinese New Year began on January 23, 2012.  It is the Year of the Dragon.  The Year of the Dragon is one of the most revered years of the Chinese New Year calendar, and those born under the sign are regarded as innovative, passionate people who are colorful, confident and fearless.  No plans for any McVeigh babies so moving on....

Like October Holiday, Chinese New Year is a national holiday where everyone gets the week off.  That means E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E....as in 1.3 billion Chinese who absolutely adore fireworks (they invented them, ya know?)  It is very common for foreigners to leave China to escape these holidays.  In October, you could stick around (we did in 2010) because the weather is usually nice but no one has ever said that about January in Beijing.  Add non-stop fireworks/firecrackers on top of the massively cold weather, dash a bit of pollution on a few of those days, take out your helpful ayi and your driver (they have the week off) and you have a recipe for a trip....how about a trip to Northern Thailand?

Christmas on a Boat

We departed Beijing on December 15th on a direct flight to Sydney.  We arrived on the 16th very tired but ready to see New Zealand.  Here is the boat we will spend the next 13 days living on....

The Dorky Charlie Angel's Pose is Patrick's Idea....

Departure Party on the Top Deck was lovely as we cruised through Sydney Harbor.

Opera House in the distance

Farewell Sydney....for now....