Remember camp? I loved camp. Well, all except the campy, athletic-type stuff. Trust falls, big walls to scale, spider webs and the sort all made me break out into the sweats. I would generally do the minimum I had to do and wait it out until we could move on to other activities. (Don't even get me started on Sunday night volleyball...my head was a magnet for the balls!) So, as you might imagine my athletic prowess was pretty much limited to nertz-playing in the cabin. I'm not just real big on adventure in general (stop laughing, Kristen.) And I thought perhaps my eldest daughter would inherit this from me because she has generally seemed to be on the timid side when it comes to playing outdoors. I can't imagine, cough cough, who might be holding her back.
A few weeks ago, before all the Chinese New Year fun, we were having some crazy warm weather and headed next door to the park for a picnic. It was probably one of the funnest family outings we've had in a long time. We live next door to GORGEOUS Green Mountain park but have not gone very often, sad to say. It's a "pay-to-get-in" park. Most of the year it's hot and humid. The park is huge and takes quite a time commitment to go through...you get the idea. But this day in February was gorgeous and we had the time. In fact, we've had many family trips to Green Mountain park this month. Even bought the month pass...
We were surprised to see some new equipment. Campy, ropes course-type equipment. Let me just that one of the first things I saw was "the wall," and I immediately had flashbacks to camp. I think I started sweating just thinking about it!
But Grace SHOCKED us and starting climbing up this little tunnel.
and went all the way to the tippy top...
then climbed down the 15-foot ladder (with Daddy spotting, of course!)
and did a little victory dance. She was so excited! Much more tunnel climbing followed...
There are some smaller, not-so-scary things to do. This was about my speed. My big stud of a husband is the athlete of the family and scaled the huge wall (proof posted above!) in like 3 seconds. Seriously.
Smiles all afternoon...
We ended our day with a picnic, complete with expensive imported Diet Dr. Pepper from the import store. Hooray for the import store!
And I wonder what this one will think of tunnels and walls at age 3? (Ok, really I don't just yet. But how could I NOT post a picture of this cutie at the picnic?!!)
On another day Kevin took his folks for a cable car ride, and I think they all enjoyed this much more than going to Victoria Peak. The cable car ends at the world's largest bronze sitting Buddha, or something like that. The Buddha isn't what was exciting, of course, but the view was apparently pretty amazing! (Seeing as how I'm not a fan of cable car rides, I gladly offered to stay with the kids and take them to the park. But after I heard how much fun the cable car ride was I decided next time I might just have to temporarily get over my fear of cable cars.)
Smiles on the cable car...obviously Nana and Pappaw do not share my deathly fear
you can see Buddha sitting on his booty in the background
One afternoon Kevin and Pappaw went on a man-outing, which included a movie and some ribs. I have no picture of that. Nor do I have a picture from the date Kevin and I went on in HK...probably because we were having so much fun talking, shopping, and feeding our faces while not being interrupted by little ones. (Thank you Nana and Pappaw for giving us this time together!) But I DO have a picture from High Tea at the Four Seasons Hotel. Yippee! It's supposed to be one of the top things to do in HK and I've always wanted to go, but for some reason my manly husband has never been interested in tea. Or scones. Or frilly little sandwiches. Nana and I had a great time. Look at the spread!
Of course we had to stop by Disneyland and say hi to Mickey and Minnie. Grace was thrilled to be back. And while riding the carousel we unexpectedly ran into some friends! It was fun to catch up, even if it was too brief. I love meetings like that!
Grace was too shy to visit with the princesses this time but was thrilled to see the characters again. Minnie is by far her favorite. (Grace was still sporting a black eye from a major run-in with her bedroom wall following an acrobatic move gone awry.)
We had to pull out the Minnie-ears for Minnie. Grace asked me later, "How do Mickey and Minnie eat? Their mouths are stuck open! And how do they sleep because they can't close their eyes?" And don't even try to convince Grace that Mickey and Minnie are not real. She will not have it that someone else is inside these costumes. Nope, "they're for real."
After our Hong Kong vacation, Nana and Pappaw came home with us and we got some good play time in with the girls.
And there was plenty of silliness going on...
Next door at the park we took our pictures with our respective zodiac signs. We realized that Grace and Pappaw were both born in the year of the dog!
Nana and Pappaw's birthday gift to Trinity was this amazing tunnel and attached tent. The girls have had so much fun playing in this the last few weeks! We'll have to put it up soon and bring it out for rainy days, but for now they are still enjoying the playtime. 
Nana and Pappaw, thank you so much for coming and blessing us! We know it's no small thing to travel to Asia and you were both so gracious to come and spend time with us. We love you!
