Introducing --- Ember!

We have a new family member!

This is baby Ember.

(unless his/her name changes!)

Krystin's new baby Dragon.

Seriously, the cutest little dragon, ever!

A week ago, Kayla and I set out on a quest to find a dragon!

Here in Hong Kong, there are no PetSmarts or Pet stores as we know them in the U.S. really.  Finding a dragon, we knew would be a little challenging.   Things are sold in districts out here, and mostly downtown.  There is a Sports street, a Lady's street, electronics street, and so forth.  It is a little strange to me having so many shops in one area that all sell the same type of things, but that is how it is done here.  That holds true with animals too.   They have a street called 'Gold Fish' Street and that is where you can find everything and anything you could want for Fish or reptiles (and some bird and dog/cat stuff).   It is not close or convenient to where we live, and we don't have a car so anything we buy we have to carry home!  We needed everything for said dragon, but we had a trolley at the ready and we were determined to surprise Krystin for her birthday!

As with any quest, challenges are to be expected!  First one, I couldn't exactly remember where 'Gold Fish' Street was, but I thought I could.  Don't ask why, I was tired.  Anyhow, Kayla suggested that maybe a quick googlemaps search would be helpful.  Yes indeed! It was!  So, thanks to some quick directions, via internet, we figured out which bus to hop on and were on our way!

 It was a nice 25 minute bus ride through the city!

When we got to the area we were supposed to be in, we just had to find the actual street.  It took us a few minutes, but we succeeded!

Ok, here is a little Youtube video I found to give you an idea of what it is like.  Doesn't capture the 'special' intense scent that envelops the area, but gives you an idea!

Breeding season for dragons ends in November, and Krystin really wanted a baby.  We went up and down both sides of the very crowded, millions of store street and couldn't find even ONE dragon.  We only had a few shops left to look in and were starting to feel a bit discouraged.  Then we stopped and were looking at a reptile sign, and a man came up to us to ask if we needed help.  In his hand was this little guy below!

 He was holding the little beardie in his hand, not in this container.  This was his go home travel box.  I immediately said, "Yes, you can help us!  We want that (pointing to the little dragon in his hand)!"  The cutest little dragon I have ever seen!  The guy had two others back in his shop, but we knew this little dragon was the ONE!  We got all the things needed for the little lizard dude to live in our home, and then quickly realized that the trolley wasn't going to be able to handle this task.   We asked the guy to help us secure a cab, but cabs don't like animals in them.  He suggested their delivery van for a fee (cheaper than a cab!)!   We immediately agreed, and were so grateful, 

The journey home was a little scary in the old, rickety delivery van.

We were surrounded with 'stuff'!

 Kay kept the baby safe and warm in her lap!

The driver was nice, and luckily we made it home safely!

Logan and Krystin usually don't get home until after 8pm on Thursday nights, this night they decided to come home early.  We had the little guy set up for maybe 10 minutes when they walked in the door! 

He is waving hi! 

Welcome to the family little Ember.  

We love you already!

24 Hour Race!

24 Hour Race!

Logan and Krystin signed up for a charity event.  It sounded a bit crazy to me.  It is essentially a 24 hour relay race.  The race is to raise money to help heighten awareness of human trafficking. and hopefully stop it.   

How does a 24 hour relay race work?

I was wondering that too...

Essentially, all the schools that sign up have two teams.  A boys and a girls team.   They race takes place at the top of Victoria Peak, one of the highest spots in the country.   There is a path that measures 2 miles around the peak.  Essentially, the relay consists of each team constantly having someone completing the 2 mile 'lap' and handing off to the next team member for 24 hours.  There is always someone running the 2 miles lap for 24 hours on each team.   Logan's team had only 6 or 7 boys, so their interval was only about an hour and a half between 2 miles so they made it two laps (4 miles) each to give a longer break.   Yes.  That is crazy!   Todd, Kayla and I agreed to chaperone from 6pm-11pm, so we were able to see the peak.  Todd ended up having to work, but he still came along and hung out at the local mall while Kay and I chaperoned. Yes, Kayla thought it was awesome she could chaperone, lol!

It was VERY WET and dark at the location.

There were some areas you couldn't see anything along the path, and keeping in mind that it is up super high and the edge of the paths that they were running on were sheer drops is a little scary.  That and it was VERY WET!  It wasn't really raining, as much as there was a cloud sitting on the top of the mountain and we were in the cloud.   

Here are some pics from the night:

Quennie and Krystin

Todd and Tammy

Logan and his epic no lenses glasses that he wore all night!

I am in love with the area where the event was held.

It felt like we were walking in a fairy-tale.

I don't know if it as due to the dark and the moisture, but it was magical!

I have no clue what it looks like during daylight. 

The girls walking on the path 

The starting line was just beyond where we were sitting.

 There were tents set up all over for runners to rest between relays. 

No chairs though and the ground was wet.

 Ok.  trying to catch the runners running by in the dark and with all the moisture in the air was brutal.  This is Logan, just know that is true. 

Girls walking back! You missed them, didn't you?

 Oh, there is Kay with her squidlings. :)

I am not exaggerating, we were IN a thick CLOUD!

In the areas where there was light, it was cool to see the light shine through the trees on the path.  Hi Lo!

Pictures with flash didn't come out very well, due to the cloud!

 There goes Logan again!

Tired, cold teens.

They did feed the runners.  Pizza and apparently pasta with nothing on it.

  

 I just loved this path!

 Little Krystin face peaking out of the tent.

 Where we hung out on the ground. 

cool trees.  I know.  I am obsessed. 

Krystin running!

The public 'toilet'....  Oh, silly Asia!

We like thrones!  

Ok, erase that image out of your mind, and look how cool the light is!

Hi Krystin! 

there were areas on the path where there was NO light at all though.

You can see a runner with a flash light approaching.

A few more. 

Remember there were cliffs along side of the entire path.

Hi, Krystin, again!

Kids (and one adult, ha!) passing the time.

My babes.  Love them!

Hi Kay!

We kidnapped Logan and Krystin at 11pm (after 16 hours of racing), because it was Krystin's birthday the next day and we had plans!  Still, Logan ran 14 miles and Krystin ran 8 miles!  I was impressed!

I am so proud of their dedication and willingness to sacrifice of their time and energy to try and promote a better world for people to live in.  Trust me it was a huge sacrifice, these kids have very little down time.  They are lucky to get 4-5 hours a sleep at night with all their homework.

I can't wait to head back up there during the day and see what it looks like with the lights turned on and the water turned off!