A precious gift

Three days before the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the santa brought us a very precious gift bright and early.  


It is such a tiny tiny little thing beyond price which will bring us a blissful happiness.  How much I longed for this day.  Just by looking at her adorable face bring tears to our eyes and we are so grateful that she arrived in our arms safe and sound.  

Our baby girl was born successfully on December 22nd, 2010 at 7:01 pm, weighed 2990g.  

Christmas Tree

A long waited fir tree has arrived, finally!  

Sniff, sniff...'What is this?!'

Wow!  It's a big one!

One week later, finally we have a christmas tree!

Because there was no tree ornament in our household, the decoration process took a while until I start collecting something reasonable from the town.  

Firs have wonderful fragrance by the way.  Our living room is filled with the scent that is so calming.  I'm hoping to show the tree to our baby not too long from now.

To Lamma Island part 2

Again we went to Lamma island.  

Still not used to the ferry rides, but Margaux and Tora seemed to master the way to Thieka's apartment.  They both pulled the leads at full extent to navigate Tony.

And yet had another full fun day at the beach!  

Lamma island is located 20mins away from Hong Kong island.  It is enclosed by full of nature, very bohemian island.  There is no building higher than 3 stories here and no automobiles.  Transport means is by foot or bicycle.  Quite a contrast to the busy and hectic Hong Kong island.  People who live in this island are tolerant towards pets and you will often see unleashed cats and dogs in the village.  

To Lamma Island part 1

Margaux and Tora's old neighborhood friend, Thieka moved to Lamma Island recently, so we went to see her there.  Here's the short video to show you the day we spent.  

Margaux, Tora, Thieka and Linus (Thieka's new brother who was adopted from HKDR) altogether went to the nearest beach.  They found another pack of five dogs there who  became friends in no time and frolicked on the beach. 

Joint operation

Looks like the fall is cut short, the temperature rose up to 27 today!


Margaux and Tora helped each other to dug a hole to build a chilling corner.  

First comes Margaux.  She's a high speed digging-machine-dog!

Tora cleans up debris. 

And Margaux makes the final touch up.

They dug a hole alright but ended up using too much energy...

Morning Walk

Tony is in charge of walking dogs in the morning.  Day is shorter now so it's still dark outside just after 6AM.

But morning air is cool and fresh.  Have a good walk, guys!  

Say "I Love You!"

Do you know Mishka, a huskey dog who can say "I love you!"?  She is famous on You Tube.  

While I was watching this video, Margaux was showing a response, so I tried with her.

Let's see...

Well...she'll need more practice, I guess..

Cheeky Tora

I piled up both dogs' beds into one so that I could carry them up to the roof to clean but before I get to it, Cheeky Tora had a better idea.  She found maximum comfort in a double padded bed.

"Can u keep my bed like this always?"

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Margaux is not fussy about where she sleeps.  And as usual, she sleeps in weird posture.  

Sticky bugs (seeds)

It was a rainy day.

While we're walking, I noticed something on Tora's face...

Tora?

"yes?"

"Wat?!"
(that's too close, honey..)

Look at u, you've got a lots of sticky seeds on your face!!

Dogs were wet and I wanted to dry them but I couldn't use towel (seeds will then stick to towel!) so we went home straight to dry.

Margaux got them too! 

They are all over your body!  
You know you guys are making a major contribution to the seed dispesal!
(Though, not helping it if brought in the house!!)

"Hey, can you help remove them??"

"My nose feels funny.."

I couldn't be bothered to remove them, plus it's kinda looked cute (like face piercings) so left them for a while.  (Later, Tony came home from work, looked at them saying "What happened to you?!" and helped remove each one with care.)   

So, these sticky seeds (or 'bugs', that is literal translation of what we call it in Japanese) look like this.  They always give me a headache during this time of the year.  It has sharp thin needles at the tip which will be left and attached to clothes if not carefully removed.  With dog's coat, they come off naturally after dried but if brought into house, they land onto any fabrics available and it's a pain to clean up!  So, nowadays it has been a ritual for me every after walk to lie down the dogs on the floor and remove the seeds off their coat like a glooming monkey!  

The fall is here!

November.  Finally, the comfortable season has arrived in Hong Kong.  
The sky is clear and it's so refreshing!  Today's destination is Margaux beach.

"Come on, Margaux!  Play with me!"

Tora's trying to get Margaux's attention. 

Rock-fetish Margaux is posing herself on a rock.  
Looking cool, cutie!

My maternity life has hit the nineth month.  No serious hiking with the dogs for a while but I spend time walking them at least 1.5 to 2 hours everyday. 

Paper ripping party

Penfold Park

We went to Penfold Park today.  It's located in the center of Hong Kong Jockey Club and you can bring dogs in when there is no race.  


The temperature and humidity is finally coming down in Hong Kong.  Dogs loooved runinng and chasing each other in this big green grass park.

Margaux likes to roll over as if she tries to inhale the scent of grass with all her body.

Tora also loves soft green grass carpet.

Had a great fun rolling over and being tickled!  

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When dogs are happy, they make me happy.

Margaux's Sleeping Style (4)

The last of 'Margaux's Sleeping Style' series shows you Margaux's tongue-out sleeping faces.

Sometimes she sleeps with her tongue sticking out like this.

I get worried the tip of her tongue will dry up?

She just woke up and does not realize.  

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And Tora does the same!  (but this is a rare shot.)

Tora turned 2!

"me?  2 years old already?!"

Tora is the most Genki one in the house every morning.

Thank you brightening our mornings always, our morning sunshine!

Margaux met with a misfortune

First, explain this to you by showing the photos.   

Margaux's right canine tooth is chipped. 

Even the nerve canal is visible.  (ouch)

You can tell more than half of it is gone by comparing with the left tooth.

Reason:  Because Taeko threw a stone in the water and Margaux accidentally tried to catch it in her mouth.

I am so sorry, Margaux..

"Don't throw a stone to me anymore, ok?"

Margaux was bleeding a little after the incident and did not seem to mind but I took her to the vet just in case and got some pain killer tablets.  Doctor said virus infection maybe the worst it could happen so advised me to brush her teeth regularly.  

Poor Margaux.  I wish implant was an option for dogs  (which I assumed it's possible!)

A trip to New Zealand

Before the baby's arrival, I and Tony decided to take a trip to New Zealand.
I would like to show some of the photos from the places we visited and saw.

A garden (farm) owned by our acquaintance living near Auckland and this year's offsprings

Geothermal spring in Rotorua

A typical NZ scenery from the view in the southbound train

Through the meadowland and we arrived at National Park

Left photo shows Mt. Tongariro (left) and Mt. Ngauruhoe where we enjoyed 5hr hiking on the saddleback of these mountains.  Right photo was taken around the 1800m high with the Mt. Ngauruhoe in the background.  

Thought it was spring, snow was sprinkling down on the way back of the trek.

On the ferry from North Island to South Island 

The sea water is so clear and had an amazing emerald color.

West coast of South Island

Heavy gray sky by the ugly weather was making the ocean angry and violent.

Felt so vulnerable seeing the energy and power of mother nature.

Franz Joseph Glacier and Hokitika Gorge

Goat and new born calves

Giant sperm whale we saw at Kaikoura, east coast of South Island

Albatross

After spending around 15min on the surface, the whale goes back under deep water.

I could not help but notice the size of the whale when he showed his giant fluke before submerging.  And when it slowly and quietly disappeared into the water, I was voluntarily clapping hands with the excitement!  

One of quake scars in Christchurch

M7 earthquake hit the town 12 days before this.

Friendly duck chicks at the botanical garden in the morning of our trip's last day.

Spring in New Zealand was filled with new life.  Life was nurtured by nature's magnificent energy there and if felt like both me and our coming baby were able to receive that special power as well.