"It's Gonna Be a Night, to Remember" (from HSM3)

As I was getting REALLY stressed packing for another year's journey, I outsourced Heidi's going away party to my sister Trine. Now - that is probably the best decision I made this summer. Now there is a real party planner. We started out getting everybody ready for the HSM 4 auditions in Cheerleader outfits, make up and hair. Then we drove the "Limousine" (thank you Kristen Gallup :) ) up to East High School where the leader of the Cheerleading squad (thank you Melodie) taught the girls some cheerleader moves. What a night it was. It really was a night to be remembered as they sing in the latest HSM3 movie. Thank you Trine and everybody else involved. Same place, same time next year! OK?!

Thanks for a great Summer friends.

Two days before we left Utah, we had a surprise going-away party for Mattias. We invited some of his friends and when he came home from a soccer camp we all jumped out and surprised him. It was a great night with Twinkies, chips, cookies (thanks Jill), fruit and fun. Thanks for all the fun memories. See you in a year. SEND ME AN EMAIL: osthedmattias@gmail.com.

What a Summer it has been.

June 15th to August 1 went very fast this year. It was wonderful to see friends, family and our home again. Sometimes in life it is good to miss something and be away from it. I was reminded of how much I loved our house and yard. Even though it is way to big, I still love it. Mattias and Heidi went into high gear as soon as they walked in the house. They played with every toy. They played with every friend. When there was 5 minutes of peace, they went out to find another friend to play with. They really enjoyed having all their friends around and being able to go on their own play dates, without taxis, helpers and moms.

We are back in Hong Kong. I am happy about that. I am breathing again. I am very grateful that we have another year here to experience new things and to make new friendships. School starts Monday - which means that I get my life back. I get to go back to Yoga and have some time for myself. I am really done with summer and I am welcoming school, homework, activities and routines.

Heidi and Mattias miss their friends, but they are settling in very well. When we arrived in Hong Kong and Henrik picked us up at the airport he asked Heidi if she still hated Hong Kong. She looked at him and said: "Dad, I was just kidding about hating Hong Kong. I love Hong Kong." Now that is a good thing. Heidi got accepted into Hong Kong International School with Mattias and we are so excited and grateful for that.

If you want to follow the blog, please click on the Followers button as I will not send emails anymore when I make updates.

Discovering Macau and Cirque du Soleil

April has been a bussy month with many fun activities. One Saturday morning, we decided to take the ferry to Macau - Asia's Las Vegas. We took a taxi to the ferry station and the ferry ride took about an hour.

As we got into Macau, we went straight to the Venitian because we had ordered tickets to the Cirque du Soleil ZAIA show.

The Venitian was spectacular - unlike anything I have seen in Vegas. It was new and fresh and really over the top when it came to design. The shopping was amazing and the restaurants were fabulous. We went to a great Italian restaurant and then we checked the kids in to a massive playground for two hours and Henrik and I got some "grown-up" time :)

The Cirque du Soleil show was amazing. We all really enjoyed it. Mattias' favorite part were the "ninjas" climbing up and down poles doing tricks and the fire jugglers. Heidi's favorite part was the girls singing and when the heart baloons were released at the very end of the show.

It was a nice spur of the moment thing day. It was fun to see and experience. We are greatful for all of our experiences here. We are however getting homesick. The kids often ask how many more days until we go back to America. And when Henrik and I saw some pictures of the trees in our back yard that Judith sent, we looked at each other and we both had the same feeling: we miss home. That is a good thing. Thanks for your letters, e-mails and phone calls. It is so nice to stay in touch.

Love you all.

Dear 2nd grade at Willow Springs

Dear Class,

Thank for your letters class. I liked them - all of them. I felt happy when I found a "huge" envelope in our mail box for me with your letters. I wish I can come back to America and come to Willow Springs again. I will be there for 3rd grade.

I go to Delia School of Canada. I am in grade 3. I think the subjects are easy to medium hard. My favorite subject is Science. I built a car out of tubes and it was cool. I have metal bay blades that I bring to school with me. I have 5 recesses every day. I have soccer club after school on some Thursdays. We are going to Thailand for 6 days over Easter holiday. I am excited to get back to school after Easter.

It is fun to live in a tall building because I can see a lot of things like tall buildings and a lot of cars from a Birds Eye View and an Arial View.

This is what I see outside my window when I go to sleep at night.

Kung Fu is easy and a lot of fun. I am still working on my Dragon Patton and sparring so I can get my yellow/green belt. It is super easy to get higher belts. Here I am in my class practicing my jumps.

Baseball was fun but it is over. It is fun to bat. I did get a homerun and that was fun. Sometimes we get to go to the market where they sell live fish. It is fun to watch when they fish them out of the tank to sell them to people so they can eat it for dinner. They also eat Chicken Feet here. hehehe I am not going to taste it.

They eat mostly rice and noodles here in Hong Kong. That's what most of my friends bring to school for their lunch. We don't have a cafeteria at Delia School, so we all bring our own lunches and we eat in our class room. Most of the people in my class are from Korea, China and Japan. They speak funny. Most of them are good at speaking English, but almost all of them are ESL students (English as a Second Language).

I will let you know how my trip to Thailand went. I am excited. My mom says we can snorkle there.

Talk to you later.

From Mattias - "the little man"

An update from Asia

Hello everyone.

It has been a while since we wrote so it is time to make some noise :). Thanks for all of your emails and comments. It is so fun to hear from you all.

Summer is approaching in Hong Kong. The weather here has been muggy, foggy and overcast for the past three weeks. The sun finally came out a couple of days ago and I get that "crazy" feeling that I use to have in Scandinavia when the sun came out......"let's cancel everything and go out and stare at the sun all day - it may not be here tomorrow or the next day...." It is nice. It is not too hot yet, so we are enjoying it.

Mattias and Heidi are now finally at the same school, which has been so fun for both of them. Heidi is enjoying her new class mates (all 6 of them) and she is loving Mrs. Fox, her teacher. Mattias is making new friends every day. He is known as "the midget man" at school :). He has a little performance that he does that is quite funny.

I attended the Asian Women's conference this weekend and was truly inspired. There are some really great women here in Asia (most of them expats) and I will share with you some of the things that I thought were great at a later time.

Henrik is working hard in China and found a fantastic Italian restaurant there which is great! He mentioned to someone at his client that he wished there were some cold drinks available......the next day when Henrik arrived into work, there was a brand new fridge fully stocked with sodas...... for HIM :) He is working on some "The Office - Asia" episodes that would be quite funny. Did you all know that the Chinese take out their mattresses at a certain time every day and lay down for a nap at work? All the 20.000 workers at Henrik's client take a nap every day. From CEO to the janitor. The lights are turned off, the phones are off and the computers are off. Then they sleep for 1 hour. What an experience.

We hope you are all well!!!!

Mattias - The Kung Fu Master

Congratulations to Mattias who unlocked his yellow belt in Kung Fu yesterday. He did so well and we were all so excited to share in his joy. I have never, ever, seen him this excited. He was so happy that he was shaking all over. He could hardly speak. He has worn his boxing gloves, that you get when you receive a yellow belt, since he got them. We were able to get them off him while in church for 3 hours. :)

Mattias got his hair cut as well, and man did he get spoiled. First he got some magazines to read, some candy to eat and something to drink. He got shampooed before and after his haircut. After 1 hour - he had gotten an awesome fro hawk - all without even using any scissors :).

Heidi has been sick. During a fireside for Elder Nelson on Friday, her fever skyrocketed out of the blue. So I took her home and we got to visit the hospital here in Hong Kong. I was relieved by the experience. It reminded me a lot of the treatment we received back in Sweden. We were in and out in about 25 minutes. Her fever continues to fluctuate, however, I think she is on the rebound. We suspect influenza.

We have had a great weekend as a family and we are ready for a new week. I thought I would give you the pleasure of viewing some more photos I took of "The Market" while getting some mangoes.... :) I have also included some pictures of the building we live in and the view from our Living Room.

Happy Birthday to Dag Andreas who is now 18......and ready for adult life. We are happy for you and hope that your celebration this Friday is a blast. Wish we could be there with you.

Have a great week everyone.