hong kong round two.

Hong Kong. Round 2.

Which mostly consists of 5 happy girls running around Disneyland. But more on that later.

We left Friday afternoon, taking a bus to catch the ferry. The ferry ride was 2 hours and uneventful. Arriving in Hong Kong, we took the metro to our apartment. In the underground, especially in China, I am reminded of just how many people there are on this planet. Riding the metro, pressed up against strangers, and then walking the long passageways in between stops, I watched hundreds of faces go by. 

Our apartment was in downtown Hong Kong, near the Yau Ma Tei metro stop. We rented it through airbnb, and it turned out to be a big success. Granted there were 8 girls living in a very small space, but it kinda just became a big, 2-night sleep over and that was pretty great. 

Friday night we wandered the streets. Bright, colorful signs are everywhere, and cars and double decker buses zip by constantly. The city seems to always be under construction somewhere, and bamboo scaffolding line the buildings. Walking along the sidewalk, you occasionally get dripped on--a big splat of liquid on your head. I try not to think where it comes from. 

We ended up at McDonalds. 

How often I eat at McDonalds in America: Never.

How often I eat at McDonalds outside of America: Surprisingly often. 

Maybe it's the familiarity of the place, the fact that I love oreo McFlurries, how cheap it is, or just because the food is the closest you get to the food back home. 

The next day, we headed to Disneyland. Even the ride there was magical. Check out the Mickey Mouse windows! --------->

Walking up main street, I was reminded of so many happy memories I have of going with my family to Disneyland. It is one of my happy places.

Disneyland Hong Kong is smaller than the Disneyland in California. Which was actually pretty great because we got to go on rides multiple times and even go to the shows. Also, there was a Toy Story Land. I was pretty stoked about it.

The first ride we went on was Grizzly Gulch. It was really similar to Thunder Mountain, only we had no idea that half-way through the ride we would be going backwards! We were all screaming for the rest of the ride. Then we went again, because the line was only 5 minutes long. 

My favorite ride in Disneyland is Space Mountain. We got to ride it 3 times that day. Each time we got progressively more silly/crazy when it came time to take the picture. Below, you can see the progression. 

A somewhat normal picture--some of us are smiling, some look scared. The normal stuff. 

Now we're basically all doing the whole Asian peace thing. We were ready for the camera. 

The last time we went on Space Mountain was right before the park closed. We were all a little slap happy by then. I don't know what Bekstrand was doing during the ride, but the picture makes me wonder. :) When we walked out after the ride and saw it we couldn't stop laughing.

So there you have it. Disneyland. The happiest place on earth. 

Our last day in Hong Kong was Sunday. We spent the morning at church.

























Then we took a bus ride over to Stanley's Market, a fun little market place along the beach. Below are some pictures from the ride and the market.

The weekend was wonderful. There is so much to see and do in Hong Kong! I hope I'll make it back there someday.

You say it's your birthday.

I love celebrating birthdays with Sister Lyons. Not now, of course, since she ditched me ;) But I love it because, no matter the person, we always exclaim to them, "It's your biiiirthdaaaay?!?!?" in Kronk's hilarious voice. And they'd usually give us this look in return. 

source.
Ok, not usually. But I always imagine this picture when I say the phrase. It's hilarious. Try saying Kronk's line. I know you want to. And it will make you smile. 

Then, while looking for the above picture, I suddenly realized that Disney has some awesome birthday lines in their movies. Like this little gem from Cinderella. 

In case you were wondering, my children's childhoods will include Disney movies. 

In other news, yes, this is a birthday related post, because it's my birthday. My home teacher came running over just a while ago to drop off flowers for me. He bursts through the door and asks me in an accusatory tone, "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?!?!" As if I had committed some grievous sin by not announcing to the world about my special day. I think it's weird to do that. But since only a few people read this blog anyway, I thought it would be fine to chat about the big 21. Gah. 

My day was wonderful. It included rides to and from campus, awesome packages in the mail, surprises on the kitchen table from my mom, and lots and lots of free food. What more could you ask for?

My mom always gives me fresh flowers for my birthday because she says it means spring is just around the corner. Ironically, it snowed for the first time in a long time today. Everyone was complaining, but I loved it. The fresh blanket of snow all over campus was magical. 

Tonight, my roommates and I celebrated with a giant chocolate cake from Costco, raspberries, and sparkling cider. 

 We even had a toast!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

See it in eye-popping 3D!

source. 

I've never been a fan of 3D movies.

I don't like the idea of the movie

popping out at me. 

I am the viewer,

you are the movie.

Stay in your space, and I'll stay in mine.

Also,

I feel like 3D has become this cop-out 

for movies today.

Hey, we may have a crappy plot,

and terrible actors,

but guess what?

It's in 3D!!! Awesome, right?!

Nope.

Not to mention, the tickets almost double in price.

Why would I spend more money

to see the exact same movie

just with annoying glasses I have to

re-adjust every 5 minutes?

I guess I'm still

a big fan of the 

dollar theater.

(Unless of course HP or LOTR or something of that caliber is coming out. 

Then it's the midnight showing, no questions asked.)

Anyway,

Last night I went with my roomies to see 

Beauty and the Beast...in 3D. 

(You saw it coming, didn't you?)

I wasn't particularly excited...

(don't get me wrong, I love Beauty and the Beast, but

cartoon?

already seen it?

3D?)

...but turns out it was awesome!

And it wasn't because the movie was in 3D. So the above rant still is true. :)

I just loved sitting in a movie theater and watching a movie

from my childhood. 

It has everything you could want:

mystery, romance, adventure, and humor.

I may or may not have gotten chills during this part of the movie: 

source.

I want adventure in the great wide somewhere,

I want it more than I can tell.

And for once it might be grand,

To have someone understand,

I want so much more than they've got planned. 

I love discovering lyrics that apply directly to you.

I also loved being in a theater with a bunch of college kids

that all laughed when I did.

Remember this little gem?

source.

Lefou, I'm afraid I've been thinking...

A dangerous pastime?

I know. 

Seriously, such a good movie. 

In summary: fun night, happy movie, great roomies.

Life is good. 

Who are you? Excuse me, I think the question is, who are *you!*

I went home this weekend. And it was awesome.

Here are some highlights from my two (or too) short days in Holladay -->

Eating thai food from Pawit's. Seriously, it was time for something besides Mexican, Chinese, and Italian. Did I tell you I'm in love with curry?

Sitting around the kitchen table at dinner, while my mom read to us from Where Will You Be 5 Years from Today? It's a book that's supposed to inspire us to plan our future and live our dreams or something. The following conversation ensued: 

Mom: Ok, here are some questions the book asks that can help you identify your top values. I'm going to ask you the questions and then you can respond. First question, "What are the three things I like most and least about myself?"

Peter, James, Charlotte (responding individually): blah, blah, blah. blah, blah, blah.

Dad: blah........blah.......blah. Did I tell you about that one time?.... oh, yeah, blah......blah.....blah.

Mom: Great. Ok, here's the next question, "Who am I?"

James: Who am I? Excuse me, I think the question is, who are you!!! We're in a war, man! There's no time for stupid questions!

Dad, Peter, Charlotte: [break out into hysterical laughter] hahahahahaha

Mom: [shortly joins laughter] haha

James: [looks smug :) ]

And that, people, is why I love my family. Oh, I've trained my brother well in the art of quoting movies. ;)

Watching The Help and denying that I cried during it. Although I might have during the very end. "You is kind, you is smart, you is important." The movie made me realize that it's not very often I go to a movie nowadays where I leave feeling good and inspired and uplifted. I've decided there's something wrong with that. (Speaking of good movies, you should watch We Bought A Zoo. Soooo good. Plus Matt Damon's in it. That is all.)

Playing with Ginger in the freshly fallen snow. (Yes, it actually snowed!) I'm convinced she's a polar bear or something. We'll just send her outside to do her business and she never comes back! She loves to bound through the snow and eat icicles. Peter, James, and I spent 30 minutes making snowballs and then having her chase after them. Once she gets to the snowball she proceeds to destroy it with her whole face. 

Hearing this conversation:

Dad: Peter, I'm going to keep you home from school until you finish that online health class.

Peter: sa-weeeeet.

And this one:

Dad: Ginger, it's a good thing you're cute, or we'd have sold you a long time ago. 

*we're still training the dog, and it's a long road...

And *almost* getting my mission papers in. I just meet with the stake president on Tuesday and then they are sent off to church headquarters. Ahhhhh! I have a feeling it will be pretty hard to focus these next couple weeks waiting for the call. :)

I'll just be sitting, waiting, wishing...

screaming babies and ryan reynolds.

It all started in the airport. Typical. Where else do you take people from all ages/ cultures/ locations and cram them into a tiny space for x number of hours? I'm convinced something interesting is bound to happen to you in an airport. My experiences range from when my dad and I saw Stevie Wonder in the Las Vegas airport to the one time I was stuck between the extremely chatty gun-man from Colorado and the elusive, British dude who drank one too many shots on my ride to New York.

This last airport trip was no exception. First, I was seated in the emergency exit row, and the pilot came by and asked us if we would be willing to open the exit during the emergency. I nodded "yes", but in my head I was like, "I'm not quite sure I would be that sane and alert as our plane was careening in a nose-dive towards certain destruction to remember, oh yes! I must now lift this thingy-mabob and open this window and help each passenger out onto this wing. Hi, my name's Charlotte. What's yours? Oh, I love your shirt! Right this way to the wing, please." Anyway, if your wondering why to sit in the emergency seat, the bonus is you get more leg room. Hooray! However, if you're me, and like to sleep by resting your head on the tray table, you'll soon discover that the seat in front of you is too far forward to make this possible. Also, there was a draft coming from the exit window and the thin, Delta blanket didn't quite cut it. And I thought it was cold in Utah. I was feeling around for the draft and I put my hand right over the emergency exit lifter-thingy right when a flight attendant walked by and she said, "I wouldn't open that if I were you." Right, since I was planning on opening that anyway. But, hey, if you love ample feet space and don't mind wearing thermal underwear, the emergency exit seat is for you!

Getting back to my story, I spent the last 30 minutes of the flight listening to a screaming baby. And it wasn't on and off crying, it was non-stop, fog-horn loud, ear-piercing screaming. The mom and child were having some constant silent struggle back there. It was sups intense. But I was pretty impressed with all the surrounding seated people, because no one complained or shot them nasty looks. For the first 15 minutes I felt bad for the mom, for the last I vowed never to have a child that acted that bad on a plane (knock-on wood).

When I finally got off the plane (hallelujah), I was exhausted and tired and slightly grumpy. I stumbled out of the jetway, walked past the check-in desk and this guy, did a double take, turned around and looked straight at Ryan Reynolds. What the!? We both looked at each other for a couple seconds. He seemed to be saying, "you don't know me!" I was saying (in my head of course), "what are you doing in Utah?!" However, I was pretty impressed with myself because I didn't freak out or scream or run over for his autograph. I just looked and then walked away. It all happened super fast. I hurriedly told my family and their response was either, "who care's?" or "who's Ryan Reynolds?" But I thought it was pretty awesome. It's not every day you get to see a famous (and attractive) movie star.

And, in case you were wondering why I was in an airport, my parents surprised us with a trip to Orlando, Florida! It was a great way to spend the last days of Christmas Break. We went to Island's of Adventure and saw the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter (HP forever!) and then spent our remaining days in Disney World, visiting EPCOT, Universal Studies, and the Magic Kingdom. On New Year's Eve, we found ourselves with thousands of others in the Magic Kingdom. We were all smashed together in front of the brilliantly-lit castle, watching an awesome fireworks show, and dancing to music. It was the ultimate party. All the rides were open till 3 AM, so we went on Splash and Thunder Mountain while waiting for midnight. When it was all over it took us 3 hours to get out of the park...and then we had to leave for the airport at 4 AM. So basically I slept 1 hour that morning before leaving for a 7 AM departure. We were all pretty wasted, but it was worth it!

Here are some pictures, because you probably just saw all that text, gasped, and scrolled down looking for pictures. I did not disappoint. :)

Excuse me sir, can you tell me where I might find Platform 9 3/4?

Welcome to Hogwarts!

In front of the entrance for the Harry Potter ride.

Entrance to Hogsmeade.

It looked so real! And the butter-beer was brilliant.

Just 2 muggles chilling in Hogsmeade. 

James and his pygmy puff.

Check it out! Extendable ears really do exist. :)

At the entrance of EPCOT.

We love Splash Mountain!

The castle, all lit up, right before midnight. 

On Main Street, USA. Happy New Year 2012!