Friday night made the mad dash home to Disneyland to join in the Halloween festivities. This is a new experience for us and it showed. JC was dressed as a princess and PB was Tigger from Winnie-the-pooh. Not really in the same league as the skeletons, ghouls and other assorted members of the occult doing the rounds. It was very social and PB had a ball, although JC got a little freaked out and had the inevitable nightmares. Our lolly haul was pathetic. JC was too shy to follow my "use your elbows and shoulders" advice to get a better allocation. I have no doubt there were plenty of kids who came to the Disneyland complex just for the night. I felt a little cheated by this - all the residents had bags of lollies etc to hand out and these interlopers come along and help themselves. I don't know what the spirit of this festival is but that sucks.

Saturday morning was an early start with JC's nightmares to contend with. With Mrs M's folks still staying with us I took the girls to the supermarket to get supplies for breakfast. Eventually Grandma woke up and we could eat. When I say eventually, Mrs M and I started our day about 6am, so the 10am start to breakfast might sound civilised to some but was an eternity to me. My in-laws, being of Hungarian background, often talk in Hungo with each other and Mrs M, who understands perfectly and speaks passably. So when they announced dinner was "Rontenhush" (this is my interpretation) I was intriuged but no further clues were forthcoming.

Next we headed down to the HK Cricket Club with some fellow Disneyland inmates. There was no cricket game so the kids ran around on the grass, played in the playground and swam. We yet again forget their costumes so they swam naked - cute at this stage but worrying if they develop a life-long love of it. We weren't meant to be in the club as non-members can't visit on weekends but like many things if you have enough chutzpah the Chinese dislike of confrontation will get you through. We're working on getting membership through my limited squash playing prowess - hopefully they'll fall for it.

Came home for lunchtime nap time, which everyone took part in. Misti decided my ample belly would be the most comfortable part of the entire apartment to spend the next two hours so that's where she slept. I was so tired that sleep wasn't a problem. Jackie our helper had come down with something so she spent the day ensconced in her room. We gave her some lemonade and biscuits to help her through and by Sunday morning she was fine. But it meant we actually had a whole weekend like a normal family (i.e. without a helper). It turned out to be extremely enjoyable. I certainly enjoy having Jackie around on Saturdays as it allows us flexibility to do various things but sometimes it is nice just to be the family unit and no-one else.

Once everyone woke we headed off to a local park for some serious playground time. Returned home, eager to discover what was for dinner. However a mystery awaited on our doorstep - two Wallaby jerseys. Thinking this was a message from God I instantly turned on the TV to watch Australia just keep the Irish out in the Rugby. Next mystery was dinner: turned out it was schnitzel, which lead to a dinner time discussion of why Hungos have a different word for schnitzel. My theory is if the Austrians and Hungarians shared an empire, surely they could've agreed on a few common terms for what kept them together. It's not like schnitzel is an English word either. Still it was good tucker followed by watching one of the dodgy DVDs from Shenzhen. It was Adaptation with Nicholas Cage. I loved it, Mrs M thought it was so-so and my in-laws now are sure that I am weird.

Sunday morning started out with JC joining Mrs M and I in our bed, which is actually the sofa while the in-laws are in town. She drank her morning milk, turned to milk [WARNING: gross bit coming up] and chucked up a good percentage of it all over me. Stripped the bed and clothes, had a shower with JC to wash it all out of our respective hair and we could get on with the day. These are the bits about kids they don't tell you on the cereal boxes. On the boxes they're always blond, blue-eyes and happily running down a beach. They never show the milk vomit. Anyways, took the girls to the newly reopened Disneyland playground. The renovation has been a complete disaster. They removed the old stuff, replaced it with half as much stuff which is half as good. To say the inmates are not happy is an understatement. Straight after this I am writing to Disneyland management to complain. If I don't go to bed first.

Yet again returned for the lunchtime schluff and Misti again managed to find my belly as the comfy-iest spot in the place. Whatever. Mrs M wasn't feeling great so once the girls woke I took JC to a birthday party in Jardine's Lookout. It was in a ritzy neighbourhood and I knew it would be good because the Bentley was in the garage. It turned out it was a house with its own pool. This may not impress you much, but to have a detached house in Hong Kong means you are worth in the serious multi-millions at least. And what a house - spacious, well-laid out, latest everything, beautiful artwork, wooden decking leading to a 25 metre pool. Really good. JC had a good time mingling with her classmates until she came across a Barbie. That was it for the rest of the party. Most of the kids were distracted by the massive TV playing inane kids videos and the other activities. There was plenty of food on offer which the parents happily helped themselves too. I knew one or two of the other parents but the reality is I only see these people once a month at these parties. A bit of polite chit-chat was the extent of it. The hostess kept telling me she thought JC was the most beautiful girl in the class. I couldn't help but agree. What I did wonder was where she placed her own daughter, who's in the same class. All I could reply was how nice she was to say so and what a lovely place they had. I was hoping the take-home gift would be some bars of gold bullion, but it turned out to be some handpainted tambourines. This take-home present thing is, like many HK things, taken to extremes. One party JC returned with more gifts than she left with. So the hand-painted tambourines represented a great compromise between over-the-top effort and modesty.

While we were enjoying life with HK's elite, Mrs M, her Mum, PB and Misti braved the haze and humidity to walk down from Disneyland to Stanley. A decent walk, the timing was perfect as they returned to Disneyland 5 minutes after we did. We then promptly turned around and headed down to Spices at Repulse Bay, a Thai/Indian resturaunt that's set outdoors. Yet again PB ate her own body weight in food while JC ate three bites and declared she was full. The food was fantastic and we returned home and put the troops to bed. PB pished on me just before her bath, but I don't want to gross anyone else out. I'm just saying Kelloggs have a lot to answer for. Finally Mrs M and her Mum are watching a quick flick, her Dad has hit they hay and I'm hitting the blog.

A big weekend now I look back on it. Time for that complaint letter.