No Regrets.

Babysitters are so expensive here--HK$65 or US$8 an hour. Is that ridiculous or is that really the going rate these days? As such Cody and I have about one date night a month and that is usually our temple trip. On New Year's Eve we were too cheap to pay five to seven hours of babysitting and there was no way we could take Jade with us to see the fireworks at midnight. I was still super disappointed. Especially when I can watch youtube videos of what we missed. Sure we could see the tip tops of the fireworks from our window, but in no way is that the same as actually being there! I try to live my life with no regrets, in all areas: relationships, spiritually, morally, educationally, life experiences, etc. And--as stupid as it may seem--I regretted not seeing the fireworks, even if I know the responsible thing to do was stay home. We won't always be living in Asia and be so close to these incredible life experiences, so I know now is the time to take advantage of them!

Hong Kong also does a firework display for Chinese New Year. Thank goodness for second chances! The fireworks started at 8 p.m. Much, muuuch more doable with our little Jade. The only downside? In order to get a good seat, we needed to go super early--like even earlier than we did for the parade. Call us crazy, but we decided to do it. This may be our only chance! We got to the TST waterfront around 3:30 p.m. and it was already starting to fill up. The first row spots were almost all taken. But don't worry, Cody snagged one for us at the end of the line and set up our blanket. We were the only people in the front row that didn't have a camera tripod saving our spot.
Soon after the police came by and started setting up more crowd control barricades and making people move. They told us we needed to move down a meter. Our reply: "How much is a meter?" Police: "Just scoot down a bit." Us: "We can't, those people are already sitting there." P: "Sit behind them." Us: "But then we won't be front row; that's why we are here so early." They gave in and told us to not move down any further. They made the people next to us move behind us and a little while later they set up a barricade right next to us. You can see it behind Cody and Jade in the below picture. We were the very last people to get a spot in the front row.
We were sitting on the Avenue of the Stars and later found out the area was restricted to a certain number of people because it wasn't actually built on land and could only handle a certain amount of weight. Lucky for us that meant it didn't get much more crowded than this the rest of the evening:
We had plenty of space on our little blanket (so much so we called our friends Matt and Michelle and told them to come on over and share our front row seats with us)! We didn't even have to fight to hold our ground like we did at the parade. It was amazing. But notice the people that did. Those people who came an hour or two after us were only permitted behind the barricades the police had set up to the side and behind us. There was standing room only and it was very, very crowded in there.
But us? We had a leisurely afternoon/evening watching the boats go by...
viewing the sunset behind the Hong Kong skyline...
and keeping Jadyn entertained with games, toys, bubbles, Cody's phone, and the camera.
It was actually a really great time--almost like having a family picnic. There was only one stressful moment when I had to take Jade to the bathroom and the line was looooong. I wasn't sure if she could hold it. But my girl did me proud and played on the grass with a Chinese boy until it was our turn...an HOUR later. What a good girl!!

Jadyn had been so good all day. Then about 5-10 minutes before the fireworks started, she climbed in my lap and snuggled in close. I knew we would have to move and/or stand up soon, so I positioned her stroller to watch the fireworks and sat her down in it so she could get cozy. VERY soon thereafter and just moments before the fireworks....zzzzzzz.....
I couldn't believe it! She'd waited all day and fell asleep right before. I thought she'd wake up when it started but she didn't. Even with all the noise, and me shaking her and trying to pull her eyelids open. Nothing. She slept through the entire show, all the way home and straight through until the next morning. It still makes me kind of sad to think she missed the fireworks!

The rest of us saw them though and OH, MY was it worth the wait!!!! Four barges were parked in Victoria Harbor where the fireworks were shot off.
The show was 25 minutes long and, of course, the most incredible fireworks display any of us had ever seen.


They had some really cool ones like "2011."
Bunnies, because it is the Year of the Rabbit.
And, my personal favorite, "I ♥ HK."


Michelle and me in our front row seats! :) (The boys were standing up video recording behind us.)


The finale!


The crowd after the show.
We thought it was going to take forever to get home but it actually moved rather quick. The entire street (Salisbury and Nathan Road) to the subway was blocked to vehicles. Which was actually pretty cool if you know Salisbury and Nathan Road.
Here is a short video of the crowds (I accidentally cut off Cody's remarks-sorry!).

In the end I would say: TOTALLY WORTH IT (we may even attempt it again for the next fireworks in the fall)! Reliving the experience through writing this post still gets me excited about it (can't you tell just by the length of the post?)!