New Baby Craythorne

Mike and LeeAnn had their little baby girl yesterday afternoon just before 5:00 p.m. LeeAnn had a smooth delivery without any complications. We are all greatful for that. Here is the little hottie. She is adorable!

Happy Birthday Scott

Birthdays: 1907 Lord Laurence Olivier actor, 1970 Naomi Campbell model
Events: 1906 Wright Brothers patent an aeroplane, 1930 Ruth hits 3 consecutive homeruns, 1933 Loch Ness Monster is 1st reportedly sighted by John Mackay, 1956 "Bob Hope Show" last airs on NBC-TV, 1961 1st revolving restaurant (Top Of The Space Needle in Seattle), opens, 1990 Microsoft releases Windows 3.0, 1992 Johnny Carson's final appearance as host of the Tonight Show

View from 85th floor restaurant of the Taipei 101 tower. A very nice member took us there for lunch.

A fantastic shoreline view from a mountain town above Keelong.









"The Queens head " rock formation at a Goblin Valley like area along the Taiwan coast.









May 25, 2008
The Chang Kia Chek Memorial

The J Hillstrom's in Hong Kong

May 16 2008

Jeff, Leslie, Lori and Scott on their way to Hong Kong to visit Emily there. Afterward,the 5 of us will go to Taipei, Taiwan and then into Beijing, China. Scott was on his mission in Taiwan.



It was a 14 hour trip from San Francisco.


We arrived in time to cleanup and go to Emily's branch meetings. They were held in the 11 story church office building here in Hong Kong where there are 4 wards and 5 or 6 branches. The building also hosts the Asia Area authority offices.

The area authority leaders, Pres. Hallstrom, and Pres. Garns families live there also. Pres Perkins could live there but has a private codo on the south side of the island. Pres. Perkins was Scotts mission president so Scott loved to see him again. He is a very influencial man in China economic circles.
The public transportation systems is incredible. They have every means of moving people. On the street they have an older system called the Ding Ding. It is an electric double decker trolley car, where there are hundreds of them full of people. Their name comes from the bell they would ring to warn pedestrians. There is not much head room for us taller Hillstrom's.

After church we went to a zoological and botanical open park.

Then in the evening went across the bay and watched a laser light show from the warf. We could see the beautiful Hong Kong skyline.

Suffering from jet lag we all slept very well at Emily's apartment.

May 19 2008 -The next day in the morning we went out to a "wet" market (also known as an open market) right by Emily's house. It was cool to see all the fresh fruit, fish, meat and veggies. We bought a bunch of exotic fruit to eat for breakfast, mangos, mangosteens, grapes, dragonfruit, dragoneyes, jackfruit, and kiwi. It is so cool to be able to get all this fresh fruit that you can't get in the states. Afterwards we went to three other markets. We went to a jade market with rows upon rows of jade shops with so many beautiful things to look at. We bought a few touristy things, but mainly treated it like a museum. Anything you thought was cool and looked at with some interest or touched then the people at the stands would try to sell it to you. It was kind of fun haggling with all the people even if you didn't want it. Scott was happy that he got someone to drop 30 or so US dollars off the price of something he bought :). He still thinks it was a great deal but who knows. Then we went to a flower market and a bird market, with many many flowers and birds everywhere. Some things were suprises we have never seen before.
In the evening, Emily's boss with her husband and daughter took us out to eat at a seafood restaurant. We ate some things new, like abalone, ostrich, squid patties (deep fried breaded squid, which was good). We also had fresh shrimp. They are proud of fresh food and when we say fresh we mean really fresh. Her husband ordered the meal. On the menu was a fish called groupa. You can see live fish swiming in the tanks and that is what we got. They cook it whole and serve the whole fish with head and all to you. No, we didn't eat the head and bones.

We rode a couple of ferrys across the harbor to see a big floating restaurant. Went back to crash at Emily's. Still suffering from jet lag. We have a full agenda of things that we want to cram to our agenda this week and we hope we can keep up with Emily

Skiing

So I have always been meaning to post a bit about mine and Lori's big ski trip last month. Sad thing is that I never did. But I bet you wouldn't mind at least seeing some pictures from our great fun trip to Sundance. (notice that I am wearing green since we went March 15th, St. Patricks day.)








But if you notice... Lori is not wearing green. I tried pinching her but she was wearing too much clothing to feel it.

The weather was really nice and clear in the morning.
but by the time it was afternoon we could hardly see past 50 feet while at the top of the mountain.

Anyways, it was a fun time and I hope we go next year as well. I'm all for the yearly tradition.s
(Lori out of control going down the hill)

-Scott

Happy Birthday Jacob

Birthdays:1452 Leonardo da Vinci, 1959 Emma Thompson ,

Event:1493 Columbus meets with King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella ,1850 City of San Francisco incorporated ,1817 1st American school for the deaf opens (Hartford CT),1912 Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM in North Atlantic as the band plays on ,1927 Babe Ruth hits 1st of 60 homeruns of season ,1948 KCPX (now KTVX) TV channel 4 in Salt Lake City UT (ABC) 1st broadcast 1952 Franklin National Bank issues 1st bank credit card
,1983 Tokyo Disneyland opens

Happy Birthday Kristina, Jeff, Jeff C. and Jaysie!

March 29 Birthday: 1964 Elle Macpherson Sydney Australia, model
Events: 1985 Wayne Gretzky breaks own NHL season record with 126th assist, 1986 Beatle records officially go on sale in Russia , 1996 Cleveland Browns choose new name, Baltimore Ravens
April 2nd Birthdays:1920 Jack Webb Santa Monica CA, actor (Joe Friday-Dragnet), 1947 Emmylou Harris Birmingham AL, country singer
Events: 1902 1st motion picture theater opens (Los Angeles CA), 1917 President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany, 1921 Professor Albert Einstein lectures in NYC on his new theory of relativity, 1932 Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son, 1954 Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced
April 3rd Birthdays: 1924 Doris Day, 1924 Marlon Brando, 1942 Billy Joe Royal, 1942 Wayne Newton, 1958 Alec Baldwin, 1959 David Hyde Pierce, actor (Niles Crane-Fraiser),1961 Eddie Murphy
April 4th Birthdays: 1965 Robert Downey Jr
Events: 1964 Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love", single goes #1 & stays #1 for 5 weeks