At the end of my third month I weighed in at 12 pounds and 3 ounces and was 23.5 inches long. Mommy went back to work this month, so she tried to get me on a schedule (she thinks she’s in charge).

I was very good on my feeding schedule. I ate 5 times a day at 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, and 9:30pm. My last feed of the day is formula and the rest is Mom’s milk. I like the weekends when I prefer to take my 2pm feed out in one of the cafes of Hong Kong. I slept good at night, some nights even going straight from 10pm til 6am. I don’t really like taking naps during the day though. I don’t want to miss anything. This month I got too big for my swaddling wraps and I started sleeping in my sleeping bags.

I was very busy this month. I travelled around Hong Kong in the taxis and on the bus. I love to look out the windows at all the people and buildings. I went to the spa with Mom for a pedicure and up to the Peak for walks around the trails. I went to the Stanley Dragon Boat Festival to watch Dad race, and  had my first trip to the zoo.

I started to discover my hands and especially how well they fit in my mouth. I learned to clasp them together. I survived my first fever this month after my vaccinations, and my first stomach virus. Check out my photos in the Photo Gallery.

… to a deluxe apartment in the sky. Well, that’s how the song goes from the old TV show, The Jeffersons. We will be movin up to an apartment in the sky, but I'm not sure how deluxe it will be. The EuroSpauldings are moving to Hong Kong. I start my new job with ING there on September 1 and Scott will move out by mid-October once he finishes his assignment in the UK.

I will be Regional Finance Director for ING’s insurance operations in Asia. There are 3 of these positions covering different countries. I will be responsible for Malaysia, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. I will work as a financial business partner to the regional CEO of these countries, making sure that he understands the business unit results and what drives these results. I will provide him with support on acquisitions, mergers, divestments, and capital transactions. There will definitely be some travel to these countries for me. I will also be responsible for the management and oversight of the financial forecasting process for all of ING’s insurance operations in Asia.

I love how the British say lovely. Everything is lovely. We spent a lovely weekend in July in the lovely English countryside. We drove south from Reading where Scott is working. Scott’s getting good at driving on the left side of the road after practice in South Africa and New Zealand. We stopped in the town of Bath for lunch and a little shopping. We continued on to Somerset where we stayed at the lovely bed and breakfast Charlton House. I picked this place because Charlton is the town I grew up in in Massachusetts. Our room looked out onto the back lawn where the croquet course was set up (as every proper English B&B must have a croquet course). In the morning after breakfast and some croquet we drove back to Reading, stopping in a little town along the Avon River for afternoon tea and scones. Mmmmm, another great English tradition. Cheers!

What does one do on their national holiday when living and working abroad? Well, they work. Since the 4^th was a Friday, we had to work. I don’t like working on days like this, Memorial Day, and Thanksgiving. But luckily, Cindi, another American living here, organized a party for all her fellow Americans on Saturday at the beach (we even let a few Mexicans and Canadians join the festivities). She did a great job of picking a restaurant right on the beach. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it rained most of the time. But we were covered on the restaurant deck, just a little cold. I won’t miss the Dutch weather when I leave here! We warmed up when they brought the charcoal grills to our tables and we grilled our own meats at the table, just like an American BBQ. The rain stopped for a group photo. You won’t find Scott in here – he was in the UK. Thanks Cindi for all your hard work organizing a fun party!

The good thing about Scott working in the UK now is that I have the perfect excuse to fly to London for the weekend. And that’s exactly what I did the last weekend in June. I can be on a 6:00pm flight Friday night after work from Amsterdam and with the one hour time difference, land in London at 6:15pm.

On Saturday we went to Harrods, London’s most famous and exclusive department store which is more of an event than a shop. The food hall is amazing. We had dim sum for lunch there; I really need to work on my chopstick skills before I get to Hong Kong. Check out this cheese hall! We took the Egyptian escalator to the top of the 7 stories. On the way up, a woman all dressed up in an evening gown was singing opera off on of the balconies. I’ve never seen a store like this before.

We enjoyed the sun in Hyde Park, had an early dinner, and went to the theater to see Wicked. It was wicked good (sorry, couldn’t resist). After the show we stopped at a pub for a pint, as they say in England.

We spent Sunday at Kensington Palace and Gardens, the home of Princess Diana. They had a great exhibit on the debutantes of years ago, young girls of the rich British families who were introduced to the royalty at their coming out dances. We learned to waltz and curtsey properly. Place one foot behind the other, keep your knees together, bend your knees down to the ground as low as you can, and bow your head at the last moment – try it! We toured the State Apartments. My favorite part was the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, with dresses belonging to Queen Elizabeth II and Diana. All of Diana’s dresses were labeled with the designer, the date she wore it, and for which party, premiere, or concert. I remember as a kid getting up early in the morning to watch her wedding on TV. 

We said goodbye at the tube station Sunday night and headed off in opposite directions; I went east to the airport and Scott went west to his apartment in Reading. We will see each other again in 2 weeks.

For anglers around the world, New Zealand is known as one of the premier locations for trout fishing. So how could I pass up some fishing near famous Lake Taupo. On Christmas Day I hired Andrew from Anglers Anonymous to take me on a full day of fly fishing. Andrew drove more than 100 km outside the city of Taupo for some back-country river fishing. Andrew scouted the river and gave casting tips while I fished.  We spent the entire day without seeing another person. Andrew also carried the picnic lunch including local micro brewed beers.

I sight fished dry flys all day. For you non-anglers, this means that the water was so clear that individual fish could be spotted and then I would cast a dry fly right over them. It was amazing to watch 5-8 lb trout come off the bottom of the creek and take the flys. I admit that I did have a bit of a technical problem holding the line & pole which resulted in missing several strikes.  I had 13 strikes, hooked 8, and landed 5 trout all around 6 pounds each.  At one point Andrew took me up a small tributary covered with overgrown trees; this tested my ability to try different kinds of casting such as role casting.  This was undoubtedly the highlight of our trip to New Zealand for me.

The next day Pam joined me for a half day of fishing with a different guide. Since it was a half day, we stayed closer to Lake Taupo. It wasn’t as productive as the day before as many of the streams closer to the lake are fished frequently. We fished nymphs instead of dry flys. Pam picked up casting quite well and landed her first fish using a fly rod. Be sure to check out the album in our photo gallery!

While in Denver, Scott received an e-mail from someone in ING Human Resources stating that they were working hard to get Scott to the UK. This was a new surprise for Scott. Prior to his golf holiday, Scott was informed that there was a short-term assignment opportunity in the UK but he did not express interest at the time. More on this later ...

Before going on our Christmas holiday to New Zealand, we sent our resumes to Human Resources and several lines of business in hopes of finding our next assignment. After several months of not hearing anything, Pam received a verbal offer in May for a great position in Hong Kong. She still hasn’t seen anything in writing or discussed a move date.

My favorite thing we did on our trip to New Zealand was a 'Picnic on a Peak'. We found a company called 'Over the Top' which offered "out of this world", "over the top" experiences, and it definitely was awesome! They picked us up at our hotel in Queenstown late morning and brought us to their heli-pad. We were whisked away in this black chopper and dropped off on the top of a mountain. The view of Queenstown Bay, the lake, and the snow topped mountains was amazing. They left us in solitude on the mountain top for a couple of hours, complete with picnic basket, blanket, and a bottle of chilled champagne. We set up our picnic of assorted rolls, meats, cheeses, tomatoes, olives, fruit and popped the cork. Cheers! What a feast! They even remembered the chocolate for dessert.  

We had our lunch and enjoyed the beautiful view and sun - it got pretty hot up there. After lunch we took a bunch of photos so we could share this awesome experience with you and finished up with a yoga session - click on About Us at the top of the screen for a yoga shot of Pam. What a great way to enjoy all that New Zealand has to offer - nature and solitude. Truly a once in a lifetime experience we'll never forget.

Our pilot told us that just a few days ago he did a similar trip for Bill Gates and his family. You know, the Gates and the Spauldings, we have a lot in common - minus a few ga-zillion dollars :)