I-KEY-AH

Ikea is probably the greatest place on earth and it seems like little Ethan agrees. We had to get some furniture for our new place and after going to a million furniture stores and visiting Ikea twice in the process we finally just decided to go ahead with Ikea. In other words, yes, we are pretty cheap people. =P I figure it's affordable and looks nice and while it's not terrific quality we will be moving in two years so if we want we can just toss the furniture without too much heartache.

Once of our items was on back order and finally came in stock the other day so we had to visit the store to pay for the item and get it shipped to our house (apparently they do not allow you to pay for furniture in advance and you have to go in person to buy an item which is probably my only complaint about the furniturappolis). We decided to make the trip late in the afternoon and since Ethan usually goes to bed by 6:30 PM we had basically 3 hours to get there and back. While Ethan has gone to bed past his usual bedtime without problems he is like a rooster and wakes up with the sun no matter what time he makes it to bed. Asleep by 5 PM? Asleep by 8:30 PM? It's still at 5:30 AM wake up. So while it's not the end of the world for him to sleep late, he does wake up a bit cranky because he is not as well rested. So a 3 hour trip to the outside world is no problem you say? Uh, it was like mission impossible. Here is why:

• First a walk from our house to the ferry pier (15 minutes). We could have taken a bus but see above for the aforementioned disclaimer that we are cheap and actually the bus just whizzed by us just as we were leaving the house.
• Next a ferry ride to Central on the HK island. (25 minutes). Ethan loves the ferry and looking out at water and boats.
  

• A stroll from the dock to the MTR station (10 minutes).
• Metro ride to Causeway bay - shopping mecca and home of the greatest furniture store on earth (10 minutes). Ethan's first metro ride!
  

• Walk from MTR station to Ikea (5 minutes).
• What was supposed to by a quick chat with costumer service regarding payment of our item turned into a brief perusal of the entire store since they force you to walk through it to get to customer service. Sneaky! Ethan was enamored by some puppets they had on display and lunged after the toy. After laughing uncontrollably at it, we of course had to buy it for him. (15 minutes to speed walk through Ikea + 5 minutes for Ethan to ogle and play with puppet + 10 minutes to go through checkout to buy said puppet + another 15 minutes at customer service).
• Return trip back home (65 minutes).
• Factored in wait time for public transport between legs of the trip (10 minutes)
  

Whew. Did we make it? Yes, barely, but then we had to have dinner, a bath, some milk, a story and then Ethan was off the bed at record time.

Here was Ethan playing with all the goodies glommed from Ikea the next day:

You mean, I can use this to create a breeze that will keep me cool? Mommy, you are a silly one.

Whoa, weird sea creatures magically appeared on Daddy's hand!


How come when the dragon talks the sound comes from your mouth?