I yelled at an old man, but hey we had fun!

Saturday we spent the day in Singapore. You all already know that because you're all my FB friends right? Haha! Anyway, we went to the Gardens by the Bay and the Botanical Gardens. We walked and walked and walked, and fun was had by all!

These are the super trees at the Gardens by the Bay. They use the trees to harvest solar energy and destroy pruned greenery to create electricity. They are supposed to be even cooler looking at night, but being the old farts that Cody and I are, we have a 9 pm bedtime. We'll probably never see them lit up! 

There were multiple gardens, each named for what was growing there. This one was not named baby garden! Haha! This picture is taken from the Malay garden. The baby was of an artists son as a newborn...I forgot all the details. Sorry! 

There were 2 domes (greenhouses). We choose to go in the Cloud Dome. It boasts having the worlds largest indoor waterfall! I'm not sure if it is, as I don't believe I've ever saw or heard of an indoor waterfall before, but it was cool. There were plants growing up the entire thing and flowers along the walkways...basically everywhere. And oh, it was sooooo cool in there! Can anyone say...reprieve from the heat? 

This was at the top of the waterfall. You could walk all the way to the top and go back down on walkways around it.

Pretty sure these two were getting married today. Pictures in front of a billion live flowers and a waterfall? Yep, pretty cool. Blue wedding dress? To each their own! 

Public transportation and free air con all around Singapore! We enjoyed it! 

We arrived at the Botanical Gardens already pooped. We were all tired and hungry and didn't spend nearly as much time there as we would have liked. They had some awesome orchids though. We will go back another day when we have more energy! 

Back on the tube...men can wear capri's...right? Wrong! I don't care who you are or were you are, it's still not cute!

We finished our night at Chilis with some good old fashion American food and booze! Yay! 

Then we all pulled our strength together and limped back to our car! Full bellies, sore feet and legs, and sleepy eyes! 

On the way back though I did notice that Singapore is much prettier at night! 

 

This is Clark Quay at night. There's a Hooters over there...we ate there once. YUCK! I don't like Hooters food at home, and I sure don't like it here either. Besides, don't you go there for the ambiance and views? ;o)

Sorry about that last picture. We were going down the road. 

Oh, and I yelled at an old man! 

Here. This is the "ice skating" rink in the mall. See all those people on the other side...that's the food court and screen of the crime. I usually love old people, but this day...he pissed me off and he knew it! I'll tell ya about that another day!

Don't get charged the white girl price!

It's hot here. And humid. I'm pretty sure I've told y'all that before. And we don't use the AC except at night or if I'm mad at Cody! Haha! But when we moved into our condo, our landlord insisted that we agree to have the air con serviced about every three months. Because in his words...Americans run air con all time! 

Uhm, no dude, these Americans do not run air con all the time! Electricity is too expensive here and we have to pay for that sh*t! 

Here is how I feel most days...I want to crawl in the fridge to cool off. Except then the kids would want in too and there's just not enough room for us all! 

Here's how I imagine Cody feels! :) it's that hot here most days! 

So anyway, back to the air con. <~~That's what they call it here. Not AC, not air conditioner, air con. Every person calls it that, so when in Rome...or Malaysia. 

It's time to get it serviced. Cody calls the guy and sets it up for Monday after 10 am. He looks at the previous bill for the service before we moved in and checks the price. He then looks at me and says "Last time they serviced 4 units, we are only having 3 serviced because we don't use the living room air con. Don't let them charge you the white girl price!" 

Ok honey, I won't get charged the white girl price! Priceless! 

I'm too old for all that!

We spent Saturday in Singapore. We got up bright and early (thank you Cody, I know you value what little time you get off) and headed out! Plans were to go to Gardens by the Bay and the Botanical Gardens to see the orchids. We made it to both, but by the time we got to the Botanical Gardens, we were pooped! Like could barely walk, feet and legs ached and just really needed a nap! It surely made me appreciate the energy and stamina I used to have! 

See all those motorcycles/scooters...they're waiting to cross the border too! 

As we walked in, the first thing we saw was Dragonfly lake and the super trees. They use the super trees to destroy all the pruned greenery from the city and produce electricity. Pretty cool! 

There were multiple gardens. Each named related to what was growing there. This was in the Malay garden. There were also the Chinese, Colonial and Indian gardens. I'm not sure which pictures were taken where though. Whoops! 

After spending so much time outdoors, we ventured into the Cloud Forest. It's a big indoor greenhouse with the "worlds largest indoor waterfall." 

There were flowers everywhere. Growing up the sides of the fall, in flower beds along the walkways, everywhere. And it was so COOL in there! For a minute or 2 I forgot I was living on the equator! 

After we left the Cloud Room we ventured via the tube over to the Botanical Gardens. 

These 2 fit right in. Earbuds, music and ignoring everyone around them. 

 I thought these 2 would take a nap. Claire and I just made funny faces and took crazy pics! 

Fun times on the "tube!"

My favorite color! 

Since we were exhausted by this point, I didn't take a ton of pics! You can see them all on my FB page if you're interested. 

We ended our night at Chilis! Good 'ol American food! Yay! 

And booze! Haha! American beer! Cody was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning! 

Clark Quay as we were headed back to our car! It was even prettier at night. Too bad I'm too old for the night life! I wouldn't survive! 

Phuket, Thailand

For those of you that are my FB friends, you know we took a mini-vacation to Thailand in June. And yes, I slacked on putting together a post about it. I think I posted ALL of the pictures on Facebook but I know I didn't do a good job on telling y'all about our trip. 

 We met this lovely lady, Carol and her daughter at the airport in JB while waiting on our delayed flight. That was fun. Four hungry, tired kids waiting for an extra hour or so...Tucker chilled on the floor for awhile. 

Saw this lovely piece of Americana at a museum down the street. We never went in though. 😞

Surin beach...no one was there. Did I tell y'all it was monsoon season while we were there? It rained and stormed but we managed to fit in some fun stuff and made the best of it! 

 We went to Siam Safari elephant tours. It was educational and fun. We learned about water buffalo, growing rice, using coconut to cook and make oil, how to make traditional Thai curry and rode elephants! 

Between this first picture at the baby elephant show and riding the elephants, Cody lost my back pack. It didn't have anything important in it except our passports and things! I guess he just got a little too excited about getting to ride the elephants. I forgave him as soon as it was back in my hands and he profusely told me how sorry he was...and bought me a picture that one of the baby elephants painted! I'm framing it and hanging it in the dining room at home! 👍😀🐘

 It was really rather scary up there. Our elephant had a little bit of sass! She just did her own thing and did not like walking in the mud. Seriously, she'd go around it and through trees and too close to the edge of a hill to avoid the mud! 

One word...Zorbing! It was so fun. Google it. You get into this big ball with some water and down hill you go. Flying all over the place. I wish I had pictures of Claire and Tucker's faces as we flew down the hill! 

 The tuk tuk we rode in on our way back to Penn Villa. It was crazy loud and I think the driver has his music on repeat. Maybe his playlist was labeled "White American Tourists!" Regardless we jammed out, enjoyed awesome views and held on for our lives!!! 

We saw an elephant walking along side of the road. That definitely makes it up to the top of my list of "craziest things I've ever saw!"

Patong beach, just a 20 minute walk from where we stayed. That boat washed up just the night before. The waves were huge because of monsoon season. We went in the water, but barely. And Claire was lucky enough to get her first jellyfish sting. And it was a whopper! Basically her whole thigh! Poor kid! 

Our last night there the kids and Cody braved the pool. The water was too cold for me! But it was beautiful down by the pool at night. 

 Oh, and Winnie (who runs the hotel with her husband) taught Cody how to make Thai Black Pepper Fish. Yummo! It was delicious! The place we stayed was small. More like a B & B, but we couldn't have asked for better hosts. Winnie and Pete were awesome. So nice and helpful. She was more than willing to cook anything we wanted and encouraged us to try new things. They helped up set up all of our adventures and let us use their phones more than once, ours didn't work there. 

We had a fantastic time and I'd go back in a flash! Although next time, I'd stay longer and make sure it wasn't monsoon season! Haha! 

I suck at blogging.

I've recently discovered tons of blogs. Fashion blogs, mommy blogs, travel blogs, gardening blogs. You name it, there's one out there. Then I figured out, I suck at being a blogger! Haha! I didn't want to bore you all with mundane daily life posts, but everyone else does, so why can't I? Besides...isn't that why you're reading this? To see what we are doing during our invasion of Malaysia! I tell you what we're doing. Nothing for the most part! 😀 Cleaning, homeschool and trying out every new recipe we find. 

Soooooo, in an effort to be a better blogger and give y'all a reason (like you need one) to spend more time online, I'm going to make it a point to post something weekly. Even if its nothing super cool! Enjoy that! 😘

Claire and I had a party on our toes! 

Tatum and Olivia have found that sisters are best friends love! 

Claire and Tucker used their Delta blankets to become super heros! 

Cody continues to lose his sun glasses...so he used mine to surf the web while outside! 

It's the little things...

We've had a vacuum cleaner in our apartment since we moved in. What for you ask? Me too! Seriously...hard wood and tile throughout the whole place. So who needs to vacuum? Uhm....me! Two days ago I discovered the joy of being able to vacuum this place instead of sweeping! And what a joy it is! Seriously! When I sweep these floors, even the tiniest breeze blows dust every where. And the floors need swept every single day! It's pointless. So I drug out the vacuum cleaner and viola! Clean floors, no little bits of hair and lint and one happy Momma! It's the little things these days that thrill me the most! 

Speaking of little things...I found hummus at the grocery store! I was ridiculously excited about it. I went straight back to the chip isle and grabbed some pretzels to eat it with! Then we continued our shopping! 

The other exciting thing I did was CHOP off my maxi dresses to make shirts! It's hot here people and I swear I would sit around half dressed if it were appropriate. It's so not though! So....

Here's a terrible picture, in which I totally blocked my face on purpose, (no make up, hair in a messy sock bun) of the finished product. I'm totally going to rock these shirts for awhile! So comfy and cool! 

What an adjustment...

Well, we've been here just a hair over two months now and all I can say is...it's been an adjustment! We have had our fair share of ups and downs. Learning to be a stay at home mom again, home school, not having a car or your independence, no dead lines or clocks to punch in and out...that's not something I've enjoyed in a very long time.

I thought I was prepared for the changes and knew full well what I was getting into, but the reality of doing it was not as easy as it sounded. For years I have been able to just jump in my car and run to the store or go shopping or just get out of the house and I didn't realize how much I took that for granted. It's the creature comforts of home, things you do on a day to day basis that you miss the most. Cody adjusting to working a 5 day work week with the stress of being "in charge" and having me and 4 kids home every evening when he gets here, I think was as much of a shock to him as not having anything thing going on was to me. We are finding our groove though.

We've learned to take cabs anywhere we need or want to go through the week. The drivers are great! They answer your questions and ask you a million too! All the taxi drivers we have had so far have been very friendly. One made it a point to tell me..."your husband very very lucky man!" Over and over! I made sure to tell Cody how lucky he was! Haha!

We are basically doing the same things here we would at home. School, cleaning, cooking, going to the grocery, etc. We have tried out all the local grocery stores and finally found the ones we really like and stick with them. They have everything we need or want to cook at home. We've managed to make just about all the same meals here we would at home. We've even found some pork! No sausage though. It's funny how when you move somewhere after you settle in, your routines don't change too much. We have pretty much gotten back into our old routines from home. It's so nice.

I will admit that I had some doubts in the beginning. It was hard, especially at the Puteri, where we had a poor excuse for a kitchen and literally no one to talk to or nothing to do. Now that we've moved into our apartment at Straits View, things are looking up and getting so much better. All the previous doubts and fears that I may have had run through my head are gone. I can honestly say with my whole heart that I believe I made the right decision in choosing to follow Cody over here and support him in anyway I could. :) I'm happy to be here, to be with him and am so lucky to have the opportunity to show him all the love and support he has shown me over the last 2 years. I can't wait to sit on our front porch when we are older and tell our grand kids about our year here...and also to tell my daughters and granddaughters to follow their hearts, even if it takes you 10,000 miles away! Show your boyfriend, husband, partner how much you love him, that he means the world to you and give him all the support, love and respect that he deserves. After all, he carries your heart where ever he goes. At least mine does...he took it to Malaysia last summer with him and that was the longest 2 months of my life. Coming here with him was a no brainer!

I believe that God presented us with this opportunity when the time was right and I am so glad we took it. I believe that we will all come out of this with amazing stories to tell and life experience both as a couple and as a family that we could never have gotten in the States. We will be a stronger family unit and a stronger couple in our future. Able to handle whatever life throws at us. So, now that we've gotten through our initial adjustment phase...I believe we are ready to start living life here...seeing new things, going on adventures, learning about the local culture and customs...the list goes on and on!