Thanksgiving 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!
I spent yesterday shopping & was able to find a pie pan & a casserole dish. I then spent the day making a broccoli chicken cheese casserole (reminds me of my Mom's dish & my Nanny's dish kinda...) & then I made an apple pie from scratch. Who knew you peeled apples to put in there! That's a lot of work! And who knew there are 14 kinds of flour - bread flour, cake flour, self rising, not rising - I finally found one that said white & hope it was the right kind. We are about to find out here in a couple hours! More news to come.

Anyway - that left today free for us to pack some drinks & take the dogs to the beach. The photo is of our 2 umbrellas & Kenny is under there somewhere. We found a nice tree right by us with shade for the doggies. They had so much fun - they love to chase the crabs & run & run down the beach. Crash of course has to go swimming. So we had a great day relaxing in the shade - though I did get stung by a jelly fish while we were swimming - that hurts! Don't ask if we peed on it. You don't want to know. Did I mention it hurt a lot? I was grateful I just got the lashing of one tentacle, it could have been much worse.

So - that's the first Thanksgiving in Miri! We are both homesick but making the best of it. :)

Penang -Batu Ferringhi Beach - Post Trip

I think there was something wrong with Heather's computer when she uploaed the Buddha picture. Hook 'em.

We are back from spending 3 aweome days on the island of Penang. We had a blast. We spent a couple days in the downtown area of Georgetown which in hindsight wasn't so great. We walked and walked and walked - to the tune of about 4 hours a day. We found China Town but it wasn't very quaint as we had expected. It was huge and trashy. It was a backpackers dream though with cheap bars & hotels. We found Little India which we liked much better - blaring Bollywood music and the smell of curry pouring onto the streets. China Town has lots of smells pouring onto the streets but most of them almost made me throw up. Then there was the naked lady I saw taking a bath in the dirty stream, but I digress.

The photo above is on Kenny on a rickshaw. The elderly man convinced me that we should both get in this thing for a one hour tour. Now that I see this photo I understand why the poor guy was almost unable to make the thing move with both of us in there. And why people were laughing. It was not comfortable and not cultural and not anything but embarrassing so after stopping traffic & being afraid for our lives I got out for this photo & didn't get back in. We paid for an hour tour but only stayed 15 minutes max. The geezer was smarter than we thought?

The other photo is of a religious conflict in Little India. Jesus or Hindu God? Take your pick!

The second day we went to a couple of very decorated Buddhist Temples in Georgetown. One held the 2nd largest lying Buddha & there is a photo of one of the largest standing ones. They were a little touristy but still we were glad we went. We also went to an authentic Indian restaurant the second day. We were dropped off by our cab in front of this dive place & as we peered inside the owner who had 2 teeth motioned me inside saying "yes yes"...as we have learned from the rickshaw ride I am easy to lure. We went inside & both ordered the curry. We were not disappointed & were treated with one of our best meals on this trip. We were the only whities in the joint & the waiter was amazed that we wanted our food spicy. This time my adventurous spirit worked to our benefit!

The last day we spent tucked into beach chairs by the ocean. The beaches there are beautiful with rocks & hills in the distance. The Asians here don't seem to feel the same way we do about the beach & don't spend much time on it. We had the place basically to ourselves. We had a great lunch at a dive restaurant & Kenny had a few Tiger beers. I had water. Yay. The photos are of the beach from our hotel room.

We are still stuck using a camera phone until our container arrives & our chargers, etc. are located. That will be mid-end December. Photos of Bali should be decent!

Otherwise there was a great night market by our hotel where we went every night & ate crazy good curry - Indian & Malaysian. Sooo good. We did some light shopping - got some cool artwork & many tv shows on dvd - we now have the entire series of The Wire, The Sopranos & Entourage. Who needs football season? Ok that's not true but hey - it helps to pass the time!

Penang

We leave tomorrow for Penang -Batu Ferringhi Beach....can't wait!

26 Weeks!

So...does this belly make my butt look big? Here we are at 26 weeks.

The Chinese people here are telling me they think I am going to have a girl because my face isn't changing. Kenny keeps staring at me to see if I am "looking like a man" yet - too funny. If so that is supposed to mean it is a boy. We don't care either way honestly.

I sure wish our container would arrive so we could have our bed here - when I look at this photo I can see why my back is killing me. Oh my sciatic! :) I am taking lots of hot baths which the baby either loves or hates - my belly looks like the movie alien with all the motion.

Kenny can feel the baby kick now & the look on his face the first time was priceless. He can also see it now when the baby is really active - like after we make chicken fajitas! One thing for sure - it's a Texan!

It's Durian Season!

We are seeing hocker stands like this everywhere lately - and when you walk by you know by the smell that it is Durain season. It smells (to me anyway) like weak, old vomit. Supposedly the fruit is tasty & Malaysians love them...http://www.pahang-delights.com/durians.html. Kenny won't try them with me - chicken!

Hey Lizzie Lizzie

This photo is from the internet but I found a 4 foot water monitor just like this one on my drive way this morning. I tried to take a photo but it ran off. Click on the photo for a full view.

Baby

Here is the photo from the 23 week check up. As of now I am officially 24 weeks prego - 6 months! My lower back hurts but that is really my only complaint so am very lucky. A lady I bought our t.v. from yesterday said I looked "vedy vedy big!" to which I said thank you? Yes, I feel big. Couldn't be more happy with hearing the word "normal" at every check up. Everything is just fine.

Photos are from the back so we can't tell if we have a yeehoo or a yeehaw - I want it to be a surprise. Kenny wants to know but is going to wait. He knows he won't be able to keep the secret if he finds out. Baby's arm is raised in a) fight the power or b) hook 'em horns. I have had friends suggest both.

The other photo is of the hospital where I will deliver. It still scared the crap out of me. We had a tour that took about 10 minutes and I think we understood about 1/10 of what the lady said. They have 20 maternity rooms with old crank hospital beds, t.v. & air conditioning. What more could one want? This will not be a spa like experience with flowers in the room, soothing colors, soft linens & relaxing music. If anyone wants to say the hospital looks cute or tropical I would say talk to Julia before doing so....these words don't excite me when it comes to where I am delivering my baby!