Safety First

All ready to go with her helmet and knee highs!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Crazy Sock Day

Whitney has had her own personal Crazy Sock Day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Missing the Middles

Missing our sisters and Daddy. It has been very quiet around here and the table has been very empty.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

3 Here, 3 There

Justin, Kaylee and Macy are heading back to the US tonight.  

Justin's Grandma Bengtson passed away so they are going to attend the funeral and be with family.  The girls are excited to see their cousins......Tonight at dinner Kaylee thought it was so funny that everyone had said, "See you next summer!!!!"

I wish we could have all gone back.  However, taking Whitney to and from the US all in one week would have been a lot of plane time for a 2 year old.  Also, Hannah has her Grade 3 performance next week.  So for a week, it's Daddy with the "Middles" and me with the BIG and the LITTLE.

Hannah went in her room tonight and came out with this great letter:

I am sure Great Grandma and Grandpa are smiling down on all of us while playing fetch with Maddie.

Life is Good when you are able to remember your loved one.

Flat Stanley Visits KL

We had Flat Stanley visit us this week.  Below is the story we wrote back to our friend's class.  If anyone else has a Flat Stanley assignment we would love to have another one visit us.

It takes about a full day and 2 planes to get here from Iowa.  He was very hungry when he arrived.  He ate some noodles with us and tried to use chop sticks.  They were a bit too big for him, so we had to help out.

Stanley first saw the Malaysian flag the thought it was the US flag since it has the same red and white stripes.

We took Stanley to do some Batik painting with us.  It is a technique that used wax to keep the color in specific areas.  Kind of like with tye dying and the rubberband keeps the shirt white in areas.  He did a gecko.......We see and hear these little lizards everywhere.  They are more frightened of us than we are of them so they don’t hurt us.  They are really fast too!

The official language in Malaysia is Bahasa Malay...Can you guess what “BERHENTI” means?       

The hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia.

It is hot here all year round.  The average temperature is 27 Celsius or 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  One day Stanley went to swimming lessons with Whitney to cool off.  It rains a lot here too, so the air is always humid.  We have to drink a lot of water!

Stanley liked driving by the Twin Towers (Petronas Towers) downtown Kuala Lumpur.

He went to the grocery store with us.  He spied the Durian Chips.  Durian is known in Southeast Asia as “the King of Fruits.”  When you cut through its throny outside it becomes very stinky.  The chips cost 19.90 ringgit (RM).  If you divide the ringgit amount  by 3 you can calculate how many US dollars something will cost.

We had a fun visit from Stanley.  

Life is Good with fun, Flat visitors!!!!

Batik Painting

This afternoon, the 3 BIGS and I went to do some Batik Painting.  Batik is a technique using wax to prevent color from reaching the cloth---a similar concept to using rubber bands when tye dying.

Typical Malaysian Batik has images of leaves, flowers and geometric shapes.  Generally animals and humans are not used since Islamic art doesn't use them.  However, the butterfly is the exception.

We did our projects at the Craft Complex in KL, and there were many animals to choose from along with scenes of the Petronas Towers and flowers.  Hannah asked if they had a cheetah and the very friendly woman looked through her book and found one.  I am so glad she did because it was really neat to watch her trace the picture with the wax!

 To get the wax on with such detail she used a canting(an Indonesian tool) for applying the wax.

I wasn't going to do one because my painting skills are way below average. Once I saw the process in action I decided to try it out.  It was amazing how well the wax kept the color in each section.  You just had to touch your brush to the tiny sections and the color was absorbed on to the cloth.  The only time I used full brush strokes was to fill in the background spaces.

 Flat Stanley came from Iowa to stay with us for a few days, so he tried it too.

 The studio was pretty full while we were there.  It is open from 10-6 daily--even on public holidays.  We called ahead to make an appointment and we had a table waiting for us.  I would recommend calling ahead to the manager...012-257-2344.  I would also wear old clothes....Macy had a few splatters on herself.  Also, bring some water...The space does not have AC, but it wasn't terribly hot.

Kaylee and Macy both got a little overwhelmed by the end of their projects.  

It was a lot of white space to fill.  They each took a little break and I helped out once my project was done.

 Hannah did a batik project last year in art, so in the car on the way there she was telling her sisters all about it!

1 hour and 75 RM($25) we had 4 matted batik projects. 

The girls' large cloths were 15 each and 5 for matting.  My smaller project was 10 and 5 for matting.

 This will definitely be on our list of things to do when we have out of town/country guests, or when we have an in-service day at school.  You can also have private parties with 25 pieces for 500RM...I think that may be in our future!!!

Before leaving Malaysia I think I will have each girl do a gecko and frame it for our next playroom.  Then, we can always remember our little Malaysian lizard friends!

Life is Good with Art!!!

Whitney the Artist

Whitney's Friday Folder had her first "real" project in it.....Last week she brought home a lot of work, but it was all coloring that she had done.

She was very excited to hang it on her bulletin board!

She is loving school....She walks in and puts her shoes in their cubby and her backpack in it's cubby. 

 I am so glad she enjoys being around other adults and 2 year olds!  

School is tiring her out....She is there everyday(except Wednesdays--swimming lessons day--)from 8:45 to 12:45.  Then, she comes home and has a little snack(if she hasn't fallen asleep in the car), and naps from about 1:15 to 4.  The long nap gives her enough energy to keep up with her sisters all evening.  She doesn't want to be left out of anything, and walks with the girls to the neighbor's house to play after school. 

Life is Good when you enjoy school and get to hang with the BIGS after school!

Singapore Day 3: The BEACH

On Monday, we went to the beach.  We headed to Palawan Beach because Justin read that it was very family friendly.

We got there at 9:30 and we were the only ones there!  

That was great, but the best news was........

Whitney didn't mind the sand!!!!!

 Our Transformer lunch buckets from lunch at Universal came in handy!!!

 All Clean......

 Ice Cream break.....

 You know your kids love Asia when they would rather have noodles than ice cream.....You know you are in Asia when the Seven 11 sells buckets of noodles...all you add is hot water.

 We need to schedule a full week at the beach.....I could quickly get use to this!!!!

 I thought she was coming up to get out of the sun.....She just spotted the Coke Light can!!!!!

 The girls were bummed to leave the beach, but we needed to head back home.  We showered and hit the road at about 2:00.  Customs went smoothly and so did the drive----until we were about an hour our of KL.  Traffic was very heavy.  I started to feel a bit car sick.....Whitney felt a little more car sick and threw up a bit......I think a nap in the sun put her over the edge. We did a quick clean up on the fly and finally got home after about 5 hours.

We really enjoyed our time in Singapore.

  We have a list already started on things to see on another visit. 

 One thing I want to work on is how to make the girls appreciative of the things they are getting to experience.  They don't seem to understand that not everyone gets to go away for a long weekend, and enjoy all the fun things we have been able to do in Asia.  

All 6 of us needed to be woken up this morning...I think I slept through the whole night from when my head hit the pillow until my alarm went off....That rarely happens.  Our weekend was fun and jammed packed of activities.

Life is Good...and tiring... with fun family vacations.

Singapore Day 2: Cable Car and Zoo

Day 2 started similar to Day 1 with breakfast....

However, we weren't woken up by peacocks, but Whitney was as messy with the Nutella!

  Having the girls say "Singapore" didn't work out too well.....

 "Cheese" works much better.........

 We took a ride on the cable car...The girls enjoyed the bird's eye view of Universal, and saw a few things they want to try next time....the water park and aquarium!  We could see the dolphins swimming in the tanks.

 2 were excited about seeing the Merlion statue, 1 was not and 1 just wanted a nap!!!!

 It started to pour down rain when we were eating lunch...We had to do a quick run to the bus station and Macy changed into Whitney's back up outfit.....Luckily it was a dress and her shorts weren't too wet so she could keep wearing them.

 A little rain didn't stop us for visiting the zoo!!!! 

 Whit fell asleep in the car so we just covered the whole stroller in a poncho.

 A trip to an Asian zoo isn't complete without an Asian Elephant Show!

 We call Macy "Coon" and sometimes "Coon Dog."  We didn't know there really was one!

 Wasn't sure what we were walking into after reading this sign......

 Free-Ranging still meant with a barrier!

 Fun Malaysian Fact:

 While checking out the sun bear, I noticed this sign....Of course, I looked up right away before finishing the whole thing.  When I looked up I noticed a large black mass.  When I finished reading, I realized they were bats........

 I quickly and not so quietly left the room......The girls followed my exit and reaction.....We got a few strange looks for other zoo goers.  I was brave enough to go back in for the picture!!!

 "Peace"

 Hannah's new favorite animal...She loves that they are fast and have cool spots!!!

 At 6:00, we left the zoo and walked just a few minutes to the Night Safari.

 We ate dinner at Bongo Burgers while we waited for the fire show to begin and had great seats.

 She was in awe!!!!

 After the show we got on the tram for the ride through the jungle.  

I don't have any pictures because you weren't allowed to use a flash....Not everyone on the tram heard the 1st, 2nd or 3rd announcement.

The ride was on a path through a zoo type setting, but you didn't see any of the barriers.  

There were lights so you could see the animals....Most of them were up walking around.

There were even some free range animals that could come up to the tram if they wanted to...mostly different types of deer.

The girls loved it...They got excited when they could see the lights up ahead and enjoyed spotting the animals.

The BIGS wanted to see the Night Creatures show....Whitney wanted to go to bed....The BIGS won!!!

Whitney called it a night during the 30 minute drive back to the hotel.

Life is Good with trips to the zoo!