Ms. Happy Outlook

Setting: Our Home Office
Situation: Delaney pointing to her bag of Halloween candy

"Thats all the candy I can eat every day until I pass away"

Delaney - Deep Thoughts

Setting: Our House
Situation: Delaney wanting her mom to carry her up the stairs

Melissa: You are getting too old for me to carry you.
Delaney: You're old too!
Melissa: I am not!
Delaney: Yes you are...but there are two kinds of old.
Melissa: There are? What are they?
Delaney: There's the tall kind of old where you get bigger. That's what you are.
Melissa: What's the other kind of old?
Delaney: The kind where you get bumpy and slow.


Setting: In the car on the way to swimming lessons
Situation: Conversation between Derek and Delaney

Delaney: PaPa's skin is different.
Derek: Different than who?
Delaney: Me, you, Mommy.
Derek: Different how?
Delaney: It doesn't match.
Derek: How?
Delaney: The color doesn't match.
Derek: Why doesn't it match?
Delaney: It's a mix between blonde and black.

Star of the Week!

Its official.....Delaney has begun her reign as "Star of the Week" at her school. Its an honor that entails filling out a bio sheet (containing important info like favorite food and favorite book), bringing in a movie of her choice for movie day and finally having 4 handpicked photos talked about in class and added to the Star of the Week bulletin board.

We are proud of her and I feel like I need to be star of the week at work just to fit in.

Morning Conversation with Delaney

Gotta love the honesty of kids. Here is an exchange from last week between Delaney and I while laying in bed one morning (after she crawled into bed)....Enjoy

Delaney: "Daddy you stink"
Derek: "What do you mean I stink"
Delaney: "You smell bad"
Derek: "What smells bad?"
Delaney: "Your breath stinks"
Derek: "What does it smell like?"
Delaney: "It smells like poop"
Derek: "What kind of poop"
Delaney: "Animal poop daddy....yeah your breath smells like animal poop"

Gotta love kids.....(p.s. its not that bad)

House

It's been awhile...Below are pictures of our house (before we moved in). Our desktop is finally up and running (which has Adobe Photoshop on it), so here they are. I will email everyone the address. If you don't get an email, let us know and one of us will get it to you.



Outside of house



Living room (aka: the playroom) as seen from the stairs



Looking towards the front door from next to the dining room



Looking from the front door (the dining room is straight ahead)




Kitchen

Family room

Backyard (yes there are trees)

Our master bedroom

Delaney's room (not pink yet, but will be)

Update

Sorry its been a so long since we posted last. It has been a relatively crazy time since we got back from Singapore. We got back into Chicago on July 1st and spent all day July 2nd and 3rd looking at houses. The 4th was the holiday and we just hung out at Aunt Cheryl's house and enjoyed a good ole fashion American BBQ. I worked on the 5th followed up by some more houses on the night of the 5th. We decided on a house and made our first offer on Friday 6th. It got rejected and then they made a counter offer which we rejected and then we made our final offer on Monday July 9th. We will close July 23rd and move in hopefully soon after.

About the house: It is in Carpentersville, which is a western suburb out I-90. It was a corporate relocation so it was empty and had been for ~140 days. We got the house for approx 15% less than what houses sell for in the neighborhood and 8% less than what it sold for in 2006. It is 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, all white trim, hardwood floors, nicely painted and built in 2000. The backyard is treed and already fenced in. We will post some pictures of the house after we close on the 23rd.

We are currently living with my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bob in Bolingbrook and I have to make the daily commute up to Arlington Heights for work. Depending on the time I leave it can take anywhere from 45 minutes -1:15 hours. Definately a long trip but sometimes goes by quicker than I would have thought. Delaney has been spending time playing with Kayla (my cousin Julie's daughter). Kayla is ~16 months older but they have a blast playing together and never have issues.

Well stay posted for photos after the 23rd.

Pictures

Here is a link to pictures....

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXYA

It is currently 2:17 am Thursday...the day we leave. The three of us were planning on staying up all night to "trick" our bodies back to the States time. Derek left the ranks at 11:30. Delaney fell asleep on the couch (and is snoring beside me as I type) at 12:15. I on the other hand, have made it, so far (as has the lizard...he was heard and then spotted about a half hour ago).

Three More Days

Hi all,

It seems like the time since Thailand has gone by so quickly. We only have 3 more full days left in Singapore! Delaney wants to go back to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel because they had shelled peanuts there. She loved the fact that she could throw the shells on the floor. She also liked her virgin Singapore Sling (she better for 15 dollars!) We are going to head to the zoo tomorrow for one last walk. We have one or two more playdates with friends here before we have to say good-bye. We are going to do our best to stay up all night Wednesday so acclimate our bodies back to the other side of the world's time.

Delaney had a birthday party here. Her friend Lauren shared it with her, as she turned four on Monday. It was at a placed called Go-Go Bambini which is an indoor playground. The kids had a lot of fun. As soon as pics are uploaded, I will post them.

We went out with the adults last night to a Mexican restaurant. We had a ton of fun. The daiquiris were great. Then, they made Derek do a tequila shot. He handled it much better than I did when it was the girls' turn.

Delaney has walking pneumonia. She started with a cold about 2 weeks ago, and as of Wednesday it wasn't any better, so I took her to the dr. Not too impressed with him because he made me make the medical decision of whether or not to have bloodwork done. Isn't that why he went to school for umpteen years??? I decided not to and she's been on antibiotics since Wednesday. She's doing much better, so hopefully we'll all stay well for our 25 hour journey.

Classes have been keeping me busy. My Phoenix class ends officially tomorrow, but I am finished. I hope that I am done with Phoenix classes for good. There's a chance that I will have to take another, it just depends on what the state of IL has to say about it. I may need to take a reading methods class, but I had one in my undergrad, so I hope they take that into consideration. I can't handle another 3 weeks stuck on the computer. On the other hand, my math class, which I am taking through a WI uni, is great...very relaxed.

I know Derek did a post about life in Singapore....where we live is not filthy! It's definitely cleaner here than in the States. Trash is not found everywhere.

The spitting is an issue, even in women's restrooms. I've had to shush Delaney a couple of times when she asks what that noise is coming from a stall or why is that lady spitting in the sink???

People do not move out of the way. They stop in the middle of everything and people have to go around them. I got used to it, but it's still annoying.

Most people (85%) do live in HDB flats. They are definitely cheaper than private residences, but they are still pricey compared to home. We heard today that a 3 bed/2 bath can go anywhere from $275,000 - $480,000 Singapore (about 180,000 - 375,000 US). The closer you are to the city center the more you'll pay.

The public transportation is amazingly clean and efficient. It took some getting used to not having a car to hop in and leave, but it's not bad. We get taxis b/c some places we go it can take an hour and half to get there by bus and MRT and it only takes 20 by cab. Taxis aren't expensive either, but they do add up if you use them all of the time!

I do like the weather. It took a little getting used to the humidity, but I don't mind it so much anymore. In fact, I have worn jeans on some days and not gotten hot! I also love the fact that there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark. My body clock is perfectly set!

I have really liked having a housekeeper three times a week!!! Our apartment is never dirty...maybe disorganized, but not dirty!

Milk here is expensive...it works out to over 6 dollars a gallon...and you Americans complain about the high gas prices (yes, we will join your complaints soon!).

I will miss Larry, our lizard. We saw him last night heading behind the air con. I can't remember if I told you that Delaney and I caught one in the house before Thailand and set him free outside. The poor guy was stuck in the sink and couldn't use the amazing feet to get out. We used a bowl and cardboard to get him and then released him by the pool. Only a day or two later we saw this other lizard. I always kind of thought there were two...this one is not the same as the other b/c he's much larger.

Delaney's become quite the tennis player. She and Derek go out about every night. She can stand b/n the service line and net and consistently hit balls over the net. The great thing about her is that she switched b/n her right and left hand, so she may never have to learn a backhand! Watch out Maria!

Delaney is infatuated with High School Musical. She's probably seen it 15 times since Stacie and Paul brought the movie over. She also listens to the soundtrack nonstop. Derek caught her doing one of the dances the other day! The main character is Gabriella. When I told Delaney that Aunt Jess (my best friend) had a little girl named Reese Gabriella, Delaney decided that she would call the baby Gabriella, like Gabriella Montez on High School Musical. She's gotten to the point that she even quotes lines! Too cute, but a little scary....my seventh graders last year loved this movie!

Gotta go get some shut eye as it's past midnight! I will post when we land!

Investing

Lets talk about some fun....making money (and sometimes losing money). Some of you out there know that I am pretty passionate about investing both mutual funds and stocks. I use mutual funds exclusively in our IRAs for the majority of the money and stocks for some smaller amounts. My mutual fund strategy is look for solid managers that have had recent success (I use a 5 year benchmark). My strategy for stocks has been to identify solid companies that I either believe have a strong future or ones that sell products/services I like to use. My investment philosophy for stocks is pretty much buy and hold. I do protect my downside by placing limit orders 15% the current price....worse case scenario is that I buy it and the next day it tanks....the most I am out is 15%. This philosophy wasn't always in place....in fact my initial dive into the stock market was during the stock bubble of 1999 and I made some bad bad buys and chased some high flying stocks. I recently combined all my multiple spreadsheets that tracked stock performance onto Google Finance. It has made it much easier to get an updated performance of the stocks. Now that I did this it has given me perspective of my performance over the years...

So lets talk performance. Here are Midwest Family's Top 5 best returns for stock we have owned and also the Top 5 biggest losers that have graced our portfolio.

Our Top 5 Winners of All Time

1. CVS – 441%

2. NXTL – 437%

3. CYTC – 197%

4. SBUX – 111%

5. EQIX – 106%



Our Top 5 Losers of All Time

1. JDSU – (83%)

2. CE – (71%)

3. EMA – (67%)

4. ISO – (63%)

5. PLT – (62%)



It needs to be said that 3 of the Top 5 losses (JDSU, CE, PLT) were all results of buying into the stock bubble at the TOP and watching our money evaporate. Since then I have started using stop losses to avoid big drops. Many of you are probably saying "Geez, I wish I had stocks that went up 441% or 437%, and losses that only were at 83%". I need to point out that I put all my investable money into those losing stocks during the bubble and lost a lot of money…the stocks where I made great returns had small dollar amounts in them because I learned to diversify. So net/net its not as rosy as you would believe…but I can't complain. What has been everybody's BEST and WORST investment?? I look forward to checking the comment section to see what people say…

Delaney Through the Years

Melissa put together these nice PDF Slideshows of Delaney growing up. You will have to go to the following link to access them.....click here.

On the site you will find 5 PDF files for the following age ranges:

0-8 months

9 to 12 months

12-18 months

18-24 months

Year 3

Once you get to the site you will need to RIGHT CLICK and pick "Save Target As" and save to your desktop or the location of your choosing. They will then download and save a copy to the location you picked. These are big files around 2-3MB each so give them time to download. Once they are downloaded then go to the location you saved them and double click (or sometimes when its done downloading it will ask if you want to OPEN the file...pick yes.

Four year old mindset

Anyone ever try to explain to an almost four year old that just because it's the party day that she is not acutally four yet???

Back to the States

We have been getting a lot of questions about our return home.  Thought I would share the details....

 

June 28, 2007

Airline: AA 5837

Origin: Singapore

Destination:  Tokyo

Departure: 8:10am

Flight Time: 7 hours

 

June 28, 2007

Airline: AA 154

Origin:  Tokyo

Destination: Chicago

Departure: 6:05pm

Flight Time: 11 hours 55 minutes

 

June 28, 2007

Airline:  AA 2360

Origin: Chicago

Destination: Detroit

Departure: 7:23pm

Flight Time: 1 hour 12 min

 

TOTAL FLIGHT TIME: 20 hours 7 minutes

TOTAL TRAVEL TIME: 25 hours 37 minutes (includes layovers)

Singapore in a Nutshell (Observations from an Outsider)

The following is my observations about life in Singapore. It is in no way a personal attack but more of an observation into the lifestyle and mannerisms of some people in Singapore. I know that if someone came to the US and did the same list it would be much worse so don't think I am trying to be on a high horse.

When looking at the country on a global scale, I think there are two types: the real Singapore and the one that gets parlayed in the press and has earned the country the title "Disneyland with the Death Penalty". What I mean by this is that when you tell people that you are moving to Singapore you hear the following types of comments, "You better not chew gum or they will fine you" or "Better not jaywalk or they will fine you" or don't do this or that normally followed by ".....or they will fine you" or "....they will cane you". This image that sits in Westerners minds has them using the Disneyland comment to describe the country. The reality is that if they actually enforced all the rules they claim they will they would have a budget surplus from all the fines and/or they would run out of rattan canes due to nonstop canings....(I do need to mention that canings are reserved for very serious crimes such as murder or sexual crimes, immigration stuff, or drug trafficking).

Now once you get into the country there are again 2 different Singapore's: downtown regions (Orchard Road, Clarke Quay etc) and the far suburbs where a majority people live in HDB complexes. The main differences are related to cleanliness and upkeep. In the downtown region, it is near spotless with very limited trash and beautifully kept new buildings. Its this Singapore that they want to promote. But you go 30 minutes outside the CBD (Central Business District) and you have these massive housing estates called (HDB) where a majority of people live. For the people in the US, these are best described as high rise apartment or condo like buildings. These areas (in my experience) tend to be dirty with lots of trash on the ground. I can only compare them to my condo in the US and its much dirtier. People seem to not care about throwing trash in the bins and instead throw stuff on the ground or leave them on public spaces (tables, chairs, steps). There has been many times that I have been walking home from work and I see someone take something out of their mailbox and proceed to drop it on the ground if they don't want it. (Even when a trash bin is 15 feet away). That brings up another issue: For a country that prides itself on cleanliness they have a lack of trash bins in public spaces. I have walked around with trash in my hand looking for a bin many times.

Now that you have a big picture of the country I will describe the mannerisms of the people. Please understand that these are not seen in every single person but when you see enough people do it you start to take notice.

1. People will not move out of the way to share a sidewalk or pathway. There are many times that I have been walking along a sidewalk and two people are walking toward me side by side. I continue to walk on my half of the sidewalk and then a deadly game of "chicken" ensues. I eventually have to get off the sidewalk or we would have run into each other. One time I did hold my ground and ran straight into a women (our shoulders banged each other).

2. This country needs to decide what side of the walk way you should walk on. I figured that because they drive on the left hand side of the road that you should also walk on the left but that doesn't hold true. People tend to walk wherever they want...some on the right...some on the left. And what I found interesting is that the escalators aren't even consistent. Sometimes the up escalator is on the right and sometimes its on the the left.

3. Males have an obsession with spitting, sucking in snot in their noses and other gross throat stuff. Before I got my new desk at work, I sat maybe 25 feet from the bathroom and an hour wouldn't go by without you hearing somebody in the bathroom hacking up a loogie! Thats 25 feet away with the door closed! We were at our friends pool one time and I witnessed the security guard cough and generate a loogie and then proceed to spit it into a napkin in his hand. Truly disgusting.

4. People here love kids and many many times have gone out of their way to care for Delaney. I would say that on a packed bus every morning somebody would get up and offer their seat to Delaney. Definitely a very nice gesture.

5. On the flip side, their love of kids causes many kids to go crazy in public. This is extremely frustrating when you are at dinner and trying to relax and their is a little kid running up and down the aisle without a parent chasing them. They let them "rule the roost".

6. This isn't about Singapore specifically, but more of a general comment about hospitality in the AsiaPac region. It is amazing the level of attention and warmth we have received while on vacation during our stay in Singapore. Whether it was Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand, all the people at the hotels have been TOP NOTCH. Not only has the service been good but there was a sense that they were being genuine. Sad to say that I haven't felt that in many US hotels.

Now observations about the country itself as a place to live. Overall, I would recommend it as a place for people to live at least on a temporary basis. Here are my thoughts:

1. Weather is amazing. Hot and humid day in/day out. No guesses. There are weeks when it seems to rain at 3pm daily but it only rains for a 1/2 hour and then because of the heat and humidity everything is dry within the hour. The weather definitely does wonders to lift your spirits when you are not dealing with the cold dreary winter. I also have felt healthier here without any colds/flu that I normally would have gotten due to the temperature swings witnessed in Chicago.

2. Singapore is truly a melting pot of nationalities. You have a huge expat community here so you are in constant contact with people from Europe, Australia, NA etc. You are given the chance to learn about other regions/countries through interaction.

3. The ability to witness different nationalities. The way Singapore was set up, they gave different sections of the island to different groups so that you now have Little India, Chinatown, etc. With this set up you can go visit communities and immerse yourself in their culture and eat some of the native foods.

4. Two negative sides to the country: Cars and Land. Cars are hyper expensive both because they cost more and because the government limits the amount of licenses it grants so that the license can get expensive. To give you an idea, the equivalent of a Honda Odyssey (minivan) might cost upwards of $60,000 USD here. In regards to the land issue....when dealing with a limited land supply with high demand, the prices escalate quickly. From a recent real estate book that came to our apartment here are some choices of rental properties: $6,500 (3bed/1bath, 1700sqft) and $7,000 (3bed/1bath, 1582sqft).
5. Another positive is lots of cheap airfare to exciting countries. Singapore is a hub for air traffic and have many discount carriers come though here such as Tiger Airways, Jetstar, etc. These guys offer great deals. I think Tiger Airways for a recent promotion offered one way tickets for $20 USD (but you have to add in taxes etc....but still a good deal).


That's all folks.....

The Dark Side of Chicago

One would think that a guy with his MBA from a Top 25 school working at a Fortune 500 company could afford to live in a suburb of Chicago.....WRONG. I ran the numbers last night and I am officially baffled how any young person fresh out of college affords to buy a house in this city. Let me lay out the details so you can understand my issue. First, the location of the house: approximately 1 1/2 hour from downtown Chicago and approx 30 minutes away from my office. Next the quality of the house: The houses we are looking at are the cheapest in the neighborhoods so don't think its some palatial estate. Simple 3 bedroom 2 bath with 2 car garage....that's our search criteria. And lastly...onto the financials: If you take my net monthly salary and subtract the following:

Monthly Mortgage Payment
Real Estate Property Taxes
Home Owners Insurance
then my bills...
Avg bills when we lived in the condo (incl gas, elec, phone, water, cable, visa, etc)
Derek student loans
Mel student loans
Car Insurance

The costs are split 40% come from house (the first 3) and then 60% (from the living expenses).

Do all that math and we are negative $1,100 for the month. That assumes we take all non retirement savings and put down a 20% down payment. Another assumption is that Melissa isn't working and therefore no childcare cost (if she was working, childcare is $850/month) but it would be offset by her wage (sub or fulltime? unknown now).

What gets us... is knowing how much we could buy a house for in other markets...


Thats it from "Depressed in the Midwest"

Lonely Commuter.....

This week is my first full week without my little girl with me in the mornings. It is weird and eerily quiet for my walk to the bus stop and the ride to work. Whats weird to think about is that this is the first time since she was born that I haven't had to wake her up in the morning, get her dressed and fed and then take her to either her first caregiver' house (Angela), or to her daycare (Motorola or Enchanted Care). The cycle even continued when we came here to Singapore and we would share a daily bus ride together to her school and then I would continue on to my office. This routine has been a constant for 3 1/2 years and now its not there. I definitely miss it because it was our time to bond and talk about stuff. Its amazing how much you can love a 3 1/2 year old...

Thailand

Thailand came and went. We stayed at a great resort...JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa. We got in late Wednesday night and went straight to bed. We woke up Thursday morning to rain. (For a minute we thought we were in Singapore!) The breakfast buffet was awesome. We stuffed ourselves there so we wouldn't have to get lunch. After breakfast, we all headed down to the Kids Club. We left Delaney and Lauren (our friends, Tracey, Sam, Lauren, and Sami came with us) in there while we explored. After exploring Derek and Sam played a ton of ping-pong. We decided to go into Phuket town around 2pm. Not much there...lots of local people and tons of motorbikes. Most people don't have cars. When we headed to town, we saw as many as 4 people on a motorbike. Pretty crazy! We went to some shops...one guy was selling 5 DVDs for 500 baht (about 3 dollars each US). Thought about buying some, but then thought better of it. We went to a restaurant for dinner, but left. It seemed pretty shady. It was on a bay, but there was no water. Check out the pics, you'll see what I mean. We ended up back at the resort for a very tasty Italian dinner.


On Friday, the Turks went on a little adventure to some other islands and we stayed at the resort. We went to the pool until it started raining. We went to the room, and then it stopped raining! We washed Delaney's hair while there so she could get the ever-famous beach braids. She loves them! She sat entirely still for the entire hour it took them to do her hair. She said after that it hurt and she had little tears in her eyes. She never once complained while they were doing it. I was very impressed by her. She still has them in as of Monday evening, and still loves them! She went to the Kids Club later in the afternoon while Derek and I had Thai massages on the beach. They were only 400 baht/hour which is under 15 dollars! They were quite nice. We ate dinner at a deli at the resort, headed to the beach at night for pictures, and went to bed.


Unfortunately, Delaney had other plans Friday night. At about 3 am, Derek said, "Melissa, she's throwing up!" I got out of bed and unfortunately had no idea where I was, so it took a moment to get to her. I picked her up and Derek said to put her down. We got her to the bathroom in time to throw up more. I had to leave the room b/c now I felt nauseous. Derek was the dad of the year that night. I went to tell housekeeping and then read my book on our patio b/c our room reeked of puke. Derek and Delaney ended up leaving around 4:30am to go for a walk to get fresh air. I read until about 5:15 and they came in at about 5:30. I heard Laney say soon after they got back that the room smelled and she wanted to leave. They left and came back around 8:00. They hung out at the pool and beach. She was sick a couple of times at the pool. They had nice conversations about the undertow and saw lots of crabs.


Saturday we took it easy b/c we didn't know if she would be "out of the woods" yet. (She got sick at Disney last year during the night. She was fine all day long, for our whole flight back to Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike's house. We gave her goldfish, and she threw up again. So we decided to play it safe.) The Turks went to Patong Beach and said it was much better than Phuket. Delaney napped for about 3 hours at the pool. I had a burger for dinner (I know...I am super adventurous) while Derek tried some sort of Thai chicken. It was very good, but too spicy for my taste. Laney ate bread.


We had the whole day there on Sunday as our flight didn't leave until 10 at night. We hung out at the pool. Delaney spent some time in the Kids Club and got to do a treasure hunt for candy. She was quite excited about that! Derek and Sam played more ping-pong. Derek didn't do so well that day. He lost a game to me and lost at least 3 to Sam. I do think he won at least one off of Sam.


Here are the pictures. I put them on Shutterfly, so that if any of you want to order some you are able to.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXUw&notag=1

Delaney's new song

Over the last couple of weeks Melissa seems to have the Nelly song "Country Grammer" stuck in her head and proceeds to sing the first couple lines all the time. This has caused the song to get stuck in my head and as a result Delaney has learned the song over the last couple of trips to school. Delaney now proceeds to walk around singing "Down down baby your street in a Range Rover, shimmy shimmy coco puff, shimmy shimmy pow. For those of you with a lot of street "cred" I know those arent the exact words but merely a 33 year olds attempt at translating a rap song.

Another funny (click picture to make larger)

Sorry for the lack of posts

Our CB (Chief Blogger) has been sidetracked with her new online classes she has to take for certification in IL and this blog has suffered. Hopefully everyone is still a fan and will continue to tune in for more updates soon. I have spent time recently thinking about what we can do to make the blog better and more interactive, so I figure that in addition to recaps of the Midwest Family, we can also make it more of a "stream of consciousness" on random subjects that might interest us and/or the readers. Items such as investing, sports, you name it its fair game. Topic #2: Comments. News Alert....We enjoy reading comments about the same as you enjoy reading posts. This lead me to the following observation....The counter on the front page lists that this blog has been visited by over 2100 people in 114 countries. This stat makes me wonder how cool it would be to hear from more people than the usual 4. Keep your eyes open for some questions that we will pose at the bottom of some posts. We look forward to hearing everyones response.

Indonesia

Here is the link to the photos from Indonesia (and a few misc ones as well):

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXQg

Will blog more about the trip later...

Weekend Getaway

Decided yesterday that this weekend would be a great time to get away and explore another country. So that means we are going on an island adventure to Indonesia. Part of Indonesia actually wraps itself up toward these "neck of the woods" and makes for a wonderfully relaxing and quick getaway. We will be staying at Angsana Resort and Spa (picture at the bottom). The resort has the following to say about itself:

"Perfectly nestled in Tanjung Said Bay in Indonesia, overlooking the alluring South China Sea, Angsana Resort & Spa Bintan is a cozy enclave featuring touches of contemporary Asian design.

Enjoy a revitalizing twin massage with your partner at the romantic outdoor pavilions. Feel the gentle sea breeze ravish your body while casting an idle glimpse at dreamy silhouettes of swaying palm trees. The spacious sleeping and day activity areas in all Angsana rooms feature dulcet earth tones, which effortlessly offset the resort's verdant tropical environs."

Stay tuned for a post next week with pictures and updates on our adventure....

Funny Stuff

How To Shower: Men Vs Women - Brought to you by Break.com Video Search

Same Old Stuff

We haven't had much excitement here since Stacie and Paul left. ....

Delaney wanted to do something crazy with her hair (she was reminiscing about Sanjaya..she quite misses the bloke!), so we braided it during Idol one night. The other picture is the after effect. The two princesses above are Delaney and her friend Lauren.

For those of you who haven't heard, Derek's last rotation will be in Chicago. We'll leave here between June 22 and 29. We plan on living with Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bob (thanks a bunch!) while we look for houses to buy. For those of you who know Chicago real estate, we'll be looking in the Fox River Grove and Cary areas. (Both are at least an hour away from the city, but both are on a train line.)

Delaney's become a great little swimmer. She can now swim with her head under water. We bought her the rings that sink, and she can go to the bottom to get them. She's not the most graceful thing...she kicks like crazy before she can get under far enough....but she's still able to get to the bottom (It's about 4-4.5 feet deep).

I start taking classes next week so that I can add middle school endorsements to my IL teaching certificate. (The certificate is K-9, so one would think that I could teach any grade K-9, right??? Wrong!) Who would've guessed that I would need to go back to school to do what I was doing for over 6 years in Ohio??? I've been researching like crazy trying to figure out what in the world needed to be done. I think I understand it, somewhat! I'll be taking 3 Univ of Phoenix online classes and on University of Wisconsin-Stout online class. Hopefully I be fully endorsed to teach by the end of the summer!

We've been spending time with Tracey, Sam, Lauren, and Sami. They're from the UK. We've been to the zoo, a bbq, and a children's indoor play area with them in the past week. They are even going to go to Thailand with us at the end of the month. Lauren is the one who is Delaney's best friend. Their birthdays are within 2 weeks of each other, so we are going to have a joint bday party for them. Delaney and Lauren are pretty cute together, even when they have little spats.

Lizard is still here. It's kind of comforting seeing him around. Ha!

The weather has been kind of crappy lately. I don't think we've had one full, sunny day in the past month. It usually rains at least once a day. The locals say that the weather has been unusual.

We haven't yet decided what to do this weekend. Any suggestions?

Ha Ha (click to make larger to read easier)

Delaney's Deep Thoughts

Delaney made a friend at the pool today. She was probably not quite 3 yet (she still had a diaper on and was not as tall as Delaney). I asked Delaney if the little girl spoke English, and she said, "No, I don't think so, but she laughed the right way."

An Visitors View of Singapore

Hello everyone!

I am honored to be a guest blogger!!! We had such a great time in Singapore! Melissa is the perfect tour guide... she had everything planned so that we could see as much as possible without overwhelming ourselves, and she did an awesome time with the itinerary! I really felt like I got to see and do everything that I wanted to...

We arrived early Sunday morning, and Delaney got up at 2 am to welcome us!!! Sunday, we slept in a little and took our time getting ready, and then we took a bus downtown (the public transportation here is wonderful! they have cards that you can swipe at all entrances to the bus; they are air conditioned; very clean; very timely!) and went on a "duck tour"; the "duck" is a renovated military mobile, purchased many years ago from the US, that runs on land and water. The tour company has acquired these car-boats and now use them to show people around Singapore! We got some nice pictures from the water, and learned lots of new and interesting facts about the country. After the tour, we walked around the downtown area and had Thai for dinner; then we walked around Chinatown, which was a cute little area.

Monday, we went down to the pool at the apartment for a little bit and then Melissa's friend Tracy came over with her daughter and son for a few hours. Her daughter is the same age as Delaney, and they were cute together! For dinner, we went to a place called the Banana Leaf. It is an Indian restaurant, located in Little India. I really enjoyed my dinner there... they serve you on banana leaves, which are the size of large place mat, and you just eat your food right off of it! After dinner, we witnessed some of Delaney's "superstar-ness"... we ordered an extra cheese naan (bread) to go, for Delaney, and they gave it to her for free! Derek said that he was going to start taking her to car dealerships... After dinner, we walked around Little India a bit. We stopped in at this large shopping area, called Mustafa Centre, which is open 24 hours, and carries everything from shampoo to greeting cards to purses to electronics to watches (you name it, they have it!)... we were amazed at the number of people who were there on a random Monday night, and a large percentage of them seemed to be locals! it was around 9pm, and the place was packed!!!

Tuesday, Lissa and I took Delaney to the pool, and Paul was able to get in some golf on a local course. He was very pleased to be able to say that he has golfed in Asia! We had dinner in the food court, and again were able to witness Superstar Delaney - we ran into one of the helpers from the apartment complex, as she was walking home from the grocery store, and she insisted on giving Delaney a bag of potato chips from her groceries! After dinner, we went to Night Safari at the zoo. We went to a show, and then walked around... it was cool to see the animals at night, and we witness a lion roaring, which was amazing!!!

Wednesday, we met Melissa's friend Tracy, and her husband, Sam, at a Mexican restaurant on what is called Clarke Quay (key), a place with lots of restaurants, shops and bars. We had really good margaritas! Then, we went to The Clinic, a bar that serves drinks in IV bags... the clientele start a drip into their glasses! The seats are mini hospital beds. As a nurse, I was fascinated by this! It was full, though, so we went to another bar for a few beers. They had tables outside, and it was a nice and relaxing place to unwind and chat!

Thursday, Lissa, Delaney and I went to Orchard Road to see the stores... it's Singapore's Rodeo Drive/Magnificent Mile/etc... it was a fun place to walk around. I was amazed at how many malls and stores they had in one area!!! Thursday night, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, Singapore, where we tried "chili crab" dip... chili crab is one of the dishes that is well known in Singapore. It was delicious! Delaney was a Super Trooper... she was fighting a fever all day, and was such a big girl about it! She was really a very good sport... we did so much walking around that day, and her little legs had to be exhausted! She is really too cute for words!

Friday, Derek took the day off work, and we went to Sentosa. It is the Southern Most Point of the Asia Continent, and it has a nice beach area, some restaurants and lots of attractions. We went on a street luge (Lissa won twice!!!), to a 4-D Pirate movie, to the underground aquarium, and to a Butterfly world. We had delicious pizza for lunch at a restaurant on the beach. We also went to a dolphin show, and got to touch a pink dolphin!!! I got sun blisters, and Derek said that after the skin graft, I should be fine...

Friday night, we went back to Clarke Quay and had super yummy burgers! I guess it was our American food day... although, my burger was the Mexican burger, with guacamole and salsa!

Saturday, we walked around the Arab district, and then had Chicken Rice for dinner... chicken rice is what Derek eats for lunch every day, and it is also a dish that Singapore is well-known for... it was very, very good! It's just chicken and sticky rice, but then they give you a thick soy sauce, a hot sauce, and a ginger sauce to dip it in. Delicious! Also on Saturday, we had something that was not so delicious... Durian! You can watch us try it on the You Tube clips... it smells AWFUL, and tastes even worse!!! I have no idea how it is such a popular fruit! They make ice cream that is Durian flavored... I have no words to describe how yucky this smells and tastes. The only thing that I can tell you to possibly relay a small idea of the "stinkiness" is that the Durian is not allowed to be carried onto public transportation.

Saturday night, we packed up our things, and Lissa made me hot chocolate with a Cadbury cocoa mix that she found... super good, and I am sad that I haven't found it here in the States!

Sunday was the end of our trip, and on the way to the airport, I already missed being there!!! It was so nice... so relaxing, so much fun to have friends with you, so warm!

Singapore is definitely worth the 26 hour trip!!!!! I highly recommend it! :)

Stacie and Paul's visit

The week went by way too fast. They arrived early Sunday morning (2 am) after enduring a 26 hour flight. We tried to keep them busy with all of Singapore's famous sites. (BTW, for those of you who don't know, Stacie is my best friend from Salem. We've know each other over 20 years! Paul is her fiancee.) Here's my rundown of the week (you can read Stacie's in the post above):

Sunday: We took them on the famous Duck Tour. They saw the huge ferris wheel that's being built to beat London's, the Merlion, the Esplanade, the Raffles Hotel and more. After the Tour, we went to Thai Express for a late lunch/early dinner. Delaney had McDonald's...does that really surprise anyone? We then headed to Chinatown to do some exploring. After Chinatown we headed to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, which supposedly is the place to say that you've had a Singapore Sling (only because that's where they were created). Delaney had fun there, tossing the peanut shells on the floor (it's the only place in Singapore where you can litter without being fined!) She also enjoyed her virgin sling.

Monday:
Stacie and I wandered around the Hougang area (where we live) so she could see the "local flavor" before picking up Delaney from school. She met Delaney's teacher, Miss Chen. We spent part of the afternoon at the pool. My friend Tracey came over with her two kids, Lauren and Sami. This made Delaney's day! After they left we headed to Little India and had dinner at a famous Indian restaurant, Banana Leaf Apollo. The food was really served on banana leaves and not plates. We saw people eating with their hands, but luckily silverware was provided. I think everyone enjoyed their food. We headed to Mustafa's after dinner, which is a huge store selling everything from clothing to electronics to deodorant. Basically, if you can't find it at Mustafa's, it's not sold in Singapore. Mustafa's was very crowded, especially for a Monday night. I guess it's horrible on the weekends...I found it pretty horrible that night!

Tuesday:
While Paul had the experience of golfing in Asia, Stacie enjoyed about 5 hours at the pool, without sun protection! Delaney and I joined her at around noon. This was a great day for me because Delaney fell asleep at the pool and ended up sleeping for quite a long time...3 1/2 hours to be exact. So I got to enjoy my quiet pool time! We went to the Night Safari that night (which is why I let Delaney sleep so long in the afternoon). Before the Safari, we had dinner downstairs, which I've boycotted, but had to have Stacie and Paul experience what my life was like for the 2 months before I boycotted! The Night Safari was cool, of course. Paul really enjoyed it. We heard a male lion roar, which we thought was being piped in. After heading there, we actually saw him (and heard him) for ourselves. He was slightly upset because he had been denied (if you know what I mean) by another male lion.

Wednesday:
Stacie and I spent the morning at the pool before picking up Delaney. After lunch all of the girls headed downstairs for a mani/pedi treat. Stacie and I had both, and Delaney was soo good, we let her get a Little Princess pedi. She's so proud of her toes (sparkling pink)! After getting our nails done, we both realized that it wouldn't be a smart idea to wash our own hair (we were hitting the town that night) so we stopped at a salon to have our hair washed and blown dry. That night, Jannett (a helper of one of my friends) baby-sat Delaney and the adults headed out. We met our friends Tracey and Sam at Cafe Iguana for dinner and half priced margaritas. After dinner, we ended up at some Cuban bar that didn't want to give us tap water to drink, even though we each had about 2 drinks. They eventually gave in, thank goodness! A fantastic time was had by all.

Thursday:
Delaney must have been worn down, because she had a fever this day. It was pretty consistent, around 102, but, as usual, she was acting fine. Stacie, Delaney, and I headed to Orchard Road (the major shopping district) for some shopping. We had lunch at Pizza Hut, and walked around. Stacie bought some pewter pieced to bring home, and Delaney said she was chilly. We bought her a sweatshirt to warm up. We then got smoothies at Orange Julius and headed to another mall. At this point, Delaney was not doing well, so we headed home. She took a brief nap and when she woke up, her fever was 104! After a dose of Advil and about 1 hour, she was fine. We headed to the Hard Rock for dinner. We all had good food, took good photos and got some souvenirs.

Friday: Derek took the day off and we headed to Sentosa Island. We did the luge, of course. Derek had Delaney talking trash, saying how they were going to dominate. But, I was the one who dominated! We did it 2 times, and I won both! We had pizza at Trapizza (aptly named, as it's right near the trapeze). We saw the dolphin show. Stacie and Paul pet the pink dolphin named Pet after the show, which of course made Delaney want to do it too, so we did it. We got a really great pic from the photographer. We did the southernmost tip of Asia. Dinner that night was at the American bar Brewerkz. We all had burgers and headed over to G-Max Reverse Bungee. We all did it and had a blast. We have DVDs of our ride.

Saturday: Delaney was on TV! It was a show called No Problem...she was at the very beginning saying "I love Yugo". Of course we have no means of recording it. We emailed the station today to get a copy, but they're going to charge some astronomical price for it - 120 dollars! I could have gotten a VCR cheaper. If any of you would like to contribute to this cause, please let us know!!! At any rate, it was really cool to see her on TV. In the afternoon, we went to Bugis Street, which is a street market. Stacie and Paul tried durian (see other post for funny video). We went to a place famous for its chicken rice for dinner.

They left early Sunday morning...at 4! We really miss them. The apartment feels so lonely without them!

Pictures from the visit

Follow the link below to access pictures from Stacie and Paul's visit:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXNQ

Durian videos

Stacie and Paul each tried the local delicacy...durian. It is described as follows in one of the guide books we have: "This huge, spiky fruit, when opened, reveals a creamy-yellow, soft, slimy interior and smells phenomenally bad. However, if you can get used to the aroma, the taste is not unpleasant. Not for the fainthearted!" The videos below show their reaction when they tried it. By the way, "ang mo" means white person in Chinese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R1FBGOxTHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2A3XT0EtQ0

Enjoy...hopefully as much as they enjoyed the durian!

The Calm after the Storm...

Well our one and one guests have left us....Paul and Stacie are now in route back to the States. We had a great time this past week entertaining our guests. The time really went by FAST! It seems like just yesterday that I was meeting them at the airport. I would assume that Melissa will write more about the visitors in the coming days and their is even a rumor circulating that we will have Stacie as a "Guest Blogger" to document her trip from a visitors perspective. Some key take aways from the week:

1. I laughed the hardest I have in years on Saturday when Paul and Stacie tried Durian...I was laughing so hard my eyes were filling with tears.
2. Stacie decided to go for the express tan look at the pool and came away after the first day looking like a burn victim. The sun might be a little more intense this close to the equator..hint
3. As outlined in earlier posts, Delaney did indeed make the final cut and appeared in the kids TV show she was filmed for a couple of weeks ago.
4. Stacie and I are determined that we could make the pool if we dove from our window...Paul thinks we are crazy and isn't as supportive.
5. Paul is not a big fan of mass transit...he is more of a Taxi-man.

To all our friends and family....time is running out for visiting us so I would suggest you book your trips soon....you don't want to pass up free lodging and a free tour guide (Mel and Del Tours) in Singapore.

Obesity Epidemic Sweeping Singapore.....

We have all heard of "The Freshman 15" when you go to college but researchers (that's me) have just discovered what they (me) are calling "The Singapore 16". According to the handy dandy scale at work (don't ask why we have one) I have gained a disputable 16 lbs since arriving in this country! What compounds this problem is when you do the math to find my BMI (Body Mass Index) its downright scary. According to the chart, I am safely in the Overweight Category and am only two Chicken Rice dishes away from Obesity.......It's at this point that I cry out to all those that love me and ask you to dig deep within your compassionate hearts and make a small donation to the "Keep Derek Skinny Campaign". With all proceeds the next logical step for me is to have my stomach stapled to prevent the overeating that has put me on this slippery slope. I know it's hard to choose between Suzanne Sommers, who wants money to feed kids, and me who wants money to starve myself, but I have faith you will make the right decision.

Delaney = Style Critic and Future Star

Style Critic:
Overheard last week during American Idol....(let's set the scene - Melissa in the kitchen getting something to drink, Delaney sitting on the couch, Derek....who cares, not important in this scene....lets cue the music and American Idol is starting on the TV and......ACTION):

Delaney (screaming): "Mommy....Sanjaya's hair is different AGAIN!"

AND CUT.

This performance brought to you A.I.A (American Idol Anonymous) and CFLA (Chicago Food Lovers Anonymous-a support group for those that miss deep dish pizza and Italian beef sandwiches)


Future Star:
Delaney has officially landed her first speaking role on TV. While walking last week on Orchard Road (think Michigan Ave) with Melissa on the way to her singing class, a TV crew approached Melissa and asked her if Delaney would like to be on TV. Melissa asked Delaney and she said "Sure". They initially gave her a line to repeat that was a little too long for a 3 1/2 year old to remember so they shortened it and they did 15 "takes". After each one Delaney got better and more comfortable. Her line was as follows: "I love Yugo" and she was supposed to wave while saying it.

Basically they were filming a promo for a new kids TV show that will air April 21st. Hopefully we can get someone to tape it locally to remember her 15 minutes of fame (and to think she used it up at age 3 1/2...saddening)

Record Breaking News Alert

Today we traveled from one end of this country to the other!! We amaze ourselves...and to think they call us lazy Americans.

Australia Trip

We had a fantastic time "Down Under". We arrived on St Patrick's Day (3/17) and left the following Sunday. We spent 4 days on the Gold Coast (southeast Queensland on the Pacific) and 4 days in Sydney.

Flights were good. Our two long flights (Singapore to Brisbane, Sydney to Singapore) each had 2 meals. We each also had our own TV with on-demand viewing, which was so cool. We could start, pause, rewind, etc all of the movies and TV shows that were available. I watched Borat (didn't find it too funny), The Devil Wears Prada (different than the book, but still quite good), Stranger than Fiction (Will Ferrell not being funny took some getting used to, but I enjoyed it), and Bobby (decent). Derek watched Borat, Blood Diamond, and Babel. Delaney saw Open Season (again!) and High School Musical (again!). She lit up when HSM came on. We ended up missing our flight from Brisbane to Sydney...not our fault, of course! We used a service (called Air Train, I think) to get from the airport in Brisbane to the Gold Coast. From the train station at the GC, a limo (yeah, Delaney wasn't quite sure what to make of the car that had wine glasses in it) took us to our hotel. We got the same service on the way back...Air Train organized everything for us. Air Train said that the limo would be at the hotel at 9 am to pick us up. We didn't think too much of it; we just went down at 9, were picked up (by a driver who loves America...he kept asking tons of questions about it!), and caught the train. Around 11 (and still on the train), I had the strange feeling that our flight was supposed to take off at 11:15. I pulled out the itinerary and sure enough, it said 11:15. I showed Derek (who was enjoying quiet, Delaney-free time at the front of the train). As soon as we were off the train (at 11:25) he found an Air Train worker. Long story short, she was able to get us on the next flight out, which left about 1:oo.

The four days on the Gold Coast were quite relaxing:
Saturday:
We got there around 10 am and weren't able to check into the hotel. We were hungry so we set off in search of food. First thing we discovered about Australia...the food is expensive! Most places had breakfast around 15 a person. We all could have eaten at Bob Evans for about that much! We found a cheaper place, ate, and wandered around. We walked to the beach to check it out. Our hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the beach. After we checked in (around noon) we headed to the beach. Delaney loved playing in the sand. She had sand in every single body cavity one can imagine by the time we were done! She got used to the waves and ventured out a little. She didn't want to go out far unless Derek or I were holding her. I gave that job to Derek, as I have a hard enough sometimes keeping myself from not going under! The waves weren't too rough that day, but were definitely some of the bigger ones I've seen...must be why a very close area to us is called Surfer's Paradise! At night, we went to an Italian place that had meals for 1/2 price. Our bill still was around 40 dollars at half price! Got back to the hotel and Derek was out by 8 pm. He hadn't slept much on the plane the night before. Delaney and I played games as he drooled and snored.

Sunday:
We found a bakery in the shopping center by the hotel and ate there for breakfast. We also found a smoothie place. We went to the pool after breakfast. Delaney really liked the hot tub...it was nice and warm. One strange thing about the pools, though, is the fact that they were all salt water. In talking with my Aussie friends, I guess it's pretty common there. Anyway, we headed to lunch and got kebabs, which were incredible! Then we were off to the beach. There was some sort of convention or vacation for workers at Amway who we think were from China. They had obviously never seen the ocean before. The would go out in the water up to their ankles and end up soaked (fully clothes, mind you) because they didn't understand the concept of waves. They took their cameras out there too. Derek was just waiting for them to lose a camera in the water. We buried Delaney in the sand. She got quite a kick out of it. We went to two places for dinner. Derek and I split a burger at a burger joint and then went to an Indian restaurant to try tandoori chicken. Both were great. We had to get ice cream after dinner. Delaney had her ever favorite Bubble Gum while I had my ever favorite vanilla milkshake.

Monday:
This was probably Delaney's favorite part of the whole trip. We went to DreamWorld, which is an amusement park. There was a Nickelodeon Central area and Wiggles World. She's been in love with the Wiggles since before she could talk, so this was quite a big deal for her (this is why there are so many pictures of Wiggles World in our slideshow). She got to ride their Big Red Car, see Henry the Octopus, and Captain Featherswords. She was a little upset that she didn't see Dorothy the Dinosaur. Captain was quite impressed that she was from Chicago and had travelled so far to see him. We went to the Slime Show in Nick Central. Delaney was called up on stage, and poor Derek had to go too, again! He got to dress up like a baby and pop balloons with his bum. Delaney's job (with two older boys) was to collect the balloons for Derek. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she did allright. We got to pet kangaroos at DreamWorld. Delaney fed them. She had a great time doing this. I felt sorry for the kangaroos, though. The Amway group (same group from the beach) showed up and were forcing them to eat, they went in areas that were supposed to be for the kangaroos to rest (clearly marked), they were pushing people out the way (me included) so they could get their pictures taken next to the 'roos. We left soon after they came. It was too hectic. The burgers were so good the night before that we went back for more.

Tuesday:
Beach and pool pretty much sums up this day. The undercurrent was really strong out to sea, so the lifeguards were pretty busy reminding people to stay close. We headed to a mall around 5, only to find out that it closed at 5:30. Guess that's how it's done there. In talking with my Aussie friends and British friends, that's how it's done there. We were a little disappointed, especially since there was a Target there! Dinner was at a different Italian restaurant, and was good.

Wednesday:
We headed to Sydney. We got there, checked in, and wandered around the harbour to look and find a place to eat. Delaney fell asleep as I carried her. Derek and I ate dinner while she slept. She of course woke up when we got back to the hotel (around 8). At 10 she said she wanted dinner and it had to be pizza. The concierge gave us some ideas but warned us that it would be difficult to find anywhere open so late. We found a place called Rossini's. The staff there loved her. She wanted milk but they didn't have it, so he brought her what he called "Australian Milky Water"...not a real thing, obviously, but Delaney fell for it. She loved it there so much, she had to eat there the rest of the nights. In all we were there 4 times! Boram was our waiter every time. The last night he bought her pizza for her and gave her 2 scoops of ice cream. Delaney was in love...her first crush!

Thursday:
Woke up and went to a cafe for breakfast. We booked our tour for the next day and walked around Circular Quay. This is where all of the ferries leave, where the Opera House is, and where to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We took a 2 1/2 hour narrated ferry cruise of the harbour. We tried to go to the Olympic Stadium later in the day. We got off of a ferry at the Olympic Stadium wharf only to discover that it was pretty far away from the wharf. We all had dinner at Delaney's restaurant that night.

Friday:
We took a tour out to the Blue Mountains. First stop was at Featherdale Wildlife Park where we saw Australian animals. We could pet kangaroos and koalas. Delaney was incredibly excited to see a mommy kangaroo with a baby in its pouch. She fed the kangaroos. Many weren't too keen on eating though, as there were tons of people there trying to feed them. I think all of the tours stopped there at the same time. We also saw dingos and wombats, among others. We then had a lesson on the art of throwing a boomerang. We headed out to the Blue Mtns which are named that because of a blue mist that is visible over the mountains. The blue mist is there because the eucalyptus trees emit an oil which appears blue when the sunlight hits it. We had a couple of stops in the Mountains, one of which was to see the Three Sisters rock formation. We went to a place called Scenic World, where we rode the world's steepest passenger train (it used to go down to coal mines), a glass bottomed cable car, and a regular cable car. It was fun. We went to a small little town called Leura. Didn't stay too long. We went to see the Olympic Park. I stayed on the bus b/c Delaney was sleeping. Derek got out and took a few pics. We then took a ferry to get back to where we were going. Delaney met a surrogate grandma on the tour. Grammy Ping was from Cincinnati and had been in Australia for 2 weeks. She was missing her grandkids as much as Delaney is missing her grandmas. They were a good match!

Saturday:
We went to Manly Beach. Water was much cooler than up at the Gold Coast, so we didn't do much swimming. Derek enjoyed much of the scenery. The town of Manly was very cool. Lots of surf shops with great clothes and tons of restaurants. Delaney had fun trying on the hats at the shops. On the ferry ride back to the hotel, it started to rain and get really cool. By the time we walked to dinner that night, it was absolutely freezing. Okay, maybe it was in the 60s, but when you're used to temps in the 90s, it's quite a shock to the system.

Sunday:
We had some time to kill before our flight. We walked around the Rocks, a restored colonial area. There was an arts festival, which happens every weekend. We bought a didgeridoo, an aboriginal instrument, as our reminder of the trip. We let Delaney pick it out, as they all had different designs. It was chilly that day. I'm glad that I had packed jeans and cardigans for Delaney and I. I did this purely for the plane, but seeing as autumn started while we were there, it was a smart idea!

Summary (through the eyes of Derek): Our vacation (or holiday as the locals call it) was great. We got to chill out at the beaches at the Gold Coast which is known for its weather and famous surfing sites. Sydney was in one word....AMAZING. It had this certain big city energy about it while maintaining a cool seaside vibe. It was full of beautiful old buildings lovingly restored, great transporation network, unending food options, amazing homes dotting the shoreline of Sydney Harbor (leading you to daydream about being a lotto winner or a Motorola VP ha-ha) and most importantly a great collection of people. Everybody we came in contact with was helpful and friendly. Another thing that I realized was that their were alot of beautiful people...majority of the guys were the strong good looking type that looked like they just walked off the rugby field and the woman were stylish and beautiful. To think that we spent 8 days in really just two cities and we could have spent many more just exploring the rest of Sydney! Then there is the rest of the country with far off cities like Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. I think our next trip back to Australia we will hit Melbourne to watch the Australian Open and then we will spend a week exploring New Zealand. I highly recommend Australia to everyone.....its weird finally being able to see things like the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in person.....even Delaney got excited to see the Opera House in person because it was in the movie Finding Nemo.

Anyone Out There?

Does anyone read this blog? Andrew is the only one that leaves us comments on a consistent basis and one of maybe 6 that have left comments at all. Melissa slaves over this blog and we both would love to get feedback from the readers if they are enjoying the blog and what they like and what they don't like...we are taking requests. If everyone could take a second and click on the "Comments" below this post and leave your name it would be nice to see what friends and family we are reaching with our blog. Take care and we look forward to reading the comment section.

Deep Thoughts by Delaney Part 2

On the way to school today 3/29/2007: "Daddy...do you remember Landon's birthday party....I didnt like the cake so I pooped it out".

In Sydney after dinner on 3/20/07: "Sometimes I have food burps and it tastes like it"

Sometime on 3/21/2007: "Daddy I am the boss of Mommy"

In Sydney during our trip to the Blue Mountains after climbing up appximately 100 steps from an observation deck: "My heart just started beating"

Australia Pictures

The link below will take you to pictures from our vacation to Australia. We will get around to writing about the vacation soon, we promise!!!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXFw

Deep Thoughts by Delaney Garden

While eating dinner prior to leaving for our flight, we noticed that the lizard made a run for it from behind the airconditioning unit to the kitchen. At this point Delaney graced us with her thought of the day (these are her words)...."I am a little concerned......we are humans and we dont live with wild animals".

Night Safari Star

We went to Singapore's #1 tourist attraction Monday....the Night Safari. It's an open concept zoo that is open at night...duh. We got there and watched a show with fire breathers and then went to stand in line for The Creatures of the Night Show. Last time at the zoo, Delaney got a little upset that she wasn't chosen to go up on stage, so we made sure that she had her hand raised in time to be called on. She wasn't called up the first time, some goofy nine year old from California was. We made sure her hand was up and ready the second time. The host pointed to her and said something to the effect of needing a strong, macho man on stage...she started up there and the host said her daddy would do. So Derek got to go up on stage, and I had to deal with a whimpering 3 year old who was mad and confused. Anyway, Derek held a boa constrictor. I have some video and pics of it. He did a decent job in front of the hundreds of people. Click on the links below to see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90i6JvwVZoE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP3TE3AuTj4

Delaney is on "holiday" from school this week. So no school for her. We went to the British Club today and hung out with Diane, Annette, and their kids. They're from Australia. Annette is from Sydney (which is one of our stops next week) and typed up a fabulous itinerary for our time there. We swam and had lunch there. Delaney ate fish and chips, peas and corn, watermelon, chips (french fries for you Americans!), and mac and cheese. All of this for $4 Sing!
We went to the Finding Nemo ice show Wednesday...she absolutely loved it! Bruce (the shark) was her favorite!

Delaney had her first golf lesson on Saturday at a place called Kindergolf. She can tell you the 3 main types of clubs (although she calls the irons "chippers") and how to carry a club. She got to practice putting and chipping (this is why she calls the irons chippers). She listened really well and concentrated on what she was doing. She got a uniform for future lessons (a golf shirt and skort - everything requires a uniform here...a moneymaker, maybe???). She looks cute! They have her golfing left handed.

There was a parent teacher gathering at Delaney's school last Thursday. Her teachers, Miss Chen and Han Laushi. Both said she's very friendly, polite, has adjusted well and likes to share ideas with the class. Miss Chen also sadi that Delaney can spell her name and was able to do it without help form her, and Delaney made sure that Miss Chen knew that she could do it all by herself! Miss Chen is the English teacher and Han Laushi is the Chinese teacher with very limited English, but she was able to speak more English than I could Chinese! Delaney will say random Chinese words and phrases but has now idea what they mean.

We leave for Australia tomorrow (Friday)! We are excited. Hopefully it won't be as humid. Delaney's excited to hopefully run into the Wiggles, Nemo, and her new favorite, Hi-5. Some beach time will be good too, since the beaches here are scary!

Visitors!

No I don't mean the lizard! Although he is still here. He's actually behind our air conditioning unit in the living room. He's been hanging out there since Thursday when he made the bold move from behind the dining room ac unit. Stacie and Paul are coming to visit in April!!!! We can hardly wait to show them Singapore and are so excited to have company! Stacie - you already made the blog!

Balloon Ride!

In the city, there's a helium balloon that you can ride. It is tethered to the ground and goes about 150 meters into the air. From the second that Delaney saw it, she's wanted to go on it. She finally had her chance this weekend. We, of course, didn't tell her that we were going to go and ride it. So when we got close to it, she asked if she could ride it and was super excited when we finally said yes. She was not scared at all when we were so high. She got a little concerned when we couldn't see Derek on the ground anymore (he decided to sit this one out). But other than that, she loved it. She even recognized a lot of the sights that we've visited on the ground.

Later that day we went to get dinner. Delaney is becoming somewhat of an adventurous eater. Since we've been here, she's tried soup, fish, cheeseburgers, and a few other random things. At dinner, she had the choice of chicken nuggets, a cheeseburger, or steak. We would bet that she would have chosen the nuggets or burger, but she chose the steak! At first we were happy that she's branching out but quickly realized our dinner budget may soon be gone if she continues fancying steak!

While on the topic of food, we may have to admit Derek to a 12 step program when we get back to the States. He has become addicted to a dish called Chicken Rice. He gets it every single day at lunch! He loves the sauce that it is served with and is consuming the sauce in larger and larger amounts each day. It's a spicy sauce (I don't like it, not that that should surprise anyone!) and at first, he could only eat a little of the sauce. Now he claims that it's almost a rush feeling the burning sensation in his mouth as he eats! So, if any of you could check into a program for him, I would appreciate it! I'm not sure I'll be able to find the Singapore special Chicken Rice sauce back home to minimize the withdrawals!

We've booked our trip to Australia! We leave the 16th and get back the 25th. We'll spend 4 days in Sydney and 4 on the Gold Coast (near Brisbane). We are looking forward to it!

I spoke with someone at an international kindergarten about volunteering a couple of days a week while Delaney is at school. I hope that it works out as it would give me something to do during the time she's at school. The principal seemed quite excited and even said that if we were staying past July, she would give me a job.

I will post pics of the balloon ride once I have them uploaded!

Anyone have a helmet for a 30 year old?

The days since my wonderful bride turned the big 30 have been rough on her physically. For the first 30 years she maintained a solid equilibrium....the last 5 days....all hell has broken loose. In the last 5 days:

1. She has fallen getting into the bathtub (big purple bruise on the knee to prove it)

2. Fell as she got off the elevator after stepping into a puddle (landed on her booty, no known scarring except ego)

3. While walking down the steps toward the bus stop, she lost her balance and fell down approximately two steps and luckily got her hands down behind her before more booty abuse could occur.

3 falls in 5 days compared to maybe 1 in the 9 years I have known her! UNBELIEVABLE!

For those of you that have homes we might visit when we get back to the States.....might want to start building ramps up to your front door. For those of you looking to secure a great early Christmas present for her might want to stay up till 2am and buy her the Med-Alert bracelet so she can shout "Help me I have fallen and cant get up!"

Delaney Swimming Videos

Here are some recent videos of Delaney swimming. Just click on each of the links below to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tItBOeX91QI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6LtKCtPybs

She's really become a fish since we arrived. She was pretty clingy last summer, so we had her take swimming lessons in the fall. She was doing better in those, until she had to miss 3 classes due to her "health issues"...pneumonia and the cast. She started off slowly here in Singapore, and then one day, out of the blue, she swam by herself with her head above water. She's gotten so much better since then. I guess having a swimming pool in your "backyard" is helpful!

We didn't do much over the weekend...Delaney had a fever Friday and part of Saturday. Saturday night we went to the Chingay Parade on Orchard Road. The parade is meant to signal the beginning of spring (ha...it's always summer here as far as we're concerned!). There were floats and performers from lots of different countries. Singapore's president even rode on a float. Derek and I were having a hard time picturing Dubya doing that! We didn't stay for the whole thing...but enjoyed what we saw.

I know...It's been awhile!

These are the pictures from the past weekend. There are more if you click on the link below. Hopefully, you know the drill by now.








http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=sdvg5ki.831r0nmm&Uy=1w7hbt&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=992913878522_618872336206

Derek and Delaney were off Monday thru Wednesday of this week because of Chinese New Year. Most things were closed here Sunday and Monday. The celebration doesn't end here until March 4.

Saturday we did a self-guided walking tour of some of Singapore's colonial houses. Many of them are called black and whites. An example of one is above. Many of them have a covered walkway that leads to the servants' house. Nice that they don't want the help to get wet!!! There were also several newer, very nice houses. One of them had 5 Lambroghinis and Ferraris in the front of it. Life must be hard! The area was very peaceful and not at all like the area where we live. After the walk we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for our weekly American food fix. Delaney and I had burgers (my mouth is watering thinking of them!) and Derek had a quesadilla.

Sunday started our marathon of spending time with the ladies I've met an their families. We went to Tracey's for a bbq. Tracey's dad and stepmom are in from England. They were very nice. Everyone took their own food...Sam (Tracey's husband) did a great job grilling our brats (so good, probably since it's been awhile!). We swam after lunch and had a good time! Monday we went to the British Club with the same group. We just swam. The Club was set up on a hill and very pretty. Tuesday we went to lunch at the Esplanade (mall with a theatre set on the water) for Diane's birthday. Tuesday night the ladies (no kids or husbands, woo-hoo!) got together to play games, but we never quite got around to the games part!

After lunch on Sunday, we walked around Esplanade and saw the Merlion, which is a symbol of Singapore. On the walk, Delaney was asked to stop and pose for a couple of pictures. The blond hair/blue eye thing will never go out of fashion here!

Derek, Delaney and I headed to the zoo on Wednesday. The zoo was great. We saw giraffes, white tigers, and jaguars being fed. Delaney and I rode on an elephant! She held on tight and really seemed to like it! The orang utans are free-ranging, meaning they can go anywhere. They pretty much stayed in the trees. In the Reptile World, there was a cage you could enter to see free snakes and lizards...needless to say, I avoided that one! We see enough lizards in the apartment. (Yes, he's still here under our fridge...I just saw him this morning!) It was a decent deal to join the zoo, so we did!

Delaney went to Kindermusik on Thursday and liked it, so we signed her up for the remainder of the session. It's a lot pricier than the states. But every kids program we've checked into here is pricy! Before Kindermusik, we went to Lorraine's to hang out with her and Tracey.

Today, we met the ladies for lunch to celebrate my birthday. We had a nice time and have planned to get together over the weekend! See what I mean by marathon!

For those of you who wonder what I do during the day(Andrew!!!)...when Delaney's at school I do laundry...isn't that exciting!?! Our machine is a combo washer/dryer all in one, so consequently it takes forever. I type recipes on the computer to put in the Garden cookbook, I talk to people on the phone, I upload photos, watch Grey's Anatomy on Slingbox, and work on the blog. I then go pick up Delaney at school around 10:30 and get home around 11:30, if we are headed home. The rest of the day I meet the demands of a 3 year old. We usually go swimming if we have nothing planned. That's really about it...nothing too exciting! I checked into playing tennis with the American Women's Association, but since they play downtown and I don't have childcare, I won't be able to play with them. Oh well.

No firm plans yet for the weekend...we may just need a break!

The Next Malaysian Ambassador

Guess who is famous now in Malaysia.......I forgot to mention this but when we were in Kuala Lumpur in January we had just finished walking down all the steps at the Batu Caves and there is this cameraman walking in front of facing us taking photos. At first I couldn't tell if he was taking them of us or of the entrance to the Caves. As we were walking, he continued walking backwards snapping photos. Eventually a woman walks up to us and says she is from "The New Strait Times" which is Malaysia's National newspaper. She proceeds to ask us a series of questions about Batu Caves, Malaysia in general and our experiences while on vacation. Well to make a long story short, the next day when we open the hotel door to go down to breakfast there is the Monday paper, so I tell Melissa...."Lets see if we are in there!". Well here is the outcome. (Sorry the picture is crappy). Oh Well I have spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to upload a PDF of the newspaper article but no luck. If anybody wants a copy let me know in the Comments section and I can send off a copy from email.