We're Coming Home!!

EIGHTEEN MORE DAYS AND THEN WE WILL BE HOME!!

Reed and I were planning on spending a week in Singapore, but figured three days instead of seven would be more enjoyable. Fortunately, Reed was able to change our flight and we are coming home on the 14th at midnight! I am so excited to see family and friends. I MISS my Kitchen and Laundry room! It will be wonderful to come home during berry season. YUM!

I will miss all our friends here in Penang. I will also miss all the yummy food. : ) Our time here has been AMAZING and I am so grateful that we were able to see and do all the things we have been able to see and do. It has been a Grand Adventure, but I'm ready to come home. :)

Ms. A and I are going to visit my mom in Idaho the last week of July, so it will be nice to have those extra four days to adjust before we leave again. I know I'm a glutton for punishment, but our family reunion is the first weekend in August and I miss my mom. :)

Ms. A's New Ball

We found this fun ball at the KL Tower.

Ms. A had a blast playing with it. She and Reed had fun chasing and kicking the ball all over this part of the Berjaya Times Square Mall.

Adventures in KL

After living in Malaysia for almost five months, we finally ventured down to Kuala Lumpur, affectionately known as KL. We left Saturday morning and drove for four hours with only two stops - Ms. A had a hard time sitting still. Miraculously, we found our hotel. (The roads were challenging, the map was great, but I'm terrible with maps, Ms. A was talking non-stop and our hotel was being renovated, so we didn't recognize the building from the internet picture.) Our hotel had no windows (a unique experience). It was in the heart of Chinatown, excellent food and great shopping. The back of the hotel emptied out to Petaling Street. The street is closed at night and it comes alive with tons of vendors selling their goods.

The next morning we took a taxi to the Petronas Twin Towers. We wanted to see the view from the Skybridge until we hear the earliest availability was 6pm (we were there at 9am) and was saw the miniature city waiting to go up. We decided to check out the shopping in the base of the towers and then take pictures outside. The towers were awe-inspiring! We had a fun time trying to get us and a full view of the towers in a picture.

We walked over to our next stop, the Menara or KL Tower. It was a nice walk that allowed us to see a bit more of the city. In front of the tower there are some fountains. Ms. A had a blast playing in the water. We also purchased a collapsible ball which Ms. A opened and closed. :)

We took a taxi over to Merdeka Square to see the world's tallest flagpole. It is also the location where the Union Jack was lowered for the last time in 1957 and Malaysia gained her independence. Malaysians have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of this event this past year. Ms. A kicked her new ball around entertaining us and other visitors.

After the square we took a taxi over to the Berjaya Times Square, a mall with over 900 shops and restaurants. It also has an indoor roller coaster which was breathtaking to see. We had lunch on the third floor and we could hear the roller coaster above us on the 5th - 7th floors.

Monday, we drove to Zoo Negara, or the National Zoo. We were tickled to see the name of the snack shop, so we took a picture of the Nelson Corn in a Cup. Ms. A was thrilled to feed an elephant a sugarcane! She kept telling us that the elephant wanted more food. He even kneeled down on his back leg hoping for a treat. I felt bad for the elephant because he could smell the sugarcane, but it was out of his reach. When we saw the storks she asked if they could go on her arm, she remembered holding the macaws and pigeons that we had seen previously in Malaysia and Greece. We tried to explain that they were too big, but she didn't believe us until we got closer. When she saw them, she quickly rushed to Reed and asked him to carry her. :) I had Reed take a picture of the macaque because Sara, my sister, studied Black Crested Macaques in college. Reed has a unique attraction to unusual signs, hence the warning sign about throwing stones at the primates. :)

Our last stop were the Batu Caves. One word: WOW! I'm a wimp when it comes to stair climbing, so I wasn't too excited to climb up 272 stairs(plus more inside the cave), but I did it and it was amazing. Ms. A had an unfortunate run-in with some of the monkeys. While Reed was taking pictures of the monkeys playing in the garbage can, a monkey got too close to Ms. A and she tripped over a nearby monkey. When the monkey recovered, he went over to some of his friends and they gained up on Ms. A. When Reed and Ms. A saw what was happening, Ms. A , in a panicked voice asked Reed to pick her up. he quickly complied, but the monkeys didn't back down. Reed was able to keep them at bay, while he and Ms. A made a rush to leave that area. Ms. A wasn't hurt, just scared. She pulled us out of the cave. Hopefully, this won't scar her for life. She had a fun time chasing the pigeons. :)

Strawberries, YUM!

Ms. A and I found some delicious-looking strawberries at the store. She was so excited to share them with her daddy.


I love how she closes her eyes as she eats the berries. She eats blueberries and tomatoes the same way. She says: "Berries make my eyes close."

What Makes Me Smile!

I was giving Ms. A a shower this morning when she said something that made me smile. Most times it's a challenge to give her a bath. She doesn't like the idea of having her hair washed. She doesn't like water in her eyes or ears - I don't blame her. She gets so fidgety when I wash her hair it is difficult not to have water all over her face. Today she found a new way to express her dislike. I started to wash her hair, her least favorite part of bath time, when she said: "I Don't Think That's a Good Idea, Mommy!"

Reed and I love hearing her reasoning. The things she comes up with is adorable. On the way to church, Reed was trying to convince Ms. A and she was a *flibbity-jibbet. Ms. A kept on saying that she was not one. I told her that she was a cutie-pootie and she accepted that. The rest of the way to church, we talked about how boys were flibbity-jibbets and girls were cutie-pooties. Ms. A went up to Alan, a friend of ours, and stated, very matter-of-factly, that 'He was a flibbity-jibbet!' She just grinned while Reed explained what and why she said what she did.

Ms. A has become my little parrot. Reed and I will be talking to her about something, which Reed takes the contrary point of view. Ms. A will look at me for reassurance and/or wait for me to correct Reed. Then she quotes what I said, very seriously, back to Reed. For example, Reed likes to kiss Ms. A with a bunch of kisses, he calls 'Attack Kisses'. The other night, we were putting her to bed and Reed asked about giving her 'Attack Kisses.' She wasn't to keen on the idea so she looked at me. I said, 'Attack kisses are for the morning, not night.' Ms. A looked at Reed with her most serious look and stated verbatim what I had said. :) Now when Reed asks her for attack kisses and she will look outside to see if the sun is up or down and then we respond with the correct statement.

*Update - I found the right spelling! From "Sound of Music's" "Maria"

Princess A with her tutu skirt - revisited

I found a fun fairy princess craft kit at the store. It had a wand and supplies to decorate a tiara. I cut out a tiara shape, punched a few circles and squares with my paper punches and then opened the glue and glitter and gave them to Ms. A. She had such a fabulous time, especially with the glue and glitter.
At one point, she put glitter on her star wand and when I turned my back to get something, she blew the glitter all over her, the table and floor. We are still finding pieces of glitter in her hair, on her face and throughout the apartment. Now I remember why I don't use glitter in my crafting projects. :) Ms. A had a great time, so I can't complain too much.
I had Enrichment this afternoon, so when I came home and the project had dried, we put them together. When I asked her if she wanted to wear her tutu, she got very excited. I asked her if she wanted pictures and she went into the living room and started to pose. Every time I took a picture, she raced to the camera to see herself. When I asked if she was done, she replied, "No, mommy! Please take more pictures." We also made some bugs with egg carton bottoms and pipe cleaners. One is on her shoulder and the other in her hand. We had quite the craft day. :)
I love her funny face in the last picture. She was so excited to make a silly face.