some funny things

i just went to malaysia for 4 days with ian. greg stayed back with gavin, paul and hazel. everyone did a fantastic job but we had a few good stories to share from the time apart.

+ hazel got her dad to take her on a 'date' and she wore a new dress for him and put on lipstick. :D she picked out his clothes and then they went to the resturant and had a smoothie drink. while they were there, greg did the amazing...he painted hazel's nails...and then she painted his! i never thought greg would do this, so there must be some LOVE. i laughed when i got his text cuz i KNEW we didn't have fingernail polish at home so he would have to wear the nails to school the next day. but oh so sweet!

+ian was enjoying all the people while we shopped for like 12 hours a day! he is such an extravert. but every so often i had to let him down to get out of the stroller or my arms. we were in the apple store, very clean. so i let him down and he went right over to a family who was looking at a lot of gadgets on the wall. he crawled through them and stood up on the little ledge and turned around and said, "ha!" in a bit of a growl as if to say "i have arrived, what do you need?" and a 10 year-old boy standing near him nearly jumped out of his pants in horror and kept jumping until he was about 10 ft away from ian...the baby monster...the poor 10 year-old was frightened because he had never seen a white baby and thought it had to be a doll or something!!! i am so happy i saw this happen because it was halarious! the family thought it was funny as well...except for the 10 year-old.

+ greg took the kids out with "uncle steve" for a sunday lunch at a new spot. the kids were all excited cuz you could fish and play on a playground. playgrounds here are only of metal...kind of like what kids in the 70's played on i suppose??? so gavin, paul and hazel were playing on the teeter tooters and because they don't play on these too much cuz i don't even know where else i have seen one here...they don't know all the "rules" that go along with them. greg was eating and suddenly hazel has blood all over her. somehow the story goes that hazel and paul were on the same side and gavin on the other. hazel stood up when they were up in the air and paul jumped off causing hazel to "fly"...she hit the spot she ALWAYS hits...her mouth...sooo...she knocked out a tooth that was already dead and we had just gotten a small root canal done on it...but the other teeth and gums seemed to be pretty beat up as well. i didn't come home until 24 hours after the incident and her face was swollen and gums brusied. she looks older with the tooth gone. the dentist says the other tooth has been moved/tilted but is not damaged...we will see how this goes. this isn't so funny...but you know these things have to happen while mom is away to play. and dad survives so well through it all. hazel gave paul a good talkin to and NOW they know the rules of the teeter totters.

+ we took a taxi one night after ikea back to our friends house cuz we lasted shopping MUCH later than our friends :D and the taxi driver liked us cuz his wife was from indonesia. and he said in the middle of our conversation, "you have to watch out for all the 'bombs' in this city." and we both looked at each other and mouthed "bombs?" and then said it outloud, "BOMBS?" and he said, "ya, they are all over the roads here." and then it dawned on my friend that he was saying "bumps" ha ha ha! gotta love english translation.

+ we ate at an Indian resturant. amazing food! naan bread is one of my favorite foods...anyway. we were served by a pakistani man. surrounded by all sorts of nationalities and when we walked out to our car, there were 3 nigerians leaning on it because it's such a small little "mr bean" sort of car and they were using it as an armrest. i only tell this really to show you that Kuala Lumpur is quite the mix-up of nationalities and i LOVED it :D we didn't know what language to speak most of the time. made it feel more like good ol bellflower! we were still noticed in KL by our white skin standing out but not stared at like we are in Indo...it was so nice to just be ANOTHER foreigner fittting in to all that were around us from all over the world!

+ the kids drew me pictures to take along and i couldn't open them until i got on the plane. hazel of course writes her name all over her papers now (and even on our walls...when asked who did it...she shrugs her shoulders...couldn't be her!) but anyway...she likes to make the same pictures over and over again and then she folds them up really small and puts them in an envelope and gives it to you. soooo cute! and so i loved my little hazel picture...full of color and butterflies and mommy and hazel hugging :D paul drew a picture of plane and he was flying a kite all the way up to the plane and pulling me down...he also had a big tree with an owl on it. gavin didn't get one done. maybe next time...but it's great to have their little notes tucked away for when i miss them
and i drew them pictures once i saw they were giving me some...sneaky mom...and hazel informed when i got home, "mom, you know we didn't care that you were gone cuz we looked at your pictures you drew and the pictures of you on the wall...so we didn't care" and it's funny cuz i know she didn't mean the word care...but in some sense...it works :D

+ laughing is great for the soul and we did so much of it with the ladies i went with to malaysia. i recomend it to anyone...laughter and malaysia...it was sort of like going to america just 2 1/2 hours away. and air asia has great deals in that we got there round trip for $40! and stayed for free at a friends house...it was a blessing getaway! we ate at carl's jr and nearly cried cuz the hamburger tasted soooo good. kept me full for a full 8 hours! we ate at subway, papa john's pizza. and of course indian food twice :D IKEA was there and we lasted 6 hours just walking around and taking it all in...amazing really! this world is amazing! and halarious!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

Hooray for this child of ours! He is already 8 years old!??? how does this happen? this picture here is a new Gavin...he no longer has to wear his ear plugs and swim cap while he swims...he can now dive in with abandon because his ears have been healed and he no longer suffers from the chronic ear infections...he still has some bigger allergy issues but we can keep them under control now. here in the picture he is where he loves being the most...the beach and the pool...all in one. he can spend hours...days...weeks...just being in this type of surrounding...adventure seeking. i wonder what job he will have in the far far future...being in the 2nd grade, he is learning so much and taking it all in at great speed now. as i write my emails, texts, or blog updates, he is over my shoulder reading what i am writing. keeps me on my toes :D he still loves sports of all kinds and will choose that over anything else to do. the other day we were playing in the gym at the school and there were a bunch of boys playing soccer and i noticed that mine were not the only ones who take off their shoes and socks to play the sport! ;) and if he was not playing sports, he would choose PS2 to play, and if he was not playing PS2, he would want to play spelling games on the computer, and he if he wasn't getting smarter on the computer...he would choose his MP3 player. and if he wasn't doing that he would say "mom, i'm bored. what can i do now?" ha! we are raising a different generation than even i know. kids who can work the computer with ease and understand electronics like the back of their hands. gavin is no exception. amazing! and with uncles and an aunt who like to give all this...we try to stay up with them and keep them moving in this world as we navigate together. Gavin is still very much our kind-hearted, smart, perseptive, introvert. we are so proud of him and the way he treats his friends with care and is sensitive to others...others being those friends outside the family. ha ha ha... he is definately the 'big' brother and knows how to push buttons and irritate the core of the family under the radar. he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't. and in all seriousness...he really does care for his siblings just as much...we just see another side of him in that role as well. the easy going little man doesn't really care about fashion yet...unlike his younger siblings. so that keeps drama on the low side with gavin...he brings a stable, calmness to our family...we need that oh so much! he doesn't talk just to be talking...so when he talks...we listen. and when he gets excited, he talks so fast we can hardly keep up! and we love that gavin laugh...the laugh that comes from deep down. what a kid! thanks for being in our family...we love you to pieces!

everyday kids and SOME of their pets

turtle

fish

hamster...just missing the dog's pic

BFF

boy picnic in the driveway on a saturday morning
(yes...we have to sun dry our rugs in the rainy season cuz they get moldy)

Jepara

loving coconut :D

posers

After not having been out of town for quite awhile, we left for spring break to the north coast. Jepara. This is where we found wood carving. you know...like the tables and chairs from crate and barrel...so much cool stuff to look at and put on our wish lists :D it was a very nice get away...not near long enough but we will go again when YOU come visit!

Jepara...more pics of our spring break trip

we stayed at a hotel on the beach...this is a view of the beach from the pool...aahhhhh

the goodness of the beach and spring break!

gavin and friend making the most of the boat we rented

greg giving his advise to the canoers...

the ocean here is much more calm.
this is the northern part of java, in a bit of a cove.
it seemed more like a lake but it still tasted salty.
the kids could just sit out and talk about...what would they be talking about???

more pics of pauls birthday...random order

pinata lineup

this is josh...both gavin and paul's friend but he and paul have almost the same birthday...so he shared his with paul...its pretty good when you can get kids to work together to see something cool and they really liked the parachute deal when they worked together...balls flying in the air...like popcorn...and they were controlling it...amazing! then they would count and throw the chute above them and pull it down so they were all sitting on the inside edge making a big tent...giggle giggle giggle...all around :D i love the sound of kids laughing! it releases something in my soul!

Paul's birthday party pics

Paul had a combined birthday with his friend Josh. Josh is in 2nd grade. so that meant the invitations list was kindergarden plus 2nd grade :D that equals about 30 kids :D the time was good and great. we had cake (made by josh's mom and frosting by paul's mom :D), ice cream, little fish crackers that tasted like durian (gag), koolaid from america!... face painting, balloon animals, pinata full of candy....a full on circus of sorts! the rain didn't even attempt to show...it was actually quite hot but i believe everyone had a great sugar high as they went home that night.