Living the Good Life

That is a Cinnabon Angie is eating but looks a bit like a hotdog in this picture!

GIANTS!

Oh No! We're like giants with the regular-size coffee mug...

An Old Friend

Recently we went to Singapore and we ran into a old friend. The Cap'n. The kids couldn't believe it.

Mom and Dad decided he was just a bot too sweet at this point in our lives. Maybe he would taste better if you poured some spicy curry on top...

The Perfect Gift

Finally the drink any husband can get his woman without going wrong.

Even when she says, "Anything," or "Whatever" is fine.

I am not sure what marketing genius thought these names up but I will wager people only buy the stuff once.

Yummy!!

The Height of Productivity

We're just giving it all we've got this morning ... or we're watching the finale of American Idol "live via satellite."

We thought there was no way we could go through the whole day here waiting for the rebroadcast without finding out who the winner was since everyone puts that stuff in their facebook status now.

The Things We Do For Love

Tonight we had tacos on the menu. When Hudson found out he asked his Momma if we could have the hard shell kind. Its been a year since we have and that is mostly due to the fact that they are hard to find and expensive. But can that stop a Momma??? NO WAY!

So we loaded up, drove about an hour round trip, and paid $4.25 for a box of 8 taco shells. Not exactly Taco Bell prices there.

But it turned out alright since we were able to find some other premiums like frozen waffles (not Eggos), something that might work as a frozen pie crust, and actual "Chi Chi's Original Restaurant Salsa".

SIDE NOTE: Chi Chi's was pretty darn popular in Louisville when I was young and if I'm not wrong was my restaurant of choice for my 16th birthday dinner.

Anyway, somehow they must've changed the salsa recipe and started using barbecue sauce as the base. It was not so great but did an admirable job standing in as salsa (mine is still better).

Mixed in with these chips ... if you close your eyes ... you can almost hear Mexican Muzak playing. OK so it wasn't that good but it was pretty decent.

Those are the kind of lengths that Moms go to just to bring a little joy into their sweet babies' lives. Aren't Moms just the best?!?

Apologies

Sorry that we accidentally let our address craigandangie.info expire. That was the cause for so many trying to access the site but getting another instead. We signed up for another two years and should be fine now.

Sun Setting on our Vacation

Village Life

The last day of our trip saw us going out of the city and into a really interesting water village.

You may not be able to see it too well in this photo unless you click on it and blow it up some but behind us is a mountain over 13,000 feet tall. Maybe we'll try to climb it on the next trip. Or maybe they'll have a chairlift in by then! Close to us is a rice paddy (field). We though it was really beautiful with the green fields, palm trees, and the mountain.
The houses are built right over the water with many villages accessible only by boat. My kids thought taking a motorcycle to school was cool but a boat beats that.
We looked out the side window of the house and saw this huge jellyfish. Easily the biggest any of us had ever seen.
A look at some of the houses across the water ... they have docks for driveways!
Caleb enjoying some cool coconut water. The idea of coconut milk is a bit misleading. Its not nearly as good as people here think. White folks tend to leave a straw stuck in a full coconut. Other folks drink it all and use the spoon nearby to dig out all the meat, too. So in conclusion--the water is worse than you think but the meat is better than you expect.
Our hosts who were explaining some of the stuff on display and the traditions of the people who live there. Here they were listening to Bethany sing.
A hand dug canoe from a single tree. Hudson wanted in the boat but wouldn't smile. Normal.
With our coconut water and coffee we had these tasty fried cakes. The kids got to try their hands at cooking.
The hat was mandatory. All school teachers will be happy to know everyone shares the same hat. All doctors shouldn't even ask about the snorkels we used at the beach...

Pretty Amazing

Monday night we made a trip out for a river cruise to see proboscis monkeys and the fireflies.

This was our transport ... the S.S. Minnow. It was just us and a Queen of Taiwan. At least we think she was either the Queen or very famous given the number of photos that were taken of her. Two men were clicking away constantly. Plus at one point she got bored with the Jungles of Borneo and had to turn on her music so we could all hear.

This prompted Courtney to ask, "Craig, can you hear the monkeys or just the other stuff?" the music went off and we decided the Queen also had a command of the English language at her disposal.
Here is a monkey. These guys are famous for their noses.
We ended up seeing around 50 or so. Pretty cool.
The Jungles of Borneo are full of interesting creatures and stories. Plus it sounds very exotic to say, "The Jungles of Borneo" like we're on the Travel Channel.
Plus, of course, we had food. Once again I was reminded why I don't bother eating crab. Its just too much work. That fish was tasty, though. We got plenty of rice with it!!
The sunset. This is basically what you pay for!! The monkeys and fireflies are free.
Sadly the fireflies can't be seen when you take pictures but if you imagine a nice KY night and multiply the "lightning bugs" by about a million and put them all in one tree, you get some idea. Kind of like your most over-the-top neighbor's Christmas decorations.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we went from this big island to a smaller island for some snorkeling. The boat ride out was Hudson's favorite part.

As soon as we got to the dock the kids got to see some fish. You probably can't see them too well here and we didn't have an underwater camera but trust me when I say it was like Finding Nemo. We saw those little clown fish, starfish, brain coral, and about a hundred other things.
This is Craig trying to channel Baywatch! Isn't he a David Hasselhoff look-a-like? Or is he just exhausted? One important lesson he learned ... when snorkeling in the tropics it turns out its important to put sunscreen on your calves. Craig's are beet red and more than a bit painful.
This was about all Hudson did in the water. Bethany was a real snorkler from the get-go. She was amazing out there!
After 20 years we are still looking pretty good. Right?
For her Mother's Day gift we got Angie some time in this mini sub. You sit inside and go under the water and then to the reef. Craig got to snorkel along, too.
It was pretty crazy. She got hooked to a line down at the bottom and they gave her a bunch of bread so she was swarmed with fish. Then diver would swim away and grab stuff like a starfish and carry it over for her to hold. A pretty nice experience.
Of course a long day in the sun and surf takes its toll on people.
After a bit of rest and some cleaning up, we went out to a nice Italian place here.
Mom and Dad shared the triple ravioli platter.
Hudson was cold and therefore lost the use of his arms. This is the preferred kid-way to eat pasta anyway.
After the pasta we had a bit of ice cream, too. David Hasselhoff has to work hard to keep that girlish figure.
Bethany was having a bit of "ham" with her ice cream.
So, that in a nutshell, was our Mother's Day. Tomorrow the excitement continues ... if the sunburns don't keep us indoors all day long!!

Island Life!

After a plane ride, immigration and all the works, then meeting back up with some friends yesterday we woke up to a hot day in Borneo and got to having a great time.

The kids were in the pool way before noon while Angie got in some shopping. I am not sure who enjoyed themselves more!!
For lunch we got to hang out with the Taliban. There were two guys with awesome beards, long robes, and turbans that I wanted a picture of but they didn't seem like they were up to it. It would have been great, though, having lunch with those guys at the Taliban...
Don't they look like they are having a great time? Angie is loving her short sleeves and capris. After lunch we went to a nice mall and hung out some. Finally we saw the new Star Trek movie which was pretty cool. It was only proper that they got in some cool lines from the show which I will not ruin for you.

The best part of the movie was when they showed James T. Kirk's hometown and showed the big word IOWA on the screen. Bethany leaned over and asked our friend, "What is Iowa?" We give apologies to all our chiropractor friends and Hawkeye fans. I guess that means they are enjoying Asia.

We do have a few USA puzzles and we ensure they know the Bluegrass state by always holding back Kentucky and putting it in last since as Dad always says, "Kentucky is the heart of America." And it is. Without Washington everyone would be better off. Without Kentucky there would be nothing. Just emptiness where meaning used to live.

So even if my kids don't know what Iowa is ... they do know how to navigate international airports and when they hear "visa" they don't think shopping via credit card. Plus they say stuff like, "Are we going back to Singapore soon?" Most elementary kids don't have the opportunity to boldly go where none of their schoolmates have gone before.

Mom pulled her 2nd one.

Hi! It's me again.  Last night mommy pulled my 2nd tooth. Hey what do you know?  I didn't cry! (Actually I really I didn't feel anything)  Anyhoo, 

Ms. Amanda tried to pull it and so did I but we could not do it. I usually get $1.42 in US$.  So thats my 7th tooth.  What was yours like?   Love, Bethany

Bathroom Humor

Over the weekend we encountered this interesting plumbing work-up. Its actually three urinals and instead of the water going out through the piping in the walls for some reason it was changed so all the "water" flowed into one pipe on its way out of the room.
Here was the interesting part. The pipe didn't exactly match up with the drain in the floor. Since the urinals were constantly flushing (i.e. the water was continually running) all that stuff was just rushing into the floor. Caleb said to me, "I feel like I'm just going to the bathroom in the floor." And it was. What you can't see well in this photo is how the water was just rushing all around on the floor near the drain.

The funniest part was when my friend was looking through our pictures on the camera and he got to these. He just looked at me puzzled and said, "Why?"

That sums it up. A white guy taking pictures in the bathroom. What is he thinking?!?

Another Day, Another Zoo

Its been well documented that we like to go to zoos. We got the chance to check out another one over the weekend. It was pretty good, although extremely hot! Plenty of animals and snack places that sell fried rice. Very tasty.

Notice how much scarier Hudson looks than the tiger. Also Hudson is less plastic.
Based on a true story. At some time some part of this animal was actually real. Some folks in a nearby village had a problem with him and the folks from the zoo caught him and he stayed on display for some time. Now he is just a record holder with very poorly done taxidermy.
Separated at birth? We though Caleb and this pony had very similar hairstyles.
I love the walk-through aviary things. This guy was fairly big as bats go. I judge how much bats bother me by how close they fly to my head. You know if they get caught in your hair you'll go insane, right? But they can be HUGE and not bother me if they just hang still.
Of course we had some serious rain fall for a few minutes. If you see how wet Hudson's hair is you'll appreciate the heat more since I can tell you we were sitting down under the roof when the rain started to fall. Hudson is all sweat.

It got a bit crowded when the rain came down.
Since it was Derby day on Saturday we got in a bit of a horse ride.
Slow and steady. Maybe more like the Oaks than the Derby...
Oftentimes when we stop to make a photo, folks ask if they can either join or if they can get one, too. This group of ladies couldn't pass up the chance to bee seen with the famous Bethany and Hudson. If you know Angie you know how it ended. She offered to take their picture so all four ladies could be in the shot.