Finally a Birthday Post

Birthdays are so big around here they can't be contained to only one day. So we got started on Caleb's with a Friday's lunch on Friday. Since it was a national holiday here we practically had the place to ourselves.

Look at that excitement. Angie is a good gift-giver.
As the family's fastest and most voracious reader a Kindle was a big hit. Now we only need enough money to buy the books to fill it up.
Technology is like that, draws lots of attention. Sadly, the wi-fi at TGIF was down and we had to wait on most of the playing.
We didn't have to wait for dessert, though, which was tasty.
One thing there, though, is you have to earn your birthday treat by standing on a chair and singing a bit. Hudson was the only person I've seen get out of it.
We had a bit of El Mazatlan fun. Since there were no Mexicans around to slap a sombrero on Caleb, play a 3-string guitar, and sing wildly off key -- we had to do it ourselves. Minus the hat, guitar, and singing.
On our trips to our TGIF, we sit in this same booth 90% of the time. Not a great view of the TV which was more important than ever since our satellite TV is now turned off in prep for our return to the US in a couple of weeks.
On the actual birthday we got in some paintball that didn't go nearly as planned and ended with Caleb being shot in the back of the head from just a few feet away by some crazy Chinese guy.
Then we went for some Indian food and after waiting a long time for Dad to return from dropping off our broken car, we got a cab home only to realize Dad left the house keys with the car at the garage. So after an hour of everyone sitting outside and waiting the keys arrived home and the day could progress.

We had a small BBQ with just a bit of rain (thankfully the big rain held off to while we were eating) and the day continued to improve with some cheesecake!

Man you know you are getting older when the candles put off that much light. You could feel the heat from 10 feet away!!
So that was it. Our special guy having his 14th birthday!

The Washer Is In

On Monday the movers pronounced that the washer would not fit into the utility room. I was pretty sure it would but didn't feel the need to press the issue just then.

Finally on Wednesday we found enough time to work on it (notice this was one of my sweaty shirt times from the post earlier this week). My idea was to take off the outer metal casing and give it a go since when you put the washer up against the door frame it practically fell in.

So we loosed some screws and even at one point poured dish washing liquid down the two sides and lo and behold guess what...

It wasn't that the washer was too big it was that whoever painted put way too much paint on the door frame. Once we got the washer wedged in good and Angie got a running start, then thing went right in! (Note: I don't think the dish liquid helped much with the washer but expedited the clean-up.)
So there you have it, no more drop-off laundry for us!!
Another thing I learned the good ole USA does better is door hinges. That door had six hinge pins: one in the top and one in the bottom of each hinge. Totally lame and WAY too much extra work. The hinge company people sold folks here a bill of goods. One long hinge pin is better any day.

BTW, this isn't my worst move-in issue with a washer. That would involve some linoleum and a *slight* tear in a floor.

Making Due

There is something awesome about moving that gets your creative juices flowing. Or necessity is the mother of invention. Or you can't stand between Craig and his cereal. So any old bowl and (if necessary) a big wooden decorative spoon can get the job done. Thankfully at least one normal spoon was to be had the morning after the move.

Packing...

After being gone for three years, we're preparing to be back in the USA in a couple of weeks. One struggle is the packing. For the life of me I can't remember how many shirts a man sweats through each day in November and December in KY. How many shirts should I be packing?!?

This one was a victim of our washer not being hooked up yet. It got soaked through then dried three different times today.

New Place

We got moved into our new place today. On Friday we met the landlord to get the keys and were more than a bit surprised to be handed a set of almost 25 plus some cards and remotes. This count does not include various keys hanging on pegs around the house. And to think I was excited when we built our house in KY and the front and back doors had the same key!

I feel more than a bit like a janitor.

The big reveal!

Caleb has been letting his hair get a tad bit long since we have been living overseas. He was a little disappointed to learn he would need to get his hair cut before we went back to the states for six months.


He went to the "saloon" and decided to go for broke.



Doesn't he look handsome???

Hanging in the Village

Its always a great time when we go see Auntie and try to see the monkeys. This time when we arrived there were a load of people around so it was even better.

The girls love Sherrill since they really like the way she smiles with her shoulders. I'm sure Tyra understands what I mean.
This little lady was a big surprise since normally older folks don't speak much English--her English was awesome. Plus she is the kind of small older lady who talks and everyone else has to be still and listen. I love that old people have that kind of power here.

The Big Celebration Dinner

We had it at Chili's. Maybe not the most creative but they have chips and salsa with free refills! Well, technically the bottomless package costs around $3 but its pretty worth it! Its sort of priceless to hear a Nepali (did you know its not Nepalese) guy ask if you want your chips refilled so many times he is embarrassed for you.

So smiles all around as we chow and chow and appreciate what we've given up and what we've gained as well.
Southeast Asian salsa does make me severely miss Mexican restaurants!!
It was most likely coincidence that had us in nearly the same color shirts. Angie gets frustrated that if someone wears a shirt too much like mine that I'll change but that is how I roll.

After the Pizza

So it must have been some sort of madness that led me to leave the pizza place and within 30 minutes find myself suspended upside down on some amusement ride. This was a forward-spinning, backward-spinning, leaving you hanging upside down and wondering why you would do a thing like this to yourself so soon after eating pizza sort of ride.

Bethany and Hudson had no problems with the spinning and bumping, though. They had a great time in the smaller-guy section.
One amazing thing about being in a basically deserted amusement park is that you can just ride and ride and ride. They literally stayed on these bumper cars for around 20 minutes. It was fatiguing just to watch much less to drive.

Sorry no photos are available of Caleb but none of his rides went slow enough to allow for photography. He did have a good enough time though to toss his cookies. Now that caps a fun day at the amusement park!!

Celebration

We tried to do a decent job of celebrating our third anniversary in Asia and so we'll have a few posts over the next few days about that.

The first one features our first visit to Papa Johns in Asia! It been a while since we got to enjoy any peperoncinis. Its nice to be in a family where you compliment one another (i.e. some only eat the delicious peppers and some only eat that nasty dipping stuff).

This dude was not really much of a model. Seriously he couldn't hit his marks. We had to do this "serving the first piece" shot over and over but he finally got it right.
Happiness all around as we wait out the pizza.
This sort of reminded me of being a kid myself and watching the pizza being made at Bonnie and Clyde's on Greenwood Road in Louisville.
Hard to lose when its pepperoni pizza. Even when you have to choose between beef and chicken pepperoni. (We're certainly looking forward to some real pepperoni).
See, now, that is a model. A real one-shot wonder! No retakes for Bethany!

Tomorrow we'll show you where we headed after the pizza. It wasn't the best idea in hindsight...

You Get What You Pay For

The other day I was supposed to bring home some ice cream and desiring to go the extra mile, I got some cones as well. Now these cones are obviously advertised as "Mini Cones" and so perhaps I should have been prepared.

But when I busted these guys out to fill them with ice cream there was little filing to be done. VERY LITTLE filing to be done.
You could fill these tiny cups with a tea spoon. I wanted to get a picture of one with a scoop of ice cream on top but it was literally too small to hold a scoop up. I thought it would look like a baby or something. You know small body and a huge wobbly bulb on top but the cone couldn't even manage that. I suppose they been good for weight loss if nothing else.

Humango Slide

Earlier this week we spent a day celebrating the fact that we have officially lived in Asia for three years. For Bethany and Hudson this included riding on this huge slide that had lots of modifiers. It's a huge slide and it's indoor and it's a tube slide, etc. When you put enough conditions, we're all special (i.e. The World's Best Dad Currently Wearing a Blue Shirt and No Shoes and Sweating Alot).
It was a long way down and so Caleb waited t the bottom 4 floors away.
Hudson is much more excited about going than he lets on. They paid for their own tickets since Dad thought $4 was a bit steep (pun intended).
And the action shots!! Rocketing down its Hudson above and Bethany below. Breath-taking, if only for a minute.

Still no internet!

We waited all day and now it is 9:15pm and we still have no internet, but here we are sitting in another restaurant enjoying free wi-fi, ice lemon tea and kaya toast. What could be better? Oh yea, internet at home. :-) You may be wondering where the kids are. Caleb and Hudson stayed at home to play Wii and Bethany is at ballet. Maybe tomorrow we can get a photo of them.

Soaking it up

Here we are soaking up the free wi-fi at an Indian joint. If you've ever been to see us, you've been here. If you're coming soon, you will be here, too!!

Internet Tak Ada

So we scheduled for our internet to be cut off on Oct 31st before we move but they got on the ball and cut it for us on Oct 11th.

After talking to 10 people on the phone it was determined the local boss would call me. When she didn't I determined it was time for me to go in and wait them out. After I arrived the lady at the desk said something closely related to, "Oh, its you. Wait for a while." ("Wait for a while" is the local equivalent of "hang on a sec.")

So the boss met me and explained it was totally their fault, they ignored my application for cancellation and cut the service too soon. Then she explained that I could have my internet reconnected but now the policy is that internet connection requires a one-year contract.

I tried around 15 times to convince her that I didn't need a new contract but only wanted to have my old contract back. She was unmoved and explained that "in America" you can probably do something like that but here "there is a process."

Isn't that awesome? A process. It is nice to see how things like utilities are the same world-wide. Pay your deposit immediately--get your refund "in up to three months." Apply for service wait a week. Cancellation? "Today also can do!"

So, its a nice cultural learning time and gets me out of the house more. But I look like these other dorks who sit for hours playing Farmville on Facebook. Not too proud of that.

Anniversary

Saturday is the third anniversary of the day we hit the ground in Asia. Pretty amazing its gone so fast (Or is it...?).

The boxes arrived

Then soon after they arrived they were transformed into a living room fort.
Which was a lot of fun and thankfully was disassembled quickly!