downtown (Georgetown)

Okay, so this isn't about our first day in Penang, but it's what we did today, and the only one I have pictures of on my computer, and so that's where we'll start!

This morning we headed to Georgetown.  It was a cooler morning, at least at the start, and a perfect day for wandering the old streets.  The street art is super cool.  These three little girls are one of my favorites.

And this scene crafted around an old motorbike.  [Note the flawlessly executed group photo... ha!]

This 'living statue' captured the attention of the little people.  No surprise that John Paul was bold enough to stride right up to the gentleman and have his picture taken.

And these swings, also really fun - they are secured into the wall!

Notice the kids t-shirts!  My cousin Julie's daughter Caroline made these for our five!  so fun!  The kids LOVE them!  This is the first time I've dressed the kids alike for a day like this...  and it definitely has it's perks!  So easy to count these 5 tie dye tshirts!

And it made for a cute photo too :)

Of course, we weren't the only colorful attraction!  Georgetown is a place that assaults all the senses!

[See those goats? Happy New Year and welcome to the year of the goat, huh?]

flowers for sale in Little India

Incense everywhere!

Penang is a mix of ethnic Chinese (Buddhists), Indians (Hindu) and Malay (Muslim).  These young Malay girls were pretty enthralled with Luke.  

And I thought these girls were striking too.

Here's Kate giving a demo called "How to win the Patience Award"

And Uncle Charlie listening to Isaac.  Who never stopped talking.

Stopped for lunch.  A precious row of tie-dye in a booth!

We had a few moments where the natives got restless, but for the most part, they enjoyed the cultural lesson .... or at least remained somewhat interested in their surroundings.

We finished up with a quick stop near Fort Cornwallis and Luke loves to look for boats (Penang is an island, the land in the distance is peninsular Malaysia).

We got home and the kids hit the pool.  We are big big big fans of Uncle Charlie and Aunt Linda's home.... the pool, the backyard, the nearby hiking trails.

More photos and stories to come, who knows when.  This is the first I've bothered to open up the computer since I got here.  But I will be back.

the way we travel

Well, it seems that after 9 years the most challenging flights are behind us (knock on wood!)!!!  Our kiddos travelled like champs!  As our average age grows the trips just get easier!  With any luck our next long-distance driving experience will be similar :)

Our last flight was slightly delayed... but at 7pm when you're waiting on your third flight of the day and hitting travel hour #14.... a slight delay seems more irritating :)  Ha!  It was our only minor hiccup, and the little two boys slept long and hard through touchdown in Penang.  Hallelujah and thank you Dramamine.

We landed and the fun began!  The kids spotted Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie waiting outside of baggage claim and dashed off to meet them!  We finally corralled everyone into bed around midnight and the next day did not disappoint!  Stay tuned!

our last day

Friday night we joined our good friends for dinner.  The kids were all lined up and we realized this is the time of year when they are perfect age stair-steps.... and out came all the phone cameras :)

Our combined troops, ages 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2

Their family is expecting a new baby girl in just a few weeks - and sweet little girl has a looooong line of people waiting to hold her!

And then this morning Matt and I played "divide and conquer" with the last minute errands.  He got to take the kids along on his!  So I snuck in a hair cut and stopped by a few stores.... picked up a few more pairs of goggles too.  Are we the only family who goes through a lot of goggles?

It's goggle feast or famine around here - sometimes more than I can keep track of, other times we're down to just a few pairs.  Oh well.  At least they are cheap and easy to replace.

The kids are brimming with excitement.  The packing of their own personal carry-on started about sixteen seconds after they woke up!  [I had banned any carry-on packing til today - some things are best left til the last minute.]  We're planning a long afternoon of outdoor play and eager to get on the plane early tomorrow morning!

ready for take off

It's been a long week.  I'm ready to get to Malaysia.

I cranked out some packing yesterday and will do more tonight.

We leave Sunday morning and our tickets are hardly the best-possible route.  It's a bit like playing hopscotch to get from here to there, but the tickets were free (well, mostly.... we purchased with points/miles) and it's hard to justify complaining about free tickets :)  So we'll load up the backpacks with some entertainment options and make it work.

And soon, very soon, we will be in warm sunshine, eating mangoes and splashing in the pool!  woohoo!

and the goodbyes came

The last day arrived.  And the hard goodbyes with it.  It's especially hard to see my girls struggle - they are so sad to see Grandma and Grandpa go.  Great encouragement to me this morning in Lamentations.  "though He cause grief He will have compassion, according to the abundance of His steadfast love" (3:22)

What sweet memories we share, it was truly just a great great visit!  One highlight was certainly our time at this fancy fancy hotel!

All the (heated) pools got us thinking about our Malaysia trip!

Poolside dinner :)

Crazy faces.

More swimming - lots and lots of swimming!

The lazy river rowboat ride.  Pretty fun stuff, once I convinced my boating partner (John Paul) that he didn't need to paddle!

our love of construction equipment runs deep

Note any resemblance?!?!

And now Grandma and Grandpa are off to America, and we are dreaming of the next visit already :)  Grandma says maybe when it's warmer!

the things they made

No surprise that our days with Grandma have included a lot of crafting!

Painting for everyone.  We've also been whipping up Valentines by the dozen :)

The sewing machine has been humming!  Lydia made this quilt for her baby doll :)

Time to stock up on some supplies so.... a quick run to the local tailor who also sells a bit of yarn and some fabric.

Julianna's sewed this skirt for herself!  She's tried a few times at making a skirt and this is her first solid win!  She wore it for three days (even to bed!) - proud little girl!  And she should be :)

Matt and Luther have "crafted" a few things too!  Having an extra set of truly handy hands around the house has inspired Matt to get a few things knocked of the to-do list!

They repaired some faulty drawers in the kitchen (yes, the kitchen is less than two years old.  yes, construction quality is a MAJOR issue!)

I can't even count the many other tasks they've helped out with - Jan cleaned my lampshades!

This evening Matt and Luther put together a new toy kitchen for the crew.  I kept hoping our old one would survive til the end (and yes, the girls are growing up, but my boys love to cook too!)  But it just wasn't going to make it..... so a gift from Grandma and Grandpa - many more years of cooking ahead!

And even now Matt and Luther and Jan are out at a hardware store looking for supplies to repair bookshelves!  Visits like these are filling our love tanks and our need tanks and everything in between!

everything is possible. but it's rarely easy.

We moved to this province four years ago.  And we never changed our home address on our drivers licenses.  Mostly because we avoid government bureaucracy like the plague.  Also because we knew several other foreigners who tried to move their licenses to this province and failed... each of them heard the ever-so-helpful "I'm sorry, we can't help.  You'll have to go back to where your license was issued to fix this problem."

Seeing as how returning to the issuing city (in our case, a one hour flight south) to visit yet another government office didn't sound appealing, we dug in our heels, prepped our paperwork, and headed out to get our spot in line.

The clock was ticking.  Our licenses expire in May, and we knew that we couldn't renew them as long as they were still based in our old city.

And we did it!  I got really nervous standing in line (bummer too, since it was a long line, so the butterflies in my stomach just kept churning and churning and churning).  I don't have a history of good experiences in offices like these, and I knew that there was a slight bump in the road I was hoping to travel - long story but not all of my paperwork lined up like it should have since I renewed my US passport recently and my drivers license is linked to my old passport number.  

So when the lady behind the desk said "I'm so sorry, you can't renew yet, you can only renew within a 90 day window of the expiration date... but, I can at least change the data over so that you have a license issued in this province", well, I was elated.  I didn't tell her that Matt and I were the first foreigners we knew of to successfully maneuver this crossroads.  I didn't want to prompt her to go looking for some sort of code we were violating!

We walked out of that government compound with a spring in our step!  One trip to the local police station, one trip to a eye exam clinic at a local hospital, two trips to a photocopy place, one trip to get our photos made, another trip to pick up the printed photos, and two hours at the drivers license office this morning all added up to success!

Of course, we still have to go back in April to do the actual renewal.  And we'll have to retrace our steps - again visiting the police station and the eye exam clinic - but the actual renewal should be a lot less complicated!

We celebrated with a quick lunch.  And a sigh of relief.

[Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa were here to man the fort at home!]

with the boys

We are soaking up every minute with Grandpa and Grandma.  Luke is like a shadow, chasing Grandpa around the house.  Oh, and talking his ear off.  Luke can talk.  [We are still waiting for a 'quiet child'.  ha!]

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the boys and their grandparents.

Figuring things out!  John Paul is a thinker, a watcher, a listener.  He doesn't miss much.  Ever.

Luke and Grandma in matching shirts.  Who knew?

While Isaac was still in school (he's now on break until early March), Luther stepped right in and started taking Isaac and picking him up at noon.   Here they are in his classroom with her teacher.

Showing Grandpa the lego-ropes!

Today Grandma watched the littlest two while the rest of us hit the dentist.  Big win for me :)  Those little boys aren't dentist office material :)

bigger and fancier

You might think you live near a big fancy mall.  But no matter how big and how fancy your mall is.... well, I'm pretty sure mine is bigger and fancier :)

I'm hardly one to take pride in my mall.  I'm not much of a shopper, or a movie watcher, or a foodie.  So I like this one mainly for the wow factor.  First up, it's huge.  The mall is part of the second largest building in the world.  This is the atrium area.  The building also houses an indoor water park, two hotels (or maybe three?) and who knows what else.  It's just enormous.

It's also fancy.  Or gaudy.  Pick your adjective.  The gold plated escalator with aquarium scenes running up the side takes you directly to the fourth floor.

At the top you can walk a glass bridge and peer down - way down - on the shoppers below.

The mall is home to our new favorite indoor play land.  We visited for John Paul's birthday and returned with Grandma and Grandpa.

I really like this play land because it appeals to all of my kids, the olders and the youngers.  One ticket in and you have unlimited access to everything.  Including the carousel

and bumper cars.

At ten a.m. on a Wednesday we were their only customers.  Pretty sweet.

Down in the basement is a yummy western restaurant.  We ate lunch together and then walked around some more "big and fancy" before returning to the play land for a few more bites of fun.

And then that evening, just to show that we're not "all big, all fancy, all the time", we ate dinner across the street from our complex.  This restaurant isn't big, or fancy.  It isn't even heated (temps in the mid 40s and the windows are open! hello!).  But it is yummy.

And you can't beat the location!

{Yes, I am cooking while Grandma and Grandpa are here! But we've been eating out more than normal!  It's fun to show them some of our favorite restaurants and let them taste a little local cuisine too!}

together again

Nothing like having the grandparents in town to encourage lots of dates :)  Last week Matt and I went out for dinner.  This week we went for something a little bit longer.... left on Friday morning and returned Saturday noon.  We booked a hotel and walked around an area of town we haven't visited before.  

We talked and planned and discussed and laughed and spent hours in conversation.  It was wonderful.  Our hotel bumped us to the club floor and we had club lounge access, so we basically hung out on the 29th floor, snacking and talking and enjoying the peace and quiet of uninterrupted conversation.  Both of us got some treadmill/pool time and went for a late night downtown walk and slept late too.  

It was a sweet treat.  For the kids too.  And now we are together again.  I felt a bit like a deer in headlights for the first hour.  So many voices, so many conversations, so much to re-engage with.  But it just confirmed it is so good for me to get away!  

One thing we decided is that we want to get some input and eval from a speech language pathologist for this little man.  John Paul is doing amazing.  He talks like a champ.  But he still has some significant struggles and lack of clarity in his speech.  So we're hoping we can see a SLP somewhere in country (unfortunately not in our city) and get some professional input and benchmarks, an objective opinion and some pointers as to where we are headed from here.  Honestly, he seems to be making consistent and significant forward progress.  We just want to make sure we cover all our bases.

Looks like the two of us will be headed out on a little trip sometime in the next month or two.  We'll see how it all works out.

in the meantime, I'm grateful for the time away.  and glad to be all together again.

a ski trip (yep!)

Matt's been dreaming of a little ski trip.... we got a taste of mountains and snow the day after Christmas and he was ready to go back!  I'm a big fan of him taking a day off work (yay Matt!) and hanging out with friends and spending good time with his Dad, so the trip sounded like a solid win to me too!

[Only a slight bummer that I would have loved to see the blue skies and smelled the mountain air and gazed on those beautiful peaks.  I'm not much of a skier, but I'm thinking it might be worth the drive regardless.]

This area is called "nine peaks mountain".  I'm thinking the name came from the mountain dominating the background of this photo?

Seems the day was full of fun and friends and decent skiing.

Luther enjoyed himself too.  Sat on the deck of the ski lodge in sunshine and crisp air and took photographs of the people and places around him.

Grandma and I held down the fort here at home.  Not quite as exciting but plenty of fun here :)

to make a donut

As a child Matt loved eating his Grandma Ruth's donuts.  Well, he still loves eating them as an adult!  Grandma Ruth is out of the donut making business these days, but Grandma (Matt's mom) is helping carry on the tradition... she learned how to make Grandma Ruth's donuts, then brought the recipe and know-how with her on this trip.

Like most every recipe, there's a bit of behind the scenes work before you can actually get started on the recipe.  This time we needed to make our own animal lard.  Those of you who know me well can imagine how this settled with me :)  He he!  I was excited to eat donuts, and thankful Matt could learn the recipe, but rendering lard is not gonna become a treasured hobby.

First up, purchasing some animal fat.  Pig is the meat of choice around here, and my house helper headed off to the market with Grandma, Grandpa and the kiddos.

They brought home an enormous bag of pig fat and got to work.  Luckily, ayi (my helper) knew exactly what she was doing.  Rinse the fat, cut it into smaller pieces, plop it in the wok and turn on the heat.

As the fat liquified it turned yellow and crispy chunks of cracklin bits floated to the top.  Ayi delicately picked out the bits and we dumped the liquid lard into a soup pot.

The process was fairly simple.  The smell was atrocious.  Thinking that this very lard was going to be used in the donut making process ..... my stomach churned.  (to spoil the ending of this story, the donuts were delicious!  despite the queasy stomach while rendering lard.)

Sunday morning we were expecting a nice crowd of folks.... seemed like the perfect time to fry up some donuts!  So Matt and Jan got to work.  [Part of our kitchen cabinetry is missing from the pic - Matt and Luther halfway through some repairs when the picture was taken.]

Frying up yumminess!

Julianna and Lydia got in on the donut-making as well.  And in the end?  Well, we had a big pile of donuts!

We polished off many dozens that morning, and stored the rest in the freezer (disappearing quickly too!)

Just one of the many fun things we've been up to with Grandma and Grandpa in town!

gray skies (what pollution does to a skyline)

This winter our AQI (air quality index) numbers are gross.  Just. plain. gross.  There are some days (many days?) when I wish I didn't know the number.  But it's not like the number is my only clue.  Anyone can look at this sky and realize that something is bad wrong with the air.

Grossly high AQI numbers make me grateful for our air purifiers.  At least we spend most of our time most of our days inside a home where the air is clean.  (Matt also runs a smaller unit in his office, and wears a mask when he bikes.  We haven't taken the plunge into masks for the kids.  yet.  but we do try to limit - somewhat - outdoor activity on bad days.)

On the worst days you can smell the air - it smells like burning chemicals!  (told you it was gross!)

This isn't the happiest post, but if this blog is a place where I record bits and pieces of our lives... well, this can't be left out.  It's not our favorite, but it's part of our reality.  

winter break

The girls are officially done with the fall semester at local school!

Even though we've been school-ies in the local system for a while this feels like a big achievement to me!  We did it!  One entire semester of local elementary school!

The mantra continues to be: not easy, but worth it.  We - not just the girls, but me, the rest of the family - we all learn so very much from our foray into the local school system.  In recent years it has been, without a doubt, the biggest hardest learning curve for me, and it continues to give me glimpses into life and culture that I'm not sure I would have gotten elsewhere.

So we'll press onward.  The spring semester starts up on March 2nd, and we will be there, uniform on, backpack full, ready for whatever the spring holds.  We're gearing up for Isaac enrolling in first grade this fall at the elementary school, and starting to talk to the preschool administration about starting the little boys a few mornings a week in March.

And for now?  It's winter break!  Still homeschooling, but with more time to cover our bases since the afternoons are free.

I love this picture of Lydia running towards Grandpa on the last day of school!  She always runs to me, curls flying and backpack bouncing!