Tuesday, 10 January 2012

Good-Bye Singapore - Hello Phuket!


Pretty in Plaid!
"Good-Marnin' Good-Marnin" my family always says.  (No special reason - We just say and do some wierd stuff!)  Anyhow!  Well, today is the day we leave Singapore and head to Phuket Thailand.  Unintentionally, when I had laid out the kids outfits for the morning (marnin') - There was a sea of plaid.  Erica quickly made the observation that she was the ONLY child without plaid shorts and PROMPTLY dug through her suitcase to find something to make her look more like one of "The Fam."  Well, as it goes, we had to "check out" of our hotel a few hours before we actually needed to be at the airport. 

Good-Bye Goodwood Park Hotel

Hmmm...now what shall we do!?  We staged our bags at the hotel and then set off on foot to determine how we wanted to spend our time.

As we walked, we hit the jackpot and found candy canes for Daddy.  No Cheez-Its for Mommy though.  Drat.  Guess I will have to wait and get those when I get home to the US.  (Blessed Day that shall be!)   As we walked, nature called.  (That happens a lot when you've got four kids that never seem to synchronise their bladders to the same elimination schedule!)

It never ceases to crack me up when you find "signs" in the public bathrooms.  Sometimes they are lovely "pictorials" on how to use the "closet"  (see my post from October entitled Toilet Etiquette) other times just a simple note gets the point across.

   Well put.

They've seen the other two Chipmunk movies and were psyched when we told them we had enough time to see Chip-Wrecked!


After heeding the advice written here...

They all jumped in line to take their turn to pose with Alvin, Simone (you'll get that joke it you've seen the movie!) and Theodore. (I think David might be assaulting Alvin...or maybe he's just giving him the Bird!? Hahaha)
The Movie Theatre was into the theme of things, aye?!
TIME TO SHOP!!


Thank You.  I plan to!
Really!?  I Mean...Really!

Maybe they should've posted a sign for this woman that said, "Belts Sold Here"  or how about "Don't Do Crack!"  My poor children had to have their eyes bleached after being eye witnesses to this woman and her thong-tha-thong-thong-thong.  I MEAN REALLY!!!  (But aren't you so proud of me that I walked by her like a champ and got a picture!?  Head facing west.  Arm extended to the east.  Apply steady pressure to the little silver button.  With a click and a flash & the use of my super zoomie lense....I got my photo!)  Instead of being all secret agent I should have just yelled out,  "Hey You!  Yeah, You!  The one with your Keester hanging out - Can ya get your Happy Hiney to say Cheeeeese for me?!"

Break Time
Lunch Time
Merry Christmas!!
It's the little things that mean sooo much!  DD we miss you so!
David's Tree!
From the moment we arrived in Singapore - David was in love with this tree.  Love at first sight.  Whenever we would go whizzing by it in a taxi he would ask, "Please can we take a picture of that tree?!"  SO!  When you've got plenty of time to kill waiting for your flight to depart - You go find that tree by Golly and get him his picture!

Wouldn't ya know it - It rained every afternoon while we were in Singapore.  Not for a long time but when I say it rained...well, that's the understatement of the YEAR (and the Year was almost over...so that's a BIG statement!)  It was a POURING, SOAKING, DRENCHING rain and wouldn't you know that when we were about a two minute walk away from the hotel to collect our suitcases and head to the airport...YEP!  You guessed it - The Heaven's opened and the buckets came rushing down!  Now what?!  There's no way you can make a dash for it even though you can see the hotel right in front of you!  Matt ran into a 7-11 and purchased a big green, orange and white umbrella that said 7-11 all over it!  (Sa-Weet!  Always wanted one of those puppies!) and proceeded to give each and everyone of the kids a piggy back ride up the hill to the hotel.  By the time it was my turn - I opted for no piggy back ride (that mighta just killed the ole boy!) and so I happily hoofed it next to him but that umbrella was showing signs of fatigue now as the rain was starting to seep through the material as well.  The kids were shocked to see I didn't melt in the rain (wicked witch thing, ya know?!)  We went to the bathroom and used the hand dryers to try to dry off our duds a little bit and then we hopped into the taxi and off to the airport we went. 
The kids were all delighted to find these "free" foot massagers in the airport.  Well, as you can see only having two massagers and four children was creating a problem.  Matt and I rose to the occasion and you will witness firsthand some of the BEST parenting on the block.  Yeah.  No.  We sat idly by and acted like maybe we were kinda-sorta-maybe gonna get involved but in all honesty - We just let the chips fall where they may and let the children take matters into their own hands. 
FANTASTIC FOOTAGE!

David bracing himself for a Brotherly Beat-Down!

We all boarded the plane without a hitch but before we even took off - Things took a turn for the worse! :/  Matt, Michael and David were seated together.  The aisle separated us and then me, Rachel & Erica sat together.  David made some comment about not feeling well and without really even giving it a second thought (Kinda like giving out the token band-aid just to pacify a whiner) I opened up a motion-sickness bag and handed it across the aisle to him.  Next thing I know, he's doing the pre-puke-cough.  Hack Hack YACKKKKK!  Oh Gosh!  Luckily, he was a very quiet puker - I slapped Matt on the arm and gave the assertive directional head nod to indicate LOOK DOWN AT DAVID and as I am holding his puke bag I mouth to Matt..."HE'S PUKING!!!"  Matt looks at me in disbelief and says, "Oh my word!   How'd he get a puke bag!"  (Just call me Magical Momma!)  Truly.  It was an act of God b/c I honestly have no legit reason why I passed him that bag.  Thank You Jesus for allowing me to listen to that soft sweet voice in my head that said, "Give the Boy a Barf Bag!"

Not to bog you down into too many of the details - I don't want anybody to find themselves dry heaving as you are reading this!  Haha!  I would say he proceeded to puke no less than another 5 times while on our flight to Phuket.  We had one REAL close call where he told me he wanted to go to the bathroom.  I walked to the back of the plane with him and of course we are greeted by the red OCCUPIED light.  "Oh, Please People!  This kid is going to toss his salad again!"  He's moaning and flops down on the floor.  I'm thinking, "This is it.  Here he goes, again."  Luckily, he made it into the bathroom but within seconds I could here him crying.  I pried open the door and through sobs he managed to tell me, "I pooped my pants!"  "It's okay Son.  It happens to the best of us" ;0) Then I had the delightful feat of trying to wedge my ginormous hide into that wee-little bathroom along with David.  It was a moment I shant soon forget!  He was doing 180's (comin' out both ends)!  One minute he's hugging the bowl the next he's King on the Throne of this little closet! ;0)  My Poor Baby!  When we were finally able to leave the bathroom and made our way back to our seats - Matt looked at me with ghostly eyes and said, "WHAT HAPPENED?!"  To which I replied, "Do you really want to know?!"  "I know it's not good b/c you were back there WAY too long!"  I flatly replied...."We had to leave his underwear behind."  "Ooh!  THAT bad, huh?!"  Yup!  THAT BAD!  Thank God it wasn't a "commando" day or then we really would have been in trouble!

He spent his moments sleeping, then puking, then sleeping, then watching t.v., then puking....It was NUTS!
As we departed the plane Matt and I were snatching up barf bags from the empty rows we passed.  All six of us stopped in the taxi hallway outside of the aircraft to let the other passengers go by while David dry heaved and then hurled into his bag....again!  THANK GOD we grabbed extras bags
 on our way out!
 Late Night Arrival In Phuket
We managed to figure out transportation and switch some of our Singapore $$ into Thai baht & then we were off to the hotel.  David sat on my lap and hurled ONE MORE time into one of those
fabulous-life-saving-airline-bags & then slept the remainder of the 45 minute drive to our hotel. 
Gone-Zo on one of the sofas in the hotel lobby.
I am happy to report that we whisked Little Barf Boy into the shower upon check-in and tucked him snuggly into the extra bed in our room and never heard another peep out of him & most importantly, that was the END of his puking!  PHEW and WELCOME TO PHUKET!

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Sensational Singapore!

Yesterday we may have been eating supper with the locals but today is a new day and we started it off -  American Style!  Iced Peppermint Mocha Coffees at Starbucks for Mommy & Daddy and breakfast at Micky Donald's (as Michael calls it!) for the kids.

Starbucks in Singapore!  WOO-HOO!

Never has a fat saturated, heart attack inducing, Sausage McMuffin with egg EVER tasted so good!  It really was a bit sad - The way the six of us scarfed down our food in record time like a bunch of starving refugees!  Nah.  Just some homesick foodies from America.  After breakfast, we decided we would see if we could figure out the public transportation thing.  It turned out to be super easy and the cleanliness left us speechless!

A nice woman took us under her wing and when we asked how much to ride the bus - She literally took out her pocketbook and started to give us her change!

  Rachel going into SHOCK due to the extreme kindness!

Outside the shopping mall by the bus stop.
Coins for David
I think I have enough to ride the bus!?
Matt waiting at the front of the bus & watching for our stop.

The people on the bus go "bump, bump, bump!"
A proud & shining moment.  Matt stops to gloat b/c it was HIS idea to take the bus!
Daver LOVES his dolphins!

Posing in the Park

The OCEAN!!  Yay!
We were a family on a mission!  We made our way to the beach...of course the kids wanted to SWIM but Daddy and I had other plans.  We'll have to save that for NEXT time!
If we had stumbled upon the Hatch Shell - I would've sworn we were in Boston! Well, sorta. Except for the palm trees and it was WAY hotter! Haha! 
 Aha!  BIKE rentals! 
That's what Mom & Dad were looking for!

Now that we got our bikes...Next mission?!  LUNCH!
It doesn't get much "fresher" than this, Kids!

The selection process was a bit daunting!


Showing Daddy our Scary Fish Faces!!


Fascinating

They gave us each a little bowl to wash our hands in (Rachel's doing what sisters do...badger their little brothers...all in good fun, right?!)
David figured out how to use his chopsticks ;0)
Struggling too!
Quick!  Eat it before you drop it!
Got it!!!
Frog Legs got a mixed review from Rachel

 Michael lovin' the frog legs!

Disgusted at the thought of it - She agrees to try this tiny little morsel....Of course, once she tried the frog legs - She liked them!

Now David's turn!  (He like them too!)

Chili Crab
 You're looking at one happy New Englander...he's missed his seafood since moving to India.
After lunch we hopped back on our bikes (we needed the exercise after all that food!  WOW!)  Rachel got a flat tire and Michael swooped in as "Hero Brother" and rescued her by riding her broken down bike all the way back to the rental shop.  Such a nice brother!!  However, I think Rachel regrets letting him help b/c she'll never hear the end of it.  He holds it over her head and brings it up to his advantage whenever he can squeeze it in.  Heehe!

It was a toasty day and the kids were so happy when they bumped into some people at the park passing out FREE ice cold drinks. (It was a marketing ploy...some new African fruit drink that had only been in Singapore for a couple of months.)
Chuggin' it down!

Then it was time to get back to the hotel for a quick family "power nap" b/c we had a big night planned back at the Singapore Zoo....The Night Safari!!! 

 One of our favourite attractions at the Night Safari was the
FIRE SHOW!!!

WOOOO-HOOOOO!

This poor Bugger from the audience got dragged onto the stage.

They told him to take off his shirt (Of course, I let out a Woot-Woot...gotta give the 'Ole Chap a little confidence in himself, right?!)  I mean my confidence would be in the crapper and I'd be crippled by embarrassment too if I got called up onto stage in front of all those people in what appeared to be my UNDERWEAR!!!  I know!  It's a fashion emergency!  Those are his shorts not his skivvies!!  Wee-Oo-Wee-Oo-Woo-Oo  (That's my Fashion Police Siren!)  YIKES! 

Although he may have been a bit fashioned challenged he was a GREAT sport and I would have never trusted these crazy-fire-breathin-whack-o's!  With multiple near miss Michael Jackson "flaming-Pepsi-hair" moments they somehow managed to put on a great show without turning themselves or anyone else to ASH!

We never did figure out what they were "Puff-the-Magic-Dragoning" out of their mouths?!  Alcohol, maybe?!  I don't know...it smelled like MOTOR-OIL!?  We determined that if the flames don't kill him that toxic TNT juice he's slurpin' most certainly will slay him! 

Notice the guy in the background - filling his cheeks full of magical fire fluid!
 They were blowing fumes all over tarnation! 

Getting ready to start our journey into the
 "Mystical" Night Kingdom.
Posing with one of the magical creatures from the Night Safari

Jelly Fish hanging from the sky!


All sorts of unique illuminations to light the pathway

One of the coolest things we got to witness during the Night Safari was watching a jungle cat go fishing for her supper!  She stood perched on the water's edge.  Watching.  Silent.  Her head would swivel back and forth as she would scan what was lurking below the rambling water service.  Then all of the sudden....BAM!  She lept across the trickling brook of water and SPLASHED into the water and came out with DINNER in her mouth!  I couldn't believe it!  I thought cats didn't like water!?  All I expected to see was her to stick her lightning fast paw into the rushing water and snag a fish or something!?  So when she went PLUNGING...Her Whole Body...into the water we all GASPED!  It was so shocking and so exciting! 

We also got to see rhinos taking mud baths and lions wrestling and playing with one another.  My least favourite portion was the flying squirrels and the bat exhibit!  I think ALL SIX of us might have hit the deck and screamed at least once!?! 

Time to say "Good Night and Good-Bye" to the Singapore Zoo!

Although the jungle might have been WIDE AWAKE it was time for these diurnal creatures to head back to the hotel.  We are heading to Phuket Thailand tomorrow! 

Thursday, 5 January 2012

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

I know some of you that follow my blog are not on Facebook (which really is a tragedy) but that's an entirely different subject all together.  I LOVE Facebook.  That's all I'm gonna say.

So, anyhow, here is one of my recent Facebook Posts:

Most days I see the "silver lining" ... try not to complain, find the good (or at least the humor) in my current situation but today I crumbled. Emotionally drained today. I think my exact words to my husband were, "Today, I hate it. I hate it all!" Sigh. Not one of my brighter moments. BUT!!! I'll bet ya my bottom dollar that the sun will come up tomorrow. Chin up. I'm fine. Sometimes ya just have "one of those days" ya know?!


Luckily, currently, as in right now at this very moment, I'm feeling a lot happier then I was when I posted that message.  Kinda makes me think of a story in the Bible.  Maybe you are familiar with it?  The Story of Peter Walking on the Water?!  You can find the story in the Bible in Matthew 14:22-33 but here is the Jenny from the B'Block version (seriously, make sure you read the REAL version and not just mine b/c I'll probably mess it up!) 

Peter was part of an exclusive group of 12 men that followed Jesus everywhere.  In this particular story Peter is out in a boat with the other 12 disciples when a terrible storm comes over the sea.  (I'm thinking Deadliest Catch kinda stormy seas!!)    The disciples are afraid for their lives but they are also afraid b/c they think they see a ghost out on the water!!  "ACK!  Come on!  Guys!  Who believes in ghosts?!  You should know better than to let your mind run away like that!"  Well, then...what was this ghost?!  It was Jesus!  He is afterall God's son - So rather than hopping in a boat to catch up with the disciples well, He just decides He'll just walk across the sea to meet up with His 12 friends. 

Jesus calls out to them in his "Don't Worry - Be Happy" voice,  "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid!"  Now.  I'm not really sure if Peter was just your average over achiever.  Maybe a bit of a loud mouth?  You know that "Hey Look at Me-Show-Offy type?  Or maybe he was legitimately true of heart and I've mistaken his, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water."  I picture Peter trying to make a good impression on his "boss" and looking around at all the other shmucks in the boat and thinking, "You sissies!  I'm not afraid!  Watch this!"  Meanwhile, Jesus simply beckons Peter to "Come". 

I'd be one of the sceptical-fraidy-cat men on boat saying to Peter, "Zoinks, Man!  I-I-I-i-i-i-it's a Ghost!  Don't do it!  Don't leave the boat!"  But not Peter.  He literally stepped out of the boat, out into the tumultuous raging waters of the sea to walk to Jesus.   I'm not exactly sure what went through Peter's mind and I may have him pegged completely wrong.  Could he have been a thrill junkie?  You know, one of those crazy adrenaline hounds that is always looking for their next big "high".  Of Jesus' 12 disciples - Maybe Peter was the Bear Grylls of the group?!  Always up for an adventure?  I mean this might have been the adventure of a lifetime - A fishing trip that turned into a supernatural Ghost sighting and now the offer to WALK on water?!  Peter was probably looking around that boat thinking, "DUDES! What did we pay for this tour anyhow?!  This is amazing!!  Did you just hear Him?  He said I can walk on the WATER!!  Forget that....CANNONBALL!!!

Okay.  Told you that you better read the real version b/c I just got slightly derailed...Back to the real version.  The Bible doesn't mention cannonballs or any crazy water entrance just simply that Peter exited the boat to walk out to Jesus.  Wow!  That's amazing faith, huh?!  I wonder how far he got?  The Bible does say that when he (Peter) noticed his surroundings he was afraid and he began to sink!  He held out his hand to Jesus and He saved him.  The Bible doesn't say how they got back to the boat just that when they were inside the ship the storm stopped.  Amazing.

So, why have I brought up this story from the Bible?  Well, because I feel like I've had a very "Peter" week.  One of my friends, Helen, stated it very well this week when she wrote that India is a "very colorful, crazy, curious and chaotic country."  In all honesty, sometimes it can all be a bit overwhelming, daunting and frustrating.  This week....I really had to fight off discouragement with the 'ole one-two punch.

Just like Peter though I am realising - If I focus in on my current surroundings (For Peter it was the stormy sea, for me, it is My India) there are times when I feel it...I'm sinking.  Nay, even drowning, perhaps!!  But then, if I stop thrashing around - I realize, He's there.  Calm.  Steady.  My Saviour.  Just waiting for me to "KNOCK IT OFF!" so He can rescue me.   He's right here with me.  He always is it's just a matter of whether I'm allowing Him to work through me or if I'm just trying to accomplish everything on my own (very BAD idea!) but I do it time and time again.  Through good days and bad days...my feelings and emotions change by the minute.  Not My Jesus.  He's a fortress.  Steady.  Unchanging.  PHEW!!  What a relief!

Back in the day, Whoopie Goldberg starred in a movie called Sister Act 2 and at the time there was a relatively unknown young actress/singer named, Lauryn Hill that blew my mind.  She along with Tanya Blount sing one of my favourite songs of all time!  An old hymn called, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow"  Powerful and amazing song.  It puts my mind in the "right" place.  Total Goose Bumps!!  Man!!!  This song touches my heart every SINGLE time to think that yes, He sees and watches over even the tiny little sparrow and how much greater His love and care is for ME....for YOU!



Thank You God for your care.  Your protection.  Being unwavering when I'm an emotional disaster.  Thank you that tomorrow is a new day and that by your grace - It'll be a GREAT day!