Mother and Daughter at the Petronas Towers

One Malaysia!

From our hotel room looking down on Devin and Nevi swimming in the pool

KL

Old KL

KL

We spent the whole day walking all over KL. We shopped a bit, walked, explored, ate, walked, shopped, ate....it was hot...crowded in places...humid...and fun! This was an example of the hot...

Nevi in the fabrics which FILL Little India~

fountains in the center near the government buildings...a refreshing spray!

Shopping...

Kuala Lumpur

After Malacca we drove about 2 hours to the capitol city: Kuala Lumpur. This is called a hawker market....tons of food stalls and some of the most interesting and delicious food choices EVER!

fresh fish....vegetables and fruit.

The famous Petronas Towers lit up at night...a beautiful sight.

Trishaws

This mode of transportation used to be used all over SE Asia. Well it still is, but mostly for tourists. But in Malacca it seemed more than just tourist took advantage of the ride. It is a serious art to decorate your ride!

This is the center square by a Christian church and where all the trishaws wait...

Devin and his Mom having a ride...Genevieve and I are in another behind them

Malacca

At the night market, this man was making the most delicious pancakes and you could choose different fillings: chocolate, chocolate and peanuts, kaya which is coconut spread, fruit etc.

...Obama tee shirts

Devin, Nevi and Grandma Jan rode up a little space needle for a view of Malacca from the sky!

back to the Malaysia road trip

Ok now I have all the road trip pictures in one place- thank you , Devin! So now for you all to see more of the beautiful country we live in! This is Genevieve at the night market in Malacca. Malacca is a beautiful historic town on the western coast about 2 hours north of where we live in JB.

Here we are walking down a side street on the way to the night market.

We were in Malacca for Deepavali. These colored rice patterns are made for Deepavali. This one was on the floor in the lobby of our great hotel called the Puri Hotel.

Thanksgiving Post #2

The day after Thanksgiving we had such a lovely day at the pool. Felt so strange to be in the sunshine frolicking when usually we would be in the rain or even snow! We are very thankful for this tropical reality! This is a local dessert called ABC with Cendol. It is basically shaved ice with palm sugar syrup, little jelly pieces, corn, red bean and noodles which are green and a scoop of ice cream on top! It is called ABC which stands for air batu campur which in English is something like water, rock blended. Thus- blended ice!

Devin likes it-yum!

The view from my chaise lounge~

Dinner

yum: Cranberry chicken and stuffing

Mashed regular and sweet potato

green beans

pumpkin pudding with fresh whipped cream!

Oh yeah- we did pretty well for being in a country that has no idea what Thanksgiving is:)

Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving this year we had our dear friends, The Ryans here for dinner. They are from Australia~ so this was their first Thanksgiving. We were honored to have them spend it with us. It was really fun! Hannah and Nevi reading to each other after dinner.

Devin crackin up and Kate giggling too.

Mike with both girls on his lap!

preparation

Genevieve made beautiful place cards.

Our set table with the desk as an extension!

Nevi cutting the ends off the beans...she also washed the potatoes and sliced them for the mashers! Thanks for the help super star!

Thank you Singapore

Look familiar? These are two items I picked up in Singapore to make our Thanksgiving, well...more familiar.

Thanksgiving Post #1

Today is November 26th here in Malaysia! Happy Thanksgiving! This is a strange day for me. I was really thinking that we would blow off Thanksgiging this year. No one even really knows about it here. Then I started to feel like at least cooking a small meal for our family. I was able to find western items in Singapore. I bought Ocean Spray Cranberry sauce, stove top stuffing, even some gravy in a jar! A turkey would have cost us over $75 USD so no go. We are having chicken! Anyway, this got me in the mood.
So today I am using my 2 hot plates, the microwave and my friend, Kate's oven to make a little meal. Our Australian friend's are coming to dinner and we will celebrate our gratitude.
It dawned on me today as I was on the treadmill sweating away...I miss my family. Not that I do not miss them anyway, but Thanksgiving has always been a real family gathering holiday for me growing up. All of us Allen's : Aunts and Uncles and Cousins galore all together. I was watching the news and they showed all the US travel for Thanksgiving- made me feel far away. And yet, I am so thankful-for everything in my life and beyond.
I send love and gratitude to all of you.
Tomorrow I will post pictures of our little celebration- stay tuned!
With Love from us to you~

At the Bird Park, the rain came...the girls had such fun dancing about getting drenched. There was this beautiful man made waterfall...I think someone said the largest man made waterfall...but compared to what???? Beautiful still.

Nevi being an archaeologist. This was a cool thing~ they had clay bones buried under sand and you use a paint brush to find them. I thought this would be great in a school play ground!

more Bird Park

Devin feeding Oscar a banana

Ok- this girl was sitting near us and was so cute! Had to take her picture.

Here is Rob, Nevi and Parrish watching the show!

Nevi feelin the Groove

Samba at the Bird Park

Here we were walking between the feedings of different birds: pelicans, ostrich, flamingo....and we heard the sound of Samba. Then the stilt walkers appeared and the dancers! Yeah!

By no means were these folks anywhere near our loves in the Lions or the March Fourth Marching Band...but the sound warmed our hearts and made us miss our friends. Nevi loved it!

Jurong Bird Park

We had a lovely weekend in Singapore this weekend. We stayed with our friends, Rob and Heidi. They are another Xerox family living here...well they live in Singapore. Their daughter, Parrish is three weeks younger than Nevi. On Saturday we went to the Bird Park! Parrish and Genevieve

Best Papa in the World

Nevi wanted her toes painted before heading into Singapore this weekend. I was not available, so good old Devin- the best father in the world...delivered! Relaxing during her pedicure...

a father's work is never done...