Kid's say the Darndest things...

A few funny kid comments this week:

1. Wyatt(age 4) had water in his ear after a shower. I put some ear drops in and he was completely amazed that it cleared it out.
Wyatt: Dad, what's in that medicine?!?!
Me: It has a type of alcohol.
Wyatt: "I love alcohol!"

2. We're now on our vacation in Tombstone, Az. During the drive, it was about midnight and I pulled into a reset stop to sleep - piling the family into their beds in the RV. When Conor (age 7) woke up the next day, he looked around outside and then said: "Way to go dad. You got us to the middle of nowhere."

3. The cousins are here (yeah!). Conor was watching Mckay color when Conor, ever the critic, walked up and said, "That is a poorly drawn door". We're so proud.

4. After playing on the play-structure at McD's, Conor (again), came over and said, "Hey mom, do you see those children over there? They speak Spanish, so when I left, I said, 'Adios.'"

No shorts allowed!

In Malaysia, they are very conservative with some ultra-strict religious groups. The first two days at work I was presenting to a large group and decided to dress up a bit which is not me. Given the heat and humidity, on the third day I went back to my typical shorts and T-shirt.
The fourth day I did the same and this time I was stopped by security when I tried to enter the building.
Security Guard, "No shorts Monday through Friday".
Me, "But I won't be here Saturday". (She didn't think that was funny).
Security Guard, "You can't wear shorts".
Me, "I wore shorts yesterday".
Security Guard, "You can't wear shorts".
Me, "I'm visiting. I don't have anything else."
Security Guard, "Just one time. Just one time."

Dang, what a pain. Sure, take company secrets, but just don't wear shorts doing it.
Later that day, I started to wonder. Maybe it wasn't a general rule. Maybe she was saying "YOU can't wear shorts." I thought I had pretty nice legs, but maybe I was mistaken. So, I took out my camera and took a picture of my legs. What do you think? A general rule, or just me?

Wishful Thinking

The monks dressed in orange at the airports are a strange dichotomy (I'll bet Mindi never had "dichotomy" as a slang word of the day). On the one hand, they dress differently and live on their own to remind themselves they are to be humble and transcend above this world. However, watching them today at the airport, I see them touting video cameras, eating at Burger King, taking planes and cabs. Hmm. I don't get it.

I assume that for religious reasons, they are celibate. Must be difficult. It's hard enough for me to fight the women off now. Can you imagine the difficulty if I was wearing one of those uber-awesome robes! I'd need a stick to fight them off!
While dress for them appears to be standard, footwear apparently isn't. One of the monks had sport flip-flops on that said "Lucky". Funny, since I wouldn't expect "getting lucky" would be a goal of his.

Anyway, I'm once again state-side in L.A.! The trip back is going faster. It's only been 26 hrs so far with another 6 hrs to go before I see that dang cute wife and kids!

Sights of Malaysia!

Penang is beautiful with jungle mixed with a busy but simple and happy lifestyle. My favorite things to see were the temples and people. Here are a few pics.

First, from the temples. The intricate work on some of these is nothing short of amazing:
















I totally get a kick out of streets like this one. Lots of little shops with a feel that you just can't get in the USA.

Tons of folks here ride scooters. They just weave around all the cars, generally with only inches to spare. One funny thing was open they would wear a jacket (even though it's flaming hot) but they would put it on backwards. Some locals tried to convince me it was to stop the wind, but I think it was just some fashion thing.

To top it off, lots of cars had a flashy racing strip like this one:
Well, that's it. After a week, I'm ready to go home. I need to hurry and pack, sleep, and catch a plane in 6 hrs. Can't wait to see ya Steph (and kids)!

Food of Malaysia!

The people here have been very nice and have taken us out to dinner every night. One of the cool places was Southern Indian and served the food on banana leaves. I'm addicted to mango lassies!


OK, on the NOT so cool side. Asians love seafood and there is some weird stuff that comes out of the ocean. Here are a few other things I ate on the trip:

This was some kind of black herb jelly. They put honey on this and called it a treat. Noooo thank you:
Everyday, the locals would ask us if we had tried Durian Fruit. They always asked this with a bit of a smurk and it was clear that getting visitors to try it was a favorite pastime. The Durian is known as the King of Fruit in Asia. It has such a strong smell that Hotels and airlines will not let people take them inside. It's been described as smelling/tasting like dirty socks or vomit. But heck, when in Rome...

Oh yeah, doesn't that look like a large intestine or something? It taste like a stinky cheese with a bit of fruit. My friend from India tried four times to eat a bite and ran away all four times gagging and spit it out (I got the whole thing on video which will come in handy and the next company meeting).

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe....

I love shoes like any other girl...but dang!

Seriously.

Ya know who wears shoes like these?
Crazy short people who were ignored as children and so they need LOTS of attention....
OR
Those people who are addicted to pain and torture
THAT"S who.

Horseshoes?...Seriously?
Neigh, Neigh...bring that girl some hay!

Those are just ugly....they look like some ultra modern furniture...

These all come with an extension ladder to get them on...
and an insurance policy in case you fall off while wearing them...

...and these come with a pooper scooper...

Jeff Corwin from Animal Planet bought these for his wife...


If I wore these, I'd spend the day stomping around trying to kill the spider....

Whatever...not OK

Handmade by Bob the Builder....

Prince Charming or not...I'll pass...

can you say "Rainbow Brite"?

Barbie on steroids

I would NOT want to get kicked in the butt with these...




These boots were most certainly NOT made for walkin'....more like for fallin'.....and breakin'...

And these baffle me most of all....
That's just wrong....
I'll just stick to my 2 for $5 flip-flops in every color from Old Navy thanks....

The plot thickens...

So, just to add more drama and stress..I took Conor to the ENT today because I have been worried about him having sleep apnea....yep. He's got it....a fairly severe case at that.
The plan?
T&A by the ENT, PDQ!
They've scheduled his surgery for Tues. morning!!
...as in 6 days from now!
They said we could wait a couple more weeks until school is out if we wanted.
I'm thinking I'm going to try to re-schedule it for then, since we have plans to go out of town next Thursday, and I don't think he'll be up for a 12 hour drive in the car, and a bunch of running around 2 days after surgery...ice cream or not! That way, I guess I'll have some more time to squeeze it in ...poor kid. The doc says he'll be like a new kid after, because he'll FINALLY be able to get some good quality, restful sleep...and oxygen!

He was so worried going to the Dr. today because the last time he visited a Dr., he had to have blood drawn...NOT OK with him....he also got a shot.
When I finally convinced him that neither was going to happen to him, he was relieved.
HOWEVER, when he asked what he was going to the Dr. FOR, I told him it was to see if he needed surgery or not.
Well, the actual WORD surgery never came into the conversation with the doc...just words like removal, etc. So, when we finished with our appointment,and were in the elevator on the way down to the lobby, Conor let out a big sigh and said," Welp, at least I don't have to have surgery!"

AWKWARD SILENCE.

Then I cautiously respond, "Welp, actually, YOU DO have to have surgery..."

His reaction?

"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!" Yelled with utter panic in his voice.

My quick, and clever recovery,"But you get to eat ice cream every day!!!"

Still not entirely too impressed, but calmer nonetheless...

He spent the rest of the day reading through the comic book the doc gave to him about T&A's and how the procedure is done. This was actually very interesting to him and he went around saying things like "I'm going to have to have my tonsils and adenoids removed...." or "Tonsils are a collection place for bacteria..." or "Tonsils are located at the sides of your throat, Adenoids are at the back, at the base of the nasal cavity...".
..pretty darn cute coming from a 6 year old!

Funny little man!
Guess I'd better start stocking up on ice cream and popsicles!