Maldives, Part One

On July 1, 5 days after the boys and I arrived back in Singapore from Thailand, we boarded a plane for a family vacation. Except for two trips home, we (as a whole family) had not been anywhere in 18 months. Our trip home in February was a blessing, but with all the stress and grieving the loss of my grandmother, it was not a relaxing time for us. We were so excited to get out of the big city and enjoy some time on the beach together.

When we arrived at the airport in the Maldives after a 4.5-hour flight from Singapore, the plane landed and did a u-turn on the runway to get back to the terminal. That's how small the airport is.

This is the view just outside the airport. Since the Maldives is a collection of over a thousand tiny islands, the only way to travel is by boat or sea plane.

Our speed boat picked us up for the 35-minute ride to our resort.

This is what greeted us as we arrived. I have never seen water so clear and sand so white. BEAUTIFUL!

We found our room and immediately headed to the enjoy the beach.

I love this picture of Caleb because it looks like he's saying, "This is AWESOME!"

A little slice of paradise for sure!

Sunset on Day One.

And room service outside our room to top it off!

More of our Maldives adventure to come!

Bali-More Pictures

These guys guarded our outdoor shower (and there were lots more around the pool/courtyard area):

The two of us (one of us got a lot of sun...the other one of us was at the spa!):

You don't need much luggage when you are traveling without children! We didn't even need this much, but we brought the computer so Andrea could contact us if the kids needed something, etc.

The boys with the pirate ship kite we bought them. I think that might be Caleb's pirate face. Not sure. :-)

Thanks SO much to Andrea, Anna, Tommy, and Jakeb for keeping our boys while we were away. We'll be returning the favor when Tommy and Andrea go to Bali next month, but I'm certain they got the short end of the stick! You guys are such a blessing to us!!

Bali

Justin and I were able to get away to Bali this past weekend (only a 2.5-hour flight from Singapore), just the two of us. It was wonderful to be able to focus on being "Justin and Jennifer" and not being "Daddy and Mommy" every minute. It was a fantastic getaway from the busy city, and we enjoyed not having a schedule at all!

Here are a few pictures of our villa.

Looking from the door of the courtyard toward the villa:

Looking from the villa at the courtyard/private pool:

Breakfast. There was no restaurant at the complex, so they brought the meals to us. They cooked our eggs/sausage/bacon right in our little porch kitchen. We had quesadillas for dinner and they were amazing. Room service means something completely different in Bali!

Justin relaxing! We were only in Bali a little over 36 hours, but it was a peaceful, restful time. It was a great mini-vacation with my handsome man.

Phuket, Thailand

Click on the picture to enlarge.

TOP ROW: resort where we stayed, beach play, Levi and Daddy standing in front of the WINDOW from the bedroom to the shower (weird), Caleb, Levi

MIDDLE ROW: silly Caleb, beachside restaurant menu (yum!), sunset, lunch, Levi

BOTTOM ROW: lunch beachside, dog under my beach chair, beach, trying to get a good pic of the boys in their matching shirts, not happening. :-)

Where Has the Time Gone?

The last few weeks have been a little crazy around here. After my last post, Justin and I went on a cruise. It was WONDERFUL!!! We're firm believers that our marriage is the most important relationship in the house and it needs constant attention. We're also blessed that my parents could keep the boys for a week. (My mom needed a vacation after that!) We sailed to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. It was great, and I even got a little tan. And lots of sleep. (Not a lot since because the boys are back! Why couldn't we have kids that sleep??)

Levi is fully walking now. And he's fast! He still isn't talking much...well, he isn't saying much that we actually understand, but verbal he is. And loud. Very loud.

He also has no teeth. 13 months and not a single tooth. The doctor says that they don't worry about them having no teeth until they're two. I think that's weird, but it means Levi is normal, so whatever.

We got official word that the move to Singapore will happen next July. LOTS to do before then! We had a garage sale this weekend to start the purge process. It felt good.

Well, off to bed until one of the boys wakes up for unknown reasons. I'll try to get some pictures of our vacation and some recent ones of the boys up here soon.

In Order to Please My Mother

Family picture at the Detroit Zoo

My mom has been hounding my sister and I to update our blogs, so here it is. :-)

Our trip to Detroit was good. Caleb did exceptionally well on the plane both times, despite being confined to our laps for 2 1/2 hours and being delayed in the airport for an hour and a half on the way out there.

The rest of the time his body was invaded by some alien child. He was CLINGY to his daddy and me the WHOLE time. He wouldn't even let his Mimi take him outside to swing while I took a shower...for a whole week. I guess we really had him out of his comfort zone, being in a totally new place and wreaking havoc on his schedule (up too late at night, sleeping in the same room with mom and dad, and little or no naps).

It was so great, however, to spend time with hubby's family! We only get to see them a few times a year, and we had not visited his brother in Detroit in 3 years. I didn't have a brother growing up, so I've adopted hubby's brothers as my own. Any girl they want to marry will have to get through me first and I am PICKY and protective! ;-)

So, to the part my mom really wants to see,the pictures.

Caleb doing his favorite thing as of late, swinging ("Mommy, wing more! wing more! wing more!")

Sporting his new Cookie Monster and Elmo bibs from Mimi:


Daddy and Caleb at Greenfield Village (in the Henry Ford Center complex):


Caleb "talking" on the phone. He always wants to talk to whomever I'm talking to, and sometimes he holds things up to the phone for them to see. :-)


Daddy and Caleb at the monkey exhibit (can you tell who was taking the pictures?):


I think that's about long enough for now. I'm feeling MUCH better these days; it seems 22 weeks was the magic number this time around! I'll try to remember to take another belly pic soon. Strangers are asking me when I'm due, so I know I've gotten bigger. Still no weight gain to speak of, besides the two pounds, but the baby is moving a lot and having a good old time in my belly. It seems he has the same schedule as his older brother did in utero...wake up just as mom wants to go to sleep and kick her.

I hear Caleb on the monitor saying, "poo poo diaper," so I'd better go check and see if it's a false alarm or not. I hope so. ;-)