Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Australia

We went on a trip of a lifetime the day after we moved into our half remodeled house. My older brother Jason and family lived in Singapore and we took a trip to visit them and that part of the world. So many incredible experiences that I'm not going to write about them here, but I'll add a few pics and notes. This one is of Rivers on the plane making herself comfortable on the floor during the 20 hours of flying.

Cambodia was my favorite country we visited. Their culture, recent oppression, and living circumstances left quite an impression on us all. It's a memory I hope to never forget.

These pictures are of their huts, huge banyan trees taking over the ruins of Angkor Wat, and hiking back from the local hangout waterfalls.

Rivers and Madison with a Cambodian Monk and Jason, me and kids.

We all loved taking the Tuk-Tuks (carts pulled behind mopeds - their version of taxis). This was after one of the most delicious dinners I've ever had and it cost like $2.50. We were on our way to the night market.

We rode bikes around Pulau Uben (a more remote island of singapore). I rode with my legs like a frog the whole time.

Tioman, Malaysia was the most relaxing country we visited (as you can see by the almost dead look on Jason's face). We took a 2 hour boat ride to get to this island with the bluest water, whitest sand and we felt like we were almost alone there. It was soooo great!

We took a few hikes through the jungle in Malaysia and saw lots of monkeys and humongous (I mean like 5 feet long) lizards. We got caught in the dark on the way back and the monkeys were freaking us all out. That's Jason sporting the sweet spandex.

My mom met us there too (providing entertainment because she slipped while staring at the monkeys in the dark and hit her head on a rock - good thing I had my trusty first-aid kit). Lots of good grandkid bonding moments with Jason's kids (Brody, Madison and Warwick) and my two. My mom is holding my chunk of a boy.

Night time beach fun and Rivers and Madison showing off their new Malaysian outfits (Rivers apparently thinks she's auditioning for America's Next Top Model).

Australia was our next stop. We landed in Darwin and drove inland to Katherine Gorge and Kakadu National Park. This northern part of Australia is mostly inhabited by the Aboriginees.

I love this picture of Rivers and Madison - hiking back from the water hole and falls pictured above them. Yea, we let the kids swim in their undies. We had the whole place to ourselves. The first picture in this bunch shows Carlos and Jason scaring the kids (and me) pretending like the river was sweeping them down toward the huge waterfalls just to the right of this picture. Madison is trying to pull her dad to safety. Good to know Jason hasn't changed - still likes scaring little kids (I'm still scared of going up stairs in the dark because I feel like there's someone chasing behind me like Jason always did until I cried when I was like 4).

I bunched these pictures together to make you think we were swimming with the crocodiles. We went on this boat and huge crocodiles would jump out of the water for the meat dangling a few feet from our arms! Even Carlos got a little nervous with this stunt. The one of us in the water was one of the few places we could swim without crocodile danger. It was at the bottom of a bunch of little waterfalls and was the temperature you could swim in all day! Felt sooo good!

Even Rivers got in on the rock/cliff jumping. That's Rivers, then me (the bright white thing in a purple swimsuit), then Carlos. We were always a little bit nervous in the water because of all the crocodile and deadly jellyfish stories.

Our last day in Singapore before heading back. I could have stayed another month. That day we bought a few pieces of great chinese antique furniture for a steal since Jason could have it shipped back with his stuff. What a great trip!

Remodeling like crazy

So, in January we moved for our 12th time in 8 years of marriage to a house that we gutted from the 1940's and tried to remodel in 2 months. We got to the point we could move in one day before we had to be out of our other house, which was also the day we left for southeast Asia to visit Jason and his family. It was nuts. Here are a few before, during and after pictures.

This was the main floor bathroom before - complete with shiny gold wallpaper on walls and ceiling and carpet that Tyler got to tear away from around the toilet.

This is the demolition stage (Carlos' favorite part)

And this was it mostly finished, although you can't see the whole bathroom. I finally got to use the pebbles I've had my eye on for years. (on the stair, around the window, around one of the cut-outs, and transitioning to the hallway).

This was the kitchen before.

during.....we knocked the wall out between the kitchen and living room and put up a big beam. We learned a lot about weight bearing walls. We also took out 3 doorways in this area.

Here's the finished product. We love the cork floors and concrete countertops and Tanner (my youngest brother)installed all of the cabinets (and the floor). Lucky for us Tanner didn't have a job yet, so he spent a month helping us out. Tyler also got in on the demolition action. We put a drinking fountain in the kitchen too, but you can't see it in any of the pictures. That's Rivers' favorite part. My favorite thing are the transitions I came up with between the cork and wood floor and between the bathroom and wood floor. I think they look pretty nifty. I also really like the new alder wood doors and window sills. That nice hardwood was under carpet - although it definitely didn't look nice at first. We didn't trust ourselves with that huge sander, so we had someone else refinish the wood. I'm a little bit too daring when it comes to trying to do things ourselves, so it's good that I have Carlos to reign me in. I did hand trowel texture the walls though and of course paint and/or stain the whole interior. Rivers completely designed her whole bedroom - she wanted it to be like you were outside, so she picked out green walls and a blue ceiling with clouds and a sun light. She also wanted a sliding bookcase in her closet, which was actually a great idea.