Playing Catch-up (Part 1)

So its been a long time since we updated the blog.  Lauren has been pretty busy for the last 9 months, so now that I am home, I will try and catch everyone up on what we have been up to the last year.

After we returned from China right before the holidays last year, we found ourselves getting ready for our honeymoon to the Berjaya Resort in Langkawi, Malaysia.  We had to postpone our honeymoon because I was in flight school when we got married, so we decided to take advantage of our location and our last big break while in Japan.  Not long before we left, we got some great news... we were going to be parents!  So we spent the new year enjoying the tropics of Malaysia celebrating a honeymoon and a future baby.

While at our resort, we had a little cabin over the water with a fantastic view.

The pool also had a great swim-up bar, where we spent a few afternoons enjoying a meal and the warm weather.

We were having lunch one afternoon when we saw a ship coming in towards the beach at our resort.  As it got closer it was apparent that this vessel was not in great shape and was overflowing with people.  When it got close enough, hundreds of people began jumping overboard and swimming for shore.  Once they hit the beach they raced into the jungle to try and hide.  

As we watched these people run, it was pretty obvious that they were refugees from somewhere in the region.  The resort told us that they were probably Myanmar refugees trying to reach mainland Malaysia, unfortunately they missed by a few miles and landed on the resort island.  It certainly made for an interesting afternoon.    

There was also a cable car that went up to the top of a peak on the island and gave us a pretty good view of the whole island.  Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy most of the week.  It cleared up on our last day...  

One other cool part of the resort was that there were a variety of wild animals that live on the island and roam freely...including monkeys like these two.  They would hang out in the trees near the pool and keep an eye on the guests. 

Overall, we had a great time in Malaysia despite some cloudy weather and an upset stomach that bothered Lauren for most of the trip.  Thats all for part 1.

China- Xian

 After our day in Shanghai, we hopped a plane to Xian where the Terra Cotta warriors are located. This was by far our favorite part of the trip. The city still has all it's walls surrounding it and the warriors are really cool! There are 3 pits of warriors and they were discovered by a farmer who was getting water from a well. Each warrior is completely different than any other and they are still working on repairing all of them.

Being warriors.

This is the only warrior in all 3 pits that was found fully intact.

He is also the only one that has any of the original color left on him.

Pit 1...the largest pit.

These were still being repaired while we were there. As they are finished, they get put back in the place that they were found.

China- Shanghai

Over Thanksgiving, we took a 6 day trip to China with another couple from our squadron. It was a bit of a whirlwind since we did 3 cities in those 6 days, but we had a lot of fun and got to see a ton! We started our trip in Shanghai where we spent one day touring the city. We got to see a traditional temple, go to China town (yes, kind of ironic), visited a house built for royalty, attended a tea ceremony and went to a silk factory.  We took almost 1,000 pictures, so this is a very small snap shot of what we did.

Outside of the temple.

 

Ribbons inside the temple with prayers on them.

Outside of the house we toured.

China town

Tea ceremony. This is Jasmine tea; each tea ball blooms into a different type of flower.

Peepee boys. These were hilarious! If you soak them in water and then pour hot water over them, they pee. We got 3 of them for free when we left because we bought some other things from them.

These ladies were making a silk comforter.

It started to rain right when we got the Bund, which is a park where you can see the entire city. Picture of Shanghai.

Where have you been??

That's a good question!! I just looked at the blog this weekend and realized how far behind I was on posting here. Geez! We've been busy since Thanksgiving traveling, working and dealing with not feeling so hot. I've got some major updating to do!

We went to China over Thanksgiving, took our honey moon at the end of December and also found out that we're expecting our first little one in August! Yup, that's right...baby Clay will be making us a family of 3 later this year. :-)  We are thrilled and cannot wait to meet our little one! Needless to say, I have been feeling rather yucky. But, I think I can finally see the end of that road!

So, I'll be posting a bunch on here to get everything updated. Hope you all enjoy!

Canyoning Videos

Here are videos from our canyoning trip. Enjoy!

Canyoning

A few weeks ago I got to partake in one of the coolest things I have ever done! It was definitely an experience I will never forget. 7 of us girls went on a canyoning trip. Now, I won't lie and tell you that I knew exactly what I was getting myself in to when I said I wanted to go on this trip. In fact, I was completely clueless (although, I didn't know that I was completely clueless until we got there). I thought we were going to slide down some natural water slides.... and we did, sort of. Canyoning involves a lot of sliding and jumping off of things into water. Some of the jumps were really high, some weren't so bad. The entire thing was a blast! Our two guides took photos and videos the whole way through, which I was quite thankful for. I was so glad to have so much to take home...and proof that I did all of this to show my husband. ;-) 

                                             Getting used to the water before we started.

                                                           Here we go! Floating away!

 Sitting on a waterfall. We are making the "fox sign" because the canyon we went through was called Fox Canyon.

Of course, my photo here was the only one that came out blurry, but this was the "big" part of the trip. It was the highest waterfall we went over. We got lowered part of the way down and then let go to slide the rest of the way.

Our whole group at the end of the day. 7 of us girls, the Japanese couple that was with us and one of guides, Guy, who was from Wales!

Check out the next post for videos from this day!!!!

Kuala Lumpur

Early in October I took what will probably be my last port call trip. One of my very good friends and I traveled together to meet our guys in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was a short trip, but I fell in love with the city, we got to do some pretty cool things and the quality time with my husband was priceless!

                                          View from our hotel room; The Petronas Towers.

 We took a tour while we were there that started in the Bantu Caves. This was the Hindu statue outside of the cave. You can also see the steps up to the cave.... 200 of them!

         Inside the cave there were un-friendly monkeys. Can you find them climbing up the wall?

                  The second part of our tour was feeding some friendly monkeys. Isn't he cute?

 These monkeys would hop on your shoulder and eat whatever you gave them. We even had to hide our bag of snacks because they would take it right out of our pockets.

 When these particular monkey's are born, they are bright orange. They only stay that color for about 4-5 days and then they start to turn black. They were adorable! And, the hung on to their mothers like this while she ran around and got in the trees.

 I got jumped on from behind quite a few times, hence the expressions on my face!

The last thing we did was have dinner and then take a small boat trip to see synchronized fire flies. This was our view for dinner and a pic of all of us together.

Our last day there we went to afternoon tea and then took a tour of the Petronas Towers.

                                 Yes, I do claim him....

                                                  View of the towers from underneath.

                                                           The Kuala Lumpur Tower.

                             Cori and I were amused by this table that was attached to the wall.

                                                            Out to dinner one night.