Friday, August 24, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
For Teo's ADORING FANS
It's hard to capture our baby Teo's true personality on film but here are a few of his most recent expressions. He's a lovely, chubby boy.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
To join or not join
So I received an email informing me that a cousin of mine is considering joining the US Marines today. My question is why? Why is he considering joining the military? Is it so the military will fund his college? Is it in hopes of attaining skills for a job after leaving the service? Is it a sense of patriotism? Is it a rite of passage? My question for you (reader) is this? If it were someone that you cared about what questions would you ask of him/her and what sage advice would you provide a young and impressionable young man or woman (in this case man)?
I am curious to hear what others reading this blog have to say? I encourage you to share your comments on this blog. Click comments and share your thoughts. I hope my cousin will read your insightful comments.
Livin' It
Tommorrow we move to another apartment which is close by. My parents and niece will arrive here on Wednesday so tomorrow promises to be a "big"day. Today we slept in and had pancakes. We dilly dallied and then walked around the neighborhood and enjoyed a nice lunch. Afterward Zee and Mommy napped and then Zee and I went to visit the local library. A nice three story structure with a coffee shop built in. It seemed to have a decent selection of works and also included a nice section for Zee to run around and be wild. A nice little Asian girl was running and tripped and fell on her books. The poor little things mouth was bleeding until grandma came and mumbled something in Mandarin....It must of been good because the girl stopped crying and put on a serious face. I tried to get a library card to check out some videos but no dice. I have to have lived in the country for at least three months......too bad la. It didn't surprise me thought. After the library we headed for the beach and had dinner at a local Turkish resto. The hummus and pita were yummy but we were hoping for some falafel. We settled for a nice chicken kabab and rice but Master Zee was too excited by the rides and ambience to eat so went and played on beach. We found an abandoned shovel that had washed ashore and Zee was in his element. I had a sandbox....Zee had the beach. After it got dark we made our next stop at good ole' Kenny Rogers restaurant. Yepper! You gotta know when do hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...Kenny sure did satisfy with all that down home cookin' right there in Singapore. It was kinda surreal but Zee loved the mac and cheese and tasty corn bread and with a picture of Kenny and Dolly Parton, well, shucks, we felt like we were back stateside. I nearly had to fight back the tears. After dinner we got some vitamin F at Mickey Ds. Zee wanted his own ic cream cone so we bought him one. He couldn't finish it but he sure liked the idea of just holding on to it and making a mess. We had to help him out by finishing it. We finally got back home at around 9:30 PM and Zee was still going strong. I finally got him down at a little after 10:00 PM. Will try to post something tomorrow.
Sweet livin'
Singapore has done it right. It is amazing to think that this small city state is only a 1.5 hr flight from Jakarta, Indonesia but so different. One could only imagine what kind of a beautiful paradise it could be if only it took a few notes from this country.....ahhhh if it were only that easy. We just got back from a 10 mintue walk in our neighborhood where there are Tibetan, Eurasian, Hokkien, Mexican, Indian, and Chinese restos. We walked into a Deli and the people gave us free samples of drinks and fed Zee samples of healthy food. We decided to eat at a local Chinese stand and the woman gave Zee hugs, kisses, and a free bag of goodies. Zee kept opening up his arms for a hug and the woman would come around and hold him. It was nice. Mommy and Zee are down for a nap as I type this so I will cut it short.
Singapore Beach
We are all doing well here in beautiful Singapo'. I can't get over how nice it is. Our apartment is a 15 minute walk to a beach that I imagine to be like Venice Beach in California. There is a bike path and walking path next to the ocean. There is a gentle breeze and people are running, roller blading, walking there dogs, or just chillin' at one of the local eateries. We celebrated the other night by popping a bottle of Sparkling Cider on the beach and watched the sun set. Good stuff. I am attaching a few pics of Zee on the beach lovin' life.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Cross Country
My friend picked me up on the corner at 0600 AM. It was nice to see him again. He was a part of the running group in Jakarta before he moved to Singapore due to his job. Jakarta is pretty transient and we have been there longer than most. We went to the MacRitchie Resavoir. A lovely place that is only about a 2o minute drive. Everything is close here. There was a choice of either doing a 10 KM race or a marathon (four laps along the same route). The race didn't start until 0700 and we didn't want to wait so we ran a hilly and scenic route. It was stunning. The steamed rolled off the lake as we ran around it. Bikers zipped by and most people greeted us along the route. We ran through lush green forest as well as around golf courses. We saw monkeys and just enjoyed the 2 hour run. By 0830 it was incredibly hot and it brought back memories of the marathon in which I ended up in hospital. We were both tired by the end of the run but happy to have had found a nice trail.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Momma's Day
Happy Mom’s Day
My alarm woke me up late. I was supposed to be at the zoo by 0500 but instead I was looking at my cell phone ringing and it was already 0500. Ughh. I was beat. I quickly packed my bag and hopped on old blue and raced to the zoo in the morning darkness. Once I arrived, the zoo was alive with my friends rushing hither and thither putting banners up, setting up the shoots for the runners to come through, and placing marshals at critical positions for the 5KM Race and Fun Run Race. It was the last of 5 races to put on and this one was ours. Our running club called “The Jakarta Free Spirits” was putting this one on. Things went well. My official title was Potty Boy and I had ordered the “Western” style port-a-johns the day before so I was pleased. There were over 500 people that showed up for the race and the times were fast for such an undulating course passing tigers, crocodiles, elephants, and monkeys. Starbucks was present as well as New Balance selling their shoes. Only a few people passed out at the finish which was a good thing.
As I came running in the final stretch huffing and puffing I could hear Vanessa screaming my name as she pointed out “Daddy” to Zee man. It felt good to finish as I had yet to have my cup of Java to get my motor started. After the race there was a 100m dash for the wee little ones and Master Zee completed his first dash in record time…..for a 21 month old. Good stuff. (Hopefully my friend who snapped some pictures will send them to me so I can post them).
After the race Mom and I took Zee for a train ride at the zoo and then we went to the gorilla and monkey exhibits. It was nice until another little boy got too close to the monkeys and one of the monkeys grabbed his little curls and tries to pull him by the hair through the fence. I am sure the boy will be as traumatized and scarred for life as I was. As I started to run to pull him away he managed to rip himself away. No real physical harm done but I doubt he will ever read any monkey stories the same way ever again. His Mom checked him for scratches and none were found…thankfully.
After the tour of the monkeys I was told my team had won second place overall and I had missed the medal awards. We headed home to get ready for Mother’s Day brunch. We met some friends at the Intercontinental for a wonderful brunch from 12:00 to 3:00 complete with free flow champagne, wine and amazing food. It was so nice to just relax and swap yarns with friends and celebrate Mother’s day.
After brunch we returned home and we were called by other friends who wanted to meet up for dinner. Zee and their boy hang out so we decided to meet them at 6:00 PM at a local pizza shop. Mayhem ensued as five young children ran around the restaurant as if they were wild mustangs and we were the cowboys in charge of herding them to the next event. Needless to say I was glad that I was still full from brunch. Vanessa had to leave after about 15 minutes to go to work on Mothers Day in order to save the world. I thought a nice gift would be a Wonder Woman outfit but decided against it….it wouldn’t fit her pregnant body. I stayed on and had Zee racing the other kids up stairs and teaching him how to honk a car horn to the dismay of the other parents. Zee and I quickly escaped as the other kids honked the horn as we hopped a taxi for home. I realized I had left the baby bag at the pizza shop….oooops.
I returned home and bathed Zee man and as we were eating he suddenly wanted his Momma and would not relent. We had to go for a walk to look at the Geckos and find some stray cats in the “hood” to distract him. It worked. Momma returned home at 7:45 PM, just in time for a bedtime story, and then another day came to an end.
We are getting down to the wire. Momma V and Master Zee will travel to
Monday, May 07, 2007
Not a child labor Ad
No, Zee is not a child laborer for GAP. He is just a regular kid earning his keep in Indonesia....no different than any other kid. Ok, not funny. Zee does enjoy helping out when he can though.
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