Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Our Second Anzac Day

This morning Eric and I woke up well before dawn and made our way down to the annual Anzac Day dawn service at the Esplanade.  Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand.  It honors those who are on active duty and those who have served and died in military operations.  Anzac day is very similar to Memorial Day in the United States. The Australian and New Zealand defense forces have a nice dawn service followed by a gunfire breakfast at the hostie.  It was a beautiful morning and we feel so honored to have been "adopted" into the military community here.  Enjoy our pics.

The Kiwi Military Families

The Foxes!
Ellie's First Anzac Day
Three Generations on Anzac Day
And look how much our lives have changed in the last year
2012 Anzac Day
Nikki and Leon teaching me how Kiwi's celebrate Anzac day at 9am
Compare that picture with today's 
2013 Anzac Day
Nikki, Leon and 15 week old Ellie and Eric and I at 35 weeks pregnant!

What a difference a year makes! 

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Emily Comes (Back) to Penang

Eric and I were lucky enough to have our friend Emily visit us for the second time in Penang.  Last time Em was here, she and Dave were on their two month SE Asian honeymoon.  Eric and I traveled with our friends to Bali and Halong Bay, Vietnam.  This time around, Dave had to stay and work, so Em came to hang out and have a super chill vacation with us. 

We spend a few days chilling on the beach in Langkawi, where we did NOTHING.  Em got a great sunburn and read a few books and I swam in the ocean and slept on my beach chair.  We did so little, that there are no pictures to show for our trip to the beach. It was nice!

Once we arrived back in Penang, relaxing, pampering and eating were on the list.  We treated Em to our favorite restaurants feasting on Thai, Indian, fresh pasta, seafood, wan tan mee and roti.  You know it's a good eating vacation when you are planning your day around what you are going to eat. 

While Eric was at work, Em soaked up the life of an expat wife.  We went to the market, drank tea, shopped and most importantly, took good care of ourselves. Each day we had a new pampering activity lined up...manicures, pedicures, facials, massages and hair cuts.  Yep, it was awesome! 

We also designed and painted our own batik for the baby's room.  It was a great morning where Rosanna taught us the tricks of her trade and we tried to be as creative as possible.
Rosanna showing Em how to wax her batik
The finished products
We spent Em's last day hanging out at our favorite little beach bar in Batu Ferringhi.  It was super hot out, so we didn't last too long, but it was a great way to end a fabulous week with Em.
Eric with his "two" wives

Monday, April 1, 2013

AWAS!!

If you read our blog yesterday you may still be wondering about our baby's name.  What does it mean?  Are they serious? That kid is screwed when she is a teenager, etc.  Well those of you who aren't familar with Malay, Awas means danger, caution, beware. 

So beware friends, we did publish that blog on April 1st and if you haven't figured it out yet...
April Fools!

Baby Girl Hartner's name will be officially announced upon her arrival. 
You will have to wait a few more weeks...until then you can guess, but we aren't telling!