Lego Twin Towers

A Little Better

Friday was just as busy. We stored some luggage at Ryan's boss's house. We went to pick it up and talked to their cleaner. I asked if she knew anyone looking for work because I needed some help! She was very eager and said she could come on Saturday. Tomorrow!? Excellent! She could also bring a friend to help. Great!

In the afternoon we went to the school for orientation and meet the teacher. Busy, busy. I think we got it all done, just need to finalize bus arrangements.

On Saturday, our cleaners arrived. I had minimal cleaning supplies (something I should have brought). She walked to the store with me, which I never would have found, and picked out everything she needed. They cleaned from 10-3. I knew it was dirty but I didn't realize how bad. She mopped twice. And the kids feet are still black. At least it's a little better.

While they were here I went back to the grocery store for my big, stock the pantry run. They said they would deliver the same day as long as I bought before 4pm. Great! I loaded up my cart Texas-style. This small store never saw me coming. It took over an hour to read all the labels, figure everything out and I still only got half of what was on my list. No conveyer belts and very small checkout stands. It took forever! I told the gal, I need this delivered. I received a look of confusion. What!? I told her again, probably louder and slower so I knew she understood. It seems there was a problem with the tire on the delivery van. But, rest assured there was a young man that would (reluctantly) follow me. But I walked here?! He pushed the cart all the way through the park, across a major street and up to our condo entrance. It's really not that far, about a 10 minute walk. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life. But we made it. I got maybe a weeks worth of food for $300. Ouch!

When I got back, the cleaners were finishing up (yeah!) and she spotted our junked pots and pans. She asked if she could take them. She had a friend she would give them to. I thought about how fortunate we are. How much stuff we have and how others get buy with so little.


We are doing fine. We have each other and that's all we need. We'll get everything else figured out.

School starts tomorrow!

Moving In

I forgot how hard it is to move. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the last couple of days.

We checked out of the hotel and got our car and driver on Thursday. It took 2 trips from the hotel to get all of our bags. Then our air shipment arrived. The condo was a mess from new construction dust, cable/Internet drilling and general life in Malaysia (so I've been told).

Between the movers unpacking, the kids discovering their toys and trying to get the laundry started, it was chaos. And the dust and dirt just got covered up and pushed around.

There is a whole list of stuff I should have brought, things I wished I had and things I didn't need to bring. We brought way too many clothes and not enough hangers. Hopefully, a trip (or 2?) to Ikea will help solve this problem.

I told the driver we would unpack a little then make a run to the grocery store. I told him I would call him about 1:30 and we should be ready to go. When I called him there was something definitely lost in translation because he said he had gone to prayer. I was aware that I should have asked this before we made afternoon plans, but I forgot. I figured I'd give him an hour and I would call back.

In the meantime, we unpacked our brand new pots and pans only to find that the box contained someone else's used & scratched up pots. I was livid! The one thing I was excited about and would be able to use were someone else's trash. I was feeling really defeated. I needed to get the to store and not only buy groceries, but now cookware w/ the kids in tow.

One hour later...I saw that I had a missed call from the driver. Great, he must be ready. I got downstairs and found out that what he really said was "I'm already here" not "I'm at prayer." Poor guy waited an hour for us. Needless to say, I felt like a jerk. Not the first time I'll feel like a complete idiot, I'm sure.

We made it to the terribly small grocery store. It was late in the afternoon, incredible crowded and the kids were tired and we were all irritable. Which means they were going crazy. No cookware here. Head over to the store at the mall. Buys 3 pieces of cookware for the same price as my 13 piece set. Nice! We also needed a power strip for the TV. Done.

We get back to the condo, mason's asleep and we get it all carried in thanks to the driver.

As I'm putting up the groceries, brady is opening the power strip. I told him we were going to wait on daddy and don't plug anything in. It only took about 1 minute after that and I heard a loud pop. The wii was unpacked, plugged in and blown up. Talk about defeated.

Needless to say, it was a tough day. Cereal for dinner. It's just stuff, thank God no one was hurt. Serious lesson learned.

Sky Bar Pool

The boys and I went to the hotel's sky bar pool. It was too cold. It's a cool hangout, but not very kid friendly. The view was great and since we already had our suits on we went down to the splash pad below.

We're here!

After a long and (thankfully) uneventful journey, we have arrived in Malaysia. Our flight was a bit delayed as we were leaving Houston. That made us a little late getting to L.A., which made for a tight connection to our international flight to Singapore. The boys slept and ate well. It was nice that we brought along a few snacks. They are good travelers and learning the ropes with every flight. It was 11pm (Texas time) when took off in L.A. We ate (again) and it was almost 2am by the time everyone was settled and ready to go to sleep. I think we all slept about 8 hours. We had about 2 hours in Singapore, then the short flight to finish our journey into Kuala Lumpur. Thankfully, all of our luggage made it. It sure was nice to count all 9 bags coming off at baggage claim. The hotel is really nice and we made it in time for breakfast - my 3rd breakfast of the day! Today will feel like a REALLY long day, but I'm relieved that we are finally here. The boys are in need of some play-time and fresh air (they are rough-housing in the hotel room as I type). Good thing we are just across the street from the playground, splash pad, aquarium and mall. Ryan, of course, has already showered and gone to work. I guess the next few days will just be exploring for us.

We're Moving!

This will be our view in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We're getting a condo in the city center. We'll be just across the street from a big park and Ryan will be able to walk to work. What a change!




To make this a bit easier on the grandparents, I promise I will do a better job keeping up with the blog. It's going in a new direction, too. No advertisements (let's be honest, I didn't make any money anyway), more pictures, more tidbits and more daily life with the kids. We're going on a new adventure and I want to keep a record of it as well. I think I'm off to a good start already!

Disney!



Lunch at Animal Kingdom



In June, we took the kids for a rainy week to Disney World. We had a fun time and the kids enjoyed it. It's all smiles in the pictures, but it did rain on us, a lot. And Brady and I got to ride in the free shuttle to the urgent care clinic because he came down with pneumonia. We're glad we went (to the doctor & to Disney), but I think the Lamothe's have had their fill of amusement park vacations for a while.



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To Infinity and Beyond!



 

 



Lunch with the characters was a highlight. Look at those cheesy grins, they had the time of their lives!





Lightening McQueen and TowMater!


 

Silly Mason







Having fun at the hotel pool





We've got ears, say "Cheers!"