Mom Getaway : Vegas

 

This lucky lady got to escape for four nights to Vegas. My amazing husband took time off and stayed home with the kids while I gallivanted around this great big sparkly city. I won the lottery with this guy. 

I tagged along with my mom who had a tradeshow to attend for work. So we stayed at the South Point Casino, it was a few miles off the strip but still easy enough to get there either by shuttle or public transportation. This was my fourth time to Vegas so I really wanted to see some things that I hadn't seen yet, hidden strip gems and other parts of the city.

So here's a few places that stood out from my ventures:

1. Fremont Street. AKA Old town Vegas, this is where Las Vegas originated from. Home of the classic casinos, Golden Nugget and Binions. The four blocks it runs along is completely covered by the world's largest projection screen, catch the light show after dark which runs every hour on the hour. But be warned... just cause your off the strip doesn't mean you haven't left the crazy... you will witness some wild street performers.

2. Container Park. This is absolutely my favourite place I discovered. Its about 2 blocks up from the Fremont Experience, so totally accessible by foot. Its a three story village of shipping containers home to local boutiques, artisans, and gourmet food... and it wouldn't be Vegas without a wedding chapel. Right in the center of the "mall" is a world famous treehouse playzone for the kids to keep busy... I wish my kids were with me, they would have loved it!

3. Animal Habitat. There's a mini (and I mean mini) habitat within the Flamingo Casino. But it is a breath of fresh air within the strip, a little garden area where their wedding chapel is located, you'll find pink flamingos, pelicans, turtles, koi fish, and some other exotic birds and you get a sweet glimpses of the Linq High Roller.

4. Forum Shops at Caesars. If you wanna go shopping, skip the outlets, skip the fashion mall, go here! It blends high end with many of the popular brands, but the moment you head up the spiral escalator, you step into another world with its Roman inspired ceilings, Atlantis fountain show, and a 50,000 gallon aquarium (holding some huge + cute stingrays!).

5. The Spice Market. OMG... you can't go to Vegas and not hit up a buffet, and this is the BEST buffet you will ever experience. EVER. Hello crab legs, prawns, mussels, prime rib, Mediterranean/Middle Eastern, Asian,  Mexican, Italian... gourmet desserts... and unlimited mimosas, yes unlimited. AND its on Groupon for half price... boom, the best!

So there you have it! I know there's way more out there, but these were all we had time for.

Seven

SEVEN, what a wonderful, sweet, fantastic number this is! Right now it represents two pretty great things for our family... 

ONE // Zach is seven weeks old! 

He is doing amazing and I am overwhelmed with how thankful we are to have him a part of our family. He is healthy, strong, and ADORABLE! When down for tummy time he looks like a little seal bobbing up and down, and can hold his head up for a good amount of time too. Last week he weighed in at 11 lbs (now wearing the same size diaper as Rylee, haha). He's starting to smile & coo a lot more, especially at Daddy (maybe cause he's funny looking, jk :P). Hard to believe in a couple days he will be 2 months old! 

TWO // In Seven weeks we will be back in Canada!

I am baffled that our 9 month internship overseas is coming to an end, I mean seriously, where did the time go? This is one of those bittersweet moments, but we are getting very excited to get home to our much missed family and friends. In 3 weeks Sevio will be officially done work with AMane English Center. At that time my my Dad and sister will arrive and we will have a few weeks to show them around this wonderful country and experience the beauty of Thailand outside of these big cities we've been living in. And then... after 24 hrs of travel time we will be steppin' foot in our homeland, breathin' in that fresh canadian air, and most importantly huggin' our moms at the arrival gate!

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Hua Hin Getaway

Thought I'd share a few more pics from our mini vacation to Hua Hin, Thailand. One moment worth sharing for sure is on the bus there Rylee just out of the blue shot chunky strawberry yogurt flavoured pukey all over herself and me! What do you do when you and your toddler are trapped in van that's been packed like sardines and are covered in throw up? Honestly I have no suggestions... Just don't throw up yourself! Thankfully I had packed a towel and could sop up most of the mess before pulling over at the next gas station, but let me tell you that sour smell sure does linger!

On a brighter note, we arrived safe and sound at our little guest house located a few minutes from the beach. It was lovely and so spacious! Rylee even got her own bed! We spent three days in this little beach town and had quite the relaxing time checking out the sights. The first night was New Years, but before partaking in those festivities we went to a local night market and ate a lot of great food.

New Year's Day we slept in, casually made our way out to a temple located at the top of a hill at the end of the beach called, Khao Takiab. This little hill is also known as "Monkey Mountain", and they're not kidding, there were monkeys EVERYWHERE (so many I was bit freaked out)! Note to the wise: don't carry any food or garbage, monkeys will attempt to get it from you (I know from first hand experience!). After climbing an absurd amount of stairs to see the temple and get a great view of the coast and Gulf of Thailand, we walked down to the base to a little fishing village, which is also where a giant golden Buddha statue stands. From there we walked the beach/hip waded back to our neck of the woods.

Our last night we went into the main town area to check out another night market. Again lots of food was consumed, hah we don't shop we just eat! Our last day we made one last trip to the beach, unfortunately the tide was up making for a short and sweet outing before heading back to pack and begin our trek back to Bangkok (with no more puke incidents I might add).

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Ringing In The New Year

We spent New Years in a small beach town about three hours outside of Bangkok called Hua Hin. Amazingly enough all three of us made it till midnight to ring in the new year, sort of, I may or may not have had a brief snooze beforehand.

Where we were staying was less than a five minute walk away from the beach so about 20 minutes before midnight we made our way out there to see what was happening. Not expecting much we were surely surprised when we found crowds of people along the beach setting off fireworks and lanterns. One group let Sevio help with the lighting and letting go of one of the big candle lanterns, which was pretty cool since we missed out on the actual Lantern Festival a few months back! 

When the clock struck 12 the real light show began. Each hotel along the shore seemed to be at competition with one another having their own firework show. We didn't know which way to look, behind, in front of us, beside us...everywhere you looked was firework after firework shooting up into the sky! For about a half hour we just stood in awe of all the pops of light and color mixed with lanterns and smoke, it was so awesome! One of the best New Years I've ever experienced!

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December Newsletter

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Thank you everyone for following along with us in this journey while we serve in Thailand. We only have 3 months left here and it's so easy to look forward to returning home and all its familiarities but we are striving to finish well! Setting our hearts and minds set on the here and now rather than the then and there.

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All Good Things Come To An End

All good things come to an end, that being our current tourist visas. Which means Christmas day we will be doing things a bit differently...

We are jumping on a bus to make a nine hour journey to Thailand's neighbour country, Laos. We will be applying for two 2 month tourist visas this time around, if approved we only have to make a one more run for the Cambodian border sometime in February to activate the second visa (a day trip, of literally walking over the border just to turn around, get stamped and come back again). 

Being 37 weeks pregnant I am unable to fly, we could take the train, but we've booked with a company that takes care of all the details for us, which totally out of character for us, but at this point I just want it to be easy and stress free! It's going to be a long and highly uncomfortable ride and I can only imagine one consisting of very little sleep. I've never been one to sleep in vehicles, especially ones that drive at warp speed through the wee hours of the night (I have trust issues with drivers in these kind of circumstances). 

Doing these visa runs whilst pregnant have proven themselves complicated, and this time around unpredictable now that we're so close to go time. We did have the alternative to extend our current visa giving us an extra month but then we are getting awfully close to my due date, which if baby is overdue, then Houston we have a problem! 

Here's hoping and praying for safe travels and visa approvals. 

Merry Christmas everyone! 

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November Newsletter

Check your inbox's, our latest newsletter is out! 

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And if haven't already, subscribe now to our monthly newsletter, just follow this link below:

Thank you everyone for following along with us in this journey while we serve in Thailand. We are so encouraged by all the love you send us whether that be in your prayers, finances, skype calls, or a simple hello via email or facebook! All of it means so much and we're blessed to have such loving family and friends supporting us all over the world! We love you and miss you all!

Kuala Lumpur

Ok this is it, the last post from our trip to Malaysia. I'm finishing up with our day spent in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. We had one day to see the sights and I'll tell ya, it included a lot of walking! Thankfully, one thing KL has going for it is an easy to understand, quick, and inexpensive metro system.

Our first sight to see was "Little India" which is where we had our first, and most favourite Indian meal in Malaysia. This eclectic area was filled with sights, sounds, and smells with the punjab music blaring through the food vendors selling fruits, vegetables, treats and other fine pastries like samosa and curry puffs and street vendors filled with beautiful colorful sari's and other apparel. 

 Next up was Chinatown, just a five minute walk from where we staying. Chinatown is home to KL's famous "Peddling Street" where hundreds of vendors are selling their goods, aka a place to find cheap knock offs! We actually didn't spend too much time here, if your there (like us) with no intent to shop and partake in the customary bartering then it all becomes a bit overwhelming. But it was fun to walk through and see, not too mention witness a man with a cheetah print scooter with a (real) monkey in a dress sitting on the back. 

Our first architectural sight to see was the KL Tower (which we actually had a great view of from our hotel). Much like the CN Tower or Seattle Space Needle this building stands skinny and tall in which you can go up and see the view of the city from the observation deck, or sit down for some high tea. W e fully intended on going up but upon arrival learned it was a tad pricey just to get to the observation deck, and seeing how we've been to the CN Tower and Space Needle we opted to save our dimes for something more exciting.

From the KL Tower we walked, yes walked, about a half hour to the world famous Patronus Twin Towers. Trivial fact for you: the Patronus Towers were once the tallest buildings in the world, until 2004, they are still the tallest twin buildings though . Outside the towers there is an open area with a big fountain area with a little park surrounding it. The first 6 or so floors of the towers are a mall where we spent  a good chunk of time window shopping until coming across a restaurant that overlooked the fountain area. We rested our weary feet and indulged our western taste buds to some familiar eats of burgers and quesadillas. After dinner we were thoroughly stuffed and exhausted but excited nonetheless to get outside and capture some pictures of these building all lit up, a must see for sure!

  

R&R In Penang

I've gotten a little sidetracked with all this new blog designing, but it's time to get back to our recent trip to Malaysia! I thought I'd share a few snapshots from our time in Penang, specifically Batu Ferringhi (a popular little beach town).

We splurged and stayed a nicer hotel that was located right on the beach and enjoyed four days of complete R&R... it was AWESOME! If I had to describe this area to anywhere I would say its a lot like Tofino, B.C. (minus the great surf). It was quiet and easy to find our way around, you truly can't get lost when theres only one main road! At night the place came alive with a bustling night market and a million food vendors that seem to pop up out of nowhere.

The hotel was great as it had a pool, kids waterpark and pool, playground, kidzone (a big room full of toys & crafts), and did I mention... beachfront! 

Most days were spent by the pool or down on the beach, although one day I got to experience ear candling for the first time ever, so gross yet so satisfying! Another day I got henna done on my belly as you saw on my latest "Bump Watch" post. But for the most part you could find me perched in a chair poolside reading, "And The Mountains Echoed", the most recent book by Khalid Hussain (you may know him from the Kite Runner, or A Thousand Splendid Suns). Sevio found solace in sleeping in and gorging himself with the delicious Indian food in the area or our hotel buffet. And Rylee...well she wasn't too fond of the pools (as seen in the picture below), or the ocean, but she did have a great time destroying the sand castles we would build for her, and playing in the Kidzone area.

Indian Delights

I thought today I would make you drool a little with some of the deliciousness we got to experience while we were in Malaysia! Although I love Thai food, it was nice to treat my palette to some different flavours, mostly Indian, which is one of my fave ethnic foods.

Listed below are five Indian delights that had us coming back for more. Hopefully we can find some of these same dishes back home in Canada, if not, I will be scouring google for recipes (which I'm sure I'll do anyway).

1.) Chicken satay with an oh so yummy peanut sauce (a popular appetizer in both Thailand and Malaysia).

2.) My go to snack while we were out and about were vegetarian samosas, Sevio of course was all about the non vegetarian option, chicken.

3.) A breakfast for champions consisted of eggs and pancakes Indian style,  Banana Rotee (One of Rylee's favourite things). Rotee in Malaysia we discovered was a more healthier alternative than Thai version, which is generally smothered in sweetened condensed milk and sugar.

4.)  Sizzling Chicken Stirfry. This dish comes out just as it says, sizzling! Loaded with a mound of yellow noodles and lots of veggies and chicken as "cherries" on top. Very asian taste with an oyster and/or soya sauce base.

5.) Potato Patties, another vegetarian option with a slight curry flavour.  These were a great appy dish and kid friendly being not too spicy. It also helped that they were ketchup dippable, a sure way to get Rylee to eat on her most picky days.

There you have it, five great dishes to try if your ever in Malaysia, at your local Indian restaurant, or are wanting something different in your own kitchen. If you come across or have any good Indian recipes of your own, shoot 'em my way I'd love to try them out!

One-On-One Time

Sticking with the beach theme, here are some behind the scenes shots from my last post, "Bump Watch." Instead of doing one big post I decided each child gets their own special feature because, one, they're each special and deserve it, and two, because there are just too many shots to plop into one post!

We got some fabulous one-on-one parent/child shots with Rylee! My personal fave is Ry giving me snuggles by the water, what's yours? All of which, however,  I want printed and mounted on my wall (hint, hint to Sevio my handy-man)...or fridge for this nomad period of our lives.

(All pictures were taken on Batu Ferringhi Beach in Penang, Malaysia.)