Thursday, June 16, 2011

Baby Shower















Last Sunday our wonderful friends along with the help of Jesse hosted another baby shower for us at our house in Singapore. I often times say how grateful we are to have such a GREAT, AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, group of friends and this just made us feel very at home. Derrick and Janelle made the guess date calendar on one of our mirrors in the house and everyone gets to guess the date which they think the baby is going to be born. Whoever is closest will get a special prize, a new car. Yup, you heard it, Janelle promised a new car!! Hopefully it's me who wins. Derrick and Janelle also were responsible for the lovely decorations, as well as, the PINATA!! No adult party will EVER be complete without a pink pony shaped pinata. We had a really great time wacking that thing around!

The picture of all the bibs laid out on the table was a fun game we played. Everyone had to decorate a bib with puff paint (provided by Sara E. all the way from Jakarta) and then I got to pick the winner. The winner is one that has a person rock climbing with a baby in the sling and it says, "climb on." It was fun and now we won't have to buy baby bibs for a VERY long time!!

The photo of me with the yellow and black striped outfit on my belly is something Jesse and I have been wanting to get for a VERY long time. Pretty much since we found out we were pregnant. It's a swimsuit that looks like a bumble bee, complete with wings and a swim cap that has little antennas. It's sooooooooooo stinkin' cute, I can't wait until we can take out little one swimming in that outfit. We loved all of the gifts that everyone brought and are super excited to share this experience with all of our friends. Thanks to Everyone who is making this experience special for us too! We are excited to meet our little bundle and are happy she will be spending her first years around such radiatingly positive beautiful people.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Climb your faces off




































Jesse and I just got back from our Thailand excursion. We went to Krabi, the rock climbing mecca, and stayed on a little peninsula called Railay Bay. This beautiful, majestic area is full of great things to do from rock climbing, to kayaking, cave exploring, relaxin' on the beach, cheap massages, delicious food and much, much more. It is no easy task to get to Railay. We landed at the airport, took a 25 minute taxi ride, then we had to get on a boat for 20 more minutes to get to Railay east. It takes some adventurous spirit that's for sure.

The first day we went climbing on a hillside wall hidden a little bit in the jungle that nobody else was climbing on. It was an easy lead climb for Jesse, he made it up the wall in a very short amount of time, and it was easy enough that I could also climb it too. We spent about half the day on the wall then the other half on the beach. Jesse being the amazing husband that he is, made me an ergonomically correct chair out of sand, complete with head rest and lumbar support. Then he made himself one and we napped and read on the beach.

The next day we went on a sailboat so Jesse could get a deep water soloing adventure in. Deep water soloing is basically rock climbing mixed with cliff jumping. Some people fall off before they get to a jumping spot but it's great because if you fall you just fall into the water. I was really wishing that I could do this but being 33wks pregnant, that's not a very good idea. Oh well, there's always next time. The captain of the boat had snorkeling gear so I got to go snorkeling and had a private beach all to myself to sun bathe. This was an all day trip leaving at 10:30 and returning at sundown. We had a really fun time and would totally do it again next time we are in Railay. After our trip on the boat we were hungry and exhausted so we stopped at our favorite local eating spot for some Mango sticky rice and went to another place for Thai pancakes. Then, we got foot massages for $10 total. It was a perfect day.

The next day we sat at the beach some more for the first half of the day, we also got 45 min foot massages on the beach, then the second half we climbed another route. This route was a little tougher to get to. We had to hike UPhill the whole way for 20 minutes in the mosquitoey jungle to get to the climbing spot. Some parts we even had to hold on to a rope to climb. It was totally worth it. The sheer beauty of this area is totally unexplainable, especially from this high up. Jesse lead the climb that we did and said it was his hardest climb EVER and a really big accomplishment. I only went up half way, high enough to get above the trees to see the superb view. That night we ate a really nice meal and decided to go back to the same massage lady as the previous night and got foot massages again. Twice in one day! It was awesome and every pregnant lady's dream!!

Overall, our 5 day, 4 night trip to Krabi was so much fun and we can't wait to go back. The beautiful blue water and the bulging cliff faces are still in my mind and won't leave for a very long time. What a great relaxing vacation before the baby comes!!