Week 38: Sep 3 to 9

Steve had exams Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and has two papers due next Monday.
Monday I went to Chinatown with Cathy, we went to look for outfits for the trivia night (Olympics theme), but couldn't find anything suitable. So I think we will be resorting to togas.
I went to have a Thai massage at Chankat Bukit Bintang. I have found a great place, they do a great job (though this time I came away with a tender back) and I love the decor and ambiance of the place, and just under $30 for 2 hours!
Wednesday steve finished early because he did his last exam for the semester. We planned on going out for lunch, but just as we were leaving it atarted pouring rain, so we had Japanese at the restaurant here at Dua. That night was the Junior School Production at school. It was fantastic! Each year had a different theme, but they all used lights and music. And the whole thing was done around (and even over) the pool, while the parents watched from the balconys.
Ryan slept over Friday night and after a quick swim, we went out to Jalan Alor with Michelle, Michael, Sarah and Clark, and of course all the kids.
Saturday we mostly spent the day at home. Ryan and Lachlan playing together and swimming. Saturday night we went to the Trivia night at school. It was Olympic theme and like half the people there Cathy, Al, Steve and I wore togas. Michelle, Julie, her husband and son were on our table as well. It was a good night and I think we came about 5th. I did win tickets to Legoland that has only just opened in Malaysia, but its about 4 hours drive away. Hopefully we can go down for a weekend before we leave.
Sunday we went out for lunch, though I cant remember where now and Steve finished up and printed his papers due the following day.

Week 37: August 27 to Sep 2

We spent most of Monday still traveling home and arrived back in KL at about 3pm. We all slept for most of the hour long taxi drive home. After unpacking we went to KLCC for an early dinner and grabbed a few groceries, then an early night.
I decided to keep the kids home from school Tuesday, even though they seemed fine Monday night and it was a good thing I did because they slept in until about 10. Steve went to work though and I spent most of the day checking emails and washing clothes.
Wednesday the kids went back to school and Steve was home early enough for us to have lunch together, so we went to TWG tea for lunch.
Thursday the kids had International Day at school, we went down in the afternoon and watched some Gaelic football and dancing. That night Steve had a function and Toni came over for a drink and a to catch up on what we all did on our holiday. The guys came home at about 12:30 and after one more drink we went to bed.
Friday was a public holiday for Merdeka Day, malaysia's independence day. Steve and I had a pretty big sleep in and we spent most of the day at home. We went to go out to Jalan Alor for dinner and stopped at the Pavillion on the way for a drink and to watch the footy, then we didn't really feel like walking any further so we went to the newly opened pub at the Pavillion, Tom, Dick & Harry's.
Saturday I went and had a long overdue pedicure and did a grocery shop while Steve did some study and took the kids for a swim. We went out to Suzi's corner with Clark, Sarah, Michelle, Michael and their kids.
Sunday we went out in the morning for breakfast, but the place we had planned on going to wasn't open for breakfast, so we had Starbucks instead. We then went to Sungei Wang and had a look around and got some DVDs. We went home after lunch and Steve studied for his exams the following week.

Week 36: August 20 to 26

Monday was our first port stop. It was Corfu and we just wondered around on our own. The shopping in Corfu was good and we saw some sights, had lunch at a trattoria, and the kids got their silhouettes cut. By about 2:30, it was really getting hot so we headed back to the ship early. We spent a bit of time by the pool after cooling down in our cabin, then the kids went to kids club later in the afternoon for a little while. We had an early dinner in the dining room, the kids went back into kids club for a little while. We went to get them to go and watch the evening show and they were both dressed up in foil and stuff for some type of contest and all the kids were deciding who was the winner. By the time we got to the show there were no seats left but we stood at the back and watched, it was an aerial gymnastics show and was very good.

Tuesday was Santorini and we booked a tour. We didn't get there until lunchtime and spent most of the morning by the pool talking to the English couple we had met. Because of the depth of the water we had to tender and as the towns are on top of the cliff, you get from the port up to the towns either by walking, cable car or donkey. Our tour took us by boat to the old port, then by bus around the island and finished just near the cable car in time to get the cable car down and catch the last boat back to the ship. After driving all the way around the island, we went to Oia (pronounced ee-a). That is the town with all the postcard pictures of the white buildings with blue rooves and windows. We got 2 hours free time to wander around on our own looking at the cute shops and to take photos. Then back on the bus, we went through the main town, Fira to a taverna for a Greek buffet dinner, wine, lots of dancing, and some plate smashing at the end. We were then taken back to Fira for a little bit of free time before heading down the cable car back to the ship, arriving back by 9:30. We had a little bit of dessert at the buffet, then went to bed pretty tired.

 Mykonos was Wednesday and we did a small tour in the morning. It was about a 9 o'clock start and we got on a bus and drove around the island stopping at St. Johns beach were Shirley Valentine was filmed (I hadn't heard of the film, but a lot of people knew of it, so I will have to keep an eye out for it). Then we went to Aphrodite beach and had a bit of a rest on the beach chairs, a quick paddle and a nice cool drink. Then we went to the small village of Anamera and visited a Greek Orthodox church and had a tasting plate of Greek food and some ouzo. Then the bus took us back to the ship. We decided to have lunch on the ship, then head into Mykonos town. We were told the streets of the town were made as a labyrinth to confuse the pirates and keep the town safer, and they were not wrong. We got very lost numerous times and bumped into Ruth and Tim, the English couple that we now knew well enough to call our friends, twice. We made plans to meet up for dinner together in the dining room. The kids ate dinner at the buffet, then went to kids club. Steve and I got ready for dinner with Ruth and Tim. We had a great night and kicked on in the nightclub until about 3am.

 Thursday was one of the most exciting port days. The port town was Katakolo, it is about 20 minutes from Olympia, where the ancient Olympic Hames were held. Lachlan is really into Greek Mythology and we were all excited to see the site. Our tour guide was great and he took us through the site and to the Archaeological Museum. We got to see the altar where they light the torch for each Olympics, the temple ruins, and ran on the ground of the stadium. Then we had a guided tour around the Archaeological Museum where they have the reains of the statues and other bits from the site. After Olympia, we got back on the bus and went to an olive farm and winery. We had a glass of white wine on arrival to drink as we learnt about the olive picking process. Then we went inside for a beautiful lunch with lots of little tastings of different Greek food, almost entirely sourced from the farm itself, a bottle of red wine and of course more dancing. Full and a little tired we were taken back to Katakolo and the ship. Steve and the kids went onboard to swim and relax and I went for a walk along the street of Katakolo for one last shopping fix in Greece. We went to trivia in the early evening which we had done every day since day 2 and tied with 2 other teams. We had dinner in  the dining room and then went to the buffet for dessert, they do a huge chocolate buffet.

 Friday was our last full day on the ship, after breakfast we spent the morning by the pool. We had a bbq lunch by the pool, then the kids went into kids club. Steve and I went to a music trivia, then Steve did some work while I read. We got the kids out of kids club for dinner in the buffet, then put them in and Steve and I went to the Churrascaria for dinner. After dinner we got the kids out of kids club and we all went to the finale show in the theatre. It was really good. We went back to our room and packed and went to bed.
Saturday was time to leave the ship :( We had breakfast and were one of the first off the ship at about 9:30. We had to get to the centre of Venice by ferry or water taxi. We chose the water taxi as, besides the people that disembarked our ship with us there were also another two ships with people getting off and there were lots of people lining up for the ferry. The taxi was not cheap and we also paid for a water taxi to the airport the following morning. We got to our hotel and left our bags and wondered around Venice. We went to Saint Marks Square, Saint Mark's Basilica, The Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge, had pizza for lunch, and just wandered around until about 3, then we went back to the hotel to go into our room and have a shower, it was really hot. Our hotel was really stunning, the room was enormous, especially for Venice standards, and beautifully decorated in lilac and gold. Everything was monogrammed with the hotel logo, including doors, toiletries and the rubbish bin. Steve and the kids stayed at the hotel (Steve had some work to do on the internet) and I went out again and had more of a look around, there were so many beautiful shops and things to look at. I returned at about 6 and we went out for dinner, had a little bit more of a walk around, then went to a gelati place/bar and the kids had gelati, Steve had a beer and I had a canoli and a glass of Frangelico..yum. Then we went to bed, as we had to get up early to get to the airport.

We caught our water taxi at 6:30 Sunday morning and flew back the same way, but had a stopover in Dusseldorf instead of Berlin. We had a longer stopover in Abu Dahbi for 6 hours in the middle of the night but it wasn't too bad.

Week 35: August 13 to 19

This week we are all getting excited about our trip at the end of the week.
Not much happened Monday. The kids got home late from school as it rained in the afternoon, whenever it rains traffic is usually heavier and we are still in Ramadan, so the traffic was doublet bad.
Tuesday I spent most of the day having morning tea with the high comm girls. And I went out with them on Wednesday night to the skybar at Traders Hotel, after getting a haircut.
Thursday there was another shoe party. I didn't order any this time. We went out to dinner, but a lot of places were booked out or too busy because of Ramadan. So we decided on a German pub and restaurant at the Pavillion.
Friday was spent sleeping in, and packing, apart from Steve going to the High Comm and getting a haircut ( Lachlan also got his haircut). We left home at 4 to go to the airport. We flew out at 8:30pm and arrived in Abu Dhabi six and a half hours later. We had 3 hours until our next flight, but by the time we walked to the terminal and had a coffee and chai, there wasn't too long to wait. We then flew another six and a half hours to Berlin, and had 3 hours there as well. I must look German because everyone spoke to me in German. The last leg was only an hour and a half, then a 20 minute taxi ride, an hour check in and we were finally onboard the Norwegian Jade. It looked very familiar and we soon realised it used to be the Pride of Hawaii (the same ship we did our Hawaiian cruise on).

a nice shot at the airport; a rare KL sunrise and not so rare haze; fantastic bakery in Berlin; Petronus towers from the skybar of the Traders on ladies night.

 After settling in, having some lunch and of course our safety brief, we sailed out of Venice at 6. It was spectacular!
Sunday was a sea day. We met a lovely couple from England, who became good friends by the end of the cruise. We spent some time by the pool and the kids spent a bit of time in kids club. Lachlan was a little disappointed that he wasn't old enough for the teens room, but was still happy enough to have other boys his age and a bit older with him in the kids club. We had teppanyaki for dinner and the kids thought all the theatrics were great, the food was very good too.

French Alps from the plane; Berlin; our teppinyaki chef; Venice from the plane (our ship is the one in front)

Week 34: August 6 to 12

Not much happening this week, Steve is working hard on his paper and we are saving up our energy for our upcoming trip. Steve went away to the northern border area for work from Wednesday to Friday.

Monday was a public holiday for the kids, but not for Steve. I took then out for lunch and we went to buy some DVDs.

Wednesday I went to Brickfields ( little India) for lunch with some high comm ladies for one of their birthdays. We had some beautiful Indian vegetarian food.

Thursday I spent some time with Toni. We went to Delicious for lunch, then came upstairs for margaritas. The kids and I went to KLCC for sushi for dinner.

Friday I went out to run some errands. Then we had drinks by the pool with the kiwis in the afternoon.

Saturday was spent at home, then we went out for dinner at Las Carretas with Cathy, Al and the kids.
Sunday we went out to Ike's and the Curve because we had to come back early last time when Lachlan was sick. We had lunch at Bubba Gump.

Week 33: July 30 to Aug 5

A quiet week again this week. Steve is working hard on his Commandant's paper. There is not much on tv at the moment and the Olympic coverage here is kind of difficult to watch, so we have been watching our new favourite tv series, Friday Night Lights. We bought the first series ages ago, but have only just started watching it and we are really into it.

Tuesday I went and got a pedicure, with mum and dad here and school holidays, I was well overdue for one. I was also overdue for a big grocery shop, so I did that as well.

Wednesday I took Ryan's mum, Cathy to Publika because she hadn't been and we had lunch at Plan B.

Thursday Steve was finished by mid morning, so we went to Chinatown to get him some swimmers, and get some flowers. We also had lunch at Old China Cafe. We went down to the school for a meeting for The China trip Lachlan will be going on in September. After the meeting we got to watch Danae play netball for a bit, then drove home in the crazy traffic. Cathy and the kids came for a swim then we all went out for dinner at Delicious.

Friday was like most other Fridays, but Steve went to the High Comm in the afternoon so we didn't get to have lunch together. We spent the evening by the pool, then came up for dinner. Steve got a write up in the school newsletter about the AFL game last weekend.

Saturday we had some people over in the afternoon to watch the rugby super 25 final, then we ended up watching AFL afterwards. I made Mexican for dinner, it was a good evening.
Sunday was pretty quiet. We spent the morning at home, then went to Sunway Pyramid shopping centre.

Week 32: July 23 to 29

It's been a fairly quiet week this week, getting back into routines. Lachlan and Danae started After School Activities this week. This semester Danae does dancing on Mondays and netball on Thursdays and Lachlan does tennis on Wednesdays and soccer on Thursdays. With Ramadan, the traffic can be bad in the evenings so when they come home from ASAs on the late bus they can be 10 minutes late or an hour late.
I had a morning tea with some High Comm ladies on Tuesday morning, then some of us went on to have lunch at the Albion hotel, then did a little shopping. Tuesday night just as we came upstairs after a swim to get dinner ready we had a blackout in the whole building, so we went out for dinner and had sushi.
On Thursday all the defense people were invited to the High Commissioners residence for a medal presentation ceremony for one of the army guys who lives in Johor baru, followed by lunch.
Friday was pretty much the usual drinks by the pool.
We went out for breakfast Saturday morning, then Steve, Lachlan and Danae went to get Lachlan's haircut and I went to a furniture expo at the Convention Centre. In the afternoon Steve took the kids and Ryan to school for a parents and teachers versus high school students AFL game. Steve played full forward for three quarters and kicked 9 goals then he umpired the last quarter and Lachlan and Ryan ran boundarys. I had planned to go to some night markets with Louise from the High Comm, which is why I didn't go with them. The markets were good. After the football game Steve dropped Lachlan at Ryan's for a sleepover, and ended up staying for a drink. I got dropped off there as well and we stayed until about midnight.
Sunday was pretty quiet, Steve studied and Danae and I watched some master chef on the computer ( I already know who won from Facebook, but I'm still enjoying watching it. I'm about half way through). I picked up Lachlan and we went to Suzi's corner for dinner.