Family Circus- Day 2

...and the fun continues...

The girls went out for manicures and pedicures...
Kaelyn wanted to get a "kid pedicure" (blue polish on her toenails... they say she's a lot like me!)...but in the end her 3-year-oldness thought the playland in the mall with her brother and sister would be more fun:)
After the nail salon we balanced the scales of male/female activities with go-karts...or as we've deemed them "WHOA-karts"...
...but as we were waiting for our turn, jet-lag caught up with the kids...

the guys went first......these karts go SO fast...They thoroughly enjoyed the lack of rules, standard safety measures (like seatbelts), and governor's caps...the guys are now spoiled and won't settle for anything less than racing-level karts.
The girls then handed the kids off and had our turn...
...this helmet reminded us of the line from the movie Cars, "Luigi only follow the Ferrari!"...
Then the kids went. These "slower" adult/child karts still went significantly faster than go-karts in the US... Jeremiah and Kaelyn had a blast!
Zach and Jeremiah only did a couple of 360's...but only one landed them in the grass...
We were getting ready to leave when the managers asked if Adrienne wanted to take a turn! Heather drove her around one lap... she loved it and didn't want to get out!
We ended the day with banana leaf at "The Purple Place." Everyone did great eating the curry vegetables and rice with their hands...
...but by far the most natural of us all at eating with her hands was Adrienne, she dove right in!
more fun being had...stay tuned for Day 3....

Family Circus- Day 1

My (Sharon) family has arrived! All of us are staying at our house...10 people...4 kids under the age of 5- 1 of them a newborn...7 of them experiencing jetlag...it is a CIRCUS! We have had so much fun already! I thought I'd just make blogs about each day's activities...then when they've gone back home we may post some more... right now we're so dead by the end of the day that putting up a post with a lot of thought is near impossible:)
After 18 months the sisters reunite!Everyone getting to just chill together (and try to figure out what the people on TV are saying!)
Grandson looking at his Granddaddy while hanging out at the house.
Our first stop was downtown... we ate at Chili's...and we were going to take pictures outside of the Twin Towers but then, it started raining... so...
We rode Thomas the Train (yeah, nothing like traveling half-way around the world only to ride a quarter machine in a mall)... then we walked underground to the Aquarium...
We had a great time looking at all the fish and other animals...
This frog looked like Jabba the Hut! (not a great picture...but too funny!)
Like Father...
Like Daughter...
The rain had cleared by the time we were out of the Aquarium and the tower lights were on... they looked cool in the pictures!
Grandmama, Granddaddy, and Kaelyn...
Kaelyn, Aunt Sharon, and baby Isaac...
Zach and Jeremiah...

Breakfast with the locals...

On Grandma's last morning here, Abang and Kakak had us over for "Nasi Lemak." (NAH-see Luh-mahk) That means "Fat rice."
I'm sure it falls within the Surgeon General's healthy foods guidelines.
There's no getting around eating nasi lemak for breakfast either. Usually it's sold in little stands on the side of the road for RM1 (about 33cents) and folded up in a banana leaf. Kakak made it just for our Mom. It's white rice, cucumber slices, an egg (either fried, or hard boiled), peanuts, little dried fish, and sambal. Sambal is to the locals as ketchup is to us. It's a spicy concoction of... well, I'm not sure...just some spicy red stuff and they eat it with nasi lemak (and lots of other stuff). We're sitting at a table and we used a fork and spoon to eat, but usually you're on the floor and eat it with your hands:) Sometimes you can pay for the Rm2 version of nasi lemak and it comes with chicken. Kakak made us her amazing friend chicken. It's so good (you can see Grandma eyeing it!)

Nenek Baru Sampai!!!

Grandma is here!!!
She's been here less than 12 hours - 8 of which were sleeping - and has already been spit-up on... and she's having a blast getting to hold her grandchild for the first time. We'll put up pictures of all the Gammalou fun in the days ahead on here and the baby blog, so keep on checking!

When going cross-cultural pays off...

Kakak brought some of her extended family over yesterday to meet Isaac (10 extra people and I promise they're all happy...the "older" generation just doesn't smile in pictures) It's always fun seeing her family and they have all been so great helping us learn so much about our new cultural surroundings.

Yesterday was no different...As Kakak's mom, her Aunt, and her sister were leaving they each tucked a 10-spot under Isaac's arm on the way out. Lily (Kakak's sister) just said, "OUR culture..." as she did it. How awesome is that!?! And now we know what to do if we ever visit a new baby. Woohoo for having babies in other countries!

American Soil...sort of

We walked on a little piece of America...we went to the American Embassy yesterday to get Isaac's passport application turned in.

Here's Anthony and Isaac outside the embassy walls. We had to turn our phones and camera in when we went through security, so there are none from the inside. But it's nicely manicured and the buildings are very neat, air-conditioned, and in true American bureaucratic style, "efficient" (mostly).We got all the paperwork turned in, but when we handed over Isaac's picture, they told us it was no good. He didn't have a shirt on. The thing is, we had already faxed in a photo and they told us his head needed to be smaller in it. So we took new ones. Both he was in a diaper only. So when they said "he needs a shirt" we asked rhetorically, "Why didn't anyone tell us when we faxed in the first one?" When Anthony paid, the lady brought our first photo fax over and there was a big dark streak right over his chest that made him look like he had a shirt on! HA! We wanted to say "Can't our tax dollars not buy a better fax machine?" The TV was also muted and the waiting area was stone-silent. I wanted to turn on the sound and declare to the room, "If I'm paying for this TV and the satellite images we're all watching I want sound too!" Anyway:) We went to a nearby mall and got yet ANOTHER photo taken (I guess it's what we get for not putting clothes on our kid). This time Isaac kept his eyes shut and started crying... so we learned if you REALLY want to get stared at in a foreign country, be white, have a baby (we thought pregnant and white was bad), and then walk around with said baby screaming at the top of his lungs...you're sure to get a crowd!

Birthday Day!

Today is our birthday!
This year its a bit more low-key than previous years and we pretty much just chilled at the house all day enjoying time with our son.
And even though we'll never be able to top the gift of a baby... we figured it wouldn't hurt to add some extra sugar...
Sharon's mom bought this OREO No-bake mix, and we made it tonight as a birthday treat.
mmmmmm...

Isaac didn't manage to make it to the 26th (although there were moments during labor when we thought he would!) but another little person is set to make her entrance into the world today. Our friends MattE and Leslee should be delivering their new baby girl today! Since MattE has to report for spring training, Leslee's being induced so he will for sure make the birth...and we can't think of a better day to be born than February 26th! (Sharon's sister is excited because she's getting a new nephew AND niece all in one week:)
In honor of the occasion, Isaac donned his Braves-red diaper cover and baseball socks...Happy Birthday Baby Girl Diaz!

Rivers Family

Isaac Joseph finally arrived February 20th. It wasn't our birthday, but Anthony's brother's birthday is on February 20th, so he does share a birthday with another Rivers after all.
My mom had a great 2 weeks here with us and is on her way back to the US. She was such a huge help and we hope we can survive without her! Isaac has been an easy baby so far and SUCH a joy. As far as we can tell his personality and temperament are a lot like his dad's...he's very laid back. Our sleep has of course been interrupted and Sharon's recovery from the c-section has slowed her down a bit more than she'd like, but overall we are LOVING being parents. God has blessed us so much and we have so much to be thankful for. Thanks to everyone who has sent their words of congratulations and encouragement...we have appreciated every word! We have lots of pictures and stories about Isaac on the baby blog, so keep checking there for updates about him.

Lion Dance

We finally captured a Chinese New Year Lion Dance on video...one that was like the full deal. We edited it some, but thought you might like to see it. We didn't realize, but at the end people "feed" the lions money, we're guessing/assuming in order to bring good luck. The thing is, before it started the adolescent guys who were in the costumes were playing around and acting like...well...acting like people I would never give money too:) Enjoy!



And here's a picture of my mom and I that I think is good. We went to one of our favorite malls to walk...which is where we saw the Lion Dance.

Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day!" like...

...a little yard work with your mom!

Well, the day started with us making some pink "Heart-shaped" pancakes... although, the jury is still out as to how much they actually resembled hearts... but they tasted great.Then my mom and I went to work... sorry there are no real "before" shots...the grass was grown up a lot on the road... we had already edged it in this picture. We planted a small palm tree and a some filler/border type plants along the edge. My neighbor already had a small mango tree in front of her house, and didn't mind us putting the border stuff in front of her yard too...
And here's the final result...
Not too bad.
The whole point of my mom and I doing the work was because my mom likes doing this kind of thing and for me to squat a lot and do some physical activity that might bring on contractions. Apparently Isaac is immune to it!

Anthony during this time was figuring out how to install the carseat......he eventually got it and Isaac now has a safe place to ride...whenever he decides to come out that is!

Day 2 with Mama Janice...

The fun hasn't stopped!Yesterday we went to the doctor, saw some sites, picked up suitcases at the airport (and got lots of fun baby stuff!) and ate with Kakak and Abang.
Here's a fun video of the end of a Chinese Lion Dance... there are lots of these kinds of performances around Chinese New Year...this one was just for a restaurant, so it wasn't that elaborate...but still fun! (sorry it's a bit shaky... I've never confessed to being a great camerawoman)

We're glad my mom didn't get detained by authorities for this...
HAHA! It's not what you think... the Aunt Jemima Pancake mix box just didn't handle the flight very well.
Kakak and Abang are always fun to go out with and they've been anxiously awaiting my mom's arrival...
Last night we went and ate sate (satay) with them and their family. Maybe I should have put some of the chili sauce in with my peanut sauce, because even after going all day yesterday Isaac still hasn't come!