Thursday, June 24, 2010

Super Hero Ian now has potty powers!

Finally found the time to potty train Ian a few weeks ago. He did really well! A few hiccups here and there, but once I got him these super hero undies it was a snap. He loved wearing them and refused to wear anything else. Started running around saying "superhero to the rescue!". He is so adorable, I could just eat him up! By the way the underwears are huge on him. They were the smallest size I could get and they keep falling down unless I pin them up. Such a little skinny guy.

Shaun + Malaysia

I just got back from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, all bought and paid for by my good buddy Uncle Sam. I won't waste blog space with details about the boring conference I had to attend. It took three days to get there from Hawaii. I flew from Oahu to Japan, then to Singapore, and then finally to Malaysia. I got to visit a bunch of cool temples and whatnot. I took around a few hundred pictures. Here are a few.
Thean Hou Temple near the kings palace. I thought I'd seen it all. How foolish was I. Consider me enlightened. I was nearly transcended but strangely found myself still tethered to this mortal coil. Maybe there are lessons I have yet to learn.

Dang Dude!!!! Makes me want to change religions.

I found myself tired from all of the walking I did. Fortunately these altars had something soft for me to kneel on and relax while looking at them.


Unfortunately for me, I was not born in the year of the dragon. I got stuck with the much less impressive snake. I didn't even want to take a picture of the snake which only stood two feet tall. Lame.


I couldn't find where to put the quarters so I had to pretend that it was moving.


Sweeet!


Batu Caves. This golden statue has only been around for four years.




272 stairs to a cave full of temple stuff.


These were everywhere. I couldn't decide which one to pray to, so I prayed to them all.

I couldn't resist.

The caves kept going with these little shrines scattered throughout.

We heard about this place that had fish that would eat the dead skin off the bottom of peoples feet. I didn't feel much different afterward. Had to try it out though.

Voracious like pirhanas.

Since everything was so cheap, I tried the "Cupping" as well. Said to remove the "toxins" out of my back, It, like the fish feet thing, massages, chiropractors, acupuncture, and anything else like it, are pretty silly. Shoot dang, I could make some real money if told people to smear manure all over their faces and backed it up with words like "removes toxins", "therapeutic", and "balances chi".

From atop Petronas Towers as seen on the movie "Entrapment".



Maybe I could look like this guy if I smoked these.

Japan, Just like I imagined. Didn't have time to go to Tokyo though. My flight to Singapore was leaving soon.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Manoa Falls Hike

This was our first waterfall hike. There are lots of hikes here that end in a waterfall and we thought we'd start with this one. It started in a very lush jungle part of the island and was just beautiful all through out the hike. We quickly discovered that the next time we go on a hike we need to bring a ton of mosquito repellent. We all got lots of bug bites up and down our legs. The kids loved how the trail would get muddier and muddier, and loved climbing up the rocks and tree roots that sprouted up everywhere. My favorite part was going through the bamboo forest.
Such fabulous fun.




I forgot to mention that there are wild chickens everywhere you go. Never have to worry about a shortage of food here I guess.

Of course, since we were so dirty from the hike and a bit bug sore we all agreed a dip in the ocean was the perfect cure.