Unpacking is FUN!

Greetings!

THE SEA SHIPMENT CAME!!! Now we have been unpacking like crazy. No major movers errors except one corning dish and a cheap computer table (which Al fixed). No, the problem was with Macy's. Since we had not ever had a nice bedroom set, only the $300(new!) plasticy one we bought when we married, we decided to buy one and ship it. Since you save all sales tax if you deliver straight to the shipper we thought it was a great idea. Not! They did not check it and there's a big scratch/chip in the armoire and worse than that the footboard is to another bed. Oh, it's similar but the mouldings at the bottom don't match up. Urrrr. Will try to get Macy's to send a new one but I think I shouldn't hold my breath. The apartment looks so much better with furniture in it and it will be fun adding a few rugs to make a little less sterile.

Before all this excitement happened, we had our little trip to Tokyo with Tyler. Wow was it fun. There are certainly a lot of people there! There are 12 million people. but it's 30 million if you count the suburbs. We did a half day tour which hit the city highlights. One stop was Tokyo Tower which is a red Eiffel Tower. It is exactly the same except 30 meters higher (so they could boast, I'm sure). We went up to the observation level and from there we were able to see Mt. Fuji. It is truly magnificent. I looked and looked but could not see it and finally the guide had to came show me where it was. What I thought were clouds was the mountain! It is soooo high. We were extremely lucky since you can only see Mt. Fuji approximately 71 days a year and we were there in monsoon season. When I get the Tokyo pictures on the albums site you have to sit back from you computer screen to see it, but if you do it will come into focus and you will be amazed like me. We also took in some temples and they were very beautiful. Of course we made more than one trip to Electric City, which is several streets that are dedicated to electronics only. Unfortunately for us Japan is on the same current as America, but good for Ty. He got several games and Nintendo DS supplies. We also did Disneyland and DisneySea. They were fun but it really loses something when you don't get to hear the build up of the story before each ride. One more Disney park (Hong Kong) and we'll be done! It won't be in English either!

OK, here are some kid updates. Tyler left us and flew to Indiana to buy and read the last Harry Potter book with his friend Brett and now is up at his best friend Tyler's cottage on a lake there. Hopefully he can fit school into his schedule by the end of August! Hillary broke her operating hand last week when she tripped over one of her dogs. It is mild and not displaced so she is in a soft cast. It should not affect her externship so she is on her way to University of Florida at Gainsville now to work and study for 3-4 weeks. If you log onto the blog there now is a link to the photo albums so you don't have to log onto both. You still cannot go the other direction and start at the photo albums as they are public and the blog is unlisted-- so go to the blog first!

Al has a weeks worth of meetings in Johor Bahru and Singapore next week so I'm tagging along. Till next time. Love, Patti

Time goes by so quickly

The Singapore pictures are up on the web album site. Tyler could not figure out how to get the blog and the photos together so for now, I'm sorry, but anyone interested will have to go to both sites. We had a great time having Tyler here and traveling with him. I think he had a good time, too. It's just amazing time goes so fast. We thought we'd be bored and run out of things to do and he actually left with tons of stuff we have yet to do. Well that's what the next visit is for!

I'm not driving yet (I think I'd get lost going around the block!) so I'm having a little cabin fever. Oh yes, I could take the bus, but I'd be drenched by the time I walked to it. Tyler and I tried to take a taxi from the apartment last week and it took one guard waiving down 3 cabs that went by without stopping, 2 phone calls to cab companies that said "no" and finally one of the guards got on his motor bike and went down to the main street and hailed one down and then led him back here. Don't think I'll try that again and I think I owe the guards some cookies!

Speaking of cooking, I am having to "make my own" of many things. Last week I was trying to make a recipe my mom makes that is just terrific. It is a cranberry raspberry chipotle chicken. I brought the raspberry chipotle sauce in my suitcase, never thinking that it would be the Catalina dressing that would be the "no show". I found a recipe online, got all the stuff to make the dressing and, of course, the next time we went to the grocery they had gotten some in. Ugh!! Oh well, the chicken was great. Tonight Al is stopping to get six jars of spices so I can make Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice mix. I've attempted two desserts, both disasters. No wonder all they eat is fruit and jello for dessert.

I touched a little on the Singapore trip in the last entry but forgot to tell you that it is possibly the cleanest city on earth. We saw many historical buildings and a few temples. You can read about the places on the web album sit under the pictures. We got lucky in Tokyo, It's monsoon season there and it was raining the night we got in and then for 5 full days we had sun or at least lightly overcast skies. After we left, they had a typhoon hit, a 6.8 earthquake, and a tsunami! Good timing. Will close for now and update you more on Tokyo next time. Also, sea shipment is still in customs but shipper is expecting to deliver this week. Til next time.