Thursday, June 30, 2011

I love living in Nashville (Part 2)

Remember this?  Well, it's happened again!  As we were walking from the office to the parking garage a guy stops us before we cross the street because they were shooting a music video right in front of our garage.  I didn't see any celebritites (once again), but the video was for Joe Nichols


I didn't think about taking a picture until I was already past it, but I did flip around and get this.

You can't really tell what's going on, but there is an above ground pool with people laying out around it. 

Closer shot.

Anyway, just thought it was cool!!

Happy almost celebrity siting to you,
Kimberly

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

To My Social Media-Using Christian Friends:

I read this on a blog I follow and I thought it was very thought provoking and needed to be shared further.  I don't have a twitter account, but I can relate to the facebook status updates.

To My Social Media-Using Christian Friends:


Sometimes we are whiny, superficial, proud, judgmental jerks on Twitter.
Lately, I’ve been feeling very convicted by what I think is not only a lost opportunity but probably an abuse of power by those of us Christians representing Christ on the Internet.
According to Galatians 5, God’s people bear visible fruit. They’re loving. Joyful. Patient. Kind. Peaceful.
I do follow people on Twitter who are all of those things. Reading their words uplifts, encourages, challenges, and delights me. Among the often dismal offerings in my feed, they are a ray of light.
They don’t ball out the phone company or bash the president out of hand. They don’t mock other people’s work, other people’s clothes, other people’s taste, other people’s less than wise choices. They steward well the attention of friends and associates, many of whom do not know Christ.
I don't imagine that kind of persistent joy, gentleness, and kindness comes easily.
Personally, I’m regularly tempted to Tweet out of anger, to Tweet out of pride, to Tweet out of envy. I update my Facebook status as much to feed my own ego and glorify myself as for any other reason. I’m struggling to define for myself what is and is not appropriate to “share” in a status.
Whatever words I type into that little white rectangle represent more than a whispered concern to a friend over coffee. I must be fully aware that 100, 500, 1,000 or more people are listening and weighing the truth and power of God almighty based on the fruit or fruitlessness of my post.
I want to believe that we Tweet or update unwisely because we type in haste, hurrying to capture what seemed funny or important in the moment. I’ve done this (I do this), speaking before thinking, offending people I respect, losing credibility, and making an idiot of myself.
I’m reminded of Proverbs 29:20:
“Do you see someone who speaks in haste?

There is more hope for a fool than for them.”
A wise woman thinks before she types, sending her words through a filter before she shares them with every person she met at that cool party last night, every woman in her grandmother’s ladies Bible class, and every potential employer visiting her profile page. Not to mention her hairdresser who she just invited to Bible study.

I worry, though, that it’s about more than typing in haste. I know people who plan their Tweets or Facebook notes days in advance and still they’re bitingly sarcastic, mean, or petty. I’m afraid that many of us are jerks on the Internet because we’re jerks in our hearts.
As Jesus said:
“Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
I do not want to criticize the judgmental by being judgmental. I just want to encourage all of us to live with discretion and integrity, doing all we can to look like Christ—at church, at work, at the homeless shelter, and on the Internet.
I want, more than anything, for my light—God’s light in me—to lead others into a powerful, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer of mankind. I don’t want anything to get in the way of that.
Definitely not a hastily composed, ill-spirited Tweet.

Post via,
Kimberly

I forgot something

So, when I wrote this I was in a little bit of a hurry and I left out some of the funny parts.  Only when I read my friend's blog here this morning did I realize that I too had a similar story when trying to cook for Gary.  You may think that I'm a good cook, but honestly I'm not great at it and that's why Gary does most of the cooking.  We actually try to cook together so that each of can focus on something.  He usually takes care of the meat and I do the veggies.  It works perfect for us!!! 

So, me cooking and baking the entire meal is not something I'm used to.  Remember I made a new recipe of Chicken Madeira and I had never made Chess Pie before either.  Needless to say there were a few hic-ups throughout the preparation.  I most definitly use every pot, pan, dish, spoon, and all of the counter space when I'm cooking.  There's never any down time for me to wash the item I just used (and by the way our dish washer is broken) so the dishes just get PILED HIGH!!!  When I got home the chicken was still frozen, so the suggested time of 4-6 minutes on each side turned into a little longer for mine.  I got the potatoes boiling and then remembered that the sauce takes 20 minutes...oh well too late to stop them now.  The actual food wasn't the problem, it was the dessert.  I put all of the ingredients the recipe called for and when I went to pour it in my pie crust it definitly overflowed!!!!!!  All over the countertop.  I tried to pick the pie up and dump some back in the bowl and when I did it toppled over and spilled practically the entire filling on the counter.  Of course it started dripping off of the counter onto the floor...and the sauce is done...and the potatoes are boiling over...whew it's making me tired just trying to remember what all happened.  I just told myself to stay calm and not get upset because my friends could stall him as long as I needed.  There was a little pie filling still in the bowl so I put that in there and just prayed everytime I had pick it up that it wouldn't spill again.  I got the counter cleaned off before Gary got home, but the remnants were still on the floor...OOPS!  So, just a bit of advice...you might want to make two pies if you use this recipe or cut it in half for one!!

The food did get cold before Gary got home, but I zapped it for a few minutes and I have to say I was pretty proud of myself.  I kept patting myself on the back throughout the night...HEHE!!

Not that I'm going to be cooking alone all the time, but I know that I can do it.  However, don't expect my kitchen to be clean afterwards, the food to be hot or for me to look less than being run over by a train!

Happy Cooking (alone),
Kimberly

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A little surprise!

I'm going to try and shorten this story since I don't have pictures to break it up with, but it might be a little draining to read.  You can't say I didn't warn you :).

If you haven't already figured it out, I love to surprise Gary!  I think it's fun and exciting and I'm such a complete hopeless romantic it's out of control.  So, I had been planning since last week sometime to make Gary dinner last night for his birthday and surprise him when he got home.  Well, the plan seemed to fail when he told me either Saturday or Sunday that he wasn't going into the office at all on Monday. 

Sunday afternoon we went to his parent's house for lunch and I told his mom and sister that I needed one of them to come up with an 'emergency' to get him out of the house between 3:30-5:30ish.  They shook their heads in agreement, so I thought whew the toughest part is over!

Before church Sunday evening, Gary had a session and I thought that would be the perfect opportunity for me to shop for the ingredients for our dinner. I was planning on making...



and
 His favorite Chess Pie

I honestly had a lot of the ingredients so I only had to pick up a few things.  Normally when he gets back from his session I haven't started getting ready for evening worship, but this Sunday was different.  When he walked in the door I was sitting in the living room dressed and ready to go working a new craft project (blog coming soon).  He was kind of taken back, but obviously didn't think much about it cause he just sat down and started watching the movie I had in until it was time to leave.  Oh and by the way I hid the few ingredients I had to get just in case he saw them and wondered when and why I had bought them.  Surprisingly our fridge is quite full right now so I could have put them in plain daylight and he probably wouldn't have noticed, but I did hide them in a draw instead. 

I had also already been to get him his birthday present during the week.  I have a stash of wedding gifts I've recently bought that are hanging out in our office.  He knows they are there and has no reason to go through them so I just stuffed his birthday bag behind those.  He's pretty easy to surprise with presents because he's not much of the snooper.  Speaking of, have you ever heard the story about me searching for my engagement ring???  Well, it's funny and that's a whole other blog post.

Back to the topic at hand...So, I came into work yesterday at 6 so that I could leave at 3 and head home to have the extra time to cook.  Well, at around 2 his sister calls and says, "So, what exactly am I supposed to do?"  I knew at that moment that I had to come up with another plan.  His friend, Jimmy, works with my company now, but he used to work with Gary doing SFT, but he didn't have enough funds so he had to find a "real job."  Him and his wife are leaving for Costa Rica on Thursday and so he and I collectivly came up with the idea that Jimmy needed some materials printed off so they could get mailed out today.  It was pretty genious and fool-proof (is that the right word?)...so we thought. 

I had to make one final stop before heading home, but Jimmy called him at 3:15 and told him about his emergency.  The printing off and dropping the papers off would take Gary about 45-an hour.  So, if he would have left in a hurry (like I thought he would), we would need to find somewhere else for him to go at about 4. 

Laura, his sister, has been getting rid of girl baby clothes to make room for Benjamin's stuff.  I took a few things that I liked recently (no we aren't pregnant, but it's ok to plan ahead) and had told her I didn't really want anymore.  However, for the surprise purposes I had told her that I might send Gary over to get some, but whatever he got I would just give back to her later.  So, the plan was when I got home I would call him to see where he was and then 'while he was out' he could stop by Laura's for me.  Laura was ready to stall (he would have been so frustrated!!).  But instead of him already being gone when I got home his car was still there!!!!!!  I literally pulled in our neighborhood, turned down our road and slammed on my brakes when I saw his car (thankfully nobody was behind me) and did a U-turn.  I drove around the neighborhood and called him and acted as though I was just about to get off work.  He said he was about to START working out and then Jimmy needed him to go print some stuff off.  START working out???  He was already putting me behind, but just now Starting to work out??  His workouts aren't really that long, but longer than I was willing to wait.  At this point it became a will to wait.  I could have busted up in there and ruined the whole surprise, but instead I parked at a little parking lot down the road where I could see the house and waited...and waited...and waited for about 40 minutes!!!  I called and texted everyone who knew about the surprise and they all just laughed.

So, finally at about 4:40 he walked outside and then he walked back in...Then he finally left for good.  When I got in the house I was hoping all of the dishes and livingroom were clean, but alas they were not.  I'm not much of the multi-tasker when it comes to cooking so I had to rush around and I was sweating like CRAZY!!!!  

So, he ended up finishing the printing and his friend Lee was home at that point.  Lee intercepted him and he didn't even have to go to Laura's.  He went to Lee's and hung out for a while and by the time he got home I had all the curtains pulled (since it was still very sunny out) with candles lit and his dinner sitting on the table!  He was completely surprised. 

He told me later that he thought there was going to be a party at Lee and Rachel's and once he left there he didn't think anything was going on.  I love surprising him!!  I took some pictures of our food, but I couldn't upload them today.  Sorry!  Just know that it was good!!!!!!!!!!!!  And actually it looked A LOT like the pictures above!!!!

I got him a pink bow tie and it is soo cute and I can't wait until he wears it.  Later on he had to clean the fish he and his Pop had caught.  That's always a fun time in our house!  

All in all I think it was a pretty good birthday/first date anniversary!!!

Happy Birthday (it's always someones birthday right?),
Kimberly

P.S. I love surprises and this is the only one I have had recently ;).


A look back...


5 YEARS AGO...(yesterday)

Gary and I went on our very first date!!!  We went to Famous Daves to eat and later went to Steak and Shake for some milkshakes.  He actually asked me to give him a kiss and I turned him down, but then he came back and said, "It's my birthday!  Now give me some sugar!"  Yes, he stole his first kiss!  So, by now you have noticed that this day is not only special because of our first date, but also because it's GARY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!  Let's step back in time and look at us over the years...


While we were dating and I lived at Freed.  He came to visit.
We have been to Gatlinburg 3 times...
We always go right around Christmas (hence the xmas trees)

Our First Christmas together
Man we look so young...and skinny!!!


Our first V-day together

Gary's first (and last) Makin' Music

Gary's first (and last) Riverboat

We've been to a few Titans games...
This one was on Christmas day!

I love this picture from Mr. and Miss FHU

I graduated college

We got engaged!

We got married!

Gary went to Costa Rica

We went to Malaysia,

Malacca,

Langkawi,

India,

Singapore
and many other places.

Gary graduated college.

These past 5 years have been amazing and I'm thankful that I have Gary in my life.  Happy 5 year first day anniversary...oh...and Happy Birthday (yesterday).

Love,
Kimberly

P.S. in case you are confused I started this post yesterday and just finished it today.  Sorry for the delay and confusion :).




Monday, June 27, 2011

The Woman and the Fork

There are so many activities going on at our congregation I sometimes get a little lost.  One of those activities is Secret Sisters.  This is my first year to do Secret Sisters and to be honest I'm not the best at it.  I have sent my secret sister a few cards and a little gift, but whoever my sister is has ROCKED!!!  I think I have an idea who it is and if I'm right I know why she is so good!  Anyway, I guess protocal is that we have a devo emailed to us once a month (I like that).  Below is this months thought and I really liked it so I thought I would share it with my readers.  Enjoy!!

The Woman and the Fork
There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things 'in order,' she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.
She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.
Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. 'There's one more thing,' she said excitedly.
'What's that?' came the Pastor's reply.
'This is very important,' the young woman continued. 'I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.'
The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.
'That surprises you, doesn't it?' the young woman asked.
'Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request,' said the Pastor.
The young woman explained..... 'My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming......like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!'
So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder 'What's with the fork?' Then I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork ..the best is yet to come.'
The Pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like, than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.
At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and ! they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, 'What's with the fork?' And over and over he smiled.
During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.
I felt like this story had two main points. First, we have so much to look forward to as Christian women. Sometimes we get so caught up in things going on in this world that we forget about the treasures Heaven holds for us. Remember to keep your eyes on the prize; don't let the worries of today weigh you down. That's what this group is all about. We are sisters, we are a support team.
The second point is this: Tell everyone the good news! Even in death this woman helps share her faith with everyone she encounters. We are a people set apart, and we act differently. This is how we share Jesus without even speaking a word. Remember the fruits of the Spirit.
Matthew 6:19-20

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
 
Kimberly

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Speaking of Bunco

Well, I really only spoke of it in this post, but I started thinking about it and thought I should go into more detail about why I love Bunco (I had no idea there was a World Bunco Association)!  First and foremost, it gives us ladies an opportunity to get together and just enjoy each other.  I honestly wish that while you were reading this post I could have background noise playing from a Bunco night.  Just imagine the sounds of rolling dice, simultanious AWWWWWWW's (due to a wipeout) or AHHHHHHHH's (due to a bunco), random chatter about their lives, laughing, and maybe an occasional FANG FINGERS (EH EH EH EH - the noise I make when I do them)



Thank you Taylor for that nice visual.

I like to do Fang Fingers as much as possible when I'm around Gary because he HATES them!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Bunco makes me happy!!  We play once a month at a different bunco girls home.  She decides on what time of food she wants and then we all just fill in the gaps.  This past week was baked potato bar...YUMMY!!!  We also bring $5 to go towards the gifts the hostess buys for the most of all the catergories.  We only do 5 gifts (most wipeouts, most buncos, most wins, most losses, and most travelers).  The hostess if only suppossed to spend $5 per gift.  Therefore, if we have 16 people playing and 5 x 16 = 80 (yes, I had to use a calculator), then what do we do with the rest of the money??  Why we give it to a charity of course.  We can decide on whatever charity we want and this month we bought a bike for a preacher in India!!!!  Bunco night is a great way to relieve stress and give back.  In July, Bunco will be at my house.  I'll be sure to report back!!!

Oh and might I add that I love when I get a gift that is just perfect!!  Thank you Terry Lea and Shelby for the beach tote, towel, chapstick, and nail file.  The last two have already come in major handy!!!  Oh and thanks to Target too!!

Happy rolling,
Kimberly

P.S.

I found a set of Safari animal stickers at the dollar store, so I'll add them to my diaper cake when I get home.  I'll be sure to take an updated picture...If I like it, of course :).

Kimberly

New Diaper Cake

For my nephew I have done a lot of firsts.  My first diaper cake.  My first announcement canvas and I knew that once I started doing these crafty things that I would fall in love and people would start asking me to do some for them.  I really enjoy doing it, but its finding the time.  My mom called me on Monday and asked if I could have a diaper cake done by Thursday.  She has a church shower on Sunday and the theme is Safari.  At first I thought there was no way I would have time.  Monday night was Bunco, Tuesday night I had a softball game and Wednesday night is church.  However, before Bunco I had to run to the store anyway to get the things I needed to take and just decided to get all of my diaper cake ingredients at the same time.  The boys were getting together at our house while we were at bunco so Sara and I were riding together.  I made sure the house was in order and then started rolling some diapers before Jimmy and Sara got there.  Then Tuesday night after my game I pretty much finished the entire thing.  Once I get started it's really hard for me to stop :).  This one seemed to be a little bit more difficult because I used 3 seperate ribbons around each layer and my husband isn't as helpful as my sister and grandmother.  I started out hot glueing, but then found some sticky tabs that I used for the top three layers.  Much easier than hot glue and less dangerous.  Yes, I burnt myself a couple of times...it reminded me of college when my roommates banned me from the hot glue gun because I always got injured.  Anyway, I had grabbed a few decorations at the store to throw on the cake and some stickers.  I seemed to have mis-placed the stickers so I might have to run and get some more because I honestly think it will look better with them...


The stickers will go around the 'Safari.'

Ingredients:
1 pack of size 2 LUVS diapers
1 roll of giraffe print ribbon (used all)
1 roll of orange shiney ribbon
1 roll of brown shiney ribbon
hot glue gun OR sticky tabs
RUBBERBANDS (LOTS AND LOTS)
1 stuffed giraffe that says the ABC's
2 animal finger puppets (sticks they are on courtesy of Starbucks)
2 rubber animal toys

Directions:
Roll each diaper individually and wrap a rubberband around it.  You can spread the whole diaper out and wrap that way or just start at the fold and wrap up.  I can do it either way, but the second option is quicker when you don't have any helpers :).
Once all of the diapers are rolled start making the layers.  I usually start with 8 and then add a layer around.  This cake is actually one layer higher than my last cake, but the top layer only has 4 or 5 diapers.  I just kind of play it by ear as to how I want to do the layers.  The last cake was done with size 1 diapers and there were 100 of them (very different).  Anyway, once you get the layers done you start adding your embellishments.  I'm going to tell my mom that she can add more stuff to it if she wants because I think it does need more.  Also, this one is just sitting on a glass cake plate.  It's actually a giraffe type print on it, but you can't tell :). 

I really enjoy making them and actually another girl at church just told us she is pregnant and guess when she's due!!!!!!!!  JANUARY 7th...one day before my birthday.  Even though she isn't showing and the baby probably doesn't even have ears yet, I definitly hunched down and told him/her to wait one more day so that we could share a birthday :).  Congrats Mark and Amy!!  I also told her that she had to use regular diapers and not clothe diapers so I could try out this whole diaper wreath thing.  My next project is another announcement canvas for a shower at the end of July and then Rachel and I are doing a towel cake for a wedding shower!!!  Lots of fun!!!!!

Happy crafting,
Kimberly


Monday, June 20, 2011

Flash Mob in Nashville

It's happened again!!!  This time it was downtown Nashville. 



I didn't realize that anybody could do a flash mab.  DUH!!!!  It makes sense.  All you have to do is record a dance and get random people in on it.

Please oh please can me and my friends and whoever else do a flash mob together???  Have you seen this one?



This one is easy...I think the next time I see frozen people I'll just freeze myself and say I was in a flash mob!!!

Happy Freezing or Dancing or Flashing,
Kimberly



CHICAGO!!!!!!!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about out anniversary trip to Chicago.  If you remember I planned this surprise trip for Gary and gave him clues everyday starting the week before we left.  I put this little video together and there are some mess-ups, but don't judge me by them.  I tried to go back and fix them and obviously it didn't work.  There's a random title in there and when the silver guy is dancing I missed the word 'him.'  The video parts were captured with my mother-in-laws little digital camera so that's why the quality isn't all that great.  We were going to take the new video camera, but decided against it. 

Oh and remember when I posted the weather?  Well, let me be the first to tell you that it was not the same 60 + degrees I know.  I had to buy a scarf and if they would have still had winter coats out I probably would have bought one of those as well.  The scarf didn't really help much the first day because with the windchill it felt like 40...BRRRR!!!  We still had lots of fun though and didn't really let the weather slow us down. 

One thing I wasn't able to take pictures during was the Peter Pan 360 show we went to.  That was something I really bought for myself.  We really enjoyed, but I've come to the conclusion that I'm much more of a musical girl.  Here's a little short video of what it was like.



Of course this is from the one they had in San Francisco, but you get the idea.

Now it's time to enjoy our little video!!


2nd Anniversary trip to Chicago from Kimberly Washer on Vimeo.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Marine Sgt. Kevin B. Balduf




Sometimes I feel as though Gary and I live in a bubble.  We don't have cable or any channels.  We only recently got internet at our house.  So, when big news happens we are normally very far behind in hearing about it.  Our preacher has mentioned several times in the past month that one of his friends from high school's son was killed in Afghanistan.  However, when he began updating us yesterday on the event my heart started to break.  I don't know if you live in a bubble like us, but have you heard about the Westboro Baptist Church?  They literally make me sick to my stomach.  Wayne, our preacher, told us that they are going to be picketing the funeral today in Nashville.  I started doing a little research this morning and found this blog post about the details of the day if you want to be involved in keeping this family safe.  If you notice at the bottom of that post he has videos of the Patriot Guard Riders and one of the spokesperson of the church group being interviewed on Fox News.  Once you watch that one, there are countless numbers of videos that show her being interviewed.  It honestly hurts my heart to hear how she views our LOVING God.  If you want to know a little about his passion just read this and the people he is survived by. Please say a little prayer for this family today.  They are grieving the loss of their son, husband, father, brother, grandson, etc. and are unable to do so in a proper manner.  The funeral begins at 3, so if you think about it, have a moment of silence at that time.

Pray for Peace,
Kimberly

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Malacca again and again

*Disclaimer*  I started this post before we left Malaysia so some of the timing is a little off, but I didn't feel like changing it :).
Gary looks really skinny in this picture.

Several weeks, I guess about a month ago or so, Gary went down to Malacca with Pearly and Victor.  They own their own computer store and they needed to make a delivery, so Gary tagged along.  If you remember, I went to Malacca when I first got to Malaysia with some people from work.  The above picture is from Gary's trip.  Pearly said she wanted to take this picture in front of the fountain to make me jealous that I wasn't there and I was at work. 

So, this means that Gary and I hadn't experienced this historical Malaysian town together.

Steven and Eileen Shee were going to head down there to run some errands the Saturday before we left for Singapore and asked if we wanted to come.  Of course we agreed.

We started the opposite way we both had the time before.  So, here is the fort. 


I had almost bought some prints from this guy my first time there, but I'm glad I didn't because he gave us a GREAT deal this time!!!  His name is Daniel and his art work is amazing.  You can come to our house, once I get the office redone and check it out!!  Thanks Daniel!  If you ever go to Malacca go inside the fort, that's where he was both times I saw him.

This is the inside of the old Christ church.  You aren't supposed to take pictures in there, but I casually and quickly grabbed my camera out of my purse and snapped a shot right before the authorities tapped me on the shoulder...jk about the authorities part.  It is a beautiful church and they still worship in it from what I understand.



This is the big water wheel and once we got off the boat tour it was actually moving.  It's really gorgeous in real life.


We were able to go on a boat ride, which neither of us had done the time before.  It was really cool to see the old houses from the water.  All of these houses on the main stretch (Junker Street) have now been turned into shops or restaurants.  
And then it started raining...(the story of our lives :))

We had to hang out under a bridge until the rain slacked up enough for us to continue.
In the distance you can see the big ferris wheel that's one of the attractions.  They also have a tall tower you can ride up and see over the town.  We didn't do either one of those.
Pretty bridge.
This is monitor lizard.  We saw several while we were on the water.  These things can be so big they look like small crocodiles.


This is a Buddhist Temple.



This is at another fort.  I proposed that this little alcove is where a man stood while everyone else was hunched down behind the wall and he would yell out where they needed to fire the canons.  There were little holes just big enough for a persons face on all three sides.  Once Gary stepped in he agreed with me!!!



Jonker Street is the main drag in Malacca.

This is Jonker Street.



This is what we had for lunch, rice balls and chicken.  Oh my stars it may not look good, but it was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!

Gary chased this man down to get this shot.  I really wish that all of these cars weren't in the picture and I'm not far enough advanced in my editing skills to take them out.  It's still a cool shot!

Gary took this picture for Chee Hoe because everyone was always giving him a hard time about his height.

Another view of Jonker Street.

We stalked these guys for a good little while to get this shot because our camera kept messing up.  I think it's super cute!!

This man makes wooden shoes to fit your foot.  I actually tried some on and if they were formed for my foot I could see how they could be super comfy.  We didn't get any though.


Dim Sum...YUMMY!!!!!!  There are just vendors all along the rode selling food and treats!

Malacca was just as fun the second time as it was the first time and it was probably even better because Gary and I got to go together!!  If you are ever in Malaysia you HAVE to visit Malacca.  It's between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, just in case you need to know :).

Happy Traveling, 
Kimberly