the dunlap family adventures: May 2009

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

updates: work, health, and life in general...

may 27th, 2009

just a quick update on happenings. i will be starting work soon. i haven't really decided how i feel about this... i haven't worked in 8 months and i was just getting used to waking up at 9 am everyday, but if i am going to pursue a career in nursing and since we are told not to have little rug rats anytime soon, mine as well work. so i will start, hopefully, in june. and for the record, it was not my fault this process has been so long... singapore nursing board, texas woman's university, a little bit lost in translation, fmc human resources (big surprise), and then H1N1 (stupid little piggy) are the culprits! i am just happy to be able to work in a foreign country for a company that is run out of another foreign country (i am working for the aussies). so check back in june and i will be a full fledge registered nurse with the international medical clinic and hopefully H1N1 will be history!

the health aspect has been great! i have gotten "good" reviews on my uterus. they are not excellent but i will take good. as i said before, doctor low has suggested that we wait a couple of years for babies so that my incision and uterus can heal properly. from the ultrasound it looks like any baby dunlap is going to have to be small due to a possible large amount of scar tissue. time heals everything and miracles happen everyday (thinking of you ingrid) so we won't get too worked up over anything just yet. when looking at the ultrasound, the hole or dark spot that the u.s.a doctor thought was another fibroid has darkened and looks like the area is healing nicely.

now to the man of the house... dirk has been working really hard. dirk hasn't been traveling much but might have an upcoming trip to china. recently we joined a gym, fitness first, and have been working out every night after work. the gym was mainly for me and the classes i like to do but dirk does get a much better work out in now since i make him stay for an hour and half. the gym has free movie rentals, sodas, coffee, tea, and is on the 23rd floor of a highrise. we are really spoiled with the great panoramic views and all the neat free stuff!

i wrote this blog a week ago and wow have things have changed. people moving around everywhere on this island. it looks like the singaporean expat world is in an uproar and people are going home left and right. as far as we know, we are staying here in singapore but who knows... as for my work, i believe they are delaying my start due to the same reason everyone is moving. it is an expat only clinic so there you have it... when the expats go home buisness slows down. we will see what happens.

so life goes on as normal in singapore. we ordered some custom made teak tables for our condo and can't wait to finally get a dining room table... well actually a pub table. i need to do a better job of updating this... we will see.

Monday, May 25, 2009

random photo monday

memorial day 2007-

remembering an amazing memorial day trip to the river with great freinds! we were at the lonestar saloon in uvalde texas watching reckless kelly play... goodtimes :)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

crazy texans in thailand

may15-18th: phuket thailand once again and this time with our friends the garretts

we met the garretts through a neighbor on maxie street. they have a wonderful daughter named bailey and misty's mom, bonnie, in singapore with them. otto stayed with bonnie & bailey while the adults went to thailand and had a BLAST! we managed to make a long weekend of it and revisit some of our favorite places in phuket. we stayed at the holiday inn on patong beach and walked down daily to the the koma bar, the bar next to the hotel we stayed at the first time coming to phuket.

the dunlaps & the garretts at koma bar drinking san miguel light :)

ko phi phi islands- on the beach where The Beach was flimed with leonardo de caprio
sidenote- that is a weird movie

more of the ko phi phi islands

one of the islands where we snorkeled

love it, phuket sunset

visited the temples while we were there

nascar, i mean dirk driving a go-cart

sidenote- some people do think he looks like dale ernhart jr.

the crew before nascar

misty, bailey, and bonnie are moving back to the states in june and we are going to miss them so much! frankie is staying and working a couple more months... i think we are all going to be depressed when they leave, especially otto. bailey and otto have created a bond that i don't think anyone can quite understand, they love each other so much and are so so happy to see each other when otto comes to stay (i mean play). bailey will talk and play with otto just like he is another child, it is the cutest thing ever! i don't have an offical will but if anything happens to dirk or i we are leaving otto with this little girl. she would really take care of him.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

happy vasek day

may 11th- vasek day (hmmm... not sure what we celebrated but it was nice to have monday off.. well the hubby home at least)

we rented a boat with dirk's boss and the boys played for two hours wake boarding and wake surfing while the women enjoyed the rays... i didn't know dirk had these skills, i love finding out new things about my sexy husband.

on another note, the area we were playing in was rather uninhabited by people but very inhabited by the scaly, cold blooded creatures. we saw a rather large snake while dirk was wake boarding and then a komodo dragon on a deserted island on our way in. after the snake siting, there was no way you were going to get me into that water.

we rounded out the day with some jerry's bbq... great end to a relaxing weekend.

Monday, May 11, 2009

random photo monday... happy late mother's day

may 10th- mother's day

i hope everyone had a great mothers day! the folks at the oasis on lake travis...

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

vines, wines, and ocean views... western australia

april 30th- may 3rd- margaret river, western australia

we had a great weekend planned in western australia's wine country with some friends. we flew into perth, wa (5 hours from singapore) then drove three hours to busselton just a hop, skip, and a jump away from margaret river. we shared a chalet with two other couples and wine tasted our little hearts out... maybe too much on the wine and not enough "just tasting"

tassel park winery- bought two bottles and some mulled wine mix

the ladies at tassel park (farah armstrong, kim de jong, and me)

dirk was our skipper in the dunlap car- i am guessing they mean DD

some of the vines

margaret river is on western australia coastline- simply breathtaking

the ladies again- overlooking the coast

looking out over smith's beach

sunset on the beach with good friends

footprints in the sand

most gorgeous sunrise the morning we left

we were able to walk away with four bottles of wine, some great pictures, and awesome memories with friends. dirk and i are now trying to figure how we can move here next... hmmm

cool weather, amazing public transportation, and hong kong island

april 21st weekend- hong kong island, china

the day i arrived back in singapore from my home leave dirk was called out to china. so after a quick doctors appointment and tucking me into bed to recover from a 24 hour journey and 13 hour time difference, dirk left for shekou, china.

shekou is only a ferry ride away from hong kong island, therefore dirk flew into hong kong and took the ferry to shekou. i was lucky enough to meet him in hong kong after his work was done for the weekend. we ended up staying on the kowloon side of hong kong and not the island side but transportation between all the islands was very easy and fun at times.

the hong kong island side all light up at night

busy kowloon side

we stayed at the lux manor hotel on the kowloon side. neither of us had much information about hong kong so we took a gamble on location and hotel. this was the lobby of our hotel, i liked the super modern decor but dirk thought it reminded him of alice and wonderland... the whole hotel was like this...

the lux manor hotel; kowloon, china

it always amazes me how even fastfood is the same half way around the world- dirk is excited can you tell?

typical asian meat market, mind you this is not refrigerated at all, open to the elements. they also do not refrigerate their eggs in asia.

this is how the weather was the whole weekend, a mixture of cool, humid, rainy- it was much welcomed from hot, steamy singapore.

we found a great pub near stanely market, smugglers inn, we were thrilled when we saw they served coors light! the pub was great, and a very laid back atmosphere.

all the different currency on the walls- notice all the $1 USD

there was a light show across the harbour from either side every night- we did the star ferry tour and saw the lights from both sides

along with custom seafood you can get just about anything custom made, handbags, shoes, clothes. dirk got some shirts and pants made and i bought some shoes. we also found some great fresh water pearl earring for really cheap! we loved hong kong and are currently trying to find a way to move there.... hmmm

Monday, May 4, 2009

cold light beer, baseball, and mexican food...

march 5th- april 14th

our first home leave, here is a run down of some events we packed into a few short weeks. dirk's was a little shorter than mine but he was able to participate in a good friends wedding; visit his grandparents in uvalde, tx; and make a short trip to san antonio. i was able to spend more time with my family, celebrate my mother's birthday, sell my car finally, and participate in my good friends wedding and bachelorette party. we are not exact on our next trip back to the lone star state... i guess we are waiting for some visitors in singapore... anyone anyone?

march 28th- austin, texas

ashlely kittles bachelorette party in austin, tx. we had a fabulous girls night with dinner at the iron cactus and some fun at qua night club

bachelorette party for ashley kittles in austin, tx

table service at qua night club (me, ashley, elise)

march 6th- preston bruce & michelle kolpin's wedding rehearsal at ouisie's table

all the grooms men and ushers
(mitchel martin, bonham leinweber, matt lewis, austin grubbs, preston bruce, justin vaughn, dirk dunlap, jonathon bruce)

the ladies after rehearsal at the classiest joint in town (roll n saloon)
(sarah vaughn, melissa lewis, anne deuermeyer)

march 7th- bruce wedding

the ceremony was at trinity luthern chruch and the reception at the junior league of houston.

the happy couple (mr. & mrs. bruce)

the ladies at the reception
(catherine helle, me, erin holt)

the dunlaps

first dance

march 11th-15th- san antonio- the boerckel house

quick visit to san antonio and uvalde. we were able to spend sometime with all of our san antonio friends and dirk was able to make a spurs basketball game with his dad.

the dunlap's with the boerckel's baby, drew