Luke and Janell's blog

España

2010-03-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

Its been a while that we have blogged but I thought it would be fun to detail our last trip which ended yesterday. What a ride!!!! We left Seattle in the afternoon with a journey to Paris, a short layover in the Paris airport, and a quick flight to Barcelona. When we arrived at the check-in counter in Seattle, I found out that I hadn't put Neveah on the ticket...I should have known this was going to be a little foreshadowing of how the trip would go :) Unfortunately since it was last minute, we had to pay half the price of the ticket instead of the usual 10%. Also, it ended up taking about an hour to do everything. With this behind us we got in a long, long line for security. Fortunately, Janell's mom had encouraged us to deviate from our ways, and get to the airport early...otherwise we may not have made it!

On our flight to Paris we were given seats with plenty of leg room and an optional bassinet for Nev. However, Nev started to feel feverish. On arrival in Paris (1o hours later), we had about 40 minutes to get to our next gate. We were completely unaware that CDG is a crazy sprawled out maze of an airport and that getting to our terminal would require leaving security, taking a bus, going through customs, security again and plenty of walking. Also, while on the way, Nev puked her guts out, probably more than I have ever seen her do (we just kept walking...but I am sure some poor person in Paris was pretty annoyed to discover puke on the carpet in one of the walkways). With a few minutes to spare we made it to our gate and managed to change Nev, and stash all the pukey clothes in isolated compartments in our carry-on. Here is a pic of Nev starting to feel feverish but still maintaining a positive attitude...

Finally in Barcelona, we gathered our luggage and were supposed to make a phone call to the apartment we were staying at so they would meet us outside to give us the key. Who knew that making a phone call in Europe would be so hard!!!! The pay phones would not take a credit card, and we did not have Euro coins. Finally we found someone who would make change for us but we still could not dial the number correctly. Not sure if it was our stupidity (being jet-lagged, worried about Nev and tired) or the phones flat out not working... Who uses pay phones these days anyway? Janell finally asked the information people if they could dial for us and we were successful albeit 45 minutes later!!!!

A short taxi ride later we were at our apartment and we put Nev down for some much needed rest. Our good friends, Andrew and Alene, arrived after a few hours and our vacation had begun! Only problem was, Nev's health was deteriorating! Here is a shot out the window of our apartment in Barcelona, which was very spacious.

We decided to take a little stroll in the Barcelona streets and get some European pizza for take-in. That night, Nev woke up very early (1 AM or so) and would not go back to sleep. So we broke all of our rules and let her watch Baby Einstein until she finally fell asleep again. Meanwhile, her fever was still running high, her cough was getting worse, and she was not eating much. The next day, Janell decided it would be best to stay home and let Nev rest, so I ventured out with the Kaethler's on the metro to Park Guell! Here are some shots of the Park.

We were going to meet up with some friends we had made in the Maldives that lived in Barcelona but with Nev's health getting worse it just didn't seem like it would work out. The next day, Sunday, we had scheduled a high speed train ride (AVE) to Malaga which is located in the southern part of Spain. I was thinking the train left at 10:45 AM but our friends, whom we had been in contact with via email, kindly informed us that there was no such departure time for the trains to Malaga and that it actually left at 10:20. This I found out at 8:30 AM when checking my email after another sleepless night with Nev. So I rounded up the troops, 4 adults and 3 kids under 4 years of age, so that we could leave by 9:20. When scheduling the taxi, they informed us that there was a marathon in Barcelona that morning and that they would be blocking off a bunch of major roads. They recommended we leave as early as possible, so we decided to try to get everything packed, kids ready, apartment cleaned up in 50 minutes! After rushing around like mad people, we actually were able to leave in 2 taxis (our luggage wouldn't fit into 1) at around 9:30. When talking with the taxi driver, he didn't give me much hope of actually arriving on time, and only about 2 kms. down the road we actually hit a blockade where the police were rerouting traffic due to the marathon.

At that exact same time, a bus side-swiped the taxi and didn't even stop. The taxi driver was furious!!! So, I asked him if he could drop us off at the nearest subway/metro station which happened to be a block down the road. At this point it was about 9:45 (35 minutes left to get to the train station). We quickly rounded up the luggage and kids and headed down into the subway where the doors malfunctioned and we missed a train. Finally another train arrived around 9:50 and we were off. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the Sants Station where we walked and walked and walked around windy hallways, up and down staircases and finally made our way to the train with 5 minutes to spare! We were hot, sweaty and tired but we had made it! We had planned on at least saying hi and bye to our friends from Barcelona but they also hit the marathon blockades and didn't make it to the station until after we had boarded--craziness!!

The train was amazing...not sure why anyone would travel any other way. We hit speeds well over 300 km/hour...now this was Europe! Here are some pics of and in the train.

It was a great ride to the coast and lasted about 5 hours. The food was actually quite good, the seats were spacious and we could walk around. Nev still did not feel great (I think her fever had broke but she was still lathargic and was not eating). Once in Malaga, we rented a van, a Ford but actually stylish with a 6-speed diesel and room for 7.

We managed to get the GPS to work and found our new home for the next 6 days. A wonderful rainbow awaited...

We decided to lay low the next day but did manage to hit the beach and grab somne eats. Nev was feeling a little better, and Paige (our friends baby) actually was helping feed her! The downside of this is that Nev got her sick :(

The apartment had some great views--classic Mediterranean.

The last few days, Nev started feeling better, although Paige inhereted her sickness :( We managed to hit an old town in the mountains called Ronda, went to Granada and saw a castle from the 14th century or so, had some good tapas and sangria, walked to the castle that was 5 minutes from our place, and shared some good times with our friends!!! It is pretty amazing that they still like us, after all the nights Nev woke up and cried!!! Overall, it was a great trip, with a lot of good times, and some big challenges with Nev being sick and tired. In the words of Coldplay: "Nobody said it was easy, but nobody said it would be so hard!"

Here are some of our favorite shots...

It has been a while

2009-08-06T21:01:00.001-07:00

It has been a while and our little girl is now 4 1/2 months old. We have had a great summer including our trip to Costa Rica and more recently a RV trip to Kelowna!!

Auntie Crystal and Uncle Aaron came for a visit

She loves her stroller and is very interested in her daddy's guitar playing

Hanging at the lake in Kelowna

Snuggling in the RV

I love laughing

Hanging out at the beach in Costa Rica...she would take a nap under the beach umbrella.

My daddy is funny

Doing our "little's" laundry

Surfing at Playa Grande

Newport

2009-05-26T20:29:00.001-07:00

We went to Newport Oregon to go surfing for Memorial day long weekend. Nev did amazing for the 6+ hour car ride!!

We wanted to take a family picture but she would not wake up....so she slept through the photo shoot!!

Morning walks with abuelo and abuela

Bathtime and changing in front of the space heater!!

Checking it all out..in her little hat...don't want to get sunburn!!!

Finally up on a wave!!! Took a couple of tries...

Go Lukey Go!!!

Hanging out with Daddy

Thinking!!!!

Getting our Vitamin D

Agate beach

One month old and growing.

2009-05-02T11:31:00.001-07:00

We had her one month check last week and she is now up to 7 lbs and 12 ounces!!

She is working on a smile!!

Bubbles!!

4 weeks old.

2009-04-25T13:02:00.001-07:00

Hanging with daddy in the morning.

First trip to the beach

Chilling in the bathtub

almost 3 weeks old

2009-04-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

Nev has a question!!

First full bath!!

Funny faces

Home one week

2009-04-04T08:39:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe that we have been home a week!! It has been an adjustment and a huge learning curve but we are all loving it. We have been blessed by those in our church who have come by with meals and all our friends and family that continue to stop by. We love visitors.

Her boyfriend--Amos

Brenda our friend and new mom. Many words of very helpful advise.

Daddy's buddy and fellow musician--Ken

Aunt Sue--she will teach you music and love on you!!!

Tio Jeff--will play with you like no other tio can!!

More Neveah

2009-03-27T20:40:00.001-07:00

Janell and baby did great today! Luke got a stomach bug and had a rough morning but is feeling fine now. More pictures, enjoy:

Welcome: Neveah Joy Ibsen

2009-03-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful baby girl was born at 7:38 AM weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces. Although it was a scheduled C-Section because she was breech, Janell went into labor earlier that morning. I guess she was determined to share Luke's birthday!

Update

2009-02-26T20:15:00.000-08:00

We have been working to try to finish the house renovation and Janell's belly is getting bigger and bigger.

Here are the two belly pictures we have the first is at 28 weeks and the second is at 30 weeks.

We also took a trip to Santa Fe New Mexico in January. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Our new family.

2008-12-03T22:30:00.000-08:00

We have finally decided to update our blog and it is fitting with the exciting news that we are having a baby in April.

This was during our most recent ultrasound. Look at that nose...definitely a Luke nose!!!

Our home remodel

2008-12-03T19:04:00.001-08:00

Due to our family change in April we have started to renovate our house. It started with demolition of one of the half walls in the kitchen. This was followed by installation of hardwood floors throughout most of the house this Thanksgiving weekend.

Luke starting the renovation that included building a new wall after demolishing the half wall that was previously there

Analyzing the start

Enjoying the finished hallway after a long day of work

The last boards.

Our house in the snow

2008-05-06T20:03:00.003-07:00

I had mentioned a while back that it snowed at our house and here is the photo.

And a photo of Janell and I on a snow-shoeing trek on Mount Seymour in Vancouver.

Not much new...although we are looking forward to the summer!!!!

Back in Seattle

2008-01-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

We made it back to Seattle on Dec. 23 and have now recovered fully from a 40+ hour trip and 16 hours of time difference (it was actually quite painful). I will try to get some photos of Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi up in the next few weeks since we skipped some of those.

Janell started her new job last Monday and I was back to work starting Dec. 26. We will try to keep updating the blog with not-so-exciting pictures of our regular lives here in Seattle :) It actually snowed at our house today!

Maldives...all I can say is WOW.

2007-12-19T06:45:00.000-08:00

The last few days here have been incredible...so instead of writing a lot we are going to try to upload as many photos as possible. All we have really done since arriving is play badminton, ping pong, eat, sleep, drink, snorkel... Tomorrow we are going to do a couple of dives...and our vacation is almost over :(

Here are some photos:

Our little island:

Snorking:

Bombs away:

Eagle ray:

The beach outside our bungalow:

Boat ride back from snorkeling:

Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur, and Maldives

2007-12-17T00:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we have not had much internet access over the last week or so but we had a fabulous few days in Langkawi. We were able to rent a scooter and see the island. KL was also fun...we went up the twin towers (from the movie Entrapment) and had a good time running around doing last minute X-mas shopping.

Now we are in the Maldives and it has been great. Today however it poured!!! WE still managed to play 2 hours of badminton even though we were soaked. We will try to get photos soon but no promises since the internet is really slow.

Here is the beach right outside our beach bungalow (we are not actually staying in the water villas in the picture).

Here is our little hobbit house :)

Our island (Vilu Reef) after landing in the sea plane:

More photos later...

Batu Ferringhi

2007-12-07T23:01:00.000-08:00

Since we weren't able to stay in Langkawi very long we decided to pick a nice place in Batu Ferringhi on the island of Penang. Good choice! Here is the view from our balcony.

The first day was nice but then the clowds rolled in for rain a couple of days...the first rain we have had all trip (except I guess for Beijing but that was expected).

The beach at Batu F. really has reminded us of Mexico with parasailing, foot massages, jet skis, banana boats, etc on the beach. The beach itself is decent but not mind-blowing...but the pool area at our hotel has been great.

Another pleasant surprise was the night market and the food right outside the hotel! At night the whole street is filled with little stands selling clothing, souveniers, fake rolexes, pirated CDs, DVDs and video games (ya they had guitar hero III!!!)! Now for the food--awesome! We have been living on fresh squeezed guava juice (50 cents), tandoori chicken, chicken masala, chicken satay, prawn noodle soup, butter naan, roti, etc. They have these little stands circled around a bunch of tables (say 100 or so) under a tin roof covering. The protocol is you sit down, and a guy comes and asks you what you want to drink...we respond 2 guava juices :). Then you go walking around the perimeter looking at the pictures until you find something that looks good and you tell them your table number. When they bring the food to you, you pay right away...the average meal is about $2. So we have been eating well for about $5 for the both of us....here are a few pictures that don't do the food court (or whatever you want to call it) justice.

Here is a list of juices and prices (3.3 RM = $1).

One of the days here we ventured out to Georgetown, the main city on the island of Penang. It has an interesting mix of Chinese, Indian, Malay, and British influence.

We managed to figure out how to take the bus in (about an hour) and walked around till we were super hungry and finally settled in for some food and beer.

The next day we were going to rent a scooter and cruise around but since the bus was so cheep and easy to use we decided to take the bus to a national forest in search of some monkeys and a jungle hike. We definitely got what we were looking for plus more (that we did not capture on film)--namely the biggest lizard Janell has ever seen. Unfortunately all I saw was a tail and Janell freaking out (which was quite comical actually). Janell thought it was a Kimodo dragon or a crocodile but we asked later and they don't exist on the island supposedly... We did get some pictures of the monkeys there though.

This one is for Dad G.

Janell reverting back...

Monkey beach, where there were no monkeys...they were on the one before it.

It is our last night here in Batu F., and instead of heading further south we decided to catch a ferry back to Langkawi tomorrow morning and stay there for 4 days before heading to Kuala Lumpur on bus. Should be fun! The weather has gotten nice again today so we are hoping it will stay that way.

Langkawi--only 2 days :(

2007-12-03T20:25:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Langkawi and have been enjoying the beach! Unfortunately due to Lima 2007 and a major airshow...EVERYTHING is booked here starting Dec. 4...we asked around and everyone has just laughed at us...so we are headed to Penang via ferry today.

The beach in Langkawi was amazing. Our first night we just hung out around the hotel but our second day here we decided to do our traditional exploration walk.

Did I say the beaches here are amazing :) Enjoy the photos...not much else to say.

We also got to see some airplanes from the airshow while relaxing on the beach! We feel pretty safe with all of the military ships and planes around!! I think somebody important is staying in our hotel because there is a helicopter that keeps circling...

Back to Singapore

2007-12-01T22:01:00.000-08:00

We have fallen in love with Singapore. The food here is amazing, getting around is easy with the MRT and the diversity of people is fabulous. On top of that, we have been living large here! We stayed at the Raffles Plaza Hotel and got upgraded to an Executive Suite on the 25th floor (second to top). The room was amazing with our own desk, two balconies with sweeping city views, a huge bed, a little TV corner with a couch, and our own espresso maker with pods.

The first evening we ventured out and found a few streets packed with people and small restauraunts--fabulous! I think I would come back just for the food here!

Not only that but the next morning we discovered a couple of things. Firstly, the breakfast was probably the best we have ever had with everything you can imagine and more... and the Singapore marathon was happening on Dec. 2nd and elite athletes were staying at our hotel and even on our floor. We saw one lady getting interviewed by a reporter in the lobby!

On Dec. 1, our first day there, we decided to pack as much sight-seeing in as we possible could. Our first stop was Sentosa island, kind of like disney world of Singapore...with fake beaches (really nice ones however), rides, aquariums, etc.

We hung around long enough to see the beach, people watch a little and took off to Chinatown.

Chinatown was great...lots of little street markets and a huge temple in the middle. Our hunger started to get the best of us and our feet were starting to hurt but we decided to tackle Orchard road ( a huge shopping area ). What we didn't realize was being a Saturday and with lots of out-of-towners it was CRAZY busy!

After almost having a few meltdowns we managed to find a great Japanese restauraunt tucked away in a mall and we settled in away from the madness. After re-energizing we decided to head back and enjoy our hotel once again. In fact, we were so burnt out and had eaten so much we just hung out and watched movies, only to venture out for some wine and cheese in another crazy mall just below our hotel.

The following morning we got up early to find out where the marathon was ending and actually spotted it from our hotel balcony (only a few blocks away). The top male finisher..from Kenya..did it in 2 hours and 14 minutes...wow!

Top male marathon finisher:

Top female marathon finisher:

After that, we had another amazing breakfast at our hotel, swam in the pool and headed back to the airport to our favorite transportation system--the MRT!

Off to Langkawi, Malaysia today where a new adventure begins. Supposedly there are no accomodations left on the island since it is having a huge arts and crafts festival so we have 2 nights booked ( in a single bed :) ) and we will play it by ear from there! Should be fun.

Bali, Gili Trawangan and Gili Air

2007-11-29T02:51:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Bali and had some great times at the beach and in the pool at our hotel. we also finally dusted off the paddles and hit the ball around a little. In the evening we walked around and people-watched. The Balinese love to play soccer on the beach before sundown...we didn't join in however...but it was fun to watch. We took off by speed boat four days ago to some islands off the coast of Lombok. We had read that there was great scuba diving here so we decided to give it a try. On our way we saw a huge pod of dolphins!!! Luke did 3 dives while we were there and Janell only did 2. On our first dive we saw reef sharks, turtles, lots of fish and the highlight was a HUGE manta ray!!! We also did some snorkeling and saw a huge sea snake...unfortunately my camera malfunctioned and we were too freaked out to hang around :) Here is a picture of us instead. On Gili Trawangan we stayed in a little A-frame bungalow right off the beach with an outdoor shower and toilet! Fabulous. The food there was also great. Janell had red snapper BBQ'd on the grill a few nights and shrimp and calamarie were the norm! After a couple of nights we decided to move to Gili Air so we coordinated with the dive shop to do a dive and then drop us off there. The dive was less than spectacular but we did see some interesting sea life that we still don't have names for. Once on the beach in Gili Air we hiked up to the best place we could find and bargained for a room. We ended up with an amazing room right off the beach and a friendly (rather large) gecko as our mascot. This was the view that we had from our balcony. We met a great couple..she is from Colombia and he is Swiss. They are traveling around the world over the next 5 months. We had a great dinner together! The other people at the hotel were also very friendly...lots of people from France and Italy. There are no motorized vehicles on Gili Trawangan or Gili Air so we took a horse drawn carriage to the ferry to get back to Bali. In Bali we had fun shopping and playing in the waves. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to rent surf boards but we did some body boarding instead.

Wamena

2007-11-24T03:55:00.000-08:00

Some people choose to sky dive and some people choose to fly Trigana!

It actually was a pretty smooth ride...it was just that the plane looked like a mix and match of parts from who knows where. Later, after talking with some of the MAF pilots in Wamena (who don't let their wives fly on Trigana) we realized that it was a little bit risky!

Wamena was a lot of fun. We visited Dan and Sarah DeSalvo there...Dan is an MAF pilot flying 206 Cessna's into small airstrips in the Papua area around Wamena. Dan was able to hook us up with a few flights with Mike (another MAF pilot) on a slightly bigger plane into a few remote villages.

Here are some of the locals:

And this is the Caravan plane we flew in. I actually got to fly (with major help from Mike) for a few minutes!

Here is one of the crazy air strips we landed in. Mike landed the plane perfectly but it was definitely a rush!

Dan and Sarah also took us to an open air market. In this picture Natalie (Dan and Sarah's daughter) is helping stack the mandarins!

Hey did Luke get a tan and grow a serious beard :)

This guy isn't entirely naked. He has a gourd(not sure if that is how it is spelt) over one particular part of his anatomy...zoom in if you dare.

Our last night in Wamena we had yet another delicious meal made by Sarah and celebrated Thanksgiving.

We are in Indonesia

2007-11-18T03:14:00.000-08:00

We arrived late on Saturday night and were wisked off by a taxi to crash for the night. In the morning we had a few hours to run down to the beach and return to the airport on our journey to Wamena.

Aah, the beach at last:

A local wanted a photo with us (not sure why...do we look like celebrities or something?) so she returned the favor:

On our way to Wamena via Jayapura, the airline messed up our once direct flight and we had a layover in Makassar. We took full advantage of the 12 hour layover by hitting up the nicest hotel in town for food and a pool.

Cooling off and practicing one of the cardinal rules of diving (always breathe), oh and did I mention I am stoked about being able to take pictures underwater!

Loving my Tamarillo drink:

Singapore

2007-11-18T02:58:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Singapore around 11 pm and after having a great experience with the subway system in China we decided to take the MRT to our hotel even though it was late. We were very impressed with the MRT--forget any other form of transportation if you are there.

We stayed just outside little India and spent the next day walking around first down orchard road for breakfast then into little India.

Hmmm, good coffee:

Walking around Little India:

And eating yummy indian food (Samosa's and Tandoori chicken):

And we made it to the water in Singapore:

After 24 hours in Singapore we head off to Bali.

China continued

2007-11-18T02:18:00.000-08:00

After hiking the Great Wall we were able to have a wonderful home cooked dinner with Keith and his girlfriend Zoe.

We also went to a foot massage parlor just outside of the apartment complex. We had an hour and half foot, lower leg, neck and back massage. It was amazing. Luke chickened out and only soaked his feet in Chinese medicine because he did not want anyone touching his feet!!!!

Day #4
We started this day visiting Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (points if you can spot Janell in the photo below).

Euro-boy meets Tiananmen Square:

Staying true to Seattle we just had to get a coffee at Starbucks:

Walking around the Hutong's we discovered this beautiful lake:

Janell made a friend on the bridge:

Our traditional nightly stop at the market just outside Keith's apartment to pick up fruit:

Sun sets on our last night in China:

China

2007-11-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

Day #1
We arrived at 5 am to China and quickly realized that it was FREEZING!! Keith (our good friend) had arrange a driver to pick us up and we were able to go to his apartment to shower and get ready for the day!
We started our sight seeing right away to try to avoid jet lag.
Our first stop was the temple of heaven...

Our friend Keith (who was an amazing tour guide!)

We also went to the Silk market to get warm clothes. We were able to use our bargaining skills that were a little rusty!! Luke was able to purchase a pair of jeans and shoes...which he has now been given the name...Euro boy!!!

We were able to get through the day and go to bed around 9 with minimal jet lag.

Day #2
We decided to try to get out of the city on this day and took the subway, train, and bus to get to Fragrance hill. It was about an hour hike up the hill...it was fun to see people of all ages hiking. We really enjoyed this because there were no other foreigners there.

Once we got back down we took the bus to the summer palace. Which is huge!!

We were starving so we went to one a well known restaurant next to the Microsoft China office and had Peking Duck...excellent meal!!!

Day #3
We woke up early and hired a driver to take us to the Great Wall. It was about a 3 hour drive and he dropped us off and we had to hike until a specified meeting point. It took us about 3 hours of hiking. It was fantastic...we started off in the fog and near the end it began to snow. A truely amazing experience!!

Luke, Keith and our driver.

Arrived in Singapore

2007-11-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Singapore last night after a great time in China!! We were not able to access our blog while in China due to government censorship but we will try to update our most exciting adventures!!

Itinerary

2007-11-07T08:20:00.001-08:00

So we will be leaving Seattle November 10 in the afternoon and arriving in Beijing Nov 12 in the morning!!! (Happy birthday to Janell)

jLeave Beijing to Singapore Nov 16
jLeave Singapore to Bali Nov 17
jLeave Bali for Papua Nov 18th...with arrival in Wamena to visit Dan and Sarah Desalvo Nov 19th
jLeave Papua for Bali/Lombok Nov 23
jLeave Bali for Singapore Nov 30
uWe will be land/air traveling Malaysia until Dec. 15
jLeave Kuala Lumpur to Male, Maldives Dec 15
jReturn to Seattle via: Singapore, Beijing, LA Dec 22-23

First Blog Post EVER

2007-10-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

Janell wanted me to create a blog for our 6-week trip to SE Asia so here it is! We are hoping to keep everyone updated about our trip and future endeavours through this...we'll see how faithful we are.

Below is a picture we took in Thailand. We are hoping that our upcoming trip will be just as fun!

Well enough for now...

Luke