We went to Langkawi this past weekend. I know, it is a place that I am sure
you have never heard of (I certainly never had) so I will tell you a bit
about it. It is a little island in northern Malaysia just below
Thailand. It is super lush jungle (complete with monitor lizards,
hornbills and monkeys--all of which we saw) with some white sand
beaches. It is close to Thailand so the word on the street is that that
is how they smuggle the illegal tires and goods into Malaysia (through
Langkawi). Anyway, there is a really good beach called Datai Bay that
only has two resorts on it. We stayed in one of the resorts since it is
a Starwood Hotel and Mike had some extra Starwood points so we could
stay for free. We are on a budget so there is no way we would be able
to afford it otherwise!
Anyway, it was just going to be an anniversary
trip for Mike and I (since I was in CA for N's mission farewell and
missed our anniversary, but it was so worth it!). But then Andrew just
got his yearly review back from his school and he did SO WELL. We are
so proud of him (and grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing us with the knowledge to heal him). He jumped three years in language capabilities (last year at age 2.5 he scored 1.5 year language capability, but this year at 3.5 yrs he scored a 4 year in language! and he
jumped 35 IQ points from being behind last year to being in the superior range). Plus he just got admitted to this really sweet international school. So we decided to bring Andrew with us to
celebrate. So Helen got to hang out with Joseph for a few which of
course she loved. Those two had so much fun I don't even think he
missed us. Andrew was so excited to go on the big airplane and go to
Langkawi. He kept telling us he wanted to go swimming in the pool but
no the "sea" as he calls it because he is afraid of "the big bumps." AKA
the waves.
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| This is how you wash off your feet when walking from the beach to the pool. Andrew could not get enough of the awesome coconut scooper |
So true to form, we got to Langkawi and Andrew had a lot of
fun swimming in the pool (his favorite thing is to jump off the side
into the shallow part, or into the deep part with me catching him), but
he was genuinely terrified of the ocean. Whenever he saw the ocean or
we walked onto the sand, he immediately had so much anxiety and
stress--that poor kid--and mike and I were so bummed because we were so
excited to go play in the beautifully warm ocean. It seriously was
warmer than the pool. It felt so nice. Anyway, so we had to switch
off--I would go take a beach walk while Mike took Andrew to the pool,
then Mike would go body surf for a bit while I played with Andrew.
Each time even one of us was in the ocean Andrew (who was sitting far away from the ocean on a beach chair) would be flipping out telling us to come back in and that he was afraid of the ocean. The poor kid. But overall it was a fun trip. Oh and we learned something else about
Andrew. He genuinely loves the Angry Birds game. He is pretty much obsessed and wants to play the
game all the time. It's kind of funny. So I guess he is joining ranks with the rest of the world.
Okay Andrew just came and got me so I brought him to the kitchen
where mike is fixing some food and ran back to finish my post. I told
Andrew "We went to Langkawi didn't we!" and he said in reply "And Andrew DOESN'T LIKES the ocean (yes, I typed that correctly, he says "doesn't
likes"), but Andrew likes the slide (he means the water slide in the
pool). And the slide is so scary and Andrew doesn't likes the slide (yes, sometimes he says he likes the slide, and sometimes he
doesn't). And Andrew goes down the slide so fast, and Andrew goed in
the water."
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| This was serious stress relief for Mike -- even though he really only got about 20 minutes of sunset body surfing in, he really felt recharged and ready to face another intense day at the office |
Anyway, it was a bit of a sad trip for me just because sweet little Andrew was so afraid of the beach (and really that's all we wanted to do), but overall it was great bonding time with Andrew, and really who can complain about going down a water slide all day long with an adorable three year old.
Love to all from Langkawi
E
