Blue Skies

In an effort to improve my attitude, I have embraced the aspects of my world here that I enjoy. In short, this means that Delia has been busy at work the past few days and I have given myself permission to play. So far my plan seems to be working well.

Thankfully the weather has been better lately. We still have had plenty of rain but at least we have also enjoyed some beautiful summer days as well. Last Thursday I took the girls to the zoo, one of my favorite places on the island. We had never seen the "Splash Safari" show before and by the time we got to the arena it was packed with no seats left. We stood off to the side (so we thought) to catch the show anyway. Imagine our surprise when Phillip the sea lion made his way to his podium and he was practically breathing on us. Megan and Elizabeth both received kisses from the charmer while Emily found Phillip pretty scary and kept her distance.

Closer to Phillip Than We Expected

After a picnic lunch, we strolled around to check out some favorite animals and we were excited to see active orangutans literally hanging out above our path. The zoo is proud of their free-range orangutans who appear to have free reign over a large area. The girls watched the cute ape for several minutes, amused by his acrobatics.

Admiring the Orangutan High Above

Thursday evening we renewed our tradition of dinner by the pool. We invited Karen and Jacob to join us and we had fun swimming until bath time. I was thankful the weather cooperated and we could enjoy spending time with our friends again. Brian arrived from Amsterdam early Friday morning and it was wonderful to have him home again. Island life is definitely better when our man of the house is here!

To help me warm up to our helper again, I have given Delia new responsibilities. I am now setting the dinner menus for the upcoming week and she is doing the shopping and cooking. I've done some baking but she's been in charge of the kitchen and its inventory and so far it's going smoothly. I'm happy to not be involved in putting dinner on the table and I am not the one going to three different stores to buy what we need. An added bonus is that we will save money with this plan because she will only buy what is on the shopping list and will not be tempted with impulse buys.

I'm definitely adjusting back to Asian life. I just need to remind myself that there's plenty to enjoy here and to make the most of the perks while I can.