Crocs and Orangutans…more fun in Kuching

One of the biggest questions I get here at home is “So, do you guys just hang out in the water all day and drink beer?” (or some version of that).  The answer this year is “No, we’re up a muddy river with crocodiles and when we’re in blue water there are box jellies….but yes, we do drink beer.”  For all those people who don’t believe me (the non swimming part, no the beer part), I thought it would be fun to post this for you…

Remember when I came back to the states last year and Jake and Andy came across this little fellow in Palau?

This year I come back to the states and they come across this little fellow swimming in the marina…

That's about 10 feet long if you were wondering.  Not even Andy will go swimming with that thing.

Since I’ve been home, Jake and Andy have been holding down the Savannah fort doing school, fixing things and trying not to melt away from all the heat.  They did manage to fit some fun in there, though.  They’ve bought some remote control helicopters and have spent hours and hours flying those things around.  They spent a day going to the cat museum (Kuching means cat so the city is full of everything cats), although I don’t think Jake was too impressed.  And just the other day, they went to see the orangutans at the nearby rehabilitation center.  According to Ranger Rick (yes, Ranger Rick is a legitimate source, especially when I have one in my hand right now.), most of these little guys were taken from their moms when they were babies and sold as pets and now people don’t want them anymore.  Others were displaced as the rainforest gets cut down all over Borneo.  Many have been released back out into the wild and this time of year is apparently fruiting season.  This means those animals don’t need to come back to the center for feeding.  So when Andy and Jake went, they mostly saw babies that were still in captivity.  They also saw sun bears and porcupines.  Guess what impressed Jake the most?  Porcupines.  Yep, porcupines.

Me, my adorable niece (see a resemblance?), brother, dad,
sister-in-law, and growing way to fast nephew.  Oh,
and dog, Wrigley.

Here in the states, my dad has been getting better and my trip is winding down.  We celebrated dad’s 71 birthday, I’ve gotten to visit a few college friends and I’ve loaded up my suitcase with all those things we thought we weren’t going to get this year (new clothes, videos, cups, cool birthday gifts for Jake, etc.).

I’m glad to be heading home next week, although sorry to leave my family here.  Andy saved the cave trip for me so a week after I get back we’ll be heading to the Mulu caves for a little R&R (don’t roll your eyes at me…I’ll have you know we work hard and are all in need of a vacation – I’m pretty sure I’m typing this with a straight face.).

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes for dad…keep ‘em up, he has a long row to hoe.