Taipei, Taiwan (April, 2014)

We had an overnight and about 20 hours in Taipei on the way to New Zealand.  We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Taipei.  It was raining most of the time we were there.  Eliza and the kids went to Taipei 101 which was next door.  We went to the hotel pool to get some energy out and we ordered pizza and ate at the hotel lounge and watched a movie in our hotel room .

Guam (April, 2014)

We stayed 3 nights (and our close friends, the Kemps, who have 4 kids like us, stayed 5 nights) in Guam at the Hilton Guam.  We booked 2 rooms under my dad's Hilton Hhonors account for about $165/night, and, due to his Hilton Diamond status, both rooms were upgraded to suites and all of us had free breakfast everyday as well as lounge access that included free soft drinks all day long and daily appetizers from 5-7pm.  We actually got upgraded to the top floor (13th floor) of the hotel and had the best 2 rooms in the hotel.  The rooms had wrap around balconies with panoramic views of Tumon Bay and were great, spacious rooms.

 Ryder and Levi, toasting to their Thai Airways business class experience.

 Sawyer and Paige, enjoying business class on Thai Airways.

All 8 of the kids in the Thai Airways Lounge.

We arrived early in the morning (5:30am) on Sunday and slept through breakfast.  When we woke up, we grabbed some taxis and headed to 1:00pm church on the other side of the island.  We got back to the hotel, had a late lunch, and when we made it back to our rooms, to our surprise, the easter bunny had visited and left gifts, treats and hidden eggs all around the rooms.

The next day, we went zip lining near the hotel.  There was a zip line course with 6 separate zip lines set up, some over lush jungle and others with great views of Tumon Bay.  It was a great thing to do and everyone did it, even Zander (3), and his friend Addy (4).  They were both pretty scared on the first zip line, but by the 6th one they were loving it.

 Sawyer and Paige, all ready for the zip lines.

 Ryder and Levi, ready to go.

 Nash, excited to get to the zip lines.

 Nash and Zander, ready to go.

 Zander, on his first zip line.

 Ryder, enjoying his first ride.

 Ryder, later on in the course.

 Nash, zip lining with views of Tumon Bay in the background.

Sawyer, ziplining over Tumon Bay.

After zip lining, we played by the pool and Cody and Rick went snorkeling around the corner from Tumon Bay.  There was a lot of colorful fish, bright blue starfish, and pretty good coral.  We then went on a long walk along the beach to the other side of Tumon Bay and made our way to some of the shops.  The girls bought a few things and we caught a cab back to the hotel at the end of the night.  The cab driver insisted he could fit all 12 of us in his minivan, so we packed in like a car full of circus clowns.

Sawyer and Paige, playing on the slides at the hotel.

The next day we rented a car and drove out to the south side of the island.  We stopped at some natural pools and the kids went snorkeling and we all played in the water, then we headed to a small local cultural center where we learned about all the things you can do with coconuts.  They did some crafts with the kids from palm leaves, made coconut candy, let us all try to open coconuts and grind them down, and let us drink the milk.  It lasted a couple hours and was a good experience for the kids.

 Ryder, snorkeling in the natural pools.

 Sawyer, snorkeling in the natural pools.

 Ryder and Levi, in the natural pools.

 All of the kids (Paige, Sawyer, Harvey, Ryder, Levi, and Nash) snorkeling together.

 Daddy, with Zander, swimming in the tide pools.

A great, secluded spot to snorkel, right near the ocean, but completely protected from the waves.

 Cody, breaking open a coconut.

 Ryder, grinding the coconut.

 The kids, watching the coconut be cooked for a a sweet treat.

 Our coconut candy that we made.

 The kids, learning of the many uses of the coconut.

 Sawyer's coconut hat.

Nash's coconut hat.

We stayed up late and hung out with our friends, but parted ways the next morning for the 2nd half of our trip (onward to New Zealand with stops in Taipei, Taiwan and Bangkok, Thailand along the way).

Disneyland Hong Kong (April, 2014)

We flew Thai Airways from Perth to Bangkok and Bangkok to Hong Kong with our friends the Kemps, who also have 4 kids, in business class (all 12 of us).  This was part of an award ticket that we booked for 30,000 US Airways miles that took us from Perth to Hong Kong to Guam to Taipei, Taiwan to Auckland, New Zealand. We got into Hong Kong late and had a 23 hour free stopover and overnight, so we decided to book a few rooms at the Sky City Marriott right in the airport and take the kids to Disneyland the next day before rushing back to catch our connecting flights.

 Entrance to the park.

 Zander's favorite area of the park, Toy Story.  He loved the Buzz Lightyear ride as well.

 Zander, excited to see the "Planes" area of the park.

 Family photo with our friends, the Kemps.

 The Lion King show.

 Ryder, Levi Kemp, and Nash, climbing Tarzan's treehouse.

The castle at the entrance to the park.

Swimming with Wild Dolphins in Rockingham, Western Australia (March, 2014)

We loved our swim with dolphins so much when we did it with Cody's brother Kip and his wife Emily back in December, that we decided to do it again, but to bring 2 of our kids (Ryder and Nash) as well as Eliza's brother David and his wife Hope with us.  Again, Rockingham Wild Encounters did not disappoint.

 This time a pod of dolphins followed the boat back to the dock, jumping out of the water frequently like they were surfing the wake of the boat.  It was amazing.

 Underwater pictures of some of the dolphins that we saw.

 Ryder and Nash, our little snorkelers, getting ready to jump in with the dolphins.

Having fun on the boat.

Rottnest Island, Western Australia (March, 2014)

Eliza's brother David and his wife Hope came to visit for a week.  We took a day trip out to Rottnest Island.  We took a 45 minute ferry ride from Hillarys Boat Harbour, which is a 7 minute drive from our house and we were there.  There are no cars on the island, only bikes and public buses.  We bought a day pass for the busses (they only travel one way and circle the island).

There were some great beaches that were pretty empty and some good snorkeling.

One of the unique things about Rottnest Island is that it is the only place on earth where the Quokka can be found.  Quokkas are marsupials and look like giant rats and are about the size of cats.  They are docile and not afraid of humans.  In fact, we had a couple of them come right up to us, which was pretty cool.

 Quokka sighting.

 Salmon Bay…our paradise for the day.

 Nash and Zander, running out to play.

A budgy smuggler is the term Australians use for a speedo.  In Australia, guys wear boardies (board shorts) or budgies (speedos) for swimwear.  I've learned that a budgy is a small bird (I think what we call a parakeet, but I'm not a bird expert), and I'm not going to go into any more detail about why speedos are described as parakeet smugglers…I think it's pretty self explanatory from there.

Eliza's Parents Visit Australia (March, 2014)

 Kangaroos…Nash with grandpa Haws.

 Birthday suits for Cody and Kim.

Kim's first time driving on the left side of the road and with the steering wheel on the right side of the car.

Eliza in Singapore with her parents (February, 2014)

Eliza met her parents in Singapore for 2 days on their way to visit us in Perth.

They went to Clarke Quay; Lockdown and did "Bail Out;" stayed at the Marina Bay Sands and went to the infinity pool on the 57th floor and were able to see the Super Trees, WonderFull Water and Light show, Helix Bridge and Marina Bay area; and take a bus tour of the city.

 Eliza's parents, Kim and Toni hanging out in the infinity pool.

Kim, checking out the gardens.

Night in Kuala Lumpur Airport (February, 2014)

We slept 17 people in a suite at the Sama Sama hotel at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.  We had to beg them to give us rooms, since they say they don't allow kids in the rooms.  They would only give us 1 room.  We charmed him into upgrading it to a suite for free and bringing in 2 single beds alongside the king bed in the room.  Most of us slept on the floor, but it was an unforgettable experience.  We got to the room around 1am and checked out around 6am.