A weekend in Yogyakarta...

I had no idea what or where we were doing this past weekend but knew it would be fun. And it was a blast! We went to Yogyakarta for a weekend visit. Mary, Brian, and I traveled to this small town in Indonesia to visit Hindi temples and visit a volcano. We had a blast! The temples were beautiful - especially at sunrise. We got up at 4am to see the sun rise over the mountains - amazing. Then we enjoyed a day visiting more temples and my favorite - volanco safari. We rode in a jeep and traveled through a volcano! Crazy. And it had just erupted a couple days prior. Here are some pictures from the fun weekend.

More places to see in Asia and so little time! 

Volcano safari! 

Indonesian dancers

Temple at sunrise 

Beautiful 

Mary, Brian, and I 

Traveling in the jeep through the volanco 

Volcano

Rice patty at lunch

Had to wear a hard hat cause the earthquake damage

Beautiful 

Temple

Hotel pool

Of course enjoying UNO and beer! 

A weekend in New Zealand...

New Zealand is a favorite of mine - just beautiful! Mary and I decided to go for a long weekend to run the Auckland Marathon. But really it was just an excuse to visit the North Island of NZ. A friend of Bridget's, Tammy, let us stay her apartment in downtown Auckland - such a great place and location - so nice of her. We were able to see some sights before the race including visiting Wiheke island for a wonderful wine tour and the caves for a fun tubing trip. We took black tubes through the caves - really awesome! Then we enjoyed the beautiful waterfront city of Auckland with some shopping and food. Here are some pictures from the trip. Just love New Zealand and hope I get a chance to go back before moving back to America...

My famous jump shot

Mary and I having lunch on arrival 

The city from the ferry

On the ferry to the wine country

Beautiful Auckland skyline

The island 

Wine tour

Tasting some wonderful NZ wine

Mary and I enjoying the wine

Another winery

Just beautiful view from the top of the vineyard

Mary and I in the vines

The final winery

Wait one more...

John Deere sighting on the road...

Getting ready for the race

Beautiful start line as the sun came up... Perfect running weather

Here we go!

Finish line

Auckland waterfront

Post race beer on the Waterfront

A week in Chicago...

Traveled to Chicago for work for a week. Always love when I get to spend time in Chicago! And this time so lucky cause Lena and Cindy joined me for the weekend - so fun! Then we drove up to see my family in Wisconsin- got to see all the cousins, aunts, brother, sister, and nieces and nephews. And also my dear old roommate Cindy with her husband Dave and their beautiful new boy Henry! It was a beautiful fall day for the Halloween activities. Then returned to Chicago for the work week. Here are some great pictures from my visit. Now back in Singapore. Next trip to America is for NYE Hawaiian style.

 

Lena, Cindy, and I at happy hour embassy suites! 

Cindy and I 

Megan, Meadow, Grace and I with the John Deere tractor

Nephew Nicholas and I

The O'Malley cousins. Can't believe it has been 5 yrs since Granddad left us

My nieces and nephews! Nicholas. Timothy, Ben, Natalie, and Abby - getting so big!

Cindy, Lena and I with some "guy"

Cindy and I enjoying the farm games

Henry and I - so excited to have met him! And see Cindy and Dave!

Megan, Lena, and Brian hanging out on the deck

Megan and Meadow

Cindy and I in Chicago

Walking to dinner - OF team

Global OF team at dinner

Chicago 

view from hotel room