Category — Krembs’ Trips

We had a great time meeting up with our dear friends Mary Kelly and Giovanni Bello in Bali. We stayed in a little villa in a town called Seminyak. Unfortunately the Krembs’ didn’t get much sun time since they burned themselves on the very first day! Dumb! We should definitely know better. We enjoyed the rice patties though, tons of Bali shopping, and chill time at our little villa pool. And, we even had a chance to catch up with friends made from our time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: the Zavitz!

Vincent really hit it off with Krista and Chris' son Keegan.

Our trip over winter break to Hawaii for my brother’s wedding was fantastic! I was anxious for the trip, but once we all got together I knew I had nothing to worry about. The wedding festivities were beautiful, sharing a condo with the Collins’ was a breeze, the weather was glorious all week long, and the Hawaiian mentality was catching.

They have a term with accompanying hand gesture that solves all: HOWZIT! It basically means how’s it going, but it also means all is goin’ well. It’s like a nice chill term for everything’s gonna be all right.

The weather has been spectacular! The Chinese can indeed control their weather. They shoot pellets into the sky to make it rain or de-fog the sky. It’s pretty amazing that they can do this–we just wish they did it all the time, not just for National Day. We have really been enjoying the weather, and yesterday our visit to the Great Wall was the best yet. We could see mountains for miles and miles. It was wonderful. Here are our three pics:

We made phone calls from the Great Wall of China--Kate's on the phone with her folks in this picture.

Because I have so much to post with our new move to Beijing, China, I went with the easiest first: our visit to the Great Wall. Considering that we will probably see this monumental site many times, I’m pretty pleased with the entire visit. The ride was easy and also very beautiful. The destination includes a friendly market which is always nice for the shopper in all of us. Rather than worry about hiking up–which you could of course–there is a nifty gondola ride that takes you up. Upon arrival to the top, it’s amazing. The Wall itself is mammoth. And we only saw a small sector of it. I didn’t realize it would be so mountainous up there. Don’t be fooled by the grayness in the pictures–it wasn’t smog but real fog and quite humid at that. Ultimately–after a sufficient wonder around–the best part is the toboggan ride down. Vincent landed at the bottom and said, “I could do that 100 times!” So see; it doesn’t matter how many times we go. We’ll all be happy to visit this majestic site.

Here’s the tank we’ve all been waiting for! Next time you see or meet my dad and wanna hear a great story, ask him about his Orange Billabong Tank!