New Car

With the demise of the Rover - and a desire to upgrade to a newer car, we've spent some time doing some car shopping - and settled on a new vehicle - a Suzuki Grand Vitara.  Kind of like a Toyota Rush, it sits up a bit, has lots of trunk room, and all five of us can fit relatively comfortably (as long as we are not fighting with each other, of course!).  It's a bit older than we thought (2008), but in great shape, only owned by an expat and has low miles.  Hopefully this upgrade will make everyone much happier -with a newer car that will be primarily for Tracy.

Rover RIP

After being purchased from my mom, who purchased it in 2007, we inherited the beloved Green Rover.  In a wacky tale of ineffectual attempts to fix it, the Rover ended up dying because of a door handle.  Sigh.  Yes, the car has worked incredibly well, but the plastic was not built for Malaysia's humidity and kept falling apart. 

So toward the end of last school year (May 2015), the driver's side door handle fell apart, collapsing into the Rover.  It meant that we couldn't lock the door - and had to open the door from the inside by first opening the back door.  But the Rover has an alarm system that is unlockable only by using some strange ninja like combination of right and left clicks on the driver's side door.  Either after disabling the battery or after the battery has died, the Rover's alarm needs to be disabled.

Somehow, we managed to find door handles from a resupply store / junkyard in the UK.  These were shipped to the US and we brought them back with us in the hopes that our mechanic could install them.  So when we first arrived back in KL, the battery had (predictably) died.  So we jumped the car, but knew that the first time that we jumped it, it would work fine, but once the car stopped, it would not restart until the alarm was disabled - which required a working door handle.   So as soon as jumping the car, we drove it straight to the mechanic's shop, complete with the new door handles.  No problem.

Alas, after way to many hours and way too much effort, our mechanic was able to easily reinstall the door handles, but could not deactivate or change the alarm, which is built into the engine.  Wacko.  So the Rover works completely fine - except the alarm will not go off.  So it will go off for spare parts or live in the happy hunting ground where old cars / old Rovers go to die. 

Rover RIP. 

Pavilion Catwalk

After the first full week of school, we visited the Pavilion, as a chance to go out in the evening.  In the middle of the main area, there was a fashion show and big catwalk with lots of people watching the events.  Certainly lots of things happening in a major urban center such as Kuala Lumpur.

Start of School

With the school year starting, what a crazy realization that we now have two middle school students.  And only one in elementary school.  Off to Grades 4, 6, 8 with this good looking crew.