SPRING BREAK IN CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - DAY 1

We headed out with some friends to Chiang Mai, Thailand for the kids' spring break. Chiang Mai is located in Northern Thailand and has a rainforest and mountains. I wasn't sure I would survive without a beach but we had exciting adventures each and every day. Thailand ranks right up there on our "fun places to visit" list!


There are plenty of McDonald's in Thailand. Instead of fried cherry and apple pies they offer corn pies and pineapple pies.



This is where we stayed, the Yaang Come Village. It was in a great location, not far from the activity of the Night Market but very peaceful and tranquil. We had prearranged to have a driver and tour guide all week, which turned out to be very helpful.

This funny looking vehicle is called a Tuk Tuk, and is a popular mode of transportation around Chiang Mai. We got a kick out of looking like tourists and riding it around.

Yaang Come Village at night

MY PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS

I enrolled in a photography class with some friends to try and learn to use the camera that Shelby gave me for my birthday. We practiced a lot, taking both action shots and still shots. Below is my instructor John, running thru the Botanical Gardens so that we can try to capture him in motion! :)

Sugar continues to be my most photographed and willing subject!

This is a close-up I took of the lime tree in our yard

These are "traveler palms" on the school campus

SOFTBALL EXCHANGE IN KUALA LUMPUR

The SAS Lady Eagles traveled to a softball tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last weekend and came away victorious. Not only was the tournament a lot of fun, the girls won all 3 games against Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang - 63 total runs for the day, and only 2 runs scored against us in the last game! It was a blowout! Really not much competition but the girls had fun and got lots of batting practice in! Kasey played a good second base and also pitched a few innings. Much more enjoyable and relaxing than the competitive softball we were accustomed to in Texas! :) There were monkeys in the trees making a lot of noise. They even sat on the fence line and watched the game! The school in KL was having an International Food Fest, and we bought American cowboy hats for the girls to wear after their game.

Slow pitch softball really suits Kasey. She's learning to pitch and acts as relief pitcher when she's not playing second base.

In the dugout with her teammates

I was trying to take this photo of the monkeys in the background, sitting on the hedge (zoom in)

TRACK AND FIELD SEASON IS HERE!

It's that time of year again! This year Wesley is learning how to high jump, since they don't have pole vaulting here at SAS. He did pretty well for his first meet.

My friend Barb took these photos for me. Wesley won't let me near the track with my camera - too embarassing, right? :)

All that jumping wears him out!

BALI INTERIM FOR MOM AND DAD!

Shelby and I chose to spend our week in Bali, Indonesia while the kids were on their school trips. I've always wanted to go to Bali and it didn't disappoint!

We spent a lot of time just hanging out and shopping on the main street in Seminyak-taking lots of pictures of everyday life in Bali. We saw women carrying all sorts of things on their heads, motor scooters carrying entire families including infants, and lots and lots of statues of various gods.

Recycling cardboard is a big business here in Bali and it's done on foot!

This fella has all kinds of things for sale as he peddles along in his mobile store!

We saw people carrying all kinds of things imaginable on the back of a bike or scooter.

Unfortunately this is the one and only photo we have of our beautiful villa, the Samaya. I took hundreds of photos all week in Bali and somehow they got erased from my camera! I still can't believe I lost all my photos, and have decided that we will just have to return to Bali someday and do it all over again! These photos were all taken with Shelby's camera. He LOVED the indoor/outdoor shower so much that he took a picture of it! It looks out over the yard and outdoor dining area, with a private pool and waterfall to the right. The Samaya Villas were voted the Best Romance Hotel in Asia! The meaning of the name Samaya is in old Javanese, a word which refers to the inner sanctum of well being, a reflection of peace and tranquility where one finds refuge, and a message conveying "I am with you". Gotta love it! Peaceful, relaxing, quietly spiritual. I really wish we had the photo of Shelby in yoga position out by the pool - priceless! ha!

Rice is big business in Bali, and there are rice paddy fields just outside of town. They are built on different levels which looks really cool from a distance. Here you can see the villagers tending to their field, and they all have on those cute little hats! :)

Here we are on our morning bike ride. I never knew there was a place that was hotter and more humid than Singapore, but Bali is just that. The sun was very intense and the humidity extremely high. We took at least 3 or 4 showers a day!

Here is another woman with her hands full walking down the beach! Why is it we never see men carrying things on their heads I wonder?

Going out to dinner at La Lucciola, an Italian restaurant next door

This is a petrol station on the side of the road. The scooters pull over and fill up with petrol, which is stored in Absolut Vodka bottles! No pumping gas!

This was taken at the Samaya just outside of our villa

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I took this from inside a taxi. Four people on a scooter was a common sight!

Thought you might like to see Shelby in a skirt! One day we had a driver take us to a temple that overlooked the town below. Because it was a Muslim temple we were required to cover up our legs and they provided these garments for us. Doesn't Shelby look cute?

There were monkeys running wild all over the temple area. Guess who took this picture - and no, it wasn't me! :)

Look closely and you can see the monkeys climbing up the side of the mountain. They were everywhere!!!

That purple skirt was so hot! I don't know how the people can tolerate being covered from head to toe in all that heat!

Another view of the temple

I thought the baby monkey was so cute!

This big guy was not very friendly

View from the Breeze Restaurant at sunset

One of the locals leaving offerings

This is what some of the offerings look like. They are mostly bits of dried flowers and fruits in banana leaf baskets and they are everywhere you look!

One day we went to Jimbaran Bay for a lunch and watched the fishing boats. At the restaurant you pick your fish and they grill it over an open fire in a basket. Yum!

KASEY'S INTERIM TRIP TO CAMBODIA/VIDEO

Kasey made this video using her photos taken in Cambodia.

The trip to Cambodia was a real eye-opener for her. They started out in Siem Reap where they visited temples at Angkor Wat - one of the seven world wonders. Went up in a tethered hot air balloon for a bird's eye view of Angkor Wat temple, rode elephants, visited a school for poor children that was developed by a Singapore American School family (she said that playing with the kids was her favorite part), saw "floating schools" and "floating hospitals" on the lakes. Then they flew to Phnom Penh and visited the Killing Fields where there are still skulls and evidence of the mass killings that took place at the concentration camps. their service project in phnom penh was building four homes - one room houses up on stilts - very primitive. Kasey got dehydrated and fainted so missed out on the second day of housebuilding. She also left her retainers behind in Cambodia at the hotel. You cannot imagine how frustrating it was to call and try to explain to a Cambodian hotel housekeeper what a retainer is! After about six phone calls and emails, believe it or not-they found the retainers and mailed them to us. The retainers are now soaking in a cup of bleach water! :) Kasey really enjoyed her trip with friends and it opened her eyes to see how others live, and to realize just how privileged a life we lead.

FYI - the last photo in the video is a picture she took in the central market where a lady was selling fried bugs! Fried spiders, roaches, etc were on special that day.

WESLEY'S INTERIM TRIP TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA/VIDEO

Wesley chose a cycling trip through western Australia/Perth for his interim semester trip this year. We thought it fitting, since he cannot drive in Singapore he rides his bicycle everywhere he goes! This trip was all about adventure and the great outdoors in what is considered late summer in Australia. They rode several 20K days, a 40K day, and a 60K day. Although he was a little "saddle sore", he loved every minute of it - saw kangaroos hopping around, wild dolphins swimming along the coast, saw some of the forests smoldering from all the wildfires, visited a cool lighthouse, and got to see where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern ocean. Slept in tents at night under the stars and felt the cool nighttime air - yep, life is good for Wesley Waychoff! He made this video the day after he got back.