Act Like A Pirate Day

Ahoy ye mateys! The Salty Sea Dogs joined in a day o'fun with pirates. These happenin' to be educational pirates. Ones which had them walking the plank for not listenin'. Shiver me timbers! The dogs had a jolly good time. They helped us uneducated folk by making a Pirate dictionary. It was complete with definitions, phonetics, sentences and a hearty picture to help those of us who couldn't read. Once the dogs learned us, we made treasure maps and hid our bounty (Bounty chocolates). Our mate was given the map and told not to hornswaggle others. If the scalawag found the treasure we were to split the prize or they'd dance the hempen jig. After the festivities, the dogs ate the cackled fruit and drank the grog. Avast, ye should try pirate lingo before ye gets sent to Davy Jones's Locker.

Doha, Qatar - Where everything comes together!

The youth in our church were so fortunate to be invited to a church activity in Qatar for the weekend.

On arrival, this banner welcomed us.

The Australian leader fired up the youth service kids from all over the world. After the morning service, we headed out on a dhow to Banana Island for some fun and games.

First game we played was Emu Parade. That's what the Australian's call trash pick up. Every person grabbed a bag and spent 30 minutes scouring the island for odds and ends. Hailey was proud of herself for finding a mop and using it as a hiking stick.

There was a hard core game of "Greased Watermelon". You grease the watermelon and get into waist deep water. Every player has to touch the watermelon one time before crossing the finish line. There were some water logged teens after this game.

Then came the relay races and tug of war in the water.

A friendly game of soccer.

The Grand Finally...after heading back to the dhow for lunch, the kids dove off the upper deck into the waters below. A few impressive back flips and belly flops were done.

And then singing and dancing during the ride back to the docks.

A lay over in Manama, Bahrain with a short shopping spree.

Back to Oman for another week of school.

Bangkok, Thailand

Welcome to Bangkok, Thailand.

This statue is of the hindu god Ganesh. He is the elephant headed God who can remove obstacles.

Many streets are made of water. Floors of the buildings wax and wean with the tides. Some floors are under water, yet people are still cooking and doing their laundry.

Where in the world is Herby's girlfriend? I think we have a lead.

Even Ronald MCDonald is culturally diverse. This Thai greeting is referred to as the wai.

This gesture comes from Buddhism with the palms together and slight bow.

Crusin' the city in a tuk tuk.

One of the fun things we noticed is how they color coordinate the groups of children who are touring the sites.

The Wat Indrawihan (standing Buddha) measures 105 feet tall.

The burning of incense is intended as a sacrificial offering to various deities (or Gods) to serve as an aide in prayer.

Individual sticks of incense are then vertically placed into individual censers located in front of the statues or plaques either singularly or in threes, depending on the status of the deity.

The Wat Pho (or reclining Buddha) is one of the largest and oldest wats in Bangkok.

The Wat Pho Buddha statue is made of wood and covered with gold plating. The eyes and feet are inlaid with mother of pearl.

It's so nice of them to let us know.

The large grounds of Wat Pho contain more than 1000 Buddha images in total.

They love their Buddha's.

Scaled model of a Cambodian temple - Angkor Wat.

Gold painted on the tapestry telling a story about the monkeys fighting against the humans.

Thai guard

You travel many places by boat. So, you have boat kiosks! Little boats float toward larger tourists boats selling, drinks, trinkets, food, and beer.

Coasting the Bangkok canals.

Bang Pa-In Palace - visiting ancient ruins of famous Buddhist temples of Ayutthaya (formor capital of Thailand).

lots of stairs

Looking down on Bangkok

Poot thai mai dai krup! ( translation - I can not speak Thai) The only phrase Matt learned before his conference in Bangkok. He went a few days early to play tourist and grabbed a few colleagues for site seeing and Thai fun. One thing he has learned to appreciate is owning a vehicle.

First Day of School

I can finally say ALL the kids were excited to go back to school. Hailey was the only one who complained about the uniform. She thought that would "cramp my style." My baby started kindergarten this year. Evan, who is not required to wear a uniform, made sure he had his uniform ready the night before, belt ready and shoes cleaned off. I finally have days to sit on the couch and eat bon bons. Not that I would, but it's nice to have a few hours to myself knowing the kids are going to a fantastic school. Now, time to head out to the gym!