Christmas Around the World

My computer is deciding to give me a hard time...so yes some of these pictures look the same and I was unable to delete them....anyway, tonight the kid's school had a wonderful celebration about the different upcoming holidays in all of the different cultures. Each class sang a few songs. Grey's class sang a song in Vietnamese and then sang Jingle Bells and We wish you a Merry Christmas. Natalie's class sang Jingle Bells, but the Australian version they created. (that would explain the kangaroo ears she has on) All of the kids were awesome! One little guy in pre k 4 discovered he could hear his voice in the mic and had a good ole time singing at the top of his lungs!!!! Ihave a few videos I will try to post later....I am suppose to be making sure I have everything packed up and ready to go! Can not wait to see everyone!!!!

Happy Birthday Natalie!!!

Natalie decided yesterday that she wanted to celebrate her birthday at school so her friends could sing Happy Birthday to her. SO....our driver has a sister-in-law that makes cakes for birthdays and weddings. I paid about $8 and it was great! The kids sang in Vietnamese! What a great memory for her!!! (the first pic is of natalie's good friend from Korea...Soo Young)

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree....

As you can see, we got the biggest fake tree they had!!! Just kidding, they had bigger but since we were not going to be here for Christmas we chose to get something small to decorate. The lights are pretty fancy. They only worked 1 day. They still light up but we are no longer able to choose the blinking speed....so the top of the tree blinks 90mph and the bottom half blinks every few minutes. But at least we had a good time. Tis the season!!!

Happy Birthday Dad

Soccer Stars

Natalie and grey have been playing soccer every Saturday morning bright and early! It is more of a soccer clinic than an organized league with games. There are a lot of ex-pat kids playing and also some Vietnamese kids. The first time Grey went out on the field he was so ready! But as soon as the coach made the kids line up to warm up, he did not want to participate at all. So the following weekend we told him that santa was watching and if he did not play soccer he was going to bring back some of his toys....SO needless to say, he was on the field warming up and participating! Natalie's picture was in the local magazine (that we could never find) promoting the clinic.

Something New...

We are proud owners of a Yamaha Sirius Night Rod Limited Edition 110cc's of pure MOPED power!!! Why do we have one you ask? Well...our driver ends his work day around 530pm and is off on Sunday....SO since we have sooooo many places to go during the hours he is not here we need transportation! ( only kidding...Danny NEEDS the moped!) Danny felt the need to add to the 4,000,000 other bikes on the street. Everything we need is within 2 miles so no need to worry! I am not sure who is more excited...the kids..or Danny!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Watermelons make great Jack O Lanterns!

TRICK OR TREAT

OOPS!!!!

OK I WORKED REALLY HARD ON TRYING TO GET THE BLOGS IN ORDER ACCORDING TO OUR TRIP....BUT THIS ONE TIME I ACTUALLY TRY IT CAME OUT THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WANTED. SO IF YOU SCROLL DOWN TO THE BLOG THAT SAYS OUR TRIP TO HANOI....THAT IS THE FIRST BLOG! (I JUST WANTED TO CONFUSE EVERYONE!!! SORRY)

HA LONG BAY

The Red Dragon was the name of our boat. There were 6 other people besides the staff on the boat with us. The kids were shy for about 30 minutes and became friends with everyone pretty quick. Our new friends were from London, Australia and Germany. So we had a nice mix of people on the boat. We had excellent service and great food! The water was a bit chilly but it made it a great swim!!! We had a big room with a connecting room for the kids! We only stayed on the boat one night. We want to go back and stay on for a few days!

If you come for a visit we will make a trip North as well...

More Halong Bay

Floating village School

Cement boat??? how is it floating

The floating village

Our water taxi

The Cave

We left our nice big boat and got on a smaller boat to the cave! Not so long ago about 60 people were living in this cave. There was an area where they could get fresh water. There was a darker area in the back where they slept...and yes what comes with all caves...BATS. They continued to hang upside down and did not bother us! There were lots of stalagmites in the making. It was a neat lesson!!! If you have an imagination you can see the picture with the dragon in it. This is where people got married and had babies. The people that were living in the cave now live in the floating village. The government provided them with housing. The boat outside of the cave is always there with 2 men on guard to protect the cave.