After the "kids" had a peanut butter sandwich

they decided it was time for a nap.

Grey decided he wanted a birthday party at the ice cream shop. They had never had a party there before so I had to ask them if I could show up the next friday with about 20 people. Well you know the answer was YES....They gave me some nice plates to put the cup cakes on and they had balloons inside and out. $50 later...36 scoops of ice cream or sorbet had been consumed with lots of M&M toppings! Grey must be very popular at school. Lots of friends showed up and he got some pretty awesome toys! I made the cup cakes!!!!

Mardi Gras

At the school they encourage us parents to go to the school to teach the kids about different cultures. So since it is Mardi Gras time I decided we could make some mask and necklaces. I brought in my i pod and had the mardi gras music playing...I told them about the floats and beads and king cake. (I did not think the kids would understand why the parents sat in the back of trucks with alcoholic beverages so I left that part out!) We made necklaces with colored noodles...Purple, Gold and Green. Grey and I painted them a few days before so they had time to dry. I think

I had just as much fun as the kids!!! I had to celebrate Mardi Gras in some form!!!!

Rubber Trees

This is a rubber tree farm. All of the trees have little bowls attached to them to collect the rubber. Small incisions are cut into the trees’ bark at night so that latex sap will drip longer before drying out in the tropical sun. Workers collect the tapped latex the following morning. Progressively lower cuts are made in the rubber trees, allowing them to be tapped for many years.
After sufficient amounts are collected, basins of latex are processed with an acid to coagulate it, making the latex more solid. The acid is then removed by rolling the latex under pressure into thin sheets, which are smoked over a fire to stabilize the rubber. In that form the rubber can be exported.

Cu chi Tunnels

These are the tunnels that were used during the "American war" The little Vietnamese men would live underground as long as they had to and set traps for the Americans that would try to get in them. They cooked food in the little kitchen and made trails up to the surface for the smoke to escape. They also made little oxygen holes and made them look like ant hills on the surface. The tunnels are very small. I was very proud of myself for going down in them! It was not a happy place to visit because they show a film on this one guy that was known as the best "rat" killer...aka Americans that found their underground hide out. The kids enjoyed seeing the big holes in the ground from the B 52 bombs!