Photos: October 2006 - Halloween

I found Nash a Dracula cape so he sat in front of our house handing out the candy while Creed and I took Mallory, Luke, Grant and their friends trick-or-treating.
Our Little Red Riding Hood. Mallory's Halloween costume.
A skeleton (Luke's friend), a magician and Elvis!

ELIVIS IS IN THE BUILDING! Or at least by our front gate. The boys decorated it for all the trick-or-treaters. Our staff love this night. They love to watch all the kids come dressed up. I'm sure it's a strange tradition to them.

Photos: November 2006 - Nash / Beijing

This is Nash's school group at the airport in Jakarta - they are all wearing Krispy Kreme hats. Nash said one of the kids in his group wore his Krispy Kreme hat for the entire 5 day trip.



Above and below are shots of Nash at the Great Wall. The blue dot of paint on the side of his head had something to do with the ensemble group he was assigned to for the event.





Nash is the one in the gray coat in the front on the right. I think the cold is to blame for the awkward smile, but its the only photo of him and the other JIS student (on the left) with the host family they stayed with from the international school in Beijing.

Letter: 12 November 2006 - Nash's Trip to Beijing

I was chosen to be in ISTA (International School Theater Association) out of 60 auditioned students. Our ensemble (about 20 people from my school) made a funny piece about walls. My part was to be Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. I tried to go over the wall but kept on falling over. It was hilarious. We worked on the 10 minute piece for two months every other school day for 2 ½ hours. I felt very proud of the piece.

On the day of the trip I anticipated so much I thought I was going to burst. Finally, we got on the plane at 8:30 pm. We arrived in Singapore at 11:00 pm for a 2 hour layover. We had a chance to do some shopping, but we were all soooo tired. After 12 hours of flying and in airports, we arrived in Beijing. My first feeling was brrrrr! It was freezing and I was in a short, topical outfit. We got on a bus excitedly and went to the school that was hosting the festival. Nobody got more than 5 hours of sleep for two days and we were all tired.

When we arrived at the school we had a chance to take a relaxing shower and eat good old non-airline food (even though it tasted horrible). That day we went to our host families. I was stuck with a boastful guy who thinks he is a leader because he can insult people. He was my roommate (not my host, of course). My hosts were sooo nice. They were Korean and spoke little English, but they were great. We did acting 12 hours a day and learned a lot. I learned about stage fighting and clowning.

I also went to the Great Wall. It was so steep we had to climb to get up a step. Each step was three feet high and ¼ foot long. The Great Wall of China is so big. It is phenomenal how the ancient Chinese built it. I also got a gameboy game, three hand painted, beautiful Chinese wall paintings, three laser pens, a bracelet (not for me, for Mallory) and a hand-crafted Chinese fan. All for less than $25! If I didn’t bargain it would’ve been $200. Wow!

Overall, it was a great experience. Everyone was sooo sad when we got on the plane to go back to Jakarta. Some people were even crying. The ISTA festival was great and I hope to do it next year. It was one of the best non-religious things that I have done.

Photos: Oct 2006 - Brisbane, Australia

The kids in front of the Brisbane temple while we waited for Heidi.

The Brisbane temple is situated on top of some cliffs that overlook the Brisbane river and the city. While we waited, the boys, Mallory, and I walked down by the river and the cliffs. The boys loved climbing around on the rocks.

Here's a photo of us with the man who made the didgeridoo we purchased at an outdoor market in Brisbane.

When we returned home, Grant and Nash (wearing the hats they purchased in Australia) tried to figure out how to play the didgeridoo. Its not easy.

 

Photos: Oct 2006, Australia Zoo

Mallory was a bit timid at first (above) around the kangaroo, but then she warmed up (below). These were the most sedate kangroos - it must be a kangaroo old folks' home.


Luke and the cassowary. We learned about the cassowary up in Kuranda - they sound like pretty fierce birds.

Nash posing outside a crocodile enclosure next to the warning sign.

 

Photos: Oct 2006 - Australia Zoo

A memorial to Steve Irwin - people had signed shirts and other stuff and sent it in.

The Crocoseum.

 

Photos: Oct 2006 - Brisbane / Australia Zoo

Wednesday night we flew from Cairns to Brisbane. Thursday morning we got up and drove about an hour north to the Australia Zoo. It was so dry (non-humid) that Mallory's hair almost went flat on top.

 

Photos: Kuranda / Cairns - Oct 2006

We took a cable car from Kuranda back down into Cairns, stopping at 2 stations along the way to switch cable cars and to take a short walk through the rainforest with a park ranger.

 

Photos: Oct 2006 - Cairns, Australia

On Wednesday morning we drove down from Port Douglas to Cairns and took a train ride up into the rainforest to a town called Kuranda.

The train stopped at a place 3/4 of the way up to take photos of the waterfall, which can barely be seen in the background.

In Kuranda we went to a "butterfly house" and a market.

We also got some food for lunch at a bakery. Grant is eating a chicken & vegetable pie. I decided to try the kanagroo meat pie - not too bad. I think everyone (except Mallory) ended up trying a bite of it to say they had tried kangaroo.

Photo - Oct 2006 Australia - Great Barrier Reef

Nash is on the left and Grant is in the middle in this photo, getting ready to go in the water.

 

Photos - Australia Oct 2006 - Great Barrier Reef

The boat ride out to the Reef was really choppy - you can see the water covering the windows in the background, because the water splashed up to the sides on the 2nd level, where we were sitting at the time.
After about 30 minutes of sitting on the second level, we all went down to the first level and Grant and Luke just laid down - you can see Grant is holding a white barf bag which he luckily didn't have to use, though the 2 youngest kids did.

Nash, Grant, and Heidi in the water snorkelling.
Mallory stayed on the boat the whole time, and one of the crew found this bin and filled it up with warm water. Mallory loved sitting in her little pool.

 

Photos - October 2006 Australia

We got plenty of practice in packing suitcases because we switched hotels 3 times on this trip.

This is a photo in the Sydney Botanical Gardens - they have hundreds of flying foxes -- essentially bats. They just hung in the trees, and periodically would fly from tree to tree. Occassionally we'd see a big swarm of them flying around.