Happy Birthday Ceeders!

Happy Birthday Ceeders!!! We love you so, so much and so glad you are part of the family!!

He's such a awesome daddy!!
But not only is he a awesome dad, he's a wonderful son, brother, husband (to Lesa) and all around person. He is very caring about everyone and always there if you need anything. He's just a great person!!!

We hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Bali Hai

Most people live on a lonely island,
Lost in the middle of a foggy sea.
Most people long for another island,



One where they know they will like to be.

Bali Ha'i may call you,
Any night, any day,

In your heart, you'll hear it call you:
"Come away...Come away."

Bali Ha'i will whisper
In the wind of the sea:



"Here am I, your special island!
Come to me, come to me!"



Your own special hopes,
Your own special dreams,
Bloom on the hillside
And shine in the streams.



If you try, you'll find me
Where the sky meets the sea.



"Here am I your special island
Come to me, Come to me."



Bali Ha'i,
Bali Ha'i,
Bali Ha'i!

Those words from the musical South Pacific capture many of the feelings of visiting Bali. The warm tropical breezes:



The exotic dances:



The rabid dogs:



That have to have their heads dissected at the island pathology lab:



(Yes there are about 30 dogs heads lying on that table.)

There was also the catch from the fisherman's net (idyllically depicted above):



(you may want to hit zoom on that one and see some of the treasures!)

And who could ever forget the Bali Hie Souvenir Emporium (where our bus stopped and parked among a troop of buses)!



And the Monkey Temple where monkeys have been conditioned to take things from tourists and not give them back until fruit was offered. But of course they warned us to be careful because they carried rabies and we would likely die if we were bitten. Was I scared of these monkeys? Oh yeah.



One stole a pair of glasses from a guy in our group and recognizing their quality demanded two bananas (conveniently priced at only $5 a piece by a handy fruit salesman) rather than the usual one for their return.

The only hard part was we were forced to attend meetings. Like this scene of intense discussion in the boardroom:


















Here is me on arrival after 36 hours of travel:















Finally, can you guess where everyone is from:




Left to Right: Australia, Iraq, UK, Brazil, Yemen, Italy, Indonesia, Austria, Indonesia, USA, Kenya, France, Ethiopia, UK, Brazil. Did you guess right?

And so that was Bali!



I also ate like a king.

Bad Combination

Yep....It's snowing again here. The weather man said maybe 2 inches of snow but we have at least 8 inches and it's not slowing down at all.
Boot + Snow = Sliding and cold feet. It has pretty good grip but not the best and also snow gets inside it really easily.

So I'm staying inside.

AM Cut

At 6:45 this morning Steve woke up in a panic.......My hair is too long and I have to give a presentation!!! So I got out the clippers and started cutting. It turned out pretty good. I cut the boys hair most of the time......I just need to stay away from mine!!!

My trip to Bali, the layover

I had a great layover in Taipei. Before I start raving about it however, let me preface this with a description of my worst layover. Ever. Back in 2007 on my way to Vienna for one of my first meetings that would finally result in my sabbatical, for some reason I cannot now fathom, I had a 9 hour layover in Warsaw, Poland. There is something about traveling for 19 hours and then facing a 9 hour layover that is more than daunting, its existentially withering. But I did it. I thought of going out into the city, but I didn't know where the airport was, what prices were to get to a place worth seeing, what the visa requirements were, etc. So it seemed easier to just stay put and byte the bullet. It was devastating. I read, I watched movies on my ipod, I walked the length of the corridors of the small international airport. That took a half hour. It was horrible. I kept checking my watch every five minutes to see how many hours were left and time crawled to a stop. By the time I left, it seemed like several years had passed by or rather I had just lived an entire lifetime in the Warsaw Poland Airport. Because I never left the airport, I don't even get to count in my list of countries visited (that would be cheating).

Well, here I was on my trip back from Bali, facing an eight hour layover in Taipei. The three hour wait at the Bali Airport had nearly killed me and visions of 'Poland' kept chugging through my brain. Well, this time I would be brave. Those who know me, know I'm not a good traveler. Meaning, I worry beyond reason that things will go sour. I'm afraid of facing the impossible delays caused by TSA and the long lines. I fear the immigration people who in every country scowl suspiciously and suck your soul from you as they hold the fate of your entry in their demonic hands. I hate it. But I could not do an eight hour layover. So I rebelled against my nature and when the choice came to disembark in Taiwan or go to the 'transfer' corridor where I would be stuck wondering the halls in boredom and sorrow for eight hours. I entered the country. I knew I would have face the demons of immigration control, I might get lost, or one of the innumerable bad thing that could happen might happen (and believe me I can conjure up bad things that can happen. Two major wrecks and picking up a tropical disease in my brain has done wonders for my natural disposition to worry).

I walked up to the visitor help desk and said (as I'd heard existed), 'How do I take the train into Taipei?'

“There is no train. You must take the bus," the helpful lady said.

A bus? Buses can get stuck in traffic jams. Buses aren't as reliable? Oh, no. But I was committed because I'd walked out into the real world. But she was kind. She had some maps. Told me to get on Bus 31. Take it into Taipei. So I jumped onto Bus 31 armed with a time table:

I thought it was about a 15-20 min ride, after about a half hour I began to worry. All of the sudden I was worried that maybe Taipei was hours away, or I had misunderstood and gotten on the wrong bus and would ride through Taiwan for hours before it would stop and I would not be able to get back. We were in sort of rural low hills. Weren't we near Taipai?

After about fifty minutes, however, I saw freeway signs to Taipei. I relaxed. After an hour I was in down town Taipei! Yea!

I left the bus.

First I went to the lantern festival. It was daytime so I could not see them lit, but they were still way cool!

I then went to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, which had a live honor guard that held more still than I thought a human could:

Outside people meditated and practiced dance moves:



Then I went to this tower which used to be the highest in the world until the one in Dubai was built:



Inside was the biggest and best mall I've ever been to. I kept thinking how much Lori and Emily would have enjoyed this!

I had lunch:




And then took an elevator to the top--purported to be the fastest in the world. About 30 seconds to the top and it didn't feel like I was in motion at all. Incredible. And was it ever high!



At the top I met a group of warrior wizards:




I asked them for a spell to see me safely back to the airport and this is what they gave me:



Then back through traffic on Bus 31 to the airport.




Best layover ever!

Random pics.

Steve has promised me that he's going to write a blog on his whole experience to Bali but until then I'm going to put some pics. up just for fun. I think Steve is going to work on it tonight but it's going to take awhile cuz, I think, he took over 200 pictures that needs to be sorted out. Lucky him......I 'm glad I don't have to do it :)


Last night Darrell and Dyann and their friends came over on their way to the Waters' for a drum circle. It was so fun seeing them. So I took a few pictures.

Jess sent me this adorable picture of Kingston. I sure miss that little guy!!

And cute, cute pics. of Timothy and Jess. They have the 3D look :) They just saw Avatar!!