Things Keeping us busy and a running poem

A few things that kept us busy this week:

Zoom calls 

Tracking down music requirements and the books to fulfill them

History projects

Failed Science experiments

Breaking and fixing the toilet

Surprisingly frequent power cuts and the resulting computer difficulties

The beginnings of Advent shopping

Dealing with sudden unexplained day of violent vertigo

Christmas recording with friends

Discovering new sneakers are not running compatible the hard way - sore feet and aching ankles

Reading aloud The Ship of Adventure and Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion

Weaving an Advent for the family from the Songs of Ascent

Drowning in lovely songs putting together a playlist for Advent and Christmas (making us miss participating in choir presentations!)

A girls' date at our favorite afternoon tea restaurant

Chiropractor and Physiotherapist appointments

Music lessons and practices

...

Morning Run in Thanksgiving

It's dimly dawn when I awake

And while quite light when I begin

Still freshly cool from nightly rain

Thank you God

My heart is full: each step I take

Becomes a prayer of small delights

The tree that smells of Earl Grey Tea

Thank you God

With birds a twitter and insect hum

A happy background song

In trees so green and very lush

Thank you God

A quiet road that's roofed in green

The hill that gives my eyes a feast

The drifting clouds with rising sun

Thank you God

Neighbors' nods and silent grins

Pairs and singles, groups of walkers

A cheery group of line dancers

Thank you God

The bent old man who cheers me on

The pulled along - a dog "walker"

The group of friends all a-chatter

Thank you God

The heady pockets of scented air

Hibiscus, blue pea, frangipani

Jasmine, and others I don't know

Thank you God

A phone to know the time is done

Misty mountains over sea

This my view when I'm home

Thank you God

Five Minute Friday - Range

 What a range of topics covered in conversation this week in our house!

Advent themes, Christmas songs, gifts, thoughts, and plans:
    Not exactly very focused, as there is still the sense of time to put off the hard work of planning... and yet, the unease of it's coming soon and we ought to be ready and we're not...

Boy's talk of Minecraft, sword fights, game plans, character antics:
   Boisterous and loud - hearable from down the hall - animated and exuberant!

Creative content planning:
    Endless chatter of home-grown character behavior, history, world building

Dizzying discussions of requirements and equipment:
    The girls planning and preparing for the next level music video production

Eek! Browsing university choices and program requirements:
    How each might change our return to Canada in timing, where we choose to live... (isn't it way too soon to think about this?!?)

Friends leaving - again. 
    All the whys, whens, hows, where-tos, and mourning the loss of yet another family of friends

Growing girls:
    Dreaming of where God will take them with the skills and gifts He's given them in writing, drawing, singing...

Hundreds more topics mundane and rare:
    Ink types, Jesus, Keeping pace, Linkword French mnemonics, Math, Note taking, Open church -yeay!, Physio results, Questions to ask admissions, Remedies for various plant ailments, Shades of green and blue, Tennis, University experiences, Vaccines, Worlds for book characters, X..., Y..., Zen!

The Week After

Opening the door home

Unpacking and returning things to their places

Putting a meal on the table from freezer and cupboards

Inspecting pets and plants

The happy sense of homecoming, belonging, finishing a job well done

Restarting household systems

Picking up the reigns of shopping, cooking, cleaning

Getting back into school slowly

Arranging in person music lessons as they are now allowed

Waking up sick - Dad, then Mom

Thinking of the next things to plan

Timing suddenly seems so short - Christmas, second semester, graduation

Remembering forgotten math

Rummaging for Chinese vocabulary for class resumed

Life back to normal 

Holiday!

Bamboo Cottage

A God-picked place for us!

Tucked out of the way in the quiet green

Laid back and casual 

Communal atmosphere with a common area

4 boys for Aiden to play with

Shared BBQ meals

Better than a hotel

Beach

Not quite pristine, but close

Pretty much all to ourselves

Unfortunately without shade

Starfish, hermit crabs, brilliant blue kingfishers

Fantastic clouds in a blue sky

Sky Bridge

Cable car up just over 700 m on a kinda cloudy day

Spectacular views all around

Walk the bridge between mountains

Cooling breezes, not thick with humid heat

Wide open views of rain forested mountains, open sea, islands,

The mysterious place where sea and sky meet and mingle

Surprisingly cheap ice creams at the top

3D Art Museum

Lots of pictures to take, poses to strike

Remembering and recreating poses of our Bangkok Art in Paradise visit

A rather cheesy Martian roller coaster IMAX show

Subway lunch in an empty restaurant

Aiden still has an aversion for museums apparently

He was done way before we were

Underwater World

A down day idea, something we could walk to

An amusing seal feeding show

A "broken" penguin that couldn't remain upright in the water

Ginormous fish

Beautiful, mysterious, always happy rays

And then birds and other creatures definitely not found underwater!

Snorkeling

Rather disappointing because of the time of year

Still, we swam with clouds of fish

Seven Wells Waterfalls

600+ steps to reach the top - not exactly a hike!

But well worth the trip

Mountain fresh water crystal clear

Rock water paths worn waterslide smooth

Finding sunglasses in the deep pools along with darting fish

Swooping down the flow of water into the pools

Exploring, climbing, sliding, swimming

Our best day yet,

Mangrove Tour

Speed boat whizzing through the mangroves

Aiden counting garbage pollution :(

Dad being pickpocketed by an audaciously bold monkey

Stalactites that seek the light, guided by algae

Watching a mixed group of eagles soar and swoop over the river close to our boat

Feeding schools of brightly colored fish - even a parrot fish

Swimming off an island cove

Feeding a ray at the fish farm

SkyTrex

The kids' chosen activity with saved up Christmas/birthday gifts

Just under 2 hours spent in the tree tops

Navigating a ropes course

Ziplines, ladders, monkey bars, tightropes, nets, and other various challenges

And then a walk for cheap ice cream

That turned into to a hunt for shelter from the rain

(We were very thankful that our start time for SkyTrex had been moved forward)

And ended with some shared Tea Live drinks.

Hanging Out

Aiden blowing through 3 audio books in the hammocks

Grace and Jasmin world building for their book characters
Mom crocheting

Dad talking with the 'man of peace' and getting to share our Great Hope

Milo and tea as often as we wanted

Cereal for breakfast!

Dad keeping the holiday full for Mom by cooking instead of her

Searching for the food we wanted and finding instead whole stores devoted to chocolate

And restaurants of Iraninan, Mexican, Italian, American, German food!

Eating well: shwarama, burgers, fish and chips, BBQ, ice cream, chocolate... 

definitely a place catering to international tourists!

One Adventurous supper: outside under a tent in a very present thunder storm that took out the lights even... using water bottles and phones for our table lights

And on the last day we found our looked for food: cheap, delicious, street-side Chinese hawker meals..