Blue Blue Blue

UNBELIEVABLE!!! The view from the airplane going over the Great Barrier Reef! The color of the ocean is so blue, it is so amazing. Just like all the pictures in the National Geographic. We flew north to Cairns from Brisbane and we are staying in the Sheraton in Port Douglas (about 1 hour north from Cairns) for 5 days. Totally different surroundings that the Sunshine Coast. Long stretches of beach, but green everywhere you look. We took a daytrip to the outer reef for some snorkling. We brought our own snorkles and Thijs had been practicing in the pool at home. We too a huge "Quicksilver" boat that holds about 400 people. We docked at a platform attached to the reef. On the platform there were changing rooms, showers, lunch buffet, a glass bottom boat for little 30 minute tours of the reef. We all got our wetsuits on in pursuit of Nemo! And we found him. We saw so many cool fish! The kids had a blast. We all would love to come back here for more snorkling and/or diving.

Our last day we took an old train from Cairns to Kuranda, The Kuranda Scenic Railway. 17 km through the oldest rainforest in the world. We spent some time in the village, and went to a Rainforeststation. They had this set up with different activities. An Aboriginal dance show, a lesson in Boomerang throwing (which the kids ended up doing much better than most adults), a duck tour, watching them play the Didgeridoo and some koala and kangaroo petting. At the end of our day we took a Skyrail back to Cairns. A 7 1/2 km cable car ride over the rainforest. Fantastic views but oh so scary when you are afraid of hights. I think I was frozen the first 3 km and than I felt a bit more relaxed.

The Kuranda Railway.

17 km thru the rainforest to a town called Kuranda

7 1/2 km of Skyrail back to Cairns

Wide Open Spaces

We made it to Mooloolaba. An hour north of Brisbane, Australia. WOW.... the space here is unreal. The skies go on forever. It is great to be able to drive and not get to the end of the island. Singapore does give us a cabin fever feeling sometimes. We are spending the first 6 days of our trip on the Sunshine Coast. We have a great little apartment on the beach. It gets light here at 4am!!! How weird it that? The kids have their boogieboards and spend most of the afternoon catching waves and playing in the sand. During the day it nice and warm but at night it cools down a bit. We found a Target (YES!) on the way to a great little market in Eumundi. We had to make a pitstop to find a few of our favorite things. We spent Christmas day on the beach. It did not feel like Christmas, but Santa did come to the apartment and dropped off a few little gifts. We took the kids to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. We saw has wife Terri! Its a very interactive zoo. There are zookeepers that walk around with all kids of different animals and the kids and touch or hold them, really cool! We saw Dingo's, Wombats, Crocs, Kangaroos, Koala's, Snakes, Tasmanian Devils. We all had a great time relaxing in this cute little beach town.

Merry Christmas!

Thijs catching a wave.

First Sleepover

Playing at Tanglin Mall SnowThijs had his best friend sleep over last week. Aidan is moving to Tokyo over Winter Break and this was their last little "party". We took the boys for ice cream after dinner and a place where they make fake snow. We got home around 8pm. They showered and put their pj's on and were in bed with the lights off at 845pm. We were not sure if this was going to work since it was the first sleepover for both of them, but they were so tired they fell asleep in only a few minutes. The next morning they were up at 6am playing. They had so much fun!

Random pictures

Pool fun with our neighbors (8, 6, 4, 2)

Natalie, Molly, Thijs and Lara
Thijs and Lara
Floride treatment at the dentist.

Happy Halloween

Thijs and his best friend Aidan

We had a great halloween this year. We had the class parties at school during the day. Great fun for all. The kids did a parade and the second half of the day was all fun and games. Colin was in New Zealand so I took the kids up to the Woodlands (the neighborhood by school) for some serious trick-or-treating. They close the streets off and people are coming from the whole island to get their loot there. We had a party at a friends house first. The trick-or-treating started about 6pm. Natalie had hooked up with a friend and Thijs and I went with 8 other kids and some parents around the neighborhood. Imagine Mardi Gras, but then kids in the streets going from house to house collecting candy. There was no ringing doorbells... All the home owners were at their gates with a chair and bags and bags of candy. The average amount of candy given out per house is 4000 pieces! Its was a zoo but sooo much fun. At least 30 kids at each house at the most crowded time. Patiently waiting for their once piece of candy. What a sight! It was great. At 7pm Thijs had been there done that so we made our way to another friends house and he gave out candy until 845pm. He had just as much fun that way. Needless to say, we have enough candy to last us thru next Halloween.

Happy 9th Birthday Natalie!

Natalie is turning 9 on Tuesday. She had her party yesterday with a few friends. I took them to see High School Musical 3 and then all the girls came back to our house for a sleepover. Well, a stayover I should say, they did not do a lot of sleeping. Good thing its a Holiday here on Monday and the girls will have an extra day to recover from their lack of sleep.

Girls just want to have fun...

Beijing

We had a wonderful fall break in Beijing. Saw all the sights: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Hutong area, Traditional Acrobatics show (WOW!), had dinner at local restaurants, shopped Silk Market AND walked the Great Wall (on Colin's Birthday).

In front of the Forbidden City
Tiananmen Square (The largest square in the world)
Proudly flying the Chinese flag
The tree of love in the Forbidden City
A rickshaw ride thru the "hutong", an old Beijing neighborhood with narrow streets and alley's

The Summer Palace The Temple of Heaven This lady loved the kids, she took lots of pictures, gave them hugs and carried them aroundMy favorite part of all... The Great Wall

We climbed about 1400 steps to get to the Great Wall... with a few pit stops to catch our breath
Endless views of the Wall

Colin and the kids took the gondola back, I took the steps

Cambodia

The entrance to Angkor Thom City

Apsara dancer bas-relief at Bayon Temple

At the school in the village, kids lining up to receive our goodies. We brought toys, stuffed animals, candy, school supplies and from the hotel we brought a huge bag of sliced white bread
Not sure what to do with the play camera

Thijs handing out pencils

Natalie handing out small toys

Thijs showing two little boys how to use the car
The classroom
Adorable little girl with her bread and little treasures

Carefully handing out 2 slices of bread to each child

A well funded by tourists in the village

We watched an Apsara show (traditional dance)
Angkor Wat Temple

On the bridge leading to Angkor Wat Temple

Ta Phrom, trees and roots have invaded the temples

The last afternoon we visited Tonle Sap lake and had a boat tour thru a floating village

This little girl is trying to sell us cold drinks

What an amazing trip this was. Cambodia is HOT and DIRTY. The old temples in itself were so unreal to see, people walking thru the ruins. I think the biggest thing was seeing the kids in the village, how they live, their school. So simple and easy, happy because they do not know what its like in the western world. They don't "miss" not having Vanilla Latte at Starbucks, a favorite t.v. show, fresh baked bread, a shower with soap, clean clothes. We are so spoiled.