Yellow Peas

I love when my honey gets to take field trips for work.  In his words:

Yellow peas... so many yellow peas. All the way from the prairies of Canada to the docks of Mumbai. Just like me.

Three scoops per bag.

This is one of the barges they use if they need to remove peas from the hull of the huge vessels before they dock.

Tonnes of peas.

(Yes he is a Canadian speller!)

The blurry thing in his hand is the sewing machine to seal the bags after they scoop them full.

Beauty and the Beast

For Noé's date we took her to lunch at Jamie Oliver's Pizzeria, and then to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie.

It was a beautiful movie, but I must admit I was a teensy bit disappointed.  The live-action Cinderella added so much to the story compared to the animated version.  I was hoping for the same thing with this story, but it pretty much just followed the animated one.  It's always memorable going to the movies in India.  I love that they play the national anthem before each movie starts, and the audience stands in respect.  I also love all the food you can get!  Every movie has an intermission half-way through, so Len got us caramel popcorn to enjoy (they also have salt and cheese flavors, yum!).  I do love a good love story!  And beautiful costumes, sets, and songs just make it more magical!!

The Threepenny Opera

I was sad that I didn't get to watch Noé dance this year, but as a student in the drama class she had a part in the high school musical.  As a member of the jazz band, Kaleb also was a part of it.

The band members wore these yellow t-shirts, black beanies, and round sunglasses.

My darling daughter played Coaxer (one of the 5 brothel workers).  I must admit that I was disappointed that this story was chosen for the musical.  When I was in high school we did Fiddler on the Roof and The Music Man.  There's so many better musicals out there (in my opinion), but it seems everyone in "showbiz" always chooses cynical over inspirational, blah blah blah.  Noé actually wore a black dress with a white feather boa, but she couldn't bring the costume home so I never got good pictures of her in it.

These two fight all the time, but I know they really love each other!

Would you believe that Noé was a quarter inch taller than Kaleb when they were born?  She was, but now he's a head taller than her!!

There were 16 actors, 20 band members, 7 crew members, and 6 staff.

Kaleb plays the tenor sax now, but played the alto sax for the musical.

My little girl all grown up.

Watch out Ryan and Sharpay, there's new twins in the musical world!

They performed for 3 nights.  Len watched the first night, and I watched the second night (when the big wall of the set fell down, doh!).  Len was supposed to watch them closing night, but had to work late and just got there at the end.  Of course, that was the best night!  Luckily, that was the night it was filmed so we can watch it at home.

I may not have liked the play that was chosen, but I'm still proud of Kaleb and Noé's hard work in being a part of it!

Max's 4th Visit

Max always seems to come for a visit when Teague needs a hair cut, ha!  This time they were asked to write an "opinion" piece in Max's journal.

Max Likes Pizza

by Teague Reil

Max thinks the pizza crust should be soft and crispy.

Max likes extra sauce on his pizza.

Max thinks the cheese should be melty and warm.

Max doesn't like any other toppings.

Max thinks hot, cheesy pizza is the best.

35th Anniversary Gala

When we lived in Taiwan, the school hosted a big gala every year.  As we're cocooners and prefer each other's company at home more than going out and socializing with strangers/aquaintances we never went.  This year we decided to give it a try.

My handsome hubby had a new suit made to measure.

I am a BIG girl and it is hard to find things that fit me properly.  After spending a day at the mall checking every single store and coming up empty handed, I ordered not 1, not 2, but 3 dresses online.  They arrived a week later and of course none of them fit me either!  They all had parts that worked well, and other parts that didn't work at all.  I was so frustrated!  The ladies in Leonard's office gave us the name of a tailor in Santa Cruz, so we went and paid her a visit.  I brought in a photo of a gown I liked and she drew a simple sketch, took my measurements, then gave us directions to the fabric district a couple of blocks away with samples of the 3 types of fabric we needed to buy.  A week later I went in for a fitting, and she cut the gown to hang to the floor on me.  A week after that it was hemmed and ready to go.  It wasn't exactly how I envisioned in my mind, but it fit!  She also made me a dupatta out of the blue chiffon, but I didn't find it in the bag until after the party, ha ha!

When we arrived the jazz band was playing and we were beaming at our son Kaleb!  Soon after, the High School principal found us and asked to share a couple of pictures he had taken on his phone.  He was visiting the art class and took photos of Noé's work.  The art teacher asked the students to think if they were refugees and had to leave their home and belongings behind.  However, they could take one small sentimental thing with them.  They then were asked to sketch what they'd bring and describe why.  Noé sketched her Young Women logo pendant.  She explained that she chose this because it is a reminder of the promise she made to God to stand for truth and righteousness.  She also shared some words about the YW program, how it teaches her to build her life on the values of faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue.  The principal was just so impressed with her staying true to her convictions.  I got a little teary-eyed and said she was a good girl.  He responded, "She's a great girl!"  I agree, I love all of my kiddos so much!

The celebration of our school's 35th anniversary was complete with food, drinks (pineapple juice for us), dancing, and a silent auction with the proceeds going to the endowment fund.  The endowment fund is for the children of the local support staff to go to school at ASB.  We wanted to make a donation to this, but when I saw this painting I decided I'd rather donate with a bid on it.  By the end of the evening I don't think anyone had bid after me.  Here's hoping this lovely piece will be ours soon!

Thanks honey for being my Prom date!  Love you!

Essel World

In honor of Kaleb and Noé's birthday and the last day of spring break, we went out to Essel World Amusement Park!

Who gave Teague a license?

Someone thinks I'm an angel.  Love you Leonard!

I sat this ride out with Gavin, while Len took the rest of the kiddos.  It's called Monsters in the Mist and they were hoping to cool off in the mist.  Len said it wasn't cool at all and Ali had both hands over her eyes the entire time, poor baby!

Ah man, I knew these pants made my bum look big, ha ha!

Kaleb, Noé, and I on the Hoola Loop!  Gavin had ridden it with Len, Kaleb, and Noé right before this.  He is braver than he gives himself credit for!

Teague and Hiram on their favorite ride they called the caterpillar.  Ali called it the big apple as the caterpillar rode through an apple.  This ride also taught her the phrase, "I'm too little" as she was too little to ride it.  Now when I ask her to do certain chores she doesn't want to, she responds with "I'm too little."  Ugh!

This was the first ride Ali went on right after we arrived.  She had fallen asleep en route to the park, so she was still a little groggy.  She was awake enough though to insist on a purple horse.

We've ridden splash rides before...

...but the Aqua Dive got us COMPLETELY drenched from head to toe!

It was such a lovely day to be outside and have lots of safe space to just walk around in.  There were lots of other people at the park including a school field trip, but the park wasn't crowded at all.  We walked on to every ride without any long waits.

These flowers made me think of the Indian flag in green and orange (or as they call it Saffron).

"In the national flag of India the top band is of Saffron color, indicating the strength and courage of the country.  The white middle bad indicates peace and truth with Dharma Chakra.  The last band is green in color showing the fertility, growth, and auspiciousness of the land." ~knowindia.gov

Right beside the park is the Global Vipassana Pagoda, a Burmese Buddhist shrine that opened 8 years ago as a monument to peace and harmony.

These large water cisterns were all throughout the park filled with drinking water.  We still chose to drink bottled water ;).

The sun set on a lovely day, but before we left we exchanged our day passes for a passport that will allow us to come 2 more times in the next year.  Teague and Ali already know what they want to do for their birthdays, ha!

We also rode a ferry to Marvé Beach before calling Uber to take us the rest of the way home.  The kids thought of the ferry as another fun ride.