Chinese New Year rocked...

...at least for me. I was in Viet Nam with 2 friends, chillin' on the beach. "Mother of the Year" stayed in Shanghai with the boys and somehow carried on without me. She leaves soon for San Fran (for a conference, it should be noted) so I will get to be single parenting for a week. The universe has a way of balancing out. cosmic, huh?

Here's the spot in Mui Ne where I sat and watched waves roll in and out.



Here's a side-tributary of the Fairy Stream, one of 2 tourist destinations in Mui Ne. It's a pretty walk in a streambed that leads to a massive waterfall. The dimensions almost boggle the mind. I managed to fit it all in one photo (see below). Look how amazed Jeff was.



the Waterfall!



We've been back at school for a week now. The boys are still enjoying learning about (to list some random examples) the human heart, totem poles, stories have a beginning/middle/end, poems in the shape of the thing the poem is about, how to handle emotions, blogging, soccer... Emmett is happy he has lots of girlfriends. Desi is just now getting into baseball cards a little bit (thanks to 2 packs I gave him).

It's quite cold here. Snowed today briefly but didn't stick. Low 40s and rain all week, it appears. Oh well, we are enjoying some books (I read three at the beach) and the school just replaced our loaner TV with a new flat screen. So we watch a couple DVDs every weekend. (The first 30 minutes of Megamind is pretty funny, but after that you can step out and go troll facebook).

We are still full of happy memories from all the people we got to see over break. Contemplating RVing New Zealand next Christmas. In the meantime, we leave for snorkeling in Malaysia in just over a month. Fun times, warm weather, clear water.

I end with a shout-out to Mary P, who 10 years later we love and miss as much as ever. Peace only.