Team Skeene

The Adventures of Punch Hardfist

2011-08-27T20:03:00.001-07:00

Click on the image to see a bigger view:

Remembering Richmond

2011-08-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

Nicole and I had a special date yesterday where we went around Richmond, Virginia and remembered our engagement. Nicole lived in Richmond when we met and that is where we fell in love and got married so we took an afternoon to visit some special places.

Here is the rooftop of her condo where I proposed:

The ring I gave her:

Nicole is seated at one of our favorite restaurants, Comfort.

Our delicious meal:

The old train station where we had our wedding reception:

The canal which is romantically-lit and perfect for night walks:

We Miss Laos

2011-08-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sydney on the Road

2011-08-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

Back Home!

2011-08-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to be back home with family and friends, but we really miss Laos. I think about our friends in Laos everyday and I miss speaking Lao. We are living in Mulberry, Florida but we are still very involved in Georgia. Here are a few recent pictures of the girls:

Hannah and Sydney playing in the pine straw in GA.

Hannah and Callan at the Bangkok airport.

Sydney playing at at a mall in Thailand.

Sydney on the Beach

2011-05-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day '11

2011-05-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

This year for Mother's Day Sam took me along with some of our friends to the Elephant Village and Hannah and I got to ride an elephant! It was amazing. Even though we've lived in Laos for 3 years, I'd never been to this place or ridden an elephant before. It was a beautiful 1-hour ride through the jungle, into the Nam Khan river, and up through a village. Hannah loved it and had a great time as well. After we swam in the beautiful pool that overlooked the river and the mountains. Thanks Sam for such a wonderful Mother's Day treat!

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Laurie held an Easter Egg Hunt at her house for the kids on our team and her neighbor kids. She hid goodies all over the house and the kids ran and found them. Hannah had a great time running around, but needed some help finding candy. Once she had a handful, though, I couldn't get her to release it for anything! Thanks Laurie for being so thoughtful.

Sam's Family Visit

2010-09-11T03:15:00.000-07:00

At the end of July, Sam’s Mom, Deborah, and Stepdad, Tom, came to visit for 10 days. We met them at the airport in Bangkok Thailand, then flew to another city called Udon Thani where we picked up our truck, drove across the border, and then proceeded to drive across the middle and northern part of Laos to reach Luang Prabang. The drive was amazing and my Mother-in-Law has an incredible album on Facebook depicting the journey. Once we reached Luang Prabang we spent about a week together with them visiting key attractions of the city and enjoying quality family time. It was an incredible visit and my only complaint about it is that it was far too short.

-Nicole

Click here or click one of the pictures below to see our photo album:

Fun with Family

2010-08-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

My parents have been visiting for the past month and it’s been really great to see them. They’ve enjoyed spending time with their younger two grandchildren (Hannah and Sydney) and we have greatly appreciated all their help. Both Hannah and Sydney have grown right before their eyes! It was a precious time spent together. Tomorrow morning they are heading back home to the states and while we will miss them, we are very glad for the chance we had to be together.

-Nicole

Check out our latest video of my mom holding Hannah holding Sydney below:

Hannah's Newest Adventure

2010-08-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

The first photo you see attached to this post is a screen shot of Comic Life Magiq, the program we use to make our newsletters and comics. In it you can see some of the ways we work with pictures to bring our stories and antics to you in a fun format. To see all our comics, click here:

Taking a Walk in Luang Prabang

2010-08-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Nicole’s parents are visiting us right now and we created a comic to commemorate our first walk with the new double stroller they bought us. You can’t see her in the picture, but Sydney is also in the back of the stroller.

Click here or the picture below to see the Comics album:

Losing Baby Weight...Thai Style!

2010-07-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

In Thailand and Laos, it is the tradition that women stay home for at least one month after they have a baby. They bind their stomachs with rags, sit over a hot fire, and drink hot liquids no matter the season. In this way, they sweat out all the impurities and lose their baby weight. The modern Thai still believe that this is a good practice, so one friend that we’ve made while staying here, pictured below,

graciously offered to let me borrow her “home sauna” so that I could participate in this age-old remedy. While I can’t say that I enjoy it, I do secretly hope it works and I lose my baby weight quickly!

Beach Trip to Koh Samet

2010-07-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

For Nicole’s birthday I planned a fun three day beach trip here in Thailand. We’ve been here waiting for Sydney’s passport and had plenty of time to spare, plus the rates were really cheap since this is the low season for tourists. We’ve enjoyed our stay, but we have to go home tomorrow so I want to post a few pictures to memorialize our mini-vacation.

-Sam

To see the photo album, click here or click the pictures below:

Sissy Sydney

2010-07-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hannah has been hugging, kissing, and talking to Sydney everyday. We are very happy because we didn’t want her to feel left out or jealous. That may come later, but so far we haven’t noticed it.

In this adorable video, Hannah displays her affection for her little sister and gives Sydney her very first nickname.

-Nicole

Strong Baby!

2010-06-25T02:05:00.000-07:00

Hannah nearly destroys an ink pen with her mini-might and awesome determination. We believe you have it in you, Hannah.

-Nicole

2010-06-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to welcome Sydney Renee Skeene to our family. Weighing 7 lbs 12 oz and measuring 20.4 inches, Sydney arrived at 4:12am Bangkok time on Friday June 18th. She is perfect and reminds us very much of Hannah, who has been enjoying her new sister (so far!).

-Nicole

To see the photo album, click here or click one of the pictures below:

Are We There Yet? Yes!!!

2010-06-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, the saga continues about getting to Farm Chokchai... we left on Tuesday morning at 11:00 for a 2:00 tour, but due to unforeseen circumstances (including our bus breaking down), we didn’t arrive until 4:00pm. So we decided to make an adventure of it and stay the night so that we could take the 10:00am tour. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the front of the farm. Hannah had a great time feeding the fish, and we ate a delicious dinner at the Chokchai steakhouse.

To see the album, click here or click one of the pictures below:

The next day Hannah got decked out in her cowgirl glory

And we headed out on a tour of the farm that included milking cows, riding horses, watching a cowboy show, going to a petting zoo, and more! It was a fantastic 2-day adventure and we had such a great time at Farm Chokchai.

-Nicole

Are We There Yet?

2010-05-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

Nicole and I tried to visit a tourist-friendly ranch a couple of days ago so that Hannah could see all the animals and we could eat some farm-fresh ice cream. Sadly, we never arrived at our destination because, apparently, in order to navigate Thailand’s road system you need to be able to read Thai. Go figure. We took a wrong turn early on and never recovered (we were lost for about 4 hours).

We did however find a nice beach-side neighborhood with a boardwalk and pool. Hannah took a dip with Nicole (pictured above) and I walked to the end of the boardwalk. The tide was way out and the “beach” was mostly mud, but I saw about 100 mudskippers wiggling around in the muck. These are a kind of fish that can breathe air, walk on land, and jump 2 feet into the air!

One more cool thing was that Hannah got to play in some grass which is very rare in Laos.

Get Happy

2010-05-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

We have lots of parties with our friends in Laos and here are a few clips of some of our celelbrations. The song is “Get Happy” by Benny Goodman and his orchestra.

Wedding Scrapbook

2010-05-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on Thursday May 20th, which reminded me that I’d done a scrapbook of our wedding for our families. I posted it on my photos page if you’d like to check it out. It was fun to look back at the pictures and remember that special day!

-Nicole

To see the album, click here or click one of the pictures below:

Safari World, Bangkok

2010-05-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

For our 3rd wedding anniversary Nicole and I went to a great zoo/ theme park in Bangkok called Safari World. We saw a lot of animals you would expect to see at a zoo like lions and tigers. (Don’t say it.) There were also some new animals that we had never seen like the Douc Langurs which are some of the most beautiful monkeys in the world. They are native to Laos and, sadly, are endangered. Hannah loved seeing all the animals, although she would get frightened of the ones that were too close or too big (some birds got too close and, since the tigers were too big we made her come out of their cages and stop playing with them.) We had a great time pushing Hannah around in a dolphin-shaped stroller I called the dolphin dasher and trying to help her stay cool. After we walked all over looking at the animals and exhibits, we drove through the wildlife conservation range where we saw all of the animals you would expect to see on an African safari, as well as Canadian bears! Oh my!

Click here or below to see the photo album with lots more pictures:

Hmong Children Dance

2010-05-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

Laos is home to many Hmong people and we are lucky to have Hmong students and friends at our school. Recently we visited a village nearby where some of our friends are from and we got to see the kids dance and sing at the village Christmas party. I love the smiles on the kids faces.

Missing Luang Prabang

2010-05-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Luang Prabang is a strikingly beautiful city, surrounded by gorgeous mountains and lush green foliage. The city itself is peaceful and serene. Yet the main reason why I miss Luang Prabang isn’t it’s attractiveness. It’s the people that cause me to long to be back there as quickly as possible. As English teachers, we come in contact with hundreds of students on a regular basis. We do our best to get to know as many as we can, inviting them into our homes and our lives. Over time, a number of our students have become Lao teachers and administrative staff at the school. It’s this special group of leaders that I have come to know and love so deeply. These are the young men and women whom I truly call friends, and these are the faces that I am longing to see.

-Nicole

To see our photo album about Laos, click here or on one of the pictures below:

Swimming With Hannah

2010-05-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about being in Bangkok while we wait for Sydney to be born is that our hotel has a nice pool. We’ve been taking Hannah swimming about 3-4 times a week during the afternoons. She really enjoys splashing the water, kicking her feet and leaning her head back until her hair gets wet. I keep telling Nicole that swimming = bathing and that we don’t need to wash Hannah every time we get out of the pool, but apparently there is some kind of girl-rule about this so I am trying to keep my mouth shut. That’s hard for me to do, but something tells me that this is just a shadow of things to come in a house (soon to be) filled with three girls.

-Sam

2010-05-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hannah gets her fidget on in this fun video. All the scenes from this one are from hotels in Bangkok where we stayed waiting on Sydney to be born. The music is “That’s My Baby” performed by Jonathan Rice on the Walk The Line soundtrack. Enjoy!

Hannah's Cute Hair!

2010-05-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

I love how Hannah's hair is long enough for me to put it in little pony tails!

Hannah Walking

2010-04-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hannah is now walking... all the time, and everywhere. About 5 days ago she took 2 steps on her own. Then she didn't even try for the rest of the week. Yesterday, she decided to take off, and she took more than 50 steps in one day. It was so exciting, but also a little bit sad, because Sam left yesterday morning for Laos before she decided to become mobile. So this video is for you, Daddy. We love you and miss you!

Hannah-in-the-Box

2010-04-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

Our hotel room here in Bangkok has an empty bookshelf that is the perfect height for Hannah to play in. We think you'll enjoy watching this.

And the Cute Just Keeps on Coming...

2010-04-09T06:22:00.001-07:00

Hannah has been especially cute these past few weeks. Here's another short video for you to enjoy!

Update and Cute Video

2010-04-07T02:21:00.000-07:00

I wanted to give you all a quick update since pretty much everyone now knows that I had an emergency appendectomy last Thursday. The good news is that I was released from the hospital yesterday. The bad news is that I am continuing to have contractions, and my OB increased the medication that I was taking to stop them. This medicine makes it difficult to breathe and increases both of our heartbeats. Please pray that the contractions would stop totally and that Sydney will settle in for the long haul. I'm 7 months (28 weeks) today, so we still have 12 more weeks to go. Thanks for your prayers!

I also want to let you know that I haven't forgotten about the wedding post I promised to do. The pictures for that post are on a different computer, which I haven't seen in a long time. I will get back to it when we return to Laos. I also had a bunch of adorable pictures from Hannah's birthday and had intended to write a heartfelt 'thank you' post to all of you who contributed to the birthday fun and festivities. But Sam swiped the computer and those pictures are sadly unaccessible at this time. Her birthday was wonderful, and thank you so much to all of you who helped make it so much fun. We feel extremely blessed, and it goes without saying that Hannah will be the best dressed child in all of South Asia.

Speaking of Hannah, she's so stinking cute these days, we wanted to give you a little taste of how much fun she is. Here's a recent video of her playing with her Daddy for you to enjoy.

Hannah Wants You (Take 2)

2010-03-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

After much studying of the original "Uncle Sam" posters, Sam decided that he wanted to redo the Hannah Wants You poster. Below we see his incredible results. Isn't my husband a genius?

Hannah Wants You

2010-03-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

Some of you have already seen this, but some of our blog readers haven't. Please enjoy!

Rodent Raffle

2010-03-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

In Laos, each village has its own temple which serves as the center for religious and social life for that neighborhood. Our village has a yearly festival in which they raise money for the temple by playing games. The people you see in this video are more than just random people who live near us - they are our good friends who often stop by to visit us and who love to play with Hannah. One of the funniest games they play features a bucket, a stick, and...well, you’ll just have to watch the video to see.

Hannah Picture

2010-03-02T07:35:00.000-08:00

What caption do you think would go well with this picture?

Getting Around Laos

2010-02-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

This first picture is of me at our friend's garden house where his family sleeps during the rice harvest.

This picture is of a new, small outdoor market that happens once a week. The Akha villagers hike out of the mountains and converge on this little area to buy and sell things and visit each other. One of our students is from this area and he is really, really excited about this new market because it is the biggest thing to happen in his area. The women in the picture are all from a certain tribe of Akha in which the women wear pants and skirts, and the married women wear pointy things on their heads while the single women wear hats but not pointy things. They usually run away from cameras because they believe that pictures steal part of your soul, but because these women are close friends with our friend, they were willing to risk it for this picture. The tall guy on the left is my friend from India, the guy in the red sweater is the father of three of my best friends at our school, and the guy with the glasses is one of our best friends in LP.

This village makes about 10,000 gallons of rice wine daily.

Here is a photo from Muang Khoua and you can see the suspension bridge used to connect both sides of the town.

This was our guest house in Muang Khuoua. It is built on stilts right on the edge of the river.

In this one you can see our truck in one of the villages we passed through. At this village we stopped to eat hard boiled eggs (some fresh and some packaged from China).

I'm making the famous Lao check mark sign. People do this in pictures to indicate that they are handsome.

Party Time, Lao Style (Part One)

2010-02-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

I love a good party as much as anyone, and yesterday I had the opportunity to attend one of the best parties I've ever been to. Our very close friend and colleage, David, got married and his wedding was quite an elaborate affair. I'll share today about the getting ready part, and Part Two will follow about the actual wedding.

My good friend Teem and I spent the day running around the town getting ready together. It was a blast! We started by getting our nails done at 1o in the morning.

Teem's Nails

My Nails

After nails, we caught a bite to eat, then headed to the tailor. We walked in and... oh no! They'd forgotten to sew my skirt and blouse! And Teem's blouse didn't fit correctly. It was 12 at this point and the wedding began at 3. Thank goodness Teem helped them understand how much we needed our outfits, and they agreed to sew them by 2:30. So we ran to the hair and makeup shop next.

Teem got her hair washed

And we both got our makeup done by a "ladyboy"

(what they call cross-dressers in Laos).

Our makeup looked great.

Now that we looked gorgeous, we just needed clothes. We ran back to the tailor, but oh no! The power had gone out. They had fixed Teem's blouse and sewn my skirt, but not my top. They gave me a wretched grandma-like top to borrow, but it was atrocious, so we ran to the store at 2:45 and Teem helped me pick out a readymade blouse. Now, girls in Laos are tiny. It was no small miracle that they had a blouse already made that would fit a 5 month pregnant big foreign girl. We thanked them profusely, rushed home and changed, and headed to the wedding at 3:30, when all the fun really began! Stay tuned for Part Two, where I share all about the rest of the beautiful day.

One Sister For Sale!

2010-01-16T09:09:00.002-08:00

Shel Silverstein fans need no explanation on the title...

(Ok, for the rest of you, it's the name of a poem he wrote about a boy trying to sell his sister)

We arrived today in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, from our vacation in Thailand. We had a great time in the city of Udon Thani where we rested, relaxed, and of course, went shopping. I HOPE to put up more pictures soon (if the internet allows without too much hassle), but until then please enjoy this chronicle of our visit to Tesco, Thailand's equivalent to Walmart, and a very happy place for me.

I'm really enjoying my chariot ride!

Hey Mom, it's getting a little crowded in here...

Help! I'm being swallowed by snackables!

(I'm not for sale, right Mommy?)

Riverwalk

2010-01-03T00:41:00.000-08:00

Hannah at 9 Months

2009-12-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hannah's Holiday Wishes

2009-12-23T19:45:00.001-08:00

Ok, look. I've only got a few seconds because my mom and pops have naively left the room with the computer in reach. Fools. Anyways, I was just going to reach out and hitchy'all with a little Christmas cheer. Not very many people know that I had a rough childhood. You know, growing up on the streets of Laos can make a tough baby out a ya and, well, I just get a little teary eyed thinking of those times. Me and my other street babies used to huddle up on those moderately temperate Laotian nights and share body heat. And diapers. I'm not proud of that, but hey, what's a baby to do? Every year when Christmas rolled around, we all looked forward to it because we knew that it was at that special time of year that we could finally let loose and smile. You see, for use it was the only time of year a baby could feel like a baby because it was then and only then that we would get.......... wait a minute.

Oh, man! My folks are coming back...I've got to send this before they come in and catch me typing. They already spanked my hand twice this week for touching the computer. Little did they know the first time I was accessing their bank account and the second time I was ordering a new stroller for myself on CribsAndRides.com. Ok, you didn't see me and I didn't write to you, ok? Good. I've attached a picture of me a few Christmas' ago when I was still a strinfant. You know. Street - infant. Ahh-ight. Catch ya later.

How Sam Spends His Free Time

2009-12-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

Recent Photos

2009-12-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

Nicole and Hannah reading at bedtime:

View of Luang Prabang from our school:

Eating with some students:

Gotta love sticky rice!

School friends:

Our teacher Noy looking out from a hillside garden:

Queen Skeene

2009-10-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Again, Interwebs!

2009-10-01T10:33:00.001-07:00

FINALLY! I took the computer in to the apple store today, and after months of trying to make our internet work, a 16 year-old kid fiddled with it for about 2 minutes and fixed the problem. Hooray! I think we will now have somewhat reliable internet access from here on out.

So, life here has continued to be crazy. the word that has defined the last few weeks of our life in Laos is... sick. It started with me. I had to go to the hospital, which was an experience. About 10 days ago I got a fever and had to change my clothes 6 times because I sweat so much that they were soaking wet. I didn't sleep well at all. In the morning diarrhea started every 15 minutes. Then I threw up. By that point Sam decided it was time for me to go to the doctor. He took me to the French clinic in town, but the doctors were having a meeting and therefore were unwilling to see patients. I love Laos.

So he took me to the hospital and while I was nervous about that, it worked out ok. By the time i got to the hospital I was dizzy and having a very hard time breathing. I think that was because I was nervous. I started to have a hard time walking from the parking area to the front door, and a tuk-tuk driver offered to drive me which was nice, because I don't think I would have made it without passing out.

Once we got inside, they gave me an IV of fluids, a butt shot to stop the vomiting, and oral meds to stop the diarrhea. They checked my blood and determined that it wasn't malaria or dengue, but probably a bacterial infection. After resting in the hospital for about 4 hours and getting re-hydrated, I felt much better and went home. I would say this is my first major sickness since being in Laos, and I'm glad we all survived it!

Then on Saturday of this past week, Hannah started acting strangely. That night she had a fever of 102, which lasted for about 5 days. She began to cough and she sounded horrible. We took her to the hospital as well, but got conflicting answers. One doctor said she had bronchitis, and another said she thought it was pneumonia. Our passports were stuck in the capital city for visa renewal, so we weren't able to leave the country. This time was very difficult time for me, as I felt that Hannah needed medical attention that was not available in Laos. I wasn't able to get her to Thailand until yesterday (Wednesday).

The doctors here believe that she has a viral infection that has caused her to contract bronchitis. They don't believe she has pneumonia, but they will check her again on Saturday. I'm so thankful for the quality care that we receive here, and have gained a bit of confidence in the medial care available to us in Laos. It's not nearly as efficient or "pretty", but I believe there are good doctors who can give good advice, if we are patient with the system.

Please continue to think about Hannah and lift her up when you have a spare moment. I believe the thoughts of our friends and family helped sustain her through this time. Throughout it all, she remained sweet and friendly, endearing herself to all who came in contact with her. She's a keeper, for sure.

Big Happenings

2009-09-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

We are so sorry that we haven't posted in a very long time. We've had quite a crazy time the past few months. We were very busy traveling all over the east coast of the U.S., and then we headed off to Laos last weekend. During all of these travels, something happened to Sam's computer and we didn't have internet access. Now that we're back in Laos, our internet is slow and unreliable. We'll do our best to post more regularly though now that we're getting settled back in.

Right now I'm in the process of updating our photo album at the top of our blog as well, so definitely go to the blog and check it out if you read this in email format.

Lots and lots has been happening with us! We are very excited to be back in Laos. Sam started teaching as soon as we got back, and he's really enjoying it. We jumped quickly back into Lao language study, and we're learning very useful vocabulary these days. Our neighbors have been coming to visit and they love to spend time with Hannah. I think that she's been held by over 200 people in her lifetime. That's probably a low estimate, actually. Everyone loves to hold her, and she's getting used to being passed around from person to person.

Hannah has grown by leaps and bounds since we last posted. She's six months old now and eating food. She has eaten rice cereal, carrots, and today she started eating green beans. The look on her face when she took her first bite was priceless. I think she was thinking "Mom, are you serious? You really expect me to eat THIS green mess???" But after a few bites she started to like it. She sits up by herself as of yesterday, hooray! And she talks all the time. Hopefully we'll be able to load some good videos of her soon.

That's the news from Luang Prabang. Here's a few pictures for you.

Going to Thailand to get Hannah's 6-month shots

Taking a walk by the river in our town

Visiting the school where Sam teaches

100 Days of Hannah

2009-06-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Hannah's 100th day of life on Monday. We had a party with our dear friends, the Drapers, ate banana muffins with cool whip, sang to Hannah, and even had her blow out a candle. We made this video to celebrate the first 100 days of Hannah's existence. Click the link below the picture to play the video.

Hannah Baby Boo

2009-05-23T00:05:00.000-07:00

You won't want to miss this.

Click To Play

Or this, for that matter.

Click To Play

Or these, either.

Happy First Mother's Day

2009-05-16T00:50:00.000-07:00

Today Sam took me on a "Happy First Mother's Day" date that was really wonderful. First he took me to a walking park in downtown Seattle. We went with our friends Buddy, Kristi, and their beautiful daughters McKenzie (left) and Madison (right).

We walked and talked and took lots of great pictures (thanks, Buddy!).

Sam bought me a frame for our new family photos, and I can't wait to use it. After our walk, we left Hannah with our friends and went to Elliot's Seafood Restaurant...

...for my favorite...Crab legs!

...and Sam's favorite... Salmon!

It was a super-delicious meal. Afterward, we walked on the pier by the restaurant.

Sam also gave me a gift card to a coffee shop and told me to enjoy spending some quiet time alone each afternoon while he watches Hannah. Both he and Hannah wrote me letters. You might be amazed by my 9 week old child's perfect grammar, cursive writing skills, and phenomenal artistic ability (like tracing her own hands)... but I'm not.

On my first Mother's day, I feel so blessed to have such an amazing daughter and such a wonderful, caring husband. 9 weeks post-baby, I can honestly say it's getting hard to remember what life was like without her... and I love that. Thanks Sam and Hannah, for making this Mother's Day so special and memorable!

Busy Days

2009-05-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting earlier, but the past month has been extremely busy! My parents visited us for 5 weeks. They arrived the day after Hannah was born, and were able to enjoy her very first days of life. They were so helpful and they loved getting to spend that time with Hannah. It was really wonderful to have them with us and to get the chance to show them our life in Laos.

Soon after they left, we flew to the states for meetings. It was so great to get to see my gorgeous and hilarious nieces, Catherine and Corinne, and the rest of my family.

Then Deborah and Tom, my in-laws, came to visit. It was awesome to see them again and have their company and help. Among other things, Deborah cooked some amazing meals, and even taught me how to make chicken and dumplings. Yum!

While Deborah and Tom were visiting, we got the incredible news that our nephew Zeke had entered the world! Making a stylish entry, he was born at 4:26 on 4/26. Chris and Kendra couldn't be happier, and all are doing well.

Now all the visitors are gone, and it's sadly quiet in our house. But we're having so much fun watching Hannah grow and change right before our very eyes. We can already tell that she's going to be a pistol!

All in all, it's been an extraordinary month and we certainly can't complain! We are enjoying the ride.

By Popular Demand...

2009-04-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

We thought that we would take a break from posting pictures of Hannah. After all, everyone can't be as enthralled with her as we are, right? But we've actually received multiple requests for more pictures of her, so... back by popular demand, we bring you Hannah!

Who do you think she most resembles?

Hannah with her new friend, Hatley.

Has passport, will DEFINITELY travel...
(ironically, she was a perfect angel on this trip, regardless of the unhappy status at the time the picture was taken)

Is there anything cuter?

And my very own personal favorite, MC Hannah and her parachute pants.

Recent Pictures

2009-03-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

I had thought that this post would be about a subject other than Hannah, but to tell you the truth, we have not had a lot of non-Hannah-related experiences lately. So, back by popular demand, here are some more recent pictures of our little girl.

And here is a St. Patrick's day tribute done by my sister Emily:

Wrap Hannah Up

2009-03-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

Here's another video of Hannah. I think you'll like her little dance at the end. It is destined to be a classic, kind of like Napoleon Dynamite's dance.

Click To Play

Even more pictures!

2009-03-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

I know that you are not surprised that all we can do right now is talk about Hannah! Here are some recent pictures for you to enjoy and I'm working on a new video that I will hopefully be able to share soon. I think she might easily be the single most photographed baby on earth. Thank you for all your kind comments and emails...we love y'all!

This one is funny if you imagine that I took this picture of her jumping in the air:

Finally, here is a screen shot of a page of photos on my computer (you can click on it to enlarge it):

Sweet Hannah

2009-03-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here is another fun video of our sweet, sleepy Hannah.

Click To Play

Check This Kid Out!

2009-03-12T01:42:00.000-07:00

She's still adorable, folks!

Click To Play

She's Adorable

2009-03-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

I might just be a teensy bit biased, being her mother and all, but I think she's kind of cute. I had no idea I could become enthralled with watching someone open and close her mouth, or blink, or simply just breathe. I continue to be amazed at this gift of life with which we have been blessed.

We hope you enjoy this peek at the first 2 days of Hannah Emily's life.

Click To Play

Our baby girl is here!

2009-03-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

Attention world! Introducing the newest member of Team Skeene...our baby girl Hannah Emily Skeene! She was born on March 7, 2009 at 4:30pm and she is beautiful and healthy.

This is the first picture ever taken of Hannah. I snapped this picture just about 2 seconds after she issued forth from her mother's womb.

This is the first time Nicole ever saw her baby.

Our Epic Quest

2009-02-26T07:15:00.000-08:00

One of the things I've longed for but couldn't get here in Asia is Dr. Pepper. Since we got here I've thought about that classic, distinctive taste and wished I could find just one can, but I never could. Not even in Bangkok where you can get almost everything! That is, until we heard a rumor about a secret compound dedicated to the protection of the few Dr. Peppers in existence in this part of the world. Legend tells of a far off location where high walls and iron gates keep out the average treasure hunter and keep in the cooled cans of goodness, barred to all but the true seeker, the adventurer with purest heart.

Today, we embarked on a quest to prove ourselves worthy and gain entrance to this treasure house. Our guide, the taxi driver, must have been hired by those who plot against us because after about an hour of battling traffic, he purposely drove us past our desired location. When we mentioned this to him he erupted in the most ominous, full bellied laugh - an explosion of mischievous delight. We told him to stop the taxi post haste and got out to walk. On the street we met a seemingly innocent food vendor, but he too plotted against us for when we asked wherein lays the treasure we seek, he deceptively pointed us the wrong way. Ten minutes later a good Samaritan redirected us saying, "Go back from whence you came. There lies the treasure that you seek." It was hot and we were walking on a busy street so you can understand that we nearly gave up our quest, but then we hearkened to the legendary maxim, "He who seeks Dr. Pepper must go back from whence he came." So back we went. Eventually, after receiving treacherously mixed signals from at least 3 other supposed food vendors we came to the right place.

We knew we had arrived because for a full city block we walked next to this enormous structure with high walls, higher fencing and row after row of barbed wire. Only one treasure would merit such protection...our coveted elixir. As we walked I searched my heart wondering if I would be found worthy to enter the fortress, if I would be thought pure enough to proceed. But I did not have long to ponder for we came to a set of iron doors so large and foreboding that it would have taken a fleet of sherman tanks to barrel through. Stunned, I nearly surrendered the dream. Thankfully, a stoic guard motioned us to the "pedestrian entrance," an equally iron, but far less foreboding set of people-sized doors off to the right.

We pressed a small button and after a prolonged pause, the doors swung open revealing a very narrow walkway, barred on all sides by tightly woven iron mesh. Passing through, we came to a wall of bullet proof plexi-glass, and there, behind the window, was the gate keeper who would decide it all. There stood the man with the power to grant us passage into the mystical land where streams of Dr. Pepper flow. What would his rigorous test require? Would we have pure enough hearts? Would the pressure cause us to turn back?

His single requirement was a US passport. That was it! With grateful hearts we brandished the blessed blue book and passed through the last hurdle. We walked proudly into the land of plenty where after frolicking with myriad fawns and pixies we secured six cans of the good stuff. Journey completed, quest achieved!

Toys at the mall

2009-02-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Nicole and I went to Siam, one of the nicest malls in Bangkok, to get some repairs done on my computer. While we were there we enjoyed some fruit juice in a cool bamboo cup, a delicious pork chop at Outback steak house, and a doughnut from a great bakery called Bread Talk. We also saw some really stellar toys. Here's a few pictures from our evening out.

Here is a view of the lights outside of Siam:

I think Kendra and Emily will enjoy these next pictures of some awesome crocheted people:

Besides being a an incredibly cute yarn person, this one doubles as a change purse. Ingenious.

One peas in a pod:

I think its a grape and an ear of corn:

These next few photos are for Chris:

This last toy was just a little too expensive for us. But looking is free...

Update

2009-02-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

Nicole and I are both in BKK now getting ready for the birth of our little girl. We are so excited. I have a few pictures of my beautiful wife to show you what she looks like now.

Here are a few pictures just for fun. These are some of the kids in our neighborhood:

These are some of our friends in Luang Prabang:

Callan is pretending to ride with me on my motorbike:

And here is some sausage:

Hi from Team Skeene

2009-02-06T08:29:00.000-08:00

We have been really going strong working at school lately. At the beginning of a new semester the schedule shifts and changes and it seems that the dust is just starting to settle so that we can see what it's all about. It is a very good schedule and my classes are both a pleasure to teach. Nicole is not teaching this term because she is going to be leaving to have a baby soon, but you know she is still working hard. She has helped me and some of the other teachers with different classwork and she works hard at things at home too. She'll be leaving for BKK in 10 days and then I'll be following her about a week later. Once we get there we are staying with our friends who have an extra bed room. Once we have the baby, we'll move out to a hotel somewhere until we come back to Luang Prabang with Nicole's parents. There's a lot going through our minds to be sure as we prepare everything at home and work for the exciting interuption. We're are really pumped about meeting our little girl!

In other news, I "gave in" and got a face book account along with Nicole. She has been writing to so many friends these last few days - some of them are people she hasn't seen or heard from in a long time. I have spent a good deal less time on facebook, but I have more friends than she does. I mean, I don't want to brag or anything, but its true. Ok, I do want to brag. :-)

There's not much more to say right now. Actually I need to go to bed because I have to get up and teach tomorrow morning. Have a great day!

Good Times in Bangkok

2009-01-27T08:28:00.001-08:00

This weekend Sam and I had to go to Bangkok for meetings. While we do not typically enjoy being in Bangkok for long, there are definitely some perks to being there. One of these includes McDonald's.

You really couldn't pay me to eat at McDonald's in the states, but there's just something magical about eating a Big Mac and Fries in the middle of Asia. It just tastes like home.

Another reason we enjoy coming to Bangkok is that we often get to see friends that we haven't seen in a long time. This trip we were so blessed to run into two families: Zach and Carrie and our friends Paul and Patty and their family (pictured below).

It was wonderful to catch up with them again.

In other news, it has come to my attention that there are some few people that have expressed, shall we say, concern, for some reckless behavior that might or might not have been exhibited by one certain pregnant lady. I would like to let it be known that the following escapade was NOT my idea, nor did I enjoy it one little bit. Our team happened to find a helicopter landing pad on the top of the 11 story building where our meetings were held. They wanted to go to the top and take pictures of the team because of the great view. They neglected to tell me that there are no railings up there. I was none too pleased, stayed long enough to take roughly 3 pictures, and high-tailed it back inside.

The rest of them played around up there for a while, and Sam got a great shot of our team-mate Amber with the skyline in view.

Altogether, it was a fun trip to Bangkok. We enjoyed seeing our friends, getting routine medical checks, taking in a movie, and doing a little bit of shopping. 3 days is the perfect length for a visit to Bangkok. How will we EVER survive the 6 weeks we will stay when the baby is born!?!? =)

42 days and counting...

Busy times

2009-01-16T05:04:00.001-08:00

We've had a lot going on this past week as fellow teachers returned from trips abroad and we all began to prepare for the upcoming term. We did intake testing today (a preliminary test that places new students in the appropriate class level based on their current English knowledge) and we now have about 60 new students for this term. We have been working at home too, getting ready for the baby and doing some minor repairs. Nicole is very excited about preparing a small room in our house for the baby complete with not-anything-of-mine which means that I had to relocate a lot of stuff. We are buying a crib and dresser/changing table from some friends in town which helps both in affordability and availability - two abilities we are keen on right now. And I have been doing some basic repairs with our pvc plumbing. I repaired the plumbing at the kitchen sink and in our bathroom.

We recently went back to Kuang Si Waterfall with some friends and got a beautiful picture by a turquoise lagoon.

My friend Jason and I are climbing the walls - just for fun.

This is a sunset picture taken from our front yard.

View of Luang Prabang

2009-01-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

Recently Nicole and I took a little hike to the top of a well known "mountain" in Luang Prabang. It is called "Poo-see" and it is the home to a famous and very visible temple. You can see the golden spire of this temple from all over the city and at night, thanks to some high powered spot lights, this temple floats in the dark sky above the city like some glowing celestial palace (which Nicole and I jokingly call the "Magic Kingdom"). Sadly, we don't have any pictures of this impressive view from the bottom of the hill, but we do have some of the gorgeous panorama seen from the top.

I am pointing to the street where we live. From our living room you can see this exact spot where I am standing, but from where I am standing, you can't really see our living room. But it's there.

BKK Airport, Thanksgiving, and Incriminating Photos

2008-12-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

You might be interested to in knowing that I was in Thailand when the Bangkok airport was seized. Not only was I in Thailand, I was in Bangkok! Everyone was talking about it. Actually, I wasn't just in Bangkok. I was there at the terminal! I was at the airport trying to catch my flight back to Luang Prabang, but needless to say, I could not catch that flight. There were no employees, just protesters. I saw so many people in yellow shirts outside the terminal. Someone was shouting through a PA system and everyone was cheering for him. Then they were singing, then they were clapping. After about 45 minutes I realized I was not going to be flying out so I got a taxi and eventually went downtown to buy a bus ticket home.

I walked all over the Nana area of Bangkok trying to buy a bus ticket but all the travel agents told me I needed to go to a certain bus station on the other side of town. One offered to sell me a ticket for about 3 times the normal price. No thanks. So I took the BTS (elevated train) across town and then took a taxi to the bus station where I bought an affordable ticket to Viantiane, Laos. The only problem was that the bus didn't leave for 6 hours! So I just hung out and waited until eventually I boarded a nice (but freezing cold) bus and rode all night long to Vientiane. I got to the bus station at Nong Khai and had to take a tuktuk (like a motorized rikshaw) to the border. I was going through the border check when the sun came up. I then paid to ride on a bus to another border check (Lao side) and from there I hired another tuktuk to take me to the airport. Finally! I took a plane to Luang Prabang about 24 hours after I was supposed to fly out of Bangkok. Not bad really considering lots of people got stuck in BKK.

Since then we've continued working and also enjoyed a very special Thanksgiving meal with fellow teachers and friends.

Here's another incriminating photo of Nicole doing an unpregnantly act. She was indeed trying to walk on this red slack line. Actually, she just took two steps and then stepped off. And as you can see she was holding on the whole time. :-)

But speaking of incriminating photos...here's some proof that Nicole is actually a dog lover who for unknown reasons claims to hate dogs. Why is this? No one knows. It is made more and more clear to me as the days go by that Nicole loves every dog she chances to meet. Especially this adorable toy poodle with teddy bear looking fur. And a half smile, half smirk. Is this the Mona Lisa Poodle?

And here is more proof that Nicole is a great mother-to-be.

Here it is obvious that I will embarrass my children when they are teenagers.

Baby Skeene!

2008-11-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

We have received many requests for pictures of Nicole and some info about the baby so we put together this video just for you. I hope you enjoy it!

Click To Play

Village Visit

2008-11-18T00:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had the chance to go to a village to visit the families of some of my students. We had a great time! Here are some pictures of the trip.

To get to the village we had to hike a few hours and cross this river:

This is a picture of the village with the morning fog still hanging on:

Here we are eating with a family in one of the bamboo houses:

Here is a grandmother arranging her grandchildren for a picture:

These are some of the big kids playing with tops:

Here is a view of one of the gardens we passed on our hike:

Breakdancing in Bangkok

2008-11-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

While we were in Bangkok for a month, Nicole and I saw a live break dancing exhibition so I got out my ever ready camera and filmed for a while. This video shows some of the better dancers in the brief time I was filming. I hope you enjoy it!

Click To Play

Bamboo Resort

2008-10-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

We recently had a meeting with most of the teachers from our school at a beautiful resort just outside of Luang Prabang. We stayed one night in these charming bungalows just up the hillside from a great swimming pool. It was so peaceful and relaxing and we really hope to visit again in the future. Here are a few pictures for you to see:

Waterfalling!

2008-10-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

On both of the last two days we and the other teachers at our school took our students to a waterfall! You can see in this picture how many people came.

Here's Nicole climbing a tree for a jump into the pool below:

Nicole is so brave - she even jumped off the higher water fall part. (Don't tell anyone, but I didn't even get in. Not because I am afraid of jumping, but because I don't like swimming in cold water.)

Nicole and our friend Teem are talking at the top of the falls:

Here I am with some of my friends climbing a big tree:

And finally, I thought you would enjoy seeing what a leech did to my foot just before we left the falls. Ouch!

Bugs!

2008-10-03T01:35:00.000-07:00

I have seen a number of interesting bugs lately and I would be remiss if I did not share them with you. So here they are:

Please, do not fail to notice who is holding this last bug. It is none other than "Jperman," a well known and highly revered doer of good deeds, a servant to the good people of Laos. Also notice how humbly he performs his duties, never looking up to receive the applause and adoration of his many faithful fans.

Big News!

2008-09-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I've been waiting to write this post hoping that I could find a Super clever way of doing it, but sadly I must have accidentally ingesting a dose of cleverness-kryptonite and I couldn't come up with anything. So I figure any post is better than no post...

Nicole is pregnant!

Some of you already know because of our mass email letter and maybe some of you are just finding out right now! We are so happy and so excited about this life changing event. In fact, Nicole told me that today is the first day that she felt a little movement in her tummy and she was so happy. We can't wait to meet this little person but we'll have to wait a little while. You know how that goes.

Nicole's been craving Honey Nut Cheerios for a couple of months now and we couldn't find any in Bangkok or in Laos so she was having to do without. We even made the mistake of trying to buy a substitute for her (Cheeri-fauxs), but that didn't go over well. Well, her loving mother mailed her a box of the real deal Honey Nut Cheerio's and she was so glad. Here's a never-before-released-photograph of the sacred moment when she received them:

Here's a fun shot of Nicole holding another food item, the single biggest avocado I've ever seen. It was almost as big as my head!

And on a lesser note, here is a picture of me riding my new motor bike! I love it! Its a Honda. In case you are wondering, my shirt has a chart of the Lao alphabet (the Laophabet) so that I can study all day long.

Some Pictures

2008-09-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

We've been having fun and we wanted to show you some recent pictures. Here I am playing with some of the kids from our team:

Here is Nicole holding up the biggest cucumber I've ever seen:

This is the drive that leads to the school where we work...We see this everyday. The mountains in the background look a little bit like a sleeping elephant.

These are some of our students who invited me over for dinner one night:

Boat Races

2008-09-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

Recently, Luang Prabang got all stirred up about the annual boat race festival. Appearantly this coincides with a big religious festival, but you hear more about the races than anything else for the days leading up to it and the days after. Each village puts together a crew of men to paddle in a long boat and all the villages go head to head for that year's bragging rights. Everyone piles onto the banks to watch, cheer, bang drums and drink Beer Lao together. Zach and I went down for a couple of hours and had a blast watching people cheer and shout as the boat crews raced in heat after heat down the river. I cant wait to see it again next year!

This little guy was taking advantage of an anchored barge to dive into the water.

Quick Note

2008-09-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry we haven't written in a little while...school has started and we are working hard everyday preparing, teaching, learning Lao (that starts tomorrow) and so forth. We recently had to travel to the capital city for some business and we stopped along the way to make use of the bushes (if you know what I mean) and found a trail leading to a rice field. We got these pictures from that trail:

Nicole and Laurie:

And we got these pictures from a water fall where we went swimming.

Civet

2008-08-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

We've continued to have internet troubles but I have internet today so i wanted to share a couple of pictures.

Here is another picture of our house. It doesn't really give a good perspective, but it at least shows the front door view :-)

We saw this shirt in a night market. I laughed so hard when I read the "wresrling," not to mention that it is more than just your average "wresrling," it appears to feature stars of the rock and roll song and stage. Just one more example of Remix Athletics' successful pop culture combinations (coming to an arena near you, tickets are going fast so get yours now).

This little critter came to our house for a visit recently.

It was hanging out on the porch by the front door at night. At first I thought it was a cat, but I soon realized that it was something entirely different. It had a face like a racoon and was extremely curious. It was not afraid of me at all and kept coming close to get a good look at me. At one point as I was taking pictures it even walked right up and touched the camera with its nose. We showed the pictures to our Lao friends and they were all very surprised that we had seen one of these animals. They would say, "You saw this at your house? It wasn't afraid of you? It let you take pictures of it? You didn't catch it? If I had been there it would have been dead by now and I would have already eaten it."

We showed the pictures to a friend who runs a coffee shop here and he told us that this is not just a rare animal, it is very special for one thing. This is the animal that eats coffee beans and when it "expells" them the beans have an even better flavor and smell. He said that this coffee is a delicacy and that if we could catch it, he would love to have it so he can make this famous drink. Well, I never. So if we can catch it this little critter, known in English as a civet, might make a living as a barrista, which is better than dying to be someone's dinner.

Pictures

2008-08-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the last few days:

I don't know if it made the news, but the rivers surrounding Luang Prabang rose over the wall surrounding the city and in some places it flooded businesses and homes. The water is much lower than this now - I think the flooding is over.

Here are some of our neighbors hanging out in our living room. I beat all of them at penny board. We really love the neighborhood where we live.

We had to get a battery replaced in the van we are borrowing and we saw this little guy having fun with his car.

We went to a baby dedication today and I ended up wearing a t-shirt with a dress shirt over it. I was sweating like it was my job so one of the Lao guys showed me to a back room where I could remove my t-shirt. While I was changing I looked out the window and saw this beautiful scene. Laos is so pretty.

Hopefully more house pictures are on their way! Its hard to saw when we'll get internet access again but I hope we'll be able to post again within the week.

Hello from the other side of the world!

2008-08-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hi friends and family, we have been wanting to write and share pictures but we haven't had any internet access for a couple of weeks. In fact I am using my friends computer at another house right now to post! We have been moving into our new house so we've been running around trying to get all of our necessary household items from various outdoor markets as well as a few stores in town. We have about a week before we start working at the school so we'll be wrapping up our house set up soon and getting to lesson planning etc. Hopefully we'll get internet within a few weeks :-) but there's no telling. We'll post when we can but we just wanted everyone to know that we're ok and we love Laos!

It's Over!

2008-08-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that my training at CELTA is finished. While it was not a Skippy Wonderland,

as the game room near my school might suggest, it was however a valuable training program that turned me into, dare I say it, a better English teacher. Zach and I met some wonderful people and really enjoyed the company of our classmates during the course.

So that's the big news from Sam (which is me). I don't think Nicole has any big news right now except that after a city-wide search she found some Cheerios. Though she was hunting for Honey Nut Cheerios, she was forced to settle for Multi Grain Cheerios, a sacrifice that was almost as difficult to bear as my CELTA course.

Hooray for Scrapbooking!

2008-07-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

I finally got the time and the inspiration to sit down and do some scrapbooking. It has been a fun way to spend the day when Sam is away at school, and it also helps me to have the memories immortalized. Here's the beginning of my new Asia scrapbook (click on the picture to see a larger image):

Graffiti

2008-07-29T04:16:00.000-07:00

In many ways Bangkok, Thailand is an extremely clean city. When you are riding the sky train (a.k.a. the BTS) you will not see a speck of garbage anywhere. In fact, there seems to always be someone mopping the floors of the terminals. The buildings here are modern wonders with huge indoor spaces and an over-all clean appearance. But when you are walking on the streets you are likely to see a less tidy view of the city. There you will find, among other things, graffiti on almost every sign and utility box that you come across. As we've traveled the city, we've become familiar with some of these graffiti brands. My personal favorite is Leo, who shows up everywhere.

Then there's Shock:

Here's one of the most imaginative:

CELTA

2008-07-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

The course I am taking here in BKK is called CELTA. I don't know what that stands for. I probably used to know. Before CELTA hit me I believe I used to know many things which now escape me. To be sure, the information that I am learning here is making me a better English teacher, but my brain is turning to mush. But not even mush with cinnamon and brown sugar. Just plain ol hard to swallow mush. I only have 7 more days of class. 7 more days of class.... 7 more days.

This is your brain:
This is your brain on CELTA:

I can't remember the rest.

Lovely Lao Airlines

2008-07-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know me well, flying is NOT my idea of a good time. Flying on a 747 or an Airbus 330 is not my idea of a good time. Flying on this plane:

is REALLY not my idea of a good time. Yes, those are propellers. Lovely Lao Airlines- an adventure in faith. I definitely got closer to my Father on this flight! Thankfully, it only lasted 1 3/4 hours, and then we were safely deposited in Bangkok, Thailand. Sam has to do teacher training here. He's almost through the 2nd of 4 very intensive weeks, and although he is learning a lot, I think he will be glad when it is over.

Bangkok is huge, frenetic, overwhelming, exciting, and grand. I like it here, I really do, but I can honestly say I have been longing to be back in Laos. Luang Prabang is small, quiet, unassuming, and absolutely beautiful. I miss my new friends there, and I miss the grandeur of the landscape. It's so easy to see the Father's handiwork there, and I will be very excited to set my feet back into that land. Although, if there's another way to get there besides Lao Airlines, sign me up!

Bangkok:

Laos:

Nicole's Birthday!

2008-07-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's that wonderful time again when the whole world celebrates the birth of one special person! No, its not Christmas, its Nicole's birthday! This year we had the privilege of celebrating with our friends in Luang Prabang, Laos. We had a great dinner with our team at the Blue Lagoon and then took a leisurely stroll through the famed night market. I am so thankful for Nicole and I am looking forward to many more years of celebrating "Happy Nicole Day!" Now we are in Bangkok again and we will be here for about a month. We are staying in a very beautiful hotel with high speed internet and everything! (That's a treat, let me tell you. In Laos, we are not able to use the internet very often or very quickly.) The reason we are here so long is that I have to get trained as an English teacher so that I can teach next term at our school in Laos. The training is very intense and very good so when it is finished I will officially be the best teacher in the world! :-) (Second only to Nicole. Void where prohibited.)

Here's the birthday girl!

Here's a funny drink!

Luang Prabang Video

2008-06-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Check out this video of places we've been and things we've done while in Laos!

Click To Play

At The Waterfall

2008-06-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures that show some of the things we've been up to lately:

Nicole talking with local kids who were playing at the school:

We went swimming at the waterfall with some friends:

Contemplating the big jump:

Walking back to the car:

Hello from Luang Prabang, Laos!

2008-06-25T03:56:00.000-07:00

We have been here in Luang Prabang, Laos for five days and we love it! It is so beautiful - way more charming than we had been told! We rode here from Vientiane on Friday, and we saw many memorable scenes of the Lao country side. As we drove along, the landscape began to be more and more hilly until we were driving through the mountains. The peaks stood out in shades ranging from lush green to ghostly gray and a very heavy mist weaved in and out of the many sharp peaks in the distance. We drove through the mountains for a long time and then all at once we came into Luang Prabang. It is situated where two major rivers join and everywhere you look there is another beautiful sight. As soon as we got here we started teaching (well, Nicole did anyway - I have to take the ESL training course first). Here are some pictures from the last few days for you to get the right image in your mind:

Here is Nicole standing outside the guest house where we have been staying:

Here's a view of one street in Luang Prabang:

This is one of the street side cafe's on the high bank facing one of the rivers in town.

This is one of the meals we have enjoyed with our team recently:

Greetings from Thailand!

2008-06-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, Nicole and I are here in Thailand! So far we've been able to rest and recover from jet lag, spend time with our team getting ready to leave for Laos, meet with most of the workers in the area, and go shopping for last minute supplies. Thailand is so beautiful, but we are really happy to be on our way to Laos. In fact, we leave tomorrow! We are so thrilled to be on our way, especially since this will be the first time either of us has ever been to Laos. Here are a few pictures from the last week to give you a glimpse of what we've been doing and seeing:

This is a view of Bangcock from the 12th floor of a hospital:

Here is Nicole on her party bus, decorated in fantastic Asian style:

Hey, be sure to lock the door. Other wise, mosquitoes will open it and come inside.

This is the pool that was just outside our door at one hotel where we stayed for some business meetings:

Here are some of our team members:

And of course, I'm kissing a fish that I am about to eat:

This is a view of the outside of the mall where we've been getting some last minute supplies:

The Pirate Winners

2008-06-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

The wait is finally over...we have our pirate winners!

Third prize and five "well done's" go to Michelle for this funny speech balloon:

Second prize and 10 "well done's" go to Emily for this comedic effort:

The recipient of first prize and 15 "well done's" is none other than Emily for this hilarious caption:

Pictures Found!

2008-06-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

After losing those pictures recently, I found a program online that was supposed to bring files back from delete land. I played with that program for a while but it only found some of my missing pictures and the ones it did find were strangely small. I was so sad until I pulled out a different hard drive that I sometimes save large files to and- you aint gonna believe this - but I had done a backup to that drive (a very rare thing) just a couple of weeks before I lost my pictures. From that drive I was able to retrieve almost all of the missing images! Remember when I guessed that I was out 3,000-5,000 pictures? I was wrong. I had lost 10,500 pictures. But I have almost every one of them back now!

We just spent a few days with one of Nicole's best friends, Michelle, and her family. It was a very fun visit complete with real New Jersey pizza and a trip to the park.

Here's Hannah chilling out on the playground with her mommy, Michelle:

Here's Emma flying out of the slide:

And this is one of my favorite pics from that day:

Michelle had the excellent idea to make us a mini wedding cake to help us celebrate our one year wedding anniversary! We really enjoyed eating this cake with them and felt honored that they had thought to do it.

Alas...

2008-05-31T06:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to post a really cool account of all our recent super fun activities yesterday, complete with colorful pictures, but I somehow managed to delete my entire iphoto library. Basically, all of my pictures from the last couple months are gone. "How many pictures could you possibly have from the last couple of months?" Probably 3,000 to 5,000. And videos too. Once more I am forced to dive into the murky depths of my computer's hard drive to see if I can recover them, but hopes are not high because I used secure delete. If that means what I think it means, then the pictures are toast.

However, I can say that I kept all the pictures from my friend Eric's wedding! That was a very special event that we were happy to attend last weekend. I became friends with Eric and Alexi back in 9th grade and now we are all married! Here is a shot of Nicole, Nina, and Sara and their husbunds, Sam, Eric, and Alexi.

First Anniversary

2008-05-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Nicole and I celebrated our 1st anniversary together! It has been a wonderful year and I'm so thankful that God allowed me to experience it with the best person in the world, Nicole. We've done a lot in this year and we've gone a lot of places. In just a few days we'll be leaving America to move to Laos and I can hardly believe that it is going to happen! Here is a picture of the University of Florida med. school graduation where we saw Eric and Nina walk across the stage to become doctors. (They are getting married soon.) (Oh, and the pirate talk winner will be announced soon.)

Pirate Talk

2008-05-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's a fun one...this contest is to see who can think of what the second pirate might be saying. The winner of this challenge will receive 15 "well done's." (Not steaks, we'll just say "Well done.")

Getting Ready to Leave

2008-05-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

Wowzers trousers! This is the most I've fallen behind in blogging, but for good reason... We are leaving the country soon! Nicole and I will leave our home in Georgia tomorrow as we travel to Florida and Pennsylvania to say goodbye to different members of our family. Then on June 8th, we will travel to New York City to fly out of JFK on a 17 hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand. We are so excited that our dream of living in Asia is finally coming to pass.

But before all this can happen, we've had to tear apart our house and sell almost everything we own. We were glad to have Tom and Allison visit us a couple of weeks ago over a long weekend, and also to have the help of my sister Emily and my dad from Texas when they came last week and assisted us in moving and packing things. Here's a peek at what it has been like:

Here's Nicole feeling sad about painting
our apartment back to white:

Tom and Allison at dinner with us and the Schloegle's:

Silly shot at Chris's apartment in Atlanta:

My dad and Emily on Lake Peachtree in her new inflatable raft:

Emily and Duncan hanging out:

Finally, a shout out to our friends Jon and Mindee:

Linville River Gorge Backpacking Trip

2008-04-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Nicole and I had a great time with our friend Chris Tyler recently backpacking in the Linville Gorge near Marion, NC. We started out at the top of a mountain on one side of the gorge, hiked down close to the water, and then hiked back out up the side of another mountain. The views of the river and of the mountains were spectacular! We stopped along the way for a lot of pictures, but here are some of the ones that give you a picture of where we were:

We hiked on beautiful trails like this one:

We camped on the side of the mountain and made
our breakfast fire on this beautiful overhang:

We found serene spots on the river like this one:

We ate lunch on the trail. You can't tell from this picture, but I am looking down at a stream that is tumbling down the mountain.

We slept in backpackers hammocks as you see here. They tie off between two trees and they have netting to protect you from bugs. They have rain flies to protect you from the elements and they are very comfortable.

Here is a shot of the hike out. We walked for three hours on the mile-long up hill trail (it was very, very steep and unrelenting). We had no breakfast and we were out of water - I think that it was the most difficult trail I've ever hiked. But by some miracle, we all made it.

Late for Gelato

2008-04-13T20:35:00.001-07:00

We've had lots of exciting stuff going on lately! We went to Washington, D.C. to get some paperwork done for our soon coming departure to Asia and while we were there we met with our good friends Wick and Jamie who took us out to eat at a tasty Mexican restaurant. After dinner we wanted to go get dessert from a famous gelato place called Dolcezza. Now this is not just any gelato, mind you. It only happens to be the best in the country. We ate there with Wick and Jamie back in the summer and at the exact moment that first bite of smooth gelato landed on my palate, my understanding and appreciation of this creamy, rich Italian specialty changed dramatically. From then on I looked in vain across the width and breadth of the nation to find a dessert like this one. So here we were, planning to return to the same gelato house that started a taste bud revolution when we suddenly realized, it was going to close in 15 minutes! We were going to miss it! Hurriedly we rushed to the car, handed the keys over to Wick, and jumped in. Because he knew the area he scooted quickly to the right spot in Georgetown while we counted down the minutes. As we mounted one hill he said, "Its just down there!" but a moment too late for the fateful clock had just ticked 7:59pm and we were stuck at a red light. Wick didn't hesitate a moment. He gunned the car to the right, sped around a city block and screeched to a halt right in front of Dolcezza's...at two minutes past eight. We had missed it. But when we looked inside the windows, we saw a server behind the counter. With a wisp of hope springing up, we lept from the car and dashed to the door. But when we knocked, the server did not even glance our way. This is when Nicole saved the day. She knocked harder and louder until the server was forced to look at Nicole's hand motions pointing to her watch and begging to be let in. And so we were allowed to come in and get delicious gelato at 8:05pm. And was it ever delicious!

Our friends Wick and Jaime eating outside Dolcezza's:

There are many more adventures that have happened lately...I'll post some more soon.

Snow Play

2008-04-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here is some fun footage of us playing in the snow in Seattle. We went to the mountains a couple of times while we were there and had a blast sledding and tubing together. I hope you like it!

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Props to Nicole

2008-03-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

I wanted to say how proud I am of my beautiful wife Nicole for something she accomplished recently. She decided that she would like to start using Weight Watchers 19 weeks ago and since then she has lost 22.4 pounds! And she did this while we where living on the road, eating restaurant food at odd times and at odd places. She is so dedicated that she carries measuring spoons in her purse so she can measure food where ever she goes. Also, she carries a little bottle of olive oil in her purse to use on salads when we eat out. I'm really impressed with her. Here is a picture of her on Easter...

Continuing Adventures

2008-03-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Nicole and I left Seattle, happy, healthy, and glad for the training. We then had the privilege of seeing Chris and Kendra before we left for Florida. We have a number of meetings scheduled here and the opportunity to visit family which we always enjoy. It is such a difference coming from cold Seattle to warm sunny Florida that it made me really appreciate this state. Here is a video of us playing putt putt with Emily in Orlando. (Oh, this footage was filmed in January hence the warm weather clothes. Sunny Florida does get a little cold sometimes.) Enjoy!

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