Sunday morning we were doing surprisingly well considering the night before. We did however take it very easy and get off to a slow and mellow start. At some point we decided to head to the old part of Panama City and check it out. Between the rental van and Miguelrsquos car we managed to get all of the family and the friends from Michigan to a museum. It then took us a ridiculous amount o

After our wonderful trip to the Galapagos we landed in Guayaquil a huge metropolis with more stories of violence robbery and kidnapping than we were comfortable with. We immediately got on a bus and got out of town We had a long bus trip to Cuenca and were very tired of the road after that. We only spent one day exploring Cuenca mostly because itrsquos very compact lots of churches an

Last night was miserable. We tried to get to the reef but almost capsized in the process. We sailed half way there and the skipper had to turn the boat around and motor back or risk flipping the boat. I took some seasickness meds the night before so my sleep was really intermittent. However I did sleep through all of the things on the shelf emptying onto Anna and Susanne and a showerrsquo

Sunday June 6thWe drive to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge at Prairie City Iowa. The Learning Center at the refuge explains how the natural prairie is being restored through controlled fires the reintroduction of native species and the eradication of invasive plant species. We follow a selfguided driving tour which shows specific techniques being used to restore the prairie. A herd o

Still living the high life in the Murder Capital of the World. Why even today I've probably done stuff that must seem impossibly exotic and alluring to everyone left behind in humdrum England. Let's see... I went to work and played Scrabble with a student heist was my lexical highlight... I gave my charge a sound thrashing by some 60 points I bought some eggs from the corner shop pissed abou

Sweet as brother and sisters from other mothersIt came to an end 2 years in Oz.What a time what a place what great people emotionally I didn't know where I was. I strolled along South bank on my own a lot in the last few weeks and took in the bright orange glow of the sun and though how much I would miss these blue skies and brilliant people. Yet I was excited for New Zealand excited I was that

The final day on the water I woke up to the sound of the waves something I was fast getting used to. I wasnrsquot really sea sick anymore which was a good thing as we were still in pretty choppy water. Soon before breakfast I heard the motors start up and I went and sat with the Skipper. He was an older man named Baz and he told me a few stories before breakfast. I guess he has sailed mos

Our travels today were only 177 mi. We left at 6 am though because we had several stops to make. At 7 am we had already reached the entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park because we went through a time change when we entered Arizona. The painted desert was amazing. The forest was a little disappointiing as they were all petrified fallen chunks of logs. I guess it's one of those thi

We left Sundance thinking we might stop somewhere in the eastern part of South Dakota. We did stop but only for a few fireworks. The weather was fine until we hit Windom and then the clouds thickened darkened and the wind picked up. We turned on the radio to a Mankato station as the kids said there were tornado sirens going off in Mankato. We ended up pulling off into St. James and parking i

I together with my family went to Camarines Sur last Holy week. It was my first time to go there and I was very excited because I heard so much about this beautiful province in the Bicol Region. If you are the type of person who loves sports and adventure this is the perfect place for you. We stayed at the Villas in Villa del Rey Resort .It is part of the CAMSUR WATERSPORTS COMPLEX owned by the

The message you are about to read is top secret. Do not share this with the general public. Do not let anyone see you reading this. Do not share this file with the FBI. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.You are holding in your hands a secret. A terrible secret. A secret so grim so warped in its bearing that I can scarcely bring myself to tell you of its existence. It's a

This morning we said goodbye to Montreal after visiting the science museum and the underground city. We travelled to beautiful Quebec City by bus to stay 3 nights at Hotel Sepia. We will get a tour of old Quebec tomorrow among other activities including a bonus a free performance by Cirque de Soleil tomorrow night. Should be fun We hung out in Old Quebec for a little while today before and a

We had to check out of the hostel by 10 in the morning so we got up had breakfast and packed. Luckily we could leave our bags at the hostel for the day as we were taking a bus to Rockhampton at 12 midnight. In town I picked up my advanced open water dive card Anna got her hair cut and we wandered the shops for a bit. While we were away for the weekend Daniele was flying to his University to

I published my day 2 blog this morning or I thought i did and it's gone. I'll condense it here and repost the pics.What we did day 2Montreal bus and walking tourNotre Dame BasilicaArcheology MuseumChinatownIndigo cafebookstore stuck there because the underground city and most stores were closed because of the feast of St. JeanBaptiste a national holiday PLUS it was rainingWienstien and G

I woke up 6 hours later in Rockhampton a larger city south of Airlie beach. It reminded me so much of home with a greyhound station McDonalds Subway Pizza Hut Dominos and other American stores and restraints. We waited in McDonalds as Daniele was flying into Rockhampton at 730. Soon enough he arrived and we all piled into the car for the 45minute ride to Yeppoon. The area is very arid

Terrific family gettogether in St. John WA on June 19th...Mom's 82nd birthday. Dad's 89th birthday was the 18th and my nephew Marshall's 14th birthday was the 20th. A good time was had by all...check out the photos

We woke up today to a pretty gross day. We thought we might be able to go out on the water but it was raining and windy. Daniele went out real early and bought one bed for the house. He wanted us to come with him to pick out the rest of the stuff so early afternoon he picked us up and we all went to the red cross. We left with two more twin beds and mattresses a few bureaus and a sofa couc

and we finally made it to vietnam We left our guesthouse in laos at 6am and made it to one hanoi at half 9 2 days later The first leg of our journey was a ten hour bus ride from luang prabang back to vientienne during these 10 hours the bus door was open throughout and for the first 4 hours or so we were going through thick mist in the mountains jess was freezing hannah was feeling smug beca

Woke up this morning and Daniele headed off early to Gladstone to get some errands done. There is some bird in the area that has a call that sounds like someone is whistling so I want to try and figure out what it is because it is such a cool sound. The girls and I lounged around for a bit and as the weather was gorgeous we decided to walk to town. It is a bit of a distance but we had nothi

I got my pictures from the dive trip back Katharina and I had purchased underwater cameras and used them while we were snorkeling. They came out much better than I expected and although the coral itself looks a bit grey you can really see how the color in the fish pop