Jungle Book: The Musical

Emily and Danielle took part in the musical production the Jungle Book last weekend. This school production was entirely cast from grade 1-6 students. Danielle played the role of one of the bees "buzzin in the trees", and Emily was one of a group of students that played Kaa the snake. The production was a hit and approximately four hundred people attended the two shows.

Our 14th Anniversary

On March 25, Jackie and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. We called a sitter and went out for a quiet dinner at a local Italian restaurant. We are still going strong and actually still look pretty good after all these years together!

School Trip to Vietnam

From March 15-21 I was fortunate to supervise a group of students traveling to northern Vietnam for the schools' annual Experience Week. We arrived in Hanoi and then traveled to Halong Bay the very next day to experience the beautiful limestone formations that are found there. The scenery is stunning and has made the bay a UNESCO world heritage site. Our camp was on a small beach on one of the over 1900 islands in the bay. We spent two half-days kayaking around the islands as well as time collecting garbage from one of the more secluded beaches (as part of our community service initiative).
Our trip also had us travel to Lao Cai in the very north via a night train (a very interesting experience) and from there we continued onto to the village of Sapa where we did a home stay. The trek into the village took 90 minutes and there we spent time at a local school helping them construct a new roof for part of the school. We also met many students and staff, and in the evening we were invited to watch (and take part in) some local music and dancing.
The village itself is beautiful and the people there live a very peaceful and simple existence. Some of the high lites here included the food (awesome), the coffee (strong but so good) and the amazing scenery. One and a half days were also spent in Hanoi which allowed us to see another part of Vietnamese life as well as to enjoy the great shopping there.

Trip to Hong Kong

Jackie and I escaped to Hong Kong without the kids during the second weekend of March. Our friends Dave and Yvonne looked after the girls while we had two blissful days of sleeping in, shopping, and eating out.
We visited Stanley Market to do some shopping and had some Canadian food at Tony Roma's in Times Square. We also visited The Peak where we had a leisurely breakfast and Jackie bumped into Bruce Lee.
It was only our second time away from Emily and Danielle in 18 months so it was an enjoyable break for us both.

Remembering Our Friends

Last week we learned that my cousin Liz and her husband David died in a motor vehicle collision in British Columbia. This shocking and sad event hit home for the four of us as Liz and David had visited us in Macau last September. They were an extremely outgoing and fun-loving couple who will be missed by all. Events such as this are difficult for us due to the distance but nevertheless our thoughts are with Liz & David's children, family, and friends during this difficult time.

Valentines Day

Jackie and I had a special treat this Valentines Day as we were invited for an evening on our friends sail boat. We left the Macau inner harbor in the late afternoon and then cruised the waters between Macau and China until well after dark. There was fresh fruit, cheese and wine for the six of us to enjoy and all the ladies received a rose upon our return to the marina. The lights of the hotels and casinos created some wonderful views for us to enjoy.

Jackie Runs 10km Race in Hong Kong

Jacqueline has become a regular runner in Macau and she recently decided to test her endurance in an actual competition. She along with five others from the school decided to run in the 10km portion of the Hong Kong Marathon the first week of February. The event is a huge one with 32,000 people running the 10 km race alone! The race started at 5:15 a.m. and it took almost ten minutes for all of the runners to cross the start line; the race started and finished in the dark. Jackie's time for the 10 km was approximately one hour.