A Highland Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving weekend we traveled with some of our co-workers up to the mountain highland areas about 3 1/2 hours from home.
We are so thankful for the Lord's blessings in our lives. This was the first major holiday we spent overseas but we were blessed to spend it with 11 other people who loved on us and made this place feel like home. We were lacking nothing! The picture is the view from the Chalet we stayed in. In the 75 degree weather it even FELT like Thanksgiving (well, Thanksgiving in Florida that is!)

We were busy with fun the whole weekend. We went hiking in the jungle...this jungle had a moss floor, fog, and mud. Mrs. King noted everyone's thoughts as she exclaimed- "Wow! It feels like we're in a jungle!" We are so thankful to be with each other over here. The tropics are wonderful for our marriage!


The Highlands- because of the climate- produces some of the best tea in Southeast Asia. Mrs. King and I sure enjoyed the tea plantation visit. The other picture is of a machine from 1935 still used in making the tea. These folks are serious about their tea. We are thankful to have friends over here to have fun with!

At the Butterfly farm we visited- K3 was the designated butterfly boy as we piled as many on him as we could. Then oddly enough there were other creatures there so opposite in nature to soft happy butterflies like huge blue (it was blue. Promise.) scorpions. I am thankful for ALL God's creatures- some just for the fact that they don't live in my house!



We did other stuff like hang-out, watch "Hogan's Heroes," eat, and have a talent show. K5 swung a lot. And K3 and K4 played together like best buds do. Anthony and Justin found huge pencils at the butterfly farm to play pencil break with.
It was a memorable first Thanksgiving abroad that's for sure. We left feeling refreshed and...yup, you guessed
it...thankful.

Bond Girl

This is a true account.
Last night after seeing the new James Bond Movie (Highly recommend it by the way...although they cut out any sex scene type stuff here, so it was PG + blood...check the ratings in your country) my husband and I were driving home in The Rush- our 1.8L Toyota SUVan.

While coming up to a toll booth we noticed that in one of the two "Touch-n-Go" lanes the cars were backing up and moving into our Touch-n-Go lane.

Why?

Because the guy trying to touch his card to get through the toll didn't have enough money on his card.

So there we were.
About 5 cars from getting through ourselves.

I say to Anthony,
"I should just jump out and use our card to tap him through."

I was ready for my own action scene after the all the Aston Martins and bombs.

In an instant, also having elevated adrenaline levels from the new 007, he says,
"Yeah. Go!"

So I jump out of The Rush, run up to the stranded Chinese man in his nice Mercedes, hold out my card and say,
"Do you need this?!?!"

He was still fumbling around and was probably shocked to be a part of such an heroic act.

I asked again.
Then just tapped the card on the box like any highly trained MI6 agent.
(Double 0's always have cool gadgets)
and said
"GO!"

As the red light changed to green and the bar raised in front of him,
he said,
"THANK YOU!"
Like all 'extras' in actions scenes do

At that moment Anthony was pulling up in the next lane.

Hurrying so we wouldn't hold up traffic,
I leaped over one cement barricade and then another.

After a quick hand-off of the card, Anthony touched it to the box and we were on our way.

All toll lanes safe and sound.

A post to tie you over...

"Tie you over" is a funny phrase. Leave us a comment if you know why "tie you over" means " I'm giving you something right now that will help you wait until I give you something better." I don't have a clue. Even if you don't know either, just make up something. We won't know the difference. I never knew how weird the English language was until I tried to explain some American slang in a foreign country.

So here - as the title suggests - is the post to tie you over. Let the over-tying begin...

We'll post a decent entry later on today or tomorrow, since some of the goings on in our lives will happen today. In the meantime, here's some pictures from last spring of our friend Micah expressing his feelings over The Di Vinci Code. You can feel his conflict between enjoying the suspense and feeling saddened and dismayed with Brown's utter disregard for factual, historical information. [As a side note, when I first wrote that last sentence I used the word "udder" instead of "utter"... cow anatomy has nothing to do with The Di Vinci Code... or does it? - there's no telling how deep the conspiracy runs.] I think the yellow earplugs add just the right emphasis to all his emotions. Forget Mona Lisa's smile, check out Micah's secret underneath these grins.






Quite a breath-taking display of the range of human emotion.

Ain't no poor in Singapore...

We had a great time on the famous island as this post will surely demonstrate in picture-and-caption form. Tuesday night we went to "Little India" and "Chinatown" ...sorry, no pics of little India. In Chinatown we remembered our camera. Here's Anthony getting in the spirit of things...

We found this little guy in a shop...he's a lion, not a dog. I promise the music isn't dubbed over...

I still can't believe we didn't buy one. There was a dragon too. Maybe next time.

Wednesday night we went to the "Night Safari." Very cool. (Thanks for the recommendation Brad!) The lights they have to see the animals are special so you can see them with your eyes, but not on a camera (and no flash of course)- believe me I tried and they all came out black.

One trail has an area with bats free-flying around. I thought it was fun, but Anthony unexpectedly found himself wanting to leave. Quickly. Apparently he has a previously unknown fear of bats. Funny. The African section was more his style.

Then there are the requisite tourist photos. One is in front of a mosque in little Arabia. The other is the skyline of Singapore from our hotel. And I promised I would take a picture of any poor people I saw. A taxi-driver told me 2-years ago that there were no poor people in Singapore. He was right. I couldn't find one. This guy looks a bit down. But his clothes are clean, his hair was cut, face clean-shaven and he looked folks in the eye. He probably isn't rich, but he didn't seem poor.

Singapore is renowned for having rules...and consequences for breaking those rules. (Remember the American kid who spray-painted a car and got caned?) The rules work. Only a few people dare light cigarettes, there's a slim chance you'll ever step in chewing gum, and the subway is rated as one of the safest places on earth. There are signs reminding you of the rules. This was one of our favorites.

According to this, we technically owe Singapore $1000SingDollars. (We brought drinks onto the subway-but no one caught us- in our defense we couldn't find a trashcan). For more Singapore Pictures click here.

We recommend Singapore. It's a nice little island. Just be sure and leave your durians at home.

And a shout-out to Mamalou on her birthday today!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

It's been a while since our neices, nephews, and cousins (who might as well be in the 'n&n' category) had significant airtime. We didn't celebrate Halloween here, but folks back home did, and boy were the kids (and some of their parents) cute this year! Above is Adrienne Faith Diaz sporting her FSU cheerleader outfit. Red-headed cheerleaders are all the rage this year!

I know. Cute right? The cape blowing behind her is almost too much.

Jeremiah "Spidey" Diaz...

Mobster Z "the Lefty" Diaz...and his smokin hott wife...

Chief K. Black here to save the day! I needed him during my sparkler in the eye accident!

Katie DOES look delicious huh? I can see why she's taking a bite...

Kate Durrance is in da hood...with the requisite Big Bad-Bobby-Wolf played by her father (my cousin)