Testing out a new trailer prototype

As seen from the highway

This trailer can hold about 12 water filters.

Pretty fun stuff, but can't go over 40km/hr

puppy love

 Elijah fell in love with this little puppy yesterday, and it's the first time I've ever seen him like this. I'm not sure what happened to him, because he's pretty much been scared (terrified) of animals for as long as I can remember. But this little guy, Elijah just scooped him right up and gave him hugs.

 Eva was brave, but not quite to the same level as Elijah. Eva's holding this pup with her hands, and trying to be brave. Elijah on the other hand had happiness all over his face. I've always said that we would not get a dog over here. But now, I guess I'm thinking about it a tiny bit. Just a tiny bit. I think we'd start with a different animal though. A goat might be a good start. They're so cute, especially the kids, and putting up a little pen in the yard would be pretty easy. Just thinkin' out loud here.

These kids get their fear of animals from me, as I was terrified of pretty much all animals when I was young. These days, it's not so much a fear as it is that I'm just not an animal lover. And I really don't like barking dogs charging after me. Eva and Elijah, though, these two have really turned a corner lately, much to my joy, because being afraid of animals is a pretty unpleasant deal most of the time. These days, they're out catching butterflies with their hands and actually carrying them inside for me. They're holding snakes too, once Nathan's killed them. Elijah actually held snakes at the zoo last time we were there. They shoo wandering dogs out of the yard for me now and have started making little houses for the beetles they find. They even took on their biggest fear (cows and there's a story) and now team up to run the cows out of the yard. All of this is WAY passed where I was at their age.

There's definitely something powerful about gaining victory over fear, and I'm proud of these two cuties (my kids, not the pups) for pushing through their fears. And from the look on Elijah's face yesterday, I can see that a puppy is most likely somewhere in our future. Good thing I got over that fear a L O N G time ago. Yup, good thing.

random from today

 The kids with their favorite friend

 Eva gets a milkshake w/ mom while the boys are out for dinner meetings

This is what happens when your older sister takes charge

Later I hear him telling Eva, "I'm a prince, and I fight dragons. You are the princess, Eva." 

Meo, our beloved friend

eva's drawing

Movie Night at the Coles

 On Saturday night, you will usually find us settling in for an hour long movie with the kids. They look forward to it all week long for many reasons. 1. This night is pretty much the only time they get to watch movies (other than sick days), so it's special. 2. The whole family watches together. We have three chairs for five people, which means kids in our laps, alternating mom then dad, mom then dad, which they love.

 3. They get to travel around the planet! They go from the polar bears in the arctic to the blue whales in the ocean to underwater volcanoes to caves, coral reefs, deserts, ice worlds, mountains, fresh water, plains, jungles, wilderness, deep oceans and on and on.  

4. Popcorn or ice cream or some other yummy goodness.

  5. Air conditioning gets turned on and lights get turned off  (pretty much necessary in order for all of us to see Dad's small computer screen, which is our tv).

 Zach looks up from his bowl and yells out, "YUMMY!" Then dives in. :)

My 2 cuties

Saturday morning at the Coles' place

eva with friend

preparing for the VP debate- 2036

 

my kitchen helper

taking Eva to school- everyone gets a ride to the end of the driveway

Arachnida

 This little guy made his way across the road as Nathan was motorbiking his way home from work. It's good to keep an eye on the road ahead of you for just such occasions. The other day, I was out at night cruising along on the motorbike when I saw a snake on the path ahead. Unfortunately, I was too close to swerve, so I closed my eyes, got my feet as far from the road as I could, and yelled as I ran over him. That's me, not Nathan. Nathan stopped and put the scorpion into the bike's basket and brought it home for the kids to see.

 The kids were eager to see their first real scorpion, but he seemed pretty eager to get away from them.

This is Nathan's hand. I would never put my hand this close to a scorpion.  I looked the scorpion up online and learned a few new things. (thank you Wikipedia.) Did you know that there are almost 2,000 scorpion species and that 30-40 of those have strong enough poison to kill a person? I noticed that this one seems to be missing it's venomous stinger.

 Safe with dad.

 Teaching moment.

 Did you know that some species can change their metabolic rate, allowing them to live on one meal per year? Now wouldn't that be handy. Until I came to Laos, I had always thought Scorpions were just desert dwellers. Actually, they're found on all major land masses, except Antarctica. I'm actually glad I finally saw one. It seems they're not all that uncommon here, but somehow I've only seen the dead ones. This here is my first official live scorpion siting.

Good night, Zach

The Crazy Dance

fears in my life, # 1

So I'm headed for bed, doing the last couple things in the kitchen, just about ready to call it a day, when I hear faint scratching/hissing/squeaking sounds coming from a box. This box is sitting on a side table, full of food items just purchased in below Thailand trip, set aside for coming Thanksgiving holiday.

At first, I think it's a giant cockroach. We don't get many of those in this house, but they still show up with regularity. Besides, I thought I saw something dark dive down into the box. Wow, that scratching is loud... is it a mouse? Of course, I go get Nathan to come investigate. I just can't lose Thanksgiving goodness.

Nathan digs around in the box and pulls out this little creature. Do you know what it is? It's a Rhinoceros Beetle.This is what the nwf's website says about this little guy, 

"Rhinoceros beetles can grow up to 6 inches, making them some of the largest beetles around" and also, to verify the sounds I was hearing, "When disturbed, rhinoceros beetles can make hissing squeaks."

I can verify that statement. In my mind, though, Hissing = cockroach. Squeaking = mouse. I thought it was going to be either/or.

"Oh this?" says Nathan.

"I found this outside this morning and brought it in for the kids. Zach had it climbing all over his shirt." 

"So you brought it into the house?" I ask. I'm panicking now because I'm starting to feel quite vulnerable. Nathan is now holding the rhino beetle in his hand. He's walking towards me. He put it on Zach's shirt this morning to climb all over him. He's... walking... towards... me...

I run for the bedroom and lock the door. The beetle is hissing all over the place.

 Nathan reassures me through the door, "I'm not going to throw the beetle on you. I just want you to come see it." So I gingerly open the door and come out. It's stuck on Nathan's clothes, clinging on for dear life.  Nathan's working on pulling him off. 

"I guess I forgot to take him back outside before I left for work," I hear him say. 

Nathan's teasing in this picture. I don't think he'd actually eat it. That said, when I asked him about lunch the other day, he did say that he shared somebody's lunch at work and ate a bunch of bugs with him. I then asked if he could take the beetle back outside, and he did. And my heart rate started to go down.

So I found a good, clear picture online. It's actually glass, taken from glassartists.org. It's a good thing the kids were asleep. When they're up and watching, I have to be strong. Act like I'm not terrified, like these things don't bother me. My strategy when I find these things and there's no one around? I find a bucket, a good sized one, and quickly drop it on top of the creature. Then I heavy weight the bucket so nothing can crawl out. And that's how Nathan will find the situation when he gets home. So now you know, a major fear in my life. Beetles. Don't ever tell my boys, please. That is, Elijah and Zach. Nathan already knows.

weekend away

 One of our major items on the agenda for last weekend was heading to the hospital to get long overdue routine medical work done for all of us. This type of trip usually involves crossing the border into Thailand, driving 3-4 hours to a good international hospital, staying the night there, then driving back the next day. We made a weekend of it and stayed at a fun place with water slides, ate lots of ice cream, and had pizza for dinner.
The kids love road tripping, and we do too. You can see Zach sitting there in his flowered chair (should probably work on switching that cover out) and mattresses for the kids' beds sticking up there in the back.

We spent one full day at the hospital, which was where Eva saw the dentist for the first time. Elijah freaked out, and we decided that he could wait until he was older. They all got balloons from the dentist, which really did help these guys look at the dentist in a different way. I was surprised how much that helped. Here the kids are waiting while dad takes his turn in the dentist chair. Eva got balloon flowers, Elijah a sword, and Zach a dog, which he promptly took apart. :)

 Eva was scared and already in tears before she even got into the dentist's chair. But then suddenly, she turned very brave and did a great job. You can see her smile in the above and below picture... it's her "I did it!" smile. :)

The next day, the kids got to swim. For Elijah, this lasted all of one hour before he was hit hard by the flu bug. He spent the day vomiting, feverish, and completely miserable.

Eva got a whole morning of swimming in, and then the flu bug hit her the next day. She was so sick, we delayed driving back home for one more day. 

Zach didn't catch the bug, at least not yet, but he enjoyed hanging out with the other two watching episodes of Curious George.

Nathan and I alternated staying with the kids and heading out to stock up on supplies. 

Here's one of Eva and Zach, just before her flu bug hit. Nathan was so proud of her at the dentist (after Elijah's big freak out) that he told her she could have a special reward. So when she saw this princess crown at the store, that was it!! She wore it the rest of the trip, whenever she was feeling good. Zach here is such a cutie. I told Eva to stand in front of this sheet, which is dividing off the kids sleeping area, so Zach had to run over to pose for the picture too.

We're back home now, both kids are over the flu, Zach never caught the bug, immunizations complete, full of pizza and ice cream, happy and healthy. On the way home, Eva says, "Mom, I'm so excited. Do you know why?" I asked her why, and she says, "I'm so excited to see Meo!" That's our helper, who's been with us since Eva was a baby. Nothing like returning from time swimming in the pools, eating ice cream, pizza, and special time with mom and dad, only to hear that your daughter is excited to be back in Laos. This is their home, and they love it. God is so good.