oneworldtwokids

DAY 44 TAMAN NEGARA

Posted on Monday, May 13th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

HIKE THROUGH THE JUNGLE.

Yes. Monday. Saw a group of travellers off into the jngle for a nights rest. Have fun. We are barely hanging in here with the fan running and no A/C Tahan guest house. We took a morning walk on our side of the river Sungai Tembeling. Ezra was the first to wet his feet and Viena joined him shortly afterwards. For a brief moment the happiness of being children in a wild place took over. Not m=for Dwana and I, we just sat on the rocks with our feet in the muddy brown water watching Viena and Ezra placing mud, Tembeling Mud on themselves. We are at the junction of the Sungai Tahan and the Sungai Tembeling. Some saipans are crossing the river Tembeling and heading up the Tahan, but not many. We are staying in the Kuala Tahan at the Tahan Guest house, all namesd after the river that flows into the Tembeling. Tahan is a darker but less muddy river. We might today explore the watering hole on the Tahan Sungai – Limbok Simpon. And today, we stayed in town and waited for the internet cafe to open so we could skype with Mylon, but just because a place says it will open at 10AM does not mean it will open at 10AM. no luck. So we came back to the Tahan Guest house and Ezra and Viena played with the little girl Maya whose mom is running the guesthouse. They played so well together. Amazing. Who needs language? I went for an exploratory run to Matleon Village and around. The village appeared abandoned and seemed to be a dream gone by to the wayside. I discovered a road that led me back to the guest house. I spoke to a French traveller about hiking and spending a night in the jungle. He showed the damage from the 2 leeches that left their mark. “Just let them suck you blood”! was the best strategy. Sounds like “Just Play Dead!”when you see a brown bear. Difficult to reason out at the time. We ater dinner at the corner market where all the food places are. Excellent fried chicken. Colonel sanders look out.

DAY 43 TAMAN NEGARA

Posted on Sunday, May 12th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

CANOPY WALK. I WAS SWEATING . EVERYONE ELSE WAS FINE.

Jerantut. Ezra saw something out the window. A ferris wheel lit up the night sky. The darkness and quietness of Jerantut at 5:30 in the morning … and then the Weems family started moving out of our A/C room and on towards the bus station. Christmas lights are on the street overhead always. ther way of lighting the street. Another place, another time, another tut. I would have felt a little uneasy about the bus station in the darkness of the morning. A gang of 3 young Malay walked along the street as we sat aling the street under the big tree with the streets vacant. No problems. A guy drives his scooter up in front of us and says “Taman Negara?”I still hesitate in suspicion of people at first. A healthy skepticism I think. This was to be the bus driver and he was the nicest bus driver, nicest fella and asked if we wanted to stop for morning coffee and allowed us to stop and take pictures along the way. So, off to Taman Negara on our privatized Lokal bus for 18Ringgits. We arrived at our Tahan guest house and dropped off our bags and headed to the Taman Negara National Park – the oldest rainforest in the entire world. We ate coconut rice and eggs for 2 ringgits and large mineral water 2 ringgits and then to the mighty banks of the Sungai Tembeling to take our boat across to the other side – to the jungle. And then straight to the canopy walk. I must admit I was a little shaken by the canopy walk. Dwana can attest to this. I am not sure what it was, but maybe a combination of height, weight, holding a camera, swaying, creaking baords that kept coming unbolted under my feet, park workers telling me to hurry, not being able to take the photo that I wanted, seeing the big trees up close, seeing how far things were below, not being able to stop and rest, sweat pouring off my head onto my camera. But everyone appeared to have enjoyed the walk even more seeing me have to sweat it out. Viena says even the people behind me were looking at me, wondering. On the walk back we saw some huge trees. The walkway was constructed steps the entire way. We made the trip back to the river and onto our place to check in. The mosque next door played an afternoon prayer, and Ezra started moving in space on the balcony. Viena had a leg attack. We changed room to have a more Easerly facing balcony #8. Hot here but the room is nice and the lady is so friendly and has a 6-year-old girl. The kids are playing with the soccer ball in the back yard. No A/C in this room, but a nice view of the jungle canopy.

DAY 42 JERANTUT MALAYSIA JUNGLE TRAIN

Posted on Saturday, May 11th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

AWOKE AT 5AM TO CATCH THE JUNGLE TRAIN TO JERANTUT.

Tune Hotel. We left early in the morning to catch the East Coast Line Train south from Wakah Bharu. We were the first at the train station. Early in the morning. A ferris wheel lit up the morning and brightened Ezra’s eyes. Eventually other people and foreigners started showing up and we caught the train without incident. I should write about the cracked window of my seat and how the seat was not my seat in reality after a quick thought and a prayer. “That’s just a girl with a SMOKER.” Lots of people smoke in these parts. The train ride was exciting for the first hour and then slowly the excitement wore off. Over the next seven hours, especailly when the A/C seemed to stop working. Ezra fell asleep 15 minutes before we had to deboard. So, Dwana had to carry Ezra off the train, while I carried all of the bags. We scampered through town and found found our hotel with A/C not problem. We just follewed some other backpackers off of the train. The Town-Inn. I sought out some local pizza, some cold drinks and some ice cream bars and popped in a movie for the kids and we tried to chill out. The train ride, the taxi ride in the morning had zero headlight. A funny God one for Dwana. This entire part of our trip, I have been trying to clue into the God-happenings around me, around us. So many happening. So glad that we are all healthy and we have a good place to sleep with a view of Jerantut.

DAY 41 Kota Bharu Malaysia

Posted on Friday, May 10th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

We were booted off the island. One night in Kota Bharu. The speedboat ride was pretty bumpy. Back on the main Malay Peninsula. Viena and Dwana had a good time shopping at the local market.

What a beautiful day spent travelling in transition. From our place at Ewans through on Kecil Perhentian to a tour of the big island over to the jetty at Kuala Besut into our taxi. We did not go to the market. Communication issues. Onto Kota Bharu and into the Tune Hotel. Air conditioning! Shopping at the KB mall for some stuff. We ater for about half the cost of the island. We stocked up on provisions for the week in the jungle. The speed boat ride was pretty bumpy but made many smiles and blew lots of hair in faces. Not really sad to leave the islands. Time for other things. One week was good enough. Our taxi driver drove a bit slower, but still a bit crazy. The scenery reminded me of growing up on the gulf coast. The rains fell in Kota Bharu tonight. Shopping was fun buying $2 shirts. Caught a taxi to go and purchase our train tickets. We are on the 9:15 jungle train ride in the morning. Bought $70 worth of food, so I feel like a local and enjoy a good workout with the bags. Ezra and I played in the Hotel room, while Viena and Dwana had their Malaysian shopping mall experience. Ezra was so playful and was so tired by dinner time – falling asleep at the dinner table. Stories of the fresh king fish, the back porch of Ewan’s place, the chicken foot on the beach, the truckload of chickens on the road. The bright sun overhead at noon.

DAY 40 Sunrise Perhentians

Posted on Thursday, May 9th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

Finally saw the Sunrise. Had to go solo. Ezra woke up screaming in the middle of the night at 2:30 AM, so everyone else slept in. Eating breakfast at Ewan’s place. Toast and Omelettes and $1 ice coffee.

“Come on Ezra! Let’s go get Pounded!”Conversations at Long Beach. I graduated from Long Beach. I broke my flip-flop on Long Beach. Shortly after my flip flop flipped for the last time, I was casually asking God for a remedy, and one flip-flop showed up on the trail. A little small in size, but the right foot. A little boy named Jesse moved into the chalet #9. Jasper, Kristin, and Jesse. And guess what they are doing. They too are travelling the world for a year with Jesse. Glad to see. Ezra had his prayers answered as well. Viena played in the waves for so long at Long Beach, screaming her mantra – LETS GO GET POUNDED. We were there all morning. We even rented an umbrella for 10 ringgits. I felt like I was being burned by the sun through the umbrella. We even ate at Long Beach. Everything was 1-3 ringgits more expensive with 1-3 less smiles. The price of having a good beach. Looking forward to the smiles at Ewan’s place for dinner. I can not believe how much Ezra and Viena loved playing in the waves. The right size of wave and the right temerature of water. Small warm waves. I asked if anyone wanted to go watch the fish under water, but everyone declined. The day was warm, hot, unceasing. A whole section needs to be written about the shower sequence like a sauna that goes on when we return home from our adventures. Hot Hot water. Need to use the water n the pail first. I causght the sunrise this morning – a good one. Our last night. Tomorrow we leave the island.

DAY 39 Perhentians Southern Tip Jungle Walk

Posted on Wednesday, May 8th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

We did it!

Today we walked around the south tip of the island. Yahoo! What a good trek. We woke up around 5:30am and did not arrive back home until 4:00PM. A full day, no doubt. The early morning was the most difficult. Just walking up the hill to Long Beach in the dark, Ezra was having a hard time, complaining every step of the way. Even before the the real hill started. Even before the rains fell. Even before the sun rose. We stayed for a few moments at Long Beach to see if the sunrise might be spectacular, but nothing special. We found the powerline trail and started up the steep slope. The hike had just begun so I did not feel like giving Ezra a gravity assist. Viena was doing just fine. She was wearing her strapless Crocs. I was wearing my Native shoes. Ezra had his Croc Malay copycat shoe and Dwana had her Keen sandals. I mention this because the hike was hard on the feet. Little peices of granite kept falling in our shoes and irritating the feet. The rains started to fall just as the sun began to shine. Difficult to tell if the shower was going to be a big one. On the second big steep slope, I grabbed Ezra. The bugs were eating us and our day was quickly heating up. The rains continued to fall all the way to the fishing village. The tall grasses that we walked through appeared less creepy snce we were already wet with the sensation of rain. The fishing village was just wakingup when we arrived. All of the children were already in school. Men were seating in breakfast shops having coffee and the women were cooking. Took us a while, but we found a place to serve some food that Ezra and Viena might like. We found some Kati and cocnut rice – yummy. We could have caught a boat back to Coral Bay, but the day was still young. So, off we continued along the trail. From the fishing village the trail is in much better shape and we were walking along bricks. I guess they made this trail 10 years ago to connect the places. Now the jungle is trying to reclaim some of the trail. The trail even has concrete steps and railings at times. Compared to how our morning had started, the second part of the hike was a breeze, a piece of cake, a walk in the jungle park. Both Ezra and Viena had energy. the birds were whistling full force. We saw some monitor lizards. We went through Petani BEach and Miri beach on the way to our secret beach where I saw the reef tip shark. Glad to finally jumo in the warm water. Not that refreshing, but great after all we had treked. My shirt was drenched in sweat – again. Does not take much in the heat of the jungle. Ezra and Viena played taxi driver in the sand. We snorkeled a little before making the last push back home into Coral Bay … for ice coffees, cocnut milkshakes and pineaple lassies.

DAY 38 MALAYSIA PERHENTIAN ISLANDS PLAYDATE

Posted on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

Today we met some other children at breakfast and arranged to just play all day at their chalet on the water. The girl was 10 an the boy was 7. They spoke very little English but everyone spoke the language of fun. The photo I was not able to take was of the 5ft Monitor Lizard – A cousin to the Komodo – that was waiting for me in the stream bed that I was running up. I stopped about 10 feet from him and he did not move. I finally turned and went down another trail. My run took me from Coral bay North up the West coast to Turtle Beach. At Turtle beach, I went snorkeling and saw a small bat ray and some other cool fish. The sun was setting as I was making my way back along the thinly marked trail through the jungle. Whoever tagged the tree limbs with red and white tape to mark “the trail” – thank you.

On the one day that we did not charge out , sneak out of the house and plow on to Long Beach to watch the sunrise – the sunrise from our vantage point of our chalet veranda looked to be clear and spectacular with high clouds and a sliver of the moon leading the way. We walked to the fishing pier with our Dutch neighbors to see them off. We could see many fish from the pier and the start of a very sunny dy. Their boat was a bit late but eventually arrived. I need to call and confirm our departure. At breakfast we encountered a family on holiday from Germany with small children 9 and 6. While the parents were at dive school, Ezra and Viena played with the other children the entire day. A good play date. Their chalet has a bunch of palm trees which make for good shade and any time of the day. Instead of doing another hike to secret beach we just decided to stay at the beach of Coral Bay and play with the other two children. The day went great. I even swam out to the floating doack in the afternoon. I even had a chance to pull out the word card game and play. I am so glad for the shade of the cocnut trees in front of their chalet. The day was so hot and the water ironically on this hot day did not appear inviting since the thought of coming out with hot salty skin was not appealing. What this island is lacking is a fresh water source to shower off after a dip in the ocean. The dive center had a shower, but nowhere else. Divers pay big bucks to come here. I am sure the dives are worth the price. Seeing the coral underwater is still so amazing to me. I feel like the coral and the underwater sea is a whole new world. Who knows maybe one day I will return here and attend Dive School. Later that afternoon I took a hike to explore the wild North part of the island. What a hike! Past romantic beach. Over teh rock coastline. And then into the deep forest, following only a small trail lined with red flag markers every 50 feet. I was going to try to find a different trail back instead descending again to romantic beach, so I stuck to the markers. The trail was strong and then the markers stopped. The trail kept going until a small riverbed that had a trickle of water not really flowing. I stopped here briefly and decided to bound up the riverbed in hopes of finding another red marker. After my first bound, but before my second, I saw in a small pool of water the largest monitor lizard – He was staring at me – not moving. Must have been almost 2 meters. Twice as big as the others we had seen and especially big in the jaw area. We had a stare off, but I needed to move towards him to go back down the trail. If I needed any other sign, this was my turn around point.

DAY 37 MALAYSIA PERHENTIANS ISLANDS

Posted on Monday, May 6th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

Well at some time I knew I would start felling it. You know. That feeling that you feel like you are on a boat, but instead you are on land. We have been in the water alot during our stay in the Perhentians. We are on the small island and our location could not be better. Long Beach is sandy and shallow and both Ezra and Viena love just walking out in the warm waves way out there. We have had some thunderstorms recently which has made some 1-2 foot ways – perfect for them to play in. This morning, we went googeling – snorkeling without the snorkel – for about 3 hours. We saw some cool coral and some big colorful fish. The water is so warm and calm that googeling is not uncomfortable. Plus, Ezra swims like a fish. Viena loved swimming out to a floating dock about 200 meters off shore. The water depth at the floating dock that Ezra named Maui was about 10 meters. The morning clouds made the temperature not too hot. Ezra said he wanted to stay on the dock until nighttime, but we did not bring any water so we had to go back to shore. We have a small one room chalet at Ewans Place on Coral bay about 100 meters from the beach. We eat most of our meals at Ewan’s restaurant. You can kinda shape the picture here. Viena and I have been eating fruit and porridge and fich and chips. Ezra has been sticking to french fries and yogurt. Dwana likes a chicken and rice dish where they place a small thin omelette over the top. We see them bringing in the fresh fish in wheel-barrels to fillet on the back porch of the restaurant. Big fish about 1.5 meters long and think. We have not seen these fish swimming during our googeling, but we have seen some other tasty looking fish. Most of the foreigners come here to go diving and very few if any are chartering trips to do sports fishing. Most foreigners are from Europe and speak English to communicate with the locals. We try to stay inside during the peak heat of the day and venture out during the morning and evening. One beach (Long Beach, 10 minute walk) is perfect for catching the sunrise and the other beach (Coral Bay – 3 minutes) is perfect for watching the sunset. We have seen very few families travelling here on the island even though this island is perfect for children, especially our children. Our chalet only has a ceiling fan so the temperature has been quite hot even at night. We sometimes must take a shower in the middle of the night to cool down. The first couple of night everyone but me was eaten by bug (I slept in the tent while they used the bug net) When you are playing rock paper scissors remember Tent beats bug net which beats sleeping without bug net. Nothing beats tent. Now we have both tents set up in the room – one on top of the bed, the other outside on the porch. Bug bites have decreased exponentially, but the itch and the memories remain. For those that are interested, the Malaysian mosquito is a very small stealthy pest. They are rarely seen and like to hang out in the moist shadowy places. They attack and leave before you know it leaving only their mark which swells quite large on Ezra and Viena. They appears to love joints – Knees and especially ankles. They are out there in unknown numbers, for we can not see them. Our only defense from the mosquitoes besides the impenetrable tents is a lone rather large bat that swoops and darts through our porch during the dusk. Take your choice. The wavey feeling has subsided so until next time.

We woke up adnd walked to Long Beach to watch the sunrise. Ezra and I went snorkeling out in the waters by the pier. We saw lots of fish and Ezra was enchanted. I love being able to stand on sandy ground and support Ezra while he just floats and looks at fish. The waves were coming in and the water was not as clear as the other day, but the fish were still available. Interesting how the boats are anchored to the shore. A walking hazard. The storm was moving in and the taxi boat drivers were hurrying to bring their boats out of the water. We left Long Beach and returns to Ewans to eat some breakfast, or maybe we went ot town to have some porraige at Coral Bay. We have been eating most of our meals at Ewan’s place. Viena loves the fish and chips. Ezra loves the yogurt. The cafe is crowded with foreigners at night looking for a bite to eat and a strong internet connection. Dwana has enjoyed beach combing on the sandy shores, especailly at secret beach. No bird feathers to find in the jungle, but plenty of beach glass. Ewan has major fannage in his restaurant. We are always envious of all of W=Ewans fans as we are in our chalet that only has one fall. We have been sleeping fairly well once we put a tent on the bed and one tent outside. sat inside and watched a movie during the heat of the day. Both Viena and Ezra were so excited to just stick in a video and try to chill out. Our budgethas been about 100 ringgit a day to eat on ($30). We have tried to limit the drinks and stay wit the menu items that the children as familiar with and will eat. I ahve a dream with the revolutionary Simon Boliviar. Not sure what that dream was about. The Malaysian elected went without chaos and the currnet administration retained support. Ewan has a meal with some squid, chicken, shrimp with eggs and rice. So far the sunburns have stayed away. We still have a long way to go with this equatorial travel. We have tried to stay hydrated by drinking lots of water. We found a place that fills water bottles for 1 ringgit.

DAY 36 MALAYSIA PERHENTIAN ISLANDS JUNGLE WALK

Posted on Sunday, May 5th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

We found an enchanting beach after a jungle walk that made us all jump out of our flip flops at least once

Election day. A day of rest for the Malaysians as they elect their new government officials. We saw all the flags flying for the opposing candidate all through Kota Bharu. But we are here secluded and safe from all in the Perhentians. I was wondering what would happen if the Malaysian government elections did not go smoothly and we would be stuck in a paradise of sorts. Ewan closed his cafe and shut down his generator and took his family into the village to vote. We went for a walk. Our early walk took us to Long Beach. I love the fact that you can walk 10 minutes and be on the other side of the island on a nice beach. We walked the trail in darkness with Ezra leading the way with his light and the lightning in the Eastern sky challenging the sun’s impending approach. So we all gathered on Long Beach. The thunder. The lightning. The Sun. The sand. The clouds. The horizon taking shape with colors only to be wiped out by a rain storm – but only for a moment. Viena , Ezra and I played i thw warm waters and watched as lightning struck straight down on the ocean. Ezra said, “This is the best time I have ever had in my life!” That made me happy as we ll played in the shallow storm waves of the morning. Long Beach is so shallow you can walk way out like in the Great Lakes. So warm. Everyone was singing the praise of the day. Blessed is the day , today! And then the rains sstart, soft at first and then heavier and harder – and yet we continued to play in this warm rain. A moment to cherish. This fresh morning warm rain, the kind you tilt your head to the sky and drink in the gift from the clouds. And this was just the beginning of our day. We huddled in a tarped food shack contructed of sticks while the hardest rains fell from the sky, and then we trekked back up the hill to our place and Coral Bay. After filling our bellies and cleaning off a bit, we packed and headed for a secret beach of sorts on the the trail. So, through the jungle we walked with the promise of oversized lizards at every turn. And we were not to be denied. After a slow start we must have spotted 5 of those creatures. They are officially monitor lizards. Most about 3 feet in length and looking like a small crocidile. We sat nd watched one and I even tried to spook one towards the others – but I was caught by a thorny vine that wanted to wrap itself around my shoulders, arm and face. I required Dwana’s help to entangle the wicked plant. We had secret beach all to ourselves. We snorkeled and saw all sorts of fish and looked at the coral close to shore. I even saw a small reef tip shark that I chased for a little bit and then tried to sho Viena who tried to pursue as well. I have never seen a shark in the wild like that and I am glad that curiousity and not fear prevailed. Thanks Matt.

DAY 35 MALAYSIA Perhentian Islands

Posted on Saturday, May 4th, 2013Friday, May 31st, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

We woke up this morning and walked the trail to Long Beach in the dark with the flashlights looking for the over-sized lizard that I saw yesterday. The walk across the small P

erhentian island at the narrow point took about 20 minutes. We were rewarded not with a sighting of the oversized lizard, but by a beautiful sunrise on the East facing Long Beach.

Two meals at Ewan’s place. A sunrise morning. Fish swimming around us, eating out of the palm of our hands. Colorful fish. Lots of fish. A fish drean experience. Warm morning waters of Long Beach. We hiked up the trail in the darkness and the torch was still burning in the morning from the prior nights festivities. A few taxi boat drivers arriving to pick up passengers and people that booked an excursion and needed to go somewhere else. We were where we needed to be already. Viena and Ezra are really loving snorkeling in the warm water – without a snorkel. All you need are your swim googles and you are ready. And we were ready. I have waited 44 years to have fish surrounding me eating out of the palm of my hand – cute small colorful fish, not like salmon. But maybe the fishermen need to try feeding the fish some white bread. When we returned to our chalet without A/C, I went on a run around the island. I love being able to run around islands. An island runner. Anyway, the water taxi driver mentioned this morning that the island did not have any trails and all the maps that you see that have trails marked are wrong. Well, he was mistaken, or trying to earn some more business in the area of water taxi. I was able to run easily from Coral Bay around the southern tip and all the way back to Long Beach. I say easily, not because the run was easy, but the trail can be easily found. Follow the red brick road. Took about 3 hours. Nice Run/Walk/Hike. Found some great beaches along the way.

DAY 34 MALAYSIA Perhentian Islands

Posted on Friday, May 3rd, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

We made it to another Island. This one is a beauty.

I am outside on our lanai – our porch – our veranda. We awoke in Kota Bharu and just as planned, our taxi was waiting for us at 7:30AM. What was un-planned was that the taxi driver drove light a bat out of hell. I can say that because I have recently seen bats. But maybe drove like Batman would be better. The heat takes over our minds sometimes, so we ill not mention hell or any other hot places. I could write about travelling with a 3 year old, but we do not have a 3-year-old any more. Ezra is 4. But occasionally, most of the time, he still behaves – like he is 3. Especially on the day number 3 of the month. But I could go on and on. the reviews to be writtten by people who have seen us on our travels and observed our family interactions – what would they say? A book in itself. The guy drove too fast, but maybe all taxi drivers drive fast. Even when I mentioned to him that Ezra might be carsick, he sai, “OK No speeding, only medium, not slow. And so he drove “medium” the rest of the way – which was still like driving with batman. We arrived at the jetty an hour ahead of the ferry in Kuala Beset. For the first time in our travels we saw the traditional backpacker groups. Europeans, Ethiopians, Palestinians, Dutch, Indian, French, and German backpackers travellers all booking passage to the Perhentian Islands. Most of the other travellers had pre-booked with a tour resort activity group. Not us, We have our room, at Ewan’s place, and I was so glad he held our room for us. Nine chalets and we were in chalet number 8. Very hot here. The boat ride across a slice of the Indian Ocean was fast, very fast. Viena and Ezra were so quiet on the speed boat ride. If we could just transport them to a speed boat mind everytime they are going crazy. If we could only. That’s why the Balinese take their children on scooter rides. Here we are with all of our luggage – basically all our possessions. Twice as much luggage as the average bear. Difficult the watercraft was pretty difficult with all the bags, but but the jetty was nice and we made it to corl bay. I saw the sign pointing towards Ewan’s place on the beach. 200 meters later we arrived at Ewan’s place and here we will be for a week, The scene of the hilly jungle dropping onto a sandy beach was amazing. Just needs some waterfalls or a fresh water source. We swam in the warm warm water. Ezra was like a fish. We saw some fish and some sea cucumbers. The fish were friendly and would swim right up to us in the shallow water. Looking forward to finding snorkel spots and hiking to Long Beach.

Day 33 Kuta Beach

Posted on Thursday, May 2nd, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

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On our way to visit Malay

We are here at the airport in Kuta. So far, so good. We are awaiting to book the first flight of our round the world ticket. A little confusion with immigration authorities. Nothing that 800,000 Rupiahs could not fix. We are through the gate and then what? I will feel so much better wen we are on the plane. 200,000 rupiahs per person per day adds up fast but we paid the fee with smiles. I’m glad I saved up all my rupiahs for something like that. No yoga classes. No massages. Limited taxi rides. All this, so in the end, the Indonesian immigration would take their share. A small price to pay and I kinda knew at some point we might have been bitten … and in the end we were. I made our Thailand stay for 29 days to avoid any issues in the future. So now I know that your time officially starts at the airport. I think I was video recording some of the interoggation since I always film going into and out of airports, so that clip should be interesting to watch. Viena and Ezra are doing well. They are watching a movie on the good ‘ole Kindle Fire watchin Charlie Brown. Lots of workers in green shirts that Dwana thinks are going to be working on a boat.Not too many places to sit here in the airport. Glad we made the immigration officials happy. We would not want to end up in jail in Bali and need bail.

Day 32 Kuta Beach

Posted on Wednesday, May 1st, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

Mall anywhere

We awoke before the sun and went on a small little walk along the wide beach of Kuta before all the hawkers had risen. A few people were up and about. The weather was cool but we could tell the day was going to be hot. Ezra was just content to be digging a hole looking for clams. A gentleman showed him all sorts of hermit crabs. “I caught one crab. I caught one.”And the list grows of the animals that Ezra and Viena have seen or caught. We rented a boogie board for 50,000 Rupiahs and played in the water. The water was warm and the waves were fairly calm. The waves were not looking like the great awesome Kuta waves that we have heard so much about. We all played in the water and the boogie board was big enough for both Viena and Ezra to ride together with my help to ensure that they were not smacked down into the rough sand. A couple of times they landed on some coral and both had belly rashes that hurt and stopped our play. Nothing a dip in the pool could not cure. A real treat to have these two days before heading off to Malaysia. Viena and Ezra enjoyed jumping from dark tiles to the white tiles in the hallway of the hotel. ANd the Javanese interviews on the beach were hilarious. We finished with a walk to McDonalds late in the evening were we saw HP who is alive and well and still enojing Micky D’s.

Day 31 Kuta Beach

Posted on Tuesday, April 30th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

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We left the quiet village of Nyuh Kuning in a taxi with Wayan and arrived in the crowded hectic beach town of Kuta. So different, Nyuh Kuning to Kuta. The children were excited to see the beach, but they were even more excited to see McDonalds and eat at A&W American food. You should have seen them trying to tell me their food order. They could not believe they had more choices than rice and fish eyes. They were so excited, especially Viena. Back into civilization. Every shop was playing their own brand of English music. Mostly dance, some rap. My favorite was by the poolside that were some jazzy covers with trumpets and drums of popular American music. We played in the pool by the ocean. What a treat! I think this was a first for us for only $60 and including breakfast which we plan to take advantage of. When we checked in at noon, the tide was high, but when we went back for the sunset the low tide had uncovered a wide beach where all the locals play soccer and hangout. Many. Many. Many of them – from all over. Balinese. Javanese. Chinese and Australians of course. The Australians are the easiest to spot and the Japanese with their gadgets. All the foreigners including us, te Americans gather here for the beautiful Kuta sunset. And we hung out in the pool for twilight and to watch stars grow and glow.

DAY 30 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Monday, April 29th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

Outside the library we saw a grasshopper about ten times the size of the grasshopper that Ezra made friends with. He only had one leg, but he could still jump a long ways. Ezra was talking to an Australian who was taking a Balinese wood carving class. “That’s sure is an UGLY face!”. “”Thanks mate. I want him to be a bit Ugly.””

We took our last trip through the Monkey Forest. The monkeys played alittle bit in the fountain to the ooouu! And aaaaah! Of the crowd. We were on our way back from town. We left too early in the morning for the Monkey Forest gates to be open and actually directed an Australian couple throught the Motorbike-Scooter trail around the Monkey Forest. We felt almost like a local. What to do on our last day? Go to the library! Ezra played with the little library boy again. He loves the toys of the boy outside the library. Ezra also struck up a conversation with a 27-year-old Australian guy taking a wood mask carcing class. “That sure is an ugly face!” “Why thank you, mate, I want him to be a bit ugly!” We also loaded up on DVD’s at $1 each. Just another item to buy for $1. Also a plug adaptor for $1. They were selling cups of coffee on the street for 25 cents. We stayed at the library uploading photos. I ran to Bali Buda and purchased lunch as well as some goodies for the trip and to mail packages off to Mylon and Granma. Hopefully Mylon will take good care of Ezra’s elephant shirt. The day was hot. We celebrated Ezra’s birthday again with chocolate cake and carrot cake. We said goodbye to the talking bird that we have befriended who says “Hello!” and “Art is Simple!” Good things to know. The streets were full of taxi Drivers and Massooses. We arrived home and started the process of packing for tomorrow. Viena and Era were quite content to come back and watcha movie. The elders were lining up for exercise class. The young boys were flying kites. The soccer players were starting to arrive. A typical day in Nyuh Kuning. Jalan – Jalan. Walking Walking. That’s what we do and I need to remember this – the walking people. Make things simple. Our last night was spent under clear skies staring at new constellations that look like a smile, a perfect smile of contentness and a box – and the clouds that move in. A slient night without bells or chanting or drums or singing – only crickets.

Day 29 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Sunday, April 28th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

68-IMG_6293 A day with the ants. We found them thousands of them setting up a new home eggs and all in our hanging . towels. Needless to say Dwana said gross. Ezra is now friends with a grasshopper. Today was a day of ants, kites, power outages, fruit bars, sneezes, tissues, downsizing, grasshoppers, Bali Buda, Batman, planning and night singing. We did not move around much today. We walked down to Wayan Bebas house house and discussed our departure plans. Ezra loved playing with his pet grasshopper today. He was so excited when the grasshopper jumped on him. We ordered Bali Buda and had lunch delivered to the soccer field. Yummy food. We spent the day downsizing our luggage. The backpack – “Old Green” that I have had for 20 years, that has summitted Mount Whitney and the Inca Trail along with many other adventures will be laid to rest here in Bali. We tried to make a kite from the wrappings of the clean clothes and some old bamboo. Ezra’s favorite part of the day was “seeing Mylon and playing with Mylon and wrestling with Mylon and it ended happy”. My favorite part was trying to fly the kite in the field with the Balinese boys looking at our rag-tag kite and thinking”man that kite is not going to fly!” – and they were right. But Ezra was able to fly one of the Balinese boys kites and he had fun running around the field. For some reason, the Balinese boys have been flying kites in th afternoon. Mostly boys, but on my run through the rice fileds, I saw a group of girls trying to fly a kite. The rice fields I should note is not the best place to fly a kite – hard to run around a terraced rice field. Difficult to evene walk through. Ezra and I found this out the hard way the other day. The power went out right at dark dusk – right as I waswalking into the store on the corner to buy Dwana a box of tissues for her sneezes. Dwana has been sneezing all day. I thought the store was closing and that they were just turning out their lights, and I am never wandering the streets at this hour usually. But the power had gone out in the entire village of Nyuh Kuning. I went to the other market and they were helping people find things with flashlights all while laughing and smiling. Finding items in a foreign grocery store in a foreign country is difficult enough, but now with just a flashlight as a guide was almost impossible. The ants tried to to build a home in our towels that were draped across the shower rock wall and in my towel upstairs. Pretty gross to see thousands of ants with all their little ant egs in your towel. At least they were not biting fire ants – that would be too much like Texas. We had a couple of trips to the market on this hot day to purchase fruit bars. I tried calling a lodge in Taman Negara Malaysia using Skype, but had no luck. Tried to arrange one last Jungle Rice field walk, but had no luck. So, the Monkey Forest it will be. Everyone is powered out – asleep.

Day 28 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Saturday, April 27th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

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A long walk through the rice fields Up at 6am. Back home by 4 with a stop by the library. Completed the circle with monkeys. Viena has a blister. Along with the moon in the early morning we saw a brightly colored blue bird. Dwana was hopeful for just one fallen feather. Viena and Dwana walked and window shopped while Ezra and I watched the monkeys. Ezra even smuggled a banana past the first line of monkeys in his pocket. “Don’t tell the monkeys I have a banana in my pocket!”

We awoke in the early morning so that Wayan Bebas could make an early morning drop off for the rice fields. When will the Balinese start walking the trails for their own leisure – probably when the rice fields are almost extinct. We did see at the very end of the trail a group of school children walking the rice fields for a field trip. I guess that is where the term “field trip” originated. A Rice-Field Trip. I must have received 20 high fives from the school children of the neighborhood vilalge. The concept of village is so easy to understand now. Now I have seen many villages, I have walked through many villages, I have observed the village people. We did a circle of the rice field walk into Pernestanan and then to Cafe Vespa and over to the Steps of Champuan – where the rivers meet. A very special place in its own. We caught a taxi at the bottom of the Steps and I was very proud of negotiating 20000 rupiah for a ride back into town. The taxi driver agreed and then seconds later , as if at an auction Viena yells “30,000” and the driver qickly agreed to that price as well. And then Ezra seeing the great laughter and fun that we were having yells out “80,000”. Needless to say, I think having children does help when negotiating prices on things because the Balinese seem to love children – but in this case it cost me an additional 10000 rupiah. We walked through the Central Ubud market before venturing to the library. After the library we walked a quick trip throught the “TAXI” “MASSAGE” Monkey Forest.

DAY 27 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Friday, April 26th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 27: UBUD BALI

We have been going over to the soccer fields late in the afternoon to watch the soccer games. Some days we lay down after the soccer players have left and just watch the bats eat bugs and fly and darf around. Did I mention the big snail we saw the other day. Tonight was a little different in that I had ordered a pizza to be delivered. I had two plain pizzas delivered and then one real pizza delivered. The pizza were needed since we are planning a hike in the morning. Is it really Friday? Somewhere I lost track of the days. A beautiful thing … to be lost in time. Time to move on. I am not sure where one of the days went, but we having been hanging around Ubud. We did go to Bumi Sehat on the Full Moon and sure enough lots of women were about to have babies. The smiles. The friendly smiles of the people is what I will miss the most – beisdes the prices of everything. Not much wind and I have not tried out the surf. HOpefully next week when we stay at Kuta I will have a chance. Looking forward to that. I am glad many of the arrangements I have made with only a few unknowns. One thing we have not done is meet alot of tourists or expats. We have seen a bunch, but everyone in that regard has been kinda quiet. I thought there would be more people with children or more people that were open to new people. Besides the Balinese, more foreigners we met appeared to be following their own agendas as we followed ours. I keep seeing more people with banged up right sides – from scooter crashs I think. We are all blessed to be healthy. Ezra weighs 40 pounds and Viena weighs 52 pounds frmo Bumi Sehat. Dwana bought a shirt and more conservative shirt from Bumi Sehat.

DAY 26 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Thursday, April 25th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 26: UBUD BALI

Somewhere around here someone is burning a little more than incense. The full moon temple celebration was yesterday, but the festivitiesfelt minimal compared to what we have already witnessed. The full moon was seen rising over the Temple and the spooky old tree and the night time clouds. Today Ezra woke up an unruly person so I dosed him in water to really wake him up. Now he is trying to count in Indonesian. Dwana is trying to instruct clean up of the paints that were used this afternoon while I ran and had my head shaved – for 10000 rupiah – $1.We ate breakfast this morning with cold milk. I had the market chill one for me. Ezra and Viena did not even comment, so I guess they are already used to warm milk. MY run was a little challenging. I ended up lost in the rice fields but actually found my way. The street the haircut place was on hadvery few shops for tourists and was like another world from Ubud. I guess – the real Bali, again. I could not find the route back to Ubud central, I think the homestays have blocked the path. Ezra and Viena enjoyed feeding Michaels fish next door. Last night we ordered from the local place and they delivered a whole fish – eyeballs tail and everything. Tomorrow the ricefields.

DAY 25 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Wednesday, April 24th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 25: UBUD BALI

Well the moon is almost full today. Here we are in Nunh Kuning. We left our house for the morning routine of milk and cereal at the corner market. We must have seen the biggest snail we have ever seen – right in front of our door just scooting along. I hope he made the trip to where he was going safely. I wonder where he was going. The people on the soccer field were doing many activities today. Soccer. Frisbee. Baseball. Kite Flying and Tag. We played tag. Ezra wanted to play tag after breakfast. That game of tag lasted about 3 minutes and Ezra was on to the next thing. Both Ezra and Viena have become quite good at the game of tag becase it is one game you can play with the local children. Bisa Amel Ena. Bisa Amel Ena. Do you want this? Do you want this? Another game that the Balinese children like to play. THey hold up an object and say BISA AMEL ENA to a person, for the person to grab the object, but then they pull the object away and start laughing and say again BISA AMEL ENA. After breakfast we walked to the library through the monkey forest. I spoke with Jerry. I kinda like this activity of calling people from foreign lands. At the library I made all of our hotel arrangements for Malaysia and Kuta. I should probably call the place in the Perhentian Islands. Dwana, Ezra and Viena just read books while I computed away. We took our lunch break at our favorite place – Warung Lokale. A $12 bill this time – we ate all of the food and had some good juice. We were the only ones and there was only one cook and we just gave him our order. He had ne take the order and calculate the bill. We went back to the library and then back home. Viena and Dwana did some window shopping.

DAY 24 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 24: UBUD BALI

Tomorrow is the full moon. We were going to hike Mount Batur at the full moon dusk. But no, instead I took a bicycle ride withour neghbor Michael. He was here for two weeks. He owns the house next door that Eric helped designed and build and acrhitect. Incredible stories. All of them. The bike ride was fun. I have not been on a bike on a long time and then to be out there with the scooters and trucks and cars. We did the loop that I had discovered on Sunday on my run. A pretty safe loop. Michael helped to connect parts of the loop near Pernestanan. He had never been on this trail that is on most Ubud maps. If you build it they will come. Just put a map out with a trail and the buildings start. The Java worker. The Balinese worker. We had some juice at the Alchemy Juice Bar. I guess things are changing so fast around here. Might be difficult to call this a cheap place in a while. No real complications on the bike. Felt good to ride a bike again, and the trail was scooter padded. Ezra loves running from the local children. They are flying kites right now. The Balinese children have been flying kites for the last few days. Most of the children playing are boys. Ezra wanted to ride with me on the bike. He cried and said he misses his bike that we sent to Uncle Cayce. We went to the soccer field with Ezra and met Kelly and Su Tai with Nevan and little Loca. They are here for a year and she is studying midwifery.

DAY 23 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Monday, April 22nd, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 23: UBUD BALI

Today is Monday. Our water stopped working again today. A different problem. Not sure what the problem is, but Wayan came over after his date with his wife and repaired the pump. Wayan ripped out the pump, banged on it with a stick and hooed it back up and the pump worked. I guess I could have done that much. The day was hot. One of those days when you want to take two or three showers, but we could not. We went to the market many times seeking refreshments and refilling the water. I even tried some Indonesian food of black beans and potatoes with chocolate syrupand milk. Yes, that’s right. Each ingredient is yummy, but together, the taste was hard to handle. We played soccer on the small soccer field while the Balinesemplayed on the big field. Two Bulais joined in but very few conversations. The players are playing soccer for the workout of soccer and for what else? Even the Balinese tend to leave immediately after the last whistle and before the bats arrive and become good and thick. Dwana took her shower a natural shower from the roof during the downpour. The bump on my head still hurts from hitting the store door. I stayed at home most of the day to read the Surfing Indonesia book and help Viena wiht her math and reading. The homeschool/travelschool portion of our adventure. Viena has really enjoyed going to the market and buying things with her own money. 4000 rubiah for an ice cream. 8000 rupiah for an avocado. 2000 rubiah for a bag of chips. The prices are pretty amazing and need to only pay that when we return to the States. I definitely am having fun with all the bargines of going to the market. Every place not only has a dollar menu, but they have a 50 cent menu so you wonder how. Ezra is having fun chasing the chickens that come into the yard. And the big event of the day was watchin the crew of 5 Balinese disassemble th Ballet in the backyard and load it up on a truck and drive off and assemble on some Frecnch Guys lawn in East Bali. Pretty amazing they could do that and made us started thinking of the land on Chenega Island. Yes, it is fun to dream, and even more fun to live your dream!

DAY 22 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Sunday, April 21st, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 22: UBUD BALI

I woke up early – not too early – and went on a run to find the lost trails of Ubud. There are trails on the maps that I want to discover. I feel like a conquistador explored walking through these lands – actualy running through these lands – so I must look funny to the native people. Who is this white guy and why is he running? Am I the first they have seen running through the ricefields. Will others soon be arriving to run through these ricefields. If I can find the trails other people can find them. And the maps are all there with the trails on them. Soon the big hotels will build and absorb the trails and the rice fields wil be no more – and then what will become of Ubud. Very interesting how houses have just carved out a section of the rice fields. When will they say enough is enough? Do people travel to Ubud for the ricefields? Really seemed like only me out there today running – no one else. I ran to the Four Seasons hotel and resort and discovered all teh trails except the one heading back towards Ubud and the monkey Forest. I spoke to a guy wh said “Not that trail!” or something like that, which I took to ean that the trail does not exist. At the Four Season they have a security guard at the front, and even though I was sweaty and bleeding on my forehead I was able to make it through. He did say somthing to me as I passed by and I thought they might deny my entrance, but he saw my camera and just wanted a photo of him with another Balinese woman employee. Everyone said good morning as I walked around the campus. The place was empty. One guy asked for my room number and the game was up, but he sent me to the higher level to exit so that I would have ample opportunity for photos on my way out. And the view is quite amazing from the water terrace. I had hit my head on a low market door shortly before arriving at the Four Seasons -still bleeding. So, I must have looked like quite a site. The people in the market all gasped and said something like “boy he sure is tall, or wow no one hit the hangin market door or karme finds you.” I needed a baidaid, but only received a tissue. I caught a taxi back to the house and the taxi driver actually seemed agitated that I did not want to spend the day with him visiting Bali Bird Park or the volcano or any further expeditions, and will this be how the island goes. Early morning here. I feel asleep last night before writing. I made all of our flight arragements and hotels stays for Chiang Mai and Borneo, and the flight to Kota Bharu and the Perhentians. All falling into place and becoming more and more focused. Ezra can be heard around the neighborhood when he wakes up. I guess a combination of age and voice and esires of chocolate milk. His belly is big and is hurting. I hope this is not too serious. We stayed and played at the Pool of Keritasa all day – that’s how long of time to pln our future, and we are almost there. A hotel in Kota Bharu and Kuta. Don’t forget Kuta beach in the end. No monkeys today, but I did see a pig next to a volleyball court – probably soon to be sacrificed.

DAY 21 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Saturday, April 20th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

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DAY 21: UBUD BALI

We walked the main rice field walk of Ubud past Sari Organics. Pretty precarious after you turn the corner and head back along the river. A long way down. I would not want to lose anyone down there. We held onto Ezra and Viena especially tight. Very similar to a “Romancing the Stone” slide. All those movies make sense now. I am becoming better at negotiating with the taxi drivers. $2 not $3 took us to the bridges after we walked through the monkey forest. We started walking early. We woke up, filed up a liter of chocolate milk at the market. Ate cereal at the market and off we go. I have been feeding the children and not really thinking about me. Viena’s cereal was 20 cents. I think the one with the bowl is 20 cents. Next time we will bring own bowl and spoon. Viena walked the entire way. She is definitely a great walker. Ezra tires and has some Travellers Diarhea (TD) issues and required carrying, especailly at the end. Ezra has not been as into the walks as everyone else. He needs some type of adrenaline to keep his interest. We ate some fresh cocnut and some yummy Mangee fruits. Ezra and I also trid to take a shortcut across the rice fields – a mistake. A rice field worker came out of his hut with a smile and directed us the right way. We spoke to a couple who owned a jojobo house from Java in the rice fields. He was from India. Also, we met Michael who lives next door – all nice people with a bigger connection to Ubud. Bali is like that.

DAY 20 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Friday, April 19th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 20: UBUD BALI

The days are moving by fast now. We have two more weeks. We were going to walk through the rice fields early in the morning but a big dark thunderstorm was brewing on the island ready to unleash a downpour – nad we have seen a Bali downpuor before. April is supposedly the tailend of the rainy season. We had some great down pours that first week were here. No rainbows. the second week has been fairly dry until this morning. I did not want to be in the middle of the rice fields when the rains came. So we waited and the rains fell. And when the trains were finished we packed our bags and headed to the post office through the monkey forest. At the other side of the monkey forest we caught a taxi for $2 that took us to the post office. We mailed off postcards at $1 a postcard and then went to the Buda Bali health food store conveniently located across the street from the post office. They had fresh bread, bagels, pretzels, loaves of banana bread, pumpkin bread, white bread, and wheat bread. After not eating bread for a couple of weeks, we went bread crazy. We loaded up the backpak and started our way home through some new streets of Ubud. I was trying to show Dwana some of the stores on the other streets of Ubud. We found a few less crowded streets and ate our bagels with cream cheese on the foots steps of a temple. Ezra was running out of steam quick, so I took him while Dwana and Viena lingered in some of the shops. Ezra and I found a group of boys playing in one of the tiled open air temple spaces across from the main temple – Temple Pusa Desa of Ubud. The small boys were excited to have a bulai – foreigner – tourist – to play keep awy from with a soccer ball. Ezra was the monkey in the middle until I joined him. The boys really enjoyed themselves with the simple game of keep away. Their play and laughter is so genuine and so great to be around. Dwana and Viena caught up with us and we walked around the Monkey Forest were Viena befriended a small monkey who poked Viena’s toes through her Crocs.

DAY 19 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Thursday, April 18th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 19: Maybe I could find the children’s yoga class. I went on a run this morning to see Goa Gajah – the Elephant Cave Temple. Instead of parks, they have turned everything into Hindu Temple grounds. The run was not very eventful excepts for the basics of scooters, rough roads, cars, no sidewalks. Amazing to run around these places. trying to train for the marathon must be very interesting. To survive the training runs without an injury causing incident adds a whole new element to things. Maybe I will start my training for the Boston Marathon here in Bali. A dream with Mylon playing basketball and scoring the majority of points for his team – dominating. Peaceful. I was the only one at the Temple, besides the Gods. I tried to meditate – Ha! My mind is so far away and full of thoughts to be clear and that is OK. This is where I am. A good place. Not many other sights. I just must be very careful – very careful with how I run. So many things I am blessed with in this life. The early morning chanting and sunrises can not be beat. On the run back I ran through the monkey forest without incident. On one of my run I witnessed a scooter wreck involving a small child. Must happen all the time. I have been trying to call with teh Skype phone and interent – works pretty good. What else will the day hold. Chickens in the yard. Cloudy blue skies.

DAY 18 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Wednesday, April 17th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 18: Last night was peaceful. Ezra woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to go to sleep next to Dwana. Fine with me. So I carried him down to the womans retreat area in the ballet. This tent sleeps a lot better with 2 people anyway.

DAY 17 Nyuh Kuning Bali

Posted on Tuesday, April 16th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

We all rested and I had a small fever and big headache.

A day of rest yes
Yesterdays expedition
Weaving water snorkle vomit

No quite haiku format.

I did nothing today except rest! I had a fever and a headache all through the night. /now we are on night number 2 and I do not see any signs of breaking the fever. A fever in a hot place should break faster. I took naps on and off through the day while Dwana rested in her woman’s shelter. It will be interesting how things go once we start travelling again on the road. I am glad my fever is happening now and not later. Sort of like the low grade fever I would get when we were in Brasil that would last 2-3 days and then I would be fine for 2-3 days. Heat exhaustion maybe. Dehydration maybe. I drank a whole liter of Sprite and that made me feel the best. I remember my mom giving me 7up when I was younger and did not feel good. That was the best. Amazing how that remedy carries on with me today. I did not really eat much today. After all the food yesterday, I do not need to eat. I did make one short trip to the market. The Balinese smile alot, but other than our neighbors not to many have taken an interest in us. Putuh and Kadek have not come over in a while. The ceremony season is over. On to the next ceremony. The temperature is so hot here at night. Where is the breeze? The fever has created some interesting dreams with characters of my youth. When will the fever break.

DAY 16 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Monday, April 15th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 16

Wow, what a full day. Awake at 6AM and return after 7PM. I do not know what time it is, all I know is that everyone is asleep. The photo I did not capture was a sliver of the moon next to a planet of sorts. Viena pointed it out because we have been talking about how the constellatinos are somewahat differeent in the southern hemisphere. We drove all over today. All the way to Ahmed to snorkel and see the fish. Oh, but did we see so much more on this trip. Wayan drove us to the village of Tengenan where we had a guide thank goodness to walk to the village of Kalaca, or something like that. All I know is that the hike went up and up and up and I am glad we hired a guide. We were hiking deep in the jungle. But no snakes or any sorts of other creatures like that. Only us and a few Balinese and a 10 inch lizard that kept showing up on the trail. I took many photos of the rice fields of everything. Tomorrow is the final day of the the Hindu celebrations. I am tiring too. Ezra puked a couple of times. Maybe car sick, but who knows. Dwana said she felt like puking. We swam in holy water and in the Indian ocean. SO warm. SO warm. We took the back roads and saw many people dressed up for ceremony. And this life is amazing. Rice fields and ceremonies. What else gives people passion.

DAY 15 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Sunday, April 14th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 15

Today we woke up and walked to Wayan Bebas house in the morning to discuss trips and transportation around the island. We planned out 3 different trips to different parts of the island. We stayed at his home and had tea and afterwards we walked to the neighborhood store and ate upstairs in a closed in bamboo setting. Perfect for Ezra.Dwana even had a coconut. We infused the cocnut with orange and lemon juice to create a drink of our own. i like how this trip is going. Ezra just gave me a spontaneous Ï love you” hug. Viena is much harder to squeeze one of those out of. Viena is preparing her backpack. Ezra has been preparing ihs backpack all day. He wants to go camping but what he really wants is to eat smores over a fire. The stars were out last night. I guess camping in Glacier national PArkand seeing the snow and the stars and the smores really made an impact on him.Hopefully I will return to doing something with all these photos that just sit for now in digital land and in our memories. We just went to the corner market to but supplies for tomorrow and have our daily sweet to eat which we really don’t need. What we really need is just to go up to the swimming pool for our treat. But then we will need to buy some food, so maybe we are getting out ahead. But more and better do not sit in the same tree any more. A palm tree rests outside our window and has the backdrop of clouds – blue clouds, blue sky, white clouds. I keep picturing the wall paper that I purchased for the PT office in COrdova. What a job. I guess I have had many jobs in my life. AMazingly so. And now what. Today they were having a festival for the youth center of Bumi Sehat which is also part of the birth center.. They sang a Justin Bieber song. Lots of volunteers cleaning u the village this morning. This village of Nyuh kuning. Quite surprising to see. Young and old. They cut the soccer field grass and cleared the grass and all the trash. Ezr and Viena are acting like brother and sister. A nice summer day. “Mylon, I love you Mylon,”said Ezra. Do you have friends and toys” Let me think. Let me think again. I need to go on a run and gather some things. So maybe I will not do that now. To see everyone cleaning the village was quite a scene and they were not cleaning for their resume or for their community serivce hoursthey were doing this for the village. And the quietness most of all the time. An egg was placed on a buys head in celebratino of his nirthday. The boy in return was not angered and appeared almost grateful to be shone such love and laughed it off quite well. good to see. Who’s birhday is next?

DAY 14 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Saturday, April 13th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 14

One thin about this place. It really tires you out. Ezra played in the mud today during the rain storm and chased some of the Balinese children with his muddy hands and muddy face around the soccer fields. Some things like mud monsters do not need languages except Yarrrrr! He was haaving so much fun. The boys that he was chasing were the two boys that were reprimanded by their dad during the special ceremony on Ezraá borthday for acting like hyenas. Ironic that now they were being chased by a a hyena. I wonder what all the spirits that of that one. All the Yayasan Bumi Sehat exercisers showed up and were rained out as soon as they started their program. Thats when we showed up with the soccer ball. I want to begin a new column of all things you can buy for 10,000 Rupiahs. I had my backpack resewn so I can strap both backpacks on together. I forgot to strap the lower straps and that might make a difference. The water bottle backpack hoders are working out great. We walked through the monkey forest this morning and again this afternoon but it seemed as if all the monkeys were tired from some event. No playing in the water like before. We also had a chance to find the trail to the rice fields in Ubud. I am slowly connecting the dots. Went to the library.

DAY 13 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Friday, April 12th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 13

Yes , I know this journal is too big to stand the test of time for this travel, and soon I must must transfer all the information to another format. But for now, this is just what I need. I have been good about limiting my contact with the outside world and living in this world. Wood drum beat can be heard answering the chickens in the neighborhood. A peaceful place as this. This morning we finally made our rice field walk. We started early in the morning with the promise of breakfast along the way. We must have stopped at 6 trail-side markets – all selling little snacks. 2 dollars here, 3 dollars there. In all a great trip. The rice fields were absent of scooters. Yeah we just kept asking people where to turn to go to the rice fields and eventually we found the beginning where the pig walker was. A good fortune. A guy walking his pig. The morning was calmer or maybe it just seemed calmersince we heard very little scooters. Along the way was good. too many pictures to take of the rice terraced rice fields. How do they determine this is the the place to harvest rice? and this is the land and this is my job to do this. Who has written the books about the workings of the rice field farmer. How does it grow so early and why does it look so familiar from my growing up. Dreams of Jerry last night and at my exit of the trail there was a Balinese guy saying that an American guy named Jerry is staying there. Pernestanan was the name of the second village. The first village started with a K and the English speaking lady named Jackie helped to guide us along to know where to go. I am going to start the busines of meeting tourists and ex-patriots and see where it will lead. The walk ended with a trecherous trip into Ubud through the roads along the busy roads. Would not do that again. I wold catch a taxi for the 20000 Rupiahs. And so we just kept walking until we arrived at our favorite eartery arung Lokale. Our bill was double $11 what it usually is since we were all so hungry. To the library and a taxi back home.

DAY 12 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Thursday, April 11th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 12

I asked Ezra and Viena if they wanted to go to a beach or a swimming pool. They both said swimming pool. So we walked up the street to where our friend David is working and we paid for use of the swimming pool for the day. The pool was right across the street from a preschool playground. We must have arrived after 12:30 PM when the children go home. School goes from 9:00 to 12:30. This morning we made some oatmeal and soaked some mung beans.. Went to the market to but 4 more eggs and 2 more tomatoes, but we did not eat them. Tomorrow. Learned the Indonesian word for Eggs – TELUR. We played on the soccer field with the new soccer ball. Viena really loves to kick the soccer ball hard.. Ezra loves running away from the ball. The day was overcast a little. Viena mentions that she is cold here laying in the tent. Amazing. I was just tring to decide what trip to do here on Bali, but nothing shows up as so important. Just be where you are. I guess I would like to see the Volcano and the Market of Kitamani and Bendgal. I wonder what wil provide me the most inspiration for later life. A full moon walk through the volcano. I would put that high on the list. Maybe I will consult with Steve Mason on this one. I sure would like to walk throug some rice fields and take advantage of the markets of Bendugal. Everyone played well in the pool. Shaky for a little bit with Viena almost throwing in the towell., but we made it.

DAY 11 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Wednesday, April 10th, 2013Sunday, January 5th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 11

The writings have become less and less maybe because I have not been running back to my tent for a timeout that I should have given Ezra or Viena. Today we went to the market and bought 4 eggs and 2 tomatoes for 60 cents. I was able to cook up the eggs. Yummy for Ezra and Viena. I am becoming quite the egg chef.I also put a pot of rice on for later. And then we went walking through the Mokey forest. We actually paid for a ticket this time. Earlier this morning at first we did a walk around the block. All the fast scooters in the morning made the walk not so enjoyable, but something to do in the morning. Lots of offerings still being placed on the street and at the Temple. We wlked where Putuh and Kadek went to school. Interesting how the names Wayan/Putuh, Madi/Kadek, Nyoman, Kutut and then they start all over again with Putuh/Wayan. Just like the Weems family and the Selanoff family for that matter. I grew up with Mason, Foley, Cayce, and Logan and then we start all over again. So, today the monkeys were incredible. They did not bother or pester us too much and their antics and tricks performed were marvelous in the water. Both Ezra and Viena were mesmerized and even I had never seen such a display. Well worth the $6. Viena had a monkey crawl on herand one climbed on me as well. Ezra was scared by a monkey. Both were mesmerized by all the activities of the monkeys and then to see the little baby monkeys walking and jumping around. into and out of the fountain. Wanting bananas. And then we went to have snack at the local market on the corner.

We found a playground. Ezra and Viena were so excited. They played like monkeys. And we are very familiar with monkeyplay by now.

DAY 10 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Tuesday, April 9th, 2013Sunday, January 5th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

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DAY 10

I tried to make plans with Nyoman to pick us up early and go see the sunrise at Sanur, but the rains started late at night and I texted him at 1am to cancel. Nyoman set up my phone so I could call and text and use the internet. The rains actually stopped and the sunrise seen from my veranda was quite satisfying and beautiful. Who needs a beach to ooooh and aaaaaw about. Tomorrow is the new moon. And so we lazed around until noon when Dwana decided to give everyone a haircut. So she cut Ezra’s and Viena’s hair. She felt much better after that. We actially sat and talked in the tent for the first time since our trip began. Things have been that surviving like. Who can talk when you are surviving. After some rice and beans and a few trips to the market. Viena paid 8000 Rupiahs from some ice cream. “Why are things so much more expensive here?” I went on a run to buy a soccer ball and soccer costume for Ezra since he mentioned not receiving any presents but a ride on an elephant. Oh, poor Ezra. he loved the soccer costume more than the soccer ball. We played on the soccer field but mostly the Balinese children indoctorinated the soccer ball. The run felt good. So hot. So hot. I hurdled a scooter. Even in the tent. So hot. The bells still play. A fountain runs beneath. Dwana is in the ballet – her women retreat.

Kuning means yellow.
Drums of steel play.
Crickets and birds accompany.
Ezra dreams of superheros.
Viena dreams of baking chocolate cookies.
Dwana dreams of uninterrupted sleep which is uninterrupted which creates more dreams.
The heat stays with us through the night.
I could never have dreamed a place like this existed.
The steel drums play on putting all to sleep one by one.

DAY 09 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Monday, April 8th, 2013Sunday, January 5th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 09

On days where I have nothing to do, how can I not have time to complete a journal entry. Because on this day, a mere one week into our journey around the world, we hit a low spot. Blame it on the monkeys. The harmonis bells from the Temple are playing . So melodic. Who could think of anything else. So much better than the sounds o cars or scooters or televisions or radioes. So peaceful in a sense and so full of real life and not so preprogrammed or maybe the sounds are. The sounds f steel. Much better than hearing a trombone. The tent arrangement is working. Well Ezra is asleep at my feet. If I were the size of most Balinese people, we would have no problems fitting in this tent. So, we rest. Ezra asleep by 7:30PM. A night. The bells of the drums go on. A chopstix of sorts now – not as peaceful. Maybe we need some more incense. Incense makes everything smell and sound better – better.. Today we lazed around the house in the morning. Ezra has not been eating well. He must be addicted to his birthday. I cooked up some mung beans and some rice that were very good with some salt and soy sauce, but no one except me ate them. Oh well. We need some broccoli. We started in the afternoon and walked into Ubud. So different walking in the PM when all the people and hawkers are out. I like the quieter time. Remember the markets of Ubud. Yummy. So we ate at our favorite local place Warung Lokale which is on the street to the market. A short cut of sorts if you are visiting the library, which we did. The library was quiet and we even were able to see a Russian lady learning how to dance Balinese style. The walk was longer than usual and late in the afternoon. Ezra was fading. Ezra and I tried on some traditional sarongs. Ezra looked so cute. The monkeys scared Dwana and she went right to bed as soon as we arrived home via taxi.

The warm rain softly falls.
Daytime has passed.
Lightning.
An ancient ceremonial bell plays.
Ezra and Viena sleep at my feet.
In tents.
Inside a bamboo hut.
Indonesia.
The rain falls harder.

DAY 08 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Sunday, April 7th, 2013Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday. So much to see. Both Ezra and Viena woke up like children. Needy. Desiring things that they really did not want. I’m hungry. And we live on yet another day. I took my camera and headed off through the streets. Today Snday. The day after the celebration. Very busy day. I took photos of many of the statues and offerings. Everyone was waking up. We could just see so many more things if the children were alot more like dogs and just followed along all the time contently – but they do not. Does my talking help them. I do not know. How could one day we ride elephants and the next day we can not walk 5 feet down a street without tears or screams of saddness. The local people all know Ezra’s name by now and Vien’s name is lost like a butterfly flying by the trees. A leaf was falling slowly yesterday. I saw this leaf meant for only me to see. Falling so slowly – avoiding gravity. I saw this leaf floating, twirling – a big leaf on my side of the car. I was the only one who saw this leaf. This leaf meant for me. Now Ezra, Viena, Putuh, and Kadek are playing in the soccerfield. I can no longer say, “Oh, he is just 3!” Because he is 4 now and almost to the big boy world. So when do you let go a little more? The chickens sound like cries of a 4 year old, but the children have only been at the soccer fild 5 minutes so the cries could not be Ezra. Must have been my imagination. Once again we awoke to early morning chanting. Well, I guess the chickens were right. The crying was Ezra after all, after just 5 minutes of being released into the wild. Apparently Ezra fell and hit his fingers while trying to wrestle Putuh and Viena. Welcome Day #2 a a 4 year old. Now he is resting on my head. Hot as can be. “Ezra” He notices his name. This pen is fast. Kadek comes over and demonstrates how to eat “bosu” or chicken. Kadek is all dressed up. We had rice or Nasi for breakfast and Kadek made sure he told his mom that we were having rie for breakfast. Ezra has spots all over his chest like an allergic reaction to something. One of the Green School teachers lives in this area. He was the Australian soudnig teacher who spoke to the entire child. Reminded me of Kent. The songs of the Lion as I will call it plays on. The sun has finally set. The heat continues to stay around. I guess you could become used to this heat after a couple of years. But for us now the times are trying and hanging out with childen all day long can be trying a bit as ell. We had things a bit easier in Brasil. We were not outnumbered. Not that 2 is greater than 2 but I believe the ties goes to the youngest. We practiced “do nothing all day” or at least I tried. A strange sound PI_TOAR. Viena says it is a frog. We need a fan at the very least. A fan and so tomorrow I will go and buy one or two or three, but that will create a different sound in the evening. Even that portable fan would work. After every shower I still begin to sweat. I am trying to remember if we had ceiling fans in Brasil. I think we did. We had it made there. But we were called back – off that island.

DAY 07 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Saturday, April 6th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 07

Ezra’s birthday. Ezra turns four today. Yeah Ezra! I am glad I took many photos today because I would have had much difficulty fitting everything we did into this little space in my journal even with this super-fine Balinese pen. Lots of smells of smoke The rain quieted the ceremonial circumstances. Viena and I are in the lower tent with Ezra and Dwana upstairs. What a good set of Karma to have. Good Karma. And now it all makes sese. Good Karma. Bad Karma. And how the universe works. The battle between the two with Ezra and Viena all involves. Amazingly involved to see the hundreds of Hindu worshipers walking up the stree of Nyuh Kuning. Simply amazing.Unforgettable for me and for Dwana I am sure as well. A procession surrounded by spirit and not the intoxicating spirits of Madri Gras. How that must ahve been when Mardi Gras was more pure. But alas, again I jump ahead and forgot to mention the Green School principal playing baseball or the elephant slam dunking basketballs. We fit it all in on Ezra’s 4th birthday. Happy birthday Ezra. Happy Birthday. One to remember – forever. Amazing how the hindu celebration and Ezra’s birthday coincided. But I guess that is how Bali works. The heat never seems to go away. And the rains fell again today and pounded. And Ezra smiled upon an elephant.

DAY 06 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Friday, April 5th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 06

The day before Ezra’s birthday. The rains fell hard last night in thinking that Ezra’s birthday will be here soon. And what should we do? Go to the Green School! We met Dani, Carolina and Ian from Santa Catarina Brasil. Amzing the ebb and flow of the universe. Might I have.Might I be. Ia want to go. I don’t want to go. The waves, oh the waves. We went to the Green School and met Adam, Tim and Ben. Ben I guess is my 1968 Monkey Brother from New York City. The connections just keep rolling in. Wayan Bebas hooked us up with Kutut Sabar who drove us to and from the Green School. We had a great time. Kutut is a fine driver that drives very slow and has Balinese Music playing – more our style. The Green School was simply amazing and amazing is too much of a cliche. Amazing to see all those amazing parents waiting to ick up their amazing children. And we were the next batch. And so here we are waiting to see if the island will select us. But we have it all here. What about the drive? If we could meet one person, maybe we did and that was it. Move on from the experience. 6 year old daughter. Pink hat. Pink phone. Yoga teacher that did not like UBUD. Too much for me. Too much fo anyone. Always easier to move on. Always easier to make due. We wait and wonder.Not. We are not of this window. We wish and want to continue. Knowing this is only a brief place and to make th most of the connections that we have. I want to buy a soccer ball. And a kite. The cares of the little ones. I lost it with Viena today as we were going and trying to do her early morning lessons. She could not write the number 17. She has been so excited about Ezra’s birthday. I have been so excited about Viena’s learning. ‘ At the Green School we spend time teaching the entire learner: Kinesthetic, Emotional, Academic, Gender, Spirtual. Where do you go from here? I don’t know. But many people are lost that come to Bali, but they smile more when they are lost. A monkey forest for a monkey brother. My connections to Garopaba. I need to write them down now. The sun it up. The temperature is hot. The clouds rumble and we might have another downpour. Maybe. Maybe.

DAY 05 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Thursday, April 4th, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

DAY 05

The pages of the great novel remain unwritten in the mond of my sleep. 6 O’clock. The musical beats of the Temple heard. Of course we have been awake for so much longer. This is definitely an early morning culture. The question of the day. “Why do people wake up at this time?” – Viena. Because the Sun rises and the people wake up to the Sun.Last night was better sleep. I slept in the upstairs room and Dwana, Viena and Ezra slept in the downstairs tent under the Balay. I am pretty sure the balay area has never been used for this, but I could be wrong. The chickens are calling – the birds answering. The souds of the Temple flutes are playing. Morning has risen. The rains fell hard last night. “I’m scared of this song. We played in the soccer field. All the little children we played with last night wake up like happy birds. We are so hoping that the sun is going to rise. The older Balinese men were playing soccer while the boys and girls playing games of running and wrestling. A game of nanny nanny boo boo. The young boys would say something many times and srat running and wrestling. The girls would chase them and take them down and tickle them. Putu and Kadek were their and made Ezra feel welcome.

DAY 04 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

We walked again through the Monkey Forest. The monkeys jumped up on Ezra and carried off their young while nursing. They were curious and they were interested in us but somehow they knew that they were protected by being in their forest sanctuary in side their boundaries. We saw some moneys climbing power lines and raiding a home through a hole in the red tiled roof. I can see how these cute little creatures especially the ones with babies could become nuisances real quickly. The scooters were roaring down the walking path and prooved more dangerous than the monkeys. Everyone seems to have and use their scooter for transporation. No crosswalks on the roads. Very busy traffic. Very few walkers. The Dutch with their bicycles. The Balinese with their scooters. They should have left the bikes and the trails would be great for walking and for biking. At 4 in the morning very few people on the road, but some scooter riders were taking the short cut into UBUD through the monkey forest. Ezra fell asleep in the 10 minute taxi ride home from Ubud – $3. Not a bad price. to pay for the sanity of things.I need to go to the store to buy some necessities. So now Ezra is awake and the necessities will have to wait. What is really necessary anyway?

DAY 03 Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali

Posted on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

The travels.

April Fools Day is over for us. The jokes came and went, and here we are on the tarmac taxiing for takeoff to Bali, Indonesia. Take off from our day in China, in Shaghai, in yet another airport. We aare definitely otnumbered and sleep deprived. I woke up once in the airport during our 8 hour layover and then once again to notice all the people gathered at our gate, boarding the aircraft. Thanks for waking up. That would not have been a good April Fools Day joke. Shanghaied in Shanghai. Night time here. Midnight on the tarmac. And we wait our turn which is now, The jets roar. The plane shakes, and a tighness flows through our body. We have awindow seat. “We got off the ground Mom!” No problem it seemed. No city lights of Shanghai yet. Maybe the city does not even exist. Only for us. “We can’t see anything!”” and she is right. All day we could not see the city of shanghai. We stared into the greyness of the environment. The people dressed for colder weather Colder shoes. Colder clothes. Colder. “No stars yet!” i am still tired . Faitgued. But at least I am not driving a road, and hopefully will go a year before driving again. Sleep comes easy. If I fast forward I arrive at where I am in Nyuh Kuning Ubud Bali Indonesian next to the soccer field. We are here. We finally arrived. The neighbors came over and welcomed us to house that will be our home for a month. Ebuthree, Putu, and Kadek. We are here and the children are restless. How do you say, “How do you say?” in Indonesian? The neighbor children Putu and Kdek came over to play and tried to fellowship and make things happen. The children all played together for a little while, but we are all so tired from our travels to arrive here at Eric’s bamboo tree house in the rain forest. All the candy that we used for bribes along the way during our transport is gone hopefully, Coming to this warm pace makes my cravings for sweet go way down. Way down. “Ezra came and pushed me.”, “Viena, you are doing a great job!” We had to complete all the VISA and immigration/customs paperwork for this place . Sort of scary. I don’t know why. Kinda of like a test of some sorts that you must pass in order to gain entrance into this land. Do i declare all the energy bars that I am bringing in. They are “food” and the application says “food”. I decided not to. Ezra found a toad under a rock. Viena found a frog in te shower. This morning Viena was so excited. Viena was so excited about food this morning. Early morning and already the temperature is hot. Ezra is passed out after waking us up early in the morning – a Balinese morning. Must have been 3 to 4 in the morning. Viena is so excited to have her pet dragon, her new hat and her new dress. All for cheap. We woke up and walked t the market in Ubud this morning. All for cheap, but then I think would I even be buying these items if I were another place back in the States. But she is happy. Ezra is going to the one that makes or breaks this travelling thing. How will world travel affect Ezra? They are working on the house next door. Hammer. Hammer. Hammer. Viena’s dragon just ate an ant. I could speak of the two dogs in the soccer field and why no one walks across the soccer field, but how scooters will drive on a perfectly trvelled walking path. How the world seems different. All of the Balinese people on scootters are wearing long pants and long shirts and a jacket or hooded sweatshirts – for sun protection? – in case of an accident? – for style? We ate for $6 yummy food. And that is all. We do this and we do that for a smile. The early morning market is the best. I do wish Ubud was a bit closer as the walk through the monkey forest lots of scooters and lots of Monkeys if you do not pay to go by the temple. The monkeys were following Ezra and showing their fang teeth.

DAY 02 – LOST time travel

Posted on Monday, April 1st, 2013Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by oneworldtwokids

Day 01 Honolulu – Shanghai – Denpasar

Posted on Sunday, March 31st, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Must be two in the morning. Pile it all in and Viola! Off we go. The moon waning. My thoughts more aanxious than melancholic or excited. Anxious everything going without incident, without any hic-cups, without any obstacles. Only because the unknown awaits. The unknown that the ticketing agent at the China Eastern booking desk almost did not give us a boarding pass because our onward passage was 31 days later and people staying over 30 days need a special visa before boarding the plane. The unknown that in the airport in Bali before we were oficially granted a Visa and entrance into Indonesia, my ATM card would not work and the credit card machine was not working and so I am thankful they accepted US dollars for the VISA. The unknown that everyone was so tired from our 12 hour flight to Shanghai that we almost missed our Midnight flight out of Shanghai because we were all sleeping next to the gate as everyone else was boarding. Luckily, I woke up and with blurry vision went to check out what was happening. So, I was a little anxious about the unknown, because with life the unknown always exists and with travelling the unknown increases and when travelling with children or soing anyting with children the unknown is magnified by an unknown factor, which left me with an unknown unknown amount of anxiousness. Dwana and I have been through moves. We try to take time to congratulate ourselves once again for another step. This trip feels different though. Not like crossing the border into Canada, not like driving so far away from home in Newfoundland, not like leaving Texas or California in the middle of the night and driving straight and not stopping or looking back until the sun rose to begin another day another way. This was different. We were both making the trip across the Pacific pond for the first time. Now we are over an ocean, away from land trying to connect to the Earth to the people of the Earth. Chinese B-movies are playing. They were actually pretty good. Better than the movies we were trapped in front of a decade ago on a bus in Peru. Nevertheless, we are trapped, held hostage to the entertainment. Viena is putting a puzzle together. Ezra is painting on the Kindle Fire. Flying above space. The check-in process was especially hectic since they almost did not let us on the plane because we did not have the appropriate VISA. For 30 days you do not need a VISA to board. The ticketing ladies counting once and then twice and then decided that a day in the airport did not count as a day so off we went – to Shanghai. We do not have much stuff, but we have too much stuff. And the stuff we have I am trying to take advantage of. We are some of the few Americans on this flight that flew out of Honolulu heading to Shanghai. No English spoken here on this plane, and I am sure it does not become any better once we arrive inShanghai China. The flight to Shanghai is 11 hours from Honolulu. We are loaded down with 10 bags. One bag has all of our food to bring – mostly energy bars. One has electronics. One has clothes. One has entertainment stuff. Ezra and Viena are travelling so well. Ezra was first to take advantage of the sleepng rule. We had just enought itme to make our connection in Oahu. Three hours should give you enough time, but we had to check in again with China Eastern. We were middle of the line of a bunch of Chinese people waiting to check in, but by the time we had counted days for our visa and checked all of our bags in we were one of the last to head to the security agents. We have already had to go through TSA twice, hopefully not another time. They always seem to pick me to do the full body scan. The plane ride was so quiet. Not many people talking even though it was daytime. Viena was finally clueing into what was happening in her own way. She said, “Dad, we are going to a place where there are alot of people!” She noticed as soon as we were standing in line at China Eastern for our flight to Shanghai that there were alot of people an dthey took notice or her and her light hair and the plane was full of people with darker hair with a different language and we were heading to China. The place where everything is made. And what about all their stories of their lives. Imagine if I could just record one, And to think back about when I worked at GetTogether and the inflence of Chinese culture on me from that job. And so we go. Ezra and Viena both have been practicing caligraphy with the magic paper we purchased in Chinatown San Francisco with Cousin Julia. Here we go again. This cultural experience. this is why we are doing what we are doing. The adventure starts here. Our semester has begun. After a few more whale sighting, after a few more roads. What wild places are we going to go now. I am going. The world is spinning. I am awakening. Spoke with Bob about his trip to HondurasI tried to connect the dots of all the stories in my head of which this is the one that I am living.What will happen? What will we do? How will we stay connected? What will fall through the cracks? How will I ever know anything? Where is my passion? When will we find the day that we lost?

30 March 2013 DAY 343

Posted on Saturday, March 30th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 30 March 2013 DAY 343 0 MOON 12 WANING 77%

On this day I woke up early to drive to pick up a rent a car from the Airport with Matt Garrett and Turner. The tops of the West Maui mountains were cloudless for the first time. I guess that was as good enough of a sign as any. “Leave when the always clouded mountain has no clouds.”says the great spirit. And so I drove for the first time in a while like a horse trying to reach somewhere new and trying to reach back at the same time. I was able to see our van on the beach. The van that we had spent so much time in over the past 12 months. The van that had taken us from Alaska over the New Foundland and around the united States. The van that I had sold just four weeks before. Our van was parked on the beach looking at the clear waters crashing on the sandy shore next to the two highway memorials that had happened during our short Maui stay … one death when we arrived on the island, the next right before we were leaving. Both were local Native Hawaiian youth and both involved drinking and excessive speed. You can go either way. We are heading to the land of many people, and to do that we lose a day and must travel into the future. And I wonder, what ever becomes of that day. If I find out out, should I keep it a secret? We are heading to a land of different customs and different cultures. Even in the air I can sense this. And this is why we are on this voyage around the world – to see, to experience, to be. a part of this feeling of new. So, we hung out all day taking back library books, cleaning the house, and moving all of our stuff closer to the trash. A dip in the pool, but not one last time in the night as Viena had wanted. I do not know why, but by that time of the date I was done and even though it sounded like a good plan – go jump in the pool at night with a big canonball one last time, but we did not. All we could do was set up our final bed for the children on last time. I just did not have it in me. We had already had such a long day. We went to an Easter egg hunt in the park across the street . We saw Marcus, Anna-Stina, Andeas, and baby Sonja from Sweden. they all came over after the Easter egg hunt and gave us some last bits of advice when we travel through Europe. The Easter egg “hunt” was one of the strangest that I had ever been a part of. Hundreds of eggs were just dumped out on the field and after the whistle all the children just free-for-alled them up in a matter of seconds. Done! In Sweden our friends were explaining to us that during their Easter “hunt” there is just one big egg that is hidden and everyone looks for the one big egg and when the egg is found all the insides are shared by everyone. Spoke with neighbor John. Hung out at Papa Tim’s – went to McDonalds for our last supper and then even had a last movie, one that won alot of awards but probably not one to watch before travelling around the world and probably won’t be shown on airplanes anytime soon.

29 March 2013 DAY 342

Posted on Friday, March 29th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 29 March 2013 DAY 342 MOON 12 WANING 84%

28 March 2013 DAY 341

Posted on Thursday, March 28th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 28 March 2013 DAY 341 MOON 12 WANING 91%

27 March 2013 DAY 340

Posted on Wednesday, March 27th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 DAY 340 MOON 12 FULL 100%

26 March 2013 DAY 339

Posted on Tuesday, March 26th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 DAY 339 MOON 12 WAXING 96%

25 March 2013 DAY 338

Posted on Monday, March 25th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 25 March 2013 DAY 338 MOON 12 WAXING 89%

24 March 2013 DAY 337

Posted on Sunday, March 24th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 24 March 2013 DAY 337 MOON 12 WAXING 82%

23 March 2013 DAY 336

Posted on Saturday, March 23rd, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 23 March 2013 DAY 336 MOON 12 WAXING 76%

22 March 2013 DAY 335

Posted on Friday, March 22nd, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 22 March 2013 DAY 335 MOON 12 WAXING 69%

21 March 2013 DAY 334

Posted on Thursday, March 21st, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 21 March 2013 DAY 334 MOON 12 WAXING 62%

20 March 2013 DAY 333

Posted on Wednesday, March 20th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 20 March 2013 DAY 333 MOON 12 WAXING 55%

19 March 2013 DAY 332

Posted on Tuesday, March 19th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 19 March 2013 DAY 332 MOON 12 WAXING 49%

18 March 2013 DAY 331

Posted on Monday, March 18th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 18 March 2013 DAY 331 MOON 12 WAXING 42%

17 March 2013 DAY 330

Posted on Sunday, March 17th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 17 March 2013 DAY 330 MOON 12 WAXING 35%
St Patricks Day. But who cares. This must be the first St. Patrick’s day that I could care less if someone was going to go around and pinch me and even Mylon who has made a big deal out of wearing green was not interested in re-telling the legend to his siblings or even bother with the whole pinch thing. We met some Australians on the bus, and were they a rowdy bunch who asked some telling questions. Why are you travelling? Talking about how they are travelling without their children and the 29 year old in still at their house. Talking about drinking and the image of Australia. A whole country. I guess I could have brought up the whole going around the world thing and the uncontrollable temper and the boss frog attitude and general unniceness. I could have, but our story is just like anyone else’s story. Our story will fade, like the Iliad and the Odyssey, or any great story. Just be good to yourself and be nice to your sister should have been the final words that I said to Mylon, but who wants to end on that note. Instead a lady saved us, a wino lady saved us from any uncomfortable ending by requesting Mylon’s Trader Joe bag, of which he politely said “No Thanks”. It is in these moments that Mylon is Keith and Keith is Mylon and somehow they are connected more than I will ever know. OH well. So many beautiful creations out there. We jumped off Black Rock, Mylon and I as his going away adventure to the beach. Ate at Yogurtland and had Pizza just like on the first day. A deju vu sort of thing. Good Luck. I am sure I will hear something tomorrow. Mylon went surfing with Papa Tim at S-turns. The waves here do not call me. Mylon and I saw one last turtle as we were swimming back from black rock. We played tag at the playground and I still could catch all three of my children.

16 March 2013 DAY 329

Posted on Saturday, March 16th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 16 March 2013 DAY 329 MOON 12 WAXING 28%
Went for a run and sliced my leg uo on part if the trail that ran along the beach. All for some paperwork that I did not need. I am done.

15 March 2013 DAY 328

Posted on Friday, March 15th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 15 March 2013 DAY 328 MOON 12 WAXING 21%
Went running up into the coffee plantation. Early in the day so my face was sunburned.

14 March 2013 DAY 327

Posted on Thursday, March 14th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 14 March 2013 DAY 327 MOON 12 WAXING 15%
We had a full day because we went to Lahaina Town. Caught the bus. Saw the Buddha. Other things. Library. Salvation army. I took pictures.

13 March 2013 DAY 326

Posted on Wednesday, March 13th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 DAY 326 MOON 12 WAXING 8%
Went for a run way back into the coffee plantation fields. Great run. Memorable.

12 March 2013 DAY 325

Posted on Tuesday, March 12th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 12 March 2013 DAY 325 MOON 12 NEW 0%
This day was full of greatness. I sit here in the dark. The house is quiet and full with 3 kids and Dwana. We made another moon. The tiny sliver of the moon was seen at sunset as we were waiting for the SAPP comet to appear and appear the comet did on a time lapsed photo I took. I should include that photo in the memories, but that had to be taken with the good camera. What will happen when our only camera is a phone camera. I am not sure. What a great day. Viena was out of her sorts day, throwing a tantrum of sorts as Mylon went for a walk with Ezra to the ABC store where Ezra showed Mylon the car and truck toy aisle. I was doing our taxes and Dwana was taking a rest and Viena could not figure out what she needed to be doing. She had already packed 3 pillows into the backpack for our comet gazing night to come. Earlier in the day we had ridden down to Airport beach, Hawaii style in the back of the pickup, Papa Tim’s pickup. the morning was overcast, but we all seemed to receive a sunburn of sorts, of course, Mylon was the worst of the bunch – red shoulders. We took the snorkeling gear and headed out in the water. Everyone went into the water except Dwana. The entrance was a little sketchy because the reef was difficult to see, and once Ezra was out in the ocean he was tasting the saltwater of the North swell coming in. Hard to snorkel with a 3-year-old on your back and no flotation device and no life support. Viena went out with Mylon and saw fish and had no problems. Then Tim, Mylon and I went out to the dive flag. We saw clear water and in one spot I turned around thinking to see Mylon, but there in his place was a big turtle. We swam with the turtle for awhile. Fast little guy. We ran into another bigger turtle right before we headed in. I was able to dive down deep and swim next to this beautifully massive creature with telling eyes. I wish I could have kept up, but he was moving too fast and my goggles kept fogging up. The comet. Did I mention the comet. Must be the journey, not the destination. Our neighbor John would only talk about it and did not come down to see, but had enough to make him red-faced. What words would I have to describe him, I slept in today. I need to stop that and rise up earlier and do something. Tomorrow I think I will rise and go grocery shopping. who knows I might even take Ezra and Viena. Ezra was really happy today except when Viena was playing with his dragon. He has been coughing lately at night, nothing too bad, but noticeable. Did not go on a run, but I finished my taxes. Yes. need to put an order through for some stuff.

11 March 2013 DAY 324

Posted on Monday, March 11th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 11 March 2013 DAY 324 MOON 11 WANING 6%
Mylon is about to make Ezra some Cheerios. We just came back from trying to see the comet at sunset. No comet, but a wonderful sunset. Dwana was making fairy wings and fairy flowers with all the fallen colorful leaves. Green leaves. Red Leaves. Large leaves. Ezra has had enough today. His crying is obvious and he is hungry and tired. The second part of my day was much better than the first. I have all these things on my mind that I want to do that require electronic intervention, like my taxes, and photo sorting and charging and purchasing other batteries and all of this. I slept in and awoke with the house quiet and immediately started on the dead end task of unlocking the new phone that I purchased. What a waste of time and thought and energy, except the fact that I find that sort of stuff fun and in the end I know I will prevail, for a cost of time and money. All of this hopefully will add up to a pleasant wired experience when we travel around the world. I also went over and helped Tim with his resume and that too felt good to do. My other help was with my client in Ka’anapali. I ran up there through the red dirt of the coffee plantation and the stinky smell of the waste water plant. And the family practicing bow and arrows with a boogie board as their target, two girls practicing in the stink. I need to go on more runs in the freedom of the wild and all the while I was recounting the days when I would run in the wild more and how this would provide the feedback and existence. And I was thinking how when we are younger we are more easily guided and more likely to pursue all the simple messages that show up in front of us and how I am thankful to have met my wife in the nature of life and not in the electronic world of bits and bites. Cupid. Pay attention. Release. Let love travel through you. We tried to view the comet but to no avail tonight. What does the night hold? Let me not wonder anymore. What about the dreams last night of ice. I remember that much and of trying to find anything else.

10 March 2013 DAY 323

Posted on Sunday, March 10th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 10 March 2013 DAY 323 MOON 11 WANING 12%
Today I found my journal on the Napili Islander. Or Dwana found it when she requested aat the Wharf where she was waiting worth Ezra and Viena as I rode the bus with Mylon from the airport. We rode the bus talking about few things – basketball, whales, the flight. I was happy to see Mylon and he looked happy, so the island magic is going. I woke up late at 9:30 after staying up until 3:00 in the morning with Dwana. We were just talking with the energy of new lovers, about anything and everything. Morning came too soon. The first bus was the easiest. the the second, I tried to sit on the edge and do paperwork from work and write in my new journal that I do not need now since I found my old journal. I stopped by the Queen Center and tried to find a phone for Dwana. I changed out the SIM card for Mylon. THen I ran to another Mobile phone store and purchased a phone and then ran to Costco and picked up pictures. The run continued and the rains started falling. I made it to the airport with about 15 minutes to spare. Mylon showed up right on time. Good Job Mylon, navigating 3 flights and traveling far far away. I thought I misplaced the cover for the new phone, but really the cover was in the backpack. We ended up running to the Queen Mall because we thought we could catch the earlier bus, but we arrive 5 minutes too late, which gave us time to visit the ATT store to unstick the SIM card and then T-mobile to receive a microSIM card and we even had time for a Jamba Juice before heading back over to the bus depot. Mylon snuck out of the back of the bus without Ezra or Viena seeing him. He then surprised them by jumping out from behind a column. Pizza and Yogurtland. Then walking along the boardwalk under stormy skies. A Hula show that was not seen hike and go seek, TAG and duck duck goose were all suggested. Trees were climbed. Dwana showed me her new wound on her shin from trying to climb out of the pool. Ouch! now Dwana and Ezra are reading with Mylon in the geodesic dome. Great Granpa Ford passes peacefully in his sleep. On the bus to pick up mylon. Need to change/buy phone. Find a way to have a wireless plan. The bus ride over was uneventful. So far. Dwana and I stayed up until late late talking only to wake up early. What a pattern we are in. Not bad. Just content with the rest that we all need. Ezra and Viena.

9 March 2013 DAY 322

Posted on Saturday, March 9th, 2013Saturday, April 26th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 9 March 2013 DAY 322 MOON 11 WANING 19%
The park was calling so Ezra and Dwana went to the park with me while Viena went a played at the pool with Papa Tim and Coco and Stacia. By the time I left, Dwana said that a large turtle came up by the reefs and popped his head out over the water. So cool. PLayed Marco Polo in the pool. Rested at the pool. Everyone playing so nicely. When everyone is playins so nicely blessings happen. I am not sure why I look and watch things so closely and try to make something out of nothing and try to follow different areas without knowing where they will go. Did not go on a run today, but maybe I needed the time off. I guess Mylon had his college entrance exam earlier in the day and tonight he is attending a banquet with a girl. We are definitely missing out on this part of his life. But we are missing out on a whole bunch in this short life. So why this week to lose a piece of my journal and piece of my life. A white dove messenger pigeon to visit and run up a ancient volcano and labradoodle and wild boar. Letters and written and words unsaid. And yet I have only wonderous words that I can speak and I am happy because of this. To look forward and to try and make the most of what is to happen. A third party connector, and so at that a reconnection was made and a conversation had, and she told me about her daughter elle born in between her and bridgin the gap and leaving no gap except she is a bridge and here the story of fracturing her ankle ad she slipped on the ice trying to pick up dog poop getting out of the car and wondering why we are all connected and why this happened on this week. and the help she needed with Sierra, I can only think and remember. I can remember the cold and remember the ways of how things work and I can tell at this point is not the point is not the time and maybe never, but a conversation was started and has been alot better than the conversations that I have had of late dealing with why I want to leave my job and this island or justify the actions of Dwana or Mylon, and how I should be responding to issues not of my creation. And the world of North when I think of things I do not think of things. I love so much the life I have worked so hard to create around me and the life that GOd blessed me with. And most of all I am thankful for all the people in my life that have made me who I am and I feel unique becuase of this and I know this was not created by an accident. The white pigeon was not accidental. A message existed, one that I thought might have been meant for Tim, but when I spoke of the story that it might be his brother Paul, he did not respond as if he needed to see to believe. and for him it might be right for why would a spirit travel all this way and then not be able to find the target of what was seeking. Pigeons are known for their accuracy and now I know that pigeon was a messenger for me and for me to do nothing except that … know “that something is about to happen … and is it worth it”. How long will we remember all these things. How long will it take to. To Bali and beyond. let’s get crankin on finding out all of this that is about to happen. Played at the swimming pool. Relaxed. Not going anywhere. We watched Coco until late. Pap Time came over and spoke. Viena and Ezra watched videos in the dome. Everyone a bit tired. What else.

8 March 2013 DAY 321

Posted on Friday, March 8th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 8 March 2013 DAY 321 MOON 11 WANING 26%
Tried to sleep in and Ezra just wanted to play and play and play and play in bed. He had the Kindle fire which has become he go to source for entertainment. We played a matching animal game that had sounds for all the animals. Ezra especially liked the mountain gorilla. We went to the swimming pool and took passport pictures for all of our visas that we me need. I chased viena in the swimming pool underwater. I actually went on a swim earlier in the pool. I swam 70 laps ~mile. Tried to think of some new lyrics for Papa Tim’s birthday party. A birthday rap with his son Nick. Just a pipe dream. Read last night about the Wright Brothers and how they succeeded in fulfilling their pipe dream of flight. I can not believe that I never heard that story with all of the classes for Aerospace engineering. So, we hung out at the pool for Papa TIm’s birthday party. Before though, I went for a run up into the coffee plantation area to see a client who has a, what I found out later, labradoodle. A big black male mountain gorilla looking dog. I could write alot about the house situation, but in essence they are far away from where I want to be. “let’s get things straight”. the matriarch says to be, “this is my house and he is lucky to even be living here”. In an instant I am running away down the coffee plantation in red dirt overlooking so much scenery that it is hard for me to imagine. I am here on Maui and this is where I am. I am alone on the side of an old broken down volcano in the middle of ocean. The run was go because I found a new uncharted way down the mountain and I passed a few do not enter signs. Always good to pass those and see the exit and feel the gate and the smell of the reclamation project for the water to detour anyone from hanging out here too long. But I ran and ran and I wanted to feel better about running, stronger about running and more in shape about running, so i can run to the top of volcanoes and not feel exhausted and ready to be sacrificed or painful calves later on. I have been receiving my rest. A good run and well worth the visit to see this labradoodle. When I came back the birthday party was in full swing – missing his son NIck who was out at work. We played the swimming pool and I ran away from all the kids in a tag game that tried to tire all of them out. I had at least 7 kids all trying to tag me in the pool. Brought back memories of the games of shark that I would play at the columbia swimming pool in the summer when my feet would be burned hot from crossing the road back to our house at 701. The sky darkened and I thought about the sunset briefly and wandered what the clouds would look like on the shore. I guess new comet can be seen at sunset these days, bring what I wonder. I still remember the comet that we saw in Cordova when we were house sitting when Viena was not even one year old. I had visions back then as well of ways to travel into work along the mud flat, but the mud flats seemed too much for me back then and I needed a bridge of sorts to cross a small very muddy outlet of the river at low tide. So the party went on and we stayed until the night was dark. Dwana was the first to leave and rest her mind from the present in front of you to the thoughts that are in your mind. We had chocolate cupcakes, hot dogs, asparagus, and cheery rootbeer floats. So much for all the calories I burned on that run through the coffee fields. I returned and Dwana mentioned how some one had seen a wild boar up they has boar tusks that were 2 feet long and very pointy. But the night stretched on and With Jupiter 30 degrees form the horizon we packed up everyone and headed to Honokawai park to do some stargazing. “The girls should be in bed”. But really, what life do you want to lead, and who would you rather be with in this moment. Ezra was the first ot fall asleep – right on me and the I was the next. Something about falling asleep in the outdoors with waves crashing on the reefs and Jupiter falling down and the wind blowing through the trees – a warm wind and a trusted soul entertaining all the children. Cries could be heard from Coco every 10 minutes of so, but all in all everyone was quite happy for having the experience of warm weather dry star gazing near the ocean in the middle of the pacific ocean. I carried Ezra back home and went fast to sleep 🙂

7 March 2013 DAY 320 Messenger Pigeon

Posted on Thursday, March 7th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 7 March 2013 DAY 320 MOON 11 WANING 33%
On today, a messenger pigeon came a visited Ezra and Viena and I while they were in the hot-tub and I was stretching on the side. I guess the pigeon visited them because the pigeon did not want anything to do with me. A pure white pigeon who came within inches of the children while they were enjoying the hot-tub. The pigeon started scrawling a message near the children in the pool of water that had splashed out of the hot-tub. I tried to have Viena and Ezra listen to what the pigeon might be saying. A bird of sorts … and on pap Tim’s birthday. Now this all makes sense. And then he caught a whiff of something in the air and was gone. Papa Tim had explained earlier how birds and death are all followed as instructed by his brother Paul and here we are. So maybe , just maybe. Papa Tims birthday. White pure pigeon appears at hottub to Viena and Ezra. Breakfast at Papa Tims.

6 March 2013 DAY 319

Posted on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 6 March 2013 DAY 319 MOON 11 WANING 40%
On this day in the art class the sun is shining and the weather is pretty hot here. we woke up this morning and went down to the ocean and played in the litle salt water tide pools. Little pools of fish. Should have brought our net.We did not see any whales but we are lucky. We came home and had breakfast and ate some leftover birthday cake. We played in the pool. My face feels sunburned. We spent some time out at the pool and at the beach. I think much better when I think slow and write what I can write. We tried writing letters in the sand and searching out whales on the horizons. We tried playing on the playground and rolling around on roller blades. VIena was not too satisfied, but she is very satisfied now as she participates in art class. A good insode activity. I wish she would love school as much as this art class, but I guess that is the hope. Well, I lost my journal on Monday So I guess this will be the way that I write in. My journal must have heard me or when Uranus leaves pisces and into aries. That could be the difference. What becomes of the writings anyway. Who knows. Not riding the bus again. Viena and I rollerbladed to art class and here I sit with my phone wondering how to make an electronic journal. I hope and breathe that all of our encounters go smoothly. Run into the coffee plantation to make my soles red from the dirt. Climbing volcanos. Barren burnt trees, Not pretty. But a pretty Viena.

5 March 2013 DAY 318

Posted on Tuesday, March 5th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 5 March 2013 DAY 318 MOON 11 WANING 46%

4 March 2013 DAY 317

Posted on Monday, March 4th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 4 March 2013 DAY 317 MOON 11 WANING 53%
woke up this morning with dreams big psychedelic rainbow mushroom send saw them from afar is writing a pastor car schedule and Driver we tried to do a loop around so I could take some photos and I woke up at 6 time to catch the bus just like the old times so here I am on the 4 dollars a milli by Kat the bus by the park well that was a quick connection here’s a whalers village in comm college Beach Yogurtland I want

3 March 2013 DAY 316

Posted on Sunday, March 3rd, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 3 March 2013 DAY 316 MOON 11 WANING 60%
Venus birthday we may need the travel to Hannah’s birthday going to fill up balloons and hung from the ceiling made cupcakes we still have a cake

2 March 2013 DAY 315

Posted on Saturday, March 2nd, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 2 March 2013 DAY 315 MOON 11 WANING 67%
preparation for the big day tomorrow no car Yahoo almost a feeling of postpartum depression setting in I have to remind myself a couple times during the day to feel happy static ever sold the van Irene’s from month Bali of the band the treehouse cannot wait should be fun decided have a place at least and then to think about travel

1 March 2013 DAY 314

Posted on Friday, March 1st, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 1 March 2013 DAY 314 MOON 11 WANING 73%
sold the van on this day what a glorious day I wanted to wake up as early as possible I was able to work out a little bit to 24 hour fitness my last workout on my membership soon or phone number should be cancelled no van no place living on the road we have the Kindle Fire the laptop cell phone camera and so what next remind people on my mind I’ll to Kalani after stopping for Jamba Juice the wind was blowing the Sun was out I have about an hour to put on

28 February 2013 DAY 313

Posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 28 February 2013 DAY 313 MOON 11 WANING 80%
who am I anyway I should have been swimming in that water bottle last anyway I stayed long enough to feel the thoughts of living in a different life can you hear of all the other people

27 February 2013 DAY 312

Posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 27 February 2013 DAY 312 MOON 11 WANING 87%
this morning and cooled off to watch whales have to turn off first time doing this very beautiful did not see the moon that goes into the lawn chairs another life another pool a short dive into things I protected with my hands what else what else in an extra have art class lasting a while in it is an art factory is really laying down since noon on an apple on his 15 minute break try to

26 February 2013 DAY 311

Posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 26 February 2013 DAY 311 MOON 11 WANING 94%
woke up and walk to the park and then to the store to buy some morning Donuts we stayed at the park long enough to see the dawn full moon setting City not falling but staying hangin Scott big white unlike anything else that seem to disappear and stay on mine however the mind works assistant remind of sustainable body how do you do how did they make the solar arrays what about the moon walk to the skyline home hung out at home watch that

25 February 2013 DAY 310

Posted on Monday, February 25th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 25 February 2013 DAY 310 MOON 11 FULL 100%
right so I need to make things more obvious all around so I can drop in and make things to be made to create to remember for tomorrow they are all gone who is he and why is she so long to answer me an answer

24 February 2013 DAY 309

Posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 24 February 2013 DAY 309 MOON 11 WAXING 93%

23 February 2013 DAY 308

Posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 23 February 2013 DAY 308 MOON 11 WAXING 86%
and a call I answered so many choices we make which ones do we have to stand by which ones are well I’ll out change in Y I think Cocos over barbecued out of the pool potato salad

22 February 2013 DAY 307

Posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 22 February 2013 DAY 307 MOON 11 WAXING 79%
\t maybe the island island drove up to cool after working out had Diana test wrong van and she like the van in to get by her mechanic made an offer yeah next Friday we have traveled so far in this van and I think we have come to the end of the road Google on E 1 more this 1 more that talk to the guy in the talk

21 February 2013 DAY 306

Posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 21 February 2013 DAY 306 MOON 11 WAXING 72%
the rain cell flash flooding in Michael while

20 February 2013 DAY 305

Posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 20 February 2013 DAY 305 MOON 11 WAXING 66%

19 February 2013 DAY 304

Posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 19 February 2013 DAY 304 MOON 11 WAXING 59%
on this day we saw a double moon bow or at least that is what is in a said she saw

18 February 2013 DAY 303

Posted on Monday, February 18th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 18 February 2013 DAY 303 MOON 11 WAXING 52%
a Monday a story Day a day to live life and driving not let the world collapse on you let me know and I will be there a woman who has no 1 has a disconnected decide to leave the world in her own little way

17 February 2013 DAY 302

Posted on Sunday, February 17th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 17 February 2013 DAY 302 MOON 11 WAXING 45%
trying to sleep Inn is hard to do with Ezra bouncing around finally at 9 o’clock Coco came over and Papa can fit into golf over into the park this of music is playing time for breakfast

16 February 2013 DAY 301

Posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 16 February 2013 DAY 301 MOON 11 WAXING 39%

how does the days just keep cruising by worked on the van today washing windows probably need to clean the rap rack and scrub the bugs off and clean the tires next but who knows what will make the sale maybe nothing last night lots of wind and rain didn’t sound as a came in and gave me a sandwich squeezing me in between him and want what a place in love finally

15 February 2013 DAY 300

Posted on Friday, February 15th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 15 February 2013 DAY 300 MOON 11 WAXING 32%
then lost her second tooth today she was so excited he always loses them in the morning and when I am at work amazing that we were there when Coco lost her first tooth just our family on the way to the Ritz Carlton a wacky Aloha Friday am I say

14 February 2013 DAY 299

Posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 14 February 2013 DAY 299 MOON 11 WAXING 25%
happy valentines day we went and played Hawkeye park or dog to park we went to the beach in a as in I snorkeled in saw fish swimming in the coal Ridge just close to sort so cool so cool I was going to treat everyone the breakfast at a fancy restaurant and said we just went to times market and bought some sleep and had fun in dog poop art we played tag in hiding go seek and then whenever is written in and wanted the wind blew hard the Sun without even the Wanaka

13 February 2013 DAY 298

Posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 13 February 2013 DAY 298 MOON 11 WAXING 18%
Ash Wednesday then went to art class she does so well so attentive to her I think I just sit in the back and she just know that I’m around eventually she will branch of Honor on the Y West thanks what we have a lifetime to grow old to be on her own she drew a picture of the ocean thanks so much for the kind so we can do what we went to the year of the snake parade 2013 in heard fireworks on dragons in law

12 February 2013 DAY 297

Posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 DAY 297 MOON 11 WAXING 11%
we stayed home all day I sent out a mass email to all the bike tour companies to sell the van to people call back might work who knows spend some time at the swimming pool spend some time at the playground and digging holes in the sand beach we buried at her and Rihanna in the sand at the beach wanna mention she’s being all the women she can be I asked both as written Vienna what’s your favorite part of the day was when we were trying to go to bed but I can’t remember what was said

11 February 2013 DAY 296

Posted on Monday, February 11th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 11 February 2013 DAY 296 MOON 11 NEW 0%
drove early in the morning to workout not this morning but another morning as you’re caught me before I could leave in just curled up in my arms in the morning and then Vienna join us in so we had such a loving moment in that makes all the difference in goes a long way with my heart and how I feel

10 February 2013 DAY 295

Posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 10 February 2013 DAY 295 MOON 10 WANING 2%
drove pop it in Cocoa around the mountain to sea Honolua Bay the waves were going off we went and did a small hi to the blowhole amazing this well was really happening and lots of surfers in 3 boards are having some fun Salon we went to the blowhole to have our own little bit of excitement the walk with a little treacherous we packed a few snacks a blowhole was amazing and scared and drenched everyone I have some rainbow photos of you

9 February 2013 DAY 294

Posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 9 February 2013 DAY 294 MOON 10 WANING 9%
I cleaned up the van to rearrange to see to the van to make it look more tolerable horrible hopefully someone will make a by soon I packed in the shade of the tree while the others jump in the pool at the end of it all I jumped into to appreciate the small things we drove with Coco to the Ritz Carlton invited me but he decided to stay at home when joined a beautiful sunset roaming around with Coco Lokomoko

8 February 2013 DAY 293

Posted on Friday, February 8th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 8 February 2013 DAY 293 MOON 10 WANING 16%
Aloha Friday I was craving a subway sammich all day so I drove to Subway then went to the office at 24 hour fitness trying to just workout my legs and see what happens so far so good did not do any dinner shopping or Aaron so I came home around 10 I think Rihanna was still awake

7 February 2013 DAY 292

Posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 7 February 2013 DAY 292 MOON 10 WANING 22%
somewhere in here I went for run with him he has been sick with the flu any major small little run into Cana Polly his son is is anything with him I guess they have a housing back a long way I was thinking of a person who had to but now I forget my decision final way to quickly and not staying with me less I thought and showed up before and maybe that’s when I stayed away and put more on the mango tree

6 February 2013 DAY 291

Posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 6 February 2013 DAY 291 MOON 10 WANING 29%
back to work I’m sure but I can’t remember

5 February 2013 DAY 290

Posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 5 February 2013 DAY 290 MOON 10 WANING 36%
so what do we do on this last day we did not we did not cook 20 dollar ribs in the valley them like earlier we again mostly hung out near the pool near the place grandma was all packed but kept in packing or something so she could take off for 1 last dip in the pool and hot tub I’m sure dad dad

4 February 2013 DAY 289

Posted on Monday, February 4th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 4 February 2013 DAY 289 MOON 10 WANING 43%
that add me to mail package so I drop them off and pick them up it was his elk permit he also need some things at Ace Hardware for sales

3 February 2013 DAY 288 Helicopter Ride

Posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 3 February 2013 DAY 288 MOON 10 WANING 49%
no rest for the honeymooners awake at 6 in the morning driving along the poly highway dark you would think that we would be alone but the sunday workers are driving in jeans and a drop off at the hell part for Grandma and add a helicopter ride so fun so fun they were excited and the stories that were told when they returned another world Jurassic Park how this all happened so cool just sit and watch all the helicopters take off

2 February 2013 DAY 287

Posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 2 February 2013 DAY 287 MOON 10 WANING 56%
remind dad and 50th anniversary we made it the day we have been waiting for I remember in the morning arranging for all my brothers Casey Logan Mason to join and we all did it with baby I so and see you even care in an CNN we tried to reach my limit he was unreachable so we all talked about the history of things and what went on 50 years ago most of the stores me already heard before the history of things going on in the story that word it were so knew that no 1

1 February 2013 DAY 286

Posted on Friday, February 1st, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 1 February 2013 DAY 286 MOON 10 WANING 63%

for some reason I keep saying 2003 I am a decade behind to know interesting day I am on dad at posing for photos at sunset that’d racing as rain is cowboy boots will jumping the Nobel drive.

31 January 2013 DAY 285

Posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 31 January 2013 DAY 285 MOON 10 WANING 70%
purchased 150,000 American airline miles to fly out here bye bye bones your allies everyone stay close to home today In N Out went to the pool but did not dressed far tried to work on scholarship application with him minimal effort easily frustrated no change in 1 of them played with her dolls and animals in the geographic dome so happy to see her playing with her magination I wish I was more in tune with her

30 January 2013 DAY 284

Posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 30 January 2013 DAY 284 MOON 10 WANING 77%
dad and I drove into the center early but not too early as rent in a already in my lap in the recliner chair who would want to leave such a morning love came back home in time for Venice art class

29 January 2013 DAY 283

Posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 29 January 2013 DAY 283 MOON 10 WANING 83%
went to work in the morning my type of work send the parking lot of Jamba Juice is sucking down a cold 1 hour peanut butter moon there is no alternate did go back home and restarted probably need to catch up on some sleep went for a hike to the jungle about Kapalua Adventure Center

28 January 2013 DAY 282

Posted on Monday, January 28th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 28 January 2013 DAY 282 MOON 10 WANING 90%
woke up in Hana wow I tried to make it on top of the van all night but I did not have the right sleeping bag

27 January 2013 DAY 281

Posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 27 January 2013 DAY 281 MOON 10 FULL 100%
woke up after midnight to 8am went back to sleep find a dream about where your soul is a simple is a call with you everyday

26 January 2013 DAY 280

Posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2013Friday, April 25th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 26 January 2013 DAY 280 MOON 10 FULL 100%

25 January 2013 DAY 279

Posted on Friday, January 25th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 25 January 2013 DAY 279 MOON 10 WAXING 90%

24 January 2013 DAY 278

Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 24 January 2013 DAY 278 MOON 10 WAXING 83%
we drove to Holly Aqaba let’s watch sunset simply amazing not a place to live like the moon only place to visit

23 January 2013 DAY 277

Posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 23 January 2013 DAY 277 MOON 10 WAXING 76%

22 January 2013 DAY 276

Posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 22 January 2013 DAY 276 MOON 10 WAXING 69%

21 January 2013 DAY 275

Posted on Monday, January 21st, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 21 January 2013 DAY 275 MOON 10 WAXING 62%
grandma and dad at Glen on MLK Day I pick them up at 630 if I was a little late but I just wait in the cell phone parking lot proud of this I had a full day working patience in Brookline NY Lucas I wasn’t in a hurry the entire day so I don’t remember much

20 January 2013 DAY 274

Posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 20 January 2013 DAY 274 MOON 10 WAXING 56%
on this day we watch from the center the middle of the Pacific we watched of affair Monique celebration of life Kelsey set something up for us Thank You Kelsey need to send flowers to the world we went and jumped in a swimming pool and made fourth of the pool chairs

19 January 2013 DAY 273

Posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 19 January 2013 DAY 273 MOON 10 WAXING 49%
we did Sons trystin around the island we drove the West North Road around the head of Maui what a road nice scenery but does not work the headaches a single lane roads near the city side we stopped and bought some banana bread earlier we walked around the Ritz Carlton area of Honolulu I so I was trying to find my blood pressure cuff and or roll oximeter

18 January 2013 DAY 272

Posted on Friday, January 18th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 18 January 2013 DAY 272 MOON 10 WAXING 42%

17 January 2013 DAY 271

Posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 17 January 2013 DAY 271 MOON 10 WAXING 35%

16 January 2013 DAY 270

Posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 16 January 2013 DAY 270 MOON 10 WAXING 29%

15 January 2013 DAY 269

Posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 15 January 2013 DAY 269 MOON 10 WAXING 22%

14 January 2013 DAY 268

Posted on Monday, January 14th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 14 January 2013 DAY 268 MOON 10 WAXING 15%

13 January 2013 DAY 267

Posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 13 January 2013 DAY 267 MOON 10 WAXING 8%

12 January 2013 DAY 266

Posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 12 January 2013 DAY 266 MOON 10 NEW 0%

11 January 2013 DAY 265

Posted on Friday, January 11th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 11 January 2013 DAY 265 MOON 9 WANING 5%

10 January 2013 DAY 264

Posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 10 January 2013 DAY 264 MOON 9 WANING 12%

9 January 2013 DAY 263

Posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 9 January 2013 DAY 263 MOON 9 WANING 19%
Joanna and Tim arrive today but even though I hurry home I miss them but the swimming pool was waiting

8 January 2013 DAY 262

Posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 8 January 2013 DAY 262 MOON 9 WANING 26%
a ballast and it came over Hannah today nothing I could do Christopher at her phone and tell mom decided to take her on a solo store shopping

7 January 2013 DAY 261

Posted on Monday, January 7th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 7 January 2013 DAY 261 MOON 9 WANING 32%

6 January 2013 DAY 260 Ezra the Solcializer

Posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 6 January 2013 DAY 260 MOON 9 WANING 39%
We all are sunburned after today. For once, Viena and Dwana and Ezra all just played by the pool. We were able to hang out and enjoy the heat, the wind, the chill of the pool. Viena and Ezra swam in the pool. Ezra is such a social fellow. He just goes and talks to anyone. He scored some ribs for himself and Viena by hanging out near the BBQ. Spent the night talking with Dwana.

5 January 2013 DAY 259 Big Buddha

Posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 5 January 2013 DAY 259 MOON 9 WANING 46%
We try to drive by the Big Buddha statue every time we go to the library. What are the kids doing? How are they growing? We washed the van. Lots of red dirt. Dwana and I stayed up and considered different worldwide options to travel. Here was one plan: Okinawa – Bali – Thailand – Colombo – Europe – Brasil – Dallas – Anchorage.

4 January 2013 DAY 258 Chair Fort

Posted on Friday, January 4th, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 4 January 2013 DAY 258 MOON 9 WANING 53%
I wonder what happened on the home front. i wonder what happened in the world. In South Dakota. Payday. Some day my boat will arrive and I will be shanghaied.

3 January 2013 DAY 257 Lahaina Library

Posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 3 January 2013 DAY 257 MOON 9 WANING 59%
Seems like we went to the library today. I made sure Viena heard me this time when I took Ezra took the bathroom. The rains and the winds were heavy today.The birds. The weekly tourists. The stream of people along the streets of Lahaina town. We sat and looked at clouds, but I should write that in another journal.

2 January 2013 DAY 256 Driving Around Town

Posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 2 January 2013 DAY 256 MOON 9 WANING 66%
How, I ask you. Just listen to the lyrics of the 60’s and 70’s.

1 January 2013 DAY 255 Ka’a’napali Beach Sea Turtles

Posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2013Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 1 January 2013 DAY 255 MOON 9 WANING 73%
The number 16. You heard the number 16. The number I heard. the number and maybe that is the number for me. Write 16 books a year. Visit 16 places. 16 art projects. 16 dreams. Who knows. just a number. 16 theories. The rains are falling. Went for a run with tim. He showed me his running trail. We talked about addictions and Nike – if only Nike could be your addiction.And the sacrifices we all make and the help we are able to give others. Drove to Ka’a’napali Beach – Black Rock Beach. I jumped off. Twice. I needed to jump off more, nut twice was enough. Not like the Blue Hole. But Hawaii. What if the Blue Hole was in Maui. Thoughts about tomorrow. A large sea turtle came and greeted us near the shore. Ezra and Viena were both able to have a good look. that should be a good sign of things to come in the New Year.

31 December 2012 DAY 254 Zero G’s

Posted on Monday, December 31st, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 31 December 2012 DAY 254 MOON 9 WANING 80%
Old man. Old woman. Plumb tired of living. Embassy worker. Great Wall of China walker. Musician with no legacy and a household of generational love and dogs to boot. Drove home and followed some crazy drivers. Went for a swim in the swimming pool, the last of the year. Tried to feel the zero G’s of younger years. Went to bed long before midnight with fireworks, music and barulio abound.

30 December 2012 DAY 253 Water Motor Boat

Posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 30 December 2012 DAY 253 MOON 9 WANING 87%
Wow. I wish I could write all the neat stuff we did today. I played water motor boat with Viena and Ezra in the pool.

29 December 2012 DAY 252 Geodesic Home

Posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 29 December 2012 DAY 252 MOON 9 WANING 93%
The wonderful children creature kids Ezra and Viena setup hammocks in the Geodesic dome. I read all the library books to Ezra and Viena while sitting in the reclining chair we purchased for $100. Great buy. Dwana still not feeling great. I do not think we went into the pool all day, a first.

28 December 2012 DAY 251

Posted on Friday, December 28th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 28 December 2012 DAY 251 MOON 9 FULL 100%
Full moon. Drove Cayce to the airport. Wish we could have done more. Sad to see him go. Wish he could have stayed longer. He could have, but this is how he planned it for maximum efficiency. Drove home while the sun was setting. Remembering that 1st day on the job. Viena was able to sample some “good yummy delicious” ribs from a neighbor who was grilling a t the pool. Met a healer from Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and the sort and now Maui.

27 December 2012 DAY 250 Black Rock Beach

Posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 27 December 2012 DAY 250 MOON 9 WAXING 93%
We thought about driving up the volcano, but Dwana was not feeling well. I am not really in adventure mode. So many things to think about. So many things. Went to Lahaina town to the library. Uncle Cayce left Viena alone in the library alone in the library while I took Ezra into the bathroom. Tears. Sadness. Fears from Viena, said the librarian. Went to Black Rock beach. Dropped Ezra and Uncle Cayce off at the beach. Viena would not go. Viena and I drove a mile down to the nearest parking lot. We watched the sunset ceremony at Black Rock. Cayce and Ezra played in the water. the sun was glaring. Cayce had a facebook dilemma.

26 December 2012 DAY 249

Posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 26 December 2012 DAY 249 MOON 9 WAXING 86%
We went to the beach at Napili. Cayce made a sand castle with Ezra and Viena that they could play with and the water would not mess up. Cayce and I went snorkeling out near the coral reefs. We saw some fish, but not too many. Just cool being out there. We really need to take advantage of this area. Ezra walked with Dwana to the end of the beach where they looked tiny tiny. Cayce even took Viena into the water. Lots of people standing by the memorial on the side of the highway for Blaze. I think about people passing every day, but this is the one death I see.

25 December 2012 DAY 248 Mele Kalikimaka

Posted on Tuesday, December 25th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 25 December 2012 DAY 248 MOON 9 WAXING 80%
Christmas morning. Ezra and Viena were quite impressed with the Elf they found in the geodesic dome. Ezra loves his dragon and Viena loves her fancy outfits. I walked to the park with Ezra to fly a kite. He spent most of the time looking at other kids toys. He wanted his dune buggy. Oh well. What a crazy warm Christmas. Took a power nap where I just passed out holding Dwana’s hand. James called. We spoke about weaved enlightenment. I had a dream about a giant sequoia trees in the light – so nice.

24 December 2012 DAY 247 Uncle Elf Cayce

Posted on Monday, December 24th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 24 December 2012 DAY 247 MOON 9 WAXING 73%
I was able to find the part I needed from the guy a Costco at the 11th hour. A lot of stores closing early. A guy at the library being kicked out by the security guard “Come on Man!, it’s Christmas Eve!” Waiting for Uncle Cayce, the elf. Uncle Cayce travels from Asia to surprise Ezra and Viena as one of Santa’s elves. Spent past midnight in Santa’s workshop. Good to see Cayce in Kahului.

23 December 2012 DAY 246

Posted on Sunday, December 23rd, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 23 December 2012 DAY 246 MOON 9 WAXING 66%
The days are just running together. Everyone is not feeling well except me.

22 December 2012 DAY 245 Tofu Pineapple Pizza

Posted on Saturday, December 22nd, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 22 December 2012 DAY 245 MOON 9 WAXING 59%
“I have that book and I’m coming to get you!” – Viena to Ezra. Now Ezra is taking a train ride by holding on Viena’s dress and her running around the apartment. There is definitely more place to place and run and be loud in this location. I made a delicious pizza this morning – tofu, pineapple.

21 December 2012 DAY 244 Shortest Day

Posted on Friday, December 21st, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Friday, 21 December 2012 DAY 244 MOON 9 WAXING 53%
The shortest day of the year. Ezra was not feeling that well.

20 December 2012 DAY 243 Up Country

Posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Thursday, 20 December 2012 DAY 243 MOON 9 WAXING 46%
Went on a beautiful drive Up-Country. Beautiful. The rains were falling on me as fire trucks were driving up.

19 December 2012 DAY 242 KAM III

Posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Wednesday, 19 December 2012 DAY 242 MOON 9 WAXING 39%
WE all woke up together. A hug from Viena. A snuggle from Ezra. Wow. How mornings could be. Instead. Signs of Uppa. A bird that flew over the car. A little boy local with flip-flops left for Ezra in Kihei. A highway accident possible life altering on the way in the morning. Traffic was backed up. A guy named Blaze, a local, 19. I dropped off everyone for Keiki time at KAM III. I wish I could write down all the thoughts of my day from the symmetrical family of kids to the lunches to the rooms with a view and the stairs to nowhere. When do you start living? Where is this living? Maui Time. I can not say this island will be missed. I can not say. And what of the day of Dwana and the children. We are separated. We are reunited. 25 years ago what was happening. The breeze is blowing. The palm trees. The rains are trying to fall. We jumped in the swimming pool, Viena and I, and that left me cold with the warm wet wind. Cars along the road can be heard as well making this swoosh sounds. What of the sun? What of the sand? What of this place in middle of the ocean. And what does tomorrow hold. What can tomorrow hold to make today today and not just another day? Viena says she will go to bed by herself when she turns 7. Yeah, right.

18 December 2012 DAY 241 Island Fever

Posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Tuesday, 18 December 2012 DAY 241 MOON 9 WAXING 32%
As sure as wind blows. I saw a rainbow. Today the winds blew again. I saw the famous wind surfing beach. I see how things are. I see the island fever. I see the small towns surrounded by Island. The drive to Makawao. The winding roads on the side of a volcano heading down narrow winding roads painting the huge volcano as they reach down to the sea. Jumped in the pool with Ezra and Viena.

17 December 2012 DAY 240 First Day

Posted on Monday, December 17th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Monday, 17 December 2012 DAY 240 MOON 9 WAXING 25%
Went to work and came home with a big smile on my face and kept it on until I arrived home. Saw Ezra on the porch drinking chocolate milk. Jumped in the pool. The clouds and the moon and the sunset are so cool. Crazy how much time you really spend with your family when you work.

16 December 2012 DAY 239

Posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Sunday, 16 December 2012 DAY 239 MOON 9 WAXING 19%
Dwana’s birthday. Survived another birthday. The month of melancholiness. Maybe because we have been so many blessed places. Now we know, or do we. Ezra wanted to know why his birthday couldn’t come until after Dwana’s and Viena’s. We made it to the beach for sunset, barely. Viena stepped on a thorn. happy Birthday Dwana.

15 December 2012 DAY 238 Kahului library

Posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2012Thursday, April 24th, 2014 by oneworldtwokids

Saturday, 15 December 2012 DAY 238 MOON 9 WAXING 12%
We took a trip to the Kahului library for story time. More books. More DVD’s. More wind. More sunshine. Ezra played with trucks and scooted around the thrift store. I bought a lei for Dwana’s birthday. Drove the windy, windy road home. Jumped in the swimming pool with Papa Tim, Coco, and Stacia. Pap Tim has been the friendliest resident here at our new home. Uncle Cayce is planning to come to the island. Viena had a playdate with Coco and Stacia.