Birthday Girls

Jorie had her Birthday on August 16th and was lucky enough to have her party with friends on her Birthday. She had a pajama party, we decorated pillow cases and teddy bears, gave toothpaste and toothbrushes for party favors. We watched the Parent Trap and had lots of fun! Hooray for 7 year old Jorie!





Audrey turned 5 on September 11th. Her party was more than a week later as we were out of town the weekend after her Birthday. Audrey had a beautiful party with frills and sparkles and pink (all that Audrey represents). We decorated "Fancy Nancy" purses. The girls dressed up, had their hair, nails, and make-up done. Each guest went home with a fancy purse, a boa, and lip gloss. Hooray for 5 year old Audrey!

First Day of School!

The first day of school is one of my most favorite days! So much excitement in the air. New clothes, new friends, new teachers. This year our girls started at their new school. Last year we watched the construction outside our window and now the school is finished. The school is absolutely amazing.
Both Audrey and Jorie have wonderful teachers. I especially love how their teachers seem to be perfect matches for their personalities. I couldn't ask for anything better when it comes to education this year!

More of Vietnam

According to a sign close by this is the end of the world.
Bridge in the jungle as we were looking for the ancient temple ruins.
I was asked recently when my friend saw this picture, "Were the bugs bad, did you see any snakes or crazy insects or anything?" It looks pretty crazy I guess, but it was not at all bad, no problems, we saw one lizard but it was not anything to tell a story about. More than anything else there were a lot of butterflies. It was the most beautiful, peaceful hike that I have been on in a long time.
Both Jorie and Audrey are close to the same height as this woman. She sold us some bananas, this is on the Japanese Bridge, notice Audrey's peace.
I like to tease Jorie about how she puts out the peace sign in a lot of pictures these days. I think it has something to do with the water. This isn't popular in the states is it?


Silk worm breeding tour, the white stuff is hundreds of worms, 3 days old. The green is mostly leafs with a few worms. Motorcycle tour, the guide drove Bentz and I since I don't have motorcycle skills like Beau.

We drove past a wedding and they asked us to take pictures. Aparently Bentz was not done looking at the bride in this picture. Thanks for helping with the pose Audrey.
This is the pride of my photography for the trip. I think it looks like a postcard. I just have to say that if you take enough pictures (i.e. 480 in 4 days) something is bound to turn out GREAT!

Hoi An Vietnam

We hiked through the jungle and found the ancient ruins of tmeples that are from the same time as the Cambodian temples that Beau and I went to.This is the Japanese Bridge in Hoi An, there were both Japanese and Chinese communities living here and the Japanese built this bridge to connect the two communities. Originally built in 1500's.
There were a lot of women carrying these baskets on their shoulders with a variety of different things. Hard working women!
There are several temples in Hoi An from different cultures. This one was very bright. The Japanese temple had beautiful gardens, the Cantonese temple had ornate dragons all over the entrance. I don't know what this one is but it was very bright so it caught my eye, it is also much smaller than most of the other temples.
Bentz is driving the boat, Our driver was so happy, he smiled like this the whole time. He gave each of the kids a turn driving.

This is Winn, she has family in Garden Grove CA, she was so nice to the kids, Audrey chose a lantern to match her dress. Bentz thought he should pull all of the tassels that he could reach.

Beautiful girls riding on the boat. They are wearing the Vietnamese dresses that we bought for them. The women working in the shops, hotels, and airports all wore these type of dresses.

In flight. . .

Here's some excitement. Yesterday on our way home from Vietnam I took Bentz to the tiny little bathroom on the airplane cause he needed to poop and he still likes to go in the toilet most of the time. So after he told me a few times that he was indeed done with his business I proceeded to clean his bum and then started to maneuver things so I could put his diaper back on while I was holding him in the cramped space that we were in. Then I saw some poop on his bum and thought I must have missed something, well I was mistaken, I didn't miss something he decided to poop some more! All over me! So then I called in some help. . . "Beau, HELP!" This was my wispered shout down about 6 rows to where Beau was sitting with the girls. Lucky for me the hotel staff gave some t-shirts to the kids as we left so they were in the carry-on which they almost made us check. Phew. I cleaned my skirt the best I could and then changed my t-shirt. Just so you know I should never wear a t-shirt intended for Audrey! I made it through the last 10 minutes of the flight and changed my clothes as soon as I got our suitcase, yes I did a deck change at the ticketing counter as we checked in for our second flight.

I will post more from our trip later, just thought I would share this bit with you.

Really????

So I got a new calling in church.
Now can you tell me please does this look like a Relief Society President?
I was completely surprised myself! I think it will be a great learning and growing experience! I am really excited to be able to serve in the awesome branch that we attend.

P.S. For those of you that do not belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Relief Society is an organization for Women, motto: Charity Never Faileth. Such a great organization to be a part of! The branch that I refer to is our local congregation of the Church.

More monkeys and Cambodia

Okay our kids are the monkeys in these first two but they are monkeys!
Audrey is swinging on a vine, gotta love hiking in the jungle!
Jorie is pretending to swing on a vine.
Here is a real monkey. I will have to post better pictures this one is not the best.
One of the many awesome temples in Cambodia that looks even cooler because the trees are growing all over the temple.
Here is Beau in front of the famous door from Tomb Raider, I haven't actually seen the movie, is that the door?
This blogging stuff is pretty fun. I really like looking at everyone's blogs to see what you are up to. Thanks to everyone for keeping in touch!

Bentz broke his arm.

So sad to see a two year old wearing a cast!

He has a small fracture near the wrist. The Dr. says that young children will pull off the cast if it does not go up over the elbow. We were playing around, the kids and I, when Bentz got his arm pinned under his body in a weird position, I think that is what caused the fracture.

In three weeks he will have the cast removed, just in time for his second birthday. He will be back to fighting fires/slaying dragons and swinging on the playground like a monkey again in no time!

Monkey Mountain

This is our most recent hiking adventure.
There were signs that said not to stare or make eye contact with the monkeys.
Audrey learned what happens if you do.

Happy Birthday Beau

Beau is really getting old now. Of course I can only say that for a few more weeks until we become the same age again. We went to dinner to celebrate.
Bentz had some super CHEESEY macaroni and cheese.
Other than Beau's Birthday we are just hanging out. Our kids all love to read, so awesome!
Jorie and Audrey think Bentz is a doll, sometimes literally. They got a little carried away this time. Obviously Dad was not home at the time.
Too Bad! Cause here comes the coolest kid on the block; he is comfortable with his masculinity.

Our next trip will be to Hoi An, Vietnam. We are really excited for this trip, always fun with the kids. Every country seems to have something different and interesting to offer. We feel so fortunate to be able to visit so many places while we are living here. The best part is, our trip to the States once a year gives us enough miles for one or two trips within Asia. Most countries are fairly cheap for hotel and food as well. This is not an advertisement but I hope you know that you are always welcome to come and visit.

Making A Comeback

So I have a lot of work to do. My last attempt at posting was unsuccessful and extremely frustrating. Our computer recently crashed, this was a first for me. We backed up our pictures just before we left California for Hong Kong so we were fortunate enough to only loose 1 year of pictures. I am working on recovering what I can from everyone. So if I sent you any pictures or if we were with you sometime in the last year and you took pictures of our family then please let me know, Thanks.

Our most recent excitement was a trip for just Beau and I to Angkor Wat Cambodia. I sent pictures out already so I will only post one from Angkor Wat.


Last week we went camping for a couple days. Interesting in a few ways. One, we took a ferry and a taxi to get 1 kilometer away from the site and hiked in with the kids and all the gear. Two, our friends were with us, one brave father with his three children. Three, first camping experience as a family and first time camping in Hong Kong. Good Times!


Just today I was out and about in Hong Kong with the kids. We went to the zoo, the main library (huge), a quick run through IKEA where Bentz slept on a bed for about 30 minutes and took the street car back to Central (down town) to catch the ferry back to Discovery Bay. A very adventurous day!



Well, That is all for now. Have a wonderful day!

2008

We are still alive and doing well. Just waiting for the chance to write. We have had so many wonderful experiences. We feel so fortunate to be living in Hong Kong. We have been blessed with good friends and many opportunities. We are looking forward to a great year and hope to remain happy and healthy here in Hong Kong.
Love to all,
Lefler Family