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I love this..

Cinderella hits the skids, Dina Goldstein Photography

it reminded me of the time I was Cinderella for a night.

This was at my sister's wedding. A little girl came up to me, very wide-eyed and asked me if I was Cinderella. I struggled with the moral delimma of lying, and so I told her 'no', I was not Cinderella.

I've always regretted that. I should have said 'yes', and shared a bit of magic.
Childhood should be a state of being, where anything is possible!

Labels: Jen's world

Our trip to Boston included a stay at a farm. This small farm belongs to the parents of Jenna, who was a Bible College Student out where we are. She plays the violin, has a degree in music and trains & owns horses. Meg wants to be Jenna when she grows up!
This is the view from the house, they had several barns and several pastures. It was so green!
We loved it, loved the view, loved the green, loved all the land, loved all the trees.
Then we found a Barnes & Nobles 10 minutes away, and it was settled...we COULD live there!

Then I froze my putootees off at night in the very old, quaint farmhouse, and realized...we COULDNOT live there, it gets below 70 degrees!
Meg got to go down every morning and evening and help with the horses.
I think it's a riot that my daughter mucks stalls for fun.
The kids would have enjoyed the trip even if we had not gone to see any historical sites, they loved being on the farm. I wish we had land like this here, sigh. Not to be.

Here's the end of my post...talk to the hand, hee-hee...!

Labels: Boston, trips

Labels: Singapore, Wordless Wednesday

At the north end of Old Boston, we stopped at the holocaust memorial.

It was very hard to try to explain to Demi and Amie, they have no historical reference for it yet...and how do you explain such evil, how do you make the huge number of people murdered-real to a young mind? How do you display such ugly but real evil to your innocent children?

I couldn't. I outlined the barest facts.

and cried a bit.








Mike's Pastries in the Italian section. The chocolate chip cannoli came very, very, highly recommended.

Now, I'm not a cannoli girl in any way...but I had one

and Philip was right, they are to die for.

We sat in the park around the corner with the Paul Revere statue, and ate our desserts.
I had a diet coke with mine, perfecto!




I loved the Italian North-End!

We stopped for pizza, too.

But of course!!

Labels: Boston, trips

A group shot in front of the old state-house, Boston. It's so hard to get a group shot where no one is making a face, no one is blinking...socks match, no holes in pants... This one is a keeper.
A real-live action shot, we were walking hard...we did the freedom trail in one day! I don't recommend you do it, but we did. Philip made us. We did skip Bunker hill and Paul Revere's house. I would have liked to see Revere's house, but we forgot...we made a side-trip for cannoli, Philip said they were 'to die for' and, he was right.
Umm, chocolate chip cannoli or dead guy's house, cannoli wins-hands down.
Exploring the cemetery near Old North Church. I was reading about how this cemetery was un-kept for some time, and how once a restoration was under-way, old tombstones were found being used in construction of nearby houses. yikes! Yes, this is me...I'm now re-thinking the shirt I have on here. I bought it right before my trip to Singapore, and I love, love it. I love the color, and I love that it is a swing-cut, and also an a-line cut, and that the material is really soft. I feel nice wearing it. So far, I look bad in photos wearing it. What do you think? I was going to order another one in a different color..should I nix that thought?

I didn't think it was funny at all! Then I told them that their faces would freeze like that...okay, it didn't make sense, but mom cliches don't have to, they're just a state of being. And the kids mostly aren't listening to them anyways....so there.

Labels: Boston, trips

Sky and I visited the Boston area two years ago, loved it, and really wanted to take the kids. We finally got our chance this May, after we spotted some super-low airfares. Visiting Boston is a super rich experience for us on two fronts; 1)the history! I loove History, I love visiting places I've read about, and I loved/longed to share these places with our kids. 2) meeting up with people we've met through having the Bible college boys/girls over to our house every week. Sweet, sweet fellowship.
There were many firsts for Demi and Amie. Look! - A very first plane ride!
Look! -very first subway train ride! This actually had monumental buildup after seeing subways in movies like Narnia and Spiderman.
Our very first Bible College boy, graduated several years ago, now serves on the college campuses in the area. He has become a very good tour guide, on the side. Here he is enriching us with his knowledge (which was considerable) of the old statehouse building. We actually had other people stop to listen to him at several stops. (we are joking about sending him a costume so he can do the tour in a proper way...)

Notice Amie giving him all her attention and just soaking in the history...

Labels: Boston, field-trips, trips

My trip to see my friend Starlene, just happened to work out right around her birthday. I was so glad I could be with her for her special day. I actually missed it by one day because of my unplanned stay in Japan. We went straight from the airport to Morton's Steakhouse for her birthday dinner. Morton's is a big treat, always very good and I always leave too stuffed for my own good! I couldn't get over how much her girls had grown since I last saw them, the summer past. Her oldest looked so mature, with her long hair in a braid...
They took me to this restaurant, called "Red Dot", which is named after the restaurant's home-brewed beer. It was on a great site, with a great view.
The place was magical, really. One of those moments when you are glad you have the privilege/ chance- to travel to places so far-out from your own. The weather that night was warm like a blanket, but not hot- with a breeze coming in. It was perfect.

Perfection that might move one to compose a sonnet, a beautiful piece of music or to paint a picture.

I did none of those things,

but I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving just for being there

and I sat.

Labels: Singapore, trips

Here is a shot of the dream-land that is the buffet at Shangri-la hotel. Believe me, there was more, much more than the area I captured here.

on your right you have the sushi bar. Starlene's family is on the lower left, right in front of the desserts.

a strategic place to park ourselves, I'd say.

the waffle/crepe bar was around the corner from that, and then from there you would get lost in Indian food. I had yorkshire pudding for the first time! I have to admit I was disappointed, I thought it would be a bread pudding thing...not. Starlene gave me a cultural lesson on that, since her parents live in London.



I loved how green the trees were, and how green all the other tropical plants growing on the trees were.

can you see all the plants growing on the limbs? Click on the photo to make it bigger...













I told you I'd spare you the photos of trees...

I lied.

Sorry.

This tree was growing in the courtyard at the girl's school. I think Starlene said it was a camphor tree... see the vines growing on it?







This is a shot from the gym area at the private school the girl's attend.

I regret I didn't get more photos of the school. I always feel a little funny taking lots of photos at a place with lots of children...

The school was for international students. I was so impressed with how clean and well-kept the buildings and grounds were. It is really a nice school, nice set-up, nice teachers.

the view was pretty cool. The weather was not, tho. They had those mister/sprinklers around the patio here. I cannot imagine doing any kind of exercise beside swimming here. It was hot! And humid! The older kids were all out doing their sports thing. Amazing.

I saw people out running too. Amazing. I couldn't even imagine running in heat/humidity like that. I came back home with an appreciation for our weather in So. Ca.

Labels: Singapore