6 1/2 weeks

That's right.  Only 6 1/2 weeks of school left!  The antsy, end-of-school feeling has begun.  Talk amongst the teachers is often what people plan on doing over the summer break.  Just about every lunch time we can be caught swapping bed and breakfast deals or traveling tips with our friend Laura who is also planning a trip to Ireland this summer.  We love our jobs, but are very excited to go back to the States and see everyone again. 

In other news, school just had a staff photo contest.  They had to be pictures taken between Christmas and spring break.  It was really neat to see all the places that people had gone to and the amazing pictures they took while there.  I'm proud to say that I won 2nd place!  It's a picture in the Siq which is the entrance to Petra in Jordan. 

We are really looking forward to next weekend because we get to see Jamie's brother Seth!  He is currently stationed in Djibouti for the navy and is meeting us in Bahrain for an extended weekend.  It will be great to see him, plus we get to miss a day of school.

That's about it for now.

Tara

  2nd place picture

Garden Update

Hello Readers,

Things have been pretty routine since we came back from Thailand so I'll just fill you in on our garden and other small news. We found a new grocery store with nearly everything! It is called Lulu's and is in Al Khobar, an hour away. Beef from four different countries, prickly pairs (Tara says it is a Jungle Book reference), portabella mushrooms, a place to get a pineapple cored and sliced, an American and U.K. import section, awesome cheeses, and more. It was almost too good and cheap.

Also, we have our plane tickets booked to British Columbia to see Tara's parents. We will be there from June 30th to July 8th.

On to the garden. When we were in Thailand our friend Cory watered the garden and did a great job. Our garden was unrecognizable when we got back.  We weren't sure if we were going to get anything out of it because it is in 8 inches of potting soil and then sand. Now it looks like we will at least be enjoying tomatoes.

Here is the evolution of our little project in pictures.

The beginning - January 14th

 The Planting

Stage One

Stage Two - February 18th

Stage Three - Post Thailand - April 19th.  Two plants were removed from the border because they were massive.  One is now growing in the sand and the other is in a hanging basket.

We now have seven of these little guys on one plant.  The other might be a dud, but that's o.k.  Maybe we'll make BBLT's (beef bacon, lettuce and tomato).

Thailand Part 2: Koh Samui

In Thai the word Koh means island. That's what we spent our last week in Thailand on called, Koh Samui. It was pretty much a tropical paradise with the hustle and bustle of busy beaches and shopping/dining strips.

We stayed at a pretty nice resort on the beach and spent a lot of time doing nothing. We decided a nice relaxing week before going back to school would be nice. Our time was spent lounging on the beach, taking naps, eating some good food (sometimes on the beach), and browsing the little shops on the streets.

We did do a little bit of adventurous stuff as well because I (Jamie) can only sit in one place for so long. Our first adventure consisted of swimming in a waterfall, riding an elephant, watching a trained monkey pick coconuts (kind of sad actually), visiting a mummified monk, which was not mummified, but just under decomposed, and visiting a caged baby tiger (also sad to see) and baby elephants. Our second trek was out to Angthong National Park to do some kayaking, snorkling and visiting the green lagoon. The kayaking and green lagoon were very fun, but unfortunately the snorkling was very bad. The water wasn't clear and there were only two fish sightings in our group. It was more like deer hunting in that sense.

We have now been back in school for one day and it is nice to be back. Only 9 and half more weeks!

I know it is a short blog, but I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Bye.

Oh I almost forgot to mention. While in Thailand we had four, one hour, massages each. The grand cost total was under $100 for eight hours of massage. Incredible!Our beach

There were some others (Meg and Dave and Charlotte) from school in Koh Samui Meg had her daughter in law and grandson with her who are Thai also. That was handy at times. Here we are on our new big friends.

Tara wanted to drive an elephant since she can't drive a car. Next on the list is camel riding!

A little bay in Angthong National Park

Jamie: "I think that is a giant clam Tara. Good find!"

One person playing while the other is working . . . typical

A long boat by a beach in Angthong

Naumang waterfall

The view from up on a hill in Angthong

A nice picture on the main island of Koh Samui

Even the airport was tropical feeling

A panorama video of the mystic Green Lagoon in Angthong. They say is was created by an underground collapse and is fed by the sea.

Kayaking