My Favorite Quotes of the Trip
As we come to the end of this adventure, I thought I would reflect on some of my favorite quotes. To protect each person, I have changed names to 'random' letters. I will refer to them as Person A, B,…
I Love Paris, but…
Paris is a beautiful city with stunning sights of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, exquisite museums like the Louvre or Musee de Orsay, and culinary delights such as croissants and macaroons. But, it is the place where I was…
The Kids Graduated to the Next Grade Today
Today marked a milestone on this grand adventure as Decker graduated to the fourth grade. Although Pleasanton Unified School District (P.U.S.D.) may not agree, the two officials for the ABCD World School (our registered home school name), Audrey Gillette (Principal)…
We’re Coming Home Soon
Open House -- Sat, June 23 -- Stop By In less than four weeks we’ll be back in Pleasanton getting our house in order and returning to a more normal life. While there are many things we look forward to…
Tracking Threats Around the World
One challenge of traveling to so many different countries – we’ll visit 29 – is keeping track of all the potential threats. Whether natural disasters in Costa Rica, localized demonstrations in Athens, or large-scale conflicts in Syria, it helps to…
Kids Really Are Resilient
If you have ever wondered if your kids could do this type of trip, don't worry as they will be just fine. Kids are resilient. Really resilient. re·sil·ient (rəˈzilyənt), adjective Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. "babies…
And then the boat engine died…
The boat started to slow down so I looked back to our 'captain' and noticed smoke coming out of the wish-we-had-an-Evinrude engine. And then it stopped. Kaput. Burned up. Dead in the water. We had left the 2,400 year old…
Rwanda: Rising out of the Darkness
Two days in Rwanda could not have been more different. On one day we saw all that went wrong and the very darkest side of this small African country. Twenty-four hours later we saw what the future holds for the…
Could Colin Have Malaria?
For the past 4 months we have been in malaria zones and take our Malarone pills every morning. We sleep under a mosquito net most nights and routinely lather up with Ultrathon. The boys love the mosquito nets so much…
Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should
Every day we negotiate for food, transportation, tours and even the bathroom. We wrestle with determining the fair market price and recognize that at some point, we are going to overpay and feel like we have been taken advantage of. …