Good Morning from Luang Prabang, Laos

This first is a small clip that Jesse and I did this morning. The scenery here is beautiful and it is a very serene place. We will take some clips of Duncan and Jesse playing soccer as per Nathan's request. They have found some friends who play at 5pm every day... so we'll see how it goes. It is helpful to create fun for Jesse because he doesn't really want to walk around visiting Wats all day or do assignments. With a banana/yogurt smoothie in his tummy and a soccer ball in hand...plus an hour long foot massage once in awhile... life is pretty good in Luang Prabang. He is finding time to read quite a bit and we are giving him writing assignments like... write a page about "Buddhism" and what the novice monks do, or "who was Ho Chi Minh?" He does his research on the computer for awhile and then writes up a page or more. Duncan corrects his spelling and makes him rewrite the words he's mis-spelled. We are probably going to stay longer here instead of making the 10 hour bus trip south to Vientiene--it will be nice to settle in here for awhile to feel the vibe and let it soak into our souls.

We connected with Sasha and staff with "Big Brother Mouse" today and had lunch together. We will do a book party delivery to a village tomorrow with them. In this photo, Jesse is making shapes with his sticky rice and we enjoyed fruit shakes with fried eggplant, Lao salad, fish tofu and some tasty dried seaweed that they prepare with sesame seeds that is then fried. All are Lao specialties. The highlight of my day today was walking into town just as the school kids were getting out for the day. They were dressed in their uniforms with small back packs on, fooling around, stopping for snacks at the side walk shops and laughing and smiling and giggling. Some were meeting their mothers/fathers/grands... I followed 4 boys who were around 6 years old as they pranced along unaware that I was following them and watching them play as they scampered over the elephant statue, lost a shoe, wrestled and avoided the on coming traffic tuk-tuks. It was very amusing and playful. BTM