Daughter No. 2 has returned from her trip to the South Pacific. She still isn't home because now she is in Florida with her youth group. During her brief touch-down at home, she deposited some great pictures from her stay in Fiji, in New Zealand, and in Sydney. Brief photo tour:
No. 2 in the middle--with two students from a Fijian high school. Funny, we were told to send school supplies, so everyone loaded up on Dora the Explorer type things, thinking they would be spending time with little kids. They cleared out the elementary age gifts before handing over their donations when they realized they would be spending time with kids their own age. Oops.
The entire People to People delegation on top of Mount Manganui in New Zealand. The story goes there was a beautiful woman mountain and a smaller slave mountain, not so beautiful. The slave mountain mooned over the beautiful mountain and sent night fairies to send his message of love. Upon rejection, he asked the night fairies to end his misery by sinking him out to sea. They got only so far when the sun came up, and they dropped the poor guy in the middle of the ocean where he sits to this day--Mount Manganui.
Given the sheep to people ratio in New Zealand (12:1, or 15:1, depending on who you ask), one must return with a sheep photo.
Pope Leo IX (the Pope) JCF Bach (German composer) Jane Russell (of Gentlemen Prefer Blonds fame) Daniel Carter Beard (founder of the Boy Scouts of America) Jean-Paul Sartre (French philosopher) Maureen Stapleton (Academy Award winning actress) Mariette Hartley (who?) Prince William of Wales (the prince) but most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 45 years ago today, I was born in Alabama in a small town on the banks of the Tennessee River. Yesterday, someone asked me if my family has any birthday traditions. The answer is no. My family never cared very much, but I do remember a few birthday highlights. I was given a birthday party in the back yard when I was ten years old. Two years later, my sister got married on my birthday, so I was just a bit overlooked, although I did get a stuffed animal--it was a white Yorkshire terrier with an AM radio in its stomach. When I turned 20, a different sister took me to an outdoor performance of Dvorak's New World Sympho...
Comments
Gorgeous photos, too. Daughter no.2 looks so grown up already. You must be very proud of her, Robyn.
And I have always wanted to visit Sydney.
I must admit to a terror of kangaroos, however. I witnessed a zoo employee getting kicked by one as a child and it gave me nightmares for weeks. Kicking kangas STILL show up in my nightmares occasionally.
And now she is in Florida. Ah. A beach. Sounds lovely.
I'm jealous.
And what a great trip that must have been!