Our first day in Sydney was crazy. We went to the Sydney Aquarium where we saw . . .

. . . Perry - Perry the Platypus. Agent P. (I thought Mom and Dad would like that.)

We also saw dugongs, which ancient mariners thought were mermaids. The dugong is on the left. The mermaid is on the right. You make the call.

Our heights compared to a dugong baby, called a pig.

Next we went to Wildlife World.

Spencer hates spiders, but he agreed to be in the picture.

Spencer and the kangaroo are looking at something . . .

I found my froggie.

The butterfly room was so beautiful. The butterflies never landed on us (though they landed on others).

After we finished at Wildlife World, we walked along Cockle Bay Wharf in Darling Harbour.

We ate a snack at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe. Mmmmmm. Then we headed to the Powerhouse Museum. I was disappointed. There were many interactive displays, but most were broken. Still, we enjoyed it.

We found a park and let Michenna run around with people her own age.

Then we walked back to our hotel. We ate dinner at Dim Tai Fung. They have the "Best Dumplings in the World" according to some food magazine that was in our room. The dumplings were outstanding.

12 Hours in the Philippines

Vibrant.

That was not the adjective I thought I would use to describe the Philippines. I’m not sure I could have put a word to it before our visit; it was mostly feelings of discomfort – because of the unknown – and fear – because of the reports of kidnapping.

We loved it! Philippine Airlines provided us a voucher for a hotel room (they called it a wash up visit) and transfers to and from the hotel.

We walked the blocks around the hotel looking for an ATM. It was bright, colorful, and noisy. Spencer said it reminded him of Bolivia. We attracted lots of attention, especially from tour guides and cab drivers.

We found a cab driver named Robert who we were very thankful for. We told him we wanted to see the temple and showed him the picture and address we had printed out. Originally we just wanted him to drop us off at the temple. He explained that the temple is in a wealthier part of town, and that it would be hard to find an unoccupied taxi. (He was correct.)

Robert took us to the temple, waited for us, and then took us the Mall of Asia. Michenna received lots of stares; one little boy actually walked into a sign because he was looking at her.

We wandered around the mall for 2 hours, covering perhaps one-fourth of it. Robert picked us up and took us back to the hotel so we could catch our transfer back to the airport.

Tomorrow: Sydney, day 1

Michenna's Baptism Day

Michenna turned 8 this month. I'm not sure where all the time has gone between her birth and this very special birthday. She was baptized Tuesday evening at Sirena Beach. Grandma and Grandpa v.B. were able to fly out to Guam, and many wonderful people from the church were there. It was a beautiful experience.

Michenna's baptismal font - the Pacific Ocean

Sitting at the pavilion with Grandpa and Grandma.

Walking down to the beach

Carefully entering the water

A family picture just after the baptism

Spencer and Michenna

Three generations wait for Michenna's confirmation.

Happy birthday and congratulations, Michenna!

Girl Power

Michenna is at that age where she wants to make money, but she isn't quite old enough to babysit or mow lawns. She asked me to help her find a way to earn some money (okay, she actually asked for a raise in her allowance and I said no), and this was the solution:

Michenna's Power-Washing Service.

She gets $1 for every sidewalk square. The square must pass inspection before she gets paid. She has so much fun - and gets soaked every time.

She's a quirky kid. Today she was so excited because we hung up her poster of the periodic table. Before you get too concerned - about her or us - check out the website http://www.basherworld.com/. This is science on an amazingly fun, understandable level. Michenna has the periodic table book and the physics book, and wants the others as soon as we can get them!