I Love This About Grocery Shopping!

Birds in the ice cream aisle

Our Church Today

Today, January 25, was the 22nd anniversary of our church - Hillside Baptist.  We did not come dressed up for the occasion and nor did a lot of the other people of the congregation as today was also "spring cleaning" for the church.  There was a special message about worship from a visiting pastor, then we had a "pot bless" which is the church's version of a potluck.  Usually we bring a veggie plate (except cauliflower as that doesn't seem to go over very well here) or sandwiches (tuna sandwiches and egg sandwiches are favourites) but this time we were asked to contribute money.  There was a picture taken of the founding members of the congregation from 22 years ago with a birthday cake (first picture below) and then a picture of the current pastors.  After pot bless we got to work cleaning.  It certainly didn't feel like spring cleaning because it doesn't feel like spring.  After all, it is January and whoever heard of spring in January, and also it just feels like either a hot summer or a hot and rainy summer all year long.  These days it feels like a hot summer.  Our family was in charge of taking the plastic off the legs of some new chairs in the main room though Hannah was doing some cleaning at that time in the youth room upstairs.  Then we zip tied chair legs together so chairs are in groups of three.  Then we worked for a bit on taking the sticky tack off the floor after tape was taken off the floor that had previously indicated where chairs were to line up on the linoleum.  The girls did a bit of mopping.  We ended with eating a curry puff (similar to a samosa) and some water.  That was a full day from 10:30 to about 4 p.m.  It was a good day.

From left to right:  Micki (assistant to the executive pastor), Pastor Lily (children's and visitation pastor), Pastor John (head pastor), and Pastor Andrew - also called Pastor Bun (executive pastor)

School Newsletter - February 28, 2014

Every week I email a newsletter to parents to let them know of upcoming events, to inform them of what units and topics were presented that week, and I always include some pictures I took during the week.

This newsletter is from awhile ago but it shows some great moments from our class chapel last year.  The students performed some songs for the rest of the elementary students and parents who came.  They also acted out three vignettes - Joshua and the walls of Jericho (the stacked brown boxes in the pictures below is the wall the falls over), Esther approaching the king that ultimately ended in the demise of Haman, and a little bit from the life of Samson (one of my personal heros from the Bible).  Some students also wrote short scripts and then presented them about how they have trusted God in their own lives.  The theme of the chapel was on trusting God.  I was so proud of them in their presentation of this message.

Transportation - 3 More

This week we thought of three more ways we have travelled.

- Canoe (thanks, Dad, for reminding us about this one) (Canada)

- Bamboo Boat (Vietnam)

- Horse (Canada, Malaysia)

This man was one of the happiest men ever, getting us to join in singing, though we couldn't understand each other.  He gave us those hats to wear and had Kate pick some "flowers" from the riverbank

Kate is sitting tall and proud

Transportation We Have Used, by Kate

We have used a lot of transportation.  Here is a list of all the transportation:

1. Bus - Public Transit (Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico)
2. Bus - Hop/On-Hop/Off (Singapore)
3. Bus - Coach (Malaysia, Cambodia to Vietnam)
4. Tuk Tuk (Bangkok)
5. Car and Van (Canada, Malaysia)
6. Motorcycle (Indonesia)
7. Bike; Rollerblade; Ripstick (Canada, Malaysia)
8. Boat - Cruise (Canada to United States)
9. Boat - Fast Boat (Indonesia, Malaysia)
10. Boat - Ferry (Canada, Malaysia)
11. Boat - Junk (Vietnam)
12. Airplane (All Over)
13. Taxi (Indonesia and Canada)
14. Walking (Lots of places)
15. MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) - (Singapore, Canada)
16. Train (Malaysia to Thailand)
17. Elephant (Thailand)
18. Cable Car (Israel)

Indonesian Taxi

These are Tuk Tuks

For if you are in Indonesia and you are just sitting around taxis will keep on stopping, so when you are there you should always keep on walking.  For the fast boat do not try it or else . . . .

The taxis in Indonesia (the island of Lombok) were blue.  They were very cheap to ride in.  If you asked them to take you somewhere they would know where you were trying to go even if it was a long way. When we had to go to the Pearl Farm a taxi took us there.  It was a very long car ride being squished.  I ended up throwing up.  I think the breakfast and the taxi ride made me do that.  The taxi had only room for four people so I had to sit on my mom's lap and Liz had to sit on Hannah's lap.  

Universal Studios, by Elizabeth

Boxing Day in 2014 was my favorite day ever because on Boxing Day we went to Universal Studios.  Before we got in we had to wait a long time. We saw the gates all open because we were the first people there. I saw a mascot called Po from Kung Fu Panda. Then we went on the first ride. It was a Transformer ride. On the ride you have to fight and escape one of the bad Transformers. Then we went on the Accelerator. It spins you around. That was all in the Sci Fi section of Universal Studios. Next we went to the Egyptian section. The first ride in that section was The Revenge of the Mummy. I went on it and I would rate it 'R' for Restricted. It was the scariest ride ever. We also went on Treasure Hunters which is a ride in a pretend jeep that shows a bunch of Egyptian stuff. It also showed pretend animals. The animals were leopards, crocodiles, and scarabs. Next we went to the Lost World section. It is based on the movie Jurassic Park. There is a Jurassic Park in the Lost World section. In Jurassic Park we went on the Rapids Adventure. There was a very long line-up. It was about an hour wait. Right before we got on the boat, it closed down because there was a mechanical problem. We had to wait another 10 minutes for it to be fixed and then finally we were able to go on the ride. It was really interesting. First, you are a bunch of tourists looking at dinosaurs but then the dinosaurs get out of their cages and begin attacking the boat. You go up an elevator and there is a dinosaur over your head. Then you go down a waterfall and get very wet and then the ride is over. It is very fun. Next, we went to the Far Far Away section. It is based on the movie Shrek. We went on the Shrek 4D Adventure which is basically a short movie about Shrek that is 4D. Then we went on Enhanted Airways which was a normal roller coaster. Kate and I went on a small ferris wheel and we all watched the show Donkey Live. The next section we went to was Madagascar which is based on that movie. We went on a Merry-Go-Round and the Madagascar Crate Adventure where we saw all the characters from the movie. Then we went to Hollywood. It is where we saw Lights Camera Action to see how movies are so realistic. It was really interesting. After that we saw a show about Christmas with a lot of dancing.

Walking towards the Revenge of the Mummy ride

Just outside of Far Far Away

In front of Shrek's house

Universal Studios, by Aimee

On Friday, December 26, we went to Universal Studios while we were visiting Singapore.  We took a bus and walked across a long bridge to get to Sentosa Island where Universal Studios was.  We went there because it was our Christmas present.  My favorite ride was either Revenge of the Mummy or theTransformers ride.  It was all really fun and my favorite section of Universal Studios was Far Far Away Land.  I liked Far Far Away Land because you could pretend you were in a fairy tale and there were cute advertisements and shops there.

Map of Universal Studios:

This is us in front of the famous Universal Ball just before we went into the park. There was mist spraying around it

This is a view of Far Far Away, a part of Universal Studios

This is the place where we had lunch

This is the building where the scariest ride that was open was held.
It was called Revenge of the Mummy and it was in the Egyptian section.  We are headed that way

This was a cute ride that we went on called Treasure Hunters. It was also in the Egyptian section.  You can see my dad and Elizabeth

This was a river rapid ride we went on and it was really scary

This was the Madagascar ride we went on called Crate Adventure

This was a Ferris Wheel ride that Kate and Elizabeth went on.. See if you can spot them! It was in the Shrek part of Far Far Away

This is us in front of Shrek's house

This is us coming around the corner of the Roller Coaster.  I am sitting with Kate and Hannah and Elizabeth are sitting behind us

This is the Shrek 4D Adventure movie we did

This is also a section of the Universal Studios park.  It rained sometimes that day

This was another very fun ride that we went on. It was 3D

This was us in front of the big Christmas tree at night

This is a picture of the scariest ride at Universal Studios but it was closed because it had cracks in the seals

This was a picture of one of the garbage cans in the "New York" section. Every section of Universal Studios had details like this

Outside of Universal Studios

A picture of us at the end of our day at Universal Studios.  We stayed from when it first opened to about half an hour before it closed

Universal Studios, by Kate

As the Universal Studios globe went around and around the crowds waited patiently for the gates to open and to be able to go into Universal Studios.  As you entered, Kung Fu Panda would greet you and you could take a picture with him.  After, you could enter any ride you wanted including some rides you get wet on.  My favorite ride was called Revenge of the Mummy.  It was about where a mummy tried to escape and it wanted a book.  I kept my eyes open the whole time even though it was very scary. After, we went on some other rides. One of them was called Transformers. In this ride, you were trying to escape from the evil Transformers.   It was a ride in 4D because a Transformer threw water at you.  It was so cool.  Another ride was where you got in a boat and you try to escape the floods but you go in an old abandoned research station.  There were also dinosaurs along the way. 

There were little "cities" in Universal Studios:  Far Far Away, Madagascar, Si Fi City, Hollywood, New York, Ancient Egypt, and Lost World.  In Far Far Away you got  to watch a 4D movie of Shrek. There was also a roller coaster that tipped everywhere.  In other "cities" there was a Merry-Go-Round, the Accelerator where you go around and around, a ride called Treasure Hunter where you ride a buggy and get to pretend you are Howard Carter. There was a tube ride with dinosaurs, a ride called the Canopy Flier where you go high above the park.  The ride Battlestar Galatica was closed down because there was problems with the ride.  In New York there was a ride called Lights Camera Action.  It was a movie scene set in an old boat house.  There was a category 5 hurricane.  It was scary. There were no rides that I know of in Hollywood.  Universal Studios was really fun.        

Aimee and I on the Treasure Hunters ride

Roller coaster and castle at Far Far Away

Four of us in front of the Universal Studios globe at night

This is not at Universal Studios (but it looks like it should be). It's a picture of me running to one of the pit stops (Fullerton Pavilion) when the Amazing Race was filmed in Singapore last season (it's my favourite TV show)