Turtles and Fish

I thought you might appreciate some artistic shots I took of the fish pond and turtle pond at the Malaysian Buddhist Temple.

Just heard from friends whom we met in Malaysia that went on to the Perhentian Islands after us. They said Malaysia just enforced an all out ban on diving/snorkeling off the islands in the South China Sea as the coral was dying too rapidly (this includes the Perhentians). This I am happy about. Yes, we did some amazing snorkeling, but I would say that at least 75-85 % of the coral we snorkeled above was dead. And the tourist are so careless. Despite it being a marine park, I witnessed a group of Asian snorkelers near me pick up a big sea creature from the sea floor (it looks like a giant Elizabethan collar) and bring it to the surface to look at it. I was horrified and snorkeled to them to shout “You can’t do that! Put that back! You’re destroying the environment!” They ignored me completely. I was very upset but as we were far from shore in deep sea, and since they were snorkeling in life jackets and I was commando (no life jacket just my snorkel equipment), I decided to leave the situation as I thought how easy it would be for them to hold me underwater and no one would suspect a thing except a snorkeler drowned in the deep sea.

Back to Kelowna: Got a little too much sun at the beach today. A good day out though. My girls and I met up with Mist’s buddy Ashley and cousins Nem, Artemi and their nanny Amy at Hospital Beach, aka BJ Beach–for reasons you can imagine as Miranda had to call the cops on her cell the other night to break up a couple carrying on on the sand right beside her family.

Very hot and dry in Kelowna. Fires break out daily and so far have been snuffed out quickly.

Mistaya passed her Bronze Medallion and we are very proud of her as she is a strong little swimmer. She went camping this past weekend with a friend and her family to Beaver Lake (in the mountains above Kelowna).
Tabs is happy as a lark to have so much time to play with her favorite cousin Nemi, and enjoying swimming lessons as well.

Pip is happy getting to play with her sisters and Artemi each day and taking swimming lessons with Artemis as well.
Pip likes to watch her sisters play a video game on the computer and she shouts out cheers for them nonstop. It sounds so adorable. It makes me laugh when I hear her little voice ringing through the house nonstop, “Cheer for Tabi! Cheer for Tabi! Run like the wind, Bull’s-Eye! Run like the wind, Bull’s-Eye! Cheer for Tabi! Cheer for Tabi!”–Bull’s-Eye is the name of the little boat in the video game that Tabs races in the game.

Still much work to do on the degree front.