We decided to go at the last minute because we heard the water would be calm which would make a HUGE difference in terms of the sea sickness. Unfortunately, my older sister and her family did not join us.

Whales…..

More whales…..

Tails….

For me, not only was seeing those incredible animals up close and doing their thing,

• like feeding,
• flipping their tails on the water to get more fish up,
• diving  
• waving at us with their fins

.. but the interactions between the cousins was just as exciting.

They are cousins…… they are friends!

Jilly and Mama 

Each of Jill's youngsters checked out my sons braces.  They had fun discovering any type of food that was available on the boat (I guess seeing the whales eat made them very hungry.)

It was an hour ride out to where the whales are, and an hour back.  

Why is it the way back is Always Longer??

That was a great time to just relax, catch up with each other and see how the kids entertained themselves. ,

"The journey is as important as the arrival"  

In this case,  the arrival of seeing so many Whales all over the place, searching for the blows so we could go and see a different group of whales, was more exciting than our journey,  but I loved the journey as well.

You are on the boat, no where to go, the sun is shining, the wind in your face, and you just have to relax and enjoy the free time and togetherness.

There are some people that miss out on amazing moments because they focus on what you might be doing,  like riding in a car, or 4 hours on a boat.  

I always say, it really doesn't matter what we are doing, as long we are doing it together!  

Together,  Together… life is sweet,  especially when there are some whales in the middle!!

Happy Whale Watching!!

Time is flying by and the summer is already here.  The kids are counting the days until the end of school, and friends from the United States have returned after spending  3 years in Atlanta.  All of their kids are now speaking English, and with a Southern accent I might add!

As we start to plan our 6 months away, my kids are beginning to realize that as exciting as time away, in so many different incredible countries can be, it can also be difficult to be away from all of their friends for so long.  One of the points for this trip is for our family to have special time, and lots of it, together.

There is no doubt that Facebook and Skype will ease the separation, but I am sure they will have their meltdowns once in a while.  Each one will have their own laptop, first to stay in touch with school and secondly to stay connected with their friends.  They have already told me they want to give their best friends a Friendship Stone, to remind that they are still with them.  As each of them are always putting away their favorite stones as we go through the sorting for the 3^rd time, they have a nice stash already to be able to give away.

I am always amazed at which stones my children choose as their favorites.  It teaches me that beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder.  Each one of my kids has their own special type of stone.

So as we start to think about packing our bags, we are also thinking of what we will be leaving behind, both symbolically and physically.  I always like to look forward, but it is also important to think about, at least for a bit, about where we are today.  We want to make sure that in all of our excitement on our travels, our friends back home also know they remain in our hearts.

Last year my husband sent me to Japan with my mom for 2 weeks to celebrate my 50^th birthday.  It was a year ago; this week I will be 51!

OMG, never quite got used to 40, much less 50 and now I am already 51!

When we were in Kyoto, we discovered this amazing restaurant that is on the second floor, overlooking a small little creek.   Sakaya agremant, near Takase River,  Stellam 2F. Phone # 075-253-0550, opened 17:00-24:00.  When I went inside, my Mom decided to wait downstairs to make sure that that we could get in so she would not climb the stairs for nothing.  He told me they did not have room, but I begged him to let us in, it was late, we had walked around all day and night and were exhausted and just wanted to eat something authentic Japanese (not Italian).  He took mercy on us and agreed to find us room. It turned out to be my favorite restaurant and we returned 3 more times!!

The best home made tofu I ever ate! I think I will ask him if we can spend a day in his kitchen when he makes it to learn his secret.  He did not really speak English and I don’t speak Japanese, but we communicated.

His restaurant was one that you have a choice of veggies, chicken or Kobe Beef, choice of 3 different qualities, and then he brings it on a plate, not cooked and you cook it yourself on a small grill in front of you, and then dip it in a sauce.

When we came back the second time, I told him we were celebrating my birthday, so he decided to treat us to cold sake to celebrate with us.  I asked him to join us, and he was so surprised and happy to do it!  (He was the owner of this restaurant, but I guess that maybe that was not something that usually happens in Japan. SO then I decided to give him a Spontaneous Friendship Stone (I always have them on me- for those wonderful Random Acts of Kindness) as I wanted to say thanks to him for his generosity and good wishes. He was so surprised and appreciated it so much that he then came back with a huge plate of the best Kobe beef, on the house for us!  That is one of the things I discovered, once you start the gift giving, it keeps on going, so great!!

I took a few pictures of him when I was there, and when I was home,  I printed them up as 5×7 and put them in nice frames and then sent them back to him.  He does not speak English, so I have no idea if he remembered me or that I took his picture, I also sent him the image of his incredible tofu, and hope hw will be able to enjoy those images and I still have the taste in my mouth and wonderful feelings of making a friend that I can not speak to. I can’t wait to go back to Kyoto to see him and eat his food again!

I am talking about a real swing, the type of swing that you drop 210 feet and then swing out over trees tops.  Now that was scary and thrilling at the same.  The scariest part was the fact that I actually had to release myself for the drop.  I was thinking as I was pulling the pin out that was holding me up; maybe this is really just a bit crazy?  But after I did it, Wow, what a thrill.  I screamed like crazy,  (that was fun too) and then started to enjoy the swinging.

The reason I think friends that swing together stay together is connected to my good friend from Mexico.  She was absolutely terrified to go on this swing.  I convinced her it would be fun , not really realizing what was involved.

Swinging with Friends

Once we got there and saw what it was, she did not think she could do it.   With a bit of encouragement, she made the decision she was going for it.  She had opted out of a bungee jump the day before and was determined not to let fear stop her this time.

Amazing View

The guy that straps you in at the top of the swing liked to scare you as he was connecting you, by telling you how the swing was so much scarier than the bungee jump.   I went first and let him know to not even go there with my friend, as I was sure she would back out if he started telling her how scary the swing was.  He took me seriously and just helped her out, no stories.

Here I Go!

Screaming - Fear or Fun?

I will Swing with you anytime my friend!

The feeling of “I DID IT” is so amazing afterwards, that your connections to the people around you that encouraged you to take that swing, are strengthened 10 fold.  The group that all took the swing together, encouraging each other towards that moment of pulling the pin out, were empowered and forever connected.

Huge thanks from me to all my swingers out there!!

When I was 17, I came to Israel the first time, on a youth group program for 6 weeks.  It was a dream come true for me.  I fell in love the first time, two ways.  First with a boy, who I was with for 5 years-long distance, and secondly, with Israel, where I have lived the past 25 years.

I went off to University of Texas at 18, the first time really living away form home.  I went thru lots of changes. First of all, I found out I had Ulcerative Colitis.  Secondly, I started to question EVERYTHING, including Israel.  (That is why I think it is important to put some distance between yourself and your parents, you need the space to really grow and decide what you want out of life).   Where I use to think something was white, I now thought it was black, basically I was spinning around and around in my head with all the questions of youth, what is it al about, do I really believe this etc.. At one point I just had to stop myself from thinking in order to stay sane.

But one thing I did realize, was I had this dream of Israel for 4 years and that I really should make an educated decision on whether to move there or not. In order to do that, I would need to go there, live there and then see how I felt after a year.  I did not want to just give the dream up, but I also did not want to follow it blindly.  Maybe my direction was changing.  I was the kind of person that could change directions, but I always had to have a direction.

So I came home during Thanksgiving vacation and told my parents why I had to go and study a year in Israel my sophomore year, so I would know what was my direction.  They supported me 100%, and I think secretly hoping I would decide to change my direction and not move away. I signed up for the one-year program at Hebrew University.  It was perfect, I would receive credits for all of my courses, but they would not count the grades.  Now what more could you ask form a year abroad.  It meant I only had to pass and I would go back a Jr. Wow, now that was just what the Doctor ordered!

Speaking of Dr.’s, I had to have one of course, for my disease had been getting progressively worse, with a few flare-ups’ under my belt by then….

The Girls in China

This was my first trip to Singapore.

Singapore is only 2 hours south of Bangkok, but there is an hour time difference. We are gathering from all over the world for a World Wide kickoff for my husbands work.   The first one I attended was 8 years ago in Beijing, China.

I was the “spouse”.  The first meeting, we were around 14 spouses, a great group of women from all corners of the earth, many from South America.  Spanish was definitely the dominant language that week.

It was the beginning of a long distance friendship between many of us and we look forward to meeting each other once or twice a year.

The Girls in India

Many of us stay in contact thru emails and it truly makes my husbands work feel like one big family.  It is an amazing opportunity to be able to have friends in almost every country we ever go to. That is one of the exciting experiences we have in our traveling, spending time with locals, making fantastic memories.

In Singapore, I re-met friends from Mexico, Peru, United States, Brazil, Australia, Sweden, Poland, China, Japan,  and more.

There are a lot of fun things to do in Singapore, especially on Sentosa Island.

We had so much fun riding the Luge down the hill, and seeing the Zip line.

There is a Botanical Garden there that has over 1000 species and 2,000 hybrids are now found in the Gardens’ collection, with about 600 species and hybrids on display!  Orchids are my absolute favorite flower!

I only buy Orchids when I want to bring a flower gift, they cost a bit more,  but they last for months,  the best deal for your money.  And best part is, they flower again the next year if you keep watering them.

One of the things that they do in Singapore that I have never seen anywhere else is called a “Fish Spa”.

We did this after going on the Flyover that shows you Singapore from the sky, a bit like the Eye in London.  It is a lot of fun to do with friends.  As you all sit around and put your feet into a pond filled of tiny fish that eat away at the dead skin on your feet.  I did not do it, but went for the traditional reflexology, but my daughter was the first one in and couldn’t get enough!

The Girls in Singapore

My favorite parts of Singapore however were by far Little India and China Town.

It felt like being in those places and all the fun stuff to buy there.  I am much more a market shopper than a mall shopper,  so that was just up my alley!

I decided to take my youngest daughter with me on this trip, as it was her “turn”.  I try to do a trip with each one by themselves, so I can totally focus on one child.  It was the absolute best and I can’t recommend it enough for anyone that has more than one child. We also made Pewter bowls together, went swimming and had lots of time for holding hands and lots of hugs.   Now, she too knows who are all of my girlfriends from around the world that I have talked about all these years!

How blessed I am!

One of our favorite massage parlors in Bangkok, is Lek Foot Massage,.   They are located right across from the Novotel  Hotel and Siam Paragon Shopping Center.  I discovered this place a few years ago when I went to Thailand in search of the perfect pouch for my Friendship Stones, and have been running back there as soon as I arrive in Thailand ever since!

You can get a 1 hour head and shoulders massage, and at the same time a 1 hour foot reflexology massage for the grand total of 500 Baht, which is about 15.50$!  That is four hands, can you believe that!  This is one of the reasons we LOVE Thailand!  We all line up for our massages.  Nothing like a Family all getting massaged together.  What is great in Thailand is that everyone does it,  no matter where you are or who you are, there is a place to get a massage. We managed to get three in a 24 hour period! We were definitely their best customers that day.

Then we would run across the street to the Siam Paragon Center, that is also a MUST see in Bangkok.  The lower floor with the food court is not to be believed, any kind of food you could ever want.  Of course, I have a favorite there too as well,  MK’S, Thai Sukiyaki

My Favorite Restaruant

I LOVE their Green noodles and roast Duck,  and I always ask for extra duck sauce,  I don’t know how they make it but it is the best I have ever tasted.  My husband and Daughter also fell in love with it, so we also managed to eat it twice!  Because I was with my family, I got to try the hot pot, which was really fun.  You order all kinds of veggies and meat and cook it in the hot soup and then dip it in a sauce.  Really good!

So, that was Bangkok, great food and wonderful massages.  Helped us over jet lag before we headed off to Singapore.  Fill you in on that tomorrow…

First,  Singapore is beautiful and we are having an amazing time.  I am so blessed that I can travel and take my children with me.  We have decided that we will take each child on their own trip– so this was Gymnasts trip.  My other two children also had their “on their own trips”  It is a whole other world spending quality time with one child when you are used to spending it with three.  As I put my daughter to sleep last night and she told me “that there is nothing more that she could ever ask for in a Mother” I knew this trip will remain in our memories for a lifetime!

For all of you who are arriving to my new blog and site for the first time, I thought that I should introduce to you the Friendship Stone Team, you can read their full bios on the site but this is more of a personal note.

Jill – She is my best friend – and my sister – what is better than that!  She is an amazingly talented woman, a professional culinary stylist, a fabulous mom and great to work with.  She deals with the company’s entire PR, content, and lots more! She truly is the Gift Specialist.

Laure – We met in Art School in CA, many years ago and have remained soul sisters and best of friends.  Laure is an amazing photographer, and expert quilter (oy you should see her stuff) an amazing mom and of course fun to work with. Laure takes care of all of our logistics, shipping and inventory!

Shari – she came into our circle of friends through the smallest of Job Ads in the world – I was looking for a personal assistant! (Didn’t realize the scope of the business when we first started).  Shari is a multi-tasker extraordinaire, a great mom and a wonderful friend.  Shari is our web producer – she makes sure that you can read this blog and runs all three of our company sites!

A few months ago Jill, Laure and I met up in Florida for the Big Brothers Big Sisters National Conference.  Our partnership with BBBS was announced there.  What an honor to be involved with such an important mentoring organization. As we live in different cities – different continents – being together at this event was very fulfilling.

I turned 50 this year – and one of the best birthday gifts was to spend time with Laure and Jill in Thailand together!  Just having fun in the sun – Three best girlfriends!

So I will be back in a few days – and  I will let you in on the tales from Singapore – the people I met, the places that we visited and the friends that we made!

Have an amazing day

Cathy

Hi

I am on my way back from Brazil – had an amazing time with my family.  I am so excited to start – re start my blog in this wordpress format.  I have lots to tell you all and I am not sure where to start but I have been making notes during my vacation.

Keep posted!