Sargon, Habib and Sidal Come to Cedar City

We had the absolute pleasure of the company of Sargon and Habib when they came to visit us 2 weeks ago. They came for 2 reasons. 1-To bring Habib's younger brother, Sidal to start school as a student at SUU. He is the first Afghan student to attend. He has since started classes and is staying with us until he gets settled in student housing. He is a delight to have around and it is great for the kids to have interaction with yet another great person from another country and culture. Second reason and no less impressive or important was to donate $$ to open the Sargon Heinrich Global Engagement Center on the campus of SUU. It will serve international students in many ways and also help domestic students in finding opportunities for exchange and interaction with international peers. Sargon ROCKS! It wouldn't hurt at this time to direct your attention to Skateistan (http://skateistanthemovie.com/), a skateboard park that ACC International, Sargon and Habib's company in Afghanistan, helped to build in Kabul to offer an alternative to young Afghan kids who may otherwise take to the unsafe streets or worse, fall into the hands of terrorist groups looking for recruits.

Pictured here are Sargon, Habib, Sidal and the kids in front of our home on the day Sargon and Habib said goodbye to Sidal and left him here for his first college experience and first time away from his family.

Brad Gives Keynote Address

Last night was an event at SUU honoring the Utah High School coaches who had teams that won state championships this year. Brad was asked to give the keynote address. Of course he did a fabulous job.
The kids and I went to enjoy a great meal and to support Brad. I think the highlight of the night for the kids was the room it was held in. It looks a lot like a room out of Harry Potter, Hogwarts Academy. There were knights lining the walls and the boys were in 7th heaven.

Sam Competes in Chess in the Utah Summer Games

Yesterday Sam competed in his first Chess Tournament. He did great. The event lasted all day. He played 6 rounds, each consisting of 2 matches. He won about half of his matches. Most of the people he played against had been in chess matches before so this being his first made it a little more pressure but he handled in great.

Cairo Competes at The Utah Summer Games

Cairo swam the 50M Butterfly event today in the Utah Summer Games. She did great. Especially considering she hasn't competed for over a year. We don't have the final times yet but she finished 4th in her heat. We are proud of her no matter what. She's a star(fish).

Last Day of School 2010

The kids awoke to an invite to a Breakfast Party to celebrate the final day of school for year 2010. They were treated to their favorite breakfast of Belinis, fresh fruit, yogurt and their choice of beverage.
We're all excited to have the summer ahead of us. Lots of hiking, biking, playing with friends and family and loving the summer sun.

A Few Post-Game Pics of the Team

Sydney

We arrived in Sydney on Saturday morning, the same morning 16 year old Jessica Watson was arriving from her solo sailing trip around the globe. Sydney harbor would be an awesome sight on any day. But on this day with all the boats out to welcome Jessica and her little pink vessel back it was absolutely amazing!


World Famous Bondi Beach. The surf was crazy. There weren't even any surfers willing to hit the huge waves here. Great beach, fun people watching...not enough time!


We took a bus tour from the airport around Sydney to our hotel that was located right in Sydney harbor. From a point right above Bondi Beach we could see over the entire city, the famous Sydney bridge, the opera house, etc..

Brisbane - The Gold Coast

Eastern Most Point of the Australian Continent-Byron Bay




We've been on a lot of great beaches but the Gold Coast was simply one of the best. Because it's going in to winter there, there were hardly any people on this pristine beach with sand like fresh brown sugar. The sand was so clean and fine, it squeaked when we walked on it. The beach went on as far as we could see in each direction and the water was clear and blue.

Townsville

Brad went on another dive out of Townsville while I took the day to enjoy Magnetic Island with some of the group. We took a ferry out of Townsville and landed on the island where we hiked and within 15 minutes we were seeing/waking and bothering koalas in the trees above. This is one of the few populated areas where koalas can still be found in their natural habitat.

A Visit to the Zoo