Sweet, sweet Phuket

The family got out of town for a few days and lived the life of luxury at the J.W. Marriott in a 2 bedroom suite. A family could get used to this.

Lana was awesome on her first flight (at 3.5 weeks old...not bad).

Kai and Milla loved the beach and Milla's swimming skills came in handy as she slid down the water slide at least a hundred times.

More photos to come on the picasa site, but in the meantime, here are some great ones that Justin took while we were there.

Also, check out the baby Lana album as there are some good ones that Justin took in there too of her.

Lana has arrived!

On October 23rd at 1:23 PM Lana Matte Hue Harter was born. Kylie did awesome in our fastest delivery yet (hey, they can't all last 3 days!). It was a special holiday here in Thailand and so a very lucky day for Lana to choose to come out.

We have spent a week now getting to know her and she is a dream. Such a good baby and SO CUTE!!! Yes we are biased, but it's true.

Kylie is doing great and Milla and Kai LOVE their new sister.

Check out our album of Lana's first week of life.

Painting Fun

Picasa Web Albums - The Harters - Kids Painting

Kids had a blast painting on our back patio. Hey, all the photos can't be special events. Sometimes you just want to capture the stuff they do every day.

A trip to the Jungle

Picasa Web Albums - The Harters - A trip to Kao...

We went up to Kao Yai for a weekend with friends. Kids had a blast riding on elephants through the jungle and into the river. Milla was with her friend Kathleen and both got to "drive" the elephant.

Kai rode with Mum and Dad and he didn't want any part of getting in front. Our photos are mostly thanks to our driver who ditched us 2 minutes in and left us and the elephant to fend for itself as he walked and took photos. Not particularly reassuring. Dad took over driving at one stage and even managed to convince himself that he was doing something to influence the elephant's path. Yeah right.

We also walked through the jungle and did a night safari drive looking for animals...no tigers or elephants, but we did see many deer and some snakes on the road.

One amazing highlight...a terrific Italian restaurant in the middle of nowhere up there. Fantastic pasta, fresh-baked bread and amazing desserts. The jungle is hard living...

Kai starts school

Kai started at pre-school today. Milla started last week at ISB...photos to come from that.

Check out the photos at our Picasa gallery.

Kai loved it all. No tears when we dropped him off and he settled in great. He finished the day telling Kylie how much he loved school and how he wants to go every day!

The Photos are here

The biggest upload of photos since we started the picasa gig!

Almost 100 photos from Kylie's camera from most of the summer. I say most, because you look back and realize how many times you didn't have the camera with you for things: Boston with Pete, the zoo in DC, the river with the Pucketts and so on and so on.

Oh well...these photos will have to do.

Enjoy. More blog posts to come on different parts of the trip. For now, enjoy the pics.

Summer 2007 back in the US

Finally, an update to the family blog!

After school got out in June we flew back to VA to spend time with family back in the US. Kids were great...flights were smooth and jet lag was minimal.

Had a wonderful time with so much family time in VA, Todd, Julie & Co. in Newport News, Gordon & Ginger and Co. in South Carolina, Careys, Eversoll-Gallaghers, and Sharp-Arahnas in New Hampshire, and Pete in New Hampshire too. Lots of driving, but tons of fun. (Still didn't get to see too many people.)

I will write about each of the trips in their own posts as we get pics up for each, but since we did get photos up (finally) of family shots (thanks to Jen's photos) I thought I'd post that link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dennisharter

Check out the new galleries. As always the link to the gallery is over in the links section on the right as well. We'll upload the photos that Kylie took all summer soon.

Back to work!

Old Friends

Saw Michelle LeFevre last night with her boyfriend, John. Was great to see her again after 15 years. Reminded me how that international school connection (or is it just JIS) is so strong even after all of these years, that it's easy to fall back into easy conversation and generally being happy for each other. Friendship is strange that way. How do we define friendship? Is it the continual contact? Is it more than that? Or is it a bond that remains despite distance, time, etc? On one level the continual contact seems so important, but at the same time, there is comfort in the knowledge that you would always be there for someone if they needed you, through some older but common bond.

Admitedly, this doesn't come into play often, since the more "contacted-friend" is more likely to fill this role, but with people spreading around the world, it's cool to know that bonds transcend just regular contact and instead extend to shared experience.

Maybe all just gibberish. It was just cool to see how happy she is.

Sick as a dog

No new photos at this time, mostly due to them being on the other computer. I have to start blogging from the Mac! Everyone's sick in the house. Nothing serious, just a lot of runny noses and tissues.

Dennis has been traveling a lot lately. First 8 days in Foslom, CA, just outside of Sacramento. Then 4 days in Chiang Mai, Thailand chaperoning 160 grade 8 students (there were other chaperones as well!). Good to be home to stay for a while.

Kids are well...new photos to come soon.

Back from Oz

Back in Bangkok now after a wonderful vacation in Australia. Spent the first half of the holiday in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast and then then Christmas Eve on with family in Melbourne. The highlight of course was meeting our new nephew/cousin, Reed!

Pictures will come soon. My computer crashed before the break, and I didn't lose data, but I did lose my Picasa settings. So in re-installing, I have to create all of the web albums again. Also upgraded the home Mac, so we should have the new photos uploaded and on the web later this week.

Let 2007 be a peaceful year for everyone.