Bowman Grooves to the Music

I borrowed my neighbor's iPod the other day.  Check out my moves.

Bowman Tells Second-Hand about Everest Base Camp

As I mentioned in my last post, my Dad recently returned from a trip he organized for six of the senior students at his school.  He's been working on the trip since last spring, and the boys have been training with Dad and their other leader, Mr. Ian, since August.  On October 7, they finally flew from Dhaka to Kathmandu, where they bought the last warm layers they needed, and then flew on this plane to Lukla.  The plane held 20 people.

When they got to Lukla on October 9, they started trekking right away.  While their loads weren't as heavy as this woman's

they did appreciate the breaks they had during their 13 days of trekking

and the meals they had at teahouses like the one where this Nepali girl kissed the picture of me that Mom had snuck into Dad's bag.

Most of all, though, they appreciated the views they saw of the tallest mountains in the world.

Look!  We see Mount Everest!

Each day they hiked, they got "farther up and further in" to the mountains, as C.S. Lewis would say, until they made it to 17,598 feet and Everest Base Camp on October 16.

It was actually the next day, after a cold night in one of these tents, that Dad said he had the greatest day, though.  On the morning of October 17, the whole team got up at 5AM and trekked up to the top of Kala Pattar Mountain at 18,200 feet to see the sun rise over Mount Everest.

I know I've said this before, but I do think my dad is pretty cool.  How many people have done what he did?  And how many have taken their students from zero feet of elevation all the way up there with them?  I hope they learned some lifelong lessons about challenging themselves and about God's incredible creation.

My Dad is Amazing!

Dad's home!  He got home on Saturday evening (only three hours later than he was supposed to), and I was super excited to see him.  Mom let me stay up almost an hour late to meet him.  Hooray for Dad being around!

Mom and I missed him for 16 days while he took a group of students to Everest Base Camp.  Obviously, I'm going to have to write more about this later, but his pictures and stories are pretty exciting, and I think he's amazing for taking those 15- and 16-year old students from 10 feet above sea level to 18,000 feet above sea level after two and a half months of stair training, pool workouts and long runs.  I hope I can keep up with him pretty soon.  He says he thinks I can make the trek when I'm about eight.

Bowman's First Pet

Hey, Mom!  Come quick!  Look what we caught in the tub last night.

You know how you're kind of annoying about making us keep the tub plugged at night so no cockroaches climb up the drain?  Well, this one must have fallen in and is stuck.

I know he's not all that big and impressive compared to a lot of them, but he's the only one who will stay in one place long enough for me to watch him.  Let's call him Guy since that's what I call all animals.   

Can we keep him, pleeeeease?

Bowman Acts American

Every once in a while, even a world-traveling toddler wants to act American.  Mom found out at the end of last year that the A&W (not a fake imitation, but almost the real thing, at least as far as the root beer goes) close to Dad's school has a ball pit.  Then, this year, the school started letting teachers use one of the busses on Saturdays, as long as they sign up early enough.  She tries to take me somewhere we can't easily walk to every Saturday after my nap, and twice now, I've gone to A&W.  I'm not the hugest fan of the strange foam on the float she buys so they'll let us stay there, but I do love the little play area!

Bowman Takes a Dip

To kick off the month of October, some of the board members from Dad's school invited us to go on a boat ride.

OK, so the boat didn't look exactly like the one carrying bricks above.  In fact, it was one of the same ones we took last year with the same generous board members.  Here's one of the shots we got boarding the boat a year ago.  Isn't festive looking?

The trip was much the same as last year - a lazy hour down the river, a break for our picnic lunch, and another hour back.  Although, this year, there was a lot more rain and huddling in the middle of the boat on the way back.  The highlight this time around was a dip in the water.  On our boat, there were some students who decided to take a swim at lunch time.  Of course, their swimming coach was not to be outdone, so Dad also decided to jump in.  And if Dad's doing it, you know I want to do it, too!

There were quite a few spectators on both boats, and, of course on shore who thought the idea of bideshis (foreigners) jumping in their river quite interesting.

I was also a bit baffled by the whole experience.  But, who doesn't love the chance to take off all one's clothes on a hot monsoon day?  (Don't worry, I was the only one who took off all of my clothes.  The other swimmers kept things much more decent.)

Right now, writing this is making me miss Dad quite a bit.  He's in Nepal, working his way up to Everest Base Camp with six students and one other leader.  How cool is that?  Sunday, October 16, is the day they're supposed to get up to Base Camp.  

Bowman Gets Verbal

I have to say that part of the reason I've been a bad blogger lately is that I'm so enjoying my new verbal skills that simple words on a page, or screen, aren't all that exciting to me anymore.  My day usually starts with an "Upees," which means I want to get out of my crib and get going.  It's short for "Up, please" that Grandpa worked hard to teach me this summer.

As soon as Mom gets me out of the crib, I usually say "go" "shooz" or "out," which all mean, "Let's get out of this apartment and explore."

Another of my favorite words is "wok" (walk) which I'm starting to combine into a phrase I use often, "go wok."

I also have words for lots of the things I like to do and put in my mouth, like "buk" (book) and the rhyming "muk" (milk).  I've learned that combining these words with assertive body language.  Like, if I say "eeet" and climb into my chair, it means I want a meal.  If grab an empty bottle and head for the fridge when I say "muk," I'm much more likely to get what I want sooner.  What fun it is to be starting to communicate!