Summer time with the grandkids is fading fast

It is hard to believe that Zach and BeBe have been with us for almost 2 full months. Next week our younger son, Aaron, will arrive in Singapore to collect his daughter. He will stay until August 17 and return home to Houston with BeBe. Zachary also will leave on the same day, but he will be flying as an unaccompanied minor on another airline and route. We have decided to take the marina car over to Singapore to pick up Aaron when he arrives, and return with him to Puteri Harbour Marina in Malaysia for about a week. Then take the boat over to Singapore around August 9 or 10 and stay there until everyone flies out the following week. That way Aaron will have the opportunity to see both a tiny bit of Malaysia and everything he might want to see in Singapore. Maybe we will rent a car and drive over to Malacca, although neither Bill nor I have heard of anything in Malacca that calls out to us to come see. We understand that the marina in Malacca was recently totally destroyed by high winds, so if we don't drive there then we will be skipping Malacca altogether.

The only regret I have had about the grandkids activities this summer is that our dinghy developed a severe leak and we have no more hypalon patch material or the proper adhesive to effect a repair. So the kids have not been able to go fishing in the dinghy in the Johor Strait as we had planned. We had bought little fishing rods for them to use in the dinghy. Guess we will hang onto those rods and they will be able to fish when they visit us next summer in Turkey or Greece. Both kids have announced that they plan to visit us in the Med next summer. Wonder if their parents know of these plans.

A few days ago a young Malaysian couple of Chinese descent had a few of their wedding photos taken aboard S/V BeBe. Jasmine is a pharmacist who has assisted us in obtaining a few routine prescription medications; and her fiance, James, works in Singapore; I believe James is an aeronautical engineer. They are each very nice and we enjoy their company. A lot of brides and grooms have their wedding photos taken at this marina -- always up on the mainland seating area under the palm trees and on the wide concrete retaining wall around the marina. But Jasmine and James are the only ones who have been invited to have their photos taken aboard one of the sailboats. We thought they might enjoy having a unique setting for some of their wedding photos. The local custom is to have many professional photos taken in several wedding gowns at many locations. These photos are done months before the actual wedding. A photo album is prepared and the "wedding book" is displayed to the wedding guests. This same custom is followed in Korea and Vietnam. Possibly this is the norm for all the SE Asian countries, but we know for certain that this is commonly done in Korea and Vietnam as well as here in Malaysia.

After the photo shoot we joined James and Jasmine at the marina cafe for dinner. It was nice visiting with them. Who knows what the future will hold. We encouraged them to stay in touch. If nothing else, they can follow this website and be advised of our future locations. They are invited to visit us aboard S/V BeBe somewhere in the Med if such a trip for them becomes feasible during the time we are cruising that area.

Before Jasmine and James arrived with their photographer, we had the boat washed by one of the marina staff on his day off. Then Zachary and Bill polished the stainless -- that never-ending job. Zach is a champ at polishing brightwork and doesn't complain a bit.

Yesterday BeBe finally actually rode a bicycle on her own. She still cannot start off on her own and requires a starting push, but that will come with practice on her own. She had told her mom in a telephone call a few weeks ago that she now could ride a bike (yeah, right -- about 30 feet). When she got off that phone call, I told her that now she HAD to really learn how to ride on her own before her father arrived or her parents would know she had lied and would be very disappointed. The deadline threat must have kindled her interest because she finally got serious about learning how to ride. We celebrated with ice cream sundaes at the marina cafe last night after dinner.