Vacation at the Beach

Sorry it has been so long since we have updated you on life's happenings!! The past 2 weeks have been filled with packing our home, moving somewhere new, unpacking our home, finalizing our first quarter of the school year, and going on a mini-vacation! Our families blessed us by sending some extra money our way, and we were able to use that to treat ourselves to a beach getaway! We had a 4 day weekend at school because of a Cambodian holiday, so Brian and I, along with 18 other friends, set off last Friday to the coast.
The town's name is Sihanoukville, and is between 3 1/2-5 hours away by van. There is 1 highway we took to get there, which is only 2 lanes wide. What a difference from highways back home!! Anyway, we left on Friday after school and arrived around 8:45pm that night. We spend 4 nights and 3 full days there, and we had a BLAST. We were so fortunate to see another part of Cambodia, as well as to get out of the noisy polluted city. Phnom Penh is the most populated city in this country, and the rest of the country is virtually farmlands and rice paddies. We drove through very small towns, saw a very rural way of life, and enjoyed every moment of our trip. We swam in warm, clear ocean waters, we drank coconut milk, we played in the waves for hours, and we enjoyed thunder and lightning storms. Definitely a trip to remember. Here are some visual images from our incredible weekend (Remember: click on these photos to make them bigger):



The view from the highway: rice paddies and palm trees!



Occheuteal Beach (2 blocks from our Guesthouse)



One of the beautiful little girls selling bracelets, massages, etc. on the beach. We sat and talked with her for a long time, and taught her some songs about Jesus!



Fresh lobster anyone?



Occheuteal Beach at sunset (although the sun was being blocked by the clouds)



SO happy to be on vacation!!



Joanne, Anna, and Karie playing in the waves.



Loving life under the hut: we were waiting for the rain to stop so we could to play!



One of the sweet boys who was selling things: here, we were teaching him to play Uno.


Overall, great fun was had by all!! We are SO THANKFUL to our Mom's for providing us extra money for this trip. Without it, we would not have been able to go. We love you all; look for more updates to come!