March-April-May

After the LA marathon, we spent most of the time until the end of April with Carey and Greg and Kyler helping out. Kyler was born with a pulmonary valve stenosis and had to have many appointments and tests done. Eventually, at about 3 months of age, he had a heart catheter done from groin to the valve which opened it up and relieved the pressure, and thankfully,he has been doing quite well since. He is a real sweetheart.

We did go to Charles' 50th class reunion from his high school at LaSierra Academy in Southern California for a weekend in April. It was fun to see so many of his classmates and get caught up on years gone by. We eventually made it home for a couple weeks and celebrated Rylan's 7th birthday a bit late, and then went to Portland to help Charli Jo celebrate her 8th birthday before we flew to Florida to celebrate my Mom's 98th birthday. Cheryl and Kent and Melissa and Rylan made it to Florida for that one also. My Mom continues to do quite well at living on her own with help from my sister Evelyn who visits frequently from Ohio. And we go down usually several times a year. My Uncle Rex takes her grocery shopping, etc. every week, and other friends take her to church and other places.

May-June

We did the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho marathon the end of May and the next weekend did one in Helena, Montana, and the following weekend did another in Port Angelus, Washington on the Olympic Pennisula. From there we went to Portland and on to Sacramento in time for Greg's graduation from UC Davis with his MBA degree. Nice graduation service. It was also Father's Day that weekend. On the way home we brought Charli Jo back with us for about 10 days so she could enjoy being with us and her cousins, etc.

July

Made a flying trip to California for the funeral of our good friend Lillian Miller whom we had run, hiked, walked, marathoned with for 25 years. About 5 weeks later her husband also passed away.

It was a pleasure to have the Steckers visit us in July, and they talked us into going to China with them in September! Also went to a reunion in Oregon of friends who had worked in Africa. Got to see so many friends--really nice. We joined Cheryl and Kent and kids and friends at a camp on the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River one weekend when it was very hot. We sat our camp chairs in the river and relaxed in them to help keep cool!

August

The weekend of August 5 found us back in Sacramento again for a baby dedication of Kyler at church. Most all of our family and Greg's family made it there for that. Rylan and Charli Jo both lost upper front teeth that weekend!

Every time we were home, Charles and sometimes others would be working on our back and side yard projects. It was great to get so much done. The deck, patio pavers, built in flower beds, etc. Even nicer to get a lot of plants and shrubs planted. The deer enjoyed them too!! We have plenty of deer wandering through all the time.

We went fossil hunting at Republic, WA with Cheryl and Kent and kids one weekend and that was fun.

Carey and Kyler flew up to Spokane and our area on Aug 23 and stayed for about 2 weeks. It was fun to have them here and enjoy Kyler some more. On Aug. 29 my Mom and sister arrived for a week. The rest of the kids and grandkids made it for the long Labor Day holiday weekend. So we had a nice family reunion. Most of our Coeur d'Alene relatives and some friends also joined us for an evening also. That was the first time that my Mom and sister had met Kyler, they were very pleased to see and enjoy him. We also celebrated Evelyn's, Greg's and Melissa's (10th) birthday and our 45th wedding anniversary while everyone was together.

September

We left on our trip to China on Sept 15 and visited friends in the Loma Linda, CA area before we left out of LAX. Arrived in Beijing early the 18th. Spent several days there enjoying the tour with 88 people plus our national guides (who were with us on the whole tour for 2 weeks) and our local guides that we had at each location we visited. We were 3 bus loads. We were happy to be on the bus with the Rheeta and Elton Stecker and their daughter Jean and family and daughter Kathy and son. Plus there was a good group of others on our bus. We got to see Tianaman Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Ming Tombs, the Great Wall (very impressive), the Hutongs (by pedicab rickshaws), kindergarten, private home, teahouse, gardens, Lama temple, acrobatic show, kung fu show, Summer Palace, porcelain factory, fresh water pearl factory, etc, etc while we were staying in Beijing. Most of the places we visited in this area were thousands of years old. Really smoggy in China.

We flew to Xichang where the new big controversial dam is built and still not completed. Our river boat the MV Anna (newly launched in April 2006) was awaiting us for our cruise on the Yangtze River for the next several days. We toured the area of the new dam before cruising. It is the largest dam in the world, volume wise, but not the longest or the highest. But impressive. Due to the rising waters from the dam, 1.5 million people have been moved to higher ground or new cities, etc. along the river. The river is used heavily for transport of goods and people between Shanghai and Chonqing. From Wushan we transferred from the Anna to smaller boats to take us to lesser gorges on the Daning River. It was beautiful with high cliffs on both sides. Had to go on sampans for the last part. Another day we had a shore excursion at Fengdu also called City of Ghosts which was an interesting place to see with various ghost statues, chambers of torture, temples, etc. We went under one lovely newly completed bridge (July 2006) which will have only about 15 meters when the water level is raised to 175 meters as is the plan. Our Anna boat is 24 meters high. Not sure how they will solve that problem. They planned to have big ships going to Chongqing. Our cruise ended in Chongqing, where we were taken to the local zoo to see pandas. This is the area that the pandas are native to. Pandas do not like each other very much, so they are not reproducing very well. But it was fun to see them. However, the Tibetan bears were much more fun. They were ready to perform for us as soon as we came near their zoo home. They sat up and begged, caught apples, danced around in circles on hind legs, etc. Also saw the most humongous hippo we have ever seen. We visited the tigers and golden haired monkey and many birds as well, but did not have time for the whole zoo. Pandas were the main feature for us--both the small red ones and the large black and white ones.

The art gallery near the zoo was a fascinating place to see. The beautiful things the Chinese people create are just wonderful. We bought some banyon tree leaf paintings--exquisite. Met the artist too.

We flew on to Xian, the ancient capital of China. The most fantastic sights there centered around the Terra Cotta Warriors. They are amazing, and even more amazing how they have restored and reconstructed so many of them. There are still thousands more that have not been excavated. Also had a great dumpling feast and attended a beautiful cultural opera show in Xian.

We flew to Shanghai where we spent our last few days. We took the Maglev train from the airport to town. It is the fastest train in the world. Takes 7 min. 20 seconds to go 30km. It levitates. Amazing. We visted one of the oldest places left in Shanghai--the Yu Gardens and Yu Bazaar--about 600 years old. Most of the old buildings, etc. have been torn down and replaced with skyscrapers. Shanghai has more skycraper buildings (40+ stories) than any other city in the world. It has about 17 million people or more. We went to a silk factory, parks, towers, shops, etc. In one of the multi level malls, we met a family who are from Melbourne, Australia. We mentioned that we would be there in November, and they gave us phone numbers and address and said we should phone them when we got there.

We had to fly from Shanghai back to Beijing to catch our flight back to LAX arriving there the evening of Sept. 30. We caught flights on to Seattle and Spokane, where Kent met us at the airport. Got home about 1:15 AM Oct. 1st. It took us about 10 days or more to get adjusted to Pacific time again!

October-November

We went to Victoria, BC, Canada for a marathon the next weekend after we got back. We enjoyed that marathon very much last year because it was such a nice course and so well organized, etc. This year it rained most of the time, so not quite as enjoyable.
We went by way of Portland so we could deliver some souvenirs from China to Shelly and family.

We were busy trying to get our China pictures all edited and organized. Really were glad to have help from cousin Judy with that project--a learning experience for us all. Got it mostly done before we needed to leave for our month in Australia. We appreciated Judy and Warren taking us to the Spokane airport on Oct. 24th. We flew to Seattle and were supposed to fly to San Francisco, but as we came into Seattle airport, our names were being paged, and we discovered that our flight to SF was delayed and we would miss our flight to Sydney, Australia. So they had already rebooked us to fly to LAX, leaving in a few minutes, to go to Sydney from there, which worked out fine and got us into Sydney about 20 minutes earlier than we would have from San Francisco.

From Sydney, we took the first flight to Perth in West Australia to visit Sheila and Jerry Mundy and family--friends we knew in Malawi many years ago. By the time we landed in Perth, we had been on 4 airplanes for 24 or the 29 hours we had been gone from home. It was good not to fly for a few days and enjoy the sights with Sheila and Jerry. We stayed at their lovely home. They toured us to the Indian Ocean (20 min. from their home), to see kangaroos in the wild at a cemetary of all places, on a river cruise to Fremantle (where we did sightseeing of the historical places, etc.) and back to Perth on the boat, looked around Perth--lovely city with river and parks, and interesting shops, London Square, bell tower, etc. We went to the touristy town of York, also to an animal park where we got to pet the kangaroos and wallabys and hold a koala. The cockatoos kept saying "Hello" and "Hello, Darling" to us. Many of them talking at once! Some followed us around and had to be careful not to step on them. Beautiful parrots and other birds and animals there as well.

From Perth we flew to Adelaide, South Australia and had a good time exploring that lovely city full of parks and a river and interesting shops. We took a bus to Glenelg (spells the same forward or backward) beach and had lunch there. Took the historical tram back to Adelaide. We had only 1 1/2 days there before we flew on to Cairns, Queensland in the north. Changed planes in Melbourne, Victoria on the way to Cairns. We filled our days with tours there. Thanks to John Northage for his help and for taking us to the airport when we left Cairns. We toured an Aboriginal Cultural Centre which was quite fun and informative. After that we took the Skyrail gondolas for a 50 minute ride over the rain forests to the mountain village of Karanda. We had a few stops along the way on the Skyrail where we could get good views of the forests and waterfalls, etc. We explored the town of Karanda and had some passion fruit ice cream. I have a passion for passion fruit or granadillas, as we called it in Malawi! We took the scenic train back down the mountains through 15 tunnels back to Cairns. That was quite a full day. We did walk around town quite a bit that evening and in the park across from our hotel along the ocean front. The next day we took a full day boat excursion to the Great Barrier Reef. Weather was hot and clear and sunny. We went to Oyster Reef for snorkeling, etc. Then on to Upolu Cay, small sandy island for more water activities, etc. Fish were beautiful, also saw a sea turtle.
Looked around more of Cairns after we returned from the Reef. Next day our tour bus took us to the Daintree River that we crossed twice via small ferry, to Cape Tribulation, to a river cruise to see crocodiles and other sights, to an animal sanctuary with lots of birds and animals. They were also raising a baby wallaby that was an orphan now living in a soft bag/pouch to feel more secure. Visited Mossman Gorge, stopped at a fresh produce place and bought passion fruit, and saw Port Douglas before returning back to Cairns.

We flew from Cairns to Brisbane (also in Queensland) where we had a rental car reserved which turned out to be a small Hyundai SUV. It was comfortable, but did not get very good petrol mileage. But we used it for about 2 1/2 weeks. We had a very comfortable condo for a week about 50km southwest of Brisbane. It was located on the grounds of a wildlife sanctuary with mostly many kinds of birds and waterbirds with a nice lake there. Had some rain at various times on and off during that week, but tried not to let it interfere with our sightseeing too much. We spent a day at the Sunshine Coast at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. It is a very nice zoo and well kept. They had some big memorials to Steve. He is missed. He did a lot for ecology and wildlife welfare, etc. Got to pet the koalas and kangaroos, etc. again there. Also saw so many interesting animals. We went up the scenic Tambourine mountain area near where we stayed. Another day we went to Lamington National Park, not far, but on narrow winding roads. Went to a resort called O'Reilly's and took sunflower seeds with us for the parrots we had heard about. But not in our wildest imaginations, did we expect to have a hundred or so beautiful red/blue and red/green parrots clamouring all over us trying to get the sunflower seeds. It was quite an experience and will long be remembered. We took an 18km hike (bushwalk) through the rain forests there, crossing the river many times and enjoying the sights. Even had leaches crawling all over our shoes trying to get in. We had put insect repellent on, but not on our shoes. So had to keep checking for them and pulling them off. They were not too bad as long as we kept moving. But it was a lovely hike. One day we drove to Byron Bay just across the New South Wales state line from Queensland. There we went for a very scenic flight in a motorized glider plane. Our pilot was an American, but has immigrated to Australia many years ago after being a bush pilot in Alaska, etc. He used the engine for taking off and then turned it off and we glided with the current over the mountains. Had great views of the ocean too. There were some dolphins and a whale and gorgeous beaches with no one using them. Charles and I took turns going up in the glider because it was a one passenger plane besides the pilot. After that we went to the macadamia nut place and bought some nuts to eat along the way. Went up the coast to Surfers Paradise beach and by the time we got there, the sky fell in with such heavy rain and wind--couldn't see the car ahead of us! Trees and branches were down everywhere. Finally got back to our condo and it had rained and hailed a bit there, but nothing like we had just been in. We spent some time in Brisbane at the botanical gardens, shops, etc. Three hours of parking cost us A$24. Parking seemed to be expensive everywhere. We enjoyed another nice drive along the coast and beaches south of Brisbane down to Surfers Beach which we could see that time. It is a lot like Miami Beach with tall hotels along the waterfront, etc. Our last day in that area we drove to Mt Warning in northern NSW and to other national parks in some very scenic areas. It was drizzling on and off that day, so didn't do much bushwalking.

After a week in that area, we left our condo and drove to Carey Bay, NSW where we visited Graham and Roseanne Stacey and some of their family. It was so good to see them again and appreciated their hospitality. They live in a great place with nice views. They lived in Loma Linda, CA for 11 years where he pastored at the University Church most of that time and she taught school. Now he is teaching at Avondale College a short drive away and she is also teaching primary school. Graham took us on a tour of the College. Have heard a lot about it, so enjoyed seeing it.

It was lovely to visit Dorrilyn and Errol Collins in Wahroonga, NSW. And also get to see their family--Brendan and his boys and Susan and her husband and little girls. They had stayed with us in Loma Linda 23 years ago, and wanted us to stay with them when we came to Australia. They were all so helpful in getting us around to see the most we could while in that area near Sydney for a couple days or so. We enjoyed lovely views from White Head lookout and then went down the mountain to the beach and rocks below and back up again to the cars. In Sydney, we had some rain which slowed us down for some of the places we wanted to see for a bit, but we had a tour of the Opera House, strolled the beautiful botanic gardens and other parks, took ferry to Manly Beach. Also ferried around the inner harbour. Did the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, which was a lot of fun with great views. We were suited up and attached to a cable with all safety precautions for the 3 1/2 hours we spent on that experience. Also went up the Sydney Centerpointe Tower for more great views of the whole area. It probably took us about an hour to actually leave Sydney on our last day there. We were at peak hour traffic in the masses of vehicles and on one way streets that did not allow us to go where we needed to be, but after driving in circles, we eventually made it out and drove on down south to Wollongong where Yvonne (Vogels) and Allan Wallace were awaiting our arrival for a lovely dinner. They had been very helpful when they heard we were going to Australia and sent us lots of maps and brochures, etc. to study before we left the USA. They had just spent several weeks in Europe in Sept-Oct. Yvonne spent some time in Malawi while we were there 30 years ago. They treated us like royalty in their lovely home and toured us a whole day from the mountains to the beaches to the rolling fields of farms and to small country towns, etc. Loved the area.

When we left that there, we drove southwest to Canberra, the capital city of all of Australia. It is in the midst of rolling hills which are quite dry. Australia is having a big drought in many areas. We went up the Black Mountain tower to get good views of the area. Had fun at the miniature village with buildings representing places in many different countries. Went to the National Capital Exhibition and looked around town and the government buildings, etc. Then headed to the Snowy Mountains, where it had actually just snowed the day before. When we got to Thredbo where we would go up the ski chair lift for a ways and then do the 13km round trip walk to the top of Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko, about 7300 feet high. It was an easy walk mostly on metal grids to keep folks off the tundra.

Drove on toward Melbourne on some very scenic sparsely traveled roads. When we got to Melbourne area the next day, we phoned the people we met in China. They came and met us and took us to the city and showed us around. We went up to the top of the Rialto building with good views of the whole area. They then took us to their home and fed us and took us on the long drive to Philip Island where we could see the cute little penguins coming home from some days of feeding in the ocean. They come up on the shore and waddle in groups across the sandy beach into the bushes, etc. all over the area to their nest homes to relieve their spouses that have been keeping the eggs warm. The next day the spouses will go out in the ocean to feed. It was really special to see them--hundreds of them. They start coming about 8:00 PM and keep coming in for hours. There are flood lights along the beach and more lights along some of their trails, so people can see them. Did not get back to Renehen's until about midnight, and we spent the night at their nice home. They were so kind to us and really took us under their wings to help us see and do as much as possible in the Melbourne area. They had only briefly met us for a few minutes in Shanghai! The next day we drove along the fascinating Great Ocean Drive west of Melbourne--goes to Adelaide if you go on it long enough. At every viewpint along that road, there was a sign reminding us to drive on the left because we were in Australia. We didn't have time to go so far, but spent one full day seeing the sights, including the 12 Apostles, which are down to about 8 now in that specific area--they are sandstone formations sticking up out of the ocean, but they tend to crumble after many years of waves battering against them. Stayed in Port Fairy. Drove back more inland the next day to see different scenery. Stayed close to the Melbourne airport and flew to Hobart, Tasmania the next morning. Turned the Hyundai in at the Melbourne airport and rented a bright blue Toyota Corolla in Hobart. We had driven ourselves about 4500 km in the mainland of Australia and we drove another 900 km in Tasmania starting at the south and going up the east coast a ways, to Launceston to the north coast, to Devonport where the ferries from Melbourne and Sydney arrive and leave from. On to several smaller towns, to Sheffield, the Town of Murals. There are probably around 40 murals painted on the sides, fronts, backs, of buildings all over the little town. I'm sure we have photos nearly every one of them! Stayed at Perth, Tasmania one night and headed back to Hobart the next day. Went south of Hobart to Port Arthur where the convicts arrived at this beautiful location. It was a very difficult area to escape from the prison/grounds. Had a tour there and also a harbour cruise, saw Dead Island, where they buried the dead from Port Arthur.

It was fun to visit the Tasmanian Devil Reserve. These small dog size animals are very cute, but can have vicious dispositions. They are mostly black and may have a white spot or two and their ears are transparent pink. We watched them at feeding time. There were 5 young ones in one enclosure. One would grab the meat and run while the others all chased trying to get the meat away. When the one holding the meat stopped to fight the others off, it would drop the meat and another devil would run with it. It was a riot to watch them. One climbed up a tree to get a hunk of meat, but then instead of eating there, she took it down to the ground where the others could grab it from her. And so it went.

Tried to make it to a Cadbury chocolate factory tour, but missed the last one of the day. But the lady in reception was kind and gave us several sample "choccies" as she called them. Delicious.
We walked about parts of Hobart that evening. We had to leave early the next morning (our first November 23rd) for our flight to Sydney and then get our flight back to San Francisco that day. We could have easily spent several more weeks in Australia. Seemed like we saw a lot, but barely touched the surface of that country. We got to all of the states except Northern Territories. Did not get to the interior or to Ayers Rock. We found the Australians to be very cordial and hospitable. So many of them helped us to have a wonderful vacation wherever we were. And we certainly appreciated every one of them. We arrived at SFO about 9:00 AM on our second November 23rd, Thanksgiving in the USA. Then we traveled on to Seattle and Spokane airports. Cheryl met us in Spokane and took us to her home where she and Kent had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner prepared for us. Kent's parents and other friends were also there. It was a very nice way to be welcomed back home. Cheryl took us to our house a bit later that evening. Nice to be home again. It snowed a little on Thanksgiving day, and we got about 7 inches of snow on Sunday and it really hasn't stopped snowing much for a few days with more snow predicted the next couple of days along with below 0 degrees F and sub-freezing temperatures for a week or so.

Our daughters will each be celebrating Christmas at their own homes this year, so we have opted to go to Sacramento and be with Carey and Greg and Kyler for his first Christmas. Greg's family will be there too. We will celebrate early with Cheryl's family and then probably drive to Portland and celebrate with Shelly's family early. Plan to do a marathon in Las Vegas December 10th. Charles will work at his old office in San Bernardino, CA for a few days between Christmas and New Years. Then we will head home to Idaho again. Can't be sure what kind of weather we will get into driving back and forth. Hopefully, it will be fine.

We hope you had a very nice Thanksgiving and we wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR. May God's blessing richly bless you through the coming year.

With Love and Best Wishes,

Janie and Charles Cutting
792 E. Northwood Court
Hayden, ID 83835-8117

Home Phone: 208-772-4253
Charles' Cell: 208-651-2841
Janie's Cell 208-651-3781

Please make note of the above info in case you don't have it written down someplace. Thanks.

Also if you want to keep updated on our youngest grandchild, Kyler McCulloch, Carey has the following site you may go to for their family updates:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/careymcculloch/albums