Leaf: This is the Ikon Club where I went to 3 writing workshops and wrote poetry for the first time really since I was a teenager. It was wonderful. You would have loved it! (Luang Prabang, Laos) 

Rae: Watch for bears! (Don't keep food in your tent.) (Lake Katherine, Canada)

Leaf: Young monks repairing the mosaic on a wat. (Luang Prabang, Laos)

Rae: Sunset over islands in the Georgia Strait. We visited my brother and sister-in-law where she grew up on the coast. It was beautiful. (Sechelt, Canada) 

Leaf: I have seen women all over Northern Laos embroidering in every spare moment. This woman was starting to embroider something like the sarong she is wearing. (Village near Luang Prabang, Laos)

Rae: Snakes are one of Kenya's great loves in life. This is a little garter snake that was swimming in the lake with us. (Katherine Lake, Canada)

Leaf: Isn't she gorgeous and full of spunk? This little girl was selling handicrafts just outside of her house. (Hmong village near Luang Prabang, Laos)

Rae: A long afternoon on a Canadian lake is a kind of paradise. (Katherine Lake, Canada)

Leaf: A moment of peace with classical music playing, hot chocolate pudding and this beautiful pottery to enjoy. (Vientiane, Laos)

Rae: And now he looks like this! This is our Solo on his sixth birthday. (Victoria, Canada)

Leaf: This was one of the worst journeys I have ever made. Mode of transport: VIP Bus. Estimated travel time: 10 hours. Actual travel time: 17.5 hours. Amount of stops to repair the bus: 12. Length of time spent in a road block: 3 hours. Air Conditioning: Switched off after the first hour. Amount of windows: 0. It was so claustrophobic that people were having panic attacks at not being able to get enough oxygen. My amazing husband spent a few hours here next to the toilet, holding the door open so that we could all breathe. (In between Luang Prabang and Vientiane, Laos) 

Rae: So this happened. He'd been asking for a long time for his hair to be short, and we finally caved. (Victoria, Canada) 

Leaf: In Laos, to be a 'real man' you have to know how to weave baskets, so Taran took a weaving class. (Luang Prabang, Laos)

Rae: I went to Vancouver to pick Kai and Kenya up from the Greyhound bus station after camp, and I had an hour or so to wait, so I walked into a lovely little café for a coffee. Soon after, a woman approached me and said she was a photographer and wanted to take my photo because I had a looked very Something something. I think she didn't know what the word was. "Look down," she told me. "And then look up with only your eyes." This is the result. Oh dear. (Vancouver, Canada)