Bravery... on the fly.

- February 06, 2026

We are well above the clouds and about an hour and a half from Saigon. Pho dinner is in our future and we even know the little shop we plan to pop into for that meal. The day started 12 hours ago and we’ve been having a travel day, but that’s part of the fun. Nothing direct was available at a good cost and since we used our miles to get us to Saigon, Da Nang, and then to our mystery location so we had to put the pieces together in a way that worked within those constraints. All in all, not bad. Today is the bad day as all of our other flights are direct and at better times of the day, but starting off on the early day and then the layover wasn’t that bad. Queues in China were long, so we had to scramble to make the first flight Shanghai to Kunming, but from there to SGN, I managed to get a pic.

We’re frickin’ adorable.

I also found an empty row of two in the back, so I headed back and caught an hour nap. That was nice. Refreshing. I feel like my brain can work again. Kiddo also caught a 45 min nap.

We’re all excited for the trip and will have a lot more posts and pics to come, so stay tuned.

Before I close this, however, I want to say something about courage. Not only is Kiddo courageous for taking these trips and bumping around with us on this crazy adventure, but she’s shown more courage recently.

I bring this up, because, recently, someone I know posted something on their socials about not being silent and taking action against what is happening right now. I won’t get into the aspect of this, but I do have an example of Kiddo being brave and refusing to stay silent.

On the Wednesday before break started, she was a bit upset leaving school and as we were walking, I was talking with her and she told me that someone she knew from her class was “acting like a jerk.” I was asking if it was towards her and she said no, but then some other kid interrupted us. He asked Kiddo if she wanted to play and the weather was cold, but nice enough that Kiddo had been going out with just a coat on and I told her she could. She said no and we kept walking, she ignored the boy. He asked again and got in her face. She just stopped. “No! I don’t want to play with you. You are NOT nice to other people.”

The boy shot back that it wasn’t him, but his friend Geo.

“Well, you let Geo act like that and didn’t say anything. So, I don’t want to play with you any more.”

We walked on.

The next day, another boy came up to Kiddo and asked if she wanted to play with Sabi. She said no, because Sabi and Geo were bullies and not nice to other kids. End of convo again.

Once home, I pried a bit. Seems like Sabi is the “cool kid” and Geo was silent as Sabi was picking on another boy, calling him dumb and telling him that he “couldn’t even read.” Geo didn’t say anything, even though the boy being picked on (I didn’t get the name) is in Kiddo’s class and even though she’s not friends with him, she knows he is at a reading level that is right at grade level. Geo and Sabi, however, are both below level….. just slightly. I asked Kiddo how she knows about this and reading levels and she told me that all the kids talk about it. So, not only was all the picking on not true, it was just kids being jerks to each other for no other reason that being a jerk and “cool”.

Kiddo told me that she didn’t want to be friends with Geo any longer, even though she had mentioned around Xmas that maybe Geo could come to her Bday party in April. She also told him to his face that he was a bully and not nice.

That is VERY brave. She will stand up to bullies and unfriend them as needed; she will refuse to sit at the table with that kind of action. She will, in other words, take action and refuse to stay silent. She will practice that, not just preach it. THAT is strength, bravery, and character. Posting something on socials while then going out with open Trump supporters is worse than cowardice; it’s disingenuous and it’s giving voice while saying you oppose that voice.

If 9 Fascists have a dinner with 1 regular person, 10 fascists are having dinner. If 1 fascist is having dinner with 9 others, 10 fascists are still having dinner together.

The difference is that Kiddo wouldn’t sit down with the 9, but she also wouldn’t sit down with the 1. She knows the difference and knows that 1, 2, 9, or 900000000… makes no difference. Sitting in party with a bully makes you no better than the bully and she refuses to sit at that table. I can’t tell you how proud of her I am for that. I can’t tell you how proud I am of J and I for installing that in her.

NOTE: I started this on the plane, but resumed it in Saigon. Here’s some pics of our first evening and the next morning. A ton more pics to come as we’ve done a museum, zoo, a number of meals at little plastic stool places and have been having a great time. More tomorrow and then we are off to Da Nang day after that for some beach time and other fun. Stay tuned for pics and posts on that and also on our mystery location.

Let’s go, Kiddo…. Time for fun. Time for eating. Time for swimming. Time for relaxing. Time for family time and not dealing with jerks, bullies, buttheads, or otherwise. We love you and love that you know the difference and are always so true to yourself.