The Journal of Phillip Grant - Apr 3

Two of my favourite girls out playing catch. It's good to see that Penny successfully convinced Vanessa to play. Sometimes it's not easy to convince Vanessa that she should get up and out from time to time.

Well, I gave this dude back the long lost treasure. He's one of the members of the Temple of Heaven.

He sent me back out,  to scour the countryside for metal and gems.

I had forgotten exactly how much cross country running is involved in these adventures. I think next time, I'll send one of the girls to do the running around. I'm getting a bit old for this.

Vanessa went fishing for the day, which she always loves.

I think she's caught almost every fish you can in China. We should head for France or Egypt next time for her to find some new types of fish.

It took awhile to track down my contact.  He took the metal and gems off me gladly. Then gave me a key for the inner sanctum of the Temple of Heaven. This one opens the path to a much deeper area.

I wonder if there will be traps? I hate traps.

Penny has reached a new level of martial arts. She can meditate now.

The V's doing what they love. Sitting on a comfy sofa, reading a new book.

Ronnie is very much Vanessa's girl. They both love their books, both quiet and studious. Penny belongs to my side of the family; athletic and a bit of a slob.

So far, so good with the trap situation. No traps at all.

There are a lot of statues that I must haul all over the room. First I had to get them out of my way.

Then I had to start pushing them to the various floor switches to activate them.

Stupid statue - move. Move I say.

I'm too old for this.

This particular area of the Temple of Heaven is nearly like walking a labyrinth. Fortunately for me, there is only one way forward, I'm not likely to get lost. But it's huge and I keep walking around and around and around.

That's interesting. Penny can float?

Apparently having a very tranquil mind can have some very interesting results.

Well, I finally found it; the central treasure room. I wonder if it's going to take nearly as long to walk out of here as it did to walk in? It's getting late, I'd rather not get to base camp at 2 in the morning.

I was in luck, I didn't have to walk through all the passages again. As I opened the chests, they each  triggered a secret door. Walking out was a fairly direct line back to staircase up and out.

Thank god for that. I was not looking forward to spending hours backtracking through those passages.

Penny spent so long meditating that she could get back to camp by zenoport.

"Dad, it was so cool."

"What was Penny?"

"Meditation. After a while of relaxing and concentrating on a mantra, I felt so light."

"You were floating."

"I was? Cool. Then I found I was one with the universe. That's when I knew I could teleport here."

"We should set aside some time to meditate. It's good to clear your mind of all distractions now and then."

"Ok Daddy, I'll remind you."

Traveling by zenoport would be fast if you didn't have to spend hours meditating first.

The next day, I had to deliver the treasure I had finally discovered last night. 

While I was tracking down my contact, Penny went for her first official martial arts tournament challenge. On her first try, she lost her match. My girl didn't let that deter her at all.

She challenged her opponent again.

On her second try, Penny won her challenge. She was pretty pumped by her success.

Vanessa spent a few more hours fishing.

Ronnie? I think she was either reading or playing chess.

When I had delivered the package and Penny had won her match, we returned home.