We had another very busy month in January! When I write my blog and go through pictures I've taken, I'm always amazed at what one family can do in a month. I'm trying to figure out if we're just so busy because we live in a foreign country and you feel like you have to see it all (like a tourist) but you still have all the "regular" stuff you have to do too! I'm not sure! But, I'm thankful that we're posted somewhere where there are things to do!

We rang in the new year in an odd way, although I'm usually trying so hard to stay awake to watch the ball in Times Square drop and waking Chris up 5 minutes beforehand. So, maybe this wasn't too odd! We're now "old" with kids and we don't go partying on New Year's eve anymore! Well, Chris still might -- he went to see the "Beatles" (his new past time every other Friday night!), but came home at 11:45pm so we could bring in the new year together. We watched fireworks from our apartment windows...Bangkok has lots and lots of fireworks displays for any occasion and these didn't disappoint. We then celebrated with folks in the U.S. the next day at noon...when the ball in Times Square fell. That was fun because the kids watched it with us! :)

While much of our time was doing just "usual" stuff, we also had some fun Bangkok/Thailand adventures.

When at home, the kids played in their tents most of January! It's great having new toys to keep them busy. The question of the month - how much stuff can Max fit in these tents and still enjoy them??! Max even put chairs in them (yes, in the one on the bed too) and Siena enjoyed reading while sitting on the chair! I have to admit, while it was cute to see Max and Siena playing, it was very time consuming play for me because I had to be there every second to make sure neither one of them fell off the bed! :) Thanks, Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon for the bed tent, though! The kids love it!































Siena is growing up so fast and she's eating so well with her fork and spoon. She's becoming such a toddler...sad for her mommy (but good for mommy too I suppose)! Here are some pictures of her eating (or slurping) her spaghetti!! Very messy, but very cute! :) Check out flickr because I posted some videos of her eating and Max helping to feed his little sister.
















We had craft time and Max painted his thank you cards for all those Christmas gifts!














And, what day would be complete with out several snack times! I'm not sure what they are eating in the picture below, but Siena loves cheddar goldfish and will open the cupboard, point, and say "sh" (her word for fish). Then, she'll point to the another cupboard (where the bowls are) and say "bowl". She knows what she wants, and who doesn't love goldfish! :)















In addition everyday type stuff, we did some "Bangkok" or "Thailand" things too. We spent lots of time in Lumpini Park this month. It's winter and wow, is it nice having weather in the 80's!!!! AHHHHHH!!! But, the 90-100 weather is fast approaching and I'm not looking forward to it - well, at least until my body adjusts and it doesn't feel hot anymore!

Here is a picture of a picnic we had and other pictures of us enjoying one of the free Sunday symphony concerts. We went to two concerts and they were lots of fun. Well, until we let Siena loose and she ran all over the place! No sitting for the one on "Siena duty"! :) One time, we met our friends Manik and Maple (and their son Josiah) and another couple who were in Bangkok shortly for a missions trip, Rachel and Dan (and their 3 kids - Abi, Ben and Lilla). Good fun!!




























We also went to Wat Prayoon where you can feed turtles in part of the complex (which I think was the cemetery). Below is a video of Max feeding the turtles. According to Chris, we bought bananas and pork (but you'll hear that I said it was brains -- it looks like brains, you'll see...). There are lots of pictures of the turtle adventure on Flickr!


One of our day trips was a trip to Khao Kheow Open Zoo about an hour and a half south east of Bangkok. I did not have high expectations for this place after our trip to Safari World (another type of drive thru, open zoo). But, this place did not disappoint. In fact, we may actually go back again because we didn't see everything - such as the "big cats". It was really awesome because you could buy bags and bags of food to feed the animals and you get REALLY close to them. Check out the picture of Max feeding the giraffe -- it's not photoshopped!! :) He got to feed a giraffe, sloth, hippo, and rhino, but the elephants scared him. Well, you'll see the elephants scared Siena too - poor thing!!