Grawburg Family Adventures

Home in North Carolina

2012-01-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

After saying good-bye to my family in PA, we flew down to NC and met Chris at the airport. He was coming from a business trip in Texas and had already been to Cup A Joe by the time we arrived! I guess that's no real surprise, now is it?? :) We drove to Wilson and were greeted by Gammy, Grandaddy, and all the dogs - Katie, Mason and Charlie - and the cats.

We had so much fun in North Carolina. The only thing I think we didn't get to do this year was go to the NC State fair! :( Our time was jam-packed with stuff to do - from breakfasts, lunches, and dinners to doctor appointments to birthday parties!!

Max and Siena had lots of fun staying at Gammy and Grandaddy's house, and we loved seeing Aunt Kendal and Uncle Daniel and our cousins - Evie, Brinley, Kapri and Sebi! In fact, during our trip, we got to meet the newest addition to their family, Sebi, who was born in July! He's an absolute delight. Here he is with Uncle Chris and with Siena holding him!! Too cute!!

Our first weekend was a busy one! On Saturday, we had Kapri (2) and Evie's (7) birthday party at the Kids Park in Cary. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast! It was fun seeing the cousins all play together. Kapri, Brinley, and Siena were fascinated with a beetle on the ground and even Sebi joined in the fun...well, he had fun with Uncle Chris! :) Grandaddy and Gammy came and Grandaddy played on the "dragon hill" with the kids. Uncle Daniel's parents - Martha and David - were there and it was great to see them too!

I absolutely love this picture of the cousins (minus Sebi) playing during the party!! Girls are right-side up, and Max is upside-down. Those silly kids!

Here are other pictures from the birthday party!

Then, on Sunday, we had Siena's 2nd birthday party at Hillridge Farm in Youngsville. It was so much fun! Here's us having fun on the train! All aboard!!!

Now for the hay ride!

Let's eat and have cake!!! The cake turned out so cute - it was a barn with pig, lamb, and chick cupcakes. YUM!

After an early dinner and cake/cupcakes, it was time to pick some pumpkins!!

Afterwards we played at the farm and fed the animals for a little bit. The kids loved playing in the huge silo filled with corn. It was a really fun day and was special to get to spend it with all our family and so many friends!!!

That week, not only did we spend lots of time with Gammy and Grandaddy, but we also had several doctor visits scheduled. Max had an appointment with the allergist (and his current medication seems to be working), and he had his first trip to the dentist!!! He did amazing!!! DeeDee at Dr. Martin's office kept saying it was as if he'd been there 5 times before. No fear at all. He was just lying there letting her get all the "sugar bugs" off his teeth! I (Mommy) had a dental appointment before Max, and he was as good as gold playing while I had my teethed cleaned! DeeDee did explain everything that she was doing to me so he'd know what to expect. What a good boy! But, can you believe I don't have a picture of this life event???!!!

After our trip to the allergist, we spent some time with the Heard's and Wohschlegel's at North Hills Park. Siena was home with Gammy and Grandaddy. She missed a fun time! :(

We also had a great time at a play date at Aunt Kendal's house. The girls showed Max and Siena their new rats - Bernie and Nick! Yes, I said rats!! According to Kendal, they are very clean animals...much cleaner I'm sure than the rat family that lives down on our road, Thanon Saladaeng! :) Here are pictures of our fun-filled day of having lunch, playing with the rats, jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes, and just having fun!!! Oh how we miss our cousins! :(

The kids had a blast at Gammy and Grandaddy's house all week. As usual, there were lots of treats and the days were filled with playing, playing, and some more playing. The kids came in every day filthy and I think they had to get a bath every night while we were there!!! As you can see, Max was into building tents again, and this year, Grandaddy took Max on a "boat" ride on the hammock with "very" rough waves! Gammy took us for several "hay rides" in the back of her truck. The kids would help get pine straw into the back and then she'd drive around the neighborhood. I was a little uncomfortable...being that it wasn't very safe and we were in the US and not Bangkok...but, I figure they do ride Tuk-Tuks and in taxis in Thailand, so I suppose this was okay! :)

Since we were having a birthday party for Max in Bangkok, we didn't have a joint birthday party this year in the States. But, Max celebrated his actual birthday at Gammy and Grandaddy's with his special strawberry muffins Gammy makes and gifts in the morning and you guessed it, a Darth Vader cake in the evening!!

While we were in NC, Chris and I took advantage of staying at his parents and we left the kids for a night! We went to the Fearrington House near Chapel Hill to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! Oh, it was fantastic! The accommodations were awesome and the food, well, it was divine!!! :) Plus, I love seeing the Belted cows; they are so cool.

Our final weekend in NC was another super busy one. We went to Jennifer and Ben Heard's annual Halloween bash that Friday. Oh it was so much fun to hang out with friends. I miss my friends in Raleigh so much......As you can see, Chris disappointed me. We were suppose to go as Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi, but we went at "Chris - federal employee" and "Mrs. Gandhi". Kara and Keith's outfits were really good - the Statue of Liberty and John Wesley (at least I think that's who Keith was! :))

Gammy and her friend, Marie, had planned a picnic at a park in North Raleigh, but it was really cold. So, the "picnic" was moved to Gammy and Grandaddy's house in Wilson. It was a really nice day with family and friends. Aunt Kendal and her family were there, Edd and Marie, and their daughter Donna and her family were there too. They have a little girl, Alyssa, so the house was full of kids! We had a huge lunch and lots of yummy desserts! As you can see, the kids had fun playing and I'm not sure what the heck Max is doing, but maybe he'll be a bow hunter later in life?! :) Sebi enjoyed watching The Grinch on the iPad!

Since we would be flying on Halloween, we celebrated it a couple days early. Max was Darth Vader, of course, and Siena was a puppy. Gammy made her a really cute outfit. Doesn't she look adorable!?!? :) We went to 3 houses, including Edd and Marie's house. It was so much fun to Trick or Treat!

After a packed Saturday, we woke up Sunday morning to return to Bangkok! Oh, the dreaded 26 hour flight - longer back since we had 3 flights this time (RDU-Dulles-Japan-BKK). But, the kids did terrific again! The awesome thing was that Grandaddy got to accompany us to the gate at the Raleigh airport! It was a great send off!!!

Here we are on the LONG JOURNEY HOME!!! The kids occupied themselves with the usual stuff - arts and crafts and videos. Siena went a little heavy on the stickers, though!

Here are the kiddos on the flight from Japan to Bangkok....oh we were oh so tired!!! Although it was great to see our family and friends in the US, it's always nice to be home!! However, our journey was filled with a little worry. Due to severe flooding, which flooded parts of Bangkok, the big question for us was - did our area in Bangkok flood? Not to worry, though, Mommy packed lots of supplies to bring back - the essentials - bread, peanut butter and jelly and mac n cheese! :)

Trip Home to the US...ahhhh!!

2011-11-10T23:31:00.001-08:00

Our trip back to the US was fantastic!!!! It was so wonderful to see our family and friends!

Our trip started off with two very LONG flights for the kiddos and me! Chris came about 9 days later so we could adjust to the time change and have a more enjoyable family vacation.

I must say, I was a little nervous about this part, but it went so well!! As I'd mentioned before, I got an iPad to help me and act as a quasi-babysitter. The kids did use it so that was great. However, they were occupied with coloring, reading, play dough, Star Wars figurines, etc. It really was just like a day at our house...only cooped up inside two airplanes for a 24 hour period!

I don't know why Max does this, but he always reads the emergency card during flights. This flight was no exception!! And, here's a picture of Siena preparing to nap.

We had a couple of episodes, but nothing I couldn't handle. It was all about my mindset. This trip was going to be good/bad depending on my reactions to everything that happened. So, my attitude was very easy going and I prayed (and asked many friends to pray for) patience for me. Well, God is good and patience was given!

We had a 6 hour flight from Bangkok to Narita, Japan and we were on an older 747. Therefore, we did not have individual movie/entertainment screens, which are a super plus for the kids. We did have them for the 16 hour flight from Japan to Newark! Not that the kids really watch it - in fact, Siena just stared at the movies and didn't even have the headsets on. But, it's a nice distraction for short periods of time. Or, Max kept "trying" movies and after 10 minutes or so decide he didn't like it.

I was scared that boarding the plane in Japan would be a nightmare because the kids would not want to get on another plane. But, it was okay. In Narita, there is a very small baby play area which allowed the kids to burn a little energy. So, I think that helped. However, I felt so bad for Max because 2 hours into our second flight, the pilot gave an update. Max started jumping up and down in his seat saying, "we're almost to Oma's house!" Little did he know we still had about 10 hours to go!!

The kids slept for about 6 hours of the second flight, although from the flipping and flopping you could tell they weren't very comfortable. Neither was their mom who had one arm holding Siena's head straight and the other pulling Max's legs back onto the seat so the flight attendants didn't hit his leg with the cart!

When we arrived in Newark, I was exhausted. The kids were too. But, we were all very excited to see my mom and brother, Jim, at the airport. As usual, Jim had lots of messy treats, including lots of lollipops! :) He also had cupcakes for Siena since it was her 2nd birthday. He even had candles for her to blow out! What a sweet uncle! After becoming one giant mess when she ate her cupcake, Siena went through every flavor lollipop until she found a chocolate lollipop. Now, it's the only kind she'll eat! :)

I was a zombie when we got to my mom's house and could barely keep my eyes open!! It takes us a whole week to get adjusted to the time change, and this trip was no different. But, it did seem a little better than last year. However, I think that was because Siena, Max and I were all on the same floor of my mom's house and I didn't have to rush up 4 flights of stairs to tend to Siena.

As we got use to the time change, the adventures begun!!!

On my side of the family, all the grandkids were born in October. So, Oma had birthday cakes made for each grandchild - Max (4), Collin (15 - who can believe he's 15 already?), and Siena (2). Max especially loved his Star Wars cake with Darth Vader rings on it!

One day we also went to the "pumpkin patch" at Country Junction - the world's largest general store. Collin had off from school and Uncle John was in town visiting so we all went. Plus, Amanda and Nick and their mom, Khris, came too. Oh how Max and Siena love Country Junction. The store is huge and has anything imaginable, there is a play ground outside, and lots of pumpkins to buy!! Aunt Kelly took Max and Siena last year and they had a blast. I think this is now a tradition! :) Below are some pictures of everyone having fun!

When we got home from Country Junction, the kids decorated their "little" pumpkins with Aunt Kelly and Oma. Didn't they do a nice job? :)

The next morning was spent painting the "big" pumpkins with Oma. Max even colored some Darth Vader pictures to attach to his pumpkin!!

We spent a lot of time outside and took many, many walks at my mom's house. Aunt Kelly oversaw a lot of the outside time - bless her heart! Max raked the yard most of the time we were there and was big enough to ride Collin's John Deere tractor. He and Siena also enjoyed many wagon rides with Aunt Kelly. The kids also loved playing with Maddie and Star, Kelly and Collin's two cats. Siena also tried to fit inside a bookshelf and loved her new baby doll stroller!

We also spent time collecting leaves during our walks. This picture below was when we were arranging leaves for our wax paper crafts and Max and Siena decided to just glue random leaves and nuts onto the paper. And, yes, Darth Vader was included in these crafts too!

We also spent time at Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon's house. Collin and I took Max and Siena to the creek behind his house. The kids had a blast! I was a little scared Max would fall in though!

One night, Kelly, my mom, and I took the kids to McDonald's to play. Siena and Max quickly made friends with another little boy there. It looks like Collin even had fun!

Jim took the kids swimming a couple of times at the Shawnee Inn. The first time just he and Max went and the second time Siena tagged along. Both kids are definitely little fish!! Max was practicing for his upcoming snorkeling trip with Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon when they come to Thailand. Oh we can't wait!!!!

Max and Siena (and Mommy) were SO happy to see daddy at the airport!!

One Sunday while Chris was in PA, my dad wanted us all to go to Cabela's. It's a huge outdoor store - with everything imaginable for hunting, fishing, and outdoorsy things! Max, of course, found a Star Wars fishing pole. What a wonderful birthday present from Pop-Pop!!! Max wanted two and even tried to convince Siena that she wanted one too, but to no avail. He left the store with only one.... The store is huge and they have stuffed wildlife of ALL sorts there - even African animals. You can also feed the fish in a pond in the middle of the store.

We went up to Pop-Pop and Grammy Ellen's house and had lots of fun playing in the leaves and in the huge yard! They had rescued some kittens so it was fun to watch the kittens play. Max helped Pop-Pop clean his gutters again this year and rake some leaves. But, the real excitement was when Grammy Ellen showed Max her son's Darth Vader mask from about 30 years ago - it was the real deal. Max was in awe! Siena also helped Grammy Ellen get the last of the cucumbers and peppers from the garden! The kids just love playing outside...it's not like Bangkok at all -- there's clean air!

My mom and I also took the kids to visit and have dinner with one of my oldest friends, Sherri, and her mom and family! She is such a great friend and her two little ones, Madison and Tyler are twins who are Max's same age. All the kids had a fantastic time playing. It's so nice to see Max and Siena enjoying the outdoors, and Sherri and Helio's house is awesome for kids! It was great to see Sherri's mom, Pat, too!

The kids also enjoyed bath time at Oma's. They really do love the bath tub!! Max loves putting on a bubble beard and Siena loves to swim.

Then, sadly, it was time to say good-bye....Here are pictures of Siena saying good-bye to Pop-Pop and Uncle Jim.

We had a great time in PA!!! Oh how we miss it! But, our next stop -- North Carolina!!

Back into our routine

2011-10-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I intended to post this BEFORE I left Bangkok for the U.S., but that didn't happen due to some technical difficulties. We are back in the U.S. now (and have been for a week, but more on that later! :)) Here's the update from before we left Bangkok....

The end of the summer meant that we could get back into a routine! But, that routine will be short lived since on Tuesday, we'll head back to the US for our annual month-long trip home. I am SOOOO excited!!!! It's been a full year since I've been back home. I am a little nervous since I'm flying flight solo with the 2 kids (and my new babysitter - my iPad! :)) Please pray for me that I'll have patience and...well, more patience!! Let the countdown begin...2 days!

However, before I leave Bangkok and get super busy in the US, I wanted to update our family and friends with what we've been up to this last month or so. Here goes.....

The real reason August brought a routine back to our lives was because Max started preschool. When he's not in school, I find it hard to keep any type of real routine. Max settled quickly back into school, and although he's enrolled full-time, he only goes part-time, mainly because his mom doesn't want him to be away from her that long!! :) His new teacher, Ms. Mary, is from the US and is super sweet and an awesome teacher! She really explains in detail what the kids are doing and it's great as a parent.

Before Max started preschool again, we had what we call a "date day" where he and I spend a portion of or the whole day together just the two of us. Max loves having "date days" especially since Friday night Chris and I have "date night".

Where did Max want to go? We went to TK Park (a library with the honeycomb reading areas I've told everyone about before) and to lunch at a sandwich shop in Central World. Max loves the grilled ham and cheese and his "special" drink - a banana strawberry smoothie - there. He's just too cute. Here he is enjoying his food and TK Park.

In August, we also celebrated Evie's 4th birthday at her Pinkalicious Party. I don't know much about Pinkalicious, but I do know that everyone had to wear pink and it was lots of fun! (Well, Max and Evie's brother wore red.) Evie, who is my friend Elley's daughter, and Josiah, my friend Maple's son, go to the same school. So, it was fun to have Evie and Josiah at the same birthday party! :) Siena loves Maple too! :)

We spent the long Labor Day weekend northeast of Bangkok in Khao Yai. We've been to Khao Yai before and it's where Chok Chai Farm is located. There is also a national park, and it was just wonderful to get out of the polluted air in the city! You can drive through the park, and there are various hikes to take and waterfalls to see. One of the falls in right near the road, so the whole family visited that one together.

Max and I ventured out for a 45 minute hike to see the largest waterfall (a 3-tiered waterfall but because it was so wet and "full of water" we only went down to the first tier), while Siena (and Chris) took a nap in the car. It was quite wet at the bottom (as you can see) and Max had a leach on him!! UGH!! There's a picture of his "wound"!

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As for animals, we didn't see much - no wild elephants to my disappointment, despite the elephant crossing warning! :( But, we did see monkeys, a deer, a barking deer, and a monitor lizard crossing the road as you can see.

To be honest, it really wasn't that exciting! But, it was a great escape. Plus, the *real* reason I wanted to go to Khao Yai was because my favorite restaurant in Bangkok, Vino, closed and moved to Khao Yai. We went back and yes, they have the BEST pizzas/calzones ever!! The waitress told me Vino is moving back to BKK, and that better happen before I leave next summer, or I guess we'll have to make another Khao Yai run! :)

We stayed in the little area called Palio which is a little Italian village in the middle of Khao Yai (and I mean an "Italian Village" as you can see from the pictures). Very quaint, yet very strange in the middle of Thailand. Our room was big and this was our first time not having a one bedroom suite with the kids. It really wasn't bad at all, if you don't mind going to bed between 7-7:30pm. Chris loved it! :) The only bad thing was that Siena learned how to climb out of the pack n play! But, it was all good!

The cool thing about Khao Yai is they also have some vineyards. Two of the most known are Gran Monte and PB Valley. They were both gorgeous! The kids loved to play in the grass and leaves! Oh, I can't wait to get back to the US where they can do more fun activities like that!! :) My dad said he's already raking the leaves in PA!

We ended our trip in Khao Yai hoping to go back to Chok Chai Farm. When we went last year, we did not bring Siena so we thought it would be fun! But, to my surprise, the farm is closed on Mondays! Go figure! So, we did eat at the ice cream stand at the farm. Yep, ice cream as our morning snack - great parents, aren't we?! :)

On the road to Khao Yai stands a huge Buddha. Below is the picture and I had to share this because I struggle sometimes living in a country where the population is 98% Buddhist and ensuring that I'm bringing up my children in the Christian faith when they see monks, temples, spirit houses, and idols on a daily basis. They are very young and trying to answer their questions can get hard. But, when Siena saw the Buddha below she referred to as "the Giant" (she is really into the Jack and the Bean Stalk Super Why show right now and kept kept saying Fee Fi Fo Fum when she saw it! :)) Needless to say, I was happy that I didn't have to answer any questions about the Buddha!

One funny thing that began in September was Max discovering Darth Vader and Star Wars. Chris has been showing him some YouTube clips from the movie and one day he asked me if he could be Darth Vader for Halloween (of course, he wants to be the "bad guy") and sure enough, his Gammy had bought him the costume last year and it was in his closet!!!! Lucky me! So, we got out the costume, and he's been wearing it ever since. Yes, even to get his hair cut, to run some errands, and for playdates. The first night, he even insisted on wearing it to bed, but we later found him out of it - must have gotten hot!? So, he and Siena have now started "dressing up"! Siena insisted on dressing up and I got out Max's Ewok costume (which looks a little small for her but fit Max perfectly when he was the same age! :)) and her Halloween costume from last year when she was a fairy. They are so funny pretending and as Max says, he LOVES to use his imagination!

I still haven't figured out how to upload videos on here yet since some changes were made to Blogger, but you'll have to check out the video of Max walking like an old man with toy glasses he got at Evie's party. Too funny! :) Also, below is a picture of Siena asking Chris for....worms!! Yes, fried worms. She LOVES them! There's a video on flickr of her jumping and so happy eating her worms! She's definitely Chris' child! :)

On September 15, Chris and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary! We had a nice dinner at Zanotti's - the fine dining restaurant that also owns my favorite restaurant, Vino (mentioned above). It was a really nice evening that started with an hour foot massage and then dinner! It wasn't Santorini, Greece (where we said we'd spend our 10 year), but Bangkok isn't too shabby! :)

We also finally had some playdates with Max's best friend from school, Matthew and his little baby sister! Max and Siena had lots of fun at Matthew's house...they are still talking about it. As you can see, Siena, who requests macaroni n cheese every for lunch and dinner, was refusing to leave because that's what Matthew was having dinner! :)

The month of September seemed super busy for me. But, it was all good because it meant time with friends and gave me a chance to do some entertaining and baking! :) I threw a baby shower for my friend Amy who is from my home town in PA. It was so much fun. Plus, I got to make another train cake (similar to the one I made for Max's 1st bday) and a cool fruit bowl that looked like a baby carriage.

We also went to a joint bday party for 2 of Max's classmates, Iliyana and Sakurako. Both girls are incredibly cute!!! :) The party was at the Hard Rock Cafe which was cool! :)

We also had another birthday party in September - one for Franchesca's 1st birthday. It was in the middle of the day and I forgot to bring a change of clothes for Max - that's why he's in his school uniform! Franchesca's party was fun too, and Winnie the Pooh showed up! Siena did not like him because he was "too big"! Max didn't mind Pooh, and LOVED the fact that they had marshmellows on a stick and a chocolate fondue fountain to coat them! I honestly have no idea how many he had, but he had chocolate all over him! :) We had lots of friends at the party, many from church. Siena had fun playing with "baby Zack" who lives in our building and is Siena's buddy, as well as Luke, Lara, Kristin, and Elijiah who go to our Friday playgroup. Siena adores them and always asks about Kristin and Elijiah and Lara carries Siena around. Siena likes it, but always says, "Siena is heavy"!

At Max's school, the month ended with Safety Week and firemen came to his school. Max learned "stop, drop, and roll" and all about safety! Parents could come when the firemen came and I went to the school. Chris was out of town. We listened to the fireman tell us about what he does and one fireman got dressed up in gear (which was nice considering it was in the 90's that day!). Max was afraid of going up on the ladder so I joined him and some of his classmates. My camera died, so I have to thank Irma (Matthew's mom) for sharing her pictures with me! :)

And finally, no Grawburg update would be complete if there wasn't a picture of our kids in the pool! Below are pictures of Siena and Max at our pool and then pictures at swim lessons. Please note that I don't have any pictures of Siena at swim lessons because I'm in the pool with her and Chris is usually swimming with Max after his lesson! But, she really does take lessons! :)

And, our countdown begins...2 days until the US! Max was packed 2 weeks ago!! :) I'm not looking forward to telling him he can't bring all of that....there will definitely be some screaming and tears.... :(

Next stop for the Grawburg Family....

2011-09-26T21:35:00.001-07:00

Libreville, Gabon. Yes, we're moving to west central Africa in summer 2012!!

I learned today that there is a Survivor Gabon?? Guess I should check that out!!

Here's the Lonely Planet website if you have no clue where Gabon is. Don't worry, I had to Google it when I saw it on our bid list!

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/gabon/libreville

My "real" research of Gabon has just started. We did some initial research as we picked our preferences from the bid list. While Gabon was in the top portion of our list (5 of the 9 were not places I'd remotely want to go!), my number one Africa pick was Kigali, Rwanda, and honestly, I'm saddened that that's not where we are going. I was sure that's where God was sending us and I had such a peace about it. But, I suppose my peace was actually that we'd go wherever we were suppose to go. However, I wasn't expecting Gabon!

I'm assuming we got Gabon instead of Rwanda because French is required and Chris has the necessary level of French required for his position, and we found out the guy who got Kigali is coming from a harder post than Bangkok. What's up with the government all of the sudden showing some efficiencies! :) It wouldn't have cost "that" much to send someone to DC for a year to learn French!! :) As for the French, I will be learning French before we go. Not much English is spoken at all (a definite con for me)!!! But, I have lots of French speaking friends in Bangkok, so that works out nicely and the Alliance Francaise where French is offered is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment!

I doubt we'll have one visitor...other than my mom who would go anywhere to see Max and Siena! :) But, one friend, Jean, here in Bangkok has an annual conference in Africa and when she thought we might be going to Rwanda she proposed us meeting for a family safari. Maybe we'll be able to still meet somewhere in Africa to do that? It would be lots of fun, especially since her son Gavin is one of Max's best friends!!

So, here's my initial reaction to the news about Gabon and the pros and cons as I see them. I'm sure more will be added to this list as I research more!

Here's how I see it:

Pros: We'll have a big and nice (hopefully) house with a yard, live on the embassy compound (which most houses have ocean views), nice beaches (although the one outside our house isn't nice but it's about a 20 minute drive to a nice, clean beach), pool and playground on the housing compound (so no car necessary to get the bikes to the park like in Bangkok!), close-nit embassy community (and we already have friends who moved from Bangkok there earlier this year and they like it), and the kids (and maybe me too) will be fluent in French by the time we leave Gabon in 2014. I also like the fact that it's a stable and safe country (and not war-torn). Plus, it's not "that" far from home....15 hours is much better than 24 hours! :)

Cons: VERY little English spoken, VERY expensive city (#13 in all the world), not much to do, malaria, restaurants don't start serving dinner until 8pm (and Chris is sad that there is no Beatles tribute band there).

I'm completely at peace with where we're going! My biggest concern is the language....My "culture shock" days here in Bangkok always stem from some type of issue of communicating with someone here that doesn't speak English and I don't speak enough Thai!! What the heck am I going to do with that being a daily occurrence. At least I can "retreat" the to embassy compound..where English is spoken!! :)

If you want to read some "post reports" from people who work and live(d) in Gabon, here's a great website. It has all the countries and it's a cool resource. There are even some pictures.

http://www.talesmag.com/rprweb/the_rprs/africa/gabon.shtml

We'll be Stateside in 7 days...YIPPIE!!!! :) :) :) I can't wait to see my friends and family! :) I miss them so much!

Where did the summer go??

2011-08-26T02:56:00.000-07:00

So, I don't think I'm ever going to promise to keep this blog up-to-date anymore. I'm hopeless at blogging!!! I will try to make this as short as possible...I know, you're laughing right now! :) Please just skim it....and remember, my intent with the blog is not only to update family and friends back home, but also to turn it into a book for Max and Siena and I don't want to leave fun memories out! Thus, all the specifics! :)

Because we were in Hong Kong the last week of June, Max missed his end of the year school party, which was disappointing. However, I was very thankful because the "Zumba moms" (me being one of the moms who took a Zumba class once a week with the other Mulberry House moms at a dance studio) performed! I felt like I dodged a bullet with that one. I'm not coordinated at all but really had fun in the classes! :)

The start of our summer brought wonderful news!!!! Our nephew, Sebastian (Sebi) David Rich, was born on July 6! He is so cute...just like his 3 older sisters! I can't wait to meet him during our October trip! Congrats Daniel and Kendal and big sisters - Evie, Brinley, and Kapri! :)

Our summer was really fun and we did lots of fun things around Bangkok. We didn't go anywhere, which was nice. Even our trip to Burma in August was canceled - due to our lack of ability to get a visa. Funny to think someone might think I'm a spy! :)

So, what did we do?

We started with a 4th of July celebration at the Embassy. Unfortunately, it got rained out, so we went, ate and went home! But, it was fun to be waving American flags, singing the National Anthem half way around the world, and enjoying red-white-blue popsicles. Also, Max has now started to say he's from "America" and lives in Bangkok - hallelujah! Not sure if he "gets it" but hey, he doesn't look to me for the answer to the question - "Where are you from?" Oh my little "global nomads"! We do try to make sure they eat American staples like hot dogs, mac 'n cheese, and cheeseburgers, which isn't hard because they love them.

The downside to our summer was that July was one big sick fest...each one of us was sick each week. I'm just soooo glad July is over with. We had to take Max to the pediatrician/allergist when he was sick, and he had bronchiolitis AGAIN! His poor little lungs because of this polluted city! Mind you, he had coughing fits in the middle of the night, but nothing where he seemed to have trouble breathing and he'd cough once or twice a day. To see him, you wouldn't think he was "sick". However, when we took him to the doctor, she said he was wheezing and ordered a nebulizer treatment while we were there. It made me feel like a horrible parent....maybe I should have gone to med school instead of law school!

Since he had bronchiolitis three times in about 4 months, she ordered allergy tests -- nothing, except an allergy to cats. Even the doctor was surprised and said, "he may just be sensitive to the air here". (We're going to have him see a specialist in NC when we come home in October.) We left the hospital with about 10 medications and then asked our pediatrician friend what was necessary and not - Thai doctors love to just prescribe way too much stuff! But, the two inhalers (used with a spacer) worked wonders!! No more coughing. He's also on Singular, and the other medications are working! Praise God!!

The other thing we have to do is have Max clean his nose with saline through a syringe. I'm going to post a video of this, so look for it. It's amazing! He does it all by himself!!!!! The doctor was really smart and showed us a Youtube video of another little boy doing it by himself, which made Max want to do it, oddly enough!! :) I think the colds have subsided for now, although Chris is getting over one. Oh, I cannot wait for the clean, fresh air we'll be breathing in PA and NC in October!!!!!!

But, I've taken note - next post must have clean air! It's one of my top 3 priorities! And, with regard to next assignments, I forgot to mention our second most exciting news this summer - we got our bid list!!! I can't publicly list out the countries here, but there are 2 Africa, 2 Europe, 2 Asia, 2 Mexico, and 1 South American. Chris and I are still working on our preferences - and we have to submit them next week! We've been researching, but have a feeling where God wants us to be. Let's see if the State Department agrees! As soon as I know where we'll be in summer 2012, I'll let you know. Exciting times! :)

But, back to what we did this summer! The kids had lots of fun at Lumpini Park - riding bikes and playing, and we even rode the duck boats on the lake one weekend with Gavin and his dad, Andy. Lots of fun! We got to see many monitor lizards in the water and lounging on the lake banks and feed the fish. The kids had a great time (as did us adults)! See the pictures below -- we need to get Chris a bike. He keeps trying to steal Max's!! :)

The only bad thing about Lumpini Park is almost stepping on the monitor lizards. Yes, the one below is one that I was about 10 feet from as I was walking and didn't realize it was there because I was watching Siena ride her bike! Yikes!!

We also hit other parks in Bangkok, such as Benjisiri Park and Benjikiti Park. Benjisiri Park is next to a huge shopping complex (Emporium) and is rather small, but they just put in new play equipment that is really nice!!! I wouldn't even let the kids play there before because the equipment was so unsafe! As for Benjikiti Park, Max loved how he could ride his bike around the lake! What he didn't like (as you can see in the picture), is having to wait as we walked to catch up! Plus, there were turtles you could feed. Siena enjoyed the parks too. She kept cleaning up the walking/biking track by throwing the twigs/leaves into the lake! And, the girl is fearless because at the Benjisiri Park, she played on the "big kids" equipment and didn't think twice!! (Her mom was thinking twice and a little nervous! But, I'm happy to report - no injuries! :))

We had some play dates over the summer and several at the Funarium - a huge inside play heaven for kids! The picture below is blurry but you can see Max way at the top of the Funarium play tubes. Max doesn't like the slide - it's too high - but Siena, loves it!!! Max does like it when I go down the slide with him, though! Gotta love it! :) One time, we celebrated Max's friend, Evie's birthday. Below is a picture of Evie and her mom, my friend Elley.

The kids also had brother-sister fun at the play area at Siam Paragon. Is that a hug or a head lock??? :)

One of Max's new favorite spots is TK Park in Central World. It's a library that has honeycomb shaped reading spots for the kids and a "treehouse" with them too. He likes to read the books, but he LOVES to climb and always insists there's a book on the top shelf he "has" to have!!

We also kept our Gymboree schedules and took advantage of the "open play" after Max and Siena's classes!

What week of our life would be complete without a trip to Siam Ocean World???!!! :) It's even more fun now that Siena is just loving the aquarium. We bought our yearly passes again this summer so we'll be going a lot this year too I'm sure!! :) Below are some pictures of Max and Siena riding the tuk-tuk display, looking at the fish, watching a sting ray feeding show, and stopping for a popcorn break. I think that spider crab is as big as Siena! Her favorite thing is the seahorses, though!

We also went to my friend Amy's daughter's 1st birthday party. It was lots of fun, although Max and I went together while Chris and Siena were home sick. Annabelle was so cute! Max was in the pool 99% of the time - shocking, right? :) Although his fingers were all pruned, he did manage to eat cake and help Amy unwrap Annabelle's presents! :)

Max's swimming improved a lot over the summer even though his swim lessons and beach trips stopped! I'm thankful Chris doesn't mind the freezing cold pool water. Max is now swimming in the deep end (he used to be scared of water over his head) and can even swim down and pick up coins and rocks at the bottom! It's awesome to watch! I think he'll be ready for our real snorkeling trip in November when my brother Jim, Sharon and their friend, Simone, come over for a visit! (YIPPIE to having visitors - I'm SOOO excited! :))

In addition to our pool, we did go to the BAMBI playgroup at the British Club a couple of times. It's an awesome set up with two small pools for little ones and a fun slide! When I first took Max last year, he wouldn't go down the slide, but all that has changed now! Plus, Siena went down too - although she was a little bit scared going into the water (which I liked!).

Max is still as creative as ever and keeps making all sorts of "structures" like the one on our bed below. Is it going to rain in the house? He also began using the jogging stroller as a "space ship." I'm not trying to squash his creativity, but I've actually had to limit the rooms where he can build things - his bedroom and the playroom. Everything else is off limits. If you look at the last two pictures below, you'll see why! Need I show you more?? :) He's also really into drawing and some of the things he draws are just awesome! I'll try to scan some of those in!

Max also has a new found love of Candy Land. He still doesn't follow the rules, but it makes for a shorter game! :)

There were lots of baths too! I hadn't gotten pictures of bath time in awhile, and as you can see, Max was not pleased with me! :)

Each weekend this summer, we made cheese pizzas at Max's request. He's such a good helper and enjoys helping me make the dough and put the cheese on the pizza. Maybe he won't be an architect but a chef!! :)

On days that it's too late for a trek to Lumpini Park, we've started riding bikes in the VERY small garden area at our apartment. It's not ideal, but does allow the kids to ride their bikes.

On Thai Mother's Day (August 12), Chris had off and we had our best family outing ever! For some reason it was not stressful in the least. Maybe it was because there was no traffic? Or, maybe it's because the kids were so well behaved? Maybe I had gotten enough sleep the night before? I'm not sure! But, our family had a great time visiting Wat Pho and the park next to it where the kids could play in the grass (although the scorching sun was brutal!). The Chao Phraya River was so flooded and muddy with all the rain lately. After playing for awhile, we took a tuk-tuk to the flower market to buy some fresh flowers and then had lunch at one of our favorite Bangkok restaurants - The Deck, which is on the Chao Phraya River and overlooks Wat Arun. It was just a really fun and relaxing day! :) I hope we have MANY more like it!

As for Siena, she is growing like a weed, speaking in full sentences (to my amazement), and such a sweet little girl. Oh, she is just precious!!! When Chris comes home, she loves to grab an I Spy book and have Chris tuck her in with her taggie blanket and read/spy together. What a daddy's girl - so cute!! She can also count to ten in Thai (and English, don't worry!). Thais are so delighted to hear her count. I thought the reaction to her saying "Sawadee Kah" (Hello/Good-bye in Thai) was funny - you should see their expression when she starts counting! (Max can count too...I didn't want to leave him out!)

Okay, so that wasn't so brief after all! My apologies....but the summer blog is over and done! More posts about our current life to come next week! Okay, so maybe it'll end up being next month! :)

Hong Kong and Disneyland!

2011-07-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

Although we only spent three days in Hong Kong, it was jam packed with activities! The kids, Khun Vipa, and I flew there and met Chris who was there for work. We were taking advantage of having our accommodation paid for! :)

Although I had Khun Vipa with me for the airport/flight, I was practicing for my "solo" trip home in October. So, I asked her not to do much to make sure I knew what I could and couldn't handle for the October trip - or really, what could I carry all by myself! :) Let's just say, I learned a lot! I'm still trying to get Chris to agree to buy an iPad or something similar...all those electronics - it's way too much! :)

The kids did great! They really are good little travelers, even if they have no choice. :) Siena was in heaven - she got her first lollipop! She loved it (well, that's putting it mildly - she's still talking about lollipops!).

When we landed, I jumped right into "traveler" mode - getting local currency, SIM cards for the phones, and a taxi. This was my first time going to another country (other than Thailand) without Chris. I was actually surprised it went so smoothly without him, especially the SIM card part! He usually handles all that "technological" stuff!!

As we left the airport, it started to pour cats and dogs. I was a little surprised to see typhoon warnings on the electronic traffic signs as we made our way from Lantau island where the airport is to Causeway Bay on Hong Kong island! The sign read: "typhoon warning 3 hoisted". Great. Were they serious?? I guess I should have checked the weather reports!!! But, luckily for us, that was the only day with full blown rain and we just changed our schedule a little bit to make sure our Disneyland day wasn't rained out.

When we were in Hong Kong in 2006, we celebrated our 5th year wedding anniversary here. We opted to go to...Outback Steakhouse...yes, that's what I said, for our dinner. We were so excited to get iced tea, and better yet, free refills!!! So, that first night we went back there for dinner. The most memorable moment - Siena eating butter straight from the dish. Yes, we let her. She loved it and it kept her quiet. We are horrible parents, aren't we! :)

This trip, we decided to rent an apartment through www.homeaway.com. The apartment was 2 bedrooms and quite small - which you would expect for Hong Kong and the Causeway Bay area (where it's just wall to wall people! I guess I should have remembered that part from when we were here in 2006 - it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.) From now on, I'll opt for hotel or serviced apartment living while the kids are young. I don't know if I've just become pampered or what, but it's a whole lot easier than taking the kids out for breakfast. I think a hotel breakfast was what I missed the most on this trip! Without it, it's just a stressful start to the day!

Our trip to McDonald's on that first morning turned out to be a nightmare, mainly because of how small the restaurant was and it was filled to the brim with people. Plus, there were no child seats. We had two spilled drinks and one little girl screaming at the top of her lungs for the lollipop she saw in the diaper bag. Yes, she won....I gave her the lollipop for breakfast to relieve the stressful situation! :) :) Although now, Siena keeps saying - "lollipop, airplane" - she knows they are only for airplane rides! Needless to say, I went out and brought breakfast home for us the other two days! :)

On Thursday morning the rain held off and while Chris was at his conference, Khun Vipa and I took the kids to the Botanical Gardens and Zoological Society on the island which also had a play ground! Feeling like I could do anything, we took the metro and then I thought we could walk the "short" distance to the Gardens! However, I should have remembered how hilly the city is!!!! Ohhhhh how our legs hurt not only from walking but also from pushing Siena in the stroller! The roads are so windy and steep and it was hard to find an area to cross the streets. We did accidentally walk through the back alley of the U.S. Consulate - so if we're ever posted there I know where it is! :)

Eventually, we found our way and after a little rest, the kids were off playing. They were just so excited to be playing and we got to see some animals - monkeys, lemurs, birds, and a raccoon! Of course, everyone was happy when we got a taxi back to the apartment!

That night we took a Star Ferry from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. Max was fine - since it was a "slow boat"! :) We had dinner and wandered around the area. I wanted to see the famous Peninsula hotel so we went there to see the lobby. It was beautiful! There is a picture of Max and me standing inside the lobby. Then, we watched the light show from Kowloon pier. Many of the buildings on the Hong Kong Island side have lights that correspond to music. It really is awesome!! I took a video of it, so please check it out.

On Friday was a GREAT day!!!! Khun Vipa and I took the kids to Disneyland. Let's just say Max is still talking about it and cried, and I mean huge tears, when we had to leave. He wants to live in Disneyland. And who wouldn't want to?? :) We took the metro there and had to take three trains. It only took about 30 minutes total, and the final train was a Disney train to the park.

If you've ever been to any Disney park, you know they spare no expense and this park is no different!!! Plus, the wonderful thing about Hong Kong Disney is that it's small! There are only Fantasy Land, Adventure Land, and Tomorrow Land. We didn't even make it to Tomorrow Land but saw most of the other two.

Here are the kids in front of Cinderella's Castle before we entered Fantasy Land. As you can see, it's much smaller than the one in Florida, but hey, they both thought it was huge and beautiful!!! :)

The wonderful thing was that there were no lines when we got to Fantasy Land. I'm not sure if people tend to come later and stay for the fireworks? But, I didn't care because we rode the Carousel, It's a Small World, and the Tea Cups with not a single line - yippie!!! :) Here are the kids in Fantasy Land having a blast. I'm having trouble uploading videos so check those out on our website.

By this time, we were all getting hungry. So, we headed to the princess' castle for lunch. Max loved his Mickey Mouse pizza! Siena enjoyed her lunch too!

After Fantasy Land, we headed to Adventure Land. First, we took a boat ride around the island with Tarzan's Tree House. While Max is still talking about it, it did scare him a little mainly because he thinks all of the elephants, gorillas, and spiders were real!! :) I haven't told him they weren't. He was scared that the huge spiders were going to jump on him. But, he LOVED seeing Tarzan's Tree House and climbing it! He also enjoyed taking a raft over to Tarzan's island! :) See his big smile? And, there's Siena enjoying all the stickers she and Max kept getting from the staff as we waited for the raft.

After all the excitement - and walking for Siena - Khun Vipa took Siena to the princess' castle to get to nap in her stroller (which she did - unbelievable!!! :) while I took Max to the Winnie the Pooh ride.

The day couldn't have worked out better. Siena was refreshed by her nap just in time for the parade and some shopping!

And, what's a day out with mom (or dad) with an ice cream break, right??!! :) Siena had a mango popsicle so it's not that bad for her! Max, however, had the Mickey Mouse chocolate covered bar!

Before leaving we took a train ride around the park. The girl sitting next to us put a Mickey doll on the ledge and secured it with double sided tape. So, here's a picture of the kids zoning (you can imagine how wiped out they were) and Mickey!

Good-bye Disney.....

Although Friday was the definite highlight for my time in Hong Kong, Saturday was awesome because this was our "family" day. We did what any good Hong Kong tourist does - we took the trolley to ride the tram to the Peak! Here is Max enjoying the upper floor of the trolley!

As we made our way up to the Peak tram (which thankfully Chris was with us to carry Siena's stroller up the 100 steps this time! :)), we passed by St. John's Cathedral. It's a beautiful church!

After that, we headed to board the tram to the Peak - where the world's most expensive property is! The views from up there are just amazing!!!! Then, after all that excitement we had an ice cream and Starbucks break! :)

The man we rented our apartment from gave us a late checkout of 5pm since our flight wasn't until 8:45pm. It worked out beautifully - Siena got her afternoon nap. After that, we headed to the park for one last round of play time. Below are Chris and Siena taking a stroll and some pictures of them playing.

We had an awesome time in Hong Kong...and if Max has his way, we'll be moving to Disneyland tomorrow! :) Who knows, maybe Hong Kong will be a future post? I think it's funny because I'd love to live there, but Chris said he'd hate it. He says the city has no character. I have to agree, compared to Bangkok, it really doesn't. But, it does have lots to offer, and there is so much more to see. However, it is VERY expensive. I am working on getting us back there in our final year in Thailand since it's such an easy trip. We'll see...I'm working on Chris, and well, so is Max!! :)

Ahhhh...My blog is caught up - June!!!

2011-06-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

It's a great feeling to know that with this post, I'm caught up with my blog....my mom will be so proud! :) So, what happened in June????

Max has been taking swimming lessons since we moved to Bangkok, first as a "toddler" where I was in the pool with him and now by himself in the pool with the instructor - what a big boy. He has swimming at school and has gained some confidence there, but ever since my brother Jim and Sharon got him his snorkel gear, he has been a swimming machine! Plus, his new swim instructor is fantastic. I can't say enough good things about her!!! His swimming skills have improved in the last two months ten fold! It's unbelievable!

Every day, he wants to swim! I have to admit, I hate swimming in our pool because the water is so cold. Even though it's over 100 degrees here, the water is freezing to me. But, I still go....Plus, Siena loves the water too and has no fear!

Here are some pictures of Max swimming! He's so cute, as are his swimming pals - Evie and Chisa! :)

This month, we had two really fun birthday parties in the same weekend.

First, Gavin's 4th birthday party was a blast! His 3rd birthday party was our first in Bangkok, and looking back, we've had lots since then! I guess that's the nature of having two small children. The party was fun and our small group members were all there too - Jean and Andy (Gavin's mom and dad), Maple, Manik and Josiah, and Annette.

It was eye opening for a number of reasons. First, it's neat to see Siena at these parties since she's been going to them all lately. She's so cute and really has lots of fun! Second, Max hopped on Gavin's bike and began riding like a pro (on training wheels, but still!). So, it's time for a big boy bike and Pop-Pop is already getting one! Plus, Siena loved the scooters. Our kids are growing up way too fast!!!

The second birthday party was for Max's friend in his class, Miu Miu. It was a fun birthday at Gymboree with balloon animals, magicians, and pinatas. Siena had a great time too as you can tell, she loved the cupcakes! I think this picture of Max striking a pose is hilarious - why did it have to be blurry! A photographer I am not! :( But, this is a classic Max expression that I love!

The pictures below are of Pi Nam, one of Siena's Gymboree teachers and the other little girl with the magician is a girl in Max's class, Ilyana. She's the little girl that Max rode to school on the tuk-tuk, and now is a good friend. According to him, he, Ilyana and another little girl, Laerke, like to play "monster" and Max chases the girls! :) They actually set up play dates at school and then are sad when they don't really happen. But, we're going to get them all together this summer! :)

Chris and Max also had a father-son outing (which they do every weekend), but one day they went for a special train ride. Max, who LOVES trains and builds his own (usually with pillows, chairs, etc) didn't like it. It was too loud. So, they took the train a couple of stops and a taxi back. Oh well. I think Chris is going to try his luck again when we're back in the States in October when Grandaddy can join them too! :)

We also had some fun with friends from Shawnee! Amy's sister-in-law, Kate, and her son, Charlie, were in town so Max and I made our way to Wat Phra Kaew to meet them (along with Amy's husband, Michael). Wat Phra Kaew is the temple that houses the emerald buddha (which we didn't see this time - I've seen it before) and is within the walls of the former royal palace and temple complex. Just as we got there, it started to rain, but it allowed us to have an ice cream break! We took a river taxi home, and Max loved it! He kept telling me the boat was only a "little fast" (holding his thumb and pointer finger super close together) but okay. (See, he really was traumatized by the experience on the "fast boat" in Phuket! :))

What I love as time passes is that I can see Max and Siena starting to be buddies and play together. It's so nice to see!!! I know they'll be really close! :)

Here's a cute picture of Siena - she's getting SO big! It's so sad! She now prefers to sit in a big girl chair (and Max says he wants the high chair! :)) and she's found a new love for cereal with blueberries on top. What a cute mess she is hiding in the tent Max made under our dining room table! :)

As for Father's Day, Chris was spoiled!!! He received a homemade card and two packs of Mentos. Well, one pack was for Chris and the other was for him to share with Max! Max said Chris would just love them, and he did! :) Below is a picture of Max picking out his Father's Day gift for Grandaddy - a new tie! Yes, Chris did take Max to Patpong to get it for those of you wondering!

As for my fun this month, I had a Girls Night Out. However, it was bitter sweet since it was a GNO going away party for our friend, Yuuki, who is moving back to Japan next month. That's the one thing I don't like about the "foreign service lifestyle" - it's so fluid and people come and go!!! Also on that note, we won't have our bid list until the end of July or August for those of you eager to plan a trip to see us at our next post!!! :) I'll let you know as soon as I know anything!!

But, I think all the excitement this month may have been too much and we're exhausted! As many of you know, Max use to have night terrors for almost a year when he was 2. It was like clock work - if he missed his nap, he'd have a night terror that night between 10-11pm. They usually lasted an hour and were pretty scary. He was completely asleep, but seemed awake at times and would be flailing sometimes. We were told not to try to wake him, but when they went on for really long we did out of desperation. Anyway, he's dropped his afternoon nap and now has quiet time. We moved his bedtime to 7pm since he seemed tired and that seemed to work and the night terrors went away....until this month! UGH!!

So, we've been up a lot with Max and doing everything to enforce a "rest" time during the afternoon and getting him to bed on time. It seemed to work and the night terrors only lasted 4 nights. But, then the coughing fits came back....Max had bronchiolitis about 2 months ago and had to undergo nebulizer treatments which seemed to do the trick. The doctor said he wasn't sure what caused it, so it might be triggered again or he may never have the terrible nightly cough again. Unfortunately, the cough started last week.

So, long story short about "current day life" -- Chris and I are exhausted, Max is exhausted and has a confirmed ear infection as of today (but his chest is clear! :)), and both kids may have some type of eye infection. I've completely lost my voice due to some "viral" infection (and praise God the doctor confirmed it's not strep), but I was hoping it was just from having to yell over the live music during our GNO! We have lots of medication in the house now so we should be on the mend! I think the kids are enjoying me not being able to use my voice! :)

But, our next adventure is very near -- on Wednesday, the kids and I are joining Chris in Hong Kong for 3 nights. He left today. Khun Vipa is coming too and while Chris is attending his conference, we're taking the kids to Hong Kong Disney. I'm looking forward to it! :) Plus, I'm looking forward to fun nights out with my hubby in Hong Kong. From what I remember of it during our trip in 2006, it was awesome!!! :) But, I need to get my family well!!!! Prayers requested!! :)

So, it's official, I'm caught up! :) YEA!!!!!

May brings more adventures...to the beach!

2011-06-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

May was another slam-packed month! I feel like every month is like that. I'm looking forward to July when we have no trips planned. In May, we had 2 beach trips (both in Thailand) and in two days, we are going to Hong Kong. We don't have another trip planned until August when we head to Myanmar (Burma). I'm just looking forward to some lazy days of summer! :) After that, it'll be our annual October trip back to the States - yippie!

But, back to what we did in May!

Our first trip to the beach was in the beginning of May. We had an extra long weekend after the King declared Monday as a holiday since Tuesday was the actual holiday. He wanted to give Thais a long weekend. Luckily for us, the Ambassador agreed and we had a 4 day weekend too - so the Grawburgs headed to Jomtien beach, which is southeast of Bangkok in the Gulf of Thailand.

Jomtien is actually just several miles for the notorious Pattaya area - known for sex, drugs and the Russian mafia! I've been told to just go to a nice resort in Pattaya and never leave the premises. However, as you know, Chris wants to go and "check it out." Not me. And, Chris was sick during our trip which means - we'll be back so Chris can check out the "walking street" at Pattaya while I hang out in the hotel with the kiddos! :)

Our trip was fun, though. The beach is similar to Hua Hin (southwest of Bangkok and on the gulf) and the sand isn't nearly as soft and white as southern Thailand and the water isn't crystal clear. The water is what you'd find on the east coast of the U.S. But, hey, it's the beach and we're out of the city! Siena even made some new friends.

Max, once again, packed all his snorkel gear and just LOVED the trip! He is a true "diving man" and if he doesn't grow up and become an architect or marine biologist, I'm going to be surprised! (Or, wait, maybe he'll be a diplomat and travel the globe and live close to scuba spots - that's always a possibility too! :) But, of both my children, I think Max will be the home-body who blames us for ruining his life and moving around every couple of years....we'll see!)

Both kids loved the beach - even Siena since there were no crashing waves. We actually spent a lot of time at the pool at our apartment. We opted to rent a two bedroom apartment a block from the beach. We prefer to have 2 bedrooms for the kids and the kitchen/living room space! It's so much more comfortable than a hotel room!

We had dinner at a seafood place on the beach. It was okay, but the banana roti we got for dessert was good end to the meal! :)

In between beach trips, Chris and I attended Mike Gilmore's retirement party. I've never been to a party like this!!! But, knowing what a crazy guy Mike is, I should have expected it. It was a theme party and we were at a circus table. However, the crazy thing was that you ordered your food by trying to figure out what each item on the menu was. So, it was a 5 course dinner, and you pick what you want in each course. Unfortunately for me, I didn't order my fork until the 3rd course! My butter came with the 3rd course too, but my bread was with the 1st course. My cake, though, came in the 1st course! No better way to start dinner than with dessert! :)

Our second beach trip was to Phuket in southern Thailand. We had just been there when my mom visited in March. This time, we took Khun Vipa with us. It was our first trip with her and while we really handled much of the day to day stuff with the kids (it is a family vacation, mind you! :)), we were able to go out to dinner before or after the kids went to bed (depending on how Max did with us leaving). We had 3 nights out! Woohoo!! It was fantastic on so many levels and really was relaxing!!

Here are our little travelers ready to go!

We split our week between two beaches on Phuket. Although Phuket is a relatively small island, it takes about 45 minutes to drive about 10 miles and the roads are all narrow and windy. Throw in a rain storm and you have a much longer trip!

We stayed for 3 nights at an apartment at Karon beach (which is south of Patong for anyone who knows Phuket) for the first part of our trip since the two times we've been to the island, we've stayed at the same beach (Bang Tao). Karon beach was nice and wide, and even though the water was a little rough (since it's rainy season), it didn't affect the kids getting into the water. Siena, however, didn't like the water this time - the waves were too loud! She played in the sand and had fun, though! Max was a fish and in the ocean or pool the entire time. There were blue jelly fish in the water but didn't seem to sting. I must admit I was a little freaked out by them!

Our apartment was not on the beach but a short drive away. We tend to spend the mornings on the beach and afternoons at the pool. The hotel was on the mountainside and beautiful!

One day we went to the "Big Buddha" that is being built in Phuket. The views from up on the hill top are really awesome and you can see that Phuket really does have lots of jungles! There were so many little islands around Phuket and I didn't realize there were so many.

On the day we changed hotels, we went to the Phuket Aquarium. It was really small but it had a/c! Here are Max and me outside being silly.

Here is a picture of Grumpy Max and Happy Max at the aquarium. The water is just beautiful down south and it's "rainy season" so it's even clearer during November-April! Max was a great big brother and would push Siena in her stroller (car seat). They are really getting cute together! Siena looks up to Max so much and copies everything he does - right down to throwing fits (not good!).

We stayed at the same hotel in Bang Tao where we stayed when my mom was with us (and in 2006 when we were here). It's a great complex. We saw the baby elephant again too! I was also able to get a really cute picture of Siena sitting in the grass at our hotel! :)

Siena was so afraid of the waves and held on to Khun Vipa like in the picture below for about 10 minutes when we got to the beach. She wouldn't let go!

The beach was way too rough on Bang Tao beach that we opted to take Max on a half day tour to Koh Khai island which is 15 minutes by speed boat northeast of Phuket island. We actually went to two little islands (I think Koh Khai north and Koh Khai south).

No one lives on the islands and as Max would tell people - "no one lives there except there was one man who stayed to clean up our mess." We promise we didn't leave any trash, we just told him the man was not being left behind but cleans up the island.

Max cried on the speed boat. The waters were fairly rough and he didn't like it at all. Towards the end, he was fine, but the trip to the island wasn't fun at all! Plus I felt something crawling on my leg and thought it was a spider - nope, cockroach - UGH!!!

The islands were beautiful and exactly what you picture in Thailand - soft white sand, limestone formations, and clear blue water (although there was lots of dead coral on the beaches). The highlight of the day (and trip really) was Max getting to swim with the fish close to the shore of the island -- he was in heaven!! When we asked him later at dinner what his favorite part of the day was, he immediately said swimming with the fish. Below are some pictures of the trip. I tried to upload a video of Max feeding the fish, but couldn't get it to work. If you want to watch the videos, check out our flickr set for this trip! :)

While at Bang Tao, Chris, Max and I went to the Butterfly and Insect Farm while Siena took her afternoon nap. Chris was so excited to get the "Thai price" since we live in Thailand! We saw lots of creepy crawly things like tarantulas (yuck!) and many butterflies. You could even feed the butterflies, but we were not successful! :(

One night, we all went out to our favorite restaurant at Bang Tao - the Black Cat. Here we are!

We were sad to leave Phuket, but it was a great week's vacation! At the airport, Max met a new friend, Caleb. Her family was here from China on holiday and headed back to China through Bangkok. Max was distraught that he would not see her again. So, when we landed in Bangkok, I gave Caleb's dad my phone number and said if they had time for a play date, we'd love to see them again. They took us up on the offer and came over for dinner. Max was ecstatic!!! :) The coolest thing was that they were fellow Christians!!

Another great trip to Phuket! I know we'll be back...hopefully in November when Jim and Sharon come for a visit! :) (Hint Hint!)

Easter!

2011-06-15T20:41:00.001-07:00

This was our second Easter in Bangkok - who would believe it! It's weird to think we actually now have "traditions" here! :)

We started Easter weekend with the Easter Egg Hunt at the Embassy on Saturday. Max was terrified of two things - the Easter bunny (who last year had black paint around his eyes and truly was a scary sight) and Mr. Mike. As I mentioned in my Songkran post, Max is afraid of Mike because he wears "crazy" hats. The first one that Max saw and remembers to this day is the "chicken hat" (which Mike wore last Easter). Well, as you can see, Max and Mr. Mike did okay. But, no pictures with the Easter bunny - neither Siena nor Max were getting near him! :) They did enjoy the magic show before the Easter Egg Hunt. It was fun and as always, both kids loved getting candy!

Easter Sunday was a fun day too! We started the day by remembering why we were celebrating - that Jesus is Alive!!! YEA!!!! Chris read the Easter Story to the kids and Max was quick to point out (as he does every time he reads this book), that he doesn't like the page where Jesus dies. But, we remind him that on the very next page (3 days later), he's alive and that he died for all of us! Easter is such a humbling day!

The kids loved scouring through their Easter baskets and Max kept putting stuff from Siena's basket into his own! They also opened up Easter packages from Gammy and Grandaddy filled with all sorts of goodies! :) Siena loved her little porcelain bunny, as did Max! As his "big present" Max got a car garage, which he had been asking for. Honestly, I can't believe that I spent $30 on the toy! Toys are so expensive here and unless you pay a LOT of money (unlike toys in the U.S.), they are crappy! Oh well....that's why Walmart.com is so awesome. I just need to remember to have any gifts shipped before the holiday! :)

After a fun-filled morning of stories and candy, we headed to Christ Church! The service was great. Then, we headed to out to have brunch at Crepes & Co. I just love their crepes! :) Here's a picture of us at the restaurant and Siena playing in a basket there. I don't have a picture of just Max and only this one of Siena in her Easter dress. It was a nice second Easter. We'll still have one more in Bangkok!

April Fun with Friends!

2011-06-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

April was filled with Songkran and lots of time with friends. We had many play dates and birthday parties this month!

But, one of Max's favorite things he did was ride on the tuk-tuk with his friend, Iliyana. He had asked me for months to take a tuk-tuk to school (and it's too far of a ride from our house - they aren't the safest mode of transport, especially for a 3 year old!). However, he informed me that it couldn't be "any" tuk-tuk, it had to be the one Iliyana takes to school (which is the tuk-tuk at her apartment building and is a "cool" green and white - and the driver is always so sweet to Max when we'd see him at school. He'd even let Max pretend to drive the tuk-tuk at school.) So, I dropped Max of with her and her mom, Sayana, and off they went to school. Wow, did Max love that!! :)

Max and Siena met their friends, Josiah and Evie, at Ocean World and had a blast! Plus, it gave the moms a chance to catch up! :) Here are some pictures of the kids having fun. And no, they didn't get any ice cream even though it looks like they were all ready to break inside the ice cream container! :)

We also went to the birthday party for Max's best friend from preschool, Matthew. Matthew turned 3 and we had a blast at Funarium - an indoor play park in Bangkok.

April = Songkran = Squirt Guns Out in Bangkok

2011-06-03T02:35:00.001-07:00

In Bangkok, April doesn't bring April showers, it brings buckets of water (literally) and squirt guns! It's the time of year that Thais celebrate the 3 day festival of Songkran (Thai New Year), which means lots and lots of water everywhere and people putting chalk/paste on your face (or car)! Last year, the weather was in the 100's and the water was a welcomed treat. Plus, Songkran was new to us and I didn't mind getting squirted with a water gun or having a bucket of water thrown onto me as I unsuspectingly walked down the street.

This year was different - the weather was cooler (in the 80's to low 90's) and I tended to avoid the crowds and enjoyed the Songkran fun as I drove my car through Bangkok. Thais still blasted my car with water and I had lots of paste hand prints all over, but I didn't have to get wet or pasty! :) I guess in hindsight, when we got to Bangkok in 2010 our car wasn't here during Songkran. So, I may have tried to avoid it then too! :)

Max had so much fun and Chris took him several times down to the Silom area (a very short walk from our apartment) to enjoy the festivities. Max was armed with his little squirt gun (although I'm not sure he ever used it). I heard reports from Chris that Max was completely overwhelmed with the masses of people in the streets. They close down Silom Road and it's just wall to wall people. As Max road on Chris' shoulders, Max would yell when splashed with cold water, but yell "Thank You" to those who dumped warm water on him! :) He came home covered in paste and Chris and him would go directly to the shower to rinse off.

Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of Max this year during Songkran. My camera died so I think Chris has the photos. His computer screen died, so as soon as I find any, I'll update this post with the pictures!

Other than having fun in our neighborhood, it really wasn't that "crazy" of a Songkran. Max's school had a Songkran party but they didn't do any water activities because it was too chilly.

We did have fun at the Embassy's Songkran party again this year. What a difference a year makes - Siena was running all around. Last year she was only 6 months old! :) Chris was on a basketball team and his team made it to the "playoffs." So we got there early to watch the final game. Unfortunately, Chris' team lost, but it wasn't for lack of effort! Here's are some pictures of Chris.

As you can see from the picture above, Max was a little "scared" at the party because of Mr. Mike, who works at the Embassy and usually wears crazy costumes and hats to all the events. It freaks Max out - big time! So, for much of the festivities, Max sat by the gate to avoid Mr. Mike. But, Mike was able to woo Max to the water bucket to refill his water gun. Then, they were best buds! :) Here are some photos from the party. There was also a sand sculpting contest and boat races.

Another fun Songkran in Bangkok! :)

Awesome Visit with My Mom and Cambodia

2011-04-24T20:01:00.001-07:00

Yet again, my posts are few and far between. My mom just threatened me tonight to update it (May 31) so I stayed up late to get it done! :) I know that I'm constantly vowing to get caught up, but then our internet service is out for a week or something else happens and I don't get a chance to update our blog. I did at least post some pictures in a timely fashion! But, you'll be seeing several posts for the last couple of months coming in the next several days.

We had an awesome visit with my mom in....March - UGH, I really am behind! The time flew by which was sad, but we did so much! Plus, it was great because she was the only one that had to get use to the time change - we didn't lose a week waiting for Max and Siena to adjust this time!

The strangest thing happened while my mom was here - it got cold in Thailand! You may laugh at me, but it really was cold (at least for here!). I had to break out the winter clothes and put Siena and Max in long sleeve shirts and pants -- that's never happened here - ever!!! The lowest the temperature has gotten before March was in the low 80's which felt cool, but okay. However, the low 70's is freezing here - Thais are all in their parkas (and I was a little tempted to break out mine, but a fleece did nicely! :)) Here's Siena in a dress with a turtleneck. I was excited because she got to wear these clothes again - we had bought them while in the States in October. They were a bit snug, but hey, it was only for a day or so! :)

Max also had International Day at his school on that first Friday my mom was here. All the children had to wear a "costume" from their home country. What is a traditional American costume?? Yep, you guessed it - jeans, a t-shirt and baseball cap - although the baseball cap never made it to the parade. My mom, Siena, and I went to the International Day parade and braved the cold weather - low 70's! My mom thought I was crazy thinking it was so cold and dressing Siena in a fleece - but she was cold! :) Here are some pictures of the parade and there's a video of Max and his best friend, Matthew, holding hands. They are so cute together! :) After school, we went out to lunch and Max enjoyed a cookie - you'll see he has chocolate all over his face!

That weekend we headed to the south of Thailand to the island of Phuket. It's probably what people think of when we mention a beach in Thailand. It was fabulous!!! Max started to pack a couple of days before our trip and he was sure to bring his snorkel gear that Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon got him for his 3rd birthday. We had such a great time enjoying the warm weather at the beach. Max and Siena also had fun playing on the beach. I was just happy to get out of the city! :) Max loved the water (well, he was scared of the waves at first, but you'll see he was in there with his snorkeling gear in no time!). Siena really didn't care for the water and was scared by the noise the waves made when they crashed. She mostly played in the sand away from the water! :)

We stayed at a beach called Bang Tao which is in the northwest part of Phuket. Our hotel was in the Laguna complex, which consists of 5 resorts that are inter-connected by canals (so you can take boats around) or by trolley buses. Chris and I stayed at the Allamanda resort when we visited Thailand in 2006 so it was very familiar to us! Plus, the holiday club had a super sweet deal on 2 bedroom villas! :) There were also baby elephants that came out to the beach every morning from the hotel. It was a blast and I know the kids enjoyed it! :)

We stayed in Phuket until Tuesday and had Wednesday and Thursday in Bangkok to just hang out. Max and Siena enjoyed the time with my mom and my mom took Max to school with me in the mornings and then we'd spend time with Siena. Three generations out to lunch - fun stuff! :)

The BEST thing my mom did for Chris and me was watch the kids while we went to Cambodia for the weekend - AHHHHH! Well, actually, it really wasn't that relaxing - Chris had us backpacking again. So, instead of taking a plane, I had to take - a skytrain, taxi, Bus, tuk-tuk, taxi, and yet another tuk-tuk to get to our destination - and yes, it was a 9 hour adventure overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia. If you want to see every single detail of how we did it, Chris has a blog about it. Apparently, there aren't any good blogs about how to do it so he created one! Yes, that sounds like him, right?! :) (http://www.bkk2rep.com/).

In 2006 we flew from Bangkok to Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat is) because the road from the border to Siem Reap wasn't paved and there was so much corruption. The corruption is still there, as you can read on Chris' blog, but the paved road makes for an okay ride. Chris was dead set on making the trek overland, and I'm so glad we did it solo without the kids. That would have made for way too long a trip for them - and certainly more of an adventure than I would have wanted to have! :)

At first, I thought, we could not take our kids to Cambodia. But, it grew on me - yet again - and of course I'd take them back! Angkor Wat is amazing and the architecture is so awesome. Yeah, it's pretty dirty and very third world; however, I was quickly reminded of why Cambodia was my 2nd favorite country out of the 23 we visited in 2006 - the kindness of a people that have been through so much and have every right to be bitter, but aren't. I was just happy that we didn't go to Phnom Penh this trip...not sure I will ever go back there! So very depressing and the killing fields are the saddest place I've ever been...especially now as a mother, I'm not sure I could stomach to see the "killing tree" that was used to kill babies to save bullet...how awful....

Okay back to happy things....We were only in Siem Reap for 3 days/2 nights so we decided to only go back to Angkor Wat for one day and pick our 3 favorite temples and see them again -- Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Phrom (aka "Tomb Raider temple"). We also visited "Pub Street" - a backpacker type of street, but actually it's the only central area so everyone goes there. Our favorite spot - the Blue Pumpkin - an awesome coffee/sandwich shop, of course! :)

Here are pics of Angkor Wat. The complex is huge and so ornate!

Then, Bayon which is a temple within another temple complex. I think it's so neat because there are 216 faces on the temple. The bridge leading into the temple complex was lined with men playing tug of war. We were lucky enough to see elephants coming through the tunnel gates. That was a neat sight! :)

But, my favorite of the 3 temples is Ta Phrom. When the Angkor Wat complex was discovered, they started to clear all the trees away so that the jungle didn't overtake the temples. However, they left one temple in its natural form to show what nature can do - it's amazing! :)

And finally, here is a picture of our hotel and a photo across the street. It's crazy the difference a street can make! Plus, a photo of the Blue Pumpkin! :)

Max and Siena had fun playing with Oma at our apartment or in the building playroom. Here are some random shots of the kids playing!

We had an AWESOME trip with my mom and hated to see her go! :( Miss you mom, and thanks for letting us have a great weekend trip away...I know you probably enjoyed it more than we did!! :)

Some normalcy...just in time for our 1 year Bangkok Anniversary!

2011-03-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since we moved to Bangkok! Wow, how time flies!! This year has certainly been an adventure, and one I think our entire family is enjoying! :)

The end of February and the first part of March - except for the kids and Chris getting sick - were nice! Finally, some normalcy!! Even though I've had lots of culture shock days (I'm not sure what's been going on with me), it's been great just living life.

Here are some cute random pictures of Siena just hanging out with Max's Go Diego shades on, asleep in her crib after falling asleep reading, and trying on new goggles that Gammy sent (which she loves!).

Max enjoyed playdates with his buddies Gavin (who we met at Central World and went to KiddyLand, TK Park and had lunch) and Josiah (who came over to our house). We also had a playdate at my friend Elley's house. Her son Gabe is 6 and daughter Evie is Max's age. Siena came along and enjoyed playing with Gabe's boxing glove...and of course she loved the food!

I also bought this cool handmade grasshopper. I have no idea what to do with it, so it's in a plant in the living room. For some reason, I'm just attracted to all these handmade things the elderly make and sell on the streets of Bangkok! The way I look at it is that I'm supporting a good cause and I get some really neat things! :)

Chris and I also went to a really cool Moroccan restaurant for our Friday date night. We had to walk a treacherous route to get there - some of the sois in Bangkok are horrible and have no sidewalks at all and barely any room to walk along the road. I'm surprised we made it! :) The meal was awesome and we felt like we were back in Morocco!

Moms that attend othe Parent and Toddler group for a Shrove Tuesday (okay it was on Thursday) pancake lunch! It was lots of fun!! Our Monday night small group did a similar and much larger event too. It was loads of fun and the pancakes were yummy!! :)

The only bad thing was that my car was in the shop for a week, and I hate taking taxis. Don't get me wrong, taxis are great. However, they are not convenient when you have a 1 1/2 year old who wants to sit up front with the driver and there's no way to restrain her. Well, I guess I could restrain her in my arms, but then you have a little girl fighting terribly to be released. Add a 3 1/2 year old to the mix and it can be a stressful ride! Actually, Max is really good in taxis now...he's convinced a policeman is going to take him to jail if he acts up in any way. When we first arrived in Bangkok, I kept telling Max that the sign in the car stated the law - that little boys (and now girls) must sit on their bottoms or the policeman would come. He's taken this to mean he's going to jail. I now try to explain that I'll get a ticket (so he's not afraid of policeman!).

That's it for now. Next post (hopefully in the next day or so) will be of all the fun we had during my mom's visit!!! :)

Trip to Koh Samet

2011-02-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

Wow did I need a break from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok!!! And, Chris had been itching to go somewhere for quite awhile. He never seems to be content just living life in one place! Chris took off Monday through Wednesday last week (Feb 14-16) and we headed to an island about 2 hours southeast of Bangkok – Koh Samet. We heard wonderful things about the island, mostly that you get the white sand beaches and clear waters like in the south (which are beautiful), and it's really secluded. (For anyone who's been to Thailand, it's a bit like Koh Phi Phi but not nearly as developed and the entire island is a national park).

The trip there was actually pretty easy, surprisingly enough! We drove and parked our car right at the pier and then got a speed boat over to the island. Max did not like the speed boat because it was pretty rough, but Siena loved it and was trying to jump (as she sat in my arms) as we hit waves!

The one nice thing about the island is that it’s really secluded. The island has no cars on it. Well, it might, but I didn’t even see a road! You get dropped off from the back of the boat (if you take a speed boat) so you’re wading in knee deep water to get to shore. If you take a ferry, you transfer to a dingy that takes you to shore and then get off the dingy in knee deep water. It can be a little tricky if the waves are big and pushing the boat! But, we all managed just fine and no one fell in! (I think if you stay at a 5 star resort on the other side of the island at Ao Prao beach, there are piers and this type of transfer isn’t necessary! You’ll just have to pay more!)

The beach was nice, but unfortunately, there was lots of garbage in the water. Too much for our liking!! We've spoken to people that have gone and they had "heard" about this at times, but never experienced it. Just our luck, huh?? We're still debating if we'd go back.....The cool thing is that everything you need is right there on the beach. However, at low tide, it's fine because you can walk right on the beach to wherever you're going. But, at high tide, the water comes RIGHT up the resorts/hotels. So, the pictures below - we're eating dinner at low tide, but in the morning, this was high tide. No more tables and chairs on the beach!

For what we spent, we were disappointed in our “family room”. It did have two bedrooms and two baths but it didn’t have any type of living area. So, that made it a little tricky when sleep time came. It was definitely better than all of us sharing one room, which we’ve vowed we won’t do until the kids are older (and going to bed at the same time). However, another plus, it forced Chris and me to go to bed early!

Max LOVED playing at the beach and in the waves. He brought his snorkeling gear and used it in the pool. He is too funny! In fact, he’s been going “diving” in our building’s pool – flippers and all, even though he really can't "swim" yet. He keeps telling me that when he’s 20, he’s going to swim at Ocean World. I’m just glad he’s putting his face in the water. For the longest time, he kept saying he wanted to dive, but not put his face in the later? I would simply reply by telling him that that would be a little hard!

We realized this was Siena’s first “real” time at the beach! We went to a beach southwest of Bangkok over the summer (Hua Hin/Cha Am), but Siena only swam and played at the pool. The beach at our hotel in Cha Am was rocky and pebbly, not white, smooth sand. If we go again, we’re going to stay at a more upscale place…we heard they truck in nice sand! But, the water still isn't clear - isn't like the east coast of the U.S. At first, she hated the sand, but after about 2 minutes, she was loving it. She wasn't much for the waves hitting her legs, but she liked splashing in the water.

We had a relaxing time…there’s not much to do other than relax! It rained on Tuesday morning, so we were stuck inside for several hours until it cleared. That worked out well though – forced relaxation. However, we decided not to bring our computers with us to really “get away” and realized we had no way to play DVDs. You think we’d know better by now!! Oh well.

That’s it for now….life is starting to settle down again. I’m looking forward to my mom’s visit – 2 weeks from Monday!!! She’s coming on March 15 and we all can’t wait!

Max Eating a Worm!

2011-02-19T03:10:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this awhile back...and can't believe I forgot! Here is a funny video of Chris sharing some of his "exotic food" with Max. Max's reaction is funny! :)

February Fun...Chinese New Year!

2011-02-13T07:10:00.000-08:00

We are almost half way through February, and it's already been an exhausting month for a variety of reasons! I've had a couple of what I call "culture shock" days, which are really, really hard for me and just wear me out! Plus, we just had a lot going on these last couple of weeks and this past week, I had a sick husband, sick little boy, and then a sick little girl (although Siena never quite gets anything as bad as the boys, thank goodness!!). I had a little sore throat, but it never developed into a full blown cold, which surprises me considering the long nights lately but I'm not complaining! Everyone seems to be on the mend, with coughing mostly at night. What I wouldn't do to have one night of uninterrupted sleep....

Before the sicknesses, we were busy with all sorts of stuff. Max and I went to a joint birthday party for two friends from school that was at Gymboree. I keep forgetting to sign Siena up at Gymboree or Little Gym for an outing in addition to our swim lessons each week, so we'll be starting a class soon. As you can see, Max had a great time playing, popping bubbles, singing and making a mask, and he was front and center for the cake cutting. I was a nervous wreck that he was going to blow out Zac's candles on his cake! But, he didn't!!

Our friends Amy and Michael invited us and another family with a boy Max's age and a baby over to their house for lunch, swimming, and some music. It was loads of fun! The kids loved it!! Check out Max chillin' while Michael played some songs and the video of the kids dancing while Amy played is a hoot! Miss Siena was dancing her little heart out...well, all the kids were! The picture of the woman playing the guitar is Amy's friend, her baby girl, and her mom who was visiting. Everyone there (well, except me) was so musically inclined! :) Amy and I grew up in the same town - Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania and her little girl, Annabelle, is 8 months old. She's such a little cutie! But, a funny (well, not really "funny") story was that when we saw Amy, Michael and Annabelle in Shawnee when we were home in October and before they moved over to Bangkok, Siena walked over to Annabelle and smacked her right on the head. Ever since then, I'm so scared Siena is going to hurt her!!! I like that Amy lives in Bangkok, and it's just awesome having someone who knows "home" here! :)

Max has his mid-term break next week and to end the first half of the second term, the school celebrated Chinese New Year (which was technically Feb. 4). They had a parade and the whole school sang songs in a big assembly. It was cute. Max's best friend at school is Matthew and they were holding hands during the parade!

If Max doesn't become an architect or engineer, I'm going to be surprised. He's been building these elaborate (even more so than in these pictures) of "train stations and towns" and "towers"!! He's so proud of his work! (Now, if only I would take the picture after he's out of his pj's and his hair is combed! :))

In order to get ready for Valentine's Day, I hosted the Parent and Toddlers group from our church and we decorated cupcakes and heart cakes. It was so much fun, but I think I ate way too much sugar!! :)

Here's a picture of Max decorating his cupcake, a cupcake for Chris and a heart cake for Khun Vipa. The kids (and us!) also enjoyed getting Valentine's Day packages from Chris' parents and my mom!

We're headed to the beach for 2 nights tomorrow (Monday) and I cannot wait!! I won't be bringing my computer, just a couple of books and backgammon! :) Oh how I need this time out of Bangkok!!

Visitors - YEA!!!

2011-02-12T22:41:00.001-08:00

We ended January with some company! You know how I love to host visitors! The Kvernen family stayed with us for a couple of days while on their journey back home to China from the U.S. Matt and Laura have lived in China for about 10 years - and they are younger than us! :) Chris and I were in the same bible study at Edenton Street UMC in Raleigh as Laura's dad, Paul, and we got to know Laura and Matt through that "connection." When we were traveling in China in 2006, we met Laura and Matt for the first time in their home city of Kunming. I remember Laura taking Chris and me to the local market to buy fresh vegetables and then us making homemade chicken pot pie....oh what comfort food can do for someone that had been traveling for about 8 months at the point. Fun times and great memories!

Below is a picture from our trip in 2006 and wow...4 more kiddos later between our families and we've gone from 5 to 9! :) (Their kids are Julianna (5), Lydia (3) and Isaac (1).

It was so much fun and the kids had a blast playing. Max just adored Julianna and wants to be just like her. In fact, he will no longer sit on his booster seat because she didn't use one. He wants to go to China so badly to visit her...too cute!

While they were here, we played and had a picnic at Lumpini Park, went out for some Thai food, had some good old fashion meat and potato meals at home, went to Wat Arun, and just had some nice "home" time while the children played. And, Laura and I went and got pedicures - fun!! Here are some pictures of Laura reading to the kids and Siena enjoying herself at Lumpini Park.

We were sad to see the Kvernen's go, but glad they are quickly settling in to their new home in China. Now, it's back to life as "normal". Next visitor...my mom's coming back in March - YIPPIE!!!! :) Anyone else want to come this year?? You have an open invitation and we have a room ready for you!

2011...a new year, new adventures!

2011-02-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

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!!

Extended Tour in Bangkok

2011-01-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

We found out recently that our time in Bangkok has been extended until the summer of 2012. We were supposed to leave in March/April of 2012, but there were only 3 posts on that list -- Bangkok, Lisbon, and Helsinki. These were 3 of our original 4 possible assignments last year. So, Chris' CDO (Career Development Officer) told him that they've extended all 3 of these positions to the summer to give people more options. I suppose that having more options *could* be a good thing, but it could also be "bad"!! By "bad" I mean just harder.... But, I'm certain of this -- wherever we go, it'll be exactly where we're supposed to be! :)

We actually looked at the phone list of facility managers to see who's leaving posts in summer 2012. At first, I saw about 2 places on the list that seemed "ok". But, when we looked at it again last night, probably 75% were fine with me! Of course, Chris keeps getting nervous because Ethiopia is always popping up on lists...he doesn't want to go. I'd love to go back, but with older children. We'll see what God has in store! But, for now, we have the peace of mind knowing that we get to enjoy Bangkok a little bit longer....

2010 Recap - My, how life can change in a year....

2011-01-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

This post is just a short summary and recap of 2010...probably more for my benefit than anyone elses! Sorry!!

Wow, did we have a busy year!!! We started 2010 living in DC with a fairly new little one added to our family (Siena) and Chris finishing his training at FSI in Arlington before the big move to Thailand. Much of January through March was spent buying supplies (so lots of trips with Max and Siena to Target) and visiting our family and friends in North Carolina and PA.

In March, we moved to Thailand and started our new adventure with the State Department.

During March and April, we were very much in transition mode. While my mom coming to Thailand made it much easier, we still were living with only our UAB (air freight) and our HHE (household effects) and car hadn’t arrived yet (since they came by boat). We learned where to shop for groceries and household items, started exploring the city and began to find things to keep the kids (or at least Max) occupied. We found a great organization, Bangkok Dolphins, where Max (and I) enjoyed his swim lessons. That was a lot of fun for both of us! However, it was during this time that the Red Shirts slowly built up their camp in downtown Bangkok close to our home.

May was complete turmoil. Our friend, Mark, visited and we did a day trip to Kanchantaburi where we saw the bridge over River Kwai, went rafting (which Max loved), and swam at a national park. It was a fun time, which unfortunately was tainted by the “Red Shirt crisis”. While Mark was visiting we were evacuated from our home. You can read the specifics in a separate post, but needless to say, it wasn’t a fun period for any of us. While at our temporary apartment Max slipped and fell and had his first trip to the ER – he got 8 stitches – poor guy! But, he did awesome!

Within a week, the Red Shirts had been displaced from downtown Bangkok and everyone tried to return to life as “normal.” It really wasn’t that easy, at least for me. It was very strange and the government and citizens joined together to quickly (in one day!!) return downtown to its prior glory – cleaning the streets and getting rid of the “temporary camp”. It was amazing how fast it all happened! Yet, it was so sad to see all the damage that had been caused – Central World’s Zen and the movie theater across from Siam Paragon (where Chris and I saw a James Bond movie when we were in Bangkok in 2006) were burnt to the ground, as well as several other places around town. So sad…but life went on for Thailand, just as it did us.

The summer kept us busy. We did a little traveling and went to Hua Hin (a beach about 2 hours from Bangkok) and a more adventurous trip to Vietnam with the kids. That was a fun trip, but maybe a little too long. I think I just wanted to get settled in Bangkok again after the evacuation and wasn’t really up for living in another hotel!

But, when we got back to our apartment after our Vietnam trip, I was able to complete my unpacking of our HHE that had arrived in May during the Red Shirt crisis, so we were able to make our apartment “home” – yippie!! But, just as we were getting into a routine, it was clear summer was upon us. Max’s swim lessons ended and some friends went on holiday as school got out. In hindsight, I guess that gave us time to search for a preschool for Max which was good.

In addition to looking at a number of schools, Max and I stayed busy all summer – going to Ocean World, play areas, and various playgroups (especially Christ Church’s Thursday parent and toddler group). My friend Maple and her little boy, Josiah, started coming over on Fridays so we could scrapbook. But, with the boys and Siena, I don’t think we were ever able to get more than one page done each day! Very slow progress on that front!

In July, we joined Chris on a trip to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Facilities is responsible for the consulate there. We rented a one bedroom condo which worked out perfectly. We had a great trip and I ventured out with the kids while Chris was at work. It was a little difficult since taxis are not as prevalent (or actually they are non-existent it seems) but the man we rented the condo from gave us the name of a woman who has a taxi and I could call her and arrange for her to pick us up. Once we found her, it wasn’t that bad. Chiang Mai was AWESOME and I can’t wait to go back in 2011!!

In August, we found a school for Max and fell in love with it. It’s only a preschool and is quite small, which is exactly what we were looking for! Max and I attended for a half hour for a week during summer camps so he could get used to going (although I was there with him). The first week was hard – for both of us – but he really loves school and gets a lot out of it, even if he is learning through play! (But, now he’s made friends and it’s so cute to hear him talk about them!)

Fall brought us more upheaval…no, it wasn’t the Red Shirts, it was a 6 week trip back to the States!! We left in the middle of September and several weeks before, I started to prepare for our departure from Bangkok and get everything in order, and also organize and plan for our trip. This was no easy task, especially since I had no idea – do we pack summer, fall, or winter clothes – so I brought some of all! Plus, traveling for 24 hours with two kids again…ugh…..The hardest part for me was Chris only staying 3 of the 6 weeks. Although we stayed with family, it’s hard staying with them too since I was not “home” (if that makes any sense). When we stay with family or in hotels, even though my (or Chris’) family is there, it’s just more work. But, it’s awesome never the less!

All in all, we had a wonderful trip back home. The kids celebrated their birthdays (Siena turned 1 and Max turned 3) multiple times!! And, we got to do all the “fall” stuff in PA and NC such as go to the NC State Fair, celebrate Halloween, and play in the leaves. We all had a great time…although I think Chris secretly had more fun in Bangkok for 3 weeks without us!!

When we got back to Bangkok on November 2, the holidays were upon us, and we all know how fast the holiday season goes!! And, since we’re in Thailand, we have Thai holidays to celebrate too. So, November was filled with Loy Krathong and Thanksgiving! December starts with two Thai holidays (the King’s birthday and Constitution Day), which make for nice long weekends for us! Then, of course, Christmas!!!!

Writing this, I’m amazed at what has gone on in our lives in one simple year. And, this doesn’t even begin to cut the surface on the “Bangkok” stuff we did!! Wow, I need a vacation or maybe a day to sleep in!! :)

December - What a Busy Month!

2011-01-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

We had a jam packed December…our life just never stops (or so it seems to me!). I am so ready for a break!! Of course, Chris keeps planning more “day trips”!

The biggest highlight of these day trips in December was our day at Chok Chai Farm. It’s a dairy farm and ranch about 2 ½ hours from Bangkok and Max LOVED it!!! There is a tour that’s all in Thai, but when you’re standing in front of people milking cows or there’s a video in Thai, it’s not that hard to figure out what the heck they are talking about!

The tour was really well done and consisted of a trip to the milking area. No, Max wouldn’t attempt to milk a cow, but he did enjoy the sample ice cream next door at the Ice Cream Factory.

We then boarded wooden trams pulled by a tractor and were off to see the farm. The farm was pretty big, and even though there wasn’t much to see, it was AWESOME being in the FRESH, clean mountain air. Plus, the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler than Bangkok…that alone would have made the trip worthwhile!

The next stop was an “old western town” like you’d see at Universal Studios or something! There was a cowboy show and the cowboys lassoed a cow, swung guns, rode on a horse, and used a whip. Max, although he was scared when it was happening, loved the “whip” and kept talking about it for days!

The tractor then took us to another area of the farm where there was an animal show. A goat, parrot, dog, cat, and some other animals performed! It was cute and Max enjoyed it. After that, we went to the petting zoo they have and Max feed the goats and bottle fed a baby calf. Lots of fun stuff!!!

We were told by friends that the burgers from the ranch were really good…wow, they did not disappoint. It was the best burger I’ve had since we arrived!! And, of course, no trip to a dairy farm would be complete without ending our meal with homemade ice cream! YUM!

The farm has shops in some of the major malls in Bangkok – they sold the rights to the name - Chok Chai - and now their milk and products are labeled – “Ummm Milk.” I still can’t figure out why they sold the rights?? But, the nice thing is that even though we opted for the burger joint over the steakhouse at the farm, there is a steakhouse in Bangkok…maybe we’ll go for a date night when we don’t have Max with us. We had a really nice day and it was just nice to be out of the city!!

Back in Bangkok, Chris and I had some fun too! Chris and I had our weekly date night on a cruise on the Chao Praya River with some friends. It was a farewell cruise to some friends leaving Bangkok and headed for Africa! The river is so peaceful at night and the light breeze is fantastic. Plus, it was a cooler night (high 70's) and perfect for a river cruise.

I don't want to leave Miss Siena out of this post, since she didn't go to Chok Chai Farm with us! She had a great month too (well, sort of). Three of her molars came in during the last month or so, which means she had some restless nights, but she's growing so fast and speaking words and making animal sounds. She's absolutely precious! She also had her 15 month appointment and continues to be in the 97 percentile for height and 50 percentile for weight. She's just like Max (although she has a much littler head! :))

She did join us on one of our day trips...one Sunday we went to Thailand's largest reclining Buddha. The most famous reclining Buddha is probably in Wat Pho in Bangkok, but this is the largest, and you actually can climb into this Buddha.

This one picture is of inside the Buddha and it tells of the Buddha's life and there's even a section for Buddhist hell -- we didn't venture in there with the kids because it was way too graphic!!

And, here are some more pictures of Max and Siena enjoying Bangkok life. Siena's very happy that I now let her go into play areas...I was a little nervous until she got the rest of her shots. I know, I'm a protective mama!! :) So, she's been going out a lot more with us! She likes playing with Max and other friends too. Plus, she loves feeding herself and insists on using her own spoon. As you can see, she's definitely not a neat freak! :) Well, that's about it for the year. I promise next year will bring more recent posts! I've been organizing and prioritizing my life this month!!

Christmas in Paradise

2011-01-09T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'll apologize in advance...sorry for another long post. I promise, I'm almost caught up and posts will be much shorter! :)

December flew by and was filled with lots of baking, and of course, Christmas activities! This post is really just how we celebrated Christmas in Bangkok. Our December adventures will be the next post (and then I'm caught up with the blog - yippie!).

It's a little weird having 80-90 degree weather in December. I remember in 3rd grade my dad took my brother and me to Florida and we were at Disney World for Christmas...I didn't like being in the warm weather then either. But, on our way home we drove through a blizzard and when we got home, we had about 2 feet of snow to play in. That made up for our "warm Christmas"! :)

Unfortunately, this year, we didn't (and won't) see any snow - except on TV. Since we use a device called a "Slingbox," our cable is actually NC cable! So, we watched the news about NC and the whole northeast being cold...and yes, having a white Christmas! Of course, the year we leave it snows in Raleigh! But, the memories of shoveling our driveway after 2 huge storms last year that both brought over 2 feet of snow quickly entered my mind, and I was thankful not to have to shovel this year! Or, at least my back is happy! :)

So, what's it like during the Christmas season in Bangkok? Well, for a country that is 98% Buddhist, "Christmas" is everywhere!!! I was a little shocked to see more Christmas trees here than in the US, and they are all different colors too! Some actually say "Happy New Year" on them, so you realize quickly that the Christmas tree represents a lot of different things like in the US. There are traditional US Christmas songs playing in every shopping mall and coffee shop. In fact, Chris and I went back to the Starbucks on Khao San Road where we hung out in November 2006 and heard Christmas music. It was an awesome reminder of home then as it was this year!

But, for us as Christians, we kept the CHRIST in Christmas! We love our church over here and although the community is fluid, it really is a great family for us! We are very grateful!

As I mentioned, there was lots of Christmas / New Year's stuff around Bangkok. Central World had activities for families - The World of Happiness. We went to Central World one night and it was fun! There was a skating rink, inflatable snow globes you could go in (Max's loved these!) and big Santa chairs. Central World is where the Red Shirts burnt the huge department store, Zen, to the ground during the May protests, and the mall portion had recently reopened. I hadn't been back since before the protests. However, some things never change here - and that's the traffic. Note all the traffic in the picture below...very typical for Bangkok - UGH!

Some of the hotels have displays too with all the palm trees lit up and have huge Christmas trees. Here is Max playing at The Peninsula's really cool display. He wanted to go into the house so badly, but we wouldn't let him!!! Then there's a picture of the Four Season's Hotel all lit up.

Although it was sad being overseas and not seeing our families around Christmas, this gave us an opportunity to start making our own family traditions (taking from both what Chris and I did when we were growing up.) During the month, we decorated our apartment with all our decorations (at least the ones that would fit in the apartment...no blow up yard snowman for Chris this year!). The only downer...no real Christmas tree this year. It's actually a funny story because I was dead set on getting a real tree. When we went to Villa Market to see about pre-ordering a tree, we found out it was 9500 Baht (about $350). I know, it's insane, but the trees are imported. Chris agreed, and I looked at him and said, "You're going to let me buy a tree for $350?" The expression on his face was priceless because he thought the sign said 950 Baht ($35)! As any insane person can imagine, we discussed it over dinner and I lost. No real tree. I think it was the better decision and it was fine! But, no pine smell. We found a pretty nice tree at Carrefour (the French version of super Walmart). At least we'll be able to put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving next year and won't have to worry about dead pine needles!

But, what I loved about our Christmas activities with our church family was that it was very British! My greatest joy living in Bangkok is that I get to meet so many people from different cultures and learn not only about Thai culture, but also about cultures around the world!

Our church, Christ Church, is an Anglican church. At the Christmas Eve service, Max made a Christingle. I had never heard of it before and it represents various things -- the orange (world), toothpicks with raisins on them (fruits of the world), red ribbon (Christ's blood and death on the cross), and the candle (God's light in the World). Although quite the fire hazard, the kids all enclosed the church pews in a circle carrying their Christingles (lit!) and walked in a circle around the congregation while we all sang Joy to the World! It was really special and Max enjoyed it!

We also had a Christmas party at our house. Our Monday night small group from church came and we all invited people. Max's teacher, Miss Abby, came as well as another teacher, Miss Mary, and her husband and mom (all from the States). There were lots of nationality there and Maple, Sarah, and I made food for everyone and most of it represented our home country. I had egg nog, ham, homemade mac n cheese, a cheese ball, and lots of yummy desserts like peppermint bark, rice crispy treats, Oreo truffles, rugelach, and ginger bread man cookies. I baked and baked all December! It was fun, but I wanted to share some US traditional treats with Max's classmates, Chris' co-workers, Khun Vipa, our friends in Bangkok, and those that work in our apartment building. I think I made something almost everyday!!

What was funny is that most of the people at the party had heard about eggnog, ham, mac n cheese but never had it. And, I got to try Scottish pudding, a Scottish trifle, and some other yummy treats! Plus, we sang carols and opened "crackers". Now, I've never heard of "crackers" before but the best way to describe one is this -- two people hold an end of what looks like a present wrapped like a really big hard candy and you pull the two ends. One person gets the joke and toy inside. I guess for us Americans, it's like our tradition of pulling a wishbone, only you get a joke and prize!!! Max's teacher, Miss Abby, made us a collage of the pictures she took. I'm not in any of the pictures, but you'll see Miss Abby by the tree, Max and Josiah playing, and a picture of Miss Abby and Miss Mary along with a picture of Miss Mary, her husband and mother. It was fun!!

Max really got into Christmas this year and even helped us decorate the tree. Here it is all finished!
This year was special because we watched all the Christmas specials from our youth with Max (Grinch, Rudolf, Night Before Christmas, Frosty, and A Charlie Brown Christmas). The only downside is that some of the language (use of "stupid") was quickly picked up on and Max used the word recently...not good. He was excited to leave cookies and milk for Santa -- we forgot to feed the reindeer - oops! The house felt like Christmas, until you left the house when you were hit with 90 degree weather!

On Christmas day, Max came out and was so upset that we wouldn't let him eat the remaining portion of Santa's cookie, that he walked past the tree, turned around, and started to go back to his room (not the best behaved boy on Christmas, for sure)! Then, we told him to come and see the tree and presents! His expression was so cute!

Our tradition is to have one gift from Santa and it was front and center. Santa brought Max a pirate ship and we had loads of other gifts...thanks to friends and family! I don't think I needed to buy Max and Siena anything (other than the pirate ship :))! We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, opened presents, read the Christmas story and ate lots of food all day -- starting with Monkey Bread and Pigs in the Blanket for breakfast and ham and all the usual fixin's for dinner. YUM!! Here are some pictures of our Christmas and you'll see that we even had a fireplace! :) There are a lot more pictures of our Christmas that Chris posted above - you just need to click and go to flickr.

While the pirate ship was a huge hit, Max (and Siena!) loved all THREE tents he got from our families. That's right, three!! My mom and Chris' parents got him tents with a tunnel and my brother Jim and Sharon got him a tent for his bed. He loves them....but sadly, one tent has already bit the dust! :)

Our first overseas Christmas was fun, at least until you went outside in the heat!!

November Fun!

2011-01-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

November was filled with lots of fun stuff! We were finally settled back in to our routine and enjoying life as "normal" - or at least as "normal" as life can be in Bangkok! :)

Max's return to school went smoothly and as he returned, the kids were gearing up for the Thai holiday Loy Krathong. "Loy" means "to float" and a "Krathong" is a little boat made out of a piece of banana tree and decorated with banana leaves and beautiful flowers, as well as incense and candles to light. Thais float the Krathongs on rivers, canals, and ponds. The festival is celebrated when the moon is full, so you can imagine all the krathongs floating in the full moon light and the light from the candles of all the Krathongs!

When Chris and I were in Thailand in November 2006, we celebrated Loy Krathong on a little peninsula near Krabi and Phuket called Railay. Oh, it was beautiful!! That night, there were hundreds of Krathongs floating in the bay going out to sea. Ah, the memories....This year, we didn't experience the "night" festivities, mainly because we have two kids who go to bed around sunset....such is life these days! But, it was fun celebrating Loy Krathong again, this time as a parent! :)

We were asked to get Max dressed up in a traditional Thai costume and bring a Krathong to float in the pool for the school's Loy Krathong party. I was a little nervous when I got the note in his bag after school one day...I thought, what the heck is a "traditional" Thai costume, and more importantly, where the heck do I buy it??? But, my friend Jean, who is Thai, came to my rescue and picked us up one when she was getting one for her son, Gavin. Max looked so cute! I was also having some trouble finding a Krathong since the "real" festival wasn't until Sunday! But, another friend Lisa told me she saw some being sold at some flower stands on Sukhumvit (a major street in Bangkok) and I found a lady selling some on her flower cart. I couldn't believe it only cost 30 Baht ($1) - and that was probably the "farang" (foreigner) price!! One orchid back home would probably cost that!

Here are some pictures of Max and his Krathong before we went to school that day:

Chris, Siena, and I went to Max's school for the festivities. It was fun and neither Max nor I fell into the pool when he floated his Krathong, which was good!! Below are some pictures. Miss Abby is Max's teacher and the other two ladies are her assistants - Miss Aell and Miss Aoye.

Right after Max's school celebrations we went to the Embassy's Loy Krathong party. We got there a little late and missed all the festivities since they changed the time because of a red shirt rally...yep, red shirts are starting organize again (UGH!!)!

Next year, we want to venture to northern Thailand to Chiang Mai where the Loy Krathong festival also has lit balloons floating into the night sky. It sounds magnificent and I'm already looking forward to going!!

Also, in November we celebrated Thanksgiving!! YIPPIE! I just love Thanksgiving and was happy we had our "traditional" Thanksgiving in PA in October, just in case I missed out in Bangkok. BUT, to my surprise, friends of ours - Andy and Jean (and their son Gavin) -- invited us to their house a week before Thanksgiving to celebrate. Andy is from the US and Jean is Thai/Irish. It was so much FUN!! We had turkey, stuffing, and all the fixin's. I made a pecan pumpkin pie and apple pie sticks that were yummy. Some of the other guests, many of whom are in our Monday night small group from Christ Church, are from other countries. There was one other American (not including Andy) there and the rest are from Singapore, Taiwan, Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland. So it's quite a motley crew! :) Some were amazed that the turkey is brought out with fan fare, just like in the movies! Okay, I was applauding when I saw the turkey since I was so happy to be having Thanksgiving overseas. And, some had never had pumpkin or apple pie! The night was a treat for everyone!

No, this isn't Andy and Jean, it's a picture of our good friends, Maple and Manik! Maple is originally from Taiwan but has lived in Singapore, England, and Thailand and Manik is from Singapore. Manik works at Christ Church and leads our Monday night small group. They are great friends, and their son, Josiah, is a good buddy of Max's!!! :)

It was a fun night hanging out with our friends here, and the kids all played nicely. Gavin, Josiah, and Max see each other at church and on Monday nights and some times have other play dates too. So, they are all becoming good buddies! One of my favorite things is just listening to their little conversations. They are very cute!

We also celebrated a mini Loy Krathong too. Here's us floating them in Gavin's swimming pool!

On the real Thanksgiving, which was also my birthday...37 already, yikes!...we had our family dinner and it was nice. (As an aside, I hate Nov 25-26 because Chris reminds me constantly that I'm older than him...2 days older that is!! :)) I spent the whole day cooking and even Khun Vipa commented and said it smelled really good. Most of the stores catering to foreigners in Bangkok (Villa, Gourmet Market, and Foodland) had Butterball turkeys for sale. They are a bit pricey, but hey, it's Thanksgiving - you have to have turkey! I'm not looking forward to future posts/assignmen where I might be having who knows what for Thanksgiving! :) So, we had turkey, corn pudding, my grandmother's stuffing (which I just LOVE!!) and homemade rolls. We also invited Khun Vipa to eat with us, and she agreed! (She never agrees to eat with us...which is probably a good thing, but it feels weird since she prepares about half of our meals for us and never eats them.) The one lesson I've learned during this move to Thailand...I shouldn't have listened to Chris when he says we don't need to bring our china with us and other kitchen stuff. Half of my kitchen is in storage in DC -- I REALLY wish I had my nice plates to make it look nice, but hey, it was nice just having three Thanksgivings! Here's everyone (except me obviously!) right before enjoying the Thanksgiving feast! :)

So, I wasn't sad not being in the States for Thanksgiving...I guess we'll have to do an early Thanksgiving when we are home in the fall of 2011 and enjoy one (or two) when we're here in Bangkok next year!