Project 365: 197 - 203

Day 197

Asher has finally been awakened to the joys of the iPhone. He has a few games for practicing letters and this week he discovered Angry Birds.

Day 198

One of Roger's friends bought the boys some new trucks. They were so happy that they took them outside and played (without bothering each other) for at least 10 minutes. I took a chair outside and read a book. It's times like this that the future looks very bright.

Day 199

Jack thinks he's a big kid when we go to pick up Asher from school. If we get there early we go over the playground and Jack gets to play with all of the kids in the nursery class.

Day 200

This kid is a mess! He cracks us up with his big smile and his goofy laugh. All day long he just runs around the house yelling his name, driving cars and getting into stuff.

Day 201

While waiting for the dentist Asher grabbed my newspaper and told me to play Angry Birds while he read the news. I tried reminding him that he didn't know how to read, but he didn't seem to care.

Day 202

In a house full of tile floors and little boys, I suppose it was inevitable that we would eventually lose a tooth. Asher was pretty excited about it (after recovering from the fall) and I have to admit he looks pretty cute showing off his missing tooth and telling everyone that it means he's a big boy.

Day 203

We took our college visitors down to the beach for two days so they could relax a little before heading back to the States. Jack continued the Hampton family tradition of not being a beach lover. In fact, even sitting on this towel he was a little uncomfortable being too close to the sand.

Project 365: 190 - 196

Day 190

Jack had fun pouring water from cups into a pitcher and back to the cups and then into the pitcher and then into the cups...

My bright idea was to use drinking water instead of tap water so that he could drink the water if the notion struck him (it struck).

Day 191

Trying to organize a month's worth of pictures from several different sources took me a long time. Finally, I think I am about to catch up.

Day 192

Roger took some visiting college students to visit the Grand Palace. He still maintains that the Grand Palace is the hottest place in Bangkok. It had been raining up until they arrived and suddenly the sun came out and the temperature (and humidity) shot up making it one of the hottest days we have had since the beginning of rainy season. Despite the heat Roger took some cool pictures of details around the Grand Palace complex.

Day 193

My littlest shadow keeps me company all day long. In the afternoons we park the car in a parking lot near Asher's school and I let Jack hold my hand and walk until we get to the busy street. He loves getting to walk like a big kid and on this day he loved chasing his own shadow.

Day 194

It's happening! They are finally starting to like (tolerate) each other! Asher loves to help Jack by taking his shoes off of him. Jack loves to be near Asher so he lets Asher take his shoes off of him. Asher's basic strategy is just to pull until the shoes finally pop off Jack's feet. I think it looks painful, but Jack thinks it's funny.

Day 195

The boys and I spent the afternoon at a local park with our new college friends and our old friend, Mark Whitt. Uncle Mark was a big hit catching boys at the end of the slide and, well, just being near Uncle Mark seemed to make Asher and Jack pretty happy. 

Day 196

Roger was gone for the weekend so I headed to my air-conditioned bedroom early with my Kindle and a new book. A lively Saturday night in Bangkok.

Project 365: 183 - 189

Day 183

Sleepy Asher boy had his bath and he was ready to go to bed. Unfortunately he was so excited about his upcoming flight to Chiang Mai he had trouble falling asleep.

Day 184

Our little traveling man had his backpack on and was ready to go. He strutted through the airport with his bag full of snacks, he couldn't wait to get on that plane and get to Chiang Mai.

Day 185

Roger and I took the first opportunity we got to go eat some delicious Kao Soy, a special northern Thai curry soup. It was amazing and we made time to eat it again later in the week.

Day 186

We went for a walk one evening and Asher found a nice elephant to pose with. I love his new serious look he likes to give the camera.

Day 187

Jack got into some of the goodies we got during our meetings. He enjoyed the Fritos, but only if there were eaten directly from the bag. Put them in a cup or on a plate and he wanted no part of it.

Day 188

Asher settled in for our flight back to Bangkok. He thinks all flights are trans-Pacific 12 hour long journeys and always seems a bit disappointed to land after only an hour.

Day 189

After a long week in Chiang Mai and late night flight back to Bangkok Asher was actually tired enough to nap.

Project 365: 176 - 182

Day 176

We thought about actually paying to go inside the Wax Museum, but Melvin found exactly what he wanted outside the doors.

Day 177

Roger and I celebrated our 7th anniversary with a little date at our favorite dessert place.

Day 178

For Mimi's last morning in Bangkok we got up and headed back to our favorite dessert place for some amazing pancakes.

Day 179

Mimi headed back to America and life returned to normal in Bangkok. Since my live in babysitter was gone Jack had to wake up from his nap a few minutes early and make the trip to Asher's school with me. This has become the highlight of Jack's day. He likes to get a milk and sit on the bench and then cheer and scream when Asher walks out.

Day 180

Asher and his schools friends were waiting for their turn to see the dentist. I love the fact that Asher is about a foot taller and 10 shades whiter than the other kids in his class.

Day 181

After school we made a quick stop by the mall to buy some new books. Roger and Asher found a cozy place to read and enjoy a nice view.

Day 182

Rainy season won this battle. My clothes were almost dry and the sky was clear when I set off down the street to buy some rice for lunch. As we waited for our order I noticed the sky begin to darken and a few drops of rain started to fall. Then the sky opened and I just sat under a leaky tin roof, waiting for some fried rice, all the time knowing that my two loads of almost dry laundry were no longer dry.

Project 365: 169-175

Day 169

We had a great time being just the two of us. We explored the city, drank of a lot of Vietnamese iced coffee and generally just enjoyed being childless for a few days.

Day 170

Our last day in Hanoi we decided to live it up at a very nice spa and gorge ourselves on ribs, pizza and pastries. To sort of balance out all of that food we took a stroll around the lake and enjoyed the late afternoon scenery.

Day 171

Back to Bangkok and back to normal life. Asher loved Uncle Mel's souvenir hat and Jack loved Asher's souvenir monkey.

Day 172

While I had some back-up, I decided it was finally time to get Jack a real haircut. Luckily I stumbled across a kids salon when Asher was in his anti-haircut stage. This lady is good. She can get a little boys haircut before they even realize what's happening. I definitely got a little teary eyed when I watched Jack go from baby to (little bitty) big boy.

Day 173

Watch out Bangkok! I let Mimi drive the car down the street one night. She was convinced she was going to absolutely die trying to keep the car on the left side of the road. No worries, we made it home safe and sound.

Day 174

We stopped by Dean & Deluca before deciding we would rather just have Mexican for lunch.

Day 175

Now that Jack had a haircut it was Asher's turn. He stopped to pose for a picture before heading up to the mall to get a cut, shampoo and style from his favorite stylist. I always try to tell them they can just cut his hair and leave it at that, but they always insist on giving him the complete package.

Project 365: 162-168

Day 162

Asher thinks the Funarium is only open when Mimi is in town and we have done very little to correct this way of thinking. I think Uncle Mel had just as much fun as Asher jumping on the trampolines and going down the slides. It was a great day until the very end when Asher, Mel and Mimi (while holding Jack) went down the slides all at the same time. Asher got going so fast he flipped over into another lane. Several employees jumped in to help him and Mimi (while holding Jack) plowed over them, making absolutely no effort to slow down. Asher, of course, was traumatized by his small floor burn and everyone else just sort of looked confused.

Day 163

Monday, also known as the day that stressed me out so badly I ended up with shingles, ended on a good note when Roger came home from a trip and brought Asher a new watch. Asher was so happy he just ran around in circles chirping and jumping.

Day 164

Since we had guests we splurged on some real hot dogs and broke out the grill. Asher and Jack made us proud by showing absolutely no self-control and eating 2 hot dogs each and then begging for more.

Day 165

There's Jack. I leave the front door open and he just roams in and out of the house. He's too little to get the gate open yet, so he can't escape, and he seems to entertain himself pretty well when he's allowed to be a bit free-range.

Day 166

Now that Jack can walk, it's fun to take him to Asher's school. He plays with the littlest kids while we wait for Asher's class to finish and then he likes to follow Asher around and do whatever he is doing.

Day 167

We got up really early and caught our flight to Hanoi, soon after landing we wondered into a local restaurant, pointed at a few things on the menu and realized we didn't know how to speak the language at all.

Day 168

The first morning we were in Hanoi I woke up early and enjoyed a bit of the early morning from our balcony. It definitely wasn't quiet (they are excessive horn honkers in Vietnam) but it was sort of peaceful until I realized it wasn't fog enveloping the city, but just more smog.

Project 365: 155 - 161

Day 155

We finally got to take Mimi and Mel to our favorite park. We rented bicycles and enjoyed riding around the park. Asher, of course, had to ride with Uncle Mel.

Day 156

Mimi and I decided that we needed to go get a pedicure. Two and a half hours later we stumbled out of the foot spa with some really nice looking feet. It was by far the most involved pedicure I have ever had.

Day 157

Jack's starting into that fun I-can-do-it-all-by-myself stage. This particular battle centered around a cup of ice water and did not end well for Jack. He spilled most of the water on himself and did not like how it felt.

Day 158

Asher was showing me around his classroom before school. He's very proud of himself now that he can put away his books, backpack and homework all by himself.

Day 159

Roger and I wanted to show Mimi and Mel some of the fun dining options in Bangkok. Roger had read about a new Italian restaurant, so we decided to give it a try. It was full of very high society people and even featured random opera singers popping in to entertain us. Mimi was adventurous and ended up with this as her dinner.

Day 160

I finally got around to cleaning out my closet. It felt good to just go through and pull out the stuff I really didn't need anymore. It also helps that when Mimi comes she brings all of my latest online purchases.

Day 161

The condo next to our neighborhood has a nice big pool and we were finally brave enough to check it out. Asher refused to get into the water at all and it took a good 20 minutes to get Jack this far into the water. My boys don't love the water.