School Days

The new term started last week and we sent Asher off to school again. He was so excited to get to go back and see his teachers.

The first day of school he wore his regular school uniform.

The second day of school was a sports day, so he wore his sports uniform.

His school logo is picture of Jesus with some children, so Asher refers to his sports shirt as his Jay-sus shirt and his backpack as his Jay-sus packpack. He has somehow picked up this strange accent, it's like he's an old southern preacher/rapper. Throw in the tonal sounds of Thai and he has some pretty unique ways of saying words.

Asher says....paints. Asher means...pants.

Asher says...heeer. Asher means...hair.

Asher says...Jay-sus. Asher means...Jesus.

Asher says...turn it on. Asher means...Tylenol.

Asher says...buur. Asher means...bear.

Asher says...hainds. Asher means...hands.

Anyway, he's doing good at school. When Roger picked him up he pointed out some of his friends and told us he ate noodles and chocolate. Actually he tells us that everyday, but I don't really believe him. I think they eat rice, too.

On the potty training front, Asher has been doing pretty good while ate school. I think he's only had one accident at school and I'm not sure if it was a language problem or just an accident. I tried to teach him some Thai words about going to the bathroom, but he made it pretty clear that I was not allowed to try and speak Thai with him.

Because we're brothers. And we sorta like each other.

It's fun to watch Asher and Jack start to act more like brothers. Jack smiles and giggles every time he sees Asher. Asher must know where Jack is and what he is doing every second of the day. Of course, the other side of being brothers is the fighting over toys. Anytime Jack can get close enough he grabs whatever Asher is playing with and sticks it in his mouth. This, of course, irritates Asher to no end.

I guess Asher finally got tired of Jack taking cars from him and decided that Jack just needed to start playing. He asked me to put Jack on the bed and he went and got two trucks and started telling Jack exactly what to do.

Asher drive big truck and Baby Gack drive dis truck.

No Gack, no drive dat way. Drive dis way.

Jack already thinks Asher is the greatest thing ever. Asher also thinks Asher is the greatest thing ever.

The other night we stuck Jack in bed with Asher after bath time. Asher was afraid Jack was going to snatch his blanket and dog. He had good reason to be worried, Jack grabs that stuff anytime it's near him.

Fun at a Park and Other News

Last Saturday night we went to a new park on the other side of the city. After a train ride and a long, hot walk we finally found it. Jack rode in the baby carrier and Asher rode in the stroller. When we got to the park I took Jack out of the carrier and had to walk around with a sweaty imprint of him on my shirt. If you look carefully you can see it in the picture.

The reason we went all the way to this park was to rent a bicycle. Roger and Asher got a bike and had a blast riding around. I think in the picture Asher was yelling "Go Daddy go!" in a not so patient voice.

While they were enjoying their bike ride Jack and I strolled around, ate some fruit and sat on a bench by the pond.

In other news, school starts next week. Asher finished up his summer school term and has been enjoying a nice break at home with me and Baby Gack. Asher loves his school, loves his teacher and loves eating.

We now have Asher's uniforms (with his name sewn on the front) and we have his black school shoes, still need to get white shoes for sports day and socks. Next Wednesday Asher will join millions of other Thai school children on the first day of Term 1, Year 2554 (Thailand even has it's own years).

In even more news, Asher is potty trained. He's such a perfectionist. He refused and refused and refused the past few months and then all the sudden he was like, okay, got it. And that was that. It was very typically Asher.

And in Jack news, well, nothing new to report. He's still chunky and sweet and he has really big eyes.

Show Us Your Life - Favorite Vacation Spots

This week's Show Us Your Life topic at Kelly's Korner is favorite vacation spots. We love vacation and we love Bali, I thought it was the perfect time to reminisce about some of our past trips.

We have taken several trips to our favorite vacation spot, Bali! We used to live a short (30 minute) flight from there. Here are some the links that tell about our trips.

Our first trip to Bali was to attend some work meetings and celebrate our 2nd anniversary. We stayed in a hotel in Nusa Dua.

Part 1

Part 2

Vacation

Our second trip was a long anticipated vacation that took place the day after we found out we were expecting our first child. We stayed in a villa in Seminyak.

Family Trip

Our third trip to Bali was when my mom and brother were visiting and I was about 27 weeks pregnant. We stayed in a different villa in Seminyak.

And our last trip was when our baby boy was just 6 weeks old. We went with some friends and stayed in a villa in Seminyak.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Now that we live in Bangkok we are a little further from Bali, but we are hoping to take a nice family vacation there sometime in the next year.

Easter Pictures

Easter pictures! And only a week late!

Asher and Jack before church in their Easter outfits. Thanks Mimi!

The annual family Easter picture. This year's actually turned out pretty good compared to some from the past (see 2010, 2009, 2008).

Later that afternoon the boys all sat down together for a picture. Thanks to Photoshop I was able to put together two different pictures so it appears that Asher and Roger were both smiling at the same time. Baby Jack was just in his own little world.

Asher was being sweet to Baby Jack.

We finally got Jack to look at the camera. Actually, I think I finally moved the camera to where Jack was looking.

Daddy and Asher after a rather intense round of Run and Kick the Ball.

Friends From All Over

Almost five years ago Roger and I went off to Virginia for a few months of training before moving overseas. While we were in Virginia we lived in a dorm, stayed up late playing cards and made some great friends. At the end of our training time we all said good-bye with plans to meet up later on the other side of the world.

Well, five years later several of us ended up in Bangkok and decided to get together to catch up and eat pizza. And let all of our kids run wild.

Five years ago none of us had children. Now there are five little ones that were born in three different countries. What a difference a few years makes.

(All of the little girls were going crazy with all of our cars and trucks. Asher and Jack seemed to be very unimpressed with everything and everyone).

Asher's First Day of School

This morning Asher got up and ate his oatmeal and got ready for his first day of school.

He was very excited about going to school, but I think it was mostly because he knew that he would get to ride a motorcycle and the train to get there.

The night before Roger made a name tag for Asher's backpack.

We managed to get a few quick pictures with Baby Jack and Mama before he ran out the door with Daddy.

He was so happy to get to go with Daddy, he smiled and skipped all the way down the street.

Asher loves to ride motorcycles, so this was the perfect way to start his day.

Roger said that Asher cried when he left him with his teacher, but a few hours later when he went to pick him up he was sitting in a circle playing with some new friends.

The Teacher's Report: He didn't cry after Roger left, he was very good, he wouldn't let anybody help him eat, he's really good at eating.

Asher's Report: School! Wash hands! Eat noodles! Motorcycle! Train! Go back to school?

Overall I would say it was a very successful first day of school. Asher will actually be going to school everyday for the next two weeks (it's summer term), but when the regular school year starts in May he will probably only go a few days a week. Also, in May he will wear the little Thai preschool uniform. He looks so sweet in it! Roger said that his backpack alone got a lot of stares today, I can't imagine what it will be like when he's in his uniform.

As for me and Baby Jack, we just hung around the house. I did some cleaning, caught up on some reports for work and enjoyed being able to walk outside to hang up laundry without finding Asher's shoes, putting on Asher's shoes and then corralling Asher out the door to "help" me. I was so excited at lunch time when Asher came running through the door and I enjoyed his pre-bedtime cuddles even more than usual tonight.

Daddy Time

Here are the boys watching Toy Story 2.

Asher wore his Cowboy pajamas (thanks Granny!) while watching the Cowboy movie. He thought that was amazing. We think it is amazing that Asher has now discovered a new movie he likes and we can quit watching Cars.

These two look alike, don't you think?

And Roger's other look alike, Asher Boy.

Ayutthaya

We made a day trip to Ayutthaya earlier this week to check out the old temples and have some out-of-the-city fun. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Roger pushing over an old chedi. He's so strong!

Asher exploring some really old stuff.

Jack also joined us. He looked cute and was generally adorable and easy going, even when an old Thai grandma got a hold of those big cheeks while we were eating lunch.

There were lots of headless Buddhas. It is impolite and against the rules to stick your baby behind them for a funny picture.

The old stuff we went to see.

There has been much debate as to whether Asher is screaming in this picture because he is happy or if he is screaming because he is 2. I think the consensus is that he was currently enjoying himself.

Jack's First Flight

Jack took his first airplane trip a few weeks ago when we went to Chiang Mai.

We took the new airport link train. Love it. Definitely recommend it if you are traveling in and out of Bangkok.

Baby Jack hanging out in the stroller waiting to board the plane. Of course, he was wearing The Hampton Family First Flight shirt.

Asher was soooo excited about the airplanes. He still talks about them, "Asher Boy ride airplane, take off, up sky, go Chiang Mai, go Krungthep (Thai name for Bangkok). See CLOUDS!"

Jack slept and ate and then slept some more. Easy.

Church Time

This is Mini (formerly known as Baby Mini, also formerly known as Asher's favorite baby). She loves Baby Jack. She loves to sniff him (it's an Asian thing). I think she also loves that she is no longer The Baby in the nursery.

Min (as she is often called) was trying to creep on Asher's Pretz last week. He was not pleased.

Another Sunday, another snack. Sticky rice is a Sunday favorite for Asher. Usually he gets some grilled chicken to go with it.

And finally, Baby Jack after a long morning at church. Little guy was just worn out.