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).

Boys at the Park

A few weeks ago Roger, Asher and Num took a little trip out of the city. As is the norm with these kinds of things, we had no idea what they were doing or where they were going. In fact, it wasn't until they returned home and Roger did some research that he found out where they had gone.


Asher was super excited because he got to go somewhere with Num in the Num car car (not to be confused with the Spiderman car Num gave him for his birthday that is also referred to as Num car car). Num has a white Honda and Asher can pick it out in a crowded parking lot.


They drove out of the city and went to a big park with a big Buddha statue. Evidently this is near the area where Num used to live when he was younger. He took Roger and Asher there to show them where he used to hang out.


Since this was more out of the city, Roger and Asher stuck out a bit more than usual. From what I hear Asher used this to his advantage when he saw something he wanted to play with. He would take Num, go up to a stranger, Num would tell him to wai and then the person would give him anything he wanted. I think Asher pretty much has this whole white-boy-in-Asia role figured out.


Asher has also figured out how to show us his belly and be silly.

The boys had a great time at the park and when that adventure was done Num took them to eat some pig. Roger brought home the leftovers and we got some BBQ sauce and had quite the feast the next night. I think they finally made it back home around 9:30 pm. Asher stayed awake the whole ride home so he didn't miss a second of his time in the Num car car.

Celebrating Asher's Birthday

We had so much fun celebrating Asher's birthday this year. We decided to go ahead and just celebrate the day before since it was a Sunday, so we started off the day with a little party with his church friends.


We took some Dunkin' Donuts and let Asher share them with all of his friends. He had so much fun going around to everybody and giving them a doughnut hole. They all sang Happy Birthday to him (just a random fact: there is no Thai birthday song, they just sing in English) and he clapped really big when they finished.


Since we had a few doughnut holes left over we found one of our friends (who just happens to be named Friend) and shared some doughnuts with her family. Asher was pretty much over the whole birthday thing by this point, he just wanted to go home and take a nap.


Sunday night we invited several of Asher's Aunts and Uncles over for pizza and cupcakes. He had fun playing and running around with a house full of people.


Asher loved eating his pizza off of his Lightning McQueen plate.


We lit some candles (somebody, Roger, accidentally bought trick candles) and Asher tried for a long time to blow them out. He actually managed to blow them out 2 or 3 times. Finally we had to put them in a bowl of water.



Then it was time for the cupcakes.


Asher was really not into getting his hands dirty, so he just stuck his face right into the icing. I don't think he ever made it past the icing.


Asher got some pretty great presents from everyone, but his favorite was the little tricycle that Roger and I got him. I guess I should have not rolled that out first. He pretty much just sat on it and refused to move. I opened his presents and he just sat on the bike looking confused.


It was even more fun to celebrate Asher's birthday this year since he sort of had an idea that something big was going on. I still don't think he quite got it, but he still loved all of the singing, the cupcakes and the presents.

While Mama Was Gone

A few weeks ago (actually this was while Roger and I were at the doctor checking out our newest son) Asher spent the morning with our neighbors, Aunt Marsha and Uncle Tony. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but all of the kids in our company call the adults aunt and uncle. This way even though we are far from home we are always surrounded by family. I think by the last count Asher has around 5000 aunts and uncles living all over the world.


Anyway, Aunt Marsha and Uncle Tony usually watch Asher when I go to the doctor. In fact Aunt Marsha usually volunteers to come over extra early so I can go to Starbucks and get some coffee before I go to the doctor. I love having awesome neighbors. On this particular morning they had a lot planned for Asher. From what I was told as soon as Asher finished his oatmeal they headed outside to do some yard work. Asher helped Uncle Tony pull up some weeds and pick up some big sticks. After that they got to wash the car. Asher was having a blast. Much more fun than being at home with Mama and cleaning the house.


Evidently Marsha and Tony had been looking for a good reason to go check out Lumpini Park. Lumpini is a huge park right in the middle of the city. There is a real playground (with safe playground equipment!), a lake and lots of grass to run around in.



I love these last three pictures. Marsha called me while we were at the doctor and said they were going home to eat lunch and that they were a bit wet. I didn't quite catch all of what she said, but when I got home and saw the soaking wet pair of shorts hanging up to dry I started to figure it all out.

First, Aunt Marsha decided to be brave and go down the slide with Asher.


Evidently she didn't check for puddles before going down the slide and didn't take into account that it's rainy season and there are always puddles.


The Aftermath. I'm surprised Asher stayed so calm about being wet.

My Baby's So Asian...

...he doesn't even like Macaroni and Cheese.

Really. He won't eat it. He actually won't eat anything involving cheese. He will eat fried rice and Thai omelettes. He will eat spring rolls and he absolutely loves Thai iced tea. He even eats all kinds of slightly strange Japanese food that our neighbors give him (tofu waffles anyone?). But he absolutely will not eat Macaroni and Cheese.


Here's a picture of Asher playing with his friend Prim at the playground. They swim together on Saturday mornings and then hit up the park after nap time. Prim thinks Asher is an over-grown baby doll. She follows him around feeding him snacks and giving him drinks of water. I think he's getting spoiled. Now Asher just walks up to Prim and opens his mouth and waits to see what kind of snack she will give him. Did I mention that Prim is only 3 months older than Asher? I think she is trying to spoil Asher just like her nanny spoils her.

And don't worry, updates on Baby #2 will be coming soon.

How We Survived

Here's how we survived a trip from North America to Southeast Asia with a very sweet (and active) 16 month old baby boy.

Actually Asher was great, so it wasn't really survival. It definitely wasn't fun, but that kind of trip is never fun.

I started taking pictures the afternoon before we left and tried to chronicle our journey from Vancouver to Bangkok.

Waking up from his last nap in Vancouver, we finally had to wake him up after almost 3 hours of sleep.

Our arrival at the airport in Vancouver. Final tally on the luggage: 3 trunks, 6 large duffel bags, 2 car seats, 1 guitar, 2 backpacks, 1 carry on suitcase, 1 small duffel bag, 1 diaper bag and 1 stroller.

Once we strolled through security we let Asher loose so he could burn off some energy before the long flight. The airport was practically empty at midnight, so Asher had plenty of space to run.

He did set down to rest for a few minutes before climbing down and discovering the moving sidewalks. We spent about 15 minutes going the wrong way on one of them.

Hour One.

On the plane and settled into our seats, Asher was exhausted, but wouldn't sleep. The lights were all on and a meal was served right after take-off and that kept him up even longer. He finally crashed about 4 am and slept for about 4 hours.

Hour Eight.

Drinking milk and talking on the phone, Asher seemed to be unaware that anything was different about today.

A video update of Asher's Airplane Adventures. There's something all over his face, I have no idea what it could be. Considering he ate Teddy Grahams almost constantly for 14 hours there's a good chance it could be crumbs.

Hour Ten.

Another video update. Asher took a good nap, he slept from the beginning to the end of, "The Informant." I was holding him at this point and appreciated his thoughtfulness and willingness to not wake up until the credits had started. When he woke up he was quite excited to see that Daddy was nearby.

Hour Twelve.

Almost there and Asher is still happy playing with Daddy, one last video update.

Hour Fifteen.

We made it to Hong Kong and raced through the airport to make our connecting flight. Roger and I were having some serious caffeine withdrawal, but didn't have time to stop for coffee. Asher kept his hands above his head the entire time we were in Hong Kong. I think this is his exhaustion pose.

Hours Sixteen - Eighteen.

Asher and Roger slept almost the whole way from Hong Kong to Bangkok, I read a book. Sorry, no pictures, we were all looking pretty rough.

Hour Nineteen.

Arrival in Bangkok. After being an angel for nineteen hours of travel Asher lost it while we were in line for immigration. Perfect timing. An immigration official came and got us from the back of the line and took us through to the front. Asher is amazing.

Hour Twenty.

Luggage collected and trip over. We finally made it to our new home. Somehow by the end of all of this Asher ended up with a baggage tag on his arm.

Pictures from Bangkok and the new house coming soon.

To His Fourth Country

Sixteen Months of Life. Six Months of Training. Five Homes. Four Countries. Two Continents. One Asher.

We are on our way to Bangkok, where, after 13 months of transition, we will finally settle down in a semi-permanent home. Since Asher has been born we have moved to a new country every 4 months (on average). That's a lot of moving, a lot of transitioning and a lot of packing.

Lord willing we will be in Bangkok much longer than that.

Right now we are in the midst of our trip, flying from Vancouver to Hong Kong and then on to Bangkok. Leaving from the West Coast actually makes it a much shorter trip and we only have one long (14 hours) flight. I've packed plenty of snacks, books and movies for Asher, so he should be entertained during the flight.

We will let you know when we arrive.

An Asher Video

Asher is mostly recovered from his Scary Day and things are getting back to normal around here. Well, at least as normal as things can get when you are moving to a new country in a week.

Back before Asher got sick we took a break from working and packing and had some fun during supper.

Christmas Day 2009

Asher had a wonderful Christmas, he had no idea it was Christmas, but I still think he had some fun. He was a little more into opening the presents, he actually tried to tear off some of the wrapping paper. Actually he was only interested in trying to open the first present, the other two he never really noticed.

Asher got three gifts this year, but he has only gotten to play with one so far. The other two are staying in their packaging until we get to Bangkok (in 34 days). We got out his new truck for him to play with and he loved it.

He spent most of the day driving his truck around the house saying "car" and making lots of car noises.

His other two gifts were some wooden blocks and a bead roller coaster. Thank you IKEA, I did all of Asher's Christmas shopping in about 5 minutes.

Of course one of the best parts of Christmas was getting to see Mimi and Uncle Mel. They came to Vancouver for a week to see Asher before we move to Bangkok.

Boys in Chairs

Asher has developed a love for sitting in chairs. I think it all started at school where he gets to sit in a chair to eat his snack and do crafts.

We have been wanting to get a little chair for Asher, but kept putting it off because we knew we would have to leave it behind when we left. But our neighbors saw how much Asher loved their daughter's chair and they went and bought him one. We were blown away by their thoughtfulness and Asher is blown away by having his very own chair.

Asher also loves the chairs at the library.

He prefers to sit at the kids table and read books, but when he gets bored there he likes to go sit in the bigger chairs by the big kids books. From there he has a better view of what all goes on in the library.

And for your enjoyment, a self portrait of me and Asher.