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.

Project 365: 148 - 154

Day 148

My handsome Asher boy.  He loves to run and scream and play outside.  There was a butterfly in our yard and he watched it fly around for awhile before starting to chase it and then crying when it flew away from him.

Day 149

Asher now has homework to do every afternoon. It's a great way for us to see what he learned at school that day. We help him color a small picture, trace some letters and match different things. 

Day 150

We broke out the Play-Doh to pass the time this rainy afternoon. Asher's favorite game was to make letters and spell his name. Jack's favorite game was to put small pieces of Play-Doh into containers.

Day 151

Asher wanted to have a picnic and since it was raining we decided to have our picnic indoors. Jack likes to pretend he's a big kid and do whatever Asher does, so he had to sit right next to him and have a matching plate.

Day 152

Mimi and Uncle Mel finally made it to town and for their first meal they wanted Japanese food. I'm still confused as to whether they thought Chicken Teriyaki was Thai or if they just thought it looked good. Either way, Jack thinks everything tastes better when he gets to eat it from chopsticks.

Day 153

Asher built this tower all by himself. He's usually not too much into making things, he gets frustrated as soon as it's not perfect and tends to quit before he makes something this big. We were all very proud.

Day 154

We took Mimi and Mel to Terminal 21 to truly experience Thai culture by walking around the mall and taking lots of iPhone pictures. 

What Asher's Been Doing

Besides spending the last month with his Mimi and Uncle Mel, Asher has been busy in Kindergarten 1 learning all of the things that his teacher says he needs to know. He has learned all of the English alphabet and what sounds the letters make from watching a DVD we borrowed from friends. Now I know he will be ahead in at least one part of school.

His class is currently learning the Thai alphabet, the English alphabet and numbers written in English and in Thai. And on top of that they have Chinese class once a week. The poor child is either going to be really good at languages or really confused.

There's also been some liquid pouring.

And some Play-Doh rolling.

There was a whole day about teeth cleaning.

Last week they had a ceremony to "wai" their teachers and give them flowers. A "wai" is the Thai way of greeting someone or paying respect to someone. Asher and all of the other students would wai the teacher and then the teachers would bless them. Since Asher goes to a Christian school it is a Christian blessing, but at most schools it is a very important Buddhist ceremony. Asher was so excited that he got to buy flowers for his teacher. She's young and cute and I think Asher might have a little crush on her (she's the one closest to the camera).