Misc.

The proud wearer of a beautiful '70s helmet for the ride to the office in Chiang Mai

Grace's new favorite thing to do
(we still have to work on getting the books the right way up... but she will "read" by herself for almost 1/2 an hour!)

A funky new way to move around: her "one-legged" crawl
(she was just playing with the water bucket in our front yard, hence no clothes)

Ocean World

We stayed overnight in Bangkok on our way home so Michael could do some computer parts shopping. He also took us to Ocean World - a huge display of all sorts of marine life in the mall basement. We thought Grace would be fascinated by the fish, but actually she was unsettled by the underwater -like dimness and music. The tropical fish tank she did enjoy. We all had some fun though...

Even being eaten by a shark drew a smile!

We didn't get many fish pictures because again flash was not allowed so most of them are blury. Still here are two that did work okay...

All in all the hour trek through the various displays was well worth it - especially the tunnel where fish big and little swam over and all around us seemingly close enough to touch.

Valentine's Day

Michael kept his plans for our evening out a surprize, so I had the delicious feeling of anticipation and suspense all day :0) I managed to get Grace to sleep by six so we could leave her with the Htoos, and off we went in a tuktuk (small, 3-wheeled, cart-like vehicle).


First stop was the Salad House - a restaurant that grows all its vegetables by hydroponics right there on-site. Michael was hunting greenery for me :o) We took a short walk through the gardens:


Michael took a while trying to get a good picture - the camera focus was feeling funny with night lighting! One of the ornamental gardens at the restaurant, complete with a little bridge over a fish pond. I frizzed my hair for him, taking the opportunity of relatively cool weather that allows for wearing hair down!
We sat outside by a water wall. The waiter took our picture in front of it, but not of the best quality... You can see a baby tummy now! A big difference in 2 weeks.

Next stop was out of the city (Yeah!) - Chiang Mai Night Safari! We weren't allowed to take flash pictures and the tram never actually stopped, so pictures weren't very viable:
We saw many animals, and many of them were free-roaming: very near the tram and not at all nervous. Felt sorry for the tigers that were fenced in -- in sight of the free-roaming deer-like animals!
There were two tracks of safari. In between tours (they run a Thai-speaking one alternating with the English one), there was an awesome water-light-music show in the middle of the lake. This was unexpected and probably the most romantic part of the night ;0P And the camera has a solid wall to sit on for taking the best pictures of the night:

There was even moving pictures displayed on the fountain water!


After the second safari tram ride, we went exploring. There is a trail around the lake for viewing yet another set of animals. We saw flamingos, swans, odd ducks, lemurs, porcupines, hippos, etc. Of course, the best find was a cage full of iguanas :o)

Perhaps an odd kind of Valentine's evening for a couple, but just right for us! I feel well known and loved :o)

Point of interest: Michael kept mentioning Grace and whether she would enjoy seeing this or that! We looked for a toy to take her in the gift shop, but nothing took our fancy. We'll have to take her there some day.

Chiang Mai

Trying out chopsticks just before we left. Great for noise makers and keeping hands out of the food.

Sharing pictures of newborns, Grace wanted to see too!


More picture lokking, but now you can see Kelly and me too.

The two terrors or cuties! They enjoy playing together, waving their arms and laughing at each other! Only a month a part, they are sharing their knowhow pretty well - Jeremiah passing on crawling and Grace passing on how to stand and cruise. Fun to see them together, but if it is a window on having twins... not for me please!