A Mishmash of snapshots from the last two weeks...

Mail transport! In typical Khmer fashion we did just what was necessary to get a load of mail home from the office down the street. I'm not sure our stroller is going to survive more than it's first year here! It already has an interesting wobble :o)


It is cooler now, and baths are much nicer than showers because we can heat the water. And it doesn't stay warm long, so now we do the two girls together. It is fun to see them finally begin tointeract. We just missed catching them making each other laugh....



But here is a beautiful capture of Jasmin's wonderful smile!


Michael is away this week in Mondolkiri. He took the camera so I don't actually have anything from this week! I'd love to catch the look on Grace's face when she hears daddy talking to her on the phone! And the fact that Jasmin can sit by herself now and is showing interest in food.

Sorry for the missing week. Last weekend was the Water Festival, where it was estimated the city's population increased by 3 million! So there wasn't much internet per person :-) I was hoping to post about the boat races, but we never made it out of the house because we managed to be all sick together. The parting gift of the wedding we attended the weekend before was a family case of giardia (a tummy bug)....

The wedding was in Phnom Penh's new "water park"! So we went early and explored the place:
Before we even got through the gates we had to try some of the fair rides in the parking lot...

Daddy paying for the car train


Grace waving bye-bye every time she went past us!


Our intrepid explorer insisted on trying the big-kid slides! Granted, she only asked that once!
The kiddie pool with fountains and slides

The wedding meal was a bit of a disaster after the fun afternoon: neither Grace or Jasmin had the wherewithal to handle the exceedingly loud music, strange foods, and long waits. We had to take turns eating as the courses came so one could try keep the girls from wailing constantly. Needless to say, we left as soon as we could. The next wedding (this Saturday) I'm going by myself!

All about new shirts...

Imma sent Grace and Jasmin new shirts. They liked them, mommy liked them. We wanted to take a charming thank you picture to post with them wearing the shirts.... An hour of picture taking and this is still the best we could do:
So. We went for divide and conquer.

Imma, thank you for the shirts! Great colors, and just right sizing! And just in time for our "cold" season.

Grace is taking notice of Jasmin a lot more now. Meaning we have to watch all the more closely :oP One attempt that is allowed:

But she just couldn't get Jasmin to finish that last bit of water, so...


Simple solution! Jasmin is not too sure about the whole operation though!

Just yesterday I caught Grace trying to feed Jasmin tangerine slices. Not such a good idea as the water, mommy thought. Jasmin wasn't too impressed either - it wasn't a particularly sweet piece and the first food with much taste that she's tried (the other is cucumber - which she really liked!).
What happens when mommy's not looking and daddy is supposed to be looking...
(...daddy took the photo...) mmmm...chocolate sauce!

I guess you could say Jasmin is more interested in Grace too, or, perhaps more accurately, in her toys! Here she is taking a sneak peak at Grace's new book.

Long Weekend In Siem Riep

the "hotel" that we stayed in for the retreat was actually more like a village in a compound. It was very green, with waterways with fish in them by all the pathways. There was a flock of fairly tame pigeons that kept Grace occupied trying to sneak up on them :o)

There was also an open pool that kept us occupied trying to keep Grace out if it! If she saw it, she would go straight for it and right in if we weren't careful! She did get to go swimming a few times.
One night was International celebration night. Each nationality had to come up with something for their country. Here are the Canadians of our NGO. Altogether there are 11 different nations represented among us: UK, USA, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Philippines, Indonesia, Korea, Cambodia!


Siem Riep is a 7 hour bus trip from Phnom Penh. The girls did wonderfully well, and since the bus wasn't full, there was lots of play space, etc. Both of them enjoyed all the new sights!

I can't say much about the retreat itself because there wasn't childcare for the youngest ones so I spent more time with Grace and Jasmin, sometimes with the older children (who had a great program and lots of fun) and sometimes on our own. Michael did take his turns so I did get to some of the sessions! But most of all, it was good to be able to have talk time with each other, especially those who aren't working in Phnom Penh.

Just some Grace - Jasmin pictures from the last week or so....

We've been hunting good places to eat out on Sunday evenings (our " family date night")... it gets quite narrow when looking for places with highchairs or are kid-friendly. This last Sunday was a hit with Grace but not with mommy: they had a bouncy castle but no highchairs and the only meal is a hotpot soup! So Grace had loads of fun with daddy, but didn't eat a whole lot.
(remember that prices here are so cheap for eating out - it isn't extravagant to eat out once a week like it would be in Canada!)

Grace refuses a morning nap, but her morning play becomes increasingly interspersed with rests after 10!


Still her favorite activity: reading books

Jasmin has discovered how to hang on to toys to play with them. Not the best toy, this one, but she had good fun with it.

And more and more she loves her jumping time! She loves to be upright so she can see what's going on more than jumping though