Eclipse Catch up

 December 11 we had the privilege of witnessing a full lunar eclipse.   Mommy "accidentally" found out about it just before supper, and with a quick search learned it was supposed to be visible about 6pm.  So we hurriedly made plans to camp out down by the pool to watch.  

 

6 came and went with no sign of an eclipse of the gorgeous full moon.  The girls went swimming for an hour. The girls danced to Mommy's iPhone music. Still no sign.  Out came blankies and computers. 

About 7:45 our patience was rewarded as the earth's shadow became visible on the moon...

Lots of experimenting with camera, phone, video to try capture the  event was mostly a failure.  We got some interesting effects as the cameras tried to take night photos at maximum zoom though :o)

 The girls were fascinated at first, but things moved too slowly to keep their interest. We did manage to stay until the whole moon was eclipsed and vaguely red, and then went up to bed.

Happy Christmas!

Mommy was actually the first one up!  Just how she wanted - time to prepare the birthday breakfast before everyone got up. It was cold... about 20 C with a fairly strong breeze, so it was tough to keep it warm till everyone was ready to eat :o)
Then we had just enough time to get ready and go to church:  A meditative celebration with pictures for the Christmas story from all around the world, and a potluck lunch all together. Then a bike home with anticipation for the time-together presents we had planned.

On the way home, some guys on a motorbike came by and snatched Mommy's bag. Bye-bye iPhone, wallet, house keys, etc. And Christmas afternoon suddenly looked rather different than anticipated as we had to think through what had to be cancelled, replaced, done without ....

But we did get to the science experiments, cracker-house making (in place of gingerbread!), learning to bike with no training wheels as planned though - just a little subdued.

Hopefully a happier post tomorrow :o/

Being on Facebook has finally been useful

Monday morning's surf through the usual blogroll, I noticed a Facebook posting by some friends of ours in Cambodia - their daughter had fallen from a tree-house and broken her elbow badly enough to warrant a flight to Bangkok for surgery.  Through Facebook and Skype we managed to get a hold of them and arranged a visit on Wednesday.  The girls packed her a bag of presents, and Michael prepared to take her Dad out for the afternoon.  The girls connected pretty quickly, and soon had a story game going with the ponies and McDonald toys they had.  And, of course, Grace had a thousand questions about hospitals, surgeries, equipment, and routine procedures!

Found!

We found one!  Mommy searched out and asked at 7 different pharmacies around us - even one in a major international hospital! - for a nit comb without success.  Then, today, rather desperate, she decided to check the pet section in the Costco-like grocery store we use.  And there, in a package deal with an unfortunately large bottle of dog tick shampoo, was a proper metal nit comb! Mommy bought it. The comb has already proved itself much more effective than anything else we've used do far, but what to do with the bottle of dog shampoo, we are not so sure!

Nit Picking

Not looking forward to this week. We discovered this morning - in church! - that the girls and Mommy all have head lice...
So we picked up some lice shampoo on the way home and we had a family nit picking afternoon... only we didn't get very far :-( Grace got thoroughly picked over, Jasmin somewhat, and Mommy not even shampooed and that took all afternoon and evening (that's what it takes when you can't find a proper comb)! While Mommy was busy nit picking Grace, Daddy went through Jasmin's hair, got a start on delousing the girls' bedroom and made supper.
This is when Mommy began to dread the week:
fully delousing the household without easy access to any hot water, definitely no hot water for the washer, no dryer, no medicated shampoo declared safe for pregnant women, no proper lice comb, and three of us with a head full.... one one treatment of one head took 6 or 7 hoursit could be a very long week...
It's a good thing Mommy has properly passed into the 2nd trimester oasis of regained energy and well-being - we're going to need it!

This week we remembered -again - why we had decided not to go anywhere in the evenings here in Bangkok.  Wednesday evening we attempted to go to our first Christmas party/celebration.  It took us a full hour in a taxi (traffic, and missing the destination on a one way street so we had to make a HUGE round about u-turn) and about an hour and a half to get home again by train and bus (trying to avoid the stop-go traffic that makes Grace desperate with car-sickness).  This for a destination roughly 8 kms from our house! The hour and a bit that we spent at the party made it worthwhile for the girls, as they got to ice their own cookies, sing karaoke carols, and see a number of friends little and big.  But, arriving home after 10pm, we said again that we will stick to places within biking range.

It heightened our appreciation for those who weekly make the effort to come to our home for Bible study each week - often coming right from work and from further away than we have ever attempted.

It also makes us extremely thankful that God planted us in a place that has all we need and more within biking range: a park, friends, church, hospitals, ballet, shopping, dentists, lots of street food, even the guesthouse and hotel that our organization often holds meetings and conferences that we have to attend or serve at!

After some research, we chose St. Louis Hospital, not far from our house and church, and a middle of the road semi-private hospital.  Not being one of the major private hospitals used by the International community, the level of English is intermittent. So the first appointment was interesting :o)  We managed to iron out the miscommunications fairly easily, finally correctly establishing that Jasmin is 4 years old and I miscarried in February not 7 weeks ago! And knowing some Thai was useful in another way: nurse and technician exclaiming together when they caught sight of the gender so clearly so young (a boy) but they weren't about to tell me in English.

The best part was just the same as always - that first view of the life inside. And Baby Hu gave a fine show of gymnastics for us. Extra special was the opportunity to capture a short video clip on my phone - the doctor offered it!

Baby Hu is due to arrive in the world June 16th or so.

Our Advent/Jesse Tree.

We've been encouraged and pleased that the girls remember with delight the different traditions we've tried to establish in our ever-changing lives - especially when the form seems to change each year!

 I think the girls missed being able to go swimming...

They beg to go at least once a day...

and even at night...







And once again their confidence and prowess has taken a jump...

Grace can dive - but she still keeps he nose plugged with one hand :o)

Jasmin has a number of wild and artistic jumps

They both jump off a 3 ft bridge with abandon

All this leaving Mommy rather breathless... and fighting to keep chlorine hair damage at bay (unsuccessfully so far )

Jet Lag Thoughts

**When you fly 1/2 way around the world with kids, there is nothing you can do in flight to minimize the effects of jet lag.  Kids will sleep, eat, and play on their own schedule regardless of sense and sensibility.  But then, with meal times and sleep times more or less dictated by airplane schedules, not much you can do anyway...
We got far too hungry on our first flights (why must they be so strict with bringing your own food on board??) as the first flight had no meal service, and we had to buy a snack if we wanted one.  And since our flight was nearly an hour late arriving, we had no time in transit to buy anything before boarding the next flight. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a long line waiting for take off, so we couldn't get any snacks for a tortuously long time as the rule is they can't open the snack bar until after takeoff. After that, we seemed to be fed so frequently we always had left overs to snack on!

**Kids have an amazing ability to ignore jet lag and have a good time wherever they happen to be...
We ended up arriving late into Japan also, and stuck in a huge line for transit security clearance, but Grace and Jasmin cheerfully took the time to play with their teddies up and down the window seat while Mommy waited in line and Daddy charged his computer. We are indeed blessed with wonderful girls!

**Arriving home either stirs excitement and energy or gives permission to finally crash.  Guess who did what...
 As soon as we got in the door, Grace and Jasmin immediately began playing with all their toys to say hello, no matter that we arrived at out apartment around midnight.  This continued until around 4 am when Mommy dragged herself back out of bed to mop up some extravagant water play and to persuade them it was really night time and they should sleep! 
We are still working on this time zone adjusting - even last night the girls went to sleep around 9 and Grace got up around 4 for a snack and then quietly occupied herself with coloring and books till Mommy got up at 6:30.

**Jet lag and early pregnancy don't mix. The tiredness and nausea seems to be amplified who knows how many times over. Mommy started with getting about 10 minutes of normal activity levels before wanting nothing but to go back to bed, and now, 4 days later, still only manages to get about an hour... a long way to go before it's "back to normal" at this rate!

We have been just tumbling through the days, each one full with things we didn't plan to do but it is all good. What with an intense short reunion weekend for the Fraser family, a whirlwind week visit from NiNi and Yea Yea, and a number of short visits with old friends, we have been kept more than busy! Especially since in-between all these things has been the decision making and practical helping for my parents to move to a more suitable place now that Dad's mobility is not so good and they are empty nesters.
So, in fitting with the tumbly type days, here is a mix of pictures of what we've done in the last month:

Raked and jumped in leaves!  Some interesting things surfaced... having to explain to Jasmin that you can't really rake the leaves off the trees... and explaining and encouraging what you do with a big pile of leaves - jump!

 

 Enjoyed Imma's big book of children's stories at bedtime

 Of course, it NEVER was just one story at a time!

 

                                     Baking with Uncle Jamie









Enjoying blue skies and lakes...  Grace even daring to dip her toes in - in November!

 

Imma's playdough bakery shop   

 And another fire and marshmallow day!  This time with Jo and at the beach... with the lovely salt air, blue seas, waddling ducks, and seaside birds.

Enjoying Canada and a good friend...

We reintroduced the girls to s'mores, but we failed: they both preferred plain marshmallows

On the way home: loaded stroller with tired, cold girls and the meager leftovers of our marshmallow feast.

We've made it to Halifax! It took us roughly 32 hours of uneventful travel - we are thankful that it was entirely uneventful, though glad to be here long enough to forget the tiresomeness of 32 hours in transit...
It looks like we made it out in good time. According to this site, eastern Bangkok is being sacrificed to save the inner business districts (the airport is in the east, just outside the main flood barriers of inner Bangkok).

Now we are trying to adjust to Halifax time (the girls woke at midnight last night and stayed awake till 6!), and to readjust to cold temperatures and constantly wearing more than one layer of clothing, and the numerous other little cultural readjustments necessary - car seats, silence, big servings, distances, prices and currency, cell phone plans... 
Yesterday we went shopping for a cell phone plan for our phones and a few groceries.
After visiting all three cell phone providers and asking questions about the limited pre-paid options (about an hour or so), we concluded that we can't get what we need, nor anything that really works for us.  How different from Asia where a SIM card is often given for free at the airport (!) and every little corner store carries pre-paid cards!
Then we went for groceries. We got into the store before realizing we had to get a cart outside. We saw an unused one, so Michael went to get it. Nearly 10 minutes later he comes back with a cart! He wasn't allowed to take the free one in the store and was directed outside. Upon finding the carts outside he discovered they were the kind you need a coin to release one.  So he had to draw money from the bank machine, get it exchanged into coins, rediscover which coin was needed by trial and error, and then finally catch up with me just as my arms were getting too full to shop any more without a cart. Another surprize or two came when we checked out: the question if we wanted bags or not, and the cost. But, we did remember how to get our coin back from the cart :o) And with all that driving, I only forgot which side of the road I was supposed to be on once - and that was in a parking lot area.

And a few pictures from the days before departure:

impromptu activity to keep kids occupied while Mommy packs - yeay for balconies

 Despite having meetings right up until the day before we left, things did not get too stressful.  I guess we have far too much practice at this traveling thing!  We even managed to host the IT team for Asia Friday night.

While Daddy played ping pong with them here...

...the girls played behind them off the wall

Which worked well until the guys decided to try run-around ping pong...

posted from thaitravelblogs.com

How can there not be a post about flooding here at this time?
We are at the point of the arrow, so not at much risk of any flooding ourselves (and we're leaving for Canada on Tuesday for a month!), but please do remember and consider helping the thousands of people dealing with so much from this years flooding - whether Thailand, or one of the many other places: Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines....
It's a very wet year for Asia!

  I think I must be crazy....

We attempted the beginning trial of home schooling these last two weeks.

before Mommy totally finished all her Thai language classes

(still have two left!)

immediately after mommy had to attend two days of workshops

while Daddy worked at the rest of the conference

bringing us to the hotel for lunches with old and new friends

bringing people home for supper

just before some large gatherings for important Area-wide meetings

for which we are partially responsible for logistics and support

just before we fly to Canada for a month

I think I must be crazy

All the same, the girls would be home all day

- their preschool is on mid-year break

All of us eager to try this out

Can't say we established much of a schedule

or figured out a rhythm right for us

or learned where exactly preschool left them

But we have had fun

done things differently

started some promising things

I hope!

Morning routine successes: God-time prayers

God time readings

sunshine pancakes to welcome the day

 

Playdough modeling

nature notebooks decorated

first drawings!

park playtime with other home school families

printing practice

How we've kept going in 2 weeks of coughs and colds and headaches:

 Of course, computer time - BrainPop, Zooboomafoo, etc. for interesting enjoyable "lazy" learning

 Fun with a box. They don't look all that sick, eh? Normal moments among all the sick ones did happen.

 Birthday cake building for any number of animals' sudden birthdays.

 Dress up.

And our most ambitious project: we painted all the "white" (unpainted) blocks and then varnished them (well, Mommy varnished after the girls went to bed).  Mommy was impressed with Grace and Jasmin's stick-to-it-iveness in painting. Jasmin especially who stuck it out till we painted all the 70-odd blocks!

And we read. Lots. And slept.  Hopefully we banked enough extra to get us through the busy months of meetings that began this week...

Jasmin didn't make ballet on Saturday. Nor the make-up class on Sunday. Nor school on Monday. Tuesday both girls off to school, but Mommy and Daddy are now sniffling, coughing, and reaching deep for energy to cover the necessities of each day.  Hopefully we will manage a quick recovery as next week begins a really busy month for us - numerous meetings for us to work at, a family trip to Canada (!), and the start of a homeschooling trial term... sounds about right for this family :o)

This week we've had a sick week. This is after the first bout of cough/cold last week.  First Grace was home for a few days with a deep cough and runny nose.  She went through about 4 rolls of tissue in two days! She is itching to go back to school because she needs more people interaction than a working Daddy can give her. Today Jasmin also ended up staying home.  True to form, she is worse off than Grace with a sick tummy and fever also.  Still the two sick girls managed to make a good go of playing all day today!  Tomorrow Grace should be able to be back at school and Jasmin will have the lonelish day. But she does much better at occupying herself. Hopefully she can make ballet on Saturday.

Sunday we had a TeddyBear picnic in the park for Sunday School kick off.  Even the rain that started shortly after we got there didn't stop us from having fun.  Grace really enjoyed the relay races that were played, but Jasmin was content to just watch the loud, somewhat chaotic fun at first! 

Monday I went shopping for some bookshelves to aid organization of our jumbled toy cupboard.  Fairly typically, I came home with a few other things...  REALLY cheap sweet outfits for the girls and a bouncy ball that lights up.  Interestingly, Jasmin is very taken by it - even taking it to bed every night!

 

This week we have discovered a daily hour of "kid paradise."  Now schools are all back in session, our building is teeming with kids.  There seems to be an unspoken appointment to meet on the playground/play area around 4pm every day.  It is an amazing time of free play for Asia, where kids are all too often kept on a tight leash.  Grace is thriving - when we go down, I hardly see her for the whole hour. Jasmin takes a bit longer to find a friend to play with, and often plays by herself, but seems to be enjoying herself just as much.  Mommy is a bit like Jasmin and is taking it slower in connecting with the other moms and nannies - but she enjoys the time outside and the time undisturbed to crochet!

Playgrounds and Parks

Tops from Turkey
Gifts brought home
Called for playground time

Who knew they'd make the slide
so much more fun?

The climb more interesting?
Let's just say
It was good they had the playground
to themselves!

A Park day!
A look for the famous monitor lizards

Rewarded!
Curious, but glad to be on Mommy's bike
When we saw one

More playground!
We are so blessed - so rare in Asia

Especially to be so green and beautiful

Parks and Playgrounds
Set the heart at peace
And thrumming with thanks