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

More about Mother's Day

They had all the moms enter according to class of the child, which left us moms with 2 or more a little confused as to where to go, but we got it sorted out. Jasmin was "promoted" for the day to join Grace's class. For the first bit, there was just exploring activities to wander around and do with your kids. Then a game, a short speech, and the kids sang us a song, presented us with a small flower offering, and then we decorated cakes to eat.

Jasmin was so excited this morning she didn't really eat enough breakfast, so by halfway through the game she was beside herself needing a snack. Unfortunately Mommy didn't remember to take one... But, a sign she is growing up/ getting better, she still sort of participated.

Grace was so worried about not knowing the song properly (it was in Thai and not an easy one), but she was actually one of the ones that sang more than fidgeted... Then they were to present us the flower offerings in traditional Thai method: approaching on the knees, greeting with the hands pressed together and head bowed, and then giving the offering. As with any preschool presentation, not many actually did what was rehearsed, but Grace remembered and redid it right, causing a chorus of "ooh's" from other parents and honoring Mommy to no end as she recognized that Grace did it not because she was told to but because she really felt it and meant it in her heart.

Jasmin perked up when presented with THE activity she loves best - cake decorating. (She is already frequently telling Mommy that she wants to do her own cake when she turns 5!)


This was the real thing - homemade tubes of icing to do some piping, and lots of sprinkles. The girls wouldn't let Mommy help at all so the cakes ended up looking dumped on rather than decorated, but it was to doing not the end result that mattered to them. And then, being hungry, they proceeded to eat most of the cake themselves!! Mommy made them save some for Daddy just so they wouldn't eat the whole thing :o)

Then, because they are painting the outside of our building and the paint smell was too strong in our place, we all went swimming and had a picnic lunch and lounge by the pool. Now for an early night too...

All about Jasmin

Last week Jasmin surprized us with choosing to fill a paper with recognizable letters. Prior to this, she has tended to avoid writing anything other than squiggles, and hasn't shown any interest in letters. She was quite proud of this page!

Then, tomorrow is Mother's Day in Thailand (Queen's birthday), so they had a big Mother's day celebration at school. One of the activities was a coloring contest. Jasmin was just bursting with excitement to tell us that her picture had won! The best part of that was having her picture posted on the wall by the school door so everyone could see it - and Grace's was in her classroom.

Jasmin making sure we know it is her picture!

She brought home a little present all wrapped up saying it was for mommy for Mother's Day, but really it was her prize :o) She was pretty pleased to discover that the princess purse was for her and not Mommy...

We got to go skating on Monday for the second time. It's not too far from us, and amazingly they have skates to rent down to even Jasmin's size! It won't become a regular outing though, as they've just changed to rules so Jasmin will have to pay the full price for 90 min of which she will never use up. The rink is small and the ice not very hard, but that makes no difference for little ones!

BUT, they both love it and have made great progress in becoming skaters. Grace can zoom around with a frame, and both of them can inch along without help even! Though Jasmin spent a lot of this first time on "big girls skates" glued to the side, she was befriended by another girl who enticed her off the side and taught her some basic skills.


Afterwards, we hung out outside for a little while for the girls to enjoy the parade of ducks...
There were about 6-8 of these big ducks, all painted differently. Of course, each one had to be climbed on and photos had to be taken. Unfortunately, it was an awkward landing area for taking pictures so many of them didn't turn out.

Simple Kitchen

All last year in Manila I lived easily with only a kettle, rice cooker, and dehydrator in my kitchen. We were experimenting with eating raw as a remedy for Jasmin's and my health problems. After the initial learning curve of how to prepare interesting and appetizing meals, we quite got to like it.

So we planned to continue here in Bangkok. But it hasn't proved that easy. Partially because it worked and Jasmin is able to tolerate breads and dairy pretty well as long as we don't over do our consumption. Partially because of the changes in lifestyle and ingredient availability. Now my kitchen is equipped with a kettle, rice cooker, and a fry pan and we eat a mixed diet.

All that to say I've learned some interesting uses for the rice cooker over the last few months. The latest being blueberry grunt. Yes, I made my first lot of blueberry grunt in a rice cooker. It smelled good, looked good, tasted delicious (even with the unique Hu flour blend I use!). Basking in success tonight - all too often a new food is greeted with suspicion instead of enthusiasm.