Fauna

Alright, so we've already made comments about Soi Dogs and Geckos...we thought we might enlighten you as to the other wildlife we've had encounters with so far here in Thailand! Tonight we went outside to play after dinner (yummy chicken, rice, green beans, sweet tea and WATERMELON (side note: some of the best watermelon i've ever had and it cost $0.40 for a half...yay for fresh local fruit))!!! It was dusk and getting darker and bats apparently circle overhead. I think I've only seen a bat or 2 in my lifetime and to see 4 or 5 flying through our play area is crazy!!! No one else seemed to notice, so I'm sure it's a regular occurrence and one I shouldn't worry about.
We have a snail in our backyard that moves about in the grass and sometimes slides up the walls. The shell must be 4 inches long and it's a big snail! They seem to be everywhere here...in the grass in the play area, under bushes, on the walls...slightly gross, but really no big deal.
Across the road from us (and down the road) are chickens that run wild. I assume someone feeds them, but really I have no idea. Yesterday they were outside our gate by the security guards, so we got to be within a couple feet of them, walking by!
I think the only other animal we've caught remainders of, but thankfully haven't seen are snakes. Blah...There is an outdoor shower right by the pool and a gecko lives in the walls, so the kids like to say hi when we go to the pool. At the top of the wall, there is a little crevice about 1 inch high...and there are shed snake skins there....Blah...Lord willing we won't ever see one...but just seeing the snake skins are gross enough! (i refuse to post pics of them because they totally make me scared and want to puke!)

Receipts, Soi Dogs and Plumeria

Here's our receipt from the grocery store. In case I wanted to check and see how much something is - at this moment, I can't. The kids and I are working on learning the numbers 1-10 (neung, song, sam, see, hah, hok, jet, bat, gow, sip) but we can't actually read them because of the thai script. We've also learned boy and girl (deek putchai, deek puying, respectively. Hopefully we'll learn more as we go!

Last night, we walked to a well-loved Mexican restaurant here called Que Pasa! It's maybe 1/2 mile or so away, so not really a long walk, but you walk by all these Thai neighborhoods and gatherings. They say that the Thai national pastime is "snacking" and there are little gatherings of people selling all different foods all over! I think I thought it was just downtown because that is where we first saw them back in December, but apparently they are all over. The sellers just have little carts and make whatever kind of food they sell...Thai dinner dishes, fruit sliced up, whole fruits, juices, desserts, whole chickens roasted, whole fish roasted...it's pretty amazing! And walking all around are what they call, "Soi Dogs" (soi means street in Thai). They are everywhere and because of them, rabies is in endemic proportions here in Thailand. We had to get 3 shots for rabies and have advised the kids that they are NEVER allowed to touch any of the dogs outside our neighborhood. Apparently, a rabid dog (even if it's not mean) can lick someone and transfer rabies because it is carried in the saliva (it would have to be licked in an open wound). I know, too much information. Anyway, back to the point. The Soi dogs all look the same....all mangy, scurfy (that's Dan's word) dogs...and yesterday, on the walk home from Que Pasa, we got to see some "wrestling" on the side of the street. It was a treat. Meggie commented about how the one dog was "tackling" the other dog. Ah, Soi Dogs...

Oh, and here's a picture of our frangipani's (plumeria) outside our house (not the greatest pic, but fun anyway...and they smell wonderful)! And a picture of our big kids sharing a Sprite (according to Jack, "Ah, how 'mantic").

Our Blog earned it's name Yesterday

Seriously. It fully qualifies for the title, "Adventures in"...as long as you subscribe to the "glass is half full" philosophy. Otherwise, it was just aggravating.

Let me back up. Yesterday we decided that (a) we needed to buy a tv, (b) the kids needed to go to a playground and (c) I needed to "do" something productive (i.e. something downtown and touristy). We got to knock all three of them out by taking a taxi downtown to Siam Paragon and CentralWorld. Apparently last weekend when we got a taxi downtown and back without any problem, it wasn't the norm. Admittedly, it was a Thai holiday last weekend so traffic was light, but this guy took us on a whole tour of Bangkok and it took FOREVER to get there. So we have the 5 of us crammed in a taxi backseat, Kylie sound asleep on me, Dan sweating profusely on an unofficial, unwanted "tour" of Bangkok. What cost us around 100B last weekend there cost us 200B.

We got to the mall, shopped around some, let the kids each buy a toy (Jack: remote control car to drive on our wood floors, Moo and Kylie: a Barbie), then ate lunch at Mos Burger again (japanese fine burger and coffee place)! We went to the Aquarium again because it on the basement floor of Siam Paragon (and we have a year pass, so doesn't cost us anything more, we've already used what it was worth and it's awesome)! They have a great playground with balls in it and fun things to climb on...totally clean and i don't think our kids have ever played in a ball pit because they don't have those anymore in the US! We spent more time with the sharks, had ice cream and then walked to Central World (which is around a 5-10 minute walk from Siam Paragon).

We walked through there, looked at TV's, didn't buy one and decided to head home. Only by then, it was 3:20 and taxis change driver shifts between 3-4pm, so most aren't willing to drive out to where we live. We tried one, he wanted 600B to take us home and couldn't find anyone else who was willing. At this point, it's 94 degrees out, Kylie is asleep on Dan's shoulders, and we are wandering around trying to figure out whether to try another taxi, walk back to Siam Paragon, try to take the Sky Train out to a couple stops away and then try to catch a taxi or what. Tempers ran short, we walked a rediculous amount and we finally decided to take the Sky Train. It was very crowded, but cool and we got off at Victory Monument. We then walked for another 45 minutes trying to find a taxi to take us home. We eventually got one at 4:45pm...only he wouldn't put on his meter. He kept saying, "300 Baht". Dan kept saying, "200 Baht". Then he would count quietly to himself for a minute or so and then say, "300 Baht". Eventually we settled on the "300 Baht" and after a long taxi ride home, arrived safely. Dan claimed that the blog truly earned it's name today. I agree.

The "Echo"

So there are Gecko lizards here in Thailand and for whatever reason, Jack keeps calling them "echo's" instead of Geckos. He says he keeps forgetting that they start with a "g". Yesterday he saw one in the downstairs bathroom, when I had gone in to get the kids swimsuits. I freaked out, screamed and ran out of the bathroom. I then made him go back in the bathroom to make sure it really was a Gecko instead of a snake (there shouldn't be any reason we would EVER have a snake in our house, but still...). Jack then couldn't find it.

TODAY the kids were playing downstairs in their new fort that Dan built them out of a couple of large boxes our air freight came in when all of the sudden Kylie comes running up the stairs talking about a "wizard" (lizard). Next thing I know, Jack is in our living room, holding the Gecko from the bathroom in his hand! I screamed, he dropped it, I screamed some more to get it, he slammed his hand down on it and rolled it up into his fist and I yelled to throw it outside in our garage! He did and then we had a little talk about NEVER bringing Geckos (or anything else) into our house.

So then Jack says, "Good thing I don't have any Echo blood on me". Apparently, according to Jack, he squished the Gecko when he caught it in the bathroom (which would explain why it didn't run away when he dropped it on the floor in the living room). But, when we looked out into the garage where he threw it, it was no where to be found...hopefully he ran away! Blah...it gives me the willies just thinking about it.

p.s. He washed his hands quite well after that little escapade :)

Kid Quotes

Daddy: Kylie, how do you like Bangkok so far?
Kylie: This not Bangkok. Bangkok far away.
....later...
Daddy: Kylie, how do you like our new house?
Kylie: Nope.

(at church, looking at the worship song that had the phrase "Praise Adonai" in it)
Meggie: Is that the name of their god?
Daddy and I: What?
Meggie: Is that the name of the god they worship?
(points to Adonai)
Daddy and I: No, sweetie, that's another name for God, it means Lord.
(finally clicking in our heads what Meggie means)
Daddy and I: Oh, we aren't going to a church that worships Buddha, we are still going to a church that loves Jesus, even if we are in Thailand!
(I guess in the explanation of who most Thai's worship, we never clarified that we would still be worshiping God where ever we happen to be)!

Our House and First Adventures

Okay, just to clarify: Our internet and phone are both up and working (although at the moment it won't let me send emails, just check them). Email is the same as before. You guys can call us at our old home number and it will cost the same as it did for you when we were in the States (i.e. if you live in northern virginia, it's a local call, if you live outside of nova, it will cost whatever it normally costs you to call long distance to Nova). Just remember that we are 11 hours ahead of you guys! I've put a clock on the blog so you can check and see what time it is here! Hopefully that will help!

Our house is GORGEOUS! Here's a pic of it, but another one of the end unit, just because it was easier to show what it exactly looks like. It's tropical, beautiful, has frangipanis outside and reminds me of my friend in Florida every time I see them (you know, those and rainbows). In the picture to the right, the whole thing is the house and our living space with the garage underneath!

We live on a secure compound/neighborhood. When you enter the neighborhood, security guards come out, make you pop your hood and trunk and use a mirror to check for explosives under the car! I think I was worried at first about how we would get around until our car comes, thinking that we would be living in a suburban neighborhood where the school is. We live right outside of that neighborhood (500ft) from it. That means that we live right off a busier street which has taxis going by regularly! It only costs approx. $1 to $1.50 to get a taxi to the store or church...but no carseats or even seatbelts! I think Kylie will be in for a shock when she is no longer allowed to sit on Momma's lap and ride around! The picture to the left is out the front of our house, over the wall that surrounds our little neighborhood. It's definitely run down shacks compared to our little American oasis here in the compound!

Grocery shopping is quite the adventure. We have so far only gone to Carrefour (pronounced Carfoo) which is a french owned walmart type store. Only everything is in Thai! So, shopping for laundry detergent is funny because I have no idea what exactly i'm buying. Or milk! I can't read any of the script, but it was refrigerated and had a picture of a cow on it. It tastes fine, so I'm guessing it's 2%, but i'm not real sure :) Our first time we went, the kids and I grabbed a taxi outside our security gate. We went, figured out that the store is on the 2nd floor and the 1st floor is for food places. After we figured out our groceries, we went to pay and somehow ended up having the cashier take our mangoes and put them under the cash register! I couldn't understand him, so we just left without them! Thankfully at the office in our neighborhood, they have little business cards printed up in Thai that show where we live. We can hand that to the taxi drivers and then they know how to get us back home! Then on Sunday we took Dan there and did some more shopping and showed him around (and ate lunch at McDonalds, which the kids loved)! We tried to purchase some mangoes and a dragonfruit and when I got to the register, we realized that after you bag the fruit in the produce department, you have to go to a girl there and get her to weigh it and put the sticker on, unlike in America where they do that at the register! So, that explains why I couldn't buy the mangoes the 1st time! Little by little we are learning!

Bangkok, Thailand!!!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!! We are in Bangkok and finally ON-LINE!!! The flight was long, but uneventful, which was great. They slept for more than half the time from Japan to Bangkok and we arrived without incident! A guy from Dan's work picked us up right at the gate and then had a large van and driver to take us home!

Our home is Beautiful!!! It is 3 stories, HUGE, has laminate hardwood flooring throughout, except in the bathrooms which have ceramic tile on a diagonal! There are granite countertops in the 4 1/2 bathrooms and a URINAL in the 1/2 bath on the main middle floor! Dan has requested a urinal in our basement in Leesburg if we ever put in a bathroom down there...and now he has one!!! We even got Jack a step stool so that he can reach it (it's pretty tall). We have comfortable seating for 12 at our dining room table, a full sized washer and dryer outside, a garage, a community pool outside our back door with room to run in the grass, basketball courts, tennis courts and a playground! We love it!!!

We are doing pretty well adjusting to the drastic time change...had a few nights of us being up at odd hours and one afternoon where we all went for naps at 3pm and woke up at 2:30am - only to stay up until 5am and then take a nap until 7:30am! I think the little kids woke up at 4pm that day and went downstairs with Dan to sit on the couch. Our doorbell rang and a neighbor had stopped by. Dan went down to chat for less than 5 minutes, came back and both Kylie and Jack were sound asleep!

We are finding our way around little by little and starting to explore the area. We will post more later about our adventures in Bangkok, which have included so far: me and the kids taking a taxi to the main grocery here by ourselves and successfully making it there and back, taking a taxi with Dan downtown to go to the aquarium this past Saturday, going to church, dinner at Subway, lunch at Mos Burger, dinner at W/I/N/E/S and dinner at a neighbors house!

Tokyo, Japan

Ichi, Nee, San, Shi, Go! (japanese for one, two, three, four, five - courtesy of Meggie, who learned it in Kindergarten when they studied Japan)! We made it to Japan and survived 14 hours on the plane so far! For the most part, the kids have done well. Meggie's highlight was the good, good food (kids meal consisted of chicken fingers, french fries, apple sauce, m&ms, raisins and a cookie)! They also got a roll and warm mixed nuts to start out with! Oh, and she got to share my chocolate cheesecake! She likes flying! Jack got to play the nintendo DS for hours on end and Kylie loved having her passey for extended periods of time and watching "Horton Hears a Who" over and over! We have a 2+layover here and then will have 7 1/2 more hours to Bangkok! Yay for free wi-fi in Tokyo! We love you guys and will update from Bangkok when we get a chance, which might not be for a couple of days or more, depending on the internet situation! Thailand here we come!!! P.S. did i mention that kylie took her nap for 2 hours, then later slept for another 2 hours, Jack slept for 4 hours and Moo slept for 2 hours? At home right now it's 3:40am and here in Japan it's 4:45pm on Wednesday. Everyone is short some serious sleep!

Wheels Up!!!

Technically we fly out today, since it's currently 1:06am when I am starting to post this, but Dan and I still need to get to sleep tonight. We finished packing and the kids went to sleep at 12:15am! I'm not sure any of them have ever seen an 11 on the clock, much less make it past midnight...and I'm sure it's only the beginning of crazy sleep as we fly and then try to adjust to an 11 hour time difference! We (hopefully) accomplished everything we wanted to do today, except say goodbye to Matt and Tiff one last time. We ran errands, met with our realtors, took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese because we promised them in January that we would go 1 time before we left for Bangkok (apparently Dan and I like to cut promises close), went to Anita's (my favorite restuarant of all time) with Grammy and Grandad and got packed up! The kids got to watch a kid show while we packed...and Dan cranked it out. He likes to say that he was "in it to win it". 7 carry-ons, 7 checked bags, 1 guitar and 2 car seats (Meggie's car seat fit in one of our suitcases and we packed clothes around it)! Wow.

We'll catch up with you in a couple of days! Bangkok here we come!

1 Day until Wheels Up

We've had a great weekend. Running errands Saturday morning, a great picnic with our family, church and hanging out with old friends! Almost all of our immediate family (except certain people who will be having our littlest nephew in a month and a half and live in Florida...totally understand, we just miss you) were at the picnic. We ate yummy food, played cornhole, took pictures and had fun! (We had a similar picnic almost 3 years ago when Dan was on his first big trip and I was pregnant with Kylie :) Time flies.

Today we got to go to church one last time with Mom Mom and Pappy, then to Reston Town Center to throw pennies in the fountain and then to our favorite after church eatery, Boston Market! We said goodbye to Mom Mom and Pappy and met up at the hotel pool with our friends Michael and Heather and their 4 kids! I love that all of our kids love each other - that we all share a love for each other, the Hokies and Jesus! We had a blast and got some good fun time, not to mention that Michael took the Oomi-mobile off our hands for us!

Highlights today for me included: 7 kids having fun together without ANY fighting or ANYONE getting hurt in our hotel room, Kylie singing the "blessing" RBC uses for the Toddler nursery before they eat their snack (God our Faver, we sank you, for our many bess's, AMEN - sung to "fara jacque" God our Father, We thank You, For our many blessings, Amen)), Jack, who as of last night would never even willingly get his head wet in the pool, decided today that (a) he wanted to wear goggles and (b) he has no problem holding his breath, going underwater and staying underwater for long periods of time! He even made me go under with goggles, so I can wave to him and then give each other the sign language "i love you" symbol! Watching 2 1/2 year old Nathan enjoy his sundae and getting to spend time with good friends who made a 2 hour trek up and back just to spend 5 hours with us before we leave for Bangkok and unknowingly wound up with our truck in the process!

4 Days until Wheels Up

We currently have less than 4 days until wheels up and we will be on our way to Thailand! We've had a good couple of weeks...spent 4 days at the farm in Malone, a week at the Beach and now we've been in the hotel for 6 days!

Malone was great. We stayed in a house on Dave and Kris's property, played Settlers of Catan with Dan's cousins, swam in their heated pool, saw Dan's grandmother and had a good time (oh, and our purpose for being up there was to attend Carl's graduation from high school as salutatorian- Carl was in 2nd grade when I first went up to visit Malone with Dan!)! The above left picture is of Dave and Kris's kids (Aaron (12), Carl (18), Anissa (20) and Sam (15) (hopefully those ages are right or near to being right). We left Malone on Sunday the 29th to drive to the Beach House and stopped in at Saranac for 15 minutes...to say hello to the Schmitts! We saw Steve, Lynn, Kara and Ben (Steve's head leader this month). So fun...now at least I can firmly say that all 3 of my kids have been at a Young Life Camp. Then we traveled to Long Lake, NY which is where Dan's grandfather is from and where the headstone for Dan's father is...from there we finally drove to the Beach! We had a great week there with Mom Mom and Pappy for 2 days, swimming at the big beach, the boardwalk, the outside shower, yummy food, fireworks, ice cream and fun! Now we are at the hotel, running 40 million last minute errands, seeing family and friends, having Grammy and Grandad watch the kids and eating at places for the last time for a while (so sad, but yummy)!

We get new carpet and kitchen flooring in our house today, have a picnic on Saturday with our families, hopefully have the Oberles come and play on Sunday afternoon and finish last minutes stuff on Monday! CRAZY!!!