Backlog part 2 - Soccer

The big kid's soccer season officially ended Saturday the 23rd. They had a tournament with each team playing the other 3 teams in their division, then the winners (by points) played for the finals. Jack's team rocked it and won all their games...including the finals (which he got a trophy for)! He had a great time this season, mostly due to his good buddies on his team. It made for a fun time for him and a good time for us :)
Poor Megan. She played on a team with girls we mostly didn't know (before the season started). And most of them were 1st time players like she was. And while they tried...I think they lost every. single. game. this. season. I'll be honest. I didn't really mind - although I think it bummed Megan out. She played well and they tried their hardest, but just weren't as good as the other teams. She was immensely bummed about not getting a trophy like her brother.
Praise God for the 2 wonderful coaches who coached both Megan and Jack's soccer teams! This season could have been terrible for both kids if they had coaches who stressed out about soccer...but instead they had 2 coaches who were great and didn't get ruffled by the kids. They didn't lose their temper or get frustrated (at least outwardly) and I am sooooo thankful for them! They both made all the difference in their season and I made sure to tell them that...

Backlog part 1 - Bowling

Uh! I have a backlog of posts to do...not that you guys care, but I want them done so that when I get another blog book made, I'll remember these things. So here, it goes:

Megan bowling "granny" style...with force!

Sunday the 17th, we decided to surprise the kids by taking them out bowling after church! There's a bowling alley (do people still call them alley's anymore?) right by Burger King. Sunday afternoon at 1pm...not crowded and perfect for the family!

Action shot of Jack getting ready to bowl like Daddy

We clearly had to rent shoes...which a kids size 1 was the smallest, so both Kylie and Jack had to get that size - they fit Jack and were HUGE on Kylie...and comical. :) And they asked if we wanted bumpers, which we thankfully said yes on...otherwise it wouldn't have been much fun!

Miss Kylie thrilled with her score after Daddy helped her bowl granny style

It was a great and first time of us going bowling as a family. Megan had gone 1x previously for a birthday party...but it was a blast! No pics were allowed...so we took that to mean "no flash" and tried not to be too obvious. Hard to take pictures in a dimly lit place where you aren't supposed to take pictures...

The kiddos when I made them pose :)

Jack liked to polish the balls with the rag

Dan choosing his ball
(I think this was his turn after he had a strike that I didn't see...thus the need to make sure I took a picture of him!)

Dan helping Kylie bowl

The family when we were finished!

Oh, and you wanted to know the final score? It really shouldn't surprise you all that much :)

Dan 107
Kristen 69
Megan 91
Jack 73
Kylie 101

Our 10th Anniversary!!!

Friday the 22nd was our 10th anniversary! A) I can't believe it's been 10 years and B) 10 YEARS. A decade. It was nice that Dan and I spent the whole week prior to our anniversary talking about the past 10 years and thinking through things. It didn't feel rushed or short. It was a great anniversary.

Our plan was to have our honeymoon in St. John, USVI - where we went over Spring Break in 1998 (when we weren't even dating)! That didn't happen because of finances and a short honeymoon vacation time. So, then the plan was at our 10 year anniversary. We talked about it for years...like some kind of illusive goal in the distance. Well, guess what? We're on the other side of the world to be able to do that :) And haven't had a night away in over 2 years. I haven't spent the night away from the kids in 2 years. That is INSANE considering how much Dan is away traveling and totally not the point of this post. Anyway, St. John didn't happen, again, and maybe we'll shoot for our 20th there...maybe not. But, we did talk through the last couple of weeks of what we would want to commemorate our 10th by. And we finally settled on a piece of furniture.

So, on our anniversary, I dropped the kids off at my friend, Amy's house right after school and drove down to meet Dan at work! We hoofed it down to the MRTA (Bangkok Subway) which we had never taken before and loved! We took it for a few stops, got off and walked a ways to a store called Yesterday Once Again. It's a store of Chinese and Tibetan antiques and reproduction pieces. We have friends who have purchased pieces there and thought it would be fun to look around :) We looked at a couple of different pieces and our big thing was "will it work in our house in Leesburg", assuming that at some point we will be back there and don't want to be stuck with a gigantic piece that won't fit anywhere! We fell in love with this great piece!


It's a Tibetan piece and will work well in our main floor of our townhouse in Leesburg. It's got a great shape that's not too Asian...but we LOVE the design! It has a cool dragon on the front, but also flowers and peacocks...and it's just cool! It's a great storage piece, too, which was our requirement :) 3 drawers and 3 cabinets! And they delivered it the next morning! Woo Hoo!!! It looks great in our main living room here between the 2 front windows.


The rest of our anniversary night was spent taking the BTS skytrain to Beirut for dinner...yummy hummus, pita, chicken. LOVE IT! Taking a taxi to shop at fun places, purchasing things for Dan for work and walking around the mall! We walked more than I think I have in forever...and we had a great night celebrating us! And now, we'll have something to remember our 10th anniversary by...for a loooooong time :)

Last Day with Mom Mom and Pappy

It's a week later and I'm just finally getting around to posting our last day with Mom Mom and Pappy. Their flight wasn't out until 12:55am on Saturday morning...so we had the whole day to spend with them! I think we got Starbucks in the morning, then headed over to the Booster Hut at the kid's school - where Mom Mom got a wallet/purse thing and Pappy got a t-shirt! Then, we went and got most Mom Mom's pictures printed out here for her to take home, ran by Carrefour to buy photo albums, came home and had Kylie throw up (check), ate lunch, had Kylie take a nap, got kids off the bus and hung out until Dan got home for dinner!

Needless to say, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth when they had to leave. Megan offered them her room on a permanent basis and said she would sleep in Kylie's room with Jack for the rest of the time in Thailand - if they would stay. (But, notice she wasn't willing to sleep in Kylie's room with Kylie). :)

We had a GREAT visit with them, were so thankful they were willing and able to make the trip and enjoyed every minute of sharing our lives with them! Thank you for coming Mom Mom and Pappy - we can't wait to see you this summer! We love you!!!

Here are some pictures taken by Kylie for your viewing pleasure!

Thursday

So Thursday came here and we had officially "checked" almost everything off our list to do here in Bangkok. I really wanted to get out of the house and do something, but couldn't figure out what...so we ended up getting Starbucks in the morning, then driving downtown. Halfway down there, Dan said he would meet us for lunch at a mall - which was great!


We met him at the Food Loft downtown and had lunch - pizza, calzone, Thai soup, spinach and cheese lasagna and indian butter chicken. So good!

Then, that night, after the kids went to bed? Dan had to run to 7-11 with the scooter and Mom wanted a ride! Too funny!

Wednesday

Wednesday we picked up Megan and Jack from school early (at 10am) to head down and do lunch with Dan at his work! We mailed postcards out from the Thai Mail at the kids' school, then picked them up and met Dan at work! It was fun to be able to show Mom and Boyd all around his work and different areas...but we were told not to take pictures....which we do all the time. So....maybe we won't be doing it anymore. Hmmm.

But, we got to eat lunch with Dan at his work and it was YUMMY! Pappy had Phad Thai Gai, Mom Mom had Pat See Ew Gai and I had Lard Na, like always :)

Then, we headed back home, dropped Kylie, Jack and Pappy off at home and Mom Mom, Moo and I went to Great Massage to get foot massages! It was soooo nice and I pretty much almost fell asleep about 10 times :) We all loved it.


We picked up Roti on the way home from a food cart outside 7-11 and had it for a snack! In Thailand, Roti normally refers to a stuffed, flakey flat bread. Can be stuffed with banana, but is sprinkled with powdered sugar, then topped with condensed milk. Totally yummy and good! And 7B for a regular, non-stuffed Roti. 21B for a banana stuffed Roti. Goodness either way!
Hung out until Dan got home from work and went to Que Pasa for dinner! It was nice to be there, since it was one of the top places we wanted to take Mom Mom and Pappy and Jack and I didn't get to go with the rest of the crew for lunch as Sunday, as he was sick. A fun day, even with not that many pictures taken!

Dancing Family from Safari World

Totally unrehearsed. I'm not even kidding.

Tuesday

Tuesday of this week began with an appointment for Mom Mom to get her mani/pedi at Smile with K. Nok! Kylie stayed home with Pappy and I took Mom Mom! She got her toenails redone and a french manicure! Oh La La!

While we were gone, Pappy and Kylie blew bubbles, played some games and then did puzzles. She told me they were "Puzzle Girl and Puzzle Man!" They managed 2 and 1/2 before we got back :)

We ran to Carrefour to get some fun Thai soup spoons for Mom Mom and Pappy because Dan and I had bought some at Chatuchak and they decided they wanted some, too, for all the soup they eat in the States!

Going down the escalator from Carrefour. The grocery store is located on the 2nd floor, so you take an escalator up to it, shop and then take one back down with your shopping cart. The cart has special wheels that lock in the grooves on the escalator so it doesn't plunge down it! So smart!

Lunch at KFC (afterward, Mom Mom bought 3 pairs of shoes!)


We stopped to get gas and the gas station was PACKED with these white trucks. We got in easily and got gas, but it took a little more finagling to get back out!


We all attended Moo's soccer practice...


And cheered her on!

Then we headed out the door to Life Group! K. Som stayed with the kids and Mom Mom and Pappy came with us! It was a fun night to start back up after Christmas break and we are glad to be back together. A rare occurance for our group is to have everyone there on the same night. Not due to the lack of desire...but a couple of the husbands travel often. And we had 3 pregnant ladies in the Fall. We currently have 1 new baby, 1 due in March and 1 due in May! And 20 kids between us...with the 2 additional ones due in the Spring!

(thanks for taking the picture Mom Mom)!

Packed Day part 2

Monday night we went to The River Treehouse for dinner! Sooo fun and yummy! It's a beautiful restaurant that is not expensive - a treat for Dan and I and the kids were psyched to be there, too, with Mom Mom and Pappy!

Getting in this little motorbike w/a cage thingy to go down to the narrow (seriously narrow) street to the restaurant down on the water. Normally 4 people is the max. He took all 7 of us, due to his insistence!

The view while riding. Jack was so funny and sweet. He was worried I would fall off, being on the end. I don't know if he didn't realize there was a side to keep me in, or what. But he kept putting his hand on the far side of me and saying, "Mommy!". So sweet!

This is the soi you go down...

We got there at 6pm right in time for a beautiful sunset on the Chao Phraya river!


Bamboo behind Dan and I

"Reserved" in Thai


The whole gang!

Way yummy food!!! Spinach and cheese wontons, fried dried pork, shrimp cakes, 2 chicken with cashews, sweet and sour chicken, yellow curry with crab, grouper with 3 sauces and 2 pots of rice!


Pappy with his grouper with 3 sauces...and a fried head and tail!


Mom Mom holding a grouper head!

The fam

Mom Mom and Pappy

Jack, Kylie and Pappy hanging out on a swing after dinner :)

P.S. we aren't in long pants and sleeves because it's cool out...but because there are a lot of mosquitoes out at dusk...especially by the water!