ES Games - Megan

Every year in December, the kids' school has ES Games - kinda like Field Day back in the States...only we do ours in December during the "cooler" weather. You know, because apparently 94F is cooler weather - well, at least than in May/June. :)

Playing Dodge Ball in the gym

Running the 50 meter dash

With Anaida


With Daddy (who came home early from work to attend the ES Games)

with Mommy

and her biggest fan on the sidelines :)

Christmas Decor in Regent

I can't believe we've never decorated for Christmas here in this house! We moved furniture around to accomodate our tree (Dan wants to keep it like this when Christmas is over)! Here are the highlights:

Our Christmas Wreath on our front door :) 7 inch lime green tulle tied around a needlepoint hoop! And hung with great Christmas ribbon Dan brought me back from the States!

Our front hall table! I purchased this table from the local Goodwill-type store and LOVE IT! Such fun stuff. Oh, and see the Legos? It's from a Lego Advent Calendar! So fun and the kids love it! The fun red and white balls are from here in Thailand and are made of dyed silkworm cocoons! And the sign I painted in about an hour before we were hosting our Life Group the other week!

Fa La La prints

above our chair in our living room


Our Christmas tree during the day

And at night


Some of our favorite ornaments!

Our china hutch complete with Christmas ragamuffin garland, our letters, JOY sign and other fun things!


Ragamuffin garland made with fun cut-up Christmas print fabric, fun ribbon and the red polka dotted fabric is from a pair of footie pajamas that Kylie got for her 2nd Birthday, but has grown out of! We loved them and called them her "Birthday Jamma's". And the dark green is from a John Deere Shirt Jack grew out of! So fun that they will be on our garland from now on!


The whole hutch with banisters and stockings! We used leftover cotton loops to make potholders and looped them all together and wrapped them around the banister! Green, White and Red!


A close-up!


Our sideboard with 1 of the 9 nativity sets we have!


Christmas hand-towels in the bathroom


The bathroom downstairs!

The shower curtain and counter top in the bathroom!

Fun print


And fun Christmas piggy toes!!!

Mickey Party

I think almost all of Kylie's friends from church are born in December. We have 7 birthday parties to attend (Kylie's not included) so far this month. SEVEN! Monday started the first of them.

I had to take Megan and Jack with me because it was a school holiday in honor of the King's Birthday and Dan was on a trip. Fun, chaotic and crazy times :)

Playdates

Sunday we had some friends over for playdates after church. We actually took 1 with us to lunch at Que Pasa after church and acquired another one after we got there :) Then acquired 1 more once we got home!

Then we headed back home here to let the kids play...while Jack went with one of his friends to play soccer with their family! It was crazy, but a fun day (for the most part...you know no play date is without drama)!

Holiday Party

This past Saturday night I got to attend Dan's work Holiday Party. Dan was supposed to come with me, but ended up traveling (2nd year in a row - we'll see if he makes next years). My friend Elena and I decided to go together because her husband was also going to be traveling...so we could be each others dates! Alas, it was not to be...her husband had his trip pushed back until after the weekend and became the 3rd wheel on our date :)

It took us 25 minutes to get downtown to the exact spot that the Marine Corp Ball was, where it took us 3 hours...you just never know in Bangkok what the traffic will be like! We got there a bit early, got to shop around at the hotel shops and hang out in the beautiful main room until the party started!

The party was great - I think my favorite out of the last 3 years (hmm, 3 years? you say! Yes, we attended the 2007 Holiday Party when Dan was out here on TDY and I flew out for 4 days to check Bangkok out. The funniest thing is that we had our picture taken with Elena and Oscar, whom we didn't know at the time...and we still joke how random it was to have a picture of the 4 of us from then...we're glad we know each other now!)

2007 - More fancy formal dinner without kids
2008 - Family dinner at a pub
2009 - "Smart Casual" dinner without kids (so far, my favorite)

So, we had good food, good conversations, a while elephant gift exchange (I brought a Starbucks gift card and got a Thai cookbook and spoon in return...not too shabby). Overall, it was a fun night. It would have been better with Dan there, but that goes without saying :)

Oscar and Elena in front of the Four Seasons ginormous Christmas tree...with chocolate ornaments!


The beautiful ceilings in the Four Seasons


The Lounge...so fun!

Elena, Cat and I

His Majesty the King's 82nd Birthday

H.M. King Bhumibol

Rama IX of Thailand
The World's Longest Serving Monarch


King Bhumibol Adulyadej's Thai full title is "Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Bhumibol Adulyadej Mahitalathibet Ramathibodi Chakkrinaruebodin Sayamminthrathirat Borommanatbophit" (Thai: พระบาทสมเด็จพระปรมินทรมหาภูมิพลอดุลยเดช มหิตลาธิเบศรรามาธิบดี จักรีนฤบดินทร สยามินทราธิราช บรมนาถบพิตร; which is referred to in the chief legal documents; and in general documents, the title is shorthened to "Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Bhumibol Adulyadej Sayamminthrathirat Borommanatbophit" or just "Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Bhumibol Adulyadej.")

Born in 5 December 1927, is the current King and Head of the State of Thailand. Publicly acclaimed "the Great", he is also known as Rama IX. Having reigned since 9 June 1946, he is the world's longest-serving current head of state and the longest-serving monarch in Thai history.

Beirut

No, not actually in Lebanon. But the Beirut Restaurant here in Bangkok. I have been on the search for it for 1 1/2 years. We finally found it last month after walking around for 2 hours in downtown Bangkok...on a Saturday early evening...with 3 children...in a sleazy-er part of town. It was all sorts of fun at 3:30pm when we started out :)

Bangkok has lots of stalls out on the sidewalks on the weekends for shopping, so we got to walk past tons of them...selling shirts, dvds, purses, belts, scarves, pants, shoes, backpacks...etc. Then, the later it got, the more sleazy the things were. (we got some dvd's and other random things)...

At 2 hours of walking around, taking the BTS 1 stop so the kids could ride the train, and walking some more...the kids were done. They kept suggesting places to eat like McDonald's, Subway, Burger King and Pizza Hut. I told them my one request was to eat somewhere we couldn't eat back near our house. We kept walking. And walking. I had a vague (really vague) idea where Beirut was...so we kept walking. And I know there are a few really good Mediterranean/Lebanese restaurants in Bangkok...so I was THRILLED when we finally saw this sign!

Notice the "Beirut" small sign on this big sign! (mmm, and Starbucks, but that's besides the point)!


This the outside of the restaurant that is in the mall


This is me happy as a lark eating hummus


The big kids with Dan


And me and Kylie enjoying our food!

It was WONDERFUL!!! We got hummus and pita, a falafel wrap, a beef wrap, a chicken wrap, arya burgers and cheese puffs. So, so yummy. I told Dan I wanted to go back there for my birthday dinner...we'll see if it happens!