the inauguration

I feel pretty lucky because I have a bathtub. A nice, big, brand new bathtub. I'm one of those ladies who really enjoys hot bubble bath. But, even though I've had this bathtub for a long time, I've only let emma, samantha and thier friends use yet. Until the other day, I had yet to use it.

I was waiting unti that moment where I could really enjoy it. When the stress of wondering if we were getting settled could be put to the back of my mind...when our home was at least moderately furnished. Fortunately, that day finally came. I got a nice book, a 3 Musketeers bar (my current favorite - they do change, you know - courtesy of my dear friend alicia), a nice coke in a frosty mug (another critical element) and a good book (number 2 in the Shopaholic series, which had been left in this country during our time in the States - sorry alicia!) The bathtub has finally been used by yours truly and it was lovely, I tell you.


This past Saturday, our landlord invited us out to play. Yes, that's right...to "play". Why it translates this way, I do not know...but it generally can have a variety of meanings. In this particular instance, it involved her driving us all over the countryside in search of a place to go fishing. :) (why she has such a fascination with sea life, I don't know) After going to several places that were not up to her standard, we drove around to find a place where we could at least eat fish.

the funny thing about this outing is that she brought her son along, which is not necessairly a bad thing. He's a year older than emma, and is your typical boy in this country - spoiled, not accustomed to minding...though I suppose that could apply to american children too. he was sitting in the front seat and refused to put on his seat belt (like his mother asked him too about seven thousand times). So, to make up for the fact that he was not safely seated in the car, she drove about 30 miles an hour the entire time we were gone. I kid you not. I do think there's a certain member of my family who has a similar habit... (wink, wink...) but, alas there were no policemen to pull over our landlord and tell her to drive faster, so along we go.

we actually had an enjoyable time, once we finally got to a place to eat and settle. Keeping emma entertained for 2 hours in the car was not an easy task, and she was eager to get out and play when we finally arrived. We ended up going to this really cool area along a reservoir where there were fun little paddleboats and other fun water activities.

We all rode in a boat (I was scared out of my mind the entire time because none of us had life jackets. Granted, the water was only three or four feet deep, but still the boat was much too unstable for my tastes!) Emma loved the boat ride and watching the fish inside. She got to see a butterfly, and a chicken, and some puppies...so she had a lovely time. We also picked some flowers and ate some great fish. But to top off what was otherwise a remarkably enjoyable asian-style outing, our landlord's son threw up in the car on the way home... :)

I suppose that since samantha wasn't really mentioned in this post, I ought to write something about her so she doens't feel left out. She got bundled up very cozily for our outing and looked really cute, thanks to some darling hand-me-downs from my cousin laurie and a cute pair of infant booties. She also has a fun little playgym (picture attached) and she has finally figured out how to bat at the bears that hang down to make them move. She really enjoys that a lot.

change of subject. Since winter is on the way, I have a very urgent and pressing problem. I only have pants from my pre-pregnancy days. And, as many of you know, I have yet to dispose of all of my post-samantha baby weight. But...I think I only have a few more weeks in which to solve this problem because it is getting cooler by the day out here. So I am considering a caffiene and chocolate sabbatical - only for a few weeks, mind you - in order to apply concentrated effort to have some warm clothing that fits me. I know it is important to be properly clothed; I'm just trying to decide if it's worth giving up coke and chocolate. I suppose I'd have to exercise a bit too (this really IS a serious situation if it involves exercise) so I must consider the matter carefully and not make a hasty decision. Ok, enough for now. enjoy the pics.