going out to play, asia style

A friend recently invited us to go out for day with her family, kind of like a family picnic type thing. It's always funny when you get invited to these sorts of things, because the invitation directly translates as: "Hey, we want you to come out and play with us!" It always seems a bit funny linguistically, but after a while, it sort of gets incorporated into your often-used vocabulary. That's when you know you've been here too long....

But anyway, the plan was very loosely concocted - we'd leave sometime around 8 and get home sometime before 5. Since there would be 40 or so of us, the plan was to rent a big charter-type bus so that everyone could ride together (this should have been my first clue! Asianese people will rarely pay for things that are considered extras, even if it means added comfort or convenience!) Our friend wasn't exactly sure where we were going, or what we even were doing (someone else planned the family outing), so it was sure to be an unforgettable day.

When we arrived at the morning meeting point at the stated time, we were surprised (well, sort of surprised) to find that we were one of the first ones there. The charter bus was nowhere to be seen. Instead, sitting in its place was a white little delivery truck that was stocked with a few seats. Hmmmm. I was a bit confused about how we were all going to fit in there, but oh well.

As it turned out, only a few of us rode in the delivery truck. We were among those inside, and a few miles down the road, the smell of gasoline fumes penetrated the air. After hearing from the driver that, "no, nothing's leaking now but a long time ago something leaked in here so it still stinks" Josh cracked the window and the chilly outside air froze our ears but kept our lungs clean!

Driving, driving, driving...we kept driving for a long time. It's sort of weird because no one in the car knew exactly where we were going, so asking "When do you think we'll arrive?" was sort of pointless. Two hours later, we arrived in a muddy patch of land. Josh and I looked at each other, both about to break out in hysterical laughs. We had no idea where we were or what we were doing. A few muddy turns later, we ended up in a huge acreage planted with peach trees.


Apparantly, this was the week that the peach trees blossomed. For two weeks each year, these trees blossom into beautiful bursts of pink and fuschia. We were lucky enough to be there for one day of those two weeks.

I'll admit it, I'm not much of a nature lover. But this was extraordinary! As far as you could see, groves and groves of trees lined the horizon, varying shades of colors providing amazing diversity and beauty. The ground itself was also pink, littered with the fallen petals of trees already covered with huge blooms.

And because I thought we were going on a family picnic, I didn't bring my camera. Fortunately, asinese are almost always prepared for these sorts of unexpected adventures, so these pictures come to you complimentary of our friend's husband.
The interesting thing about this acreage was that you had to walk miles and miles once you entered. It was like a course where you had to complete all these checkpoints in order to leave...ok, not quite like that. But it was a little like a conveyer belt. You get on and you keep moving, because everyone in front of you is moving and everyone behind you is moving. You'd better get moving too.

Up hills and down stairs, over and over again. Didn't even need to make a trip to the gym when we finallly made it home because we worked out so hard at the festival. Josh is in the blue jacket and jeans, emma in the red coat...she rocked. She walked almost as much as we did. Mantha, little stinker, got carried most of the way.

Wish I would have had my camera - these pictures don't quite capture the enormity of the place, or the intricacy of the blooms.


Once we completed the triathalon through the festival, there were other big plans ahead of us...like a two hour drive to find a place to eat lunch, a meal that never ended full of fried scorpions (that were offered repeatedly to samantha - are you kidding me?!?!) and men that were as drunk as....well, really drunk. The gory details that have become so quintessentially asian for us will be left out - but if you've ever been on one of these never ending trips with local friends, I don't even need to elaborate because you likely already know.

We eventually made it home that night, with a mind full of memories and some funny stories. We actually - in spite of all the glitches - had a really great time hanging out with these friends and seeing something as beautiful as a field full of peach blossoms.

laundry day: you know you have girls when...

bathtime!

I remember last year when tom and rikki came to visit us, they made some casual remark about "being able to get things done while the girls were taking baths" or something like that. I remember marveling at the statement, because at that time I could not imagine bathtime as being anything BUT me standing at rapt attention at the side of the tub for the first sign of slip, a fall, or a any other slight blip from a child. Further, imagine the horror if one of them got too rowdy in the tub or was too playful with the other...in only a second, my mind drifted to very scary things. No, I thought, it will be like, five years before they take baths without me in the room.

Ok. Maybe like five months. (well, it was actually longer than that, but it fit well in the story). Fast forward to now, where my girls L-O-V-E playing in the tub. Together. Without me. As in, they specifically ask me to leave. I'm usually washing the dinner dishes during bathtime, so I'm only like four steps away from any unforseen calamity, but still it seems to have become a prerequisite for bathtime that mama is not there.

Our house is small enough to where you can pretty much hear everything from every room anywhere, and I always seem to be making several trips into the bathroom to break up fights, AND I always supervise closely...which allowed me to get these cute pictures last night of my little bath mermaids...

the other side of samantha

I truly think Samantha is an introvert. I'm not into labeling her for the sake of labeling her - so she can walk into a room and declare to everyone that she is an ENFP or something - but more to help me understand why she reacts the way she does in some situations. Like why, when we hang out with people she sees every single week for hours at a time, she goes into hysterics if she's not clinging to one of my legs; why she's more interested to sit on the couch with me when we have visitors than to join the chaos in Emma's bedroom. The flip side of all of this is that when all is quiet at our house, samantha is at her best. Under no pressure to be a hospitable host or gregarious playmate, she smiles sweetly, plays by herself or with me quite happily, and could win over anyone! Here are some recent pictures from days at home with mantha...

This is classic mantha, legs crossed at the ankles...

First, she made a train out of blocks, then searched out the bedroom for passengers. All aboard!

And after the train left the station, she didn't mind posing for a few chic shots. (this one is included because I thought the light was fun.)Even she can't believe how much she's grown...!

somewhere over the rainbow...

One of last week's activities was straw painting. You know, it's the kind where you blow through the straw at puddles of paint on the paper. The paint will drip in all sorts of directions, making designs and all sorts of unrecognizable things. This was great news for the girls, who love the very idea of "activity". They busily gather all our special things - our activity table and chairs - and ask how they can help get things started. Paints they especially love; the smell, the need for smocks, the squish of it on their fingers. Yes, paint day is like a dream come true. So anyway, straw painting was the plan.

Except that whoever writes about these things in activity books forgot to mention that you have to dilute the paint for it to work! When I gave the girls their straws and told them to go at it, I expected paint to start flying everywhere. But nothing happened. They blew, and blew but just stared at the paper in confused wonder. I told them to try it without the straws, thinking that perhaps their aim was off or something, but still nothing. I finally held out my hand with a swagger that only a mom can produce and took a deep breath, took the straws and prepared to amaze them with the upcoming spatter of paint.

I blew, and blew. Until my face turned blue. It's true.

Then, after several blows the light bulb came on and I diluted the paint, but that did not happen before samantha's eager but short attention span expired. They still playEmma, who is always more interested in just sticking her fingers in the paint, was happy for a change in activity, especially if she sensed it might lead to finger painting. I gave up my dreams of spatter paint and let them finger paint for a while.

But then...look at what emma produced! Granted, I helped her conceptualize the idea and helped her think through applying the colors - instead of her usual slapdash style of painting - but she honestly did it all! I think it's the prettiest rainbow I've seen in a while. Much better than any straw could have produced!

Painting the town red

I mentioned a few days ago about our window markers we bought in thailand...well, I'm finally putting up the pictures from the window extravaganza. I'm sorry to say that we bought several crayola products at the toys r' us in fabulous Bangkok, and almost the entire package of Pipsqueaks markers I bought were dry! But these turned out good, so I shant complain. I really liked these pictures because it helps give you an interesting perspective of our living room view - the mountains really are that close in the background, and that street really is as busy as it looks! It's 8 lanes of American-style traffic, 10 or so lanes of Asianese style traffic! We live very close to the business district of town, so that helps explain the skyscraper skyline right out our window.

more to the mess than meets the eye

"Mommy, come here! Look at my room!" Emma called to me.

I walked over to her room, and stood for a few seconds....confused, waiting, sure I was missing something. The gleeful smile on Emma's face told me she must be excited about something beyond the typical I-pulled-every-toy-out-of-my-toybox routine. I just couldn't figure out what it was. She stared at me, all big eyes and full-faced grin, waiting with bated breath to see my reaction.

With as much enthusiasm and encouragement as I could muster, I asked the question I hoped not to ask. "What is it, Emma?"

Can you see what she was so excited about?

I mean, really. Look again. Do you see it?

Once emma explained it, I saw it right away. Emma had chosen books for all of her little stuffed animals and dolls to "read", and then laid or sat each one in front of their chosen book. I was wondering why she had been so quiet the last half hour or so, and I finally had my answer - she was busy organizing a reading room! Chista, I'm trying to raise a budding librarian to follow in your footsteps!

In other cuteness photos, here is samantha modeling her new Strawberry Shortcake jumpsuit from my parents. Does she not exude all sorts of shortcakeness? I think so too.

And this was after bathtime the other day, the most impractical time of all to try to bring out the camera - all sorts of wetness and unclothed bottoms and hair that needs to be brushed - but I just couldn't resist my two little bundles and wanted to remember it forever.

Tonight, we busted out the Window Markers I bought back in Thailand and had a grand evening using those. Pics to come soon...

baby fever

No, not me. Well, not yet anyway. Perhaps with all this baby activity going on - rikki's new ainsley, and rachel and alicia's babies due shortly - my baby fever might start sooner than I thought. But no, not yet.

The baby fever I refer to officially belongs to Emma. She loves babies. She carries them arounnd everywhere, taking care of their every need. She asks me when she will have her own baby in her tummy. (She was nottified that she must first be able to drive a car, spell words, and have a husband; she then proceeded to think over who could fill the empty "husband" role in her life...)

Anyway, she was delighted a few weeks ago when some friends came to our house and brought their baby. Their real baby...

leftover easter inspiration...sort of...

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd post the pictures and you could "meet" some of emma and matha's newest friends.


While josh was out of town the week before easter, for some unknown reason to me I decided to do a couple of big projects with the girls. Actually, the idea was to keep us all busy and preoccupied and it worked pretty well.


A few days before easter, we started making replicas of Emma and Samantha. Not like super fancy like with clay and stuff (ha!) but you know, the kind where you trace their body and then can color on it and stuff? The idea was so that they could "participate" when the crowds sang "hosanna" and welcomed the king.

Ok, so josh goes out of town and I pull out the hot glue gun and craft material.

The result was....um, not exactly what we were hoping for, but the girls had a superb time. Let's just say their little "girls" aren't going to be winning any beauty pageants. But, they love, truly love, their little alter-egos. And they kept singing "sing hosanna!" all night long. Mission accomplished.