This and That

It has been quite a week here. But more about that later. Right now I have a photo backlog...

In early June (or was it late May?) we went up to Khao Yai National Park, a great outdoors sort of place we really like that's about 3 hours north of us. It's nice to be out in the jungles of Thailand. It was a pretty low scale wildlife day, as there were no elephant sightings, and only one monkey, but he sat and devoured the bananas we threw to him, peeling them efficiently with his limber little hands and downing them as quickly as we could provide them. Speaking of monkeys, isn't this little guy the cutest you've seen?

This waterfall was absolutely magnificent...

...but this little miracle was even more so!

This is part of the group we went with, comprised mostly of the college interns that have spent the summer here with us working alongside us. They have been a real blessing to us as a team and as a family.

When I said there wasn't much wildlife before, I forgot about the leeches. They were abundant. And incredibly agile. I always thought leeches were flattish and attached themselves flatly to your skin, but these guys are long and tubular, and you could actually see them standing up on one end on the trail, waving their bodies around looking for someone to latch onto! Really gross. They were tenacious, and our whole family got leech bites except for our little guys, who were riding up high...



Asa doing battle with the tiger at the welcome center. He's an actual park native, killed some years ago and now he graces the welcome center as a warning to all visitors to beware the wildlife!

Changing course, here's Emmy arabesque-ing during the mini ballet class she took a number of weeks ago at the church, lead by two lovely ballerinas who are part of the intern group. Such fun!

We decided to forgo the embassy 4th of July shindig this year, thinking that the late hour and travel would be too much with an infant, so we had a picnic at our nearby King's park, and it was perfect. Hot dogs, chips and salsa, watermelon and apple pie. A good time was had by all and we were home for bedtime! You can see in this picture that Emmy recently lost her other top tooth. That makes all 4 front ones and she looks so beautifully like a growing up little girl!



Julian considers our country's history...these flags were a project with Daddy that morning.

Enjoying the sand and water table Daddy recently built for them. You can see part of our little garden in the background. It's looking pretty wild out there, but no produce yet. We're novices, so we'll see what comes of it.

Finally, here's our Em and Melanie being silly together, which is what they do best. Melanie worked with us for two years and has just returned to the U.S. to apply for and prepare to come back and work long-term. She has been a great friend and 'auntie', and we miss her very much!

Time to Eat!

Our smallest member celebrated his 6 month birthday (or half-y birthday, as Em so cleverly called it...) this week. We celebrated yesterday by awarding him his long awaited first meal at the table. He's been lunging for my food for quite some time and would certainly have injured himself with my fork by now had I not been very diligent. So we mixed up some rice cereal, all gathered around for the big event, and watched as he devoured his food. No hesitation whatsoever. And so it begins!

My favorite new Julian thing is a sleeping quirk- he loves to sleep with a blanket over his face. When I put him down to sleep, I always put a lightweight blanket on him, and he immediately begins to pull it up. Often I'll go in later and find him sound asleep with his head completely covered. I thought this was alarming at first, but he has lots of breathing room. Makes me think he might become attached to a blanket as his lovey...

Here he is at his checkup. He weighed 16.7 pounds, putting him between 25-50% for weight, and was 28 inches long, putting him at the top of the chart for height. His eczema has improved dramatically, so I will be continuing to avoid dairy for the foreseeable future. Thanks be to God for the good health of this little one!

A note about his doctor's mask...lots of people here wear these face masks. We regularly see a number of people at the hospital (which is where all doctor's appointments happen) with them, presumably protecting themselves from germs or perhaps protecting others from their own germs. I'm not sure if people have a stash of masks at home or if they'll give them to you at the desk, or what exactly. However, when we went to the hospital this week, there were an overwhelming number of people wearing them. Probably 80% of both staff and patients and families. Even little babies! We asked the pediatrician about it and she said people are concerned about the flu. Makes you want to wash your hands...

Waiting for the appointment, conspicuously mask-free...

On a completely unrelated note, our grocery store has begun selling free range chickens. This is a good thing. However, the free range chicken people, perhaps in their quest to be as natural as possible, feel the need to leave the head (attached to a very LONG neck) and the feet on these particular birds. This turns preparing dinner into some kind of horror movie! I found myself at the sink this afternoon, getting this chicken ready to go into the oven, trying to avoid its beady little eye and sharp little claws, talking out loud to myself, "It's okay. This is not a big deal. I'm like a pioneer!" However, I remained unconvinced, and there was a great deal of cringing involved in the process. Emmy pronounced it "creepy", and I concur. Mr. Chicken's remains are down there now, bubbling away in a pot of water making broth, and I have to admit that I turned my head as I dumped him into the pot. Yikes!

Belly Laughs

This video makes me so happy. Please excuse the fact that I sound (and look) remarkably like Miss Piggy. Anything for a baby laugh...

We are loving, loving, loving this baby boy.
He'll be six months old soon!