To Market, To Market

We go the the market, or "talaat", in Thai, to eat most Sundays after church and often on other days when we're in the neighborhood of the office. It's quite the place- produce, meat, fish, lots of stalls where foods of all types and descriptions are sold, and place after place selling almost anything you could wish to find- from religious ceremonial items to pots and pans. It's all open air, but covered, and the food area has fans, which helps with the heat. The food is actually quite good, and a plate of food generally costs about 35 baht, or around a dollar. You can't beat that. And, the very best thing is the fruit shakes. The lime shake is perhaps the most refreshing thing I've ever tasted, and you need some refreshment in this climate!

One of our church girls took our camera a couple of weeks ago and took this photo above. I love it because I think it really captures our little girl's spirit!

We had the absolute pleasure of hosting our friends Dan and Laura from Atlanta for a couple of nights recently, and it was such a treat for us to have friends here from home. They went on to a fabulous Thailand vacation...Here they are standing by the produce at the market. Laura was a big fan of the dragonfruit, which is pink and dragon hide-like on the outside and white with lots of small black seeds on the inside. Tastes a lot like kiwi, but not as sweet.

I wish I had some pictures of the meat part of the market. Em and I walked through it yesterday on our way to buy some produce, and it is a sight to behold. The raw meat is just pretty yucky out in the heat, but we were fascinated especially by the fish. We saw lots of big whole fish, some still swimming in a container, catfish breathing their last, huge prawns, eels in a bucket, all kinds of interesting things. Oh, and we saw whole chickens and ducks without their feathers (but with their heads and feet), which was eye-opening for Emmy. She's getting quite an education. So we're convinced now, Christy, that chicken breasts do not grow on trees...

And here are our babies in the sweet clothes Dan and Laura brought for them. Just perfect; thank you, friends!

Diary of a Birthday

Birthday Day- 7 am- Cake in Bed

8 am- Birthday Breakfast and Package from Aunt B and Uncle G

11:30 am- Build a Bear

Birthday Party Day- 5:30 pm- ready for a Care Bear party! With Beach Ball Bear, her personal design.

With good buddy Gracyn

Brother celebrates Sister's big day, and shows off his newest trick
(Howww Big is Asa? Sooo Big!)

The whole gang eating pizza...

Playing Pin the Cupcake on Birthday Bear...

And everybody helping open the gifts...

Happy 4th birthday precious girl!
You are an incredible gift from God and we love you!

About Our Boy

Our boy is nine months old! This is such a significant age to me, as he has been growing apart from me longer now than he grew within me. This picture was taken just before his 9 month checkup, and it is classic. He's just jolly like this all the time, with a ready smile and a joyful heart. At his checkup, he weighed 19.5 pounds and was almost 30 inches long. This put him in the middle of the growth charts for weight but still at the top for height. We're still not sure exactly how our children end up so tall...

He has 5 teeth and is eating everything he can get into his mouth, including Cheerios and bread, which are his only finger foods right now. (Thank you to those of you who are performing the vital ministry of keeping us supplied with Cheerios...) He has his pincer grasp down to a science and lands 95% of the Cheerios on target. We think he's brilliant. He can clap his hands and will often do it when prompted in both English and Thai.

A picture we took in May...

Modeling his super cute new yellow diaper and preparing to devour an Uno card. He has a strong appetite for paper goods.


And showing off his most exciting feat yet... the almost-crawl! It will happen any day now, and we're praying that he doesn't injure himself in the process. Our floors are really hard, and he's already bloodied his lip and bruised his brow in his attempts at mobility.


Finally, this is a happy boy. He does not go to sleep without Dog's leg in his mouth. It makes naptime and bedtime such fun, to see him open his mouth and eyes wide with joy and anticipation when he realizes it's time to hold DOG!

Out and About

Here are a few more pictures from out and about in Chiang Mai...

This is an old temple that is maintained by and situated right beside the hotel where we stayed.

The snake man with his cobras. This snake show was one of the most interesting (not in the intellectually stimulating sense) things we did...we walked into a large, thatched hut with a dirt floor and a big pit/ring in the middle. Tim commented that he felt like we were going to a cock fight. We sat on some old wooden bleachers (high up) and watched as the snake men got incredibly close to cobras, a python, and some other really big snakes. We got to pet the cobra, of course, and got an up-close demonstration of his fangs releasing venom. We opted not to pose for the "python around your neck" picture.

A classy tuk-tuk

Holiday

This is just about one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life. We actually got to ride an elephant! I hope I don't someday become some callused Thailand dweller who yawns in the presence of elephants, because they are amazing animals. We just returned from a vacation in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, where we got our elephant fix. Petting, feeding, getting sprayed with river water from their trunks, seeing them do funny tricks...just such fun. The ride was quite an adventure. I expected Em to be terrified and possibly refuse to climb aboard, but she surprised us by hopping right on and swinging her legs, chatting merrily the entire time while Tim and I held on for dear life and I squeezed our boy so hard he cried.

I had sort of expected it to be like a pony ride, with someone holding the reins while the elephant walked in circles, but it was a trek up a muddy hillside and a steep descent that was a wee bit frightening. But all worth it in the end. At one point our driver pulled off the trail and hopped off, offering to take our picture. I was terrified at this point that the elephant was going to take off down the hill. He kept edging over toward the path, and the driver would look at him, nervously, I thought, and tap him with this little stick. He took the picture, but he cut off our heads, alas. I really didn't care; I just wanted him to get back on so we wouldn't have the life-altering experience of careening down a hillside on an unmanned elephant.

We did lots of other fun things, too, and have lots of pictures, so I think I'll post family ones today and interesting city shots in a few days...

We took tuk-tuks all over the city. This is the one we hired to take us to the zoo and drive us around there, as it's a hilly place and very spread out, so you really need a vehicle to see it in any sort of timely fashion. Tuk-tuks are like glorified go-carts that speed around the city making lots of noise and putting out massive amounts of exhaust. It was fun to see the children enjoy the experience...the little adventurers.
Our other mode of transport was the song taew, a truck with a covered bed fitted with two benches where passengers sit. Here we are zooming up the mountain, Doi Suthep.

This is the temple on Doi Suthep. Quite a grand place, full of many beautiful people and sights, and a great place to pray for this beautiful country. There were so many steps leading up to it, as you can see in the picture- the dragon tails stretch up quite a long way. We were worn out when we got to the top!

The boys at the Doi Suthep temple.

Okay, a few more shots without narration, so as to not bore you to death...

Lizard Hunter Part II

Success!

He's a little guy, but we didn't even have to leave the house...he was scurrying about in the kitchen!

At the site of the capture...

A happy girl. She and Daddy even went out and caught a mosquito to feed her pet...quite a biology lesson! She named him "Lizardy", by the way- how original!

*No lizards were harmed in this process. Lizardy was given his freedom after singing his mistress to sleep, and she was happy to send him back to his mommy and daddy for the night.