Twas the Night Before Christmas...

The children are nestled all snug in their beds, full of Christmas cheer. Santa is on his way!

Last night we had our friends, the Gros family, over for dinner and fun. Everyone was in the Christmas spirit!

And we had carolers too! That's our Tess on the far right, lucky us!

We began today golf carting around the area handing out bags of oranges and a leaflet with the story of Christ's birth. The church in our community puts this event on every Christmas Eve and the 4 of us were thrilled to be a part of it this year.

Then, smelling like oranges, we went to the show. Arthur Christmas was a great movie! It had awesome, imaginative explanations for the mystery of Santa Claus. But, D explained to me, this was just a movie and these are just "examples" of how it might work. No one really knows how Santa gets it all done.

 We had a nice, quiet Christmas Eve with D and C. Dinner, baths, the annual reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas, and cookies and milk for Santa.

I hope Santa has time to answer all of D's questions. Definately and inquiring mind...

Merry merry Christmas everyone!

Pattaya Mini Vaca

Last week an opportunity for a beach getaway arose and we decided to take advantage of it. T's office closed down Thursday and Friday due to the risk of flooding. So, we packed up our sand toys and headed for the gulf.

Diving for sand dollars.

Other fabulous Nichada families were there too so we had a ton of fun playing and dining with friends.

Who ordered the yummy cocktail served in a hollowed pineapple with carrots making up the facial features??? Me!

We also handed the underwater camera to the kids and let them snap all the pool fun. Love it!

The girls with creative hair-dos!

On our way back, we stopped at The Sri Racha Tiger Zoo. A real treasure of Thai family fun. :) We did have fun despite a very humid day. Tiger show, elephant show, feeding baby tigers, capybaras, and kids!

Hungry baby tigers.

Capybaras like green beans!

Kids like popsicles!

Who likes scorpions?! And I don't think this was featured just because of Halloween!

Another Fantastic City

We returned home today from our trip to Hong Kong. We are tired but we are happy! I'll blog briefly to say that we had a marvelous time and I'll post a photo album on Facebook. I've gotten some feedback that my video slideshows are not working properly for all viewers.

Anyway, we loved Hong Kong. Our friends Sara and Paul, and their gorgeous daughers, were wonderful tour guides and company and we hope to host them here in Bangkok soon!

 We only had 3 days but I think we saw the best of HK, including Stanley Market, Deep Water Bay, Repulse Bay,Victoria Peak and Victoria Harbor, the downtown area, sunset dinner at Cafe Deco, The Ngong Ping 360 experience, the giant buddha, Starferry and Harbor laser show, the bat wing junk, and last but definitely not least, Disneyland Hong Kong. I would surely go back to do parks and museums. We'll see if we can make another stop someday!

A Movie & Popcorn

D recently completed some extra reading that I had invited her to do. She knew the reward was an afternoon with friends, watching a movie and sharing popcorn. Today was an early dismissal from ISB so it turned out to be the perfect day to have a few friends over for a fun afternoon.

Sweet little note and gift from Talha.

And, of course, since Jeah joined the fun too, there was some rabbit match-making.

Might have to do this each time there is an early dismissal. Great kids and a nice, relaxing way to get them together.

What a Weekend!

Ever heard someone say the need a vacation from their vacation? Well I needed a weekend after our weekend today. It was all really fun stuff, but it was all back to back, only spending enough time at home to make a mess of the place. But boy did we have fun!

Saturday was spent fishing with friends at Bung Samran Fishing Park. This was a fun family excursion and we were all glad we braved the heat to sit by the water and catch some whoppers!

 The bungalow is staffed with 2-3 men that bait your hook (with a ball of bread crumbs, see above) and cast for you. We sit a few minutes, wait for the bite, and whoever cares to have a turn brings the fish in. The bungalow men then help you scoop the fish out of the water with their net and they remove the hook.

We pose for photos and then they toss him back in. Awesome!

The day ended at the Schottlers house with a bbq. 9 happy kids ate, played and watched dvds together while 6 tired (and happy) parents shared beers and laughs. Awesome night guys!

Sunday was church downtown and a great reunioin with a friend from our Oklahoma days. JR was in town for a few days and we were able to catch up with him and enjoy a great dinner out at the Hajime Robot Restaurant. Japanese buffet served by robots! LOVED IT! Order your food on the touch screen and the robot delivers to your table and takes away your empty dishes! We made sure he came plenty of times to deliver our dinner!

Bon voyage JR! Until next time!