If You Haven't Got Anything Nice to Say...

As we navigate this new place and encounter frustrations and celebrations, many blog ideas pop into my head. As we cruise down the road, I'm pretty much alone with my thoughts since the driver and security guy never speak except to answer my questions. It's just a puzzling mix of Ann Murray's greatest hits and plenty of booty-shakin' R&B coming from their mix CDs.
So out the car window there is an array of sights. Some sad, some baffling. And I'm always thinking how I need to snap photos like crazy and share this stuff! But then, the truth is, any description I can think of seems sarcastic or down-right negative. So I scrap lots of my blog ideas and choose not to share if it means I'm sending out cold pricklies to the locals.

Help me out here. I'm struggling with gaging what's okay to share a laugh about, and what's mean. Tell me what you think about this: Men here seem to urinate in public all the time. ALL THE TIME. It was something I had seen in Thailand. Developing countries do not tend to have public restrooms for those out and about like taxi drivers and such. So, where do they go? I don't know but I suppose I saw a man peeing on a wall in Thailand once every couple of weeks. Here, I must see 5 or 6 a day. Their back is to the road, they are in that tell-tale stance, I know what they're doing! Eww. I guess neither of us can keep it all bottled up inside...

Anyway, I'll do my best to keep these posts upbeat and try to shine a light on the good stuff around here. Be warned, that may mean I blog infrequently.
Then, there may be times that something is just too funny or insane and I just can't resist. I might let a little of my dark side show. Don't judge me!
I could also use the old "pregnant lady-with crazy hormones-can't control her emotions " excuse. Yes. That will surly come in handy (for 4 more months).
 

Spoiler Alert! We're having a ...

Just home from the hospital. I've chosen a doctor that I'm really happy with and went in for an ultrasound. Medical care is different in every country. The secret here seems to be to show up, wander around the halls to find all the OBs, and ask a lot of questions. The kindly lady I've chosen for my prenatal care is already turning into a friend. As we've gotten to know each other, and I've shared my little story, she's done her darnedest to find me a good realtor, pediatricians, and now new friends! She literally wrote down names of ladies she knows in our new neighborhood. Very sweet.

The whole family went in for my scan on Christmas Eve, thinking that finding out the gender that day would be a fun Christmas gift to all of us. As it turned out, none of my 3 children were very cooperative that day and we came home unhappy campers. But today, Baby Edsall was very cooperative  and the verdict on the gender is in! One of my big kids gave a "Woohoo!", the other expressed mild disappointment.

I'll start my baby shopping tomorrow, and I'll be browsing in the baby boy's department!

My scan today cost 870 Philippine Pesos. That's about $21.42. I'm thinking at that price I might go in every week just to say 'hello' to the little guy!

 

Spare Time Again (for a little while)

These days, until we move into our new house, I'm finding time a little heavy on my hands. So, time to return to the blog. It's been on my list for the last 2.5 months, but I've been a little busy. I do hope you'll forgive me!

So a quick run down since Halloween:
- I celebrated the Melbourne Cup with a table of gorgeous ladies where we again won Best Dressed Table.

 

- I got to attend my first Marine Corps Ball and enjoyed a patriotic experience that is rare to find in a foreign country. Todd was working in the Philippines so my friend Connie was my lovely date for the evening.

- We celebrated a fabulous Thanksgiving (which I failed to photograph) with our very good BKK friends. I love Thanksgiving!
- I travelled to Siem Reap, Cambodia with a big group of wonderful girlfriends where we ran 10k and half-marathons around Angkor Wat. Incredible experience! Hoping to make that an annual event!

- Our Girl Scout Troop hosted a bike rally and another awesome clothing drive benefiting needy people in our area.

- We've said good-bye to all our friends in Thailand and moved to Davao City, Philippines (with plans to rendez-vous on every exotic and stunning beach in the country).

- Tess, our wonderful helper, has come here with us and is delighted to be reunited with her family. She's been invaluable with getting to know Davao and helps us better understand discoveries like this one:

- We are 20 weeks pregnant and I'm getting kicked like never before!
- We have lost our minds from time to time, but not our sense of humor or our faith.
- D and C have begun at their new schools and are making new friends and adapting to the ways of their new surroundings. I am outrageously proud of them as this switch is not an easy one.

-T is loving his new position here as PM, building a power plant (he's in Manila right now so I can't make him pose in his hard hat for a photo.)

So, we're surviving. This is a very different place from anywhere we've ever lived and there is a lot to get used to. But I feel like we're also getting rid of a lot of distractions and becoming a closer family than ever before. I'm looking forward to that part.

We plan to move into our new home on February 1st, providing that the repairs to the house have been completed and our shipping container is cleared for delivery. That will be a happy day!

Spooktacular!

 As we wrap up Halloween 2012, I can barely keep my eyes open- but the blog must be done before I procrastinate and go another 2 months without writing!
 Nichada knows how to do Halloween and we all enjoyed the evening so much! We joined friends for photos and trick-or-treating and made great memories!
C was our little prince of thieves, Robin Hood.

 D was a black cat and her friend Meg was a Flairy (I hear it's from a Barbie movie). They decided to pretend that D was Meg's cat and they played the part nicely for nearly all the photos!

So much fun to trick or treat with football players, a she-devil, Snow White, a variety of witches, the Grim Reaper, and so many other fun characters.

Halloween is just too much fun!

Chiang Mai

The kids have just had their week-long October break and our family decided to take a few days away together. Off on our first visit to the north of Thailand to Chiang Mai!

Khun Bum strongly suggested to pay a visit to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, the Grand Palace of Chiang Mai. It was a lovely place! (I forgot about the no bare shoulders rule so I had to borrow some clothes.)

C was feeling ill for part of the trip and with a fever and rotten cough I just couldn't put him on a jungle zip line. So, we sent Daddy and D off for a father/daughter day in the treetops. They enjoyed themselves tremendously!

Boy was I jealous though when I heard they were swinging through the jungle with real, wild gibbons!! Couldn't believe my eyes when I scrolled through their photos!

On our last day, C was feeling better so we could all venture out for a day of training as mahouts, or elephant trainers. We've ridden elephants before, short treks where we all sit in a basket on their backs. Always part of the Thailand tourist experience! But this was a day learning how to "drive" them! How to be the only person on bareback, giving commands in Thai, trying our best to control the beast!

We love the beasts!

They were VERY affectionate!

In the photo below, I am getting totally slobbered on. And T is enjoying every slimy second of it!

  C may have a future as a Thai mahout!

D was a little more hesitant. But you can't help smile when you are up there and these sweet, gentle giants!

Another delight was meeting the 2 babies there at the elephant camp. 1 was just months old and the other just 4 months old. They would reach out to the kids for bananas and try to scoop them closer. They were playful and so sweet!

For safety while trekking, we still had to sit in the basket with the kiddos. But no professional mahout- T is at the wheel!

Bath time!

Shower time! That's T and C getting the spray in the face! :)

C up top, T below, cuddling!

Last trick was the elephants walking around this big pond with passengers on their backs. T is visible in the photo on the right with his hands up in the air. What a thrill!

5 is Way Old!

 The big news from earlier this month is that C turned 5! First, was a weekend pirate party at the pool with all his best friends.

The day started with gray skies and a downpour. I was anxious. Then, just as I finished a list of pirate games I could make with materials from around our house, the skies cleared up and out came the sun. It was a perfect day!

 Pirate grub

Pirate maps and pirate booty were fun to send home with all C's little mates!

He had a great time celebrating at school with classmates too. He was given the special birthday crown and we had a little end-of-the-day party with cupcakes and popcorn.

That evening was the traditional ice cream cake after C's requested macaroni and cheese dinner. The highlight for me was the cake. :)

5 is way old! Such a big boy now!!

Decisions Decisions

Each time I post something like this, I always hope that others find it as funny as I do.

This summer C picked up on "Eenie Meenie Miny Mo" from his big sister. Well, sort of... I guess he's still getting the hang of it. This weekend he struggled to choose which Bingo card he wanted to use during a little family game time. Watch him sort out the problem with a toy hatchet, and with seemingly little understanding of the whole Eenie Meenie part.

http://youtu.be/Ly5V-eUfZpI

He did this once and then when I got the camera and asked him to do it again he did exactly the same as the first time, same result as well. :)

You should all try this method when you have a difficult decision to make. Don't forget to go back and forth quickly and slowly. And then finally just choose one.