Thai Time (Part 1)

Oh my, we have blog post parts again. Yes, that means hopefully each blog that is posted will leave you thirsting for more. Ok, I know you're not that interested, but we've had an awesome time so far while here awaiting the birth of our second son, Grady Perry. It's hard to believe we've already been in Thailand 3 weeks! Two days before we left, we moved apartments to a much bigger space. Now, Grady won't have to sleep in a corner in our hallway! It was really strenuous on my 8 month pregnant body to do all that but at least it's behind me. Now, I can't wait to get back and set everything up. I'm hoping to do a post on our first apartment since I never really posted pictures of all the rooms. But for now, I wanted to share all we've been doing here lately. Our schedule really changed, and at first, I just wanted to go back home. Now that we're in a good routine and are really familiar with the area, it's been quite nice, and we're trying to take advantage of as much to do, see, and eat. Let's start with the most important...eating :o)

Our first night here we actually ate at Burger King at the airport. To some that might seem gross or a let down, but I was so looking forward to sinking my teeth in a huge, juicy cheeseburger with all the sauces to go with it. Our second night we went to one of our favorite western restaurants here called The Dukes. My craving for jumbo fried shrimp was satisfied. Britton (yes, Britton) insisted on getting the apple pie for dessert. We're off to a good start.

No worries, we haven't eaten out every night while here. There's no way we could budget that! But we've set up me cooking most nights, going out cheap some, and treating ourselves once a week to what we remember as our favorite places when we visited here back in February. This is another one of our favorite places, Miguel's Mexican restaurant. You wouldn't be able to tell it's Mexican from the picture of lemonade, but this lemonade is the best around! It's so tangy and makes your cheeks sink in. Yum yum. It was gone in around 3 minutes. Then I had to enjoy the fresh taste of water...no refills :o(

I've been amazed at how much time I'm saving when cooking a meal. It's so much easier to pop open a can of cream of chicken or a carton of sour cream or a bag of bread rather than making all that stuff from scratch! It's been nice to go to the store and see stuff that normally has to be shipped to us. Granted, you still have to think twice about buying it because it probably cost double, but some stuff is reasonable, and we're being a little flexible since this won't happen again for a while. I have especially enjoyed the refrigerated section since none of that stuff can be shipped to us. I've enjoyed thick yogurt (in our city it's super thin), chocolate milk, sour cream, real bacon, and this absolutely delightful mini babybel cheese that I can sink my teeth into and enjoy its creaminess. It's the highlight of lunch time. Can you tell I'm loving this stuff?! My mom says the cheese should be part of my nursing diet...I'll take whatever excuse I can :o)

This is another favorite restaurant, Giorgio's Italian. They have the absolute best lasagna bolognese ever. I thoroughly enjoyed some caesar salad, bread with garlic butter, then ate very slowly the lasagna saving some for lunch the next day. When we went we actually got to see Giorgio himself! He walked by our table when someone said, "Hey Giorgio." That was pretty cool. I hate to admit it, but Caden can recognize just about every letter in the alphabet thanks to an abc app on my ipod (love to admit he knows his abc's but hate to admit the ipod taught him). We hardly ever go out to eat in our city, so if he's ever played the game, it's just at random. Well, when we started going out to eat, we would give him the ipod to give him something to do while waiting. What a gem. A British couple sat behind us and when we left said (in a fun accent), "Hey you two, I just wanted to say when we walked in, we saw that young chap and thought, 'Ugh, he'll be acting up,' but we didn't hear him once. He was so well-behaved and that's a testament to you as parents." We had a nice conversation after that about how retiring here is so great because the people are so respectful of the elderly. Anyway, I don't say all that to brag on us, because let's face it...it wasn't so much us being good parents as it was the ipod being a good distraction. Either way, that was the first time someone has ever said something like that to us, and it's nice knowing some super hard work of discipline is maybe paying off and the Lord's grace being all over as parents!

Do I look as full as I am?! Hehe. Prego update. I've been going to the doctor every week now. I'm about 38 1/2 weeks along, and the doctor thinks Grady will come about a week early. So, it's very possible Grady will make an appearance sometime next week. We shall see! Let's hope his head isn't that big!

Stay tuned for an exciting day of firsts for each of us...

A sweet goodbye

Can goodbye's ever really be sweet? I suppose they always can be if you have some awesome dessert. Other than that, they can be quite difficult, but when you know the Lord has something better in store, you can't help but just make the time as sweet and memorable as you can. We recently had some sweet friends leave our city that will be greatly missed. We've come to love them so much, and they truly made our transition overseas so smooth. Though their presence will be missed, they will always be remembered and loved. Might as well make a fun party out of it!

All the yummy food. BBQ sandwiches and all the goods to go with it.



I would never guess desserts as good looking and as good tasting as these could be made here, but there they are. Granted, close to all the ingredients came from the states, but I'm always amazed how something so simple in the states appears on our table all the way over here. The cake in the middle was decorated by a friend who used to decorate cakes. We were so glad he decided to use this special occasion to show us his skills!

What's a party with 12 kids if you don't have bubbles?!

Since we made our own little picnic spot, I had to take the family photo opp.

Caden has a ranch-stache. His new favorite thing is sauce. He will dip anything into any sauce and usually want more. His favorites are ketchup, bbq sauce, and ranch. On this occasion, he would dip a carrot in ranch then lick the ranch off leaving the entire carrot in tact. Nice.

I can't get over how big he looks here. He's so strong to hang here by himself. It reminds me of my mom telling me I used to hang on the bars in gymnastics forever. I was three; Caden's almost 2. I so wish I could put him in a gymnastics class. I know he would love it. Maybe later.

I hate this picture is blurry, but Caden loves his new friend that recently moved here. There are 3 little boys and 1 girl in the friends mix, so it's fun to watch the boys fight for her attention. Caden just wanted to hold her hand.

Although we said goodbye to our dear friends, I can't wait to see them again!

Little Man

Once again, little man takes over the blog.  I'm telling you, this place would be really boring without him! Can't wait to add another little boy in the mix! Caden's definitely a little man these days. He's gotten huge, and I can't get over how big he is. His favorite things to do are slapping us on the bottom and saying, "Good Game!" (taught by Britton, of course!), and he also likes to stand up with both arms in the air and yell "touchdown." I find all this funny because he's never even seen a football game. I guess that's what happens when his daddy and grandfathers are football fans. He's also recently learned how to give a wet willy...all boy, as boy can be. He absolutely loves to be tickled and asks for more. He's also getting really good at recognizing letters of the alphabet thanks to his ABC puzzle, and an ABC app on my ipod (kids and technology these days...crazy!). I don't know if he knows a big change is coming, but he's been a little more snugly than usual. We shall see. Nevertheless, I'll take the snuggles any day.

So, this is Caden's tub. We actually recently moved, and he will have a literal tub now. It's a good thing because he looks huge in this thing! In our last package, Britton's mom sent this pumpkin loofah. He enjoys looking at it and most of all loves splashing it in the water.

 Hahahaha. I had to ask Britton for permission to put this on here because he's real leery of bath pictures, but it's just too funny not to share. He definitely looks like a little man here reclining in the tub. What else should an almost 2-year-old do with a pumpkin loofah?! At least there's no photo editing needed :o)

 When I'm fixing dinner, Britton plays with Caden to keep him out of the kitchen. Britton decided to have a short work-out one night, and Caden really enjoyed it.

 Caden's new favorite (and I mean favorite) food is corn on the cob. This makes me not feel so bad for going to KFC because he can get a mini corn on the cob...and he eats every-single-kernel. He also insists on sitting in a big chair. He will not sit in his booster seat anymore.

 Almost done, and so happy. I can't get over how blond his hair is! And I love Britton reclining on the couch in the background.

 Our little politician. He's obsessed with going up to every person and shaking their hand. He says in the local language, "Shake hands," then he says in English, "Other hand." All the people just laugh and happily shake hands then we have to tell them he wants the other hand too since Caden says it in English. He also loves to wave at people when passing by them.

Another new favorite thing he loves doing is hailing a taxi. This was the first day his obsession began. He was mimicking Britton here. Now, anytime we're on the road (and sometimes even when already in a car), he will hold his hand out, wave, and say, "Taxi!" Guess that's what happens when you live in another country. 

 He was so persistent. A taxi actually did pull over for us!

 And here's another day when we were actually waiting on a bus, but Caden insisted on trying to get a taxi. Britton said if one pulled over, he'd pay for it just for his hard efforts. The bus came first. Caden was sad.

 This was some stuff in the last package we got from Britton's mom. He loves this ambulance (that had a siren...the batteries are already dead...thankfully!), and loves his croc shoes. You have to look closely, but you can still see the elastic string holding the shoes together because he was too excited to put them on and wait for me to cut the string. Kid waits on nothing.

 

We love Caden, yes we do; we love Caden, how 'bout you?!

More snapshots of our City

Here's some random snapshots around town. These place really are so familiar to us, and it's so nice to feel comfortable going around the city riding buses and knowing (most of the time) where we're going. I'm amazed in a year's time that I'm still adding photos of the sights, and there's still so much we haven't seen.

A lot of people like to draw characters on the sidewalk, and of course, leave a cup out for money if you admire it that much. I've been learning to write some characters and have enjoyed others' calligraphy. The most impressive way I've seen someone write characters is in the water (puddles on a sidewalk...not like a river). They took a brush of some sorts and smeared the water in characters. It's amazing how beautiful this language can become when it turns from random drawings into beautiful, meaningful words.

 This is my friend Sandy. We have gone out together several times and have enjoyed chatting with one another in the local language and in English. We like to teach each other and just share about our lives. We have a lot in common. Since we just recently left for a short time and she went back to school, it was hard to say goodbye.

 This is Jerry, one of Britton's friends. Because I was doing language inside, he and Britton went outside to practice their language. Of course, curious Caden wanted to go along, so he too practiced his language.

 So, there's this Muslim restaurant that some friends introduced to us, and I love their roasted lamb. It's soooo good. Of course, we get ours without the lajiao (spiciness).

 For the first time in a super duper long time, Britton and I actually went out on a date. I love my son to pieces...I mean love love love him, but the best part of the night was eating a meal without feeding someone else. Some friends of ours watched him while we enjoyed a peaceful night out. This was off our friend's balcony...beautiful sight.

 We went to one of our favorite and one of (maybe) three western style food restaurants in our city. We enjoyed a strawberry milkshake, fried mozzarella cheese sticks, a giant hamburger, and chicken fingers. So yummy. I also got some DQ afterwards :o)

 Such a cute and quaint little place. The decor reminds me a little of cracker barrel because of the country style. It's probably just because I haven't been to a cracker barrel in a year!

 We walked around the mall afterward, and I hopped into this pretend telephone booth. This was when the Olympics were going on, so I thought that would be fun to pretend I was there :o) I'm 32 weeks in this picture, and I hate how one of the bars is missing and another has fallen right where my belly is...looks like my belly busted it out!

 Caden had fun with our friends who watched him, and he especially loved their cute little girl. Caden is doing what an elephant does, and his friend is playing hide and seek. Two peas in a pod. Caden is having to learn to be a little softer with a girl. He didn't do so well when he pushed her off their slide. Bad Caden. 

 This is a famous spot in our city. It's a popular tea house. I just love the beautiful river that wraps around our whole city.

 And this is another popular and new spot. It's been built since we've been here. It's basically just a huge common area for people. Ironically, the busiest part of this place is underneath it. Walmart is located underground all of this. I had just been inside and am now in a taxi taking this photo.

 Love our city.

Hot Days

It's been pretty hot, but here lately the weather has been nice and breezy. I really can't complain because it was only just awful hot for about a month and a half. All of June we had to have a light jacket. July and August were pretty bad, but now it's quite nice. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had air conditioning and if I weren't pregnant. But ifs are simply ifs, and ya find ways around them. This is how we spent some of our time in the hot and trying to stay cool.

So, because of the hot and humidity, my dough rises really quickly. I was making some hamburger buns, and I had a slight explosion!

One of my friends invited me, Caden, and several of her friends over to play on her balcony for water day! Caden was scared at first, then couldn't be pulled away.

He especially loved putting his finger in the hose and spraying it everywhere!

He really liked the water

Britton says he looks like a gardener. I think he looks like my dad when I was growing up looking outside to see him watering the flowers. He's a mini Chuck-Chuck :o)

Time for a lollipop break...or 'bangbangtang' as it is called in our local language and also what Caden calls it. Unfortunately, the ladies in our little neighborhood corner store always give him a bangbangtang every time we come by, and Caden is obsessed. Needless to say, we try to avoid the corner store when Caden is with us or make up an excuse why he can't have one. This was his lucky day to delight in the sugary goodness with his new friends.

Gatorade has been my best friend in the hot. One day, I froze a bottle but forgot about it and wanted it right then. Well, Caden was sweating, so Britton proceeded to put the bottle down his shirt to cool him off...

He thought it was funny...

I thought it was great, because he quickly allowed me to enjoy my refreshing drink!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!!