Living the Life, and Loving It

Dear friends, have you missed me? It has been so long since I've shared our adventures, and the past two months have been full of them: events, holidays, trips and parties. There have been so many times where I wanted to write about our life in Bangkok, talk about the nights on the town, and the great people we meet, but it felt too much like bragging. Would you even believe me anyways? Or would you grow disgusted and think me an image-crafter with my "look at our marvelous life" posts? I don't like to sulk, wallow, or depress you with the bad days, but if you don't know me very well perhaps you would misunderstand. So, maybe we have had some bad days, some mysterious fevers and anxious visits to the med unit. There have been fights and squabbling, grownup and children alike. And there are the day to day things you know we all have: the bills to be paid, the car breaking down, the trials and tribulations of an ordinary family.

Its all there, no need to waste your time. We've been through some challenges lately, but all that matters is we are just fine. No need to drive you crazy with any "look at my marvelous life" posts as well. This post is nothing like that. Let me take you somewhere in the middle, just a step above an ordinary day. "A step above" I say simply because if it were ordinary, we would be back in Plymouth, or perhaps watching the swan boats in Boston, instead of speeding boats on the khlong. That was little P a few weeks ago, on our way back from jiu-jitsu. I'm never sure what is more amusing; the look on his face as he waves to the passengers, or the look on theirs when they see a cute little boy trying to get their attention. People here are just. so. nice. to kids. So, for me, that still feels unusual sometimes.

And then there's my honey, striking a pose with one of our best friends here. She helped him throw me a 50's-themed birthday party. It was adorable. Is it normal to have such great friends? I don't know, but we've met people I love so much its going to be hard to let them go. So, I suppose that is a step above the ordinary. I guess I didn't think enough upon that fact that we would say goodbye to the friends we make every 2-3 years. It sure does make you appreciate them so much more.

A few weeks later we celebrated Easter at the Embassy, with a big party and egg hunt. I'm extremely grateful that both boys are well past the "mortally terrified of Santa and the Easter Bunny" stage. No, Nate wanted to go home and come back in his Nemo fish getup, just to keep Mr. Bunny company. He's cool like that. I should have mentioned earlier that he underwent several costume changes at my birthday as well. Nemo-dragon-and back to Nemo. The kid has style.

Definitely not normal for us is the annual Songkran holiday they have in Thailand every year. Its the Thai New Year, and the tradition started with people washing the hands of their elders and buddha statues out of respect, and snowballed into an all-out, no-holds-barred, with blocks of ice waterfight. This year we went to Chiang Mai to see how they celebrate, and it was insane. The roads were like a guantlet, with people packed onto the backs of pickup trucks, armed with supersoakers and buckets of ice water, and the sidewalks lined with people too. Philip totally got into it. Nate, not so much.

So we escaped for a day to Doi Inthanon National Park, hiked, saw waterfalls, and tried to stay cool.