Dog, Da, Dog

Bryce's first word is Dog. When Morgan walks into the room Bryce tells us "dog" while pointing.It was designed to be the entertainment center. It is Bryce's entertainment center. He climbs on to the shelves. It really keeps him entertained.

Siam Niramit

The American Embassy offered a package to a must see show Siam Niramit. A few of us decided to see the show. It was ladies night out. Frieda, my neighbor and I took our first Tuk-tuk ride (an open motorized tricycle) to meet the bus. We met Kelly and Janice on the bus. We ate a dinner buffet and after words toured a village of many classic Thai style houses from each Thai region. Many houses are open to the elements. They had small regional desserts at the houses and people demonstrated and displayed local crafts. Some of the crafts displayed were weaving, the water buffalo hyde marionettes (elaborate detail), and a woman chanting a luck ceremony gave us each a string bracelet for good luck. They also offered elephant rides and a klong (boat) ride, neither of which we took. The show is extremely elaborate with vibrant costumes and live animals on stage goats, chicken, and even two elephants paraded across the stage. There are three acts showing the Journey Back into History, Journey Beyond Imagination and Journey Through Joyous Festivals.The stage is in the Guinness World Record book, it is approximately 8 stories high.
If you come to Thailand I would recommend it. http://www.siamniramit.com/show.php

Why 'Wai'?

Ramiro and I started taking Thai language classes. Our class has a small group of four, our neighbors Scot and Frieda are also taking the lessons. We have so far have learned the basics hello, how are you?, numbers, days of the week, ect...
One of the important cultural customs is the 'wai'. The 'wai' is pictured below. The hight of the hands in the 'wai' is the inverse ratio to the age or social position of the participants. Hand placement can be at chest level, nose level, or top of the head. The 'wai' is always accompanied with a bow and don't forget to smile.

11 Months Old

The Rainbow Connection ...

So there we were hanging out getting ready for a typical night in Bangkok weather wise (the day was hot and humid and at about 5:00 pm the sky starting getting dark - we were expecting rain since that happens every night) - but then looking out an excalmation was maid "Hey look, there is a rainbow outside". Scot, our neighbor had just said not two days before, "You never see a rainbow in the city". Well after taking a few pictures, we decided to see if we could capture the whole picture - since it is rare to see an entire rainbow (our camera would not do landscape so we connected the pictures together). After gawking over the rainbow, we called Scot and Frieda to tell them about the rainbow. We made his night. Of course now all we need to get to one of the ends and catch the little man in green.

Tug-O-War

19 lb Baby Bryce .VS. 5 lb Captain Morgan

Mother's Day Reprise

August 12th is Mothers Day in Thailand. Thailand they celebrate Mother’s Day as it is the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Regent Sirikit. Her formal name and title is Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat (thai. สมเด็จพระนางเจ้าสิริกิติ์ พระบรมราชินีนาถ). Which means, Her Majesty the Queen Sirikit.

There were several paintings of the Queen around town, for the Thais to pay tribute to their country’s mother, with flowers, plants and other gifts. Ceremonies celebrated her birthday with their National Anthem. Blue ribbons, and flags of blue and Thai colors, framed the portraits. I add this because if you are familiar with Thais, they associate colors with the royal family. I believe there are 4 royal colors. Yellow is for the King and is worn every Monday. Pink, Tuesday, someone told me is because the king was on TV and he was wearing a pink shirt when he came out of the hospital. So it is worn on Tuesday to symbolize good health. Blue, Friday, is the color for the Queen. Green is for Wednesday. There is no particular color for Thursday. The Royal family might ask you to wear blue on an off day. Since today was the queens birthday they were asked to wear blue.

This is the display from our appartment lobby, which also happens to be a mall entrance. Overall the city busy as usual. Fireworks sounded, and we stepped out on the balcony to watch. As we watched the light show in the sky, I thought I might have heard Bryce whisper, Happy Mother’s Day.

A Few Firsts

Bryce got his first tooth this weekend. He is a late bloomer in the tooth department as he is 10.75 months. His top right tooth peeked through following close behind is the second upper right. Very peculiar, I know. For all my dental buddies out there it's tooth letters D & E.
Another first, he stood without holding on to anything. He is on his way to walking!
I could not capture the moment, but I think this picture is too cute not to ad in it's place.

Baby Monk

While playing peek-a-boo, Bryce was peeking out from behind a red and orange scarf.

The cloth draped on him and his bald head reminded me of a monk.
We changed modes to dress up. It's all fun and games.See the resemblance.

Turtle Soup

Every Saturday we go as a family to Lumpini Park. The park has many ponds, statues, and gardens. Many groups meet in the park daily for organized classes. It is a great place for people watching. We see activities ranging from ballroom dancing, martial arts (of all types), yoga, and so much more. It is no Central Park, however, it has it's perks.
Today the weather was beautiful. As we were walking we had to stop and gawk at a monitor lizard taking a bite of turtle. The lizards range in size. Sometimes they are easy to spot and other times they can blend right in. Today they were out in masses. We saw more lizards and turtles than we have seen in the past several weeks combined. We did keep our distance as we did not want to become turtle soup.The larger monitor lizard has the turtle head in his mouth.

From the other side.
This lizard is sunning on the bank.
Look in the drain pipe.