Merry-go-Round N' Swings

Bryce Rides the Merry-go-round

Big wood swing, with friends Sawyer and Ava.

BKK Zoo

The zoo in Bangkok is nice. There is a train that goes around the park, elephant show, an arcade park with 10 baht rides and bigger roller coasters. Oh, and of course, lions and tigers and bears...oh my!

Christmas Morning

It took Bryce three days to open all of his gifts. We did not rush him and he was happy to play with them or read them all before he moved on to the next. I am sure this will be the last year he takes his time. He loves his new bike, cars, balls, and books. They were everything this boy could dream of getting for Christmas.

T'was the Night Before Christmas

Mom and dad had a few friends over for pizza.
My friends came too,

Jordan and Sawyer, we had a great time playing.

Then it was time for bed.
Mom and dad say there will be a big surprise in the morning.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Gym Class

Bryce loves his gymnastics classes.

The teachers are so supportive and helpful, teaching basic skills, forward and backwards rolls.

He loves to hang from the bars &

practicing his balance.

"C" is for Cookie

Elley, in our building had all the kids over for a cookie decorating party.

I helped Bryce decorate a few cookies for Santa.

Bryce's Favorite part was sampling the cookies.
Where's the Milk?

Playing at Jaeden's

Bryce and Jaeden check out a Christmas Tree

Going for a wagon ride to the pool

On the drums!!
Oh, what fun!

The Elephant

Bryce has been making animal noises for a while now. He will soon be getting a see 'n' say but our favorite is the elephant (probably not on the see 'n' say). He throws his arm up to make the trunk. There are elephant statues on most street corners so we get to see him do it a lot.

Shave and a Haircut...

What seems like two bits. (Under 500 Baht for two hair cuts, mommy, Bryce and a tip)

Bryce getting his first haircut.

After dousing him with baby powder the haircut began. Kookai and I were reminicent of his beautiful curls. He started getting dreadlocks and it was difficult to untangle. We were both sad to see them go.

Phuket

Evacuation sign posted in front of the hotel. It was not all that built up around our hotel. This was one of the areas hit hard in 2004.

Sunset Point

A few minutes later Bryce woke up.

Hundreds of elephants surround the shrine at Sunset Point.

Nature hike in the jungle and beautiful waterfalls.

The Big Buddha of Phuket

Bryce (and Daddy) Build a Sand Castle

So we had a day (or two) on the beach with sun, water, elephants, and of course sand. Bryce loves to play in the sand so daddy said lets build a sand castle. Huh - said Bryce. So daddy explained the idea and after a long stick out (during which Bryce got bored and wandered off to see the elephants).

Daddy finally said lets just show you.

So we got setup.

Then we had to do some planning and measuring

The sand got dry so we needed water

It was really hot and we needed some more water;
while daddy was trying to figure out what to do, Bryce set off to get the water.

We had to go early, but when we came back the next day it was still there. So we build it up some more.

Bryce wants it to be known that while daddy was mostly digging around, Bryce did the delicate work.

Laguna Phuket Triathlon

1.8k Swim, 55k Bike, 12k Run

With the Bangkok airports being closed Ramiro, Bonnie, Bryce and Kookai loaded up the car and drove to Phuket. It has been nice to have the car but we did not want to drive back.
Phuket is a very hilly beach resort Island. Beautiful beaches and beautiful lush hills set for a postcard. That is till you are actually supposed to ride them in tomorrows triathlon.
We both finished and set "Personal Best's" not hard to do since we never concord this course before. Ramiro broke his rear bike wheel at 8k of 55k and his shoe separated as he tried to dismount at the bike finish, aka not such a good bike. The swim was great as it spans two bodies of water the Andaman Sea and a lagoon. Different and fun since in the middle of the swim you get out and run up the sandy hill. Many people were stumbling there way across.

The run was nice. Two laps of the Laguna Phuket Golf Course, a world class golf course. The best part was they gave out ice cold sponges...take your breath away when your not expecting the cold chill.All in all a challenging and fun Tri.

Sunflower Fields Forever

Today I traveled up to Lop Buri, a city about 3 hours north of Bangkok. The American Womens' Club offered a trip to see the sunflower fields. This sounded like a must see. Sunflowers -- Thais call them Thantawan -- grow in central, northern and northeastern Thailand each year, from November through January (with the best time being late November).The fields around Lop Buri are filled with bright yellow sunflowers. These are commercial crops raised for producing seeds and oil, yet they have become something of a tourist attraction. This isn't mentioned in most guide books. The large fields or yellow and green flowers set against the surrounding steep limestone hills are quite striking.
Next we went up to a Wat overlooking the sunflower fields valley, but you could not see the sunflowers from this point.
I have heard you need to try the local cuisine anytime you visit a foreign country, so I figured it was time to try something from the bug cart. So I ate a fried grub worm and it tasted like a french fry. I even had a second one. We took a tractor pull out across the Topasak Dam and saw the Buddha on the otherside of the lake. It sat upon a very large pink lotus flower.Our final stop was at the Phra Prang Sam Yot. This is a 18th Buddhist Century temple that is overtaken by monkeys, by the hundreds!!! They must multiply like rabbits.