Chip and Dale

Said by this child at the Bangkok airport:





















"Look, its a squirrel. I mean a chipmunk. Err, whatever it is."

Looking around for a rodent, Nate finally realizes that he is talking about a Buddhist Monk.

Ah, the joys of coming across things that are culturally foreign to a child.

Phuket wrap-up

Going to Phuket was like wrapping myself up in a big white fluffy robe and hanging out with a good book. Nate compares it to Swiss Family Robinson gone 5 star chic.

Since there is no direct flight from Manila to Phuket we had to spend the night in Bangkok before our flight the following weekend. I haven't traveled much since the H1N1 virus hit but in Bangkok they are pretty serious about it. So when we go through immigration with a 5 year old who is shivering because of the strong air con, has dark circles under his eyes from allergies and has just been woken up from a deep sleep on the plane and is moaning about it you can imagine they were a little suspicious. As we are in line, I can see them eyeing him like a hawk. After touching him and talking to us in Thai (which, clearly, we don't understand) they allow us through. Little do they know, we came from Manila! There is no swine flu in Manila (according to the Philippine Government anyway)

Out to the taxi stand we hope into a pink taxi with a driver nodding yes yes to our hotel address. Not 5 meters from the airport he stops and pulls over to look closely at the address. We know there is trouble when he is looking all over the sheet. He literally turns the car off, gets out and walks back to the airport with no explanation. The four of us, 11:30 at night sitting in the back of the abandoned cab with shocked looks on our faces. Life truly is a comedy. Fifteen minutes later he is back and we are speeding along landing at our hotel safe and sound.

The next morning found us up bright and early and back at the airport heading to Phuket. No problems this time and the airline had muffins and yogurt (perfect, since there was no time for breakfast!) A short hour and half and we were descending into the most beautiful view. Rock formations and islands jutting out all over the sea. A few minutes after arriving at our hotel, Naman, the resident 3.5 year old elephant, made her first appearance. Cute as can be, we spent a good amount of time feeding her bananas and being amazed by her all together. While Finnley slept on the sala, Holden took a little ride around the resort and then we headed to our room. It was 9am and we had a whole day to do nothing....bliss. By hotel room standards, this was by far, as good as it gets. Middle of the jungle, a upwards trek the whole way found our little cabana by the sea. All the things you want in a vacation; deck, big bathtub, huge comfortable bed and enough techie apple appliances to keep Nate busy for days. We could have spent the whole vacation in our room...really.

Our following days were peppered with the pool, ocean and around the town, with a trip the beautiful island of Khai Nok where the fish were plentiful, the sand is white and the water is clear. Holden and Nate snorkeled around the rocks while FinnRo and I hung out beach-side. Venturing out into the water, the fish mistook Finnley's feet for bread and took a few nibbles on his toes.

The last day we were there the skies opened up and it rained and rained and rained some more. It was gorgeous. Even better to hang out for a while in the room reading and sleeping. We have been taking a lot of vacations that are go-go-go so we soaked up the opportunity to have a nice relaxing beach getaway without the stress of trying to see all the sights and fit everything in. Great Thai food, warm weather and family; it was paradise.

Well, hello beautiful

We are leaving for Thailand this afternoon.
In need of some R&R, we decided Phuket fit the bill for a long memorial weekend. Enjoy yourselves wherever you are. I am hoping for blue skies, warm water and a baby elephant at the resort. I'll let you know how it goes.
XO
M

Happenings

Nate doesn't travel much but when he does, thank heavens for skype! He was suppose to be home late last night but after a five hour delay in Minnesota while they flew a part in for the airplane from Detroit caused him to miss his connection in Tokyo. Luckily they put him up on a bus to a hotel for 5 hours of sleep and he is now catching a flight to Manila this morning on another airline. Don't feel too bad for him though, first class perks make it so nothing is ever THAT rough!

He is going to be exhausted, so I guess we will matching exhaustion. Even with helpers this single parenting thing is not too easy. I have always known Nate was a big help. Always appreciated his hands-on parenting. Always always always. But after this week, the appreciation is even more solid! Also for our helpers. Truly I would have been insane this week without them. I got just a sample of what it would have been like last night when I sent Jasmine (our yaya) out to pick up some things from the store. I was running between one shower, two bedrooms and one bathtub trying to get both boys bathed (without drowning) dressed and ready for bed. Between the squirmy Finn, Holden calling for a towel, and percy yapping at the doorbell I looked a little frazzled! In the span of the week I hosted a book club, made it to one tennis lesson and one pilates class, arranged a jeepney tour dinner and tickets to a cabaret show, purchased one wig (for said cabaret show) took Holden on two commercial castings, had an American womens general meeting where Finn and I worked the catwalk modeling, shopped and volunteered at one bazaar, made one volcano out of plaster, had a foot spa and manicure, made it to two movies, three dinner dates and school activities, and arranged one Sunday brunch. Could I have done that alone? No. So huge thanks to the nannies!

Holden had "wacky Wednesday" at school last week. If the kids wanted to wear wacky outfits they could bring 50 pesos (about 1 dollar) to school to help out a less fortunate school in the area. Here is what he chose to wear. Wacky? Yes.

Poor little Finn watches us eat and just licks his chops begging for some these days. It's about that time I guess. Here is how he hangs at the table. Poor kid, no food and just has to eat the chair instead.

You be the judge

To me, Finnley is beginning to have a striking resemblance to his big brother.

***edited: For the record, Holden is the baby in the sink and Finnley the baby on the blanket. Nate just said: "Which sink in our house is Finnley in?" Even the Daddy can't tell them apart.

Look what we found

A call from a friend saying she saw Holden's new billboard had us out on the town today to track it down. We found a few of them as well as the "Back to School" catalog which is hilarious since Holden is STILL in school. Local schools here are out during April and May, hence the back to school ads. Oh. and don't you just LOVE the fashions. HAHA. It's no Gap ad, but they sure are colorful!

Happy days, kind of

Finnley has some new tricks around these parts. Sitting and teething. One makes him happy, the other miserable. In Holden's words, "MOM! I can't believe Finn is growing a tooth! How many will he grow?"

This picture was taken before the teething started and the sitting up for that matter. Just to remind us that he is happy baby, most of the time!