TSA Bangkok

Please remove your shoes....

David's 12th Birthday

 

While on vacation, we celebrated an important 12th birthday. Dave's choice was to visit the aquarium inside of a large Bangkok shopping mall.

 After posing with the welcoming figures outside of the exhibit, we entered....

 

Oooh.. Jackie Chan! Funny how Mr. Drama didn't play it up here.
David really seemed to enjoy viewing all of the exhibits and could identify many of the species.

 One highlight was Dave's purchase of shrimp/prawns to feed the fish/sharks in our glass bottom boat trip. Look how proud we are to be holding the future victims.  In my opinion, the life jackets may have been overkill.

 

Brian tempted his mother with threats to touch the "biting" fish.

The exhibits included petting areas and a fish pedicure. Everyone (except Dad) seemed to love this. Look at the laughter.

 The end of the B-day brought his choice for dinner and a family photo.

 ...And a birthday candle to blow out in addition to his personal bowl of ice cream...

Bangkok

 Our first stop was Bangkok where we visited the great temples including Wat Phra Kaew which is in the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace was built in 1782 and was the home of the King of Siam until 1925.

 It was very, very hot but the palace requires proper dress so you will notice the long pants on the men and skirts and sleeves on the women. The palace is huge, being built over 200 years and is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Bangkok.

 The temples are beautiful and impressive. There is gold everywhere and the colorful tiles on the roof impressed Julia.

 

If you look closely, you can see the 'middle' building in the complex which is covered in tiles and surprisingly tall.

 The center temple holds Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It's a solid dark green statue of a standing Buddha which is 26 inches tall carved from a single stone. It's history goes back to India several centuries.

Aside from the Thai King, no person is allowed to touch the statue. Here is everyone in front of the Buddha. (We could not photograph it from inside the temple.) Look at the excitement on Brian's face!

The day was quite interesting and everyone found something to enjoy including our most difficult customers.

The different buildings were incredible and the children held up against the heat. (mostly)

David said this looked like a statue of Dad. I told him that he is on his way to becoming his father so we could share a picture with the guy. Incredible that I was here with my father 20 years ago and can remember vividly visiting the temple. (although - not this figure)

Every turn provided an incredible picture and history dating back centuries.
Brian wanted a picture with the royal guard in front of the official ceremonial home of the King.

 He believes he is getting taller and liked the comparison to the best guards in the country.

 We ended by going back to the hotel which had a lovely pool next to the not-so-lovely river in Bangkok. Swimming makes the group happy.

Back with posts to come...

Just a quick post as we arrived back in Munich from vacation.

Here are some photos with explanations and stories to come.

April Birthdays

Dave and I both share early April birthdays. This year we will both be on vacation so we celebrated a bit early. You can see the anticipation in his eyes. Notice Brian looking at a paper item from the table. Julia - just out of frame - is grabbing the milk carton. Only David's friend Mark, seems to be mildly interested.

 Once the candles are lit, however, the boy comes alive.

 

Well done. 12 smoking candles.

His wish for his birthday weekend was to have a sleep over with a friend so they could go to the movies "by themselves".

 

Mark and David went to the Hunger Games movie and bought themselves some popcorn and soda. Now that we are 12, we can make these decisions without supervision.

The following night, Daphne treated me and eight of our friends to a dinner party for my birthday. The first course was gazpacho served in wine glasses. It was lovely. 

We all had a good time. The chocolate Easter bunnies on the table were consumed after dinner.
Next week we go on vacation and plan more pictures!

Pasta pasta

Daphne continues to cook and spoil us at home. Recently she attended a class with friends that taught her how to make homemade pasta and sauces.  She came home with a hand grinding pasta machine and ambition.

 

While she also came home with yummy pasta, we didn't know the long term effects. Tonight we learned that she really enjoyed the class and intends on keeping it up.

 

After the boys and I came back from football, we were included in the kitchen. Everyone rolled their own pasta and cranked it through the machine. She made flat pieces of pasta that she hand cut to make a delicate ribbon pasta with pesto. Brian is budding cook although David also shows a great deal of interest.

Here is Brian and tossing the pasta after it comes out of the boiling water. These children are spoiled.

 

The final result is a handmade dinner of fresh pasta, beautiful tomato and mozzarella salad and fresh crunchy bread.  Life could be worse.

Sporting...

We've been enjoying a bit of Spring. The weather is much better now that the ice has melted and everyone wants to be outside.
 

David had his first soccer game against the best team in the region this Saturday and Daphne and I were able to watch them do very well.

 

 David plays defense and is highly appreciated by his team. The team did well by leading much of the game before an unfortunate goal that helped end the game in a one to one tie. 

 

What we noticed in the photos was his squinting. Future photos should show a child with sports glasses.

 

He loves it. We need to manage his mother's cheering but she comes by that honestly. I imagine my honesty just influenced some close family relations.

 

Julia also had a big week in finishing her basketball season. At the final awards banquet, she won the coaches award for hard work and team spirit. We couldn't be more proud of her development and personal growth. 

The boys finished the weekend off at our local park by showing Munchen how to play American football. Tackle, of course. This was the "before" picture.