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we did make it home by about 10:30. Sophia did great the whole entire day. We were up at 5 a.m. and she didn't hit the hay until 10:40 pm and only took one 30 minute nap...she was so tired but didn't have a breakdown, just going with the flow. We are so thankful. And thankful we all were able to sleep until about 8:20 a.m. !!! We are still getting organized and resettled but we love being home!!!


Sophia LOVED looking outside at all the airplanes! I forget which airport this was in, we were in five total because our way back through Bangkok happened to be on the day the plane stops in Chiang Mai for an hour....ugh!

Her word for the day was 'airplane' a little hard to discern but it is what she was saying. I don't know if she got that she was actually on an airplane too...but she is learning!

Going Home

After four weeks of being gone, three of which we were in meetings 8-5, we are going home. Tomorrow we start our journey, passing back through Bangkok for a few hours and then onward home. we will travel all day and hopefully arrive home at 10:30 pm. Sophia's recent history on these trips is to not sleep, so we will see how grumpy we all are by the evening. We CANNOT wait to get back.

The Singapore Zoo

We spent a lot of Sunday at the Singapore Zoo. We know Sophia won't remember it, but we had to at least expose her to all the animals she sees in her books: zebras, giraffes, lions. It was quite awesome. The best part was the Polar Bear, and watching him eat. Yes, their are two polar bears living near the equator, not to worry, they have an AC room for them to wander in when they get too hot.




we got to watch him feed on fish, what fun.



this is a probiscus monkey, his nose is amazingly large and floppy


he came near the window and had a chat with Sophia, but she clung close to Daddy.
Again, we are teaching her about the creativity of our God, the zoo was pretty spectacular!

Sophia Rd

On the corner of Sophia Rd....


...we discovered a huge area of something we cannot find in our city in China:
GRASS! I have taken Sophia here a few times to run around in the grass, she loves to pick up leaves and touch the grass.


I am trying to fill my daddy's shoes, they sure are big!

I think I am so clever to be able to do this all by myself

Little India

This is a bad pic, sorry, the lights say "Happy Deepavali"
we then went to a market with beautiful Saris and other beautiful Indian clothes.


These are our new friends. They are from Kerala, India, in the south, a place I happen to have visited, it is beautiful. We had a great time talking about Kerala, and other places this man has been. We talked about our times in Calcutta, and all the good food. He told us about his work in shipping and commerce. He works almost all over the world. We asked what does he ship out of Myanmar (we were thinking jade or wood), no, with over 1 billion Indians, that eat 1 billion pounds of Dal (beans) every month, they grow it and ship it out of Myanmar, who knew? maybe I can get some and make one of our favorite dishes with it....


Sophia loved the food, and ate it joyfully.

Singapore

We have been in Singapore for just over a week now. We are loving this country, though we are ready to be home. We have ten more days before we head back to China.

Singapore is super clean and said to be extremely safe. It is also said to be one of the most regulated cities in the world. Yes, they have laws for everything, including 'no spitting.' It is close to the equator, so we are quite warm, but freezing in all the AC. We have made lots of new friends and seen some old ones too. Sophia is doing okay, she cries and cries when we drop her off in daycare but is fine when we leave. She hasn't been sleeping great either, often waking up at 5 a.m. and not going back to sleep. We are very exhausted.

Singapore is a mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian, among others groups that call this their home. Their is a 'Little India' here and an Indian couple took us and some friends to eat the best Indian food we have ever had. We had a great time getting to know them. It happens to be the Hindi New year 'Deepavali' also known as the festival of lights, so the area is lit up and quite pretty.

Not much else going on. I will post pics later.

Bangkok part 3

we each went to the doctor and all are fine. Sophia and David are the only ones who dealt with needles. and I must say, Sophia did better than in the US, each time she has had to have 2 vials of blood taken, last time it was for liver function to see her reaction to TB meds she is on, and this time to check lead levels (this is because David's lead levels were on the high side of normal, and so we were asked to get Sophia tested). They wrapped her up so she couldn't squirm, and she really only screamed when they wiggled her wrist to get more blood, when they didn't need to wiggle it, she just whimpered and pouted, this took a very long two minutes. She did scream however during her two immunizations...but we brought along 'moo moo,' her cow blanket, and he made it all better...
At 15 months, Sophia is 79 cm (sorry I can't do the conversion right now), and weighs 11.4 kg which I do know is 25 lbs...healthy girl. So blessed.
Singapore update next...

Bangkok part 2

We went with our friends to Ocean world, which just happens to be in the same wonderful mall previously mentioned. This place was amazing, a little pricey, but great fun, Sophia was wowed by it all, we are sure she won't remember it, but it was a great outing. It has a tunnel that has you feel like you are walking through the ocean with fish swimming all around you, sharks and stingrays actually. This place even had penguins, and most disgusting, river rats. Check out the pics, which don't do it justice.


This guy splashed us with a vengeance


I don't know daddy they seem a little scary to me...


very interesting...

JAWS


The river rat...about the size of the rats david and Tim C. killed in our kitchen a few years ago...

Bangkok part 1

Behind the counter at the airport. we think she is sending our bags to India, Sophia's smile and curls gets her unlimited access to almost anywhere...



just looking more like a little girl and less like a baby every day...sad sad


Yes, I know, people said, ugh, why vacation in Bangkok? well... it is a good transition city on our way to Singapore, we needed to see 'our' doctors at Bumrungrad hospital, which we love, and the city has a special place in our heart since it is Sophia's birth city and we lived there for 2 months. But I always get the same feelings in Bangkok, early in the day I see God's amazing potpourri of creativity as every nation is represented and right at your doorstep, I am mesmerized by the smells and indulgent in the wonderful fare... by nighttime, though, I become thoroughly disgusted with the city as man's depravity is proven on every corner. It is a love/hate relationship....but our vacation was quite enjoyable, especially because we were with friends who also have kids (2 boys)...here is what we did...


we swam in the rooftop pool almost everyday...


ate good snacks, here she has just woken up and looks
a little perturbed


we went on a date. John came over when sophia went to bed at 7:30 and David and I went on a date. we went to the movies, we haven't done that in forever! here i am sporting my new haircut which was quite an adventure.

Melissa joined me in searching for a stylist. all a gamble really. I just vowed to never get my hair cut in our city ever again. We chose paragon mall in bangkok, with many stylists. this is one of the nicest malls we have ever been to, so nice it has a lamborgeni (sp?) and Jaguar dealership inside. we finally chose a salon and ventured inside..."do the stylists speak english?" I ask. 'yes.' with a smile, was the answer. then a pause. 'but only a little.' we laugh and say no problem. I find a pic, explain what I want and do not want, use a little sign language and hope for the best. Melissa does the same. we enjoy a wonderful 20 minute hair wash massage, so relaxing, and the cut begins. We were both so amazed that they each did exactly what we said. we were so pleased. I stuck with the same basic cut, trim the long layers, but got a little shorter bangs. anyway...haircut success, whew!

elephant ride and more

we decided to forgo Sophia's morning nap and go with some friends and their kids to an elephant show and ride. this place is outside the city a ways and is a gorgeous area. We think Sophia liked it, she was pretty quiet on the ride, tired and mesmerized we think...


Here we are at the elephant show, where we saw elephants play soccer, paint, and do all kinds of cool stuff. You can tell Sophia just doesn't quite know what to make of it all.



she acted pretty scared and did not want to touch the elephant.


our 'driver' got off to take these pics of us




he even went for a little swim with us on him. The downhill was quite a bumpy ride. We are really glad we went. we got home at 2pm and she went straight to sleep for over 2 hours.
Tomorrow we leave for Bangkok, we are vacationing with some friends too, so we switch on and off, guys go out some nights and girls other nights. Though I have been fighting a cold and feeling pretty yucky...
In Bangkok we hope to switch off with our friends and go out on a date. Bangkok will not be quite as easily maneuverable as Chiang Mai has been, but they do have a monorail system that is convenient. All three of us have doctor's appoints all of which will involve needles (yuck). Not much else going on, trying to rest some, eat really good food (great Thai food for dinner, Indian last night, and always room for dessert). We will let you know where our travels take us next.

away from home...

we have been in Thailand for a week now. We have had a GREAT time reconnecting with friends, gathering wisdom from others, etc, etc. Sophia has done well in child care too. the first day she was timid (we can't picture it), after her 2nd nap she wanted to stay in the crib, not venture out, so they let her. the second day she did start to warm up, and by the third she was her happy self. and then it was time to leave. She was actually happy and playful everyday, and quickly stole their hearts, telling us funny stories of her dancing and clapping and smiling. The comment from the first day was "cautiously checking things out" but not unhappy. David says he thinks a similar comment was made about him in child care.

I have been very slack in taking pics but now that we are more on the vacation side of things we hope to take more. Sophia did have her first popsicle today after she busted her lip really good in our hotel room. Blood did gush, but not for too long so stitches weren't needed, and her teeth look okay but she has one big fat lip, poor girl.

we hope to go elephant riding on monday, we will let you know. We leave for Bangkok Tuesday, stay there for a week and then on to Singapore for the duration of our SE Asian tour. More later...