Saturday

Christopher needed a new pair of running shoes so we went downtown yesterday morning to go to the Nike store in the Central World mall. We left Nichada a little before 9:30 am and arrived just as the mall opened at 10:00. The traffic was not bad (yet) and we were able to get a great parking spot. 

Fortunately, we were able to find a great pair of shoes for Christopher that did not cost an arm and a leg. The first pair he looked at were priced at over $200.00! We walked around and looked in a few more shops before catching a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. I think the Hard Rock has the best American "comfort food" in Bangkok - burgers, ribs, mac n cheese, etc. Chris and his friend split a rack of ribs, Caitlynne had a pulled BBQ chicken sandwich and I had the California Chicken Club sandwich. 

The boys also wanted to dessert...

The kids have no school tomorrow because it is Makha Bucha. I posted about Makha Bucha last year here but briefly, Makha Bucha, one of the most important religious festivals celebrated in Thailand, is celebrated to venerate the teachings of Buddha. This year, we celebrate this public holiday on February 25th which falls on the full moon day of the third month in the lunar calendar. “Makha” is the Thai word for the third Lunar month, while “bucha” means to honor or to venerate. 

Depending on what the kids have planned for their day off, we might take a short drive to visit Ayutthaya, about an hour north of Bangkok. Ayutthaya is the historical park and UNESCO World Heritage site on an island at the confluence of three rivers (the Chao Phraya River, the Lopburi River and the Pa Sak River) that connect the city to the Gulf of Thailand. Ayutthaya was founded in 1350 by King U Thong and was the second capital of Siam after Sukhothai. Ayutthaya's prime location between China, India and the Malay Archipelago made Ayutthaya a center for commerce, diplomacy and economics. As an important point connecting the East and the West, it was the trading capital of Asia for many centuries. Merchants from the Arab world, China, India, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands and France all traded in Ayutthaya and many proclaimed Ayutthaya as the finest and most cosmopolitan city they had ever seen. Ayutthaya was often referred to as "Venice of the East".  In 1700, Ayutthaya became the largest capital city in the world with a population of 1 Million. The Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in 1767 and, after destroying art and buildings, burned the city to the ground and forced its inhabitants to flee. The city was not rebuilt in the same location and the capital was moved to Bangkok. The remains of Ayutthaya that are visible today are mostly temples, monasteries and palaces that were constructed of stone and withstood the fires. 

I have wanted to visit Ayutthaya for a while - quite a few of my friends have gone and said that it is a nice day trip to make. Since it is such an easy and short drive from Nichadam unless the kids have something truly spectacular planned, we really will try and make the trip. They have been busy all weekend but I really haven't done too much and would LOVE to get out and do something fun.

Have a great Sunday!

Happy Friday!

What a week this has been! I know Kevin won't like to read this but Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were all busy shopping days for me. Over the three days, I went to four antique furniture shops in Bangkok, a blue and white porcelain factory & showroom about an hour away and the Benjarong Village (which I previously posted about here). Fortunately for Kevin, there wasn't much that caught my eye but I did pick up a few small things that were on my "to buy before leaving Bangkok" list (which seems to grow by a few items every day!). Now that we have scheduled our pack out date, I need to get going and buy all of the home decor, art, porcelain, etc. that I want to take back with us. For the most part, the prices here are so much cheaper than in the U.S.

Earlier in the week, I was catching up on a few of the design blogs that I read and saw a reference to an antique shop that sells monogrammed vintage-inspired plates and platters. I don't know what possessed me to click on the link to the shop but as I scrolled through the shop's inventory, I saw this plate under the "K"s...

No one but my mother (and possibly her siblings) will appreciate this but this is the pattern of my great-grandmother's china which I "inherited" when Kevin and I were married. According to my mom, my grandfather's mother brought it with her from England when she and my grandfather came to the U.S. in 1926 (?). My great-grandmother lived with my grandfather (and then, after he was married, his family) this china was their "special occasion" china. The set was eventually passed down to my mother's mother who used it until she died in the early 1990's and then I received it in 1996. What a coincidence to not only see the Royal Albert pattern (which is difficult to find) but also for the plate to be monogrammed with a "K". A few years ago, I found a couple of pieces with this pattern on ebay but I haven't seen any listed lately. Not that I spend a lot of time looking.

We have had a busy week with sports. Caitlynne and Christopher are playing basketball on Monday nights at ISB in a 12 week program for 13-15 year-olds. They learn and practice skills and then the two teams play a couple of scrimmage games. Christopher had baseball practice Tuesday and Thursday nights and both sessions included a lot of time in the batting cage and then hitting on the field (coach pitch). His coach told me that he had the best hitting of the team that night so maybe there is hope that he is pulling out of his slump. His hitting needs to be spot on as he is already at a disadvantage - he is one of only two 7th graders on the team and the 8th and 9th graders on the team are so much bigger and stronger. This is great for our team but not so great for Christopher as far as his position in the batting order. Caitlynne and I are playing netball up at ISB on Tuesday evenings. There are 8 middle school girls who want to form a proper netball team and compete downtown so we (5 "older" ladies) practice/play against them. They can outrun and outlast us on the court us but our passing is more accurate and we can all shoot well so we manage to hold our own, even with the age difference and being outnumbered. It is fun to get out and have a run around the gym for an hour or so. 

Christopher has also been playing volleyball after school in the intramural games. He will be trying out for the ISB Under 13 volleyball team next week and Caitlynne will try out for the ISB Under 15 softball team. She also wants to participate in track and field which is the 4th season sport at ISB. However, that will be at the height of our summer so it will be interesting to see if she manages to stick with it.

Have a fantastic Friday!

The View From The Cheap Seats

Saturday was a very long day for both of us. We were at the field at 9 am, the first scrimmage game was at 10 am, the 2nd game at 1 pm and we finally arrived back home at 4 pm.  Whew! 

Christopher played second base in the first scrimmage game (photo above). In the second game, he caught for 4 innings and then played second base. It was incredibly hot (93 degrees) so catching was definitely a hardship position.

It PAINS me to have to write the following words but Christopher struck out 4 of his 5 at bats. Ugh! Talk about a slump! We are not sure what the problem is - he is hitting perfectly in the batting cage but just cannot make contact when he is on the plate. He is swinging the bat at great pitches but we just need to get him to hit the ball!

 Lunch break between the games.

The end of the game line up and handshakes. The boys on this team from the Japanese baseball academy are the nicest, most respectful and hardworking ballplayers. After our two scrimmage games were over, they stayed on the field for another 45 minutes and practiced. They are so committed to their sport - I am sure that is why they are so good.

 And the wai to the spectators. 

We played really well in the first game and were tied 1-1 at the top of the fifth inning. However, a few walks and errors allowed the other team to score 4 more runs and we lost 5-1.  

The second game was an absolute disaster. We went into the 4th inning leading 6-3 but they went on a batting rampage and scored 17 runs! Yikes! They certainly ate their Wheaties at lunch! After their 5th or 6th hit way out past our center fielder, I could see our team just deflate before my eyes. We did make some errors but not 17 runs worth. They were just hitting really well off of our pitcher (and his relief) and we couldn't reciprocate. 

We are having another weekend of scrimmage games in early March and it would be so nice to beat this team. They are the nicest group of kids but every time we have played them in the last two years, we have lost. A win has to be in our future. The boys were back on the field practicing on Sunday - only about 5 more weeks until the tournament in Singapore so this really is the crunch time.

Have a great Tuesday! 

One Of Those Mornings

This morning was one of those mornings. If Kevin were here, I would have begged and pleaded  asked for him to bring me a cup of coffee in bed.  I needed coffee even before I woke up. 

My chest was very congested when I woke up yesterday - allergies? cold? smog? Who knows. I was having a hard time breathing so, right after I ate breakfast, I took something to help clear it out. Well, that *something* managed to keep me totally WIRED until well after midnight! As usual, my internal "alarm clock" went off at about 4 am this morning so I will operate on about four hours of sleep today. I just hate it when my body is so incredibly exhausted (even my eyelids were tired last night) but my mind continues to race at 100 mph. At one point, I think I was trying to prioritize a list with 25 "to do" items on it in my mind.

I wasn't going to run this morning but, since I knew that I would be sitting on my bottom all day watching Christopher's baseball games, I decided to do a short run with Sonder. Best idea ever. For him and for me.

So very true.

Have a great Saturday!

The Process Has Begun

Yesterday I went downtown and met with Kevin's "right hand" to plan out the schedule for our move back to Washington. There are many steps in the process of moving with the U.S. Government and it is in our best interest to begin as early as possible. 

I scheduled our "pack out" date for May 20th, which is almost a month earlier than I initially wanted. My original plan was for the kids to finish school on June 7th, hang out with their friends and then help me organize for a pack out on June 17th. However, I found out yesterday that it is only after our pack out is completed that the Embassy can apply for the export permits needed to ship our stuff out of Thailand - and just getting those permits can take up to six weeks. So, the sooner our pack out is completed, the sooner the permit process can start and the sooner we will have our stuff on the other end. 

This process is actually better than the one for our move here. Although we packed out of Miami in early June, per Government regulations, our household goods were not released for shipment to Bangkok until after we arrived in Thailand - and we didn't receive them in Bangkok until two months later. Since the house in Nichada is furnished and the Embassy will give us a "survival kit", it makes sense to pack out earlier, especially if there is a slight possibility that our stuff can leave Thailand before we do. Or right after. 

Although I did all of this just two years ago, I forgot how much there is involved with organizing a move, and an international one at that. In addition to deciding how/when Kevin, the kids and I will fly back, I need to figure out how to get Sonder home. Obviously, when we moved here, he and Simpson made the trip together. Although they were in different crates on the airplane, they were kept side by side at all times and they seemed to do really well on the trip over. Now we are leaving minus Simpson and I am worried about how Sonder will do traveling solo.

For Christmas, Jim and Jan gave Kevin the book "Killing Kennedy" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard.   

Kevin read it while we were in Beijing, Jim read it while we were in Koh Chang and Jan read it one night (until 1:00 am!) in Bangkok. I couldn't be left out and had to read this book. 

From Amazon.com

"A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln.

More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor; recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy--and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.

In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States. Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Alan Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody.

The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader. This may well be the most talked about book of the year." 

Since the book is based on fact and the outcome is certainly known before even picking up the book, I thought the story would be told in such a way so as to lend credence to the conspiracy theory angle but that wasn't the case. In fact, I felt the authors did just the opposite and presented how a "perfect storm" of random events and seemingly inconsequential actions on that day (many done at Kennedy's own direction) combined with Oswald's anger, fortunate timing and place of employment to create the opportunity for Kennedy to be shot.

"Killing Kennedy" is a very easy and interesting book to read and there were so many things that I learned while reading that definitely made it worth the read. I would highly recommend it. Even if you don't like the Kennedy family. Or Bill O'Reilly. I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this book - it was just "that" kind of a book. 

Have a great Friday!

Happy Valentine's Day

I always prefer an arrangement of fresh cut flowers over a bouquet of red roses. These birds of paradise (or some variety thereof?) from our garden were the perfect "pick me up" for Valentine's Day. Of course, with Kevin away, I had to go out and pick them myself but whatever works, right? 

In addition to finishing up on all of the laundry that accumulated over the weekend, I spent the last couple of days finalizing uniform orders, making hotel reservations and doing other assorted administrative tasks related to the Southeast Asia Youth Baseball Softball Tournament (SEAYBST). The Tournament is March 26th - 31st and will be in Singapore this year (last year it was in Perth, Australia). I am the SEAYBST Director for Bangkok and we are bringing three Bangkok teams to the tournament - 34 players - plus quite an entourage of coaches, parents, siblings and chaperones. Today was the "drop dead" date for both our hotel bookings and uniform orders so I can check that off of my (very long) list. Tomorrow I will place the order for various "accessories" - practice jerseys, travel shirts, travel bags, etc. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people can have so many interpretations of the meaning of the word "deadline". A deadline is not a suggested time, folks, it is a deadline! As in...the latest possible time for doing something (i.e., letting me know if you need a hotel room in Singapore!). 

I also have to make plane reservations for our family as well as for the two umpires we (the Bangkok delegation) are required to bring. However, on-line ticketing system for the airline I want to fly (Air Asia) is incredibly painful and I know I don't have the patience to deal with it tonight. It takes forever to fill out all of the fields to book the ticket and then, more often than not, the system freezes on the payment page and shuts down - so the process must be started all over again. From the very beginning. Ugh!  I have had this happen to me several times - in fact, I was making reservations once and the payment page froze three times - and, by the time I was able to submit my payment information, the price of each of the tickets increased by $12.00. 

The SEAYBST team that Christopher is playing on (Under 15 Majors) has a double header scrimmage this weekend against the team from the Japanese baseball academy a bit north of Bangkok. This is the same team that beat us twice in the Christmas tournament. However, our team has had some really great practices over the last few weeks and we have added a power pitcher who can also power hit. I hope we will give them some good competition but, either way, it is a great chance for the team to play together in a game situation and get more baseball experience.

Have a great Thursday and a very big "YAY" for tomorrow being Friday! 

Can't Complain

Tuesday morning, I ran five miles in 83 degrees and 82% humidity. Wednesday morning I ran 5 miles in 82 degrees and 84% humidity. It was absolutely miserable. 

Then I saw this weather.com "snapshot" from my parents' town in New York. Blah! 

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• Fairfax, VA (22033)
  
  21^°F
• New Paltz, NY (12561)
  
  0^°F

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Have a great Tuesday!