Easter

 With all the moving and settling into a new like, we completely forgot about the upcoming holiday, Easter.  I actually thought it was the first Sunday in April and was hurrying to find baskets, white eggs, candy, food clothing, and the usual Easter clothes for church.  After being told on facebook that I was a bit early, I have to admit that I dropped the ball with relief.  It dawned on my Thursday night, right before actual Easter that I still didn't have baskets, candy, white eggs, or Easter church clothes! 

Luckily Josh and I had a date night to watch Hunger Games that Friday and were able to find food coloring, white eggs (duck eggs!), and candy (Japanese candy).  We couldn't find Easter clothes or baskets decided not to go all out this year with everything and focus on the true meaning of Easter.  Cameron was helping us with that every day when he came home from school and retold how Jesus died on the cross for us or sang an Easter song.  I had my doubts with the Christian international/private school at first but it's growing on me when I see how happy Cameron is and what he is learning.

On to the night before Easter in Thailand. After dinner we got bowls of dye out and spoons to scoop the eggs out so they wouldn't break when dropped by a toddler after they were coated with color to keep our fingers clean of dye.  Emma wasn't so lucky. :-) This was Kyle's first time dying eggs and celebrating with his Daddy.  Josh was TDY last year.  Kyle thought that we needed to put all 6 of his duck eggs into one bowl of dye. I was helping Emma with her orange egg, turned around and found 4 (almost 5) eggs in the yellow bowl.  Oh, did I forget to tell you that we did all this in the dark?!  That night we got our first big rain storm that took out the power for an hour or two.  Josh was smart to turn on the car headlights that shined into the house so we could finish the eggs that were started.  After the kids were tucked in bed, waiting for the Easter Bunny to arrive, the true Easter Bunny finished the eggs.  She was smart to change the dye into cups to finish and then decorated the egg cartons with some candy.

The kids were so excited in the morning and were more interested in the colorful pancakes Mommy made than the candy .... I thought.  Emma couldn't wait to crack open her eggs to eat whole.  That's her Easter morning, consuming boiled eggs. :-)  Cameron was a helpful big brother by showing Kyle where his eggs were hidden.

All in all, simple or not, Easter as a family was wonderful! 

Tacos in Thailand with Homemade Tortillas

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/07/cooking-class-flour-tortillas/ 

For all those wondering if we miss American food, the answer is yes.  But we are coping well and adjusting by either buying American products that are expense or finding ways to make things homemade like I did on taco night last week. :-) We finally found tortillas at Rim Ping Supermarket; with a family of five, the 8 tortillas that we got in the package didn't last a week.  I decided that I would try my hand in making homemade tortillas after asking on facebook for recipes (and I was too lazy to take a songtaew half way into town to buy more).  The recipe I used is linked above by the wonderful cookers I adore, OurBestBites.

 I found out after my third tortilla that the flattened dough must be VERY thin, paper thin or it will be doughy when you heat it up in the pan.  Heat is key too. I guess a tortilla press would be a great purchase in my future if I'm wanting to continue having Mexican food here.  I did let out a bunch of stress when pounding out the dough though. :-)

The wonderful thing about the tortillas is that you can freeze the dough if you don't want to make all of it.  You will have fresher tortillas if you do that instead of making them all the way and freezing, which you can do if you like. As you can see my tortillas are not for company. It looks like a child played with playdough, learning to make circles. lol  Maybe after trying again a couple times or getting a tortilla press I will invite guests over for tacos.  Maybe White Chicken Enchiladas? Or Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps? Yummy!

Chicken Enchiladas

http://joyful-mommas-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/white-chicken-enchiladas.html

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/crispy-southwest-chicken-wraps.html

29th Birthday in Asia

 Everyone hates turning another year older but I was excited to celebrate on a whole new continent! I was thinking Josh couldn't out do himself like he did for Valentine's Day but he did.  He came home early and shewed me out of the house to a local massage business for my first 1hr Thai massage.  If you have never had one, here are a few things you should know. It's a combination of massage, ciropracting, and sports massage. It's not bad, it's just different and relaxing in a new way.  They take you to a room like the one on the left and have you slip into loose fitting clothes.  You start laying on your back while the massager stretches your legs, toes, ankles, thighs, hips ....every part of your body except your teeth. The typical massage just uses the fingers to massage out your tension; the Thai's use their fingers, toes, forearms, elbows, etc. When they turn you onto your belly, they stand on your back and legs.  Very interesting but thoroughly relaxing. Very happy woman.  That wasn't the end of my birthday gifts though.

  That Saturday, Josh treated me to blocks of flower vendors at the local Warorot Market (very popular and goes on for blocks with flowers, fabric, food, clothes, etc.) The kids and I picked out a bunch of purple orchids, some kind of bulb flower and white long stem roses.  Josh added the three vases you see in the following pictures.  We only spend $14usd for all of it! I think I might update my vases every 2 weeks with different flowers :-)                                          

 Josh also surprised me with this wonderful chocolate and strawberry filled cake. The kids were excited to light the candles and eat pieces of the cake.  Kyle actually couldn't wait for his piece that he started to sneak little bits of the chocolate from the bottom.  We didn't notice until there was a noticeable gap. lol

Did I mention that the day that we went to the flower market we met a couple high school girls on the songtaew that go to Cameron's private school.  Josh asked straight out if they wanted to earn babysitting money and they brightened up with willing smiles.  Carrie started the night of my birthday.  Her family is from New Zealand but she has lived here for 11 out of her 16years. She was great with the kids! With the babysitting taken care of, Josh took me out to the Night Bazaar (tourist market).  On our way there, we found a local art show going on with 3D sidewalk chalk pictures.  Don't you love the one below?

 Our night out on the town.  It was great and much needed!  We walked around until we got hungry.  Josh was able to use the Thai he has been studying and ordered a couple dishes.  Yummy! It was nice to eat some local food without wiping up messes, cutting up food, or do the typical roles of motherhood.
The birthday celebration was great and I'm glad my family loves me so much to remember it.  A couple days later I received 3 care packages from my mom and Jill Piece, a dear friend from Florida.  I understand the shear joy that soldiers receive when they open up care packages.  Wonderful! Thank you everyone for a fantastic birthday.  Josh has notified me that next year I will be turning 30 in Ireland!  The adventures yet to come.

Transportation in Thailand

Settling in to the new lifestyle and culture was a bit rough I have to say.  I got cabin fever after the first couple days.  Josh started work the day after we entered our new home. Because our vehicle is being shipped and won't enter the country until the beginning of May, it has left us limited transportation. The kids and I mostly stayed indoors at home playing games and organizing the clothes we brought.  I'm not a person that depends on many people and found it hard to transition to this new routine. Because we live in the suburb of Chiang Mai, in Hang Dong the open markets that Thailand is known for weren't in walking distance. This made it hard to shop and had to wait for Josh to return home to go out.
 This is a songtaew (translation: 2 benches). This has been our main mode of transportation. We started with riding with some co-workers that took us around and then a taxi. After a week of this and Josh learning more words in Thai, we took our first songtaew from the market and only paid 40baht for all of us instead of 300baht one way in the taxi.  40baht is about $1.25 and 300baht is $10.  Can you guess what ride we use all the time now? :-) We do have to walk from our village to the main road, Hang Dong Road to catch a songtaew but it's better than paying and waiting for a taxi to arrive (20-30min wait).
Can you see the yellow truck pulling up to Josh? That is the songtaew.  It is equipped with two benches on either side of the covered truck bed.  Josh usually holds onto the back ladder so that the women can sit.

 Our first family portrait inside a tuk-tuk (one bench on the back of a "motorcycle")

Below is a picture of the front of a tuk-tuk.