Baby Henry , Big Buddha, and Books

Biggest, best news, Bristol had a baby boy born April 23 weighing in at 8lbs 7oz, Henry Raymond. We are excited to be grandparents and look forward to the first visit. This month we have new son in law Chris join the family and now a grandson, the tree is growing. We celebrated first with a bottle of champagne, poolside, then later in the evening went out for a fantastic Thai dinner at one of our special oceanside restaurants! Together we shared our favourites, green curry soup, seafood salad, tamarin prawns and pad thai. We know Henry would of liked it too. The day after he was born we went to see the Big Buddha of Phuket. It is the largest Buddha in the world. Set on a hilltop and visible from most places on the island, surrounded with spectacular views and home to many monks. We purchased a white marble square block that will be placed onto the statue and dedicated it to Henry. This is a very spiritual place as well as peaceful. We felt it would be a perfect blessing for a great new beginning for the little guy. We are not going to spoil him at all ( ya right), is'nt that one of the duties of being grandparents? Went with a few of our English neighbors on a long tail boat to snorkel around Coral island. We found out why it is named that later in the day when we were treated to some of the biggest pieces of coral that we have ever seen. Some were the size of our old truck. Wished we had a water proof camera, hope to return to this area again. The group we were with had been here many times before but it took Steve exploring the area to find this huge outcrop of wonder. We were also able to watch a Thai man spear fishing just a few feet from us. It did'nt take him too long to catch supper. We went for a hamburger at a restaurant recommended by the English blokes. Yummy, cheese, mushrooms, bacon, it's been months since we have eaten beef. For Steve later on it was not sitting well but I have a cast iron stomach, so as the Russian friends would say,"is no problem". Speaking of them, we have had a few very funny skype conversations and they would like us to come and visit them and also to meet in Phuket March of 2011. They will be back, but this time with their family and parents and want to hang out again.We're so lucky and have met some incredible characters in our travels. Experience builds character, hope to have many, many varied experiences.
So much to do , so little time. Went to a great little used book store Steve found on one of our many outings. Happy to say I even get excited going into one now. Gone are the days thinking reading was a part of a punishment. This store was full of good reads and three kitty cats. The friendliest being the youngest that would cut you off when you walked around the store, one middle aged with a who cares attitude and one old one with his fur falling out. We will be back for more exchanges with the store owner and her cats.
More time at the beach, more photos of the jelly fish, I wonder if they are like snow flakes where no two are alike. They sure appear to be the same same, but different.

dog days and water wars

This week in Thailand, we were privileged to watch and participate in a bit of the Songkran celebration. It is the Thais celebration of their New Year. Originally they would sprinkle a small amount of water to offer a blessing of good luck for the year, and over time it has become a huge, full on water fight. The locals and farangs load up barrels and big buckets with ice water onto the back or their trucks, drive around and soak anyone in range. People also line the streets with anyone and everyone of all ages getting into the action. Watergun sales must explode leading up to this event. They also toss washable coloured paint on vehicles while many faces are covered by strangers with a zinc type cream. Fun is had by all and it's a happy well respected tradition. Can you imagine back home bombarding strangers with water and putting stuff on their faces as you walk by.....people would be pissed. Here it's all good clean fun! Later in the week, Steve suggested that we needed to spend some quality time together (tee he) and have a date night. He checked out one of the theaters and guess what, the movie "Date Night" was playing. We went out for sushi and then entered the VIP part of the theater. They had snacks of finger sandwiches, chicken satay with peanut sauce, and plates of fancy cut up fruits and beverages included in the ticket price. Once we were seated they brought us popcorn, pop, and water. Now this is like nothing we have at home, but sure wish we did. The beautifully decorated, large auditorium had only 36 seats and these seats were lazyboy recliners, we even had freshly cleaned blankets, sealed in packages like the airlines do! My kinda movie. The sound system was spectacular and the movie was funny... Datenight starring
Steve Carrel and Tina Fey. We had a lot of laughs and totally enjoyed our big phat (or fat) comfy seats with yummy popcorn. Then it was back to the beach the next day! Many jellyfish washed ashore which makes for great photo ops as well as the talented dogs we see everywhere. The waves at our favorite beach Naiharn are growing in size daily, soon I won`t want Steve in the water at all. We watched the three life guards (who are also the men that rent out the beach chairs) literally run the beach with their boogie boards in hand, picking out swimmers from the deadly undercurrents and riptides. They must of pulled out at least a dozen swimmers! We have been warned that at the end of April there will be no life guards on the beach and that every year many people die in this bay. We most likely will be driving up the road to Kata Beach were the undertow isn't so deadly. We also have the option of going to the fishing village of Rawai to one of their safe waveless beaches, or there is always the pool just steps from our bungalow door. Choices, choices, we are so lucky! The next night we hooked up with Theo our friend from Salt Spring Island . He has been living here for over a dozen years and is a wealth of knowledge, speaks Thai, and is aware with whats going on in the community. Went to his (now our) favorite Italian spot and had tasty thin crust brick oven pizza with tuna salad. Great conversation and company. Later we walked over to his favorite movie shop where they sell pirated new release movies for $2.00 each, the back storage room walls were completely covered with a selection that was out of this world. Things are sure done a little different from home (same same but different). We followed Theo back to his place were we enjoyed more time together at his lovely home. It took a couple years to build, but boy is it worth it. So zen like, with a incredible view of the bay and the town of Kata. His home is finished with teak, granite, and a negative edge pool. Really nice digs . I could just live on his outdoor deck! Some of the home construction here is incredible. It's amazing what money can buy. To think that we are now homeless. Hmmm? The only building that we are doing is our memory bank, perhaps priceless!

Bikini strings and Thai the knot

This week has been the same same as well as completely different. We received big news from back home. We have a new addition to our family and it is not Bristol's baby (yet). Sydney went to Viva la Las Vegas and got married! Her and Chris along with two friends celebrated in style. They are having a potluck on the 17th of this month and then a Vegas theme party on July 10th. With Bristol due in May and now this news, wow! What a year to be away!!!! Missing David, Dale, and Tami`s 50th, Rob and Esther`s 30th anniversary, and now this, wow! Went to the Village Market loaded with imports from home, loaded up with stuff to make tacos and even bought a box of K.D. Back home we rarely brought that into the house, but some times you just need a little comfort food from the homeland. Did the run around and got our visa`s extended for 30 more days, so we are allowed to stay until the 30th of May. It took only 40 minutes for the paperwork to be completed and about twice the time finding where the immigration building was located. Busy place, they had 13 officers working along with a few trainees. Passport copies made, a couple pictures taken, a few baht paid, and we were off and running. After the visa business we went to visit the Germans in Kata and get the bike rental agreement extended until the end of April. We are not 100% sure yet if we will stay in Rawai, we love the area and it is nice to be able to hang our hat in one place for a bit, it's a whole different flavour when you're living in one area. It's great to have time on our side. No worries, no hurries! Well a little worry as the book I was reading kept losing it`s pages, it was hard to keep it together, (teehe) talk about stress! Went to visit the German's Mom Ingrid and give her a hair cut. It was like riding a bike, it all came back. I have not done hair for months. Poor Steve, his last cut was at a Thai salon/massage parlour. That was months ago and she cut it super short so now he is needing a fresh new look, perhaps I'll fit it into my busy schedule. Breakfast, reading, time on our notebook (laptop), beach... I think I might fit it in. Went shopping for my new bathing suit, which was funny, no change room, no mirror , and get this, one size fits all! Just try it on over the sundress. No one likes bathing suit shopping so in a lot of ways it was funny and all I had to think about was what colour and pattern. Takes the stress out of it anyways. The only modification the bikini needed was to shorten the bottom strings. Funny funny funny.......