It's my birthday! Well, it was! I have two weeks worth of stuff to cover :) I still can't believe that we ran across Magic Shell of all things, but sometimes you just have to splurge when you see such rare and fun items. We celebrated my birthday early since we were going to be traveling out of the country on my actual birthday.
I really enjoyed my made completely from scratch red velvet cake and my delicious vanilla ice cream topped with magic shell. What a fun start to a long birthday celebration!
Before we left we also received a birthday package that had my bday, Lauren's bday, and Benjamin's bday in it. I got some much needed things and some fun things! It was a lot of fun.
Lauren's birthday is next and she opened up a little baby doll with a paci and bottle and diapers. She has not put it down. She loves babies, so it was perfect for her.
Benjamin was next and was so excited to get a bunch of Scooby Doo cartoons. We literally had a Scooby Doo Marathan at our house. :)
We then started packing to leave the country for a week. We tried some new dramamine patches for Benjamin. He got sick on the last two trips either on the plane or in the back of a van. He does ok on short trips, but not the long ones. It worked pretty good. No problems going and only a little coming home.
The hotel we stayed in was NOT built for tall people. Jonathan's not THAT tall, but he came so close to the ceilings and actually hit his head once. I was afraid Lauren might get a bump in the head too. Actually, I was more nervous about the low railings and our rooms being on the 7th floor.
So, on my actual birthday Regan and I went on an adventure. We rode in a tuktuk to a night market and did some souvenier shopping. We didn't really find too much, but had a fun time together.
the night market
At the market, there were people who made all sorts of handicrafts. We enjoyed looking at them all. We did not speak the language, so I think they were giving us the foreigner price on a lot of things (which is one reason we did not buy much) but we did find some cute little keychains, a skirt and a new backpack.
The kids enjoyed getting to swim in the pool. They can't wait for ours to open, but I don't think it will be until May.
I just love best bud pictures...
more best buds...
On the way home, the airport had beautiful real flowers. All the kids wated pictures by them :) So that was week one...and now I will try to sumarize week 2. To summarize you must learn a new word....mafan. It literally means trouble. In English, we would say I don't want to bother you (here we say mafan you) or we would say that was a lot of trouble to to something. It's really a great little word because it can be used in so many situations.
Week 2: We are coming home from the airport and we are about 10 minutes form the house when Lauren starts throwing up in the van. There's just not much you can do at that point but get out at the apartment complex and give the guy a tip and say sorry for the mafan.
We get to bed and wake up the next morning to realize that we have been gone for a week and the weather had cause many things in our house to get molded....mafan.
Later that day, the worst "sweating" of the walls I have seen since we have lived here. Our entire apartment was covered in water (not moisture...water)...mafan! We began the battle by sweeping up water several times a day, turning on all the fans, and drying walls with towels.
The next day, we realized that the wall behind the shoe rack was still wet and now some of the shoes were growing mold. So, we have spent several days inspecting, cleaning, throwing away, and doing whatever we can to keep things dry.
So far so good. The weather seems to be getting better and according to our local friends it should continue to improve. Although, I was told today that I have to wear a jacket until April (even if it is 90 degrees outside..haha) I told my friend that that's the easiest way to spot a foreigner right now....all the ones with no jackets!
