our trip

View of Mt McKinley and a glacier from the airplane window

I attempted to do this, shucking bamboo.  She made it look easy.   It is, but not for me

Bananas growing

The banana flower.  The petal of the flower is as long as my foot and as wide as two of my hands next to each other

This is someone working in J's uncle's field.  I liked how J captured this picture of him working

Guava trees on J's aunt's farm.  Every day she goes out to see if the guavas are a certain size and then covers them in a small bag with newspaper  in it to wick away the humidity.  The bags are for insect control.  When I first walked out here, though, I thought it looked like a lot of work to bag all that fruit. 

Bamboo shoot.  These were harvested by his aunt to cut and sell to add into dishes.  It is very supple and tender once you take off the skin

This was by far one of my favorite dishes in all of Thailand.  J's aunt made it for us the first day we came to visit, so I thought all food was going to taste this good.  She also used the left over veggies to make a fabulous omlet.  The way she cooked the veggies was a great compliment to the fish and eggs.  I kept ordering the omlets thinking I would get this again, but no such luck.  I couldn't speak enough Thai to ask for the veggies again.  She also introduced to me the fabulousness of lime juice and fish sauce together as a sauce.  yum and yum

A view from a wat nearby Nakon Sawan.  I liked how peaceful it was at this wat.   It wasn't in a huge tourist center, so lots of the people that were there seemed to be locals with some tourists.  I liked looking out

I've never seen a pineapple field in real life.  The tropical vegetation was so fun for me to observe.  I had no idea I liked plants so much until I left the USA and found that I was drawn to the same variation. 

Lotus flower.  These seemed to be popular to cultivate at the wats

I don't know what this is but it smelled really good and was very beautiful

This was  in the old international airport that is used more for domestic flights now.  It was a display of a krathong, or what is lit and put in the river.  Traditionally a banana tree slice is used and leaves to decorate.  Then it switched to Styrofoam and most recently bread ones that dissolve.  On Nov 7 we saw lots of burned out lanterns floating in the river

 

Part of the procession of the Chaing Mai festival.  These are high school students for the most part. 

Part of the parade.  They were not too strick about the crowd following the people and walking in and throught the procession itself.

far away pic of a lantern display at one of the chaing mai cinter gates

I started taking pics of all the ways a pick up truck is used.  This one was stacked high and had a plug coming  out of its engine to power the float lights.system is stacked and covered in plastic behind the floats

Up close of one of the lanterns at the gate displays

The red car is another pick up truck that has the basic frame and a hard shell perfect for making for a small bus

We saw a few old ruin places.  For me this is the oldest building that I've seen to my recollection.  It wsa built in the 1700's I  believe.   

This might have been at the orchid farm or the insect zoo.  never been to an insect zoo before, but our guide was excited about her job so we learned tons of cool stuff.  j even released 3 hour old butterflies into the exhibit.  We were the only ones there.

This is on a wat grounds.  The dots are lanterns up in the sky

This is  my favorite picture of the lantern festival because it captures the size of the lanterns and the lights the best.  They were setting these off in the middle of a huge crowd! 

The lanterns on the water in addition to the lanterns in the sky

The view from our hotel balcony.  We thought we had left toward the end, but they kept streaming up for another hour, four about 4 hours total. 

best view of being underneath the lanterns.  The bright lights are up for the festival

Another truck use.  Utility truck

Another truck use, mini bus

The closest I've been to an elephant ouside the zoo.   They smell just like horses.  The guy drove them with his feet on the ears.  The elephant was grumpy and hot.  That is me just behind and to the side of the elephant

A famous place in Thailand.  This is in the old capital's ruins.  I loved being at the ruins just because it was so old.  It was peaceful there too

I stayed standing looking at this as long as J could stand it.  I don't think I have been to such an old place

Me trying to get a pictures of how brightly colored the semi's were painted

Many buses were also this brightly painted

I never did get used to such variable velocity in such a small space.  That was a family riding on a small motor cycle while we were driving what seemed at least 80 on the freeway

That budda is far away, resting on a stand seated above the tree line.  They are really big.

We went to tourist traps in Chaing Mai too  Orchid gardens and a butterfly farm.  But this one was taken on J's aunt's property

This is the standard rack on a pick up without being used to stack crops or people yet

The truck in front of the blue car is stacked well

Elephant on a truck being transported.  Haven't seen that in the US

An origami shop in the Narita Japan airport.  Just a shop display of flowers.  They are each about the size of a finger.  Crazy!

Taxis come in all colors.  Pink, yellow, green, orange and blue.  This one is magenta for W

J driving for real in Thailand like a real Thai.  On a motor bike

J with Uncle in their family kitchen

Orchid farm.   The orchids in the wild have their roots in the grooves of the tree bark exposed.  I think they get the moisture they need from the rainfall.  They would do great at our house, except for the minor detail of freezing to death

 

Best part of the trip:  being with hubby.  He was finally able to turn his brain off to work after 4 days.  I have no recollection of being with him for 12 days straight ever.  Even our honeymoon was shorter.

Worst part of the trip:  not being able to speak or read Thai

All the rest of the fun stuff:

The Chiang Mai Lantern festival is definitely for tourists.  The best comparison J thought of was comparing it to Santa and Christmas.  The lanterns are lots of fun, but are not a good demonstration of the real meaning of the holiday.  The lanterns are part of a Chiang Mai only tradition as part of the the holiday Loi Krathong.  I'm probably spelling it wrong.  But the holiday is to have one day of the year to give an offering in thanks for use of the water and river the rest of the year.  The rest of the country make something to float down the river as a symbol of their thanks, but no lanterns.  Although since the lanterns are so much fun there are other areas that are starting to do it on a small scale.

Traditionally the krathongs are made of banana trees.  A part of the banana tree trunk is cut and then the banana leaves are twisted and bent into different shapes to make a float.  Insense and a light is put on top.  There was a time when styrofoam was used instead of banana trees, but that makes a big trash mess in the rivers so there are bread ones that are also made.  These are usually shaped into something with dough and then cooked.  We saw some turtle ones of those.  In case you don't have a banana tree on your property.

When we went to the lantern festival for tourists, we didn't see a mass release done all at once like we saw pictures of.  I think the mass release must be done by the locals the week before.  But we saw so many lanterns being released it was plenty cool.  It looked like one big long river of lights being let off in the sky. For three solid hours.  The three hours is what was so crazy to me.  We thought by the time we had looked around and watched tons of lanterns being released into the air and the procession was over, we wouldn't see anymore.  But then we got back to our hotel after walking an hour AND IT WAS STILL GOING!  So we got to watch it from a distance until we fell asleep.  Crazy, right?

This lantern festival would be banned in America in a flash.  Too dangerous I'm sure.  There were hoards of people and everyone would kind of just move around each other to make room for someone to blow up and release a lantern.  This is not a small amount of space.  The fireball part is on a disc about twice the size of a hockey puck.  Not a small flaming orb, but a rather medium sized flaming orb.  You have to gently hold open a lantern made of PAPER and coax it open while the flame is going.  Be careful to not let the paper get too close to the flaming orb.  Amazingly we only saw one person catch his lantern on fire.  Good thing the streets were soaking wet from the rain the past two days.  This is probably why it is done only in Chiang Mai.  It was cooler and wetter up there than in Bangkok.  It is closer to mountains.  Then you have to hold the lantern until the smoke/hot air starts to slightly come out of the bottom of the lantern so that it goes up fast enough.  We saw a couple of lanterns come back down in the crowd because someone hadn't filled it enough.  Thank heavens this is all a slow floating speed process so someone in the crowd can catch the flaming orb and re release it.  You also have to take into account windspeed and not release it into any branches of any trees.  We saw one person do that.  I have no idea how that lantern released itself without burning up.

The glowing of all the lanterns is actually fairly bright and most of them go up without a problem or incident, very slowly and calmly.  The lights on the river are also calm.  I was very surprised at how relatively calm the crowd was for how many people there were.  The music in the procession is happy but kind of a reverent tone at the same time and I think it helps.  The boys that were drumming were having a great time, but it wasn't wild and out of control, just fun.  We were both really glad we went and could enjoy it together.  Finally.  A new experience for both of us, instead of for just me.

One thing I really liked was how Thais eat.  They use a fork and spoon.  But not like us.  Usually together.  They hold the spoon in their right hand and the fork in the other.  The spoon is used like a knife for cutting and taking fish bones out as well as eating rice.  The fork is used to push the food onto the spoon.  After eating rice with chop sticks and forks up to now, this seems like such a great, less messy way.  Brilliant!

I have discovered I love fish sauce and fresh lime juice mixed together.  My most favorite dishes included this sauce.  J's aunt gave it to us as a sauce for some of her dishes and it was fabulous!  I have no idea why I like it so much, but I do. 

We had so much delicious food.  I thought I would loose some weight while I was there.  You know, eating lots of rice, drinking lots of water because of the "heat" (it is the beginning of their winter time there) and not having my secret chocolate stash to dig into.  Not so.  We got pumped full of so much food.  J's aunt fed us like a grandma would feed us.  She made us so much stuff to eat and set up a mini refridgerator stocked with water, choco milk, juice and fruit on top of all that.  She made some fried fish that looked really gross to me watching her cook it.  Fried the whole thing.  But it was really really good tasting.  She had made up a veggie slaw like thing that she cooked just a bit.  Some combination of some sweet peppers, celery and I don't know what else, but it was very delicious over top of that yummy tasting fish.  She also made a pork and orange vegetable dish that had a different but yummy flavor.  The next day she used the rest of the veggie stuff that we hadn't been able to eat and put it into what they call a thai omlet.  Oh!  It was so good.  I'm not really sure what a Thai omlet is but I kept ordering it off the menus thinking it was what his aunt cooked for us, but it was never as good as how she made it.

I was also so glad she took good care of my health.  She always offered us bottled water, gave us some cabbage soup that really settled my stomach and always made us brown rice.  I felt the best when we stayed there.

They took us to a restaurant the next day and ordered some fried catfish that had that yummy fish sauce/lime/green mango combo sauce on top.  Oh!  Fabulous.  There was also another fish that had some sort of green chili that had been roasted that went with it that made it taste really good.  I knew that was a good one because we had two teenager somehow cousins with us and they pretty much only ate that dish.  There were two other yummy foods, but I just can't remember them.  But all of their choices were good.

We ate lots of som tam.  That is the closest pronunciation to English that I know.  But it is a green papaya salad that has lots of lime and you can order spice with it.  It usually has peanuts and cabbage with it.  You can find it everywhere and we ate it all the time.  Even though it is raw, I think all the acidity of the lime juice must have killed enough germs if there were any because I never got sick.

I was strict about my water usage, making sure I only put bottled water in my mouth when brushing my teeth, washing my hands before eating and drinking loads of it.  I wasn't always strict about raw veggies, but most of the time I was.  There were times when I knew some raw cabbage or fruit would do my body more good because I needed a green leafy veggie or orange produce to help me get energy and feel better from eating all that yummy food.  And it worked out pretty good.

I also really enjoyed staying with J's aunt because I had a better feel of what a real thai lifestyle is like rather than the on vacation lifestyle that we do when we go to foreign countries.  Some of this I also learned from my friend when I asked her about stuff.  So between watching and asking I had a small sampling of Thai life.

J's aunt lives on the family farm, the one her parents established.  I can't gauge the size of it very well.  Maybe 10 acres?  All of it is used.  They have a large field by the river that gets flooded with nutrients.  I thought it was corn, but am not sure.  Above the flood level are the trees.  They have banana, mango, and guava trees.  They also have dragon fruit plants and a bamboo forest.  When we were there, the guavas were ripening.  They were also selling bamboo. 

One day J's aunt was preparing bamboo for someone that had ordered it.  She cut the new shoots off from the base of the tree, peeled the tough bark off and shucked off the skin.  She let me learn how to do it, but it is harder than it looks.  Plus, it was the first time I've seen anyone do that, so I had no previous experience.  She kept giving me the smallest ones.  I was really bad at it.

Instead of spraying for bugs, they took really small plastic bags with a little bit of newspaper in it and tied them around the fruit.  It works, but is time consuming.  She checked for a certain size every day but when we there , it covered most of the orchard.

At J's aunt's house, there is a speaker on an electricity pole.  Every morning from 5-8 am is a radio show that is broadcast.  We can hear it from where we were, but over on the other side of the house, it isn't heard too much.  I don't know what is being broadcast, but it sounds like some of it is a religious type program due to the more reverent sound and chanting type quality and another program was the news based on that music.  J's aunt was worried about the dogs waking us up, but the program started before them.  I don't think the dogs like the radio.  They howled when it started up one morning.  It didn't really matter.  I was so tired I could barely stay awake until 7 pm, so I was already awake at 4 or 4:30, much earlier than the radio started up.  There were no speakers in Bangkok, nor did I see any in the really outlying towns so I think it is just where we were.

J's aunt let us ride her bike (me) and her scooter (J).  That was fun because that is more the mode of transportation around her town.  Lots of scooters.

Walking around Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the town J's aunt is in reminded me so much of walking around in Argentina.  Except I didn't understand the language in Thailand.  It amazed me at how similar it was, even though Argentina is not a tropical place.  The store fronts had a garage door grate like thing that went up or down if they were open or closed, just like Argentina.  The mold grows on the cement buildings just like Argentina (and here for that matter).  I never saw the floors cleaned, but J's aunt's house had tile floors, so I'm guessing water is tossed down, wiped with a squeegee thing and dried with a towel like argentina.  I saw one drying at a wat when we were there.  The brick and sidewalks were a lot like argentina.  The building materials for houses varied greatly and were similar like Argentina.  Corrigated metal is a popular roof, perfect for a wet rainy area.  And the water tanks on top of the buildings for water pressure just like Argentina.

When we drove really far out in the jungle, we found houses that had some banana leaf roofs, but most of the time it was corriageted metal.  Once in a while there were adobe brick roofs.

What I did notice is that there were not as many dirt roads in the areas of Thailand as compared to the areas of Argentina I was in.  More paved roads.  There were also a lot less dogs wandering around Thailand.  Much easier to walk around.

I noticed that Thais in general dress modestly.  Lots of people wearing pants and shirts with sleeves.  Probably because it is "winter" but it was nice anyway.  Going to a wat requires pants or a dress, but no short skirts.  Tank tops are a no no in wats, too.

There are so many wats around.  Like church buildings in Utah Valley.

We went to an ancient city that was so cool to me because it is the oldest building I know of that I've been to.  Built in the 1700s and left after it was destroyed by an enemy.  It is amazing to me how many stone buddhas there were left and were present in them.  Brick was used to make the basic shape and was what was left after the plaster fell off.  Very big.

At that old city they were giving elephant rides.  I walked along side one so I could be near it.  Closest I've ever been to an elephant.  They smell just like horses and these elephants were tired from walking around in the heat.  The driver sat behind the head and pushed the ears to move it around with his feet.

After staying at J's aunt's house for a bit, we went back to Bangkok and did the tourist thing.  We went to the reclining Buddha.  It is hard for me to gauge size, but it is just big.  And the entire wat is covered in ornate designs or drawings or something.  It looks hand painted.  Talk about a lot of work.

We went to a royal coin and jewel display.  I really liked the coin section.  It gave an overview of time frames, rulers, and geographical Thailand borders for each time frame and rule.  I liked it because it gave me a better idea of where the people were coming from.

Currently government is set up a little like England.  A queen and king, but a parliament to make laws.  What I was able to tell about what the king and queen  do all day is more social and welfare type projects. 

For example we went to the textile museum.  It is set up by the queen and it talks about her programs, so it is definitely biased.  Essentially the textile museum talked about how when the queen and king were young, they traveled around Thailand and made observations about the general poverty. Then they found some solutions to help it long term.  I loved their ideas.  They took something the people were already doing and gave them the resources and value to their work. 

The queen found that there were women in the villages that knew how to make their own silk cloth from the start of cultivating silk worms and making silk clothes.  She then essentially marketed on a global scale by asking the village women to make her clothes that she would wear to parties with other world leaders.  She also established a thai style dress to give value to their work and culture. 

The king helped figure out long term water control projects to help the farmers farm better and protect their houses from flooding.

While we were there, we watched the BBC a little.  There was a guy that set up a peanut farm in another country. He is a regular guy that works for a investment firm.  He pays the locals a higher wage, has a school at the work site for kids, day care for the kids and it is a crop that he has helped them sell on a global level so they are able to sustain themselves the higher wages and better education for their kids.  I told J he should do that.

Lots of the houses are set up off the ground, I believe to plan for flooding.  I also noticed that the benches seemed to be very multi purpose.  Wide enough to sit on for a meal as well as lay a mat down for sleeping but high enough for a table to work on during the day.  Lots of hammocks around, too.

J had me do a Thai massage.  It was very different than the massages I have received previously.  Very interesting.  I got a few ideas of how to stretch and massage the hip muscles much better than I have been able to do. 

I don't know why I was surprised by this but I was.  Most people have smart phones.  Just like here.

I think the number one thing I didn't like about our trip was not knowing how to speak Thai.  Grrr.  Amazingly it isn't really an issue in Bangkok.  I was amazed at how much the signs were written in roman charactors in English as well as Thai. I can't think of a place in the US that I have been to where the freeway signs are in anything but English.  Most  people that served us in the fancy pants hotels J picked spoke English.  Granted, these hotels cater to tourists so they probably have employees that speak English for that reason, but really?!  All of our signs are in English, not some other language. But I still didn't like not knowing what was going on completely.  I kept wanting to speak in Spanish since that is the foreign language I speak, but it doesn't work.  I did have a great time speaking Spanish to some tourists from Spain, though.  I didn't realize how much Argentine Spanish sounds like Spain Spanish until I spoke to them.  It is easier for me to understand them than Mina's Mexican Spanish

I also really didn't like Khoasan road.  Not a place I want to return to.  J kept asking me why, but I don't know.  I just didn't like it.  It is a place where people that travel using backpacks stay and that road is known for them to gather there.  I felt really unsafe there, unlike the rest of the places we went.

I didn't like fighting off the scammers.  Apparently this is a common problem reported in any thai tour book and the thai government is aware of it and wants to make the visitor aware.  There were signs in English outside popular wats to watch out for the scammers and a loud speaker announcing this scheme at the emerald Buddha site.  The taxi drivers also like to turn off their meters when working around the tourist areas.  The tuk tuk drivers also like to charge a bunch when working around that area.  A few taxi drivers were honest, but lots of them turned their meters off as soon as they saw our faces.  Grr.  The money is still a lot less but I just didn't like the dishonesty part of it and fighthing them off, even though J did all the fighting off.

Biggest adventure: J renting a car and driving us around Bangkok.  It was too big of an adventure trying to meet up with his uncle.  We got there 4 hours late  from going in circles.  But we are all alive and did get there.

All and all it was quite the adventure. 

I think this is the Rama V bridge.  A view from our fancy pants balcony.  I took this for Uncle R

This wat was in the middle of nowhere as far as I can tell.  But it is still huge.  Hardly any tourists.  Looks like a place set up for local weddings and funerals more.  I liked this one a lot.  It was beautiful

The code of modesty in a thai temple.  You c

The detail on the bodttom of the foot.

motre detail on the bottom of the foot

Some  believe.  It amazxed me how there were  many buddhas even afer destruction

size of the elephant and a colorful bus

 

 

T helped me make bread and brought Pez along to watch.  But Pez was too close and got a little bit of flour on him.  T exclaimed "Mom!  Pez is dying!".  It has been a couple of weeks since we saw the salmon but he remembered the salmon that were dying had white scales and incorporated into play.

T was very sweet with E yesterday.  T wanted to feed E his lunch.  And E let him do it, even to the point of putting the sippy cup in his mouth and letting T help him drink.  That takes skill!

W and T played whale goes to the dentist.  I have no idea why the whale needed to go to the dentist, but he sure had a lot of sugar buggies.

T wanted to take some pics with the camera, so I let him use a smaller one.  He thought it was so funny to take pictures of his siblings and his Pez.

E loves the yellow shower sponge.  He loves to lift it up and down and let the water drain off of it.  He usually exclaims "wow" or laughs a bunch.

He also loves the kid chairs, most especially the dora chair when we are inside and the blue outside chair.  He giggles when he sees them.  He seems so impressed with himself when he sits in them and leans back surveying his kingdom.

He also has started to read books with animals in them.  Any book as long as it has animals in it.  He skips to those pages if they are books without animals.  He likes to get all comfy in my lap as if I am one of his kid chairs.  And mommy eats it up

I started playing the super simple song of Twinkle Twinkle for E when I want to cut his finger nails.  I loves it and hoots when he sees the owl.  He now hoots at all owls.  The ones in books and the ones on W's blanket.

The noise he makes when he sees "ghosty" is similar to the owl noises, but he loves to find ghosty ( a stuffed Halloween owl) snuggle him, and make ghost noises of his own.


I tried the marshmellow experiement with my kids.  Supposedly forever ago a scientist gave 4 years an option.  They could eat one marshmellow right away, or wait and get 2 later.  So I tried it on T and W.  I wanted to make sure that they didn't have any toys to play with and they were hungry just in case that's why the kids in the experiment didn't wait.  But they did it!  I put the timer on for 15 minutes while I made lunch.  I put them in separate rooms and told them not to leave the toy free space and had the marshmellow in reach.  And they waited.  T was so excited to get 2 marshmellows for lunch.  He told me that he really really likes marshmellows so that is why he waited.  But the next day he informed me that he would rather have mommy time that day instead of waiting to have 2 marshmellows.   So right now Mommy time is more valued than marshmellows.  Melt my heart, my well fed child.

We were cleaning the church.  I didn't realize how much the lesson of the church is God's house has sunk in until I was having trouble figuring out how to install the paper towels.  I couldn't figure it out, so I said I was going to ask him.  I meant the guy directing the cleaning activities, but T said "Who?  Heavenly Father?"

E and T got hair cuts.  When E was done, his hair was sticking straight up again.  T looked at him and said "E looks like Uncle Erik when he was a baby".  In all reality, E looks nothing like Uncle Erik when he was a baby, but they both have hair that sticks straight up when short.

E is in the phase of perfect mimic of all activities, especially of his siblings.  E even mimicked T's personal care routine to perfection.

Grocery shopping with the kids has gotten interesting.  T doesn't want anyone but him pushing the cart.  If I touch the cart, he is annoyed I'm helping him.  E doesn't like T driving the cart.  E needs to be strapped into the cart unless my hubby can somehow become weathy enough to buy all items in the whole store placed 3 feet high and below.  W wants to know which item we are shopping for next.  And comments on the yummy stuff she sees.  So I stand next to the front of the cart so E thinks I'm steering but T knows I'm not touching it.  I thought I was doing pretty good this one day we got a cart with no child strap.  E wasn't trying to get out or anything.  When we got to the check stand I found out why things were going so well.  E had been snacking.  He had eaten half of one of those huge hot house tomatoes by the time he turned around to look at me unload groceries.  I was so surprised that I had missed that.  I yelled, "E!  how long have you had that!  Quite a while I guess!"  He was a little scared from my sudden exclamation that he immediately gave  me the tomato back.  thank heavens the lady in front of me and the cashier were grandmas.  They thought it was funny.

T was off playing in the living room while I was in the kitchen.  He came back very excited about playing bank.  He even informed me that he put his money in the bank and the bank would hold it there until it he was ready to use it again.  I knew he was pretending the bent cards I gave him was money.  It is either money or train tickets.  But then he said his bank looks like a vent.  Wait a minute.  What vent?  He had put them all in the intake duct for the heater.  I wasn't too excited about that.  I wanted to dig the cards out because they are light enough to travel to the heater.  I voiced that concern to W and she ran outside the minute the heater turned on because she thought the house was going to catch on fire.  I had to reassure her a few times that I got all the cards out and tell T that I was glad he told me so I could get those things out.  And here I was watching E thinking he is the one that needs to be more closely attended to.

T was in charge of the lesson for family home evening this week.  I tried to direct him to a religious topic, but he was not having that.  He couldn't get excited about those choices, but boy, he sure got excited about teaching us about batteries.  We have a cardboard tube that he calls the batteries to his train engines (kid chairs on their side).  He showed us the battery and told us the inside had brown battery acid.  Then he put the tube up to each person's eye and asked them to look inside and tell them what was in there.  Brown battery acid is the correct answer.  J and I laughed about how serious and insistent he was in teaching each one of us.

E was in charge of dessert that particular night.  W was concerned about E being in charge.  I told her I would hold up the choices and E could pick.  I held up ice cream and their Halloween pumpkins.  It was easy.  He picked Halloween pumpkins in no time flat.

Today he made a dump truck out of our IKEA chair upside down and the stuffed animal bin.  He even told me about how dump trucks have two steering wheels.  Wow.  It still amazes me about what they remember and connect.  We talked to the garbage man about 2 months ago about his new garbage truck.  It was him that told us he has two steering wheels.  I don't think we even talked about it since, but his dump truck had that exact feature.

T has been making "hand sanitizer" in the bathtub.  He has started putting himself in the tub recently.  My hubby let him do it the other night I was gone and I came home to no more shampoo and no more bubble bath.  Anyway, they were in the tub tonight making it, even E.  They all give me some hand sanitizer to put on my hands and E wanted to make sure I got some from his.  My little kid is growing up way too fast.

He also has walking up slides down pat.  He likes to load and unload dishwashers, especially the knives.  Aaaggghh!  This phase is lasting a long time.

E does not like shoes or jackets.  Another W

W told me tonight that summer is her favorite season.  Yes, yes it is very true.  Warmth and as few clothes restricting her body as possible.  I think E feels the same way.

E loves to sit in the Costco boxes I brought home.  A few times I heard silence and went looking for him, only to find him in the playroom with his blanket sitting in his box like a secure boat.

He really likes rain and is fascinated with puddles and standing in it while it pours.  Even if he has had his jacket wrestled on him by his mother.

E likes dogs lots and discovered his pjs have a dog on them.  He points to it and barks.

We watched the blue planet a bit the other night.  We couldn't find it at first so Jim put on a recent Disney movie. They didn't like the other Disney movie and wanted to change it so we found blue planet on the ipad that doesn't have red pigment at the moment and they were enthralled.  Even E, who isn't too much of a tv fan as far actually watching stuff.  When we switched it to the big tv with regular color, E ran up to it smiling and pointing, then stood right in front.  Until the sharks swam fast.  Then he ran away and stood near mommy for a bit.

T likes to play little owl.  He puts on different colored owl feathers.  Pajama feathers, sunday clothes feathers, play feathers.  He likes to hoot a bunch and E copies.

They have been playing dump truck.  An invention of T.  He informed me today of where the exhaust pipes and bumpers are on the over turned chair.

W picked hide and seek as the activity for FHE.  E loved it and ran around looking for everyone.  He roared at the kids like I do to scare them when they found him in the hiding spots.

I had a bunch of night time engagements last week and left as soon as J walked in the door for four out of 7 nights.  So when J walked in the door in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, E ran to me and started crying.  He thought I was leaving and Papa was staying.

But then as soon as he heard the key in the door today turn, he smiled and started yelling Papa before the big kids.

T and W started talking about friends one morning.  They were taking turns discussing who was who's friend and why or why not.  And then there are kids that are "sometimes my friend"  whatever that means.  Then T asked W if one of his friends was her friend and she said no.  So he said, "well, I like to go wherever you go.  Do you, Whitney, like to go wherever I go?"         No response.       Change of subject completely.

Another game they both play is Good Dedo and Good Dedo in Dedo land.  W was playing that Dedo was swinging on vines (her hair was the vines), then T tried the same thing with his Dedo in Dedo land.  "But oops!  Too short!" and he pulled on his own hair.

Rapidly putting Pez in bed before "Alicia gets home from young woman's"

Pez getting 5 movies

W making a fall leaf bouquet

E following and helping W

"blue hair man".  T was running and up and down the hallway with this on, pronouncing blue hair coming and then ripping it off his head saying he got a hair cut because he needed one

E stuffing himself in the basket.

a snake coming out of her burrow

Look!  A snake coming out of her burrow

T getting a pic of E

after E his next photo subject was "little pez" 

W mummifying her friend at the harvest party

E walking off with the pumpkins supposed to be used for pumpkin bowling

The fall color can be breath taking sometimes

Individual shot with fall collor

T in the fal

E with fall color under duress of being locked up



E playing with tongue depressors, but I got the pic because I love baby knees and thighs

 Videos of stuff that make us laugh at E.  Dragging a pot around the house and laughing so hard at getting the pumpkin pulled out of his shirt.  When we replayed it he laughed at the sound of him laughing

writing so soon again because of Maniac

E opening and closing doors. 

E sneaking into the tent

W waking up in the tent

T pretending to be Mr. Carp.   He put fish in the cabinet for me to "buy" and instructed me which words to say to him

E loves these chairs right now

T helping W balance on her new bike

W making her costume

Only W and E can brush teeth at the same time.  It is too close physical contact for boys to be on the same stool and not push each other

E

W made the correct height piano bench for herself

T loves to use the ruler as a speed bump for his car, measure the lengths of his car and see if his ruler is "camoflauged" (same color as his car).  E uses for its real purpose.

T getting the window wet

E loves this little ghoast

I can't believe this new trick E pulled today, that I actually will blog much sooner than I have been lately.  He walked up a slide.  Like he was walking up a steep hill.  No hands on the sides.  Agghh!!.  No worries.  I had my hands right around his little hips if there was a stumble, so I couldn't record it.  But I wanted to.  This slide is a metal old school slide with a two inch side rail, around 18 inches wide and goes to 5.5 high.  It is one reason he likes wearing real sole shoes.  He was so impressed with himself.  He didn't even pause at the top.  Probably because there is no side rail at the top and he had to walk a little bit farther so he wouldn't fall.  And he didn't!  It is crazy.

He has us laughing when he "tickles" the table.  He does just that.  Says "tickle tickle tickle" and moves his hand just like he is tickling the table.  Then he laughs at his own joke.  How is that not funny.  Probably to anyone who is not his adoring mother.

He also loves to play chase.  Shrieks in laughter.

He is starting to be understood by T and W, not just me.  For the words hot, shoe, "side", fuzzy, tickle, and sock.  T and W even told their friend Grace all about it.

I asked T and W who their best friend was last week.  W told me Milli and T told me Grace.  Don't ask me how this came about.  I was so surprised too.  Grace is a neighbor and she is 7.  I''ve never had her over, thinking they wouldn't like playing together, but for some odd reason they do.  I think Grace will get tired of their games in a year, but we'll take it while it lasts.

I washed the outside of my windows with soap for the first time in 4 years.  I've only powerwashed them before.  We actually had a lot of fun.  T put in the soap.  Way too much of course.  So he made "bubble tracks" as in train tracks.  There were bubbles all over the driveway and in E's hair. 

We worked around the house together and it was so fun!  They accidently got bubbles on a bug that was trying to walk away from all their fun.  That was hysterical.  "Mom!  Look at the bubble bug!!"  The poor thing was seriously weighed down and slow moving from the cold air.  But he eventually got away.

The next window I screamed really loud when I wasn't expecting two bugs stuck on the wrong side of the screen.  E thought that was the funniest.  He started screaming too.  He likes to scream to copy us.

Our neighbor has a cat that let the kids get close to it.  E really wanted to copy the sound of it over and over.  T loved petting it and wanted to get a cat I'm sure.  Nope.  It is sooooo nice to have less medicine and sniffing around here.

W has started looking forward to YW two days early now.  Just so they can watch movies.  No worries.  Winter is setting in and they will be able to watch more TV.  You would think they are deprived.

Video.  E usually laughs, fake laughs, and jumps up and down sitting in these chairs, but he just sat and read books.  He likes the animal noises at the moment.

T discovered that the heater vents are "good phones Mom". So he and W spent part of a morning yelling at each other through the vents.

Video: I think it is so cute how E pushes his cars around.

Video:  who hasn't made ice cream on their bikes

october!!

The first day of October was perfect.  It was pretty cool air wise, but the sun came out the second half of the day so we went outside to play!!!

I asked W what her favorite part of the day was and she said playing at the park.  But she wasn't too happy about keeping her shoes on the whole time.

T said his favorite part of the day was playing trains at Tai's house. 

They also mentioned snack at learning box school of bread pizza.  I guess Tai's mom spreads pizza sauce and lets them put on cheese.  They get very excited about that snack.  They told me about it both times.

A woodpecker totally ran into our window and knocked himself out.  I thought he was dead and was going to remove him, but the kids noticed he started to come to.  It took him about 20 minutes to get his bearings but he did revive and took off as soon as he was able.  We were in a semi circle around him admiring him.  E really wanted a touch, but no.  Mean mama. 

I told T and W today was the day we were going to decorate for Halloween.  They thought that meant that Halloween was tonight.  Oh dear.  So we have had about 10 discussions about when is going to be.  The count down has started.

I think some of my favorite decorations this year include a web by the front door.  Everyone helped create it together.  It is so festive feeling.  And the spider hanging above the kids' toilet.  It falls about 6 inches above their head.  They think it is funny.  I did a lot of explaining about how they can't pull on it and the toilet lid always has to be down.  Otherwise Papa will not think this is a funny decoration at all.  It is definitely a big enough spider to clog the toilet.

We went to the fish hatchery, got apples fresh from an orchard and looked at the stars and the moon all in one day.  It was so much fun.  I can watch those salmon jump for hours.  It really helped that it was actually sunny. 

T and W are mad that I hid their flip flops and summer clothes.  They keep insisting it is warm.  It isn't.  I keep telling them that there are cold days that are also sunny.  They don't believe me.  Impossible.

T's favorite activity during a mommy time is checking a car for shocks.  He discovered this with his toy cars.  The cars from Chevoron with the eyes bounce up and down.  So he went to check all his other toy cars.  His die cast chevy Tahoe does not.  Mommy's car does.  E's plastic bike does not.  He already knows that Papa's car has shocks because he noticed them, bright blue, below the truck.

To prep for General conference we set up the tent.  Watching conference was a little too fun and exciting last year, so this year I told them they could sleep in the tent in the house the two nights of General conference.  T was so excited he couldn't wait to sleep.  Which means he didn't sleep at all.  It was pretty cool though, that it hasn't been cloudy and the moon was shining in the window and on the tent.  Almost like outside.  They loved the pumpkin lights on while in the tent.  T put Pez in the hammock (pocket) of the tent.

We went to a fire house open house together.  This year it was really fun.  Or it was the fireman that was there helping.  He got out the jaws of life and showed him how it works, as well as the thermosensor.  Ummmm, how cool is that.  They also set oil on fire on a stove and showed what happens when the oil gets close to the end of burning.  It was very exciting.  They had CPR dolls and I showed them what I was doing at my CPR course last weekend.  But when I asked them what the favorite part of the day for them was, they said the park. 

spider web and orange light ready

pumpkin lights and tent

spider above toilet

E sniffing dahlia

E checking on garden

T and W next to him in fire truck

plugging ears when alarm sounding

T was not shy answering questions of the fire fighters and trying out how stuff worked

T looks pro already.  All that watering of the garden and washing the car.  This is easy

The awesomest playground ever  Almost as good as the dennis the mennis park

Zip line too??!!