It was especially cute when they went walking around the neighborhood in just their diapers, holding hands.
If they were going outside in the States, they would have all been bundled up and moving like penguins.
The heat was a little less welcome for Vivian this week, since she had her P.E. Celebration of Learning where the parents are invited to see the "greatest hits" of the P.E. class. They started on the track running a quarter mile. Vivian's goal was to run and not walk at all, and she made it.
Her face was pretty red by the end, but, luckily, the next part was in the shade. She went through stations where she practiced basketball, "volleyball" with a beach ball, and other throwing and hitting types of activities. Her favorite part of the day was the obstacle course, which was inside the biggest gym.
Even though it was inside, they ran through it several times, so that kept her face good and red. The last activity was a friendly version of dodgeball. There were two classes playing against each other, but instead of hitting the other kids, they had to hit cones and pins on top of stacks of mats.
For the final round, they invited parents to come and help their child's class. Vivian was so thrilled to have me playing with her, and I was so thrilled that I actually managed to hit one of the pins, so it was a nice way to end a fun activity. I'm really impressed with all the things they're learning in P.E., and what a good job the teachers do of keeping it entertaining.
Saturday was the King's birthday, but the only one of us who really has a yellow shirt is Elena. It makes sense for her to be the one showing Thai pride though, since she's lived in Thailand more of her life than she has in the U.S..
We had a fun morning hanging out with the girls, and then Jeff and I headed downtown for his office holiday party and a staycation. Since it was the King's birthday, we weren't sure if roads were going to be closed and how traffic would be, so we thought it was best to get there early and get a room. It was at the Anantara Siam, which is a very fancy hotel. The lobby is pretty anyway, but they also had lots of shiny Christmas decorations up, which helped with getting in the spirit.
I especially liked the ceiling.
There was also a beautiful mural on the stairs up to the second floor.
Our room wasn't ready yet, so we walked around in their shopping courtyard which was off the lobby. This was also lovely and decorated for Christmas with different themed trees sponsored by different businesses.
Some were more tree-like than others.
There were also some fun hanging decorations.
We only went into one store, a jewelry store that specialized in jade. I learned that jade comes in three different shades of green, which vary in quality, and that it also comes in purple, yellow, white, and black. I decided I liked the white jade the best.
The shopkeeper, aka our new best friend, offered us a 25% embassy discount and pointed out that the King's birthday was an auspicious day for a major purchase. We decided to think about it, and went to see if our room was ready yet.
It was, and it was lovely, as was the view.
That's the BTS going by, and across the street was a dirt racing track with a golf course in the middle of it. The racing track looked a bit too narrow for horses though, so we decided it was most likely for dog racing. It was a great view and very different from anything else we've experienced downtown. They also had a good double window system, so there was no outside noise. Jeff opened one of the inner windows and climbed in to explore.
One of the best parts of the room though was that it had two comfy chairs. We had brought wine and snacks for our own little pre-party, and so we enjoyed those and the view while debating whether or not to go back and buy the ring.
I lost my wedding ring many years ago, and since then I've been wearing a simple sliver band, but we're coming up on our ten year anniversary, and so Jeff and I have been talking about giving me a second chance with a fancy ring, and the white jade was not only beautiful, but also different and interesting. In the end, what with it being an auspicious day and all, we decided to go for it, so they're going to get it to the right size for me, and Jeff will pick it up next week. It made the whole trip downtown worth it.
The party itself was fun but not stellar. We're friends with most of the people who were there, and it was nice to see people who live downtown who we don't get to see as often, but the food was only okay, and they ran out of red wine early on, so none of us were terribly sad when it was over. A bunch of us went back to the lobby and its bar to continue hanging out. The lit up tree came out blue in everyone's pictures.
We all got a kick out of the interesting assortment of things under the tree too.
The lobby had a mango cocktail, which several of the ladies tried.
We had a lot of fun hanging out, but the best part was getting to sleep in the next morning. As an added bonus, one of the included breakfast egg choices was eggs benedict, so we headed back home well rested and well fed after a fun night out.
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