Central World Adventure

Since the King's birthday was on a Saturday, this Monday is the observation holiday.  Central World is doing a Disney themed Christmas display (appropriate since Walt Disney and the King share a birthday), and we thought it would be fun to take the girls to check it out and let them pick some Hanukkah presents at Asia Books.  The holiday meant there was no traffic going downtown, and getting there relatively early meant parking wasn't a problem either.

We had a fun walk along the skywalk to get from the parking side of the mall to the display side.

We decided not to take the stroller this time, and Elena was a champ.  I think she liked the freedom, because she walked quickly, swinging her arms, with a big smile on her face.  The display plaza brought her up short though and got the reaction we had been hoping for.

It was a combination of Disney and a pink flower explosion for what I think was either a sunscreen or a lotion company.

There were tons of great places to take pictures, so we started on the pink side where both girls ran for the merry go round that didn't go round, but looked pretty.

We hadn't planned it, but Vivi's shirt went perfectly with the flowers.

There was even a bench for us to sit on with the flowers in the background.

Then we migrated over to the Disney side.

Elena was so excited, it was difficult to get her to stay still for pictures.  She kept running off.  Luckily, in this one, she ran towards Jeff, so he caught her before she got too far.

Elena was also very concerned about the Donald egg in this display and kept saying, "Oh no, Donald.  Oh no."

I think it's supposed to be an Easter egg basket.  Thailand is a Buddhist country, so I'm going to give them a free pass on keeping the Christian holidays straight.

We also found a fun Bangkok sign.  That's Vivi's face looking through the letter O.

By that point we were getting hot and were ready to go back into the mall.  We had already found some of the 999 painted elephants on display.

We thought they were awesome, but we also got a kick out of the "chocolate" bears.

The big open area at the end of the mall is always elaborately decorated, and the Disney theme carried over, including a floating castle.

We admired it from many angles on our way up to Asia Books and the kiddie play area.  The girls looked over all the books before making their decision.

Elena also tried out pretty much every seating option.

Once they made their selections (illustrated classic stories, Inside Out feelings book, and a My Little Pony book with toys to share), we went around the corner to the play area.  Vivi went right for the big slide, but Elena got distracted by a parking lot of kid-sized push cars.  They were free to use, you just had to give your ID and sign one out.  I did the paperwork, while Jeff took Elena for a ride.

The coolest part was that the little handle that Jeff is holding at the top was actually the steering mechanism, so he could turn the car from up there.  She did not appreciate being stopped for a picture though.  She played in that for a while, and then realized she was missing out on sliding, so we turned the car back in.

Vivian was a super big sister, and escorted Elena up the stairs and down the little slide.

We let the girls have quite a bit of play time to work up their appetites, and then took them over to a Mexican restaurant called Mejico.  Jeff has been craving Mexican food, and this place advertised fresh guacamole which is something Vivian and Elena both like.  By that point Elena was worn out enough that she was happy to just sit and have some water.

They guacamole ingredients came quickly, and the waitress mixed it together at the table for us.

I also got paella, which Elena interpreted as something with rice, which meant she would eat it.  Both girls ate their fill and were happy and well behaved, which may be a restaurant first for us.  We decided to head home while we were still on a good streak, and had a smooth traffic free drive home.  It was a nice, easy outing, and it helped us get in the holiday mood.

Great Start to December

We're trying to get in the holiday spirit, but it can be a bit challenging to do in 90 degree weather.  Still, we know we shouldn't complain, and we try our best to enjoy it.  Elena is probably enjoying it the most, since she doesn't know any better.  She and her buddies did diaper fashion for their water play date this week.

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.