Blue, Blue Adventures

Every Friday is a fun day to meet fellow moms at Mommy Moments. BLUE is this week's theme so, like red, we have lots of this color in our archives but I have decided to share our recent family escapades in Eastern Thailand. In this tour, the kids enjoyed lots of new adventures including going to a cave, boat ride around the fishermen village and mangrove park trailing apart from the usual swimming at the pool and beach and biking. The top photo shows the blue boat we took to get to the mountain where the cave with a temple-like royal pavilion inside.  

Take a deep breath! We're now about to climb on the mountain top to get to the

Phraya Nakhon Cave in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. 

Doesn't look tired after climbing a very steep mountain half kilometer up. She poses close to the dry waterfalls. El Nino phenomenon dries up this waterfall.

Mountain-climbing is peanuts for this boy. He climbs with a stick as taught in their camping.

Finally we reach the Royal Pavilion in Phraya Nakhon Cave. It is said that three kings including the reigning one used to visit this cave and this pavilion was built as their resting place.

Not tired at all! From mountain-climbing, he still runs to the beach to cool down himself.

 No, he's not wearing any blue at all but just look at the blue sea and his picture below where he enjoys watching the sakura blooms falling down.

 Kuya and Baby love it here everyday.

 My boy who is already bored of me asking him for a picture-taking covers his face with his blue cap and the life-vest. And here we're on our last adventure destination for 3 days - Mangrove Trailing and Boat Riding around the Mangrove Park to the Fishermen Village.

And the last day of our retreat, we got the chance to tour around the Mangrove Park through Thailand's biggest fishermen's wharf in Pranburi.It's our first time to see fleets of ships and boats, not warships but fishing ships and boats.

Look at the blue, blue sea! The girl in blue is one of the professors' very smart daughter. From the long boat trip, this is our final destination - our last supper at a seafood restaurant on the seaside in Huahin, a town next to Pranburi where our hotel is. It's a very beautiful night out with the full moon shining over us reflecting on the blue sea..


Happy Mommy Moments, dear friends! May you all enjoy your weekend ahead.

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Traditional Thai Wedding

Hello there, dear cyber friends! Thanks for your visits when I was away for a couple of days to attend a Thai friend's wedding in the beautiful province of Krabi in the south. As I promised, I'll be posting about the Thai traditional wedding  ceremony I've  attended for the first time all throughout. I witnessed one before but only at the reception, not the traditional rites. First of all, I'd like to point out a few things I like best about Thai weddings. In most cultures I've known, gifts of any kinds (unless specified as money tree/box is preferred) are given to the couple but in Thai, most invited guests give money as present. Why I say I like this practice is that, the couples can decide well as to what things they consider necessary for them to use  or buy their money for.  They may use the money to start up a business or just save it. They can also avoid acquiring duplicated items because gift givers can't guess what others may give. It's also beneficial for the guests as they don't have to bother what items to buy and wrap and no hassle for carrying just money.

Invited guests use the invitation card envelope to put the money in to drop in this gift box. A souvenir is given to the guests after handing in their cash gift.

 Another part of the Thai traditional wedding I like most is the paying of respect to the couple's elders - usually parents and grandparents of both sides - where the elders give their blessings to the new couple in return.

Symbols of love such as wedding ring and necklaces are also given to each other like in other cultures.

And an exciting part of the wedding ritual is when the groom, together with his family, enters the bride's house with the dowry to give. He will go around the house to look for his bride. After that, the formal ceremony begins.

After the rituals, a wedding banquet is held for all the invited guests. This time, the bride and groom wear the international wedding outfits - gown and suit. I like the Thai wedding garments though. 

Doesn't my friend look so beautiful with her Thai wedding dress? Keeping one's good culture like the wearing of one's cultural identity is impressive. After the wedding rite, the newly pronounced husband and wife take photos with family and friends.

 Aren't they so sweet and a lovely couple?

In different cultures, most special occasions like wedding end up with a festive partaking of food. Thai-Chinese food was served at my friend's wedding banquet. This one is spicy lemon grass salad, one of my favorite Thai appetizers. Of course, something different is interesting.

More posts with yellows here and reds here.
 

All but RED!

Hello there, dear readers! Mommy Moments is a great meme to meet fellow mommies all around the globe so I don't want to miss it. I'm leaving in a few minutes for a long trip to attend a Thai friend's wedding in the province  but I have to rush posting my entry for tomorrow. This week's theme is RED. I don't have any difficulty digging some photos with red as this color is one of the family's favorites.

Hubby chose this red stroller before we got the blue one.

And this red walker.

What about this red minicar?

Red crib and Baby Einstein, LOL:)

We also love red carpet.

JoRed loves red, of course.

Our huggable red bears...

And, oh, we're all pizza monsters!  Most pizza boxes here including our fave Pizza Company's are usually red.

So got to go now. I promise to bring you fresh photos of a Thai wedding ceremony and fine beaches in the south of Thailand. I'll visit you back on Sunday, promise.

 More posts with red at Mommy Journey. 

Dating Couples at Night

We purposely went to my workplace just close to our condo on our evening family walk to see how these geese and ducks are at night-time. So sorry we woke them up with the camera flash and here they are, geese and ducks caught coupling, now romping on the pond-side - complaining of our intrusion to their peaceful dating. My kids including my baby were so delighted to see them and hear their whining sound.  The kids were supposed to feed the turtles and fish in this pond but we were rather late.
More Watery Wednesday posts here and Outdoor Wednesday posts  here.

Rebalancing priorities

 Sometimes, I spend too much time in front of the computer, while I know my kids need my time and attention. I feel some kind of guilt as I get reminded of this wonderful story of a dad who learned a big lesson from his life's tragedy. This life-changing story below I gladly share to fellow parents is from RexBarker@Joke-Of-The-Day.com.

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. "That's my son over there," she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide.

"He's a fine looking boy," the man said. "That's my son on the swing in the blue sweater." Then, looking at his watch, he called to his son. "What do you say we go, Todd?"

Todd pleaded, "Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes." The man nodded and Todd continued to swing to his heart's content.

Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his son. "Time to go now?"

Again Todd pleaded, "Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes." The man smiled and said, "Okay."

"My, you certainly are a patient father," the woman responded.

The man smiled and then said, "My older son Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year while he was riding his bike near here. I never spent much time with Tommy and now I'd give anything for just five more minutes with him. I've vowed not to make the same mistake with Todd.

"He thinks he has five more minutes to swing. The truth is . . . I get five more minutes to watch him play."

(This is Rex Barker reminding you that in life it is critical to prioritize your values. Look at where you are spending most of your time. Now ask yourself, what are the most important things to you. If the two dont match, then you have a big disconnection in your life. Try to rebalance them, and your divine soul will start to truly feel happy.)

Thanks a lot for the reminder, Rex Barker. I'm learning a lot of lessons from you and they're worth sharing.

Kids' Transition, Curiosity, Learning and Guidance

Hey, it's Mommy Moment's day again! Sorry, my post is rather late but not too late. I just got back home from  a 3-day family get-away. Thanks for the long holiday here we're able to spend a meaningful bonding with family and friends longer without any worries of work backlogs and so on. We simply did enjoy!
This week's theme is yellow. It's good I have unearthed some pics from my archives. The first photo shows my two kids enjoying ice-skating at Mall of Asia. It's a birthday treat trip for my son who was then celebrating his 8th birthday. As we promised them to have a party until their 7th birthday, their birthday celebration afterward would just be optional. So usually we travel to a certain place to mark their special day. It was on his 8th birthday that he and his ate were able to go to Tagaytay, AUP, Mall of Asia, and to visit their cousins in Silang, Cavite. In this way, we make their birthday more memorable and meaningful by associating it with people and places they get to see or visit for the first time each year. My daughter's 9th birthday, for example,  10th birthday was her first time to go to the Hundred Islands.

My eldest in yellow with friends sat on the ground at a potluck.

Still playing bubbles here.Now no more kids' toys asked only computer games and videos and  they seldom want to go with us voluntarily when I and dad go somewhere or even to family outing. They used to. They have now their own choices and decisions. Tsk! How time flies... We will surely miss the being child in them.

Look, she's still wearing character dress here. But lately, she already warned me that she doesn't want me to buy any character stuffs for her anymore.  Even my son also asked me not to buy him any Superman, Batman or any character shirts anymore. Whew, what a transition for me and my kids! Uh-oh!

Good we have a pahabol baby after 10 years. He's 2 months old here.

No, he's not a girl. Just growing long hair as he's still malikot for a haircut.

His day won't be complete without browsing on his fave yellow book, Petting Farm. We have to take it with us whenever we leave home longer such as a weekend or holiday get-away to calm him down if he has tantrums. It is advisable to take something familiar for the baby whenever we go somewhere. At  our get-away just yesterday, we found out that a page of his most favorite book is already broken. This is what his it has become.

But it's okay if his books wear down and are torn as long as he develops the love for reading at early stage just like his ate and kuya. It's worth investing for something worthwhile like books.

His battery-operated motorcycle with an elephant driver is now out of order, too. Both rear wheels were broken.

And what a pity for this swimming duckling! He used to play with this when he was 5 months. Where have his eye and arm gone?  SIL Edna who bought all these toys said that he's a builder, not a destroyer (as his siblings brand him). I agree with SIL because I read somewhere that kids in Japan are appreciated if they destroy their toys as it shows their curiosity of things that will lead them to build or invent something later. Does it mean that both my boys are curious creative builders? Hehehe! They have destroyed a lot of toys, just a few of them have been spared. Hope they will really become builders someday.

Oh, kids grow, change and learn each day! But it's all up to our guidance and provision as parents what we want them to be. The wise King Solomon advises us parents to "train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."

More Mommy Moments posts with yellow here. Happy weekend everyone!

Eye-catching reds at my workplace

Here's a cool place to hang around at breaktime, a snack bar that offers its own freshly baked pastries and cakes and iced drinks. The well-maintained place with blooming hanging plants and cozy atmosphere is a famous hang-out for university employees and students for its espresso, cappuccino,  etc. and snack goodies.

Love their idea for this bright and colorful fence.

My department is moving to this new building soon and we'll be very close to this cool snack bar.

This multi-million building was inaugurated last week during the KMUTT's 50th Golden Jubilee Celebration.

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who was born on a Saturday, inaugurated the new building, thus, these purple flags with the country's flag are seen on all the roads she passed.

More posts with reds here.