Photos of the J's end of May 2008

Got a bit busy recently, what with having 2 kids at school now, the days kind of fold into each other sometimes during the week. I had plenty of holiday at the end of April and in early May, but now it's all work, school, housework and trying to find a few hours to do something fun, and trying not to sit at the computer every night! John and Jessica seem to be doing plenty of learning at school, John is now picking up Thai, Jessica keeps getting top marks at maths and I think now she really is learning that there is a time to work/learn/study and a time to play.

Around the end of last month we didn't go far. I had wanted maybe a weekend at Krabi or a day at Phang Nga or Khao Lak, but the price of diesel put me off.

So here's a few pics of John and Jessica....

 



 

 

We often head up to "the dam" - Bang Wad Reservoir is not far from our house, just a couple of miles. The kids like to play around there.




(above)kids in the back of the truck before going to the dam



 
(above) Jessica jumping, John and Richard also playing on the rocks







John tries rock climbing (with help from Jessica)

 

John Dancing - School Show at Big C Supermarket

Today has seen something new for us. John has been dancing in public with other children from his class at a little show at the "Big C" superstore in Phuket. They've been practicing for a couple of weeks, though of course a bunch of 3 year olds are unlikely to remember all the moves! So without further ado or boring chat from dad, here's some pics...

 
(above) Before leaving home




(Above) At Big C before the dance

And here's the big video...

 

John Singing

Let's try video again... I downloaded "Windows Media Encoder". Should compress the file to a manageable size... John Singing "Drive" by Incubus

 

More May Photos

May was a good month. I took most of the month off, being low season. Jessica and John to school, a bit of time for Mam and I together, and we got plenty done. It's June now, all back to normal. I am working hard on a new webdesign at work, kids are into the school routine, though none of us is into the "getting up really early" routine.

We had a long weekend on the 17th - 19th May. Monday 19th was Visaka Bucha Day, also known as the Buddha's birthday. It's a public holiday in Thailand. We went various places over the weekend...

On the 17th we took a little drive, as we often do... The weather was great, as it often is in low season. We'd not been to Kamala for ages. Kamala Beach is north of Patong beach. It took the full force of the tsunami on December 26th 2004. You can see a photo of the temple in the tsunami on this page on my Phuket blog: Kamala Temple. We had been on the beach on December 25th 2004 with some friends and their kids. Jessica was 3, John was a very large belly. He was born 2 weeks later. I have now stopped thinking "what if", but could be we were saved by 24 hours.

17th May was sunny and warm. Kamala was all but deserted - see more on my weather blog.

 

John's expression in the second photo almost seems to show that he knows what happened here. Near miss for you, John. Not sure a 9 month pregnant Mam could have run that fast. We are happy every day when we see our kids.

On the 18th we visited Paradise Beach. Great spot. Safe, clean, nice beach, cheap food, cold beers. Jessica and John love it.



 

 

Jessica enjoyed swinging on the ball. John hunted small hermit crabs with some local kids. We like Paradise beach in the low season. Back again soon!

On The Buddha's Birthday we took ourselves up Buddha Mountain where the huge Buddha statue is being built. We've been up there many times. One day the 45m high Buddha will be complete!

 



More JJJJ News soon!