39 - The 4th March Update

Somehow it's been nearly 2 months with no JJJJ blog update. This is due a combination of being too busy actually living to write about it, being too tired to make an update and being busy on the blogs that make money (well, a few pennies).

JJJJ are getting ready for some big changes soon. I (Jamie) will certainly hang around at Sunrise Divers a while longer. It has been a very good high season, we have had more bookings than any time before, have been doing some useful advertising, and are in the process of a website redesign. It's busy, but my salary is "OK" and I am due a bonus right about now, as I started back there on 5th March 2007 while Mama was here.

Jessica seems to be getting cleverer by the day. I think the brain does some giant leaps around this age. She suddenly started doing mental arithmetic overnight and also her reading went ballistic within a few weeks. A bit of practice and I can throw her The Hobbit to read :) (Well, maybe not quite yet).

Jessicas school year is just about to end. Graduation from Kindergarten (!) is on the 15th of this month. In May she will start in year P1 (P for Primary) at Kajonkiet school, which seems to be giving her a good education, perhaps a bit TOO much - she had 4 pages of maths homework tonight!

So, my life will be work/blogging - trying to get more money from the internet. Jessica will be a P rather than a K... the big changes will be for John and Mam.

Since Jessica was born, I don't know that Mam has had much rest. She always had kid(s) to look after. When Jessica started school, we already had John. Poor John has to ride round in the car every day to school and back and to the bank or wherever Mam has to go and she has to look after him all day. No "alone time". I have busy days at work yes, but I am not carrying bricks or slaving in the hot sun all day. My dear wife has hardly any chance to truly relax. This is about to change.

John is 3 years old now, so in May he will start Kindergarten, and maybe we'll put him in the summer class for 2 weeks starting mid March after the graduation. He will go into the Thai class, same as Jessica did - 2 reasons for this.. Language and Money. John is pretty monolingual. He is speaking a lot of English, but his Thai is very limited. We reckon he understands most things but does not want to speak Thai, so we will throw him in at the deep end. I am sure he will pick up the Thai fast. He IS surrounded by the Thai language and young kids learn languages very fast. After the first year we will probably transfer him to the bilingual school where Jessica is. It's the same school actually, but they are run quite separately.

So John and Jessica will be at school, Mam will have some free time, I will try to work my butt off.. and we'll see what happens.

I am 39 today. I just wrote about this on my "weather blog" (which sometimes strays off topic). 39 seems suddenly old. Much older than 38. I am beginning my 40th year. Time to make something of life. Not for myself, but for my family. I can't begin to express my love for my wife, for my 2 children. Mam and I love our kids so much. Would be nice to have some more time just for the 2 of us. That's why I am trying to expand horizons... I believe I can make a living from the internet and maybe work part time at a job. Time is the key. Work takes too much. There's not enough time.

So. Photos. I do like to take photos! It runs in the family. Let's stop this writing and look at some photos of the J's taken over the last couple of months.





(above) Jessica and John in the Pool at "Land and House Park"


(above) John helps to clean a cupboard


(above) Jessica modeling her plasticine art

Oh, another major change... look at John before, and John now... We took him for a haircut on 27th January. Goodbye to the baby boy with long hair. Hello Big Boy. You can't call him a baby now, he will tell you "No, I'm a Big Boy". It was hard - he looked so sweet with that long hair, but he's a boy!

 
 
(above) You can see he was not sure at first, but now he loves his short hair :)

Meanwhile... As John was getting a haircut, we let Jessica get pampered. There is a beauty salon right next to Sunrise Divers, which is where the J's got taken care of.


 


(above) I am a BIG BOY!

 
(above) Our girl hard at work. She does seem to get a lot of homework. I don't recall having homework when I was 6.



(above) Jessica getting hatty

We've been out to markets recently - the "Weekend Market" and the Chalong Temple Fair. The kids enjoyed looking at things, playing about.. but not for long. The markets are rather crowded and hot, quite tiring for kids. Still, John was very happy we bought him a Spiderman outfit at the temple fair!

 


 

Valentines Day... Sorry, but this does not mean much to me. Another way for us all to spend money. Anyway, on Valentines Day, I managed to shut up shop (very) early and we went to eat at Laem Hin Seafood. Nice evening.





We've also been back to "Bang Rong" recently - there's a floating restaurant in the mangroves, nice people and we'll be back - see photo below of Jessica looking out of the restaurant.



Last week we went up Buddha Mountain again for the Nth time. A 45m high Buddha is being built there, heading towards completion now. We first went up before the construction began. It's a favourite spot. Photos below taken there.


(above) Dad, Jessica and John - we are sitting at a little restaurant up on the hill near the Big Buddha.


John knows how to "Wai", but actually you don't need to Wai a statue.


(above) John sits next to a Buddha image which is actually behind the "Big Buddha".


(above) Closer look - John is trying to copy the stance of the Buddha.


It's March 2008. Jamie is 39. Jessica will be 7 in July. John is 3, Mam is just over 30 - and will be a year older on April 18th. We are the 4 J's. Thank you.