A Daily Summary

Not really a blog post because I don't have any point to make, but I figure that a year from now it might be nice to know what we did today. Last night all four kids slept together in one room, which I feel better about than having two of them sleep in the queen size bed downstairs. They bolt all the windows and shutters, and lock the door from the inside. We leave our door unlocked in case any of them need to come into our room during the night. That's pretty much the condition we stayed in until 9:00AM... And then we still didn't do much until 11AM, when Deacon, Tyson, and I brought back omelettes and rice from our favorite restaurant. It is so nice to have this house because we can eat together around our own table, and have our own supply of filtered water. So, after such a late start we were ready to go, right? Nope. We sat around and read, played cards, and napped until 3:30PM!

At which time we headed to the beach. Deacon didn't want to go but after a few minutes he was having a blast and Heather had to hold him back from going too deep.

After an hour or so, we headed home and showered the salt water off of our swimsuits. I am really going to miss this bathroom and its view of the trees and cliffs. Yesterday morning we heard an eerie sound as a troup of dark-faced, white furred monkeys went swinging through the trees outside. At first we didn't know what was happening because the calls were coming from all over and sounded like underwater noises, like dolphins calling to each other.

This was our one appointment, at our favorite restaurant for a supper of naamtok that we'd arranged the previous day. These people are seriously the best. When we were picking up breakfast this morning, the guy taking the photo sat us down while we waited and gave us a dessert from his own lunch. It was rice-jelly gummie worms with slices of mango in a soup of sweetened coconut water, that he had just bought from a passing vendor.

Then when we went back this evening, they set out plates of banana and dragon fruit, and some sweets made from bean-jelly, all for free. They are always fussing over our family and taking photos with us and saying how cute or handsome everyone is. We wanted to give them some more business so after supper we ordered a pineapple naampan (fruit, ice, and sugar water smoothie) and a mango lassi. A lassi is new for me and I think it has a middle eastern influence. It is a naampan with the addition of yogurt and I loved it! The yogurt gave the shake more substance and toned down the sweetness of the mango a little. But my favorite part about a mango lassi: the kids didn't care for it, so I got more than my usual share. On our way home we also stopped to sample two rotis that were flavoured with lime juice and sugar. It was good but not as good as Chiang Mai, especially because they are 4X's the price here.

Here is the old lady at the restaurant asking Deacon for about the 20th time if he wanted to go live with her. I waited until she had left before translating just to save her the heartache of seeing him shake his head.

Speaking of heartache, Deacon spotted this in the sand and wanted me to take a picture of it (ok) and asked me to post it on our blog (ok) for auntie Jewel to see (WHAT???). I'm hoping he's just trying to contribute to the funny-signs he saw in our last blog post; because if he meant any more to it than that, it will have ruined an otherwise perfect day.

Ella says I need to write "j/k" at the end of that.

I'm trapped on an island of traitors...

- C