And a final mention for this morning...

Lolo and Jim have switched over. Norah and I are still mixed up and jetlagged. She woke up this morning at 3:30 and finally went back to sleep at 5:30. I couldn't fall back asleep. Hence, I'm here blogging in the bathroom. I don't think I've ever struggled so much with jetlag.

Just because Cambodia is beautiful

Some non-kid pictures...just to provide a little more flavor of Cambodia. This country is so much more beautiful than I ever imagined (and we had high expectations going into this expedition).

Final day of temple tours

Lolo is way beyond her limit for touring temples. Last night at dinner, she asked if we were going to tour any more temples. We're heading out of Cambodia this morning and flying to Chiang Mai. The girls are excited about elephant rides, swimming pools, and no more temple tours.


Here's an interesting little snapshot. We've been blessed that our tours have been usually rather solitary once you get inside. However, outside of the temples is another matter. Usually, we get swarmed by kids selling things to make a living. The children have been delightful...Jim and I have really gotten a kick out of talking to the kids....such intelligent children and then you realize that they usually do this sales schtick in not only english but also french, chinese, russian, etc. While we have bought a few small items, we have learned to ask them to sing or play a song on the flutes that they try to sell. It's a delight.

Classic Norah

Here's a classic Norah quote....after joyously stomping in puddles in the middle of a downpour this morning Norah quips "I really really soaking wet!"

Still jetlagged

Hard to believe but true. Norah and I are still jetlagged. Lolo and Jim seem to be almost switched over. Norah (and hence me) woke up this morning at 2:30am. She wouldn't go back to sleep and I tried to keep her quiet so Lolo and Jim could sleep.
In order to see the sunrise, we had a 4am wake up call. Might as well get up to see the sunrise when the internal clock is still messed up. I don't know when we're going to actually switch over, but I'm afraid it will be close to when we're supposed to head home.

Big feet

Have you ever seen such big feet on a little girl?

Our budding photographer

Lolo has been given the special priviledge of using our camera to take a few snapshots during the tours. It helps keep her occupied and interested in the tour. She's got quite a good eye for a 5 year old photographer (IMHO). Here's a sampling of her work.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

We got to Angkor Wat before sunrise. Unfortunately it was raining...however, we were very fortunate to avoid crowds (probably because of the rain).

A few more pictures (without the girls)

Just to provide a flavor of where we are...

It's simply spectacular. Asolutely beyond words.

All tuckered out

It's not a true vacation unless Norah zonks out while we're touring.

Temple Tours

We've been off touring temples. It's the tail end of rainy season...and goodness, it has been raining! There's a tour first thing in the morning (yesterday was a 6 am tour start and this morning was a 5 am tour start). Then, we head back to the hotel for breakfast and a swim.

The girls have been troopers. Lolo is clearly tired of looking at ruins. Norah is just excited about stomping in puddles and carrying an umbrella. Yesterday the girls were very excited about having a sitter so they didn't have to tour in the afternoon. We're doing the same thing today and tomorrow. Jim and the girls are out at the pool right now....swimming in a downpour!

Remork

Our tours have been via remork. Very fun, but dusty. We took the girls out with us this morning but by late morning, they were pretty much done with touring. We came back for a late breakfast, short nap, and then a quick dip in the pool. Lolo said she just wanted to stay at the hotel and color. We hired a sitter who stayed with the girls this afternoon. After talking to the girls, we decided that we'd all go tour together in the mornings and then they could stay with a sitter every afternoon and just relax.

PJ

We've got an extra friend traveling along with us. Livie and Livie Grace appear to be left in MN but Norah's pretend friend PJ has made the trip with us. Luckily, PJ seems to be a much better kid than Dadabooboo. So far, I really enjoy PJ.
Lolo always gets slightly embarrassed when we make any mention about Dadabooboo.

Greetings from Siem Reap

As you might tell from the time of this posting....we're still incredibly jetlagged. The hotel has put together a busy tour schedule for us. Upon our arrival, we had just enough time to get the girls a snack and a breathing treatment for Norah...before we hopped on our ride to tour a few temples. Poor Norah, didn't even make it to the first temple before she zonked out. Lolo was a real trooper and managed to walk and tour all three temples.

When we got back to our room, the girls were tickled to find a bath already drawn for them. Highlight of the day!

Poor Norah was still tired after her bath and barely made it through dinner. I was hopeful when we tucked the girls in about 7:30pm that we'd make it until morning. Unfortunately, Norah gave us all a wake up call a little before 3am.

So, here I am blogging. Waiting on our next tour which starts at 6:30am.

Greetings from Bangkok!

We made it. The flight was long and we're completely jetlagged. We got into our hotel room a little after 2am the first night. 33rd floor. Very nice views. The girls took a bath in an enorormous tub and Lolo expressed her approval. "I love this hotel!" Mainly because she loved the tub.

We had a late night/early morning snack. Then a quick nap. Norah was up again at about 5:30am. Ugh. So we started our day about 6:30. A nice breakfast on the river and then a trip to the hotel pool. After the pool, we decided to take the hotel shuttle boat and walked a little bit of Bangkok to find a restaurant for lunch. By the time we were done with lunch, the girls were done.

We came back for what was supposed to be a short nap. The girls fell asleep about 3pm and at 6:30 pm. Despite turning on all the lights and making a racket, I still couldn't get them up. Giving up, I let them sleep....thinking/hoping that they might get in a full 12 hours and we'd be over this whole jetlag business. Around 11pm, Lolo woke up in shocked amazement, "Mama! It's dark outside. You said we were going out!" Lots of accusations flew about how I didn't get them up. Anyway...another round of room service and a jammie dinner. We were feeling a little like the characters in "Lost in Translation"...only with kids. Then back to bed for a bit. Norah woke up at 5am this morning. I'm hopeful (knock on wood), we've turned the corner and today will be a little less exhausting.

We're on to Siem Reap this morning. Next posts will hopefully be with photos from Cambodia.

Packing day

We're gearing up to go on our big trip...leaving Saturday for a couple of days in Bangkok, then a few days in Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat, and then a week in Chiang Mai. The girls are super excited. Lolo has been itching to go on a trip....and you know, her trusty sidekick, Norah, gets excited about whatever makes Lolo excited.

Jammie Dinner

Here are two little monkeys that always put a smile on my face. In a moment of weakness, I let the girls talk me into a "Jammie Dinner". Often times, when we're not in a hurry to get anywhere in the mornings, I'll let the girls have a "Jammie Breakfast".

Tonight, we all got in our jammies for dinner. And no, we didn't have breakfast for dinner. We actually had steamed mussels and a creamy squash soup. Waffles was last night's dinner ;-)

Birthday Video Part 2

Did you think I would leave you hanging about the giant slide video? Well, here it is...my ever-so-proper-girly girls in their proper party dresses zipping down a giant slide.

Giant Slide

I've been trying to upload a movie of the girls on the giant slide at the party. Having problems with the blogger video upload tonight. I'll have to try it again tomorrow.

The slide was the girls' favorite. They must have slid down this about fifty times each. We did have a minor incident at the party. Lolo went down the slide. Norah followed behind a little too closely...Lolo didn't have time to get up and get out of the way...Norah came barreling down and popped Lolo in the cheek with her foot. Anyway, our birthday princess is now sporting a bruise on her cheek.

Video to follow sometime....

Surfboard

The other day, we had someone here working on our house in the furnace room. There was an old (clearly unused) ironing board that was moved around so the fellow could do his work. Lolo saw it and asked "Hey mom...what's that surfboard for?" She was clearly hopeful that it meant we were going surfing. Unfortunately for her, it was more evidence of her mom's distaste for ironing.

Birthday video part 1

You know it can't be a complete birthday posting without video. So here are the girls in their party attire bouncing around.

Birthday girl and her sidekick

Here's our birthday girl on the royal birthday throne. Well, the birthday girl's trusty sidekick, Norah, kind of thought it was her birthday too. Norah couldn't resist getting into the action and helping Lolo with her loot.

Birthday part 2

Well I'm a convert. No more kid birthday parties at our house. Get this. The preparation was minimal and best of all....no clean up!!!

Long Awaited Birthday Pictures

Here's the crowd that helped Lolo celebrate her birthday at Pump It Up. I've decided it's difficult to get a good picture of two kids at one time but darn near impossible to get a crowd of kids to look at the camera.

Birthday girl

Here's the birthday girl. I can't really believe she's FIVE. How did this happen?!

And the birthday girl's sister....can this monkey really be almost THREE?!
Anyway, you might have heard, we never did make it to the zoo. The girls got distracted with all their new stuff on Lolo's birthday morning. It was kind of like Christmas around here. And you know...at Christmas time, all the kids want to do is stay home and play with their new toys.

Pumpkins

We started our pumpkin project a little early this year since we won't be here for Halloween. It was a two day project. Day one the girls cleaned out the insides and on day two we thumped in these little plastic pegs and the pumpkins light up. Lolo did a cat (which she claims is a bear) and Norah did a bat (which she likes to call a butterfly). I'll try to get a good picture of the pumpkins in the next day or so. They're a good kid-friendly project....unlike our usual carved pumpkins.

Lolo's birthday week

We're celebrating Lolo's birthday week. PoPo is here visiting for the occasion. We joined Lolo at her school this morning to celebrate with her classmates. Tomorrow we've got a big day planned with an IMAX movie about dolphins & whales and a trip to the zoo. And on saturday is the big party day at Pump It Up.
So when I went to pick up Lolo from school today, she says to me "I'm so excited about my birthday year." Did you notice how my smart girl changed it from a birthday to a birthday YEAR? All this time I thought it was going to be a week of celebrating.

Counting

We, like so many parents, give a countdown before the naughty step for certain infractions. Lolo was having a tough time last night around dinner time. Having a hard time listening and following directions. I asked her to do something and she basically ignored me. Jim started to count (1...2....3) and Lolo ignored him...I ended up dragging her to the naughty step (thank goodness I'm still bigger and stronger).
While Lolo cooled off on the step....Norah who was sitting at the table eating dinner and chattering away says to us "Sometimes I count to five and nothing happens. No one listens to me either."

Have I mentioned...

Norah is starting to pick out her own clothes. She's developing her own style just like Lolo did. I'm curious to see what emerges.

Taking advantage of fall

It was absolutely gorgeous today. The girls and I decided to bike to the playground. Lolo is getting a little too big to ride in the Chariot...her poor legs are cramped up in the back. So, I decided to do a test run and see if she could actually ride the whole way on her big girl bike. (Actually, I was worried about the return trip because she's post-play and it's uphill)....and although I've seen it done, I'm not sure it's wise to connect Lolo's trailer bike and then the chariot to the back of my bike...the bike "train" seems too long and dangerous.

Lolo actually rode her bike the entire way there. And after a long hard play session (complete with snack break), we made it back home...with only one rest stop along the way. We were actually very lucky because we ran into some neighbors along the way and stopped to chat for a while.

In any event, gorgeous sunny morning. Lolo and I made chinese dumplings (the boiled version of potstickers) for dinner tonight while Norah napped. I probably should have taken pictures of her rolling out the wrappers. She's really quite skilled for a "almost" 5 year old. I was most impressed.

Do over

Sometimes I wish we could just call a "do over."
It's starting to get colder and the bugs are starting to find their way into our home. The other day, Jim and I are sitting at the kitchen table. The girls have run off to play. Suddenly, they run back into the kitchen yelling "a bug! a bug!" We calmly ask them to take care of it. You know....we don't raise sissy kids.
So they end up running after this bug...my two little girls trying to whack it...finally, we hear that they got it. Turns out. It wasn't a "bug". They were whooping on a bee.
Whew. Dodged a bullet there. Mark another one in the bad parenting column.

Couldn't help myself

We're going to be in Cambodia over Halloween. I told the girls we probably wouldn't be dressing up and there wouldn't be trick or treating this year. Well, I couldn't help myself. Lolo and I were at Target and saw these great costumes. It didn't take much pleading on her part.

Yep. I'm such a softie. At least I know the girls will wear the costumes all year long.

Pretending

A big part of our play is pretending. The girls love to pretend. This morning as I'm trying to get the girls dressed, Norah is in the midst of one of her pretend picnics and says to Lolo "Lolo pretend you're my big sister."

Another school tour

Another tour down....several more to go. Chinese Immersion is still at the top of our list. The one I toured today is no longer on our list.

Reading

As I'm tucking Norah in for her afternoon, she picks up a book and implores "Read me a book mommy. You know I can't read."

What ever happened to Dadabooboo?

Do you remember Dadabooboo? It's been a while since we've heard anything about Dadabooboo. Well, s/he has been replaced in our family. It's now Norah's turn for imaginary friends...she's got a couple...you'll never guess who her friends are....
Livie and Livie Grace
Hmmm. Guess who our Norah idolizes?

Texans

Our neighbor John (Teddy & Susie, the big black poodles, and Chubby's dad) is from Texas. The girls have talked to him and his wife a fair amount.
The other day, Uncle Ben called and I was playing the message. Jim asked Lolo, "Do you know who that is?" Lolo was very matter of fact "That's Teddy and Susie's daddy." Doh! That's E116's daddy!
You know how those Texans all sound alike ;-)