Lets Go Kiddo

We are off, in just a little bit, to go on our one big summer outing.  We are headed out for Hua Hin in a few hours and we will have a few days at an AirBnB that is right on the beach.  Literally 20m from the beach.  So, we are excited for a few days of sun, fun, and doing a bunch of nothing. Nanny Beer is driving us and joining us as well.  Not as child care, but as our driver and guest.  We hope that she’ll have a drink or beer with J and myself during this, but if she would rather just do her own thing… Then power to her.  I wish I could go back to when I was in my 20s and get a free vacay to do what I wanted.  Especially in a SEA Beach town.  I’d have went off!  HA For me, I look forward to just being for a few days.  Seeing as we have an AirBnB and it’s a house, I have a kitchen and grill at my disposal.  Being able to just beach and chill, do nothing all day, and come home to cook and just play in the kitchen sounds like ...

A little more than a month ago, J and I had our anniversary dinner.  As much digital ink as I’ve already spilt on that experience, there was something in it that we’ve joked about since, but that (as of yet) undocumented in this blog. After drinks and snacks on the roof, we got a Grab and headed to Baan Tepa.  In the car, we got into a convo with our driver.  He spoke above average English and could communicate with us somewhat.  He was a nice guy and a good driver.  However, he said something that stuck with us.   If you have ever been to a SEA country, driving and honking is common.  Very common.  I think I can recall three trips where I didn’t hear honking and those were all from a year ago or when BKK was still pretty restrictive with it’s Covid rules.  I could also get a Grab into town for less than 200 baht and 20 minutes.  Now, that would be (just checked it at 3:50pm local time) over 320 baht and time quote is 46-51 minutes....

With the housing situation resolved, we can finally relax and settle into summer.  J and I got to IKEA last week to look at some things to help improve our space.  We are also looking into some new kitchen gear for me, since I’m learning and adapting to our little living space to maximize it for fullest potential.   Since we do have a month left and haven’t done much of note so far, we set about changing that.  A few days ago, J and Kiddo went to a place called Get Growing Community Farm.  It’s a learning and play place.  It’s also located on a man made island on the river, named Bang Kachao and it is a place that is set up for nature lovers and people who want to enjoy the outdoors.   Kiddo and J went and it was a bunch of muddy playing and sliding.  Rope pulls on rafts over water.  Balancing.  Learning.  Playing.  Kiddo had a great time and slept like the dead that night.  Parent win! We also made potions.  Sh...

It’s no secret that we’re looking at houses and condos as we hit the one year mark.   J, who I need to give all the credit to, has been on point and chatting with the housing agents and condo owners, renters, etc.  She’s also been looking at houses and other things like that.  It’s been a Herculean effort and we’ve seen a couple of places.  Nothing that have made us jump or want to sign then and there.  We saw a house I liked, but we’d have needed to fully furnish, including appliances.  Plus, we’d need a car or scooter to get to and from places, as Grab and other would have been expensive.  It was a nice little house in a nice area and neighborhood, so it’s a bummer that it wasn’t gonna work. We also saw some units near us and walking distance to the BTS (Train) station.  Like, a two block walk.  Talk about access.  However, it was furnished and owner was hesitant to remove furnishing, as they didn’t have space for it in their house...

Been a strange couple of days here.  Not in bad ways, but the rhythms been a bit different. Firstly, Kiddo got her second Covid vax.  That was Monday.  However, in the morning that day, she had to go with J to BASIS and do a pre-enrollment eval thing.  She counted and did some letters and that was about it.  Took 20ish minutes.  The shot was fine as well.  In typical Kiddo fashion, she was brave and didn’t cry or flinch.  The doctor and nursing staff (about 8 people all told) broke into applause when she was done.  She’s bulletproof! Tuesday was a DAY!  Lil miss slept in until almost 8am (she’s normal up 5:45-6:30 depending) and was just a puddle of emotions and not feeling 100%.  And she hardly ate.  We did get to the mall for Tuesday Kiddo and Dada lunch, but she was just subdued.  Plus, she only ate about half of lunch.  She normally eats as much as I do.  On the topic of eating as much as an adult…. I mad...