Ian's Birthday Weekend - OMG he's 44!!!!

Birthday lunch next to the lotus field

a healthy bowl of noodle, fish ball soup - that I nearly killed myself on by adding too much chilli - really should have learned by now... Ian loved it (and added tonnes more chilli than me!)

In the evening we went to watch Nick as an Ugly Sister in Cinderella!!! (Nick, Lu, Polly and Tilly came out with us to Thailand from Bere Alston, Devon, and are fab fab friends!!)

Yes it got worse! Ian had a fab time heckling then Nick got revenge and pulled him up on stage!

Pantomime followed by a very colourful ladyboy cabaret!!!

The following morning we recovered with a good breakfast!

This is our new golden truck called Hugo! We have Thai driving licences now after telling the difference between blue, green and red when pointed to on a chart, pushing a foot pedal on the ground when a light turned red and managing to get two pieces of plastic lined up - we are now allowed to drive in Thailand without even going near a car?!

After breakfast we headed off to 'Zign' where the girls swam and played for hours...

Whilst Ian came to grips with his first day of being 44!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!

November in Thailand!

Amber and her new friend Erika (yellow t-shirt) at the cross country competition - she managed to come in 11 places higher than last time - once she realised she didn't have to wait for her friends and she could run!

Poppy in true lady like fashion!

Seafood restaurant in Rayong - Pineapple shakes were fab!

...as was the seafood!

Sunday spent on the beach... (Ian's first weekend off in 3 weeks - so definitely needed!)

At a restaurant on the beach in Rayong - beer in hand, sunsetting.....in November?!

Unfortunately the BBQ shirt came with us - returning to the country it was bought from some 10 years ago?!

My mad girls!

Lunch the previous weekend in Pattaya - not bad!

Poppy managed to stay still long enough to have these put on - I was practising!

This weekend just gone we had a wonderful seafood meal on the beach, again in Rayong sitting at low tables all food cooked on the little clay BBQ's in the foreground - wonderful!

In conclusion - finding it very difficult to believe we are nearly in December and Ian's birthday is this Friday?! Shopping at Macros this week to Jingle Bells was wierd! I have had my hair dyed and cut - asking in Thai for a 'boy cut' - she thought it was hilarious - was there for 2 hours being coloured, shampooed, head massage - and then 'steamed' which was a new one on me! All for the bargain price of £14!

Christmas presents going in the post today - all little tokens please don't get excited! Off to get a fake tree today - I hate the idea but needs must!

Still enjoying life here - miss friends loads and must skype more - sorry everyone! Take care!

Successful day!

Poppy discovered she could be a super hero in pants....

after creating our first pizzas in Thailand - one that will be repeated!

I also did my first Minx toenails for a friend and have managed to do a Zumba runthrough myself and my leg held out! All promising stuff!

How hilarious!!!!

This is a quick message as the children and I are about to create pizzas but just to let you know I Minxed my first client today - fab stuff!!! Just got an e-mail from our old neighbours to let us know that Sky News have been interviewing our landlord Matt Fiddes today - as he used to be Michael Jackson's bodyguard at some point!!! How funny! Can't wait to see!!! Speak soon and more pictures next time - I promise (Ian has stolen the thingamajig I need!!!)

1st week of November!

This week the girls celebrated Loy Krathong in traditional Thai dress....

Had a moments silence for the flood victims in Bangkok

Then floated their Krathongs - Poppy had a top heavy one that keeled over!

The pool looked amazing after all the children had floated their Krathongs

Amber's was a more stable design!

From Baghdad trousers to.... yes my pumpking... our shipping has arrived!!!! It was too late for the Halloween evening so at a friends fancy dress cartoon party - I was the pumpkin from Cinderella (it had to happen!) Pictured here with a fab new friend Nat (otherwise known as Ali Baba)!

Beth - wonderful person that you are! I now have Minx toenails, a wonderful new funky nail varnish but most awesome a cuddly toy for Amber and Poppy and a card from Lois - everyone very happy - especially my toes....time to get the business cards printed!!

My goodness what will next week bring?! and to top it all I actually managed to download the photos myself from my phone without asking Ian once - wonders will never cease..........!!

First Thai dishes!

I have just returned from my first Thai Cookery Course - it was superb! The first dish created was Red Thai Curry and it was like doing a workout with the pestle and mortar to create the paste - the jars of paste look good to me!

Spring rolls have already been eaten - but got some brownie points as bought all 6 dishes created back home to share and Amber will be so pleased as I now know how to make 'rice soup' - the blandest thing you could eat in Thailand is one of Amber's favourite!  We ate it on the squid fishing boat in Ko Samet! (as long as its followed by apple crumble she is happy!)

Still trying to learn Thai which is hard work - thought I was doing OK the other day in a lesson and quite proudly told the teacher (in an exercise) that "I have an ant" - I was supposed to say I have a car. The trouble being both words are 'mot' - it just depends how you say it! The tones make all the difference!

Had a totally fab time learning to cook this morning and will hopefully go back and learn more - in the meantime I need to get myself to a market and source the ingredients - all good fun!

Halloween horrors!

Amber and Poppy had their first ever experience of 'Trick or Treating' this Halloween and came back with an enormous goodie bag from the boarding houses!

It was supposed to be a spider!?! (made from fruit loops cereal!)