A Girls Get-Away

Here I am with my two precious girls getting ready for a night on the town! We got to attend a home school conference in Thailand in mid-February. We had a couple of nights in Bangkok on the way so we got play a bit. I love my girls and getting mommy/daughter time with them and was so thankful for this opportunity. I also love home school conferences! I need one each year to give me fresh ideas, remind me of things I know to do but have been slacking and pick the brains of moms ahead of me in the game to begin thinking and preparing for the next year and years ahead. I have about 10 mom friends that I am always asking questions to - "What is your favorite book you have read this year?" "What have you done to bless your marriage recently?" "Tell me what a typical day looks like in your house?" "Give me tips on time management." "How do you get it all done?" And so on. I love to learn from those with children a bit older than mine and am so thankful for opportunities to get together with lots of moms and bug them with all of my questions:).

The girls insisted that our first stop in Bangkok be Outback Steak house! So, being the good mom I am (and with a craving for their cheese fries dipped in honey mustard) I gave in and took the girls to the Outback. It was so funny because they talked it up for months and then when we got there Manon ordered soup and Henna Mac and Cheese. I cracked up and asked what the big deal about the Outback was - they both looked at each other and said, "THE BREAD!" I agree.

Here we are at Krispy Kream in Bangkok. Since it opened in September there has been a line out the door and around the block. On this night the line was just out the door a bit so we decided to get in line for donuts (Something we could never talk Monty into doing with us so it was good it was a girl trip:). We bought a box and managed to eat all of them before bed that night!
We got to spend an afternoon with the girls best friend Hope. Here they are in front of the Chinese New Year decorations in front of the Paragon in BKK.
I really liked the schedule of this home school conference. Each day we were out by 3:00 p.m. and had two hours to spend with the children before dinner. We tried the pool the first day but there was more algae than water so we decided to skip it for the remainder of the week and plan other things. On this afternoon we made paper air planes to sail off the balcony at the hotel.
Manon got to make a poster about a famous astronaut and present it during one of the evenings of the conference. She had her own little booth for people to come by and ask her questions. I really liked how this conference involved the kids in everything. The elementary grades made a poster to display, jr high kids made a model of a space craft and high school did a power point presentation about a mission. We did all of the work at home before coming. It was a great project for Manon and great for her to really learn her stuff and then be able to talk to people as they admired her work about Neil Armstrong and his life. I was so proud of her!

Don't forget Oak!
Even though it was a girls get away Oak got to come along since his milk was going on the trip:). He was so sweet and such a good baby. Here he is with Henna in the airport. She was right by my side ready to push the stroller, hold Oak and do anything else Oak related. Manon, on the other hand, kept her eyes on our passports, flight times, gate numbers etc. Several people came up to me telling me how brave I was to travel internationally with 3 children and my husband not with me. I just laughed and said, "This is easy! You should see me with all 5!"


I only set out with my Ergo baby carrier, which I love. But, after our first flight I realized I could NOT hold Oak for the next week so I bought a $12 stroller during a 5 hour lay over. After I got it I was so frustrated at how short it was and having to slump over to push it but then realized it was the perfect height for the girls! So, it ended up being a great investment and made it so that I did not have to hold Oak during every meal, nap time etc. Although, he never got the hang of sleeping in this stroller and had two teeth come in at the end of the week so there were a few fussy moments. Oak was almost 4 months during this trip.