Bangkok

So, part two of our trip to Thailand was about five days in Bangkok. Everyone raves about Bangkok, and we've never really understood what the big deal is. Granted, our first time through we were completely jetlagged and grumpy and not at all excited about exploring. This time, we came with a considerably better mindset and enjoyed ourselves far more. The Thais really are friendly, wonderful people (just like Cambodians, I might add), the food is terrific, you can find any sort of food, clothing, or other item for purchase, and they have great entertainment options. But despite these attractions, it still can't hold a candle to Phnom Penh in our minds. Give us our small city with its short commutes, big housing, and small and friendly expat community over the polluted, clogged, busy, and mall-laden Bangkok anyday!

Chez Doyle
Over the weekend, we stayed with our friends Andrea and Chris Doyle and their son Max. Andrea was in Khmer language training with Nathan and me, but she uses her Khmer skills in Bangkok doing Cambodian immigrant visa applications. (Cambodians have to travel to Bangkok to apply for immigrant visas...don't ask why.) While Chris and Andrea love Bangkok, we're all disappointed that we're not in the same city since we really hit it off during training. But we had a nice time catching up over the weekend. And Ellie and Ben really loved being in a bigger space with some toys. Max, who is 1 1/2, loved having some other kids around to play with.


Grand Palace
The must-see tourist attraction in Bangkok is the Grand Palace, a complex of buildings including the ornate former royal palace, Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), and other elaborately constructed and decorated buildings.

The sites were really impressive, but the experience was somewhat lessened by the heat, throngs of people, and rather impatient children. Touring the Grand Palace was the only adult-oriented thing we were going to do all day, and I desperately wanted to get the audio guide so I could really learn about what we were seeing, but with two kids in tow I knew that I'd never be able to listen to enough of it to make it worthwhile. Good news is while we may not make it back to Chiang Mai, Bangkok is such a hub for everything here that we'll almost certainly spend more time there at another point.


Dusit Park
This lovely, manicured park seemed practically abandoned when compared to our experience at the Grand Palace the day before. I got to take a tour of the Teak Mansion while Nathan fed the kids a snack, and we all wandered around the grounds. One hidden gem was the exhibit of the King's photography. He is really quite talented, and seeing pictures of his young family from the 1960s was like seeing the Thai version of the Kennedys. We ended our time at Dusit Park by walking through the beautiful former Parliament hall, pictured below.


Travellin' in Style
As we schlepped around Bangkok in the tropical heat (note to readers: March is not the best time of year to visit Thailand) our kids remained cool and aloof. Ben relaxed under his sun shade while Mommy and Daddy hoisted his stroller up and down stairs, through turnstiles, up and down impossibly tall and narrow sidewalks...and that was in the parks! Trying to use the Sky Train and a stroller to get around town proved to be impossible, and we resorted to cheap but very long (due to bad traffic) taxi rides.

Ellie, meanwhile, was Joe Cool in her hat and shades "you don't know me" look...


Lumpini Park
Our last stop was Lumpini Park, the "Central Park" of Bangkok. (This, by the way, is one of those terribly overused travelogue cliches for any large park in the middle of a big city, just as any big city with culture and good food becomes "The Paris of.." and any metropolis with a canal system is "The Venice of...". Forgive me.) Lumpini offers a pretty lake, some paved walking trails with occassional shade, and a nice (but hot!) playground funded in part by the Rotary Club of Brooklyn Park, MN. Thanks, Rotarians! I think this was the first time Ben got to play on a real, US-style playground, and he had a blast.

Chiang Mai

We spent the first five days of our Thailand vacation in Chiang Mai, a great small city in northern Thailand. Chiang Mai was built as a walled city in 1296, and the center of the city is still surrounded by a wall and moat. Historically, Chiang Mai was an important stop on the trade route from southern China to the Burmese port of Moulmein, and today it boasts one of Asia's largest outdoor markets.

I think Nathan and I have both come to the conclusion that we're small city people, and Chiang Mai had great restaurants and terrific things to do while still being very manageable in terms of traffic, travel time, etc. There's a US consulate in Chiang Mai, and I had a chance to meet the Consul General (ie head) at a conference in September. Bea Camp, I want your job someday! (Unfortunately, so do lots of other foreign service officers!)

Wat Prathat Doi Suthep

On of the north's most sacred temples, this wat was established in the 14th century on a mountain about 16km outside of Chiang Mai. According to legend, the temple site was chosen by an elephant carrying a holy relic. Originally the relic was to be enshrined elsewhere, but it split in two. The second piece was placed on the back of an elephant which proceeded to climb Doi Suthep mountain, stopping twice. After three days the elephant finally reached a level piece of ground, circled three times, knelt down and then died. A hole was dug at the site for the relic, which was then covered with a chedi (stupa) over seven meters in height.




Wat Phra Singh

There are 300 temples in Chiang Mai--almost as many as in far bigger Bangkok. One of the most impressive of the temples within the old city is Wat Phra Singh, which dates from the 14th century and is a perfect example of the northern Thai Lanna style of architecture.


Chiang Mai Zoo

Well, you can only spend so much time looking at temples, particularly when you're travelling with two kids under three. So we deviated from the standard tourist route and went to the Chiang Mai zoo. The zoo itself was great, but on a Monday it was virtually empty and the bus system ran so rarely as to be an impractical way to get around. So we pushed/backpacked the kids throughout the hilly and step-filled zoo in the 90 degree heat. It was frustrating for us (particularly when we got lost at the end and just wanted to get out!) and we saw less than we would have otherwise. Still, it was a fun morning and the kids loved seeing all the animals, especially the pandas.


Many kids give up their morning nap at around 12 months, and just nap in the afternoon. We were really hoping that Ben would be able to do this on our vacation, because it would make getting around a bit easier to schedule. The zoo trip was our first of many indications that Ben just wasn't ready to give up his morning beauty sleep.


River Cruise and Orchard Visit

One morning we took a lovely short cruise down the Mae Nam Ping river. It was a relaxing way to get a new look at the Chiang Mai area and to give our aching muscles a rest at the same time. About 45 minutes outside the city, we stopped at an orchard for a tour and a snack. Our city kids loved seeing how food is grown and then chowing down on some delicious fruit and juice.



Around Town

Some of the highlights of our time in Chiang Mai were the small things that don't make it on to postcards. In one day, Nathan managed to both enjoy a coffee and a book at Starbucks and eat Haagen Dazs. I got two massages in one day--a half hour foot/leg massage in a public park that only cost $1, and my first Thai massage, complete with legs bending at improbable angles and the masseuse walking on my back. The kids got to go swimming several times and to play at an outdoor playground. And we got lots of naps. For Ellie, just taking a tuk tuk to and from our destinations was an adventure.

While we enjoyed some great Thai food, what really had Nathan and I head over heels was amazing middle eastern food at Jerusalem Falafel. After all, there are lots of places in Phnom Penh that have good Thai food, but where can we get homemade pita, hummus, or baba ganoush? I'm ready to declare their falafel the best I've ever had, and Ben loved the hummus...and covered himself in it. Maybe it's good for the skin?

Well, there's the run down on Chiang Mai. If you've made it this far, you must either be family or have some big project you're trying really hard to avoid. Anyone willing to admit to income tax procrastination? Either way, it's nice to have you with us. We'll have pics of Bangkok up when we get a chance.

Trip to Tonle Bati

Well, it's been about 2 1/2 weeks since our last post and I'm sure some of you are really dying for more kid pics...I mean, looking forward to news and photos about the whole family. We just got back from a 10 day trip to Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Thailand. We had a good time, though now I understand why every other family with small kids just goes to the beach on vacation. After you get through 3 meals, 2 snacks, numerous diaper changes, 1-2 naps, slathering on sunscreen, and a temper tantrum or two, there is just isn't a lot of time to see stuff. But we did manage to do about one big thing each day, and we spent the weekend in Bangkok with some Foreign Service friends. I hope that Ed or I will have a posting about it up over the weekend.

But, here are some pics from before the Thailand trip. We went to visit Tonle Bati, the site of some ancient Khmer temples and a nice spot for a picnic lunch, on Feb. 19th. We went with our friends, Daniel and Susie and their son, Lucca, and with our "adopted" Marine, Mark. Here are some pics:

This is the Yeay Peau temple--artifact of a strange Oedipal temple-building legend. According to legend, when a young boy named Prohm discovered that his father was the king, he left his mother, Peau, to go live with his dad. Years later, he ran into his mother again but did not recognize her. Struck by her beauty, he insisted that she marry him and didn't believe her protests that she was his mother. To settle the matter, they decided to have a temple building contest. During the course of one night, the men would help Prohm build a temple while the women would help Peau build a competing temple. After many hours of temple building, the women tricked the men into thinking that the night had ended by sending an artificial morning star into the sky. Exhausted, the men went to sleep thinking it was dawn, while the women kept working and won the contest. Prohm admitted his defeat and gave up his attempt to marry Peau.

Detail from the temple

Susie, Daniel, and Lucca. Lucca was being rather difficult, so if they all look a little frazzled, we've captured the moment.

Mark with the kids. Despite his protestations that hanging out with us is good birth control, Mark is really great with the kids.

Jen's trip to Western Cambodia

At the beginning of the month, I took a work trip to the western Cambodian provinces of Battambang and Banteay Meanchey. Battambang province is home to Cambodia's second largest city, also named Battambang, and seems like a lovely town from my quick stop there. This old and stately building housed the provincial state capital.



Poipet, which is the largest town in Banteay Meanchey province, and has been described as "the armpit of Cambodia" is a more interesting if less attractive city. Poipet sits right on the Thai-Cambodian border, and ten years ago was nothing more than a dusty border crossing. Today, however, it's a quickly growing casino town, boasting nine places where Thai visitors can lose their money to the house. (With few exceptions, gambling is illegal in Thailand, so Poipet is very popular with Thais who make the 2 1/2 hour trip from Bangkok.) There's a 3 or 4 block area where the glitzy casinos with their manicured lawns look like something out of suburban America.


This quickly gives way to a more middle-class Cambodian sort of feel...



and within blocks from the casinos the city has transformed itself into a large slum.

I met with the governor of Banteay Meanchey during my visit, and he described Poipet as "heaven for the rich and hell for the poor". It certainly seems like an apt description to me. Poipet attracts tons of economic migrants, many hoping to land well-paying jobs in the casinos. Most, however, end up barely eking by. These two work as porters, ferrying goods across the border to the market just on the Thai side of the border.

Poipet is home to many poor and vulnerable children. Part of my portfolio is looking after US-funded programs to end child labor, so I did a bit of checking into the situation of working children in Poipet. Local government officials took us under the bridge spanning the Thai-Cambodian border, where we found these homeless children.



We also saw many children, like this boy, who work as child porters--smuggling clothing and other goods across the Thai border so sellers in Thailand can avoid paying customs duties on the clothes. A typical child porter might walk 12 miles a day just to earn $1.50, and if he is caught and fined by the police, he will be forced to pay many days' wages as a punishment for his illegal activity. Despite the risk of fines, child porters operate openly and we saw many children ferrying clothing back and forth along the banks of the river separating the two countries.


Perhaps saddest of all are the children who have been trafficked into Thailand to work as street beggars or street vendors of gum, candy, and flowers. Some are knowingly sold by desperate parents who can not feed their families, others are turned over to traffickers after parents are tricked into thinking that they will be given a better life by a good Samaritan. And some are kidnapped. In Thailand, they sleep on the streets of Bangkok and are controlled by organized gangs, who take their earnings.

This girl was trafficked into Thailand to work as a street beggar, but was deported by the Thai police and taken in by a local shelter for trafficked children called Damnoek Toek, which is partially funded by the US Deparment of Labor. Unfortunately, there are far more children who are repatriated to Cambodia than Damnoek Toek can accomodate. Few social services are available to repatriated children, and many end up living under the bridge or being re-trafficked into Thailand.

Uncle Larry comes for a visit

One of the great things about the Foreign Service is that you just keep running into people, sometimes in the most seemingly random and out-of-the-way posts. Some of you may have met Larry Blackburn, a good friend of ours who was with us in Mexico. He and I did language training together in DC, and arrived within a few months of each other in Mexico. We then proceeded to have lunch three or four times a week, go to movies together, and just generally hang out a lot. When Ellie was born, he just very naturally became Uncle Larry.

He has been in a bit longer than Jen, and wound up retiring out of Mexico. Despite that, he then went on to get a job with State in DC, working in the section that manages all of the overseas properties of State. He's now the DC guy in charge of things in much of SE Asia, and as part of that he gets to travel here on your nickels. He did just that, arriving Feb 13th, and spending both the evenings of the 13th and 14th with us. It was great to see him again, and the kids just loved him. Well, at least on the 14th they did. We had a bit of a Daddy error on the 13th, which wound up meaning that both kids were not adequately napped on the 13th, which of course is never, ever, ever a good thing. So Ellie had a 20 minute fit, and Ben was just a bit sleepy and grumpy. But Larry is such a good friend, he came back the next night. Or maybe he just didn't have any better offers...

Enough chatter - here's the photo.

Ben's Belated Birthday

On Saturday, Feb. 11--three days after the actual event--we finally celebrated Ben's first birthday. Ben's birthday fell in the middle of everyone being sick, and Ben himself was on a water-only diet on Feb. 8, so delaying the celebration wasn't a decision we had to think too hard about.

We had originally talked about hosting a play date with some of the other one year olds, but given that we were all just getting over being sick and Ben's expectations around his birthday were pretty low, we decided to skip it and just keep this a family celebration. We had cake Saturday night, which Ben enjoyed immensely.


And, just as you're supposed to do on your birthday, Ben managed to get frosting and cake in his hair and all over his hands and got an unscheduled bath.


We opened gifts on Sunday morning, and opened a few more during the week as they arrived. Thanks to everyone for the nice gifts! We'll send thank yous individually.

Ben keeps getting closer and closer to walking. Now instead of relying on tables and other horizontal objects, he can put both hands on a wall and follow it around. He can also walk just holding one hand with mommy or daddy, but this is still quite shaky. And he now has three teeth. He also loves putting small items into a container and taking them out again, and clearing surfaces (eg dumping all the papers on the coffeetable to the floor, pulling all the books off the shelf). We're hoping that soon he develops a real passion for dusting, vacuuming, and doing our taxes.

Opiods for Elena

One of the great things about toddlers is that they learn to repeat exactly what you say. When she was sick, Nathan and I would discuss whether Ellie needed ibuprofen. She quickly learned to say "I-bee-pro-fen" because she loves the taste of the children's version so much she learned to ask for it by name.

In some ways toddlers serve as your mirror--showing you what you're really doing instead of what your intentions are. I knew we had given up on the absolutely no TV rule, for example, when a few months ago Ellie started asking, "Watch lilbit TV?" That's clearly adult rationalization speak for "A little TV won't hurt you if it keeps me from going crazy!" She's also very good at "No, Ben!" and "That's your big sister's water". (Ben likes to grab Ellie's sippy cup.)

Similarly, Ellie has started adapting the sympathetic parental language we use on her when she has trouble sleeping. When she woke up in the middle of the night, we'd sometimes say, "Do you need some cuddles?" Now when she wakes up, she'll sometimes tell us that she needs cuddles. A few weeks ago she also started waking up and asking for morphine, which was pretty darn puzzling. We were really quite certain that wasn't a word we had ever used around her. It's just not something that comes up in every day family conversation. A few nights later we figured out that she was just copying us again, and what she was actually saying was that she needed "more luvin'", just with a two-year-old's accent.

Job update

It has been a while since I've mentioned anything about this whole job thing, and I've gotten several queries, so here's an update for you all.

The company/NGO I was talking to initially seems to have lost interest, since I never was able to get anything from them more than a "we're interested, but haven't had time to do anything about it". I've more or less written them off.

The place I've been doing my Cisco exams, a private university here, has expressed some interest in having me teach said Cisco stuff for them, but at the moment it seems like they don't actually have specific plans for a course, so I'm not going to hold my breath. They asked if they could call me if they get a course together, so I said sure, but again, I'm not counting on it.

I am actually doing some somewhat interesting odd jobs for the embassy now. I did a short article for the State Department's magazine, which should be published in the Feb. issue. I also am redesigning the internal website, which has turned into a project that allows me to develop some web skills. Not my main interest, but not a bad set of skills to have. I'm also coordinating the revision of our emergency action plan, which is the document describing what we do if various Really Bad Things happen. That lets me put my natural tendency to think about the worst possible scenario to use, in a way that is useful to others rather than a frustration to them. So that's not too shabby. This deal with the embassy is pretty good, actually. I get to accept any project I want, decline anything I don't want, and I get paid an American hourly wage. With the exception of some parts of the emergency action plan, I even get to work at home if I want to.

Which brings me to the final bit of job news. I worked one morning at the embassy a while ago, and hated it. I felt awful the whole time I was there, since I was missing out on my Ben time. I went while Ellie was in school, which is the only time I have to be really totally engaged with Ben. I just couldn't help feeling that the work I was doing was not nearly as good as being with Ben. So I've decided to just not look for work right now. I have as much as I want from the embassy, perhaps more, and I think spending time with Ellie and Ben is just what I need to do now.

Plague house

Daddy is at the very end of his rope today. This is my third week of dealing with sick family and staff, and I am exhausted. It all started with a cold, which Ellie probably picked up from somebody at school. Runny nose, a bit of a cough, no big deal. Ellie started it, Ben got it, I got it, and somehow Jen seemed to be avoiding it. That wasn't so hard, I just napped when they did, which isn't a real hardship, and life went on. Then at some point, it got really nasty, and Ellie stayed home from school, since she was running a bit of a fever, and we didn't want it to spread any more. Then Jen went on a trip, during the worst of the colds for the three of us, and Somany got the darn thing also. She was going home early for a few days, then she stayed home for a few days, while Jen was away. Talk about timing, huh?

Jen returned, and of course immediately started coming down with the worst of the cold as well. Ellie at least had gotten over the thing by then, and I was well on my way out of it. Ben was still sniffly, but he didn't seem to mind so much. Then... we went out to eat on Saturday, and when we came home Jen had an upset stomach. That night she and I both had really unpleasant stomach issues, lasting well into Sunday for her. We attributed it to something at the restaurant, until we learned that friends of ours were all getting something similar. Jen stayed home on Monday, and at 3AM Tuesday Ellie called loudly "my tummy hurts". Sure enough, within a half hour we were comforting her and cleaning up. Around 8AM it got Ben, although he seemed more or less over it by around 11AM. Jen had mercy on me and stayed home to help care for the munchkins, Ellie recovered pretty well, and today (Wednesday) she is seeming perfectly healthy. Ben is another story. Since today is his birthday (little guy turned one!) he decided to develop a fever and maintain nasty stomach issues. He celebrated by sleeping nearly all day, sometimes on Daddy and sometimes in the crib. We also watched the Muppets a bit, which may have helped him out. That's unclear. Tonight he seems to be on the mend, at least a bit, but birthday celebrations have been postponed until cake is kind rather than cruel.

At the moment the status of all family and staff is:
Mommy - sick, on the mend, back at work
Daddy - physically healthy, mentally exhausted
Ellie - healthy, back to school tomorrow
Ben - sick, to the doctor tomorrow if he's not significantly better
Sinen - sick, stomach bug, didn't work today
Somany - sick, cold bug, left early today

I'm actually looking forward to doing our taxes, as a bit of a stress reliever. Sad, huh?

Ellie directs naptime

Ellie is getting more and more into imaginative play. This morning she decided that since we put Ben down for his morning nap, she was going to put her stuffed animals down for their naps. She's even covered them up with her burp rags to simulate blankets.


Next, it was time for Ellie and Daddy to take pretend naps. They each needed a "sleepytime friend" (ie stuffed animal to sleep with) and a burp rag. They pretend-dozed on the sofa, which is ironic because Ellie feels very strongly that her crib is the only appropriate place for her to sleep, and would never fall asleep on the sofa.

Bath Time

We went out to breakfast this morning, resulting in two happy but syrup and fruit-covered children. So it was bath time for kiddos when we got back.

Ben on the Move

Ben is getting more mobile everyday and loves to "cruise" from the coffee table to an arm chair to a bookcase or around the wooden gate and metal railing around the stairs. He's also sporting a line of bruises across his forehead from his misadventures, but when he falls, the best way to make him happy again is to stand him right back up.

Out of the Green Zone, Into our Hearts

Our Mexico City buddies, Lourdes Lamela and her husband, Kevin Kreutner, came to visit us during a vacation in SE Asia. Lourdes survived the visa line with me, and in fact, our 5:30 am running sessions were responsible for getting me back in shape after Ellie was born. At the time, her husband, Kevin, was waiting for a place in a Foreign Service orientation class. He spent his time having coffee with Nathan, taking Ellie for walks, working in the Financial Services section of the embassy, and going to Iraq twice as a USAID consultant.

Since we left Mexico City, Kevin officially entered the Foreign Service and he and Lourdes were assigned to work in the political section in Baghdad. They had amazing stories about overseeing elections, spending hours identifying VIPs at dangerous checkpoints, and being awaken by mortarfire in the middle of the night. They also work literally all the time--about 9am to 11 pm everyday, though they do sleep in on the weekend and report for duty at 10 or 11.

Coincidentally, another friend and colleague of ours here, Dana Williams, was a friend of Lourdes' from grad school at the University of Texas. So we had Kevin, Lourdes, and Dana and her husband and three kids over for a fun if somewhat loud and chaotic dinner.

Front row: Ben, Cole, Sam, Lourdes, Ellie, Nina, Kevin
Back row: Nathan, Greg, Dana

Where Your Levis are Born

I visited some garment factories here recently. I don't have the stats with me at home, but the garment industry accounts for 73% of Cambodia's exports and 40% of its total economy (that is, GDP). Garments, tourism, and agriculture are really Cambodia's only industries. The vast majority of Cambodian-made garments are exported to the US. In fact, a single U.S. based retailer, The Gap, singlehandedly accounts for 9-10% of Cambodia's GDP.

Anyhow, thought you all might be curious to see where your clothes come from. (Keep in mind that these are top of the line factories in terms of working conditions.)


Fabric is carefully laid into a 1-2 inch thick stack and a pattern--usually drawn onto newsprinter with a fancy computer--laid on top. The cutter uses something that looks like a band saw to cut them out. (At least I think that's similar to what a band saw looks like. It's been a long time since I took woodshop.) Notice the steel mesh glove he's wearing for protection.


This woman is using an industrial-strength sewing machine. She wears a mask over her mouth to keep out dust. Many factories have color-coded bandanas or t-shirts that employees wear to show which product line they are working on.

Here's the machine that puts the rivets in your jeans!

Jobs at a garment factory are very gender stereotyped. The vast majority of workers--including the sewers, ironers, and packers--are women. Men tend to be involved in cutting and packing. Although most garment factory workers are women, most of their union leaders are men.



Garment factories are enormous--this average size one was probably the size of 2 football fields and had about 1000 employees. Some of the largest in Cambodia have 10,000 employees.

Our Little Codebreaker

Like generations of parents before us, Nathan and I revert to code when discussing things around the kids that we don't want them to understand. Most often, this involves dessert: do we have dessert? what is it? should we have it right after dinner or is it so close to the kids bedtime that Nathan and I will have it after the kids are asleep? Our standard dessert is fruit, which here means apples, crunchy Asian pears, dragon fruit, mango, watermelon, plie mein (which we think is called longan in English), or rambutan. But sometimes we have cookies, sticky rice, or pumpkin custard as a special treat.

So the other day, Nathan and I were discussing whether we had "f-r-u-i-t" for dessert. Ellie overheard, and knew we must be talking about something good if we were spelling it. She wanted some, but given that she can't read, she can't spell (although she does know all her letters). So she asked us for "s-r-u-t".

Just today, I found some cute-looking panda cookies at the store as a special treat. Nathan and I started talking about whether we should have the marsupials* after lunch or for snack. Ellie, again knowing that if she can't understand what we're talking about, piped up and said with perfect diction, "Can I have a marsupial?"

*Then, while we were finally eating the marsupials at snack time, Ed said he didn't think pandas were marsupials after all. I looked it up on the internet, and all the respectable, science-oriented sites like the National Zoo say they are not marsupials. But there are also a lot of pop culture references (like the "eats, shoots, and leaves" joke) to pandas as marsupials. So, I'll leave this question to our resident biologists John and Scott: Why does everyone seem to think that a panda is a marsupial if it really isn't?

Send in the Marines!

With the completion of the new embassy compound here, we have for the first time in Cambodia gotten a detachment of Marines to guard the place. We had almost all of them over for dinner a while ago (while Grandma Beth and Grandpa Dick were here) to welcome them. This is all of them but one, who of course was standing duty at the embassy. They are all lovely folks, and we are very glad to have them here.

Happy Standing Ben

Here's a good shot of Ben doing his favorite thing - standing up. This is what he looks like a good deal of the time these days. The smile is most likely directed at Grandpa Dick, although it could be Mommy.

Ellie finger paints

We may have posted something like this before, but she is just so darn cute when she covers herself in blue fingerpaints! Thanks, Liz! (For those of you who notice the proximity of paint to mouth, never fear - non-toxic and washable.)

Ben gets a haircut

Well, we've been getting a bit of flak here recently, mainly about the lack of updates about the kids. We haven't had all that much going on since the last post, but there's a certain aunt in Minneapolis who has expressed a particular desire to see photos, so I'll try to post a few. Here's one of our excursion from this weekend, getting Ben a haircut. He did relatively well, given that it was only his second, and it was his first one out of our house. The woman doing the cutting is someone we simply call "Karen Hair", since that is how she is listed in Jen's cell. There you go. A photo of Ben, along with an irrelevant bit of trivia from our lives!