Halloween at school

Wednesday October 31 was a sugar-high day at school. After lunch all the elementary students changed into their costumes and headed to the theater for a short musical performance. After that is was a parade and then to the classrooms for their Halloween parties. Aimee and Lucy headed out to Sayako's house for a party after school too.

Bangkok & Halloween

As many of you may know I headed off to Bangkok for a NVS conference on Sunday night. Well first up aren't they so nice to arrange a conference in such a wonderful spot hehehe. We arrived at about lunchtime (Bangkok time) after a very noisy and uncomfortable flight only to find our rooms were not ready. They offered to give us upgraded rooms - but at our cost :( naturally we declined. We were told we'd have to wait at least 90minutes....mmmm now isn't that convenient, meant we could nip down the street to a fabulous little massage place I frequented the last time I was here. Ahhhh just what the doctor ordered, a 60 minute foot massage - includes about 10minutes of back and shoulder for only 250Baht. Of course we had time for a little shopping before heading back to get settled into our rooms. By this stage we're more than a little peckish (4:30 Bangkok) so we meet at the restaurant for late lunch early dinner and surprise surprise, I have pork chops :) a little more of heaven. Then its perfect timing for us to walk about a bit more shop shop shop, pick up some cokes, beers and snacks from the 7-11 and well on our way back to the hotel, who wouldn't stop for a massage before heading up to bed ?! The next two days spent conferencing, very long but enriching days. Wednesday night, drinks with friends - all the administrators had arrived for their section of the conference and .........another foot massage :) Thursday morning its up early, last breakfast to include pork products for a while, and out shopping. And then its off to the airport and home to family.
mmmmmm I love Bangkok, hopefully the family will join me in April for the Spring conference and we can enjoy some of the sight seeing touristy things together then. And of course I shall introduce them to the magic of massage !

And now today, we have spent preparing for Halloween. The compound was holding the children's party along with trick-or-treating today so we had all the decorating to do. The girls were involved in the design of their pumpkins but mom and dad had the joy of carving and cleaning. As much as I tried to get them to stick their hands in and scoop out the inards.....no way josé hehehe I took the girls to the party while André got sorted at home and while I type this up, he has taken them out in the neighbourhood with the warning that "when the buckets are full, we come home !" hehehe

So we're home with our stash of candy now, sadly not too many visitors to our house. Mom and dad say sadly although its a given Aimee and Lucy our eyeing the cauldron still full of all the goodies to give out to continue topping up their own hehehe.
School is celebrating Halloween on Wednesday so there will surely be more photos then but for now ......Happy Halloween !

Whats up with us ...

Hello, so after a few seriously frustrating weeks trying to update and upload photos, I've given up and this'll be a text update.
Whats up with us, well, Uncle Larry has left us :(
While Andre was in the US and Larry was staying with us, he was introduced to any of our friends as Uncle Larry, my Rent-a-husband or Rent-a-dad while ours was away hehehe Of course to our American friends, this invoked endless teasing as when they refer to a guy other than the children's dad as "uncle" it means he's a "special friend" of Mom's hehehe So anyway we are very thankful to have had him here for the short time that we did and look forward to visiting soon.
While I am writing this, Andre is sitting in Yanbu again for a few days.
He is back tomorrow but I took advantage of his absence and put up Christmas decorations :D Those that know me, know I'd have them up all year round if I could ! Not because I'm lazy - well that too, but I do truly love it all. Yes the rule - so my friends inform me, is that anytime after Thanksgiving is good to start decorating. (Of course our Canadian friends said Thanksgiving was a month ago so there's nooooo problem) So what, I am a few days early :) mmmm a huge thing for me and I deserve a medal for it, even let the girls do most of the tree this time - so its not all even etc. but I managed to survive hehehe.

After doing the brown, red, even blonde, decided it was time to try black - for my hair that is ! So for Halloween, out came the box of hairdye. Andre's face when he got back from the US - Halloween eve was a hoot. Its faded now and is more a dark brown but we're getting really used to it and think it may stay for a while.

Really cooler weather here finally, first drizzle of rain on Friday, and Saturday we had some good showers. Girls wore long pants to school on Saturday and all of us had jackets on YAY ! No rain today but we're wearing long clothes and keeping sweaters with us now. We love cooler weather !
Won't it be odd to get used to heat suddenly when we head home for our 'winter' break in 3 short weeks ?! Looking forward to the short stay home for Christmas.

Well thats about it for now. Love, laughter, happiness and friendship to all.
Have a great day !

Halloween, poolside and The Beach

So its been a busy week or so, even more so than usual. And well this entry seems really strange ... been sitting in drafts for the past almost 2 weeks because of our connection being so terrible I haven't been able to upload any photos :grrr:

Last weekend we celebrated Halloween on the compound. Kids Halloween party on the Friday afternoon, this was the girls dressed up and then getting their faces painted at the party. Andrè and Larry had gone across to Bahrain for Andrè to ref. They arrived back just in time for Andrè to go trick or treating with the girls.

And trick-or-treating done, time for lights out and bed, school in the morning !

This weekend we spent some time by the pool - as you can see the weather has definitely cooled down. The wind was more a problem than anything else - the sun just didn't seem to have any power.

Andrè, Larry and I then headed out to the consulate for a Happy Hour Thursday night. A good evening had by all :)

Friday up bright and earlyish (got in at 1-ish and left the house by 8:30am) and off to the beach. Great morning, one of Aimee's friends from school was there as well so the girls kept themselves busy while I got some work done and we all relaxed a bit.
Back home and just about everyone had their afternoon nap :)

mmmm this may seem to be a photo of Larry enjoying the beach but in reality it was Andre enjoying the sights at the beach - look a little closer and you'll see what he was enjoying seeing :)

Of course a wonderful day had by all and everyone - especially the girls were rather pooped by the time we left :)

Just some photos

Okay so not much news other than we're busy busy busy but while looking through for some photos to print, thought I'd put some here too, some old, some newish :)

The first - school starts August 2005, very HOT and HUMID day - as you can see the lense on the camera is a little foggy even, just kept happening, typical summer here, even sunglasses are pointless at times - fogging up almost as soon as you walk outside, this was the best we could get considering heehee

Next - Lucy just looked SO cute at the school Halloween parade October 2005

Next Next - Andre taking the girls Trick or Treating on the compound - so I moved and the camera being on night shot ...... sorry :( good memory though :)

Next Next Next - Girls in the car going to Bahrain for rugby - Novemeber 2005, as usual Aimee not too impressed with something her little sister is doing or maybe it was something her parents were doing, who knows but either is feasible :( good photo otherwise :) Notice the Sharks shirt on Aimee :)

Next Next Next Next - A happy day - November 5, 2005 :) Thanks for sending me my love xxx
How often are we going to have a photo of the four siblings altogether now ?

Next Next Next Next Next - leaving to come back to Saudi, January 2006 after a wonderful Christmas at home - don't we all look a little healthier with a little tan, and back to cooler climes :)

And lastly FOR NOW :) - February 2006 - taking The Brummer Family to the airport on a Friday night - hence the tired Lucy, :( Aimee, Lucy and Letitia
The next photo we took was the girls asleep on the drive back home, Aimee drooling on the seat - didn't think it'd be fair to post that one though heehee

Have a good one everybody, miss you all xoxo