We are thankful....

On our way to lunch.

Here was what we got to choose from to eat on our Thai Thanksgiving Day, it was a buffet and it was delicious! We got our fill of traditional turkey, potatoes and pumpkin pie, but also got to try some other things that were fantastic as well!

Josh making his choices and Gretta thinking about it.

Mmmmm...first taste of turkey.

Pumpkin soup!

Josh enjoying some oysters....

This year we have many things to be thankful for. We are safe and sound here today and glad we're not stuck at the airport or worse! We are thankful for our families whom we miss very much and wish we could be with! We are thankful for eachother and for our baby girl on her first Thanksgiving.

Despite all the reports of the crisis going on here, we are doing fine! Nothing is going on in the area we live. Josh was scheduled to leave for Bangladesh on Friday (tomorrow for us) but that has obviously been canceled for the time being (not too sad about that!) Hopefully they will have this all cleared up in the next couple of weeks so we can be home for the holidays as planned.

We miss you all very much and hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving with family and/or friends, wherever you may be in the world!

HUGS!!

Yay for babies!

Jess's little brother Jeff and his gorgeous new daughter Petra.

Such a little peanut.

This is just an AWWWWWW......moment.

We are an aunt and uncle for the first time! Jeff and Angelie welcomed Petra Jo on November 21, 2008 at 4:10 a.m. Congratulations to the new family, we are so excited to meet her over Christmas!

Cambodia and beyond

Josh’s parents left today and we had a really fabulous time with them while they were here! We got to enjoy just some hanging out time in Bangkok. They took a cooking class, Fred got a suit made, we spent some time by the pool, enjoyed LOTS of good food and also spent a long weekend in Cambodia. Josh and I had both been to Cambodia, he by himself and I with his sister Molly, to see Angkor Wat so we did that again, but also took a trip out to Tonle Sap Lake and went out on a boat, had lunch with some local villagers and got to see a lot of the countryside which was our favorite part of the trip. It was funny to see the total lack of modernism in their living quarters (some with no electricity or plumbing) and then to see some with cable TV and a cell phone, living on the water. While we took great pleasure in taking pictures of their primitive lifestyle there was a moment where I saw a little boy taking a picture of us with his phone! Gretta was a fantastic traveler and we were so grateful for that! She fell asleep easily in the front pack carrier while we were out hiking around and even fell asleep on a tuk-tuk ride one night on our way back from dinner!

Angkor Wat

Lastly, Josh and I finally got a little time to ourselves and went out to see the new Bond film while Grandma and Grandpa watched Gretta. She didn’t even notice we were gone and really enjoyed her time with Grandma and Grandpa! Thank you so much for a wonderful visit! Can’t wait to see you again when we’re home for Christmas, we might have a full blown walker by then!

While Josh’s parents were here Gretta learned to do SO much, this is the most we’ve seen her learn to do in such a short time! She has learned to sit up by herself from lying down and from there has figured out how to pull herself up on things! It is quite entertaining, kind of like watching her play a private game of Twister! Walking has become so much more fun than crawling. She will walk along the edge of the coffee table or couch or around her crib! She does crawl a little bit, but much prefers to be standing and she will just stand at the coffee table looking around. She also likes to get under the glass table and try to grab for things on the table that are unattainable because of the glass (yes, we laugh at her!). She has started taking drinks of water from our glasses and does quite a good job, doesn’t spill or choke! She enjoys the sound of us clicking our tongues and snapping our fingers, usually brings a big smile to her face. She likes knocking over the stacking cups and will flinch before she even knocks them down. All these new skills we believe have made her sleeping habits a little random. She had a great 2 months of sleeping through the night and now she has been waking up more at night again. Her brain must just be going a mile a minute or she is going through a growth spurt or both. Still no teeth, so we’re tired of blaming it on that!

Following are what I call the "Gretta Series", illustrating (hopefully) to you almost a flipbook-type look into the daily activities of our little daredevil!

The stand.

The head-butt.

The walk-around.

Loy Krathong

Our krathong that the hotel gave us to float.

Loy Krathong is the Festival of Lights. Loy means "to float" and krathong means "lotus shaped vessel" which usually contains 3 sticks of incense and a candle, some put other gifts on it as well. They float these on pretty much any body of water throughout Thailand. We went across the street to Benjasiri park where there is a pond. Traditionally the krathong is made with banana leaves, this is the "environmentally friendly" version given to us by our hotel. Not sure what it was made of but looked like it was a baked good of some sort! We saw some very elaborate krathongs with the banana leaves and lots of flowers.

Gretta watches as Josh lights our Krathong.

It is an offering of thanks to the goddess of water and for forgiveness for polluting her waters. Some people also make a wish when they light it and send it off floating.

Josh got back from Bangladesh just in time to celebrate with us!

Grandma and Grandpa Hinz are here! We have been doing some exploring and relaxing with them. They are having lots of fun watching Gretta show off all her new skills and how big she has gotten since they last saw her. We are headed to Cambodia this weekend.

You can see a little better here all the people that were there!

Our building overlooking the park.

7 Months Old...enough said.

The little stinker was full of energy today and made many escape attempts. So it was a lot of fun taking pictures! There were too many cute ones and it was hard to choose which ones should go on here.

Even though it isn't fall here, it is our favorite season and I couldn't resist this hat!

Another goofy face, she really was hamming it up. She has also learned to "buzz" her lips, but I couldn't catch it on camera.

This is the "tuck the lip" look, she has been doing this a lot lately.

A more serious face.....ahhh...so innocent!

Her signature move.....otherwise known as "attempt to crawl". She will just balance like this and then either sit back down or lie down on her stomach.


How can I not take 9,014,657,189,209,534,983 pictures of this face?!

Day 2 of 12

Josh has left for Bangladesh, so we are counting down the days until he is back! Luckily, his parents will be here on the 10th so we'll have some company, looking forward to their visit! So far I have mostly been keeping busy trying to update my photography website and make it look more professional. Given that I'm trying to do it while Gretta is sleeping, I have come to realize it takes a lot more know-how than I have time to learn! No wonder web designers and developers get paid the big bucks...and why they go to school for many years.

Decided to go for a walk today around 4:30 instead of our usual morning time and it was fairly comfortable out, which made me happy!! I don’t know if it was because it was a Sunday afternoon or because it was later in the day, but it was unusually busy at the park today. Lots of picnickers, runners and families enjoying the evening. As Rascal Flatts’ version of “Life is a Highway” came up on my ipod, I was reminded of this week’s episode of The Office and I had a good chuckle to myself. That led me to thinking about home and while we were walking in the park I thought it was almost like a summer night back home, the smell of grilling coming from the street vendors and their early evening wares further set the stage, along with a few more songs that made me both a little nostalgic and a little sad. Then the next song came on and I heard these lyrics “Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today…….but smile.” I took note of all the extra people smiling at Gretta as I strode by with her sitting up straight in her stroller, taking it all in and I thought, although we are missing Josh, other friends and family and home, that is a good line to remember on days like this!