Thailand memories

Hard to believe that we were with my parents in Thailand in October... I love looking at all the pictures every now and then, seeing my parents with Julian. While I'm so glad we were able to take him to Thailand, I'm also so sad at the same time that my parents are sooo far away that Julian won't grow up seeing them on a regular basis. He won't have that familiarity with them that I always imagined he would... growing up I really never thought my parents wouldn't be close by and not helping me "raise" my baby. 

Irgenwie kaum vorstellbar dass wir erst letzten Oktober bei meinen Eltern in Thailand waren... ich liebe es, mir die ganzen Fotos nochmal anzuschauen und meine Eltern mit Julian zu sehen. Obwohl ich natuerlich sehr dankbar bin, dass der Urlaub mit Julian geklappt hat bin ich doch wie immer so traurig, dass meine Eltern so weit entfernt von uns leben und dass Julian ohne Oma und Opa aufwachsen wird. Er wird ihnen wohl nie so nahe stehen, wie ich es mir immer gewuenscht habe... ich habe mir irgendwie immer vorgestellt, dass meine Eltern in der Naehe sein wuerden wenn ich mal Kinder habe und sie gemeinsam mit mir "erziehen" wuerden.

Ahhhh I so love this picture!!! Both smiling, both so cute together! My amazing Dad and Julian :)) Who's amazing too of course.

Ahhhh ich liebe dieses Bild!!!! Beide laecheln und sind einfach niedlich zusammen! Mein toller Papa und Julian :)) Der natuerlich auch toll ist.

On our beach vacation while in Thailand... at Hua Hin, a small but beautiful little beach town about an hour away from Bangkok. Not as breathtaking as Phuket or Koh Samui, but much smaller and quiet. Of course Julian wanted away from his grandpa when we took the picture :)

Beim Strandurlaub in Thailand.... in Hua Hin, einem wunderschoenen kleinen Strandort ungefaehr eine Stunde von Bangkok entfernt. Nicht so atemberaubend wie Phuket oder Koh Samui, dafuer viel kleiner und ruhiger. Natuerlich wollte Julian erstmal von Opa weg, als ich das Foto gemacht habe :)

En route back to Bangkok, we stopped at this little shopping center for lunch, and Julian is enjoying being fed by grandma... who had to take her glasses off due to rough playing with the grandchild :)

Auf dem Weg zurueck nach Bangkok haben wir an diesen kleinen Shopping Center halt gemacht, um Mittag zu essen, und Julian geniesst es von der Oma gefuettert zu werden, die erstmal die Brille abnehmen musste, da die beiden so wild gespielt haben :)

Oh yes... Thai parents and grandparents LOVE to feed their kids... they actually don't encourage kids to eat by themselves until much older. Julian has been feeding himself since he was little - I like the "Western" way of making them independent (hey more time for ME to eat MY food right??), but my mom  fed both my sis and me for years and we turned out alright! For the most part :)

Oh ja, thailaendische Eltern und Grosseltern LIEBEN es einfach, ihre Kinder zu fuettern... Kinder werden uebrigens erst viel spaeter dazu ermutigt, selber zu essen. Julian isst schon seitdem er ganz klein ist selber... ich mag da die westliche Art und Weise viel lieber (hey, mehr Zeit fuer MICH um MEIN Essen zu vertilgen, nicht wahr??), aber meine Mama hat meine Schwester und mich ganz lange gefuettert und wir haben uns doch ganz gut gemausert! Groesstenteils finde ich :)

I love taking pics of people from behind as they are walking and holding hands. I don't know... just has something so endearing to me, as if I'm sneaking a little peak at their closeness. 

Ich liebe es, Leute von hinten zu fotografieren wenn sie gerade Hand in Hand schlendern. Ich weiss auch nicht.... ich finde es hat so was zaertliches an sich, und als ob ich an einem kleinen privaten Moment teilhaben darf.

At my aunt's birthday get together... my mom hates this picture since it shows her bald spot (sorry Mom, love you!!) but I just adore it!

Wir hatten eine kleine Geburtstagsfeier fuer meine Tante... meine Mami hasst dieses Foto, weil man ein bisschen ihre kahle Stelle am Kopf sieht (entschuldige bitte Mami, ich hab Dich lieb!!) aber ich bin von diesem Foto einfach begeistert!

Just a small part of my crazy big family... that I love more than anything else in the world!! Me and a few of my cousins (and Julian and my cousin's daughter) surrounding my grandma. My only living grandparent... and I think she is the tiniest cutest little grandma in the world! Seven children and I forget the count of grandchildren. And now a few great-grandchildren!

Und hier sieht man einen kleinen Teil meiner grossen, verrueckten Familie... die ich mehr als alles andere auf der Welt liebe!! Ich und einige meiner liebeen Cousins (mit Julian und die Tochter meines Cousins) und mitten drin unsere liebe Oma. Die einzige Oma die ich noch habe... und die kleinste, suesseste Oma auf der Welt! Sieben Kinder und ich komme beim Zaehlen der Enkelkinder immer durcheinander. Und nun gibt's auch noch Urenkel!

Yep, hubby came too! I wasn't brave enough to take Julian on that long (did I say LOOOOOOOONG) flight (LONG... like 22 hours... without the time in between during our 3 layovers)... where was I? Oh, I didn't dare to do that long flight with Julian by myself! He did amazing though!

Ja, Hubby war auch mit dabei! Ich war einfach nicht mutig genug, um mit Julian alleine auf diesem langen (hab ich gesagt LAAAAAANGEM) Flug (LANG... so ungefaehrt 22 Stunden... ohne Umsteigezeiten auf unseren 3 Zwischenstops)... aeh wo bin ich geblieben? Ach ja, ich war einfach nicht mutig genug, um die lange Reise mit Julian ohne Hubby anzutreten. Der Kleine war allerdings ein Musterkind auf dem Flug!

On our last day... at the airport :( The hardest thing to do after so much great time with my family is to head to the airport and say good bye. I can't help but always cry my eyes out, even though I'm typically not someone who cries easily, especially in public. I wish I could have my parents and my entire family around me all the time. I'm always on such a family high when I'm back home in Bangkok that everything seems so quiet and lonely the first few weeks back at our home in the US. It's a good thing Julian keeps us so busy :) And I'm sure hubby is glad to be home and away from the 24/7 family outings :)

Unser letzter Tag... am Flughafen :( Nach so einer schoenen Zeit mit der ganzen Familie ist es fuer mich immer unheimlich schwierig, auf Wiedersehen zu sagen. Ich kann einfach nicht anders und heule jedes Mal Rotz und Wasser, obwohl ich normalerweise echt nicht zum Weinen veranlagt bin, vor allem in der Oeffentlichkeit. Hach, ich wuensche mir nichts lieber, als meine Eltern und gesammte Familie um mich herum zu haben... Ich bin immer auf so einem Familienhoch wenn ich nach Hause fliege, dass die ersten Paar Wochen zurueck in unserer Heimat in den USA mir immer so still und einsam vorkommen. Wie gut, dass Julian uns immer sehr gut auf Trab haelt :) Und ich glaube Hubby ist insgeheim immer sehr froh den nonstop Familientreffen entkommen zu sein :)

I hope we can fly back soon again...

Ich hoffe, dass wir sehr bald wieder zurueck koennen...

Good bye Cleveland!

After an all day Six Sigma Training class, which was actually really good, I ended up curled up in my hotel room bed again, reading my Kindle, taking a hot bath with my "Lush" bath salts, and ordering Room Service. Our professor was such a breath of fresh air... so young but so smart and accomplished. She looked like in her mid 30's only, has her PhD in Organic Chemistry but is working in Quality Consulting.

After the training class we all drove to Mally's, a local Ohio chocolate store, and the line was crazy as everyone was there buying chocolates and chocolate covered strawberries for their sweethearts. I bought chocolate covered caramels for my hubby, and a little Squirrel holding a heart and some chocolate for my baby :) One of my coworkers bought chocolate covered strawberries for all of us, and two boxes of chocolate covered bacon for her husband!

Dinner consisted of( I didn't take a picture like I usually do) - linguine in pesto, prince edward mussels in white wine broth, chicken cordon bleu soup and a side salad. Yes, I was completely stuffed afterwards.

Breakfast was quick and topped by a chocolate covered strawberry from my sweet coworker, then we headed to the airport. I actually managed to download another movie on iTunes last night, even though I was seriously doubting that I woudl be successful after I checked a few times and it told me I had 1600 hours left until the download was complete!! I just left the iPad to download overnight hoping the connection speed would improve at one point. I was lucky! So I was able to watch "Definitely, Maybe" on the flight home... what a cute movie!!!! So adorable, a romantic movie right up my alley!

So this is me leaving the hotel in the morning - you can't see but it was snowing!

And this is what greeted me in sunny Florida... 78 F!!

Once at home I took off with my hubby to look at new homes again. Really just the ones I looked at Friday since we wanted to be able to look at them together, so much easier to determine what we like and what we don't like. The good news: we like and dislike the same things! No bad news :)

Then we picked up Julian together... what a treat for him! We wanted to stop by Carraba's to see if they would have any openings for dinner, but at just a few minutes after 5pm they already had a line out the door, so we just stopped by Village Inn and had our Valentine's Day family dinner there :) As long as we are all together, we don't care where we eat!

Oh, this is what waited for me at home today :)

Including two cards from hubby and baby... my hubby knows how much I love cards!

 Happy Valentine's Day everyone... how did you celebrate?

Hello Cleveland!

After such a relaxing and fun Saturday with my baby I had to leave him early today to travel to Cleveland... on a Sunday! Uuugh, I hate having to give up my weekend for travel! But at least Julian is just home with Daddy, so he's in good hands. It was still hard to leave him.

It was surprisingly cold this morning in Tampa... 39 F! I was glad I wore a long sleeve sweater, long pants and my boots since it was supposed to only be 25 F in Cleveland with some snow today.

First I stopped at Panera to get a nice toasted whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and a hot Chai tea Latte. I got to the airport way too early, but that was okay, I'd rather be early and sit down and read or shop than be late and worry about not making it. I got myself ready last night, downloaded a movie on iTunes to watch on the flight, and downloaded a bunch of magazines, both German and US magazines, and a few new books on the Kindle. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever get to read all of my books on the Kindle??? There are just too many cheap and free books!! And I keep downloading them! I have close to 300 books on the Kindle now, many of them free or costing less then $2.99.

The direct flight was without any turbolence, I only napped during takeoff and landing and avoided talking to the annoying guy next to me, who tried to talk to me even as I started watching my movie on my iPad and already had my earphones in... and he saw that I had to take them out to hear him! The movie was "Double" with Richard Gere and Topher Grace... pretty good! And I was able to finish it on the flight!

I was excited to use my new suitcase with 4 wheels :D so now I was able to just roll it upright instead of having to drag it behind me on two wheels. Very cool and convenient! And I managed not to have to check my bag, which was hard since I only took miniature version of everything... lotion, facial cleaner, etc. I was brave enough to trust that the Hilton Garden Inn would have reasonable Shampoo and Conditioner for me!

Apparently it had been snowing since Friday so when we got there, everything was white... beautiful! And it was pretty cold at 25 F!! I got into the rental car with my two coworkers who flew up with me... and yes, I had to throw a snowball at one of them, hehehe.

Usually I love going out to dinner with my friends and coworkers when I travel for my job. Time to explore something new, new hip restaurants, trendy new food, a little gem of the city, then have a cocktail or two, a glass of wine after dinner, enjoy the company and have a great, great time. But this time I just wanted to be a hermit in the hotel room. I also wasn't quite as close to these coworkers than some others who I actually am friends with outside of work, so it made it easier to stay in.

I changed into my pyjamas (we got to the hotel just a little after 4pm), had a great Skype date with one of my best girlfriends in Germany who told me everything about her new love interest, then watched TV (the Grammy's were on tonight, and since Whitney Houston just died last night it was full of tributes to her... gosh when was the last time I watched the Grammy's??), in between surfed the Internet and Facebook on my iPad and ordered room service. The company spoils us anyway with our dinner allowance, so I enjoyed a juicy steak with a soup and salad and an ice cold diet coke lol. No alcohol for me tonight!