For our latest epic family adventure over the holidays, we decided to check out busy Bangkok. These two happen to be the best travellers. They are game to go anywhere. Try anything. And eat (*almost) anything. With wholehearted enthusiasm. (*as long as it's not durian)  The thing I Ioved the most was observing their totally different approaches and takes on all the various new experiences during our holiday.  Here's how I frame it... The Journalist Grace is all about the facts. Seeking tangible experiences. Getting her hands (and sometimes feet) stuck right in. At the floating markets, she persuaded us to go for a boat ride down the klong. At Chatuchak market she spotted a big garish display of barbecued baby octopus and urged daddy to buy some to try. At one of the temples she spotted a monk offering blessings and unabashedly went forward to receive one too. She was the only one in the family who tried out the feet-tickling fish spa at one of the ...

Hello sweet nine! This is it! This is the last year they say. After this year he won't really be yours anymore!  (these are the dire warnings I've been given by well meaning mums of eight, nine and ten year old boys). So every year I wonder. Will this be the last time? Every day I check to feel if the hugs are any less cuddlier. I pause to feel if the kisses are any less smoochier. I listen to every 'good morning' to see if they are any less cheerful. I take in every 'I love you' to feel if they are any less loving. But every hug, kiss, cuddle and 'I love you' still feels just as as sweet. "I won't change" he promises me. "I will always love you for infinity times a hundred. No, times a thousand. Times a million, billion, zillion!" This is my ode to the sweetest boy in the world. Here is the boy who helps pack away all the toys with the the day care kids and shows them where each toy goes. ...

Happy new year! A long overdue greeting but better late than never as they say. This isn't really meant to be a real post but more of an update to say that further updates will follow imminently. The end of the year and start of a new year are the worst times to pause and reflect. There is always something happening one weekend or another. Christmas and end of year gatherings. Birthday parties and celebratory events. Gift shopping. Food shopping. Cooking. Baking. Gift wrapping. Family holidays. Travelling. New year festivities. Shopping for school supplies and uniforms (And Shoes! Why are these kids constantly outgrowing their shoes?). Organising and labelling school supplies. Spring cleaning. Meeting new teachers. Saying hello to new friends. Catching up with old friends. Organising my documentation and paperwork. Welcoming back my little ones. Managing new enrolments. Getting to know new children. The unceasing laundry pile and daily lunchbox preps. Dinner. Every...