mahala and noble saw snow for the first time today! we went to the yuba gap sno-park for a day trip....a bit ambitious considering it was almost a three-hour drive. no fresh snow and it was 50 degrees out, so no snow angels or snowmen, but sledding was a blast!
this weekend included a visit to our friends simon and austin who are truly pied pipers. so many cool things to play with like musical instruments. the kids also got to help "repair" a piece of artwork-the mobile that has casts of lips hanging from it.
this is very typical of noble....crazy ensembles, lately punctuated with his giraffe boots. see that black thing in his right boot? it's a comb-in case of a hair emergency i suppose!
happy chinese new year! here is the celebration at the bay area discovery museum with the marin lion dancers.
on the last evening of our stay, our wonderful jenny arranged for her extremely talented neighbors to come over a "serenade" us with traditional thai music. it was amazing. the girl is 7 and the boy is 4.
we all enjoyed the rose garden's cultural show outside of bangkok. within an hour, they showed several traditional forms of dance, a marriage ceremony, thai boxing and so many other arts. the kids were thoroughly entertained! two traditional thai dances, the fingernail dance and the stick dance, are shown in the videos.
the floating market where people cook and sell their wares to people passing by on long tail boats.
tradional thai puppets. poor noble was terrified!
we often had soup for our meals which included lots of noodles, fresh veggies, mushrooms and tofu. the kids loved helping-gives me an idea for meals at home! i think i may just have to get a crockpot.
the offerings at the temples included lotus buds, inscence, candles and gold leaf (which you can see on the buddha's face)
