Today was not the greatest. Joe woke up with a pounding headache, and we are blaming it on a very long day in the very hot sun yesterday. We had such a great day outside all day, and now he’s paying for it. His headache is so bad, that when I get up, he goes straight back to bed. He naps all morning, no breakfast, and then emerges and offers to make lunch. I hop across the street to buy some frozen vegetables for his noodle soup, and we are able to use up the pork from Christmas Eve as well. After lunch, he goes back to bed.
The girls and I have a very relaxing morning. We take a vote on whether or not we should go on an excursion to Village Market or not, and decide to stay home. They play with all their toys, and the toys from Japan are now getting new life as new Thai toys are brought into the mix. They play video games, they set up a fortress in their bed, they play Guess Who? (micro mini edition, perfect for kids and impossible for anyone over 40, it’s microscopic!), and I blog. I blog, I work on Norwex, and I finish my first physical book in I don’t know how many years. I listen to books all the time at home and on the road, but picking up a book and flipping the pages? I can’t remember when I did this last.
All in all, we have the most relaxing twixtsmas morning! I’m just feeling a bit… warm? Sore? Turns out, yesterday’s SPF coverage was not as good as it should have been, and I have just recently moved over from old swimsuit to new swimsuit, so newly exposed skin has turned pink. You might liken it to … pomegranate? Watermelon? Beet root, maybe? It hurts, mildly at first. My shoulders have pink areas in between the tanned areas, and my cute cutout on my back has left an angry pink blob in the middle of my back.
I take the girls down to the pool for their daily swim, but I decide to sit in the shade and read my book, and tell them to stick to where they can see me and I can see them. Even walking from the door to my place in the shade, the sun hurts through my dark blue linen dress. It’s hard to find an empty chair, but we manage. I sit there silently, listening to all the languages being spoken around me. I wonder if they can tell that I understand, or if they disregard me completely after hearing me speak English to the girls.
Then it’s time to get out of the pool and go upstairs. This is always a battle. No matter how many times we come swimming (just about daily!), every time we’re done, it’s moaning and complaining, and who knew that saying time’s up is a cause to act all offended? I mean, we go to the pool temporarily, it’s not a surprise that at some point we’ll have to come back out of the pool, we’re not going to sleep in the pool… AND the pool closes at 6pm, so everyone has to get out, it’s not mom being evil. (If you have experience with this and advice, tips or helpful hints, I’d love to hear them in the comments below!)
By the time we get out of the pool, Joe is sitting on the couch, snacking and feeling better. After the girls get ready, it’s time to head to Tamarind night market again for dinner. Joe comes with us, with the option to head back home at any time, should he not feel up to spending an hour at the bustling market.
Téa and I line up for smoothies, we are all having one tonight. Téa’s is pineapple passion fruit, Maylin has watermelon lychee, I have mango lychee, and Joe gets a juice. I see apples, carrots, ginger, beet root and pineapples going in. It takes forever, but it’s a great start to any meal. Smoothies are fruits blended with ice, and the juice is just juice. I will miss our fruit smoothies!
Joe heads straight for the pad thai vendor. Maylin heads for the hot dog vendor. I pick a crispy seafood pancake, because I don’t know what to expect. What I get is oily. Lots of seafood, and a very crisp eggy batter, but it’s been swimming in the oil, and now the oil is on my plate. Not my favourite…
Suddenly, Maylin goes “picture, picture, mom quick, take a picture!”. I’m halfway through my meal. Joe, Maylin and Téa have all finished theirs, but I take a picture anyways. We were here. This is our favourite place. We’ll always remember!
We stumble back home. I go pick up some papaya and watermelon at my fruit vendor lady, and we hang out on the couch watching movies for the rest of the night. Hopefully we’ll have a more active tomorrow!
Could you tell the girls they release the sharks into the pool at 6pm? Lol
I LOVE THIS! What a fabulous idea! Would they believe me? Only time will tell… (And also I want them out of the pool long before 6pm, Tamarind opens at 5pm, and we like it nice and slow and quiet at the start…)