Thanks, but no thanks.

Ahhh, Abidjan. A city whose most memorable feature is the infestation of giant (and possibly ebola-infected) bats. With a beautiful National Park right within its boundaries... that you shouldn't go to because that's where all the felons who escaped from the prisons during the coup hide out and sell drugs. Where odors from the tuna factory combine with sewage fumes that waft in from the lagoon. I don't really miss your traffic jams and crazy drivers, your exorbitantly priced food or the melting humidity. But I'm glad I got to meet you. I'm glad I had a chance to see the clinics that are helping HIV/AIDS patients and meet the people who are so dedicated to helping them. I'm glad there was someone nice enough to pick me up and take me to church, and that I got to hear cool stories about the church in Abidjan and bear my testimony and feed primary kids my trail mix. Also, I must admit that it was really fun to have a driver take me around in a white SUV and have clearance at the U.S. Embassy. So I am glad I got to visit you, Abidjan, but... you also made me super grateful that I live somewhere where I don't see men peeing on the sidewalk 4 times a day. Thanks for the experience, but if it's ok I'm going to leave before I get ebola from the bats.

Pictures here.

Boxcar Children with a Video Camera

hal comes to play

Seduced by Captivation.

Just because I want to remember the night that we went to our friendly neighborhood Haagen-Dazs store and Lucy and I tried to ask if we could have this poster when they were done with the ad campaign, only the Thai waitress didn't understand what we were saying so we kept saying it louder and slower until Theo had his hands over his eyes saying, "Please stop, please stop talking about this," and Chris was giggling so hard he had to put his head on the table to try and breathe and the waitress just walked away because she thought maybe we were making fun of her and now not only do we not have a Bradley Cooper poster, we can also never go back to Haagen-Dazs again.

ExPat Gregorys in Bangkok

I thought you guys would enjoy this month's cover of Expat Ladies.  Seriously, do I even need to make any jokes?

While I rarely stand around in gardens massaging the pool boy's clavicle with my fashionably small clutch purse (the photo's caption points out the 'leather-collared cobalt black' sweater. But I don't think you should call him collared. That's offensive.)...

...we do spend our weekends riding mechanical bulls:

Go Lucy!

low budget fun

we have been up to stuff.  low, low budget stuff.

old christmas tree + a backyard hole + ducktape+ bowl = catapult

"i swimmin' in a barrow!"

eric looking good fishing with his dad.  

we like to talk about who caught more fish..

i made a table.  i am going to paint that pale stripe turquoise blue.

and i like how this entry table is turning out..

and jack is still nuts..

the end.

Parent Logic

Gordon had been missing one shoe for a while. We couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, this morning, I get this message:
Gordon: I found my other shoe.
              It was on top of the sugar.
Gordon: I thought to look there after I found the toothpaste in his pants drawer.