Ava goes to Malaysia!

Ava just got back from her first trip to Malaysia. We saw our wonderful friend Ely, from graduate school and spent a few days at the Sunway Pyramid resort which had a petting zoo, amusement park, and water park. Ava was in heaven.

The Sunway Pyramid resort was a great place for her. Five theme parks were rolled into one, but the "Las Vegis" feel of a disney theme park was perfect to keep her entertained. She fed the animals, played on the water slide, and rode a number of amusement park rides such as the flume and roller coaster. The roller coaster was by far her favorite.

As a destination, Malaysia is a melting pot of many cultures such as traditional Malay, Chinese, Indian and Indonesia. The food was fantastic and we got to eat Indian and Middle Eastern food for breakfast every day, so daddy was happy. There was a mall nearby with a Starbucks so mommy was happy too.

Raising a Gardner

Our baby loves getting dirty. I think that she was born to make messes, but then again, she is two. While out in the backyard the other weekend, Ava got involved. She loves to give the plants enough water so that there is three standing inches on top of the waterlogged soil.





Eventually, the shirt was so dirty that it came off. Then the pants. Then the diaper so we could hose her down before taking her upstairs to have a tubby time! The next morning, she had dozens of mosquito bites which she was quick to point out to us to garner sympathy.

 

Easter in Vietnam!

Our little munchkin experienced her first easter egg hunt followed by some time in the pool. We went over to Katie's house where about 60 people (staff and their kids) had a pool party, and a easter egg hunt. Daddy and his friends brought their guitars and played a little music too!


We could not get our girl out of the pool for the life of us. She particularly wanted to dip down below the surface to get a mouthful of pool water. She must have drank half a gallon!

Weekend Pool Days

When we lived in Chiang Mai, we used to go to the gym and swimming pool every weekend. It was such a nice respite to workout by lifting some weights, playing some squash and spending a couple hours at the poolside swimming and reading.

The sandy bottom pool here in Phu My Hung brings me back to that time. It has a full length pool, but a section for kids that is about 6 inches deep and has sand on the bottom. For a two dollar day pass, it's the best money I spend on the weekend.

Ava likes to play with her toys there. We usually take her bucket full of sand toys, plastic molds and so on. Kids that are not as well equipped try to take off with her toys!

Last weekend, Ava made a big leap (literally) in her swimming savy. She had the confidence to jump into daddy's arms who was sitting in the pool. She then turned around and could hold herself up on the side of the pool. We are working on blowing bubbles, but she likes to drink the chlorinated water rather than blow bubbles in it, which may explain her diarrhea Saturday evening.

Make your own free recipe card

Ava does Laps for Love

Last Saturday, Ava and Daddy went to "Laps for Love" at Saigon South International School. The purpose was to raise money for "Habitat for Humanity" which builds houses for the poor. By running laps, runners raise money from their pledgers to help Habitat.

We want Ava to be a global citizen. We hope that participating in such events she learns a high degree of empathy and responsibility towards global citizenry.

Daddy's Here!

Daddy has joined the blogosphere. I just started a blog for my classroom at school, but will also take custodianship of Ava's blog too.

More to come later!