Fun in the Sun

Thursday was off to the beach for an adventure. We took a cab to the ferry dock, bought a ticket to a little island 1hr ferry ride away. Isla Toboga. We rode right through a bunch of huge ships waiting to go through the canel. It is a very small Island with not much happening. We had breakfast at a little cafe, wandered up and down BOTH streets and headed for the beach. We splurged on a bumbrella and chairs and spent the day with the other 20 people that were enjoying the beach. Including two Canadians and two Americans. We're a little toasty, but mostly from hanging out in the water cooling off.

Here we are

We made it! A few adventures in the flying department, but we made it and we will talk about those later.
Wednesday we took a city tour booked through the travel agency across the street. It was very helpful and gave us a good idea of how the city is laid out. Our hotel is very clean and NO BED BUGS, (1st thing we check don't want grandpa to have to stay elsewhere when grandma brings his to our house) We saw the Miraflora Lock system, it is amazing to see how they move the big ships through the channel with just a small amount of space on either side. Then we drove to the causeway just to look, and then to Old Panama city. This was very interesting and I could have spent more time here. Maybe I will have a chance to spend more time during the conference.
We returned to the Miraflora Locks for dinner that was very good and we saw three more ships pass through while we were dining.
We are having fun, the weather is great!! No snow!!

This mother's day our children all had other places to be so Tom took me for a picnic in the mountains. Now if you are imagining a checkered table cloth and roast chicken under a tree on nice green grass, give you head a shake!! We went quading in the mud and had sub sandwiches! but the view was beautiful, the fresh air was wonderful and the ride was alot of fun!

The highlight of our adventure was this bear that we saw in a tree on the drive home. We sat and watched him for about a half hour. He was eating the buds on the top of the tree he had climbed. He would grunt and snort and he looked very cute from inside our truck!

As promised I will post pictures of my grandbabies. The most recent picture is of the one with the most hair. This is my grandpuppy, Roofus. Jonathan and Tynita's puppy. You know anyone can have a child you have to have a license to have a dog! Roofus reminds us of Buddy the dog Jonathan had when he was growing up and I think we all miss him, so we are glad to have Roofus around. He come for a visit at the store and we have some customers that come just to see the dog! That's quite hard on Tom's ego!

I am attempting to resurrect my blog. Erin has encouraged me and I had a chat with my Grandmother and she has kept a journal since sometime in the 30s, so it challenged me to try to post once a week, what is happening with us. Maybe I'll have to change the name to a week with thk. This is a warning, I will be glad to remove you from the e-mail if you like, just email me or leave me a comment our life isn't that exciting so you may get tired of me, delete is also an option!
Last weekend Tom and I went to Radium to scope out the resort where Amber's wedding will be. It was very nice and really quite. I doubt we will find it that quiet in July! We had to make a bit of a detour around by Golden to get home as Hwy 93 had too much snow and apparently they don't plow it on Sundays after snow season!?! (April) The drive was very beautiful so no harm done!
Today is the second day of the Rocky Trade Fair, one more to go. Janene and I were the designated shop employees today and it has been very quiet since about 2 o'clock, but we have completed the month end billing statements so that will give us a good start next week.
That's all for now folks, maybe next week I'll post some pictures of my darling grandchildren!

Today is the last day for us in Thailand. We spent most of the day shopping at MBK (the big mall). We walked miles and miles! It is really overwhelming how much stuff and how many people there are in that space! It would be really fun to shop with the girls there! We ate a place Lydia had said she likes to go with her friends they call it Bar-B-Que, but not much like ours more like a grilled fondue. Grill in the centre surrounded by water, so the meat juices drip down into the water to make a broth. They bring a platter of raw meat and vegetables and you cook and eat. Chopsticks only, so a bit of a challenge, but kind of fun! I think Ian & Lindsay would really enjoy this! Tom is kind of itching for a steak when we get home.
Today we plan to spend some time by the pool and then go up to a hotel that has a revolving top to see out over the city. That will complete our holiday! See you all soon!

We are off the the big mall MBK where you can shop for the same things you get on the street only in air conditioning! We slept past the breakfast in our hotel this morning so Dad when in search of breakfast for us. I wanted banana pancake and wouldn't you know it there were none to be found. Where'd day go? Like Ava says! So we had fresh pineapple, and fried bananas and fried chichen. Quite a step from my first day or two here when ice in my drink freaked me out!! So far no serious repercussions!

This is the bigota or what ever you call it in the Emerald Buddha temple that is covered with gold leaf. What you can't see is the little tiles about 1" each that make up that structure!


This is lunch with Lydia yesterday as well as the cart it was cooked from. Duck noodle soup I guess. I was mildly spicy and after you finished eating it and sweating through it, you almost felt cool walking around in the heat.

A busy day in Bangkok! We had a great rest last night, best bed so far! We started of with Lydia our tour guide at 9:00 am. We walked to the sky train, and took it to the end of the line. It was wonderfully air conditioned and my glasses actually fogged up when I exited the train! Then we took a public boat to the Grand Palace and the temple with the Emerald Buddha. It is funny, I expected the Emerald Buddha to be quite large and the reclining Buddha to be small and it was the other way around! The temple that the Emerald Buddha is in is very ornate! 1" mosaic tiles covered with gold leaf really beautiful!! Then other buildings in the temple court covered with glass tiles of the same size beautiful! Hand painting on the walls, that we would think was wall paper! Amazing Grandma! Then off to the place and check out the thrones, one for the king and a bigger one for Buddha! Beautiful as well! From there we went to the flower market and then Lydia took us to one of her favorite places for lunch. Noodle stand on the street! Really Really good soup! Then we had sticky rice with coconut milk and custard! Really Really good too! Then off to the Teak Palace! This palace you can see in the rooms and look at all the ornate furniture, gifts, dishes etc that King Rama the 5th (I think) got as gives from other countries. This was very beautiful as well. Then of to the big mall, I keep getting the name of it wrong. It makes West Edmonton look like a mini mall! We walked back to our hotel and then we were whisked off for a final fitting at the tailors. Now hear at the Internet just a couple blocks from the hotel. Tomorrow will not be quite so busy as we have given up on tours and will just wander around on our own at a bit slower pace! Lydia was a beautiful girl and a wonderful guide, we really enjoyed our time with her. Well I think I have to make my way off the bed.