It was that time of year, and we all needed it. Before heading out you could get the palpable sense that we were all "running on fumes" and the idea of a vacation was a very welcomed option. So, when the final Friday bell did ring at school and the kids returned home, followed later in the day by the adults, it was an "aaaahhhhh" experience. The first few days found us out and about in town. Little things here. A couple things there. Buy this. Do that. Go here. See them. It was the kind of time one likes to have, without time constraints or worries about what time to get to bed. Movie nights were frequent and, of course, included the new feature film (in the house) Frozen, which the girls know inside and out by this point. Thankfully the music is entertaining and catchy and it makes the entire time and time again piece of having children quite bearable.
By Wednesday it was time to head out of town. We departed the apartment by around 4:00 am and headed to the airport. We checked in and boarded with little hastle (it was mid week after all) and headed on out with a smooth morning flight, to Bangkok. Once there it was the fancy, shmancy Shangri-La Hotel for a conference that daddy was presenting in. That would keep him busy, with meetings here and discussions there and preparing for his workshop/presentation (his first) and all that. The girls stayed in at times, or headed out at others. While daddy ran from session to session the girls were roaming and seeing stuff.
The only stress was that presentation. Daddy was nervously going over and over it, making sure that it wasn't too long, not too short. He asked mommy is she might pop in and keep track of the time as he presented and, of course, being the quintessential tourist, she showed up with a camera and asked him to pose in front of his opening slide. How embarrassing. With two minutes left there was just one person in the room, but just as presentation time was about to begin, another 24 people walked in the room and the presentation could go ahead without hitch. Overall it was a good first attempt, but he was happy it was over.
For daddy having the ladies of his life around were a particularly wonderful twist. Normally such conferences would mean a loooooong day followed by time alone sitting in a room looking at a screen (computer or TV) with little else. This time around, though, it was a return to a room with a family of people (Tia and cousins were with us too!) ready to head out to the pool. Daddy would get ready and, together, they'd head down to the beautiful pool by the river. If ever there was a lap of luxury, this was pretty close to it. Days came and went quickly until the vacation/conference was over.
Our return was as uneventful as the outward bound trip and our arrival home found us happily numb from days sitting by a pool, nibbling of Thai cuisine and (for some of the time) roaming the markets. The rut of reality is so much more bearable when one has such cultural and experiential decadence to live with. How fortunate we are that daddy was presenting, no?
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