a bit of garden help

this my last week of freedom before i have to start work again, so the girls and i have been out in the garden getting as much done as possible.  the girls planted all the seeds for their flower garden.  not sure how many actually got in the ground and how many blew away...

 eijla picked a daffodil in the field and put it in her hair.  she was so very proud of it.  so cute.

 not sure how, but eijla can pull zoe up the slide.  she must be crazy strong, cause i can tell zoe is not helping that much.  super eijla!

 continuing her superness, she decided to rake my garden, good thing i had not planted any seeds there yet.  what a great helper she is.

bangalore or bengaluru, you choose

there were two main reasons we stopped in bangalore.  first, to drop off my camera lens for repair, which we managed to do after being given wrong directions and faulty addressess for half a day.  and second, to take zoe to the flower show.  there were lots and lots of flowers. even a bucket of flowers...

 zoe took some great pics, which i am sure she will post on her blog.

 there was even a small bonsai garden there.

 then we stopped at the park and the girls got to go horse back riding.  it even gallopped for zoe!

not being big city folk, and well, banglore not really catching our fancies, we are heading out again,  tomorrow it is off to mysore.

roses and dishwashers, that kind of combo works for us!

so yesterday, my dear husband bought me beautiful red roses.  he better be careful or people are going to think he likes me or something. 

after a great family day yesterday, thomas was working today, but the girls managed to have a lovely picnic lunch, while i tried to install the dishwasher we bought yesterday.  love that zoe is eating a bit piece of asparagus.  we are pretty lucky our girls love their vegies!

and install i did, though thomas had to help me with the last little bit of mounting when he got home from work.  here is the girls starting our brand new, very quiet dishwasher for the first time ever.

luckily i had installed it right, and there were no leaks.  it is amazing we can now talk in the kitchen while the dishwasher is running, in fact we have to check the little window with the the time to see if it is running it is so quiet.  the old one sounded like it was going to explode.  not to mention while i installed it i fixed the plumbing under the sink, so the sink no longer drains into the dishwasher!  yeah!  yeah!  yeah!  only lived with that problem for a year and a half.  the things we put with up with due to our own procrastination!

tonle sap lake

we hopped in our tuktuks and headed out for the floating village, chong kneas. they have literally built a village floating in the lake, which even floats back and forth according to the water levels of the rainy and dry seasons.
on the way we drove by field after field of lotus flowers. so of course we had to stop and get a closer look. the lotus flowers are used for buddhist ritual, as well the seeds are edible. zoe thought they were so "lovely".

then to get to the floating village you have to take a boat down a river, found the seating arrangement rather amusing. i wonder if someone is missing there kitchen chairs!?!
at the village we stopped a floating store, restuarant, and crocodile farm (all in one)!
they even let zoe play with a python!
while there i managed to get one of the few pics of cege and eijla, think she thought he was a big scary bear! (ha ha ha).
some of the local villagers swarm this tourist shops selling fruit or begging. we bought some fruit of course...
but then this guy paddled over in a big tin pot, and i had to give him kuudos for that, however, he got incredibly upset when he thought the amount of money we have him was not enough. harsh.
we rode back through the village on our way out. incredible. all kinds of floating houses, in so many shapes and sizes.
then on the way back to siem reap we stopped for a little food and relaxation at one of the hammock restaurants. the amok (traditional cambodian food, a coconut curry), was yummy. tomorrow it back to the temples again, yeah!

my pasion flower finally bloomed!!!!!

one of my longest living plants is a passion flower i bought a few years back, and somehow it has survived, even when we have been away for months (thanks to kind souls who water my plants while we roam). however it has not bloomed in two or three years, and i was beginning to think it never would again. but the other day there there were 7 new buds, after i have given hope. and finally today one opened! oh the joy!
even my lady bug friends who hangs out in the passion flower was very happy to see the flower today!

summer is on her way

though there is still a chill in the air, the flowers a blooming the the freshness of spring is hinting towards summer. been exploring around the new neighborhood lately, and took a couple of shots of the girls on one of our walks. zoe of course is loving the vast amounts of flowers she has found in the area. my little flower girl, just trying to get her to understand if she picks ALL the flowers there will not be any for another day.
eijla was pretty happy to get back in the house, cuz though summer is on her way, it is still chilly out there. i thought this was a pretty cute picture of my nearly 3 month old little lady, oh how time flies...

princess zoe and her flowers

so zoe has gone from being obsessed with climbing trees to being obsessed with picking flowers. she has picked nearly every dahlia i have. luckily we have decided together that certain flowers are not for picking. though sometimes she decides that it is okay to pick mommies petunias, but just today! she loves picking the flowers off of the jasmine bush, but that is fine by me, zoe and everything else just smells so good.
and i think this action shot of her is just too classic zoe. did not have time for momma, off to play with something and find a little buse! man, i am going to miss that kid when i have to go up north.

war of the begonias

mormor let zoe pick a bunch of her begonias, and then she managed to convince mama to let her have her chair on the table, AND then she and mormor hit each other with begonias. that kid just gets away with everything!