One!

After some incredible Australian practice runs back in Feb, March brought with it the chance for mum and dad to host a little Banger’s-style bday celebrations for the Maxman.  Yay!

As mum set about figuring out how to deliver on the monkey’s monkey-cake promise in an increasingly temperamental oven, with a whole lot of substituted ingredients (hmmm), dad set about filling the fridge with enough beer to get himself through party time*. At the same time, fearless Leilani took on the job of blowing up balloons (fighting valiantly with a very enthusiastic balloon-inflator-contraption-thingy).

Of course once the guests arrived, all worries about cake/beverages/the ‘arghhhs’ being heard from next door signifying serious balloon-related injury, were quickly forgotten! Kids bday parties are actually so much fun that we might just do this again next year!

Thanks for the lovely presents everybody, and thanks again to the lovely Leilani for taking pics (and taking a few hits from those belligerent balloons)!

* joke, sort of.

Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai

With the rainy season taking its swell time to relieve Bangkok’s sweaty brows, maxman and his parentals decided in late Feb that it was high time to depart the concrete city of angels for greener (and hopefully cooler) pastures. Bring on Sabai@Kan and a cool oasis by the river Kwai! 

Well, at least that was the dream we had in mind….before we got lost on the outskirts of Bangkok, missed the 6am train, then arrived by bus in sizzle town and realised little old Kanchanaburi wasnt necessarily the cool oasis the fam was expecting….Hmmm.

Nevertheless with a pool in sight and a few, cool, shady museums in the vicinity, all was not lost. After a little toddle over the famous River Kwai, Maxman and his parentals  jumped a rickety, old, rusty rattler for a few hours up toward hellfire pass, where they visited one of the better museums yet seen in the region.  A long dip in the pool and a visit to the incredibly strange but infinitely amusing Kanchanaburi War Museum (variously described as ‘hmmmm okay’, ‘hodge podge’, ‘very poor’, complete with ‘a lot of crap’) later completed what turned out to be a pretty sweet weekend.  Round of applause for long weekends, people!

Chilling in Carlo

A few days after Dad hit the big 3-0, Maxman and his mum took the opportunity of a break in contracts (Mum’s) to take a quick trip to Sydneytown to celebrate another 30th (Uncle Pete’s), an 88th (More-Pa’s), and a couple of early 1sts (the Iglet himself and…the Iglet himself).

In good news for both fellow Qantas passengers and the manufacturers of the Ergo Baby Carrier, Maxman stayed a very happy chappy on the 9 hour flight downunder…provided his mum was standing in the aisle giving him the Ergo jiggle.  Hmmmm….Good thing a bright-eyed grandma and grandpa were waiting in the arrivals hall after that little adventure.

As to be expected, the 7 days in Sydneytown went way too fast. Nevertheless the maxman still managed to blow out (spit on?) a candle or two on a chew-chew-train cake; see Aunty Jo’s stylish new apartment; drop into Newcastle to hang with the cousins; distract Aunties Jaz and Brami from their respective working days; and, spend lots of quality time at Gma and Gpa’s Carlo resort.  Thanks to some class babysitting from said resort owners, Mum even managed to sneak away to see Darlinghurst’s sweetest new rental and get a little tipsy with the cool kids at Freda’s.

All too soon the flying visit was over, but lucky for mum and the maxman (not so much for Dad stuck working back in Bangers), the icing on this sweet, sweet cake of a week was a 48 hour stopover in good ol’ Melbournetown.  Thanks to more fabulous grandparental babysitting from Nana Wend, Mum found herself a whole new bunch of hipsters to get tipsy with, before hijacking some lemon ice-block pie from Melbourne’s newest gourmet food van. The highlight of the weekend was next to follow – a first bday extravaganza organized by Nana Wend and hosted by the Maxman’s fairy godparental unit – Dovey Cribbes. Fun, fun, fun times indeed (and possibly too many cupcakes yummmm).

Next time, we promise to bring dad along for the ride.

You’re so old, Dad.

Mum’s been waiting over here for a while, but on Jan 30 Dad finally arrived to meet her in the thirties.  In good news for the littlest Brasso, the occasion of the big 3-0 meant sweet holiday time for Maximus!

Thanks to some incredible family-sized generosity from Nana, Grandma and Aunty Jo, a likely birthday dinner celebration in Bangers was upsized to a Surin Beach resort holiday; replete with buffet breakfast to die for, waterslides fit for kids and kidults alike, champagne at sunset, and a whole lot of other crazy kids for the maximum to play with.  

…and after such a sweet weekend away, it was lucky Suzie Homemaker-Brasso was around on Dad’s actual bday to bring everyone back to earth with a sad approximation of a Woman’s Weekly bday cake classic (you can’t miss it amongst the pics below)…

Picnic in the Park

With humidity knocking on ‘winter’s’ door, opportunities to enjoy (okay, or even just survive….) BKK’s drip-free evenings have been fast running out.  Chasing the breeze, maxman and his parentals headed off yesterday evening to enjoy Lumpini Park’s Sunday evening classical concerts. Though maxman isn’t yet too enamoured with this whole ‘grass’ thing (living in a concrete jungle after all), a ride on dad’s shoulders through the tens of other little human beings picnicking just like him was enough to sustain a toothy grin or two!   

While mum and dad enjoyed a Campari or four, the cultured munchkin did a fine job of taking after his dad in the classical music department, sleeping through pretty much the whole event and waking only to down a little bit of Papa’s Bolognese picnic.  Perhaps the little man has a latent memory of the pianist in the lobby of grand old Samitivej Hospital on the day he dropped into the outside world.  All in all a breezy peaceful evening sure to be repeated (though next time, accompanied by wine, cheese…and a football weekly podcast for dad), the kind of evening that is often hard to find in the downtown bangers megalopolis.

Merry Christmas peeps, wherever you are in the world x

The Maxman’s second Christmas in Bangers (first in the outside world) had all the essential ingredients to make it a very memorable day – good food, family fun, free-flowing sparkling and a special screening of Yogi’s Christmas.  

While the death of the internet in the Brasso household rendered most skype conversations with families back home about as understandable as Max’s current ramblings, we hope the sentiment was well conveyed from our side!

Much love to all from Bangers, from its resident Brassos and visiting Russos (Uncle James and Aunty Viv). xxx

We heart the 3 Sisters, Chiangmai

Little old Bangkok and its greater surrounds have been through the wars in recent times.  This year’s ‘war’ (waged between some senior civil servants, mother nature, a few sluice gates, and a sandbag or two) was possibly less apparent than last year’s.  But it was no less destructive.  Luckily for us, Phyathai court was on the ‘right’ side of some hastily erected flood barriers, and stayed well dry throughout the murky madness.  Nevertheless, as drinking water ran out and Bangers slowly shut itself down, Maxman and his parental unit got ready to take a very well-timed holiday up north . 

After a quick rendezvous with Aunty Lu at Suvarnabhumi, next stop was Chiang Mai, staying at the unbeatable 3 sis bed and breakfast.  Yay! With Aunty Chloe also due to arrive in Bangers a few days later, some swift action on the part of a very helpful Air Asia got her a transfer straight through BKK to Chiang Mai, just hours before all domestic flights out of the capital were sold out. Double yay!!

Up in Chiang Mai, things couldn’t have been more different than Bangkok.  This town is a village compared to its southern megalopolous sister.  With an abundance of cafes, culture and cool breezes, it really doesn’t have much that would make you want to leave. And so, while Maxman busied himself learning to crawl (first crawl being towards a shiny beer bottle held by Aunty Lu), mum, dad and the Aunts massaged, walked, swam, lazed and drank their way through a very sweet week and a half.  Triple yay indeed.