more thailand.

Day 5...the long day.

{Okay, we can call it the exceptionally full day! It doesn't sound quite as negative!}

Itinerary:

The White Temple, Chiang Rai

Visit Longneck Hill Tribe Village

Golden Triangle...where Thailand, Burma, & Laos meet

Longtail Boat across Mekong River to Laos

The White Temple.

It was absolutely incredible! So beautiful.

The creepy hands...I'm sure there is some significance.

Our visit to see the hill tribes!

It is incredible how much they weigh...

we asked some of the girls when they put them on for the first time.

They said it was when they were around 5! Wow.

Better get Abby's on order...birthday in April!

One of the families!

We bought some of their scarves! :)

The girls with their new friend!

Cute little restaurant!

LUNCH!

Well, what's left of it anyway!

Still smiling after all the hours in the car

Abby & Gertrude

Golden Triangle

Longtail Boat

Unc manning the front of the boat!

Burma...it's a casino

Here we are in Laos

The girls loved the crazy boat!

Last picture of the day...

we then made the LONG trip back to Chiang Mai.

We had dinner at 9:30p.m.

In bed by 10:30. Party animals.

Bloggy love,

day#4...thailand continues!

For those harassing me about my updates (or lack thereof!), here you go...

{you know who you are MOM!!!} :)

Day#4: Itinerary

Breakfast at local restaurat

Wildflower Home

Lunch

Umbrella Factory

Shopping :)

Dinner

Night Safari

Our breakfast crew!

Mommy's favorite meal of the day--breakfast!

We fell in love with this place...The Blue Diamond.

The served Western food & managed to provide options for vegans & those on gluten free diets!

And the coffee was DELICIOUS!

Abby & her entirely too large pancake! :)

Girlies outside the Blue Diamond!

{spoiler alert: we ate here again!}

The Wildflower Home...

this is where Kim spends quite a bit of his time volunteering.

{If you check out their website, you can see him in action!}

Here is a brief bit about what the Wildflower Home provides:

Wildflower Home aims to provide not just a refuge for unwed mothers and abused women but also enable them to rebuild their lives on the back of their trauma.

"Our primary goal is to help single mothers through their crises by providing encouragement and training to help improve their chance of self-sustainability."

We felt blessed to have visited here...

I didn't take pictures of how the children staying there reacted to Abby & Beks.

It was adorable. They were joyful. And laughed more than you can imagine.

Abby was a little freaked out because they surrounded both girls immediately.

Beks started yelling, "MOMMY! MOMMY!"

Then all the kids started yelling, "MOMMY!" while laughing their heads off!

It was so fun. The girls played with them at their small playground for about 20 minutes.

What an experience!

One of the buildings Kim helped them build! Go UNC! :)

This is their kitchen...Thai kitchens are traditionally open air.

Another thing about Thailand I love:

they are all about the outdoors.

Where the girls stay...

two to a room with their kiddos.

It may seem tight, but I would imagine being with someone else provides you with some sense of security.

If you have time,

go to the website & read some of their stories.

Incredibly sad. But, they are rebuilding their lives.

The women all pitch in to help.

They learn skills, and take care of one another.

They will use the animal waste as fuel

An amazing house that they are building...it is made out of mud!

Letting the light in at the mud house...so cool!

Another lunch destination!

Khao Soy. Yum.

We ate mass quantities of this while in Thailand!

{Good news...one of our favorite Thai restaurants right off base has this! And papaya salad.)

Hahahaha.

Need I say anything about this?

HILARIOUS!

{Amanda: doesn't this make Okinawa look tame?!}

Umbrella factory...

They wanted to paint our pants, cell phones, wallets, belts...you name it, they would paint it!

Dinner at another delicious place...

Daddy looking all manly on Pistismai's motorbike!

Fun, fun @ the Night Safari!

Year of the Tiger...

They asked us when we were buying the tickets

if any of us were tigers. Ha.

Mommy J had no idea what they were talking about.

Daddy sure did. AND, he is a tiger. Grrrrrrr... :)

See his cute little free pass?!

Whew. I am slow & this takes a while...mainly uploading the pictures. Argh. So, here's to hoping I get this done soon. You all are missing out on the daily excitement around here! HA.

Bloggy love,

thailand, day 3...elephant day!

Thanks goodness it was elephant day! Pistismai had to go back to work, and Abby was distraught!

Here is the much talked about...Maesa Elephant Camp! Abby & Beks tell everyone that we got to ride an elephant in Thailand! They have told my parents this about 500 times. It was definitely memorable.

What is this, you might ask?
Our elephant painted it! And guess what, we bought it! Hmmm...Thailand isn't very expensive & how often are you going to get a picture that an elephant painted? The girls (even the big one) thought it was pretty neat.
About 5 minutes into our elephant adventure, Abby freaked out. The elephant came up to have her feed it bananas & got her pants dirty. The NERVE. :) So, from that point on, she was not happy!
Our elephant...Mannoi. Not sure on the spelling, but I am sure on the name. Abby will correct you if you get wrong! :)

The best part of the whole elephant adventure is that Mommy was the one who was nervous on the elephant. She tried to not be afraid, but the seat kept moving while the elephant was walking. Plus, Mannoi seemed to be having an attitude problem. Even though we knew that they were gentle & listened so well, it was still a little disconcerting to be up that high on that big of an animal. So, when Mr. Phanapoi got off to take our picture, Mannoi was not cooperating. That's when I started making the comments about being thrown to our death & being on the news after our children get trampled. Good times. Well, about that time Brad was wondering out loud what the elephant's name was. Our friend Mr. P answers him in perfect English. At that point, I realized he had understood all my comments under my breath & all the freaking out I had been doing. Pardon me while I go crawl under the elephant...
Hey there, that's MY man. :)

Lunch, baby. Mmmmm...

Uncle Kim had added excitement at this restaurant...the girls got to feed the fish & wildlife!

Our lovely table!

It's all much clearer now. Really though, we didn't have anything bad to eat there!

Apparently, while Mommy tried to get Beks to nap, Daddy, Abby & Uncle Kim went to see this...and get some coffee.
More fun while Beks was screaming until she passed out. Fun times.
We went to a traditional Thai dinner show--it was so much fun!
Abby & Beks would not sit down. They danced & danced. The girls got pulled out to dance, and guess who they HAD to have with them? Hmmm...I haven't downloaded that video footage yet. Can't wait.

So, as you can see, we had another grand day in Thailand! Stay tuned for tomorrow...

**update** bunny, bunny

this crazy rabbit is going to be the death of me.

today, i had a meeting. we left with bunny.

did bunny come home with us? no.

why am i not smarter than this by now?

we got home {with our super healthy burger king meal!}

and he was nowhere to be found.

did beks nap? no.

did that make mommy happy? no.

did it make mommy eat her words from before? {see below}

i take it back. i love that dirty little bunny.

that bunny makes me happy. so happy. his disgusting dirtiness now makes me giddy.

i went to pick him up...when i returned, bek's delight was adorable.

she then spent the next 2 hours pushing him around in the stroller & talking quietly to him.

i spoke quietly to him on the way home. it wasn't so sweet.

i take it back...i really don't want to lose bunny. ever. again.

just so no one worries...we still have that nasty special rabbit. he's like the dog from spin city. seriously. i know it would bring me some grief to lose him for good, but he's filthy. disgustingly so. beks even tries to throw him in the washing machine herself.

bloggy love,