Greetings From Thailand!!!

Hello! Here I am, sitting at an internet cafe in Koh Chang, Thailand! Crazy! I dont have tons of time, but wanted to get a quick blog started to tell what we have been doing so far on our travels! It has been simply amazing, every day is new and exciting, the people are the nicest you will ever meet! The land, culture, food, everything is wonderful - here is a quick breakdown of what we've done so far....

Day 1/2 - Flew from Edmonton to Vancouver 1 hr 45 min, flew from Vancouver to Hong Kong 14 hr, flew from Hong Kong to Bangkok, 2 hr 30 min, drove by van from Bangkok to Pattaya 4 hrs.

Day 3 - Swimming and drinks in pinapples! Lunch and markets, supper at a pizza joint ;) (these first few days were really messed up as we were all suffering from severe jetlag - 14 hr time difference!)

Day 4 - Chris's aunt Wendy and her 3 daughter (all in their 20s) Shannon, Ashley and Candace arrived. We visited Pattaya Waterpark most all day, then went to supper at this restaurant that had traditional Thai dancers and music playing. Very cool.

Day 5 - We visited Pattayas botanical gardens, and saw a Thai boxing match, a dance show, and the coolest thing ever - an elephant show! I got lifted up by an elephant, right into its nouth basically! the pics will come later... zac got lifted by 2 elephants who tied their trunks together. dani fed them bananas! the show consisted of the most amazing tricks, and you could tell the elephants were having a blast - they played soccer, basketball, darts, rode bikes, walked over people, making tricks like pausing over their stomachs (cara was one of those people!) the painted tshirts, and i bought one - its of a bunch of flowers, very cool again! That night we ate supper on the water, at a seefood place. freshest and best seafood i have ever had - white prawns with black pepper and garlic, YUM! :o)

Day 6 - Christmas Eve - Drove about 4 hrs from Pattaya to Trat, then took the ferry across to the island of Koh Chang. It means "Elephant Island". Its awesome here, very laid back, less touristy, such nice friendly kind people! Check out our hotel at penny-thailand.com. Its great!

Day 7 - Christmas Day - Kids got a few gifts (the trip being the biggest!) but Zac man got a cool set of Thai boxing gloves and shorts, & a silk kimono, Dani got an elephant purse, and silk pjs. We spent the day at the beach, eating and swimming and tanning and getting Thai massages on the beach. It was great! I barely had time to miss the snow... :)

Day 8 - Another beach day, hanging with the kids in the ocean.

Day 9 - Day of shopping the markets, and spent the aft at the beach.

Day 10 - Down day, hung out at the hotel, swimming in the pool, and napping and munching.

Day 11 - TODAY! we went on an elephant trek - 2 hours through a rubber tree plantation, the jungle, rainforest, along the river where we stopped and swam with the elephants! Zac and Chris did it, while Dani and I watched from a platform in the trees. it was so cool - the elephant rolled on its side, and dunked them, zac did awesome, held his breath and went under like a champ! our driver called him 'his hero'. :) so cute!!

I better run, spent 40 mins & 80 baht on the internet now - thats about $3, hahaha! will get on later and post up the pics asap!!!

More pigtails n stuff...

This is too funny - such a Dani-face! Shes busting a gut over her new trick - standing up backwards on her rocking chair (mine, from when I was a baby) and rocking out...
See! Happy girl!
Thought her hair might be able to do a single ponytail. It can, which works great for getting her hair outta her eyes, but it stands straight up!

Looks like Dani got into the eggnog a little early this year... :) In my head she is saying "So I says to the guy...."

Roxie sniffing the new accessories! Little buddies, figuring out the hair ties together...
Sissie getting into Big Bros stuff...
Little trouble-makers.
This is how Dani gets standing up!
And this is Dani standing up! See how proud she is of herself!!

She is such a little doll...
Comb in one hand, hair tie in mouth...
Yes, yes, I was watching her closely...
She's telling me to go take pictures elsewhere now...

A Few Pics

Dani has grown her hair so long she now has pigtails! I tried to put them up before I had the right hair ties, but this gives you an idea...

It has been snowing so much up here, it feels a lot like good ol' PA!
No bbqing...No sliding or swinging...
My car is for sale - anyone want to buy it?!?!

Dani got to play in the snow for the 1st time - she looked happy about it...

Loving it!!

Zac's snow-angel!!

More Recent

I have really been bad at blogging lately, and will definately do better in the new year! I have, once again, sat to do a post when I have little time, so here is a few pics taken recently, and a written update will follow soon... My mom and dad got to come to Fairview for a quick weekend visit on the Remembrance Day holiday, so heres a shot of them and the kids - so cute! It was a really nice visit - of course Zac and his Gramma had a blast together, off for a 4 hour shopping trip (in town!), and giggling and playing just like a couple of buddies. Dani, who still likes to play strange, warmed up to my Dad really quick and was crawling up into his lap and making silly faces with him. It was so nice!
Actually got all 4 of us together!
Here Zac and Dani were having a movie night in Zacs room. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more...
Ok, maybe it was Dani! LOL! What a kid...
Oh, and this was a little scary! She had shut herself in Zacs room (usually his door is closed to keep her out) when he was at school, and she started to cry and bang on the door. I went to get her, but she was sitting right behind the door and I could barely open it. She stuck her hand out and her fingers were red. I peeked through the crack and saw her mouth was like this, and thought it was blood! I wiggled the door open, and realized right away that it was marker, but it was only on her mouth, her hands, and a bit of red fingerprints were on the trim around the door. I searched his room, and couldnt see any marker at all. It took some sleuth-ing, but I eventually confimed it with Zac later on that Dani had been sucking on the end of a balloon he had previously drawn on with red marker. Mystery solved. Meanwhile she took a bath as soon as I found her, and I thought like my mom, and ran for my camera before the evidence of the story was washed away... Right Mom? We all remember the picture of Baby Jeff upside-down in the flower bush! :D

Dani Turns ONE!!!