Thailand

Hi! We are back to Shanghai after a great vacation and conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand. If you have never been...well save your pennies....it is worth it!
Above is Mei with her friends at a little show all the kids at the resort did for us on the last night.

Our pool. I think it was Olympic size- which made laps really hard to do! But it was so clean and nice.

My current favorite tropical fruit. The lovely Mangosteen. You peel off the purple skin to reveal the very nice white flesh. It tastes a bit like a Mango- but more just like a really sweet and a bit sour fruit. I loved them!

The inside. My kids liked them too.

We took a day and went to an Elephant show. Actually it was: elephant show, elephant ride, lunch, ox cart ride, river raft trip, snake show and then orchid farm! It was a long day but very fun. Above are the elephants 'playing' soccer.

Mei's face says it all. Mine says "I hope the elephants get some free time every day!". In the end I felt the animals were well taken care of. Each elephant had its own owner and seemed to really care about its overall health. Since how they make money is by what the elephant can do!

We got about an hour long ride through the forest. Asa was scared the whole time! Mei loved it!

Our guide got off to take this picture and have a smoke. So we were left to guide the elephant! He was pretty happy we had bought some bananas on the way and was more than happy to throw his trunk up and pick one up!

It is pretty amazing to see a huge trunk come right up to you! Their trunks are HUGE.

We got off the elephants to a very bumpy ox cart. It was fun to tell the kids this is how the American Pioneers got out west! We were sure thankful for cars and planes now!

What do you do when it is nap time on a river raft in the middle of Thailand? Give your three year old his blanket so he can suck his thumb wearing a bamboo hat....

All of us on the raft. It was made of bamboo poles tied together with car tires on the bottom to help it float.

Mei took her turn at navigation.

Then off to the snake show! Joab was brave to 'hold' the python.

Then the orchid farm. Very romantic.

I just love orchids. Someday I hope to grow some myself!

We had a wonderful guest house at the resort. The upstairs was one big room with three beds.

A bit strange was the bathroom right smack in the middle of the room!

Then steps down to the first floor. Where there was a little kitchen and living room. It was a perfect size for us!

It was hot there! Like in the 80s! So we drank a lot! Here is Joab with a nice iced tea- to the left a huge freshly squeezed OJ for Asa!

If you know Mei- you know she LOVES Sprite! And Thailand was no exception. And Sprite is always more fun in a glass bottle!

We were thankful to go! And thankful to come home. School starts back up on Monday! Hope all is well with your families! Miss you! Em for the whole gang!