Thailand

Let the vacation posts begin!!

The week before we went on vacation, we spent several days brushing up on our Thailand stuff.  There's plenty of fun stuff to talk about - from the flag, to SongKran, to it's nickname as "The Land of Smiles."  We bought stuff with Thai money, painted Thai flags, and reviewed our basic Thai greetings. We were SO excited to get there and see the sand and sun!!

Leaving a place with freezing rain and arriving in a place with temperatures in the 90's...with four children, lots of luggage, and the anticipation of bringing home much more luggage is always a challenge.  

We dress everyone in an extremely planned way - everyone had on one pair of pants, except for emma and samantha, who only wore tights under a skirt.  One short sleeved shirt was covered by a light jacket, and for a very brief few hours, we all wore socks with sandals.   Listen, packing is serious business, and packing an extra pair of shoes for six people is no good.  

Once we arrived in Thailand, the girls could make a quick stop in the restroom to shed the tights and jacket while Daddy picked up our luggage.  Phew!  Now we can enjoy the balmy temps!

Our carraige 12-passenger van awaited us.  After a three hour drive, we made it to our beachside resort.  It was past 10:00, so all we did was find beds for the kids and crash.

 After a three hour drive, we made it to our beachside resort.  It was past 10:00, so all we did was find beds for the kids and crash.

The next morning, we walked down to the restaurant and ate breakfast.  Everyone was interested in eating quickly so we could change into swimsuits and hop in the pool.

Abby mostly stayed in this shallow end unless she wore her awesome Puddle-Jumper, and then she was allowed in the deep-end with the bigger girls.  I don't think she minded at all staying here!

Silas hung here in the turtle for the first few days.  After a while, he got tired of that and wanted to start walking around in the little kiddie pool a bit.  One super cool thing about the place we stayed was the abundance of other western families there.  There were tons of kids there to play with, and for the most part, they're the kind of people you're happy for your kids to play with.

Emma and Samantha particularly enjoyed this one sweet little guy, S.  He's just in the middle of the two of them age-wise, and was a perfect playmate for the week. {and beyond, since we tend to bump into his parents often!}

After a bit of time at the pool, the bigger girls were anxious to hop over the green grass and try out the beach.  Silas and Daddy hung at the pool a bit longer while I took Emma and Samantha to the beach.

This beach was wonderfully suited to young children!  During low tide, there was a pretty large tide pool that left behind lots of interesting shells and things.  During high tide, the water all around was still really shallow for nearly 100 yards.  I felt perfectly comfortable with my kids running loose in any direction; I loved the large range of freedom and the low amount of supervision they needed there.

 My girls and S and his sister started trying to bury large amounts of their bodies.  It was some messy business!

After a while, I felt like I should go pick up Silas and let him enjoy the beach with us.  

Turns out, he was not a fan.

I mean, really.  He hated it.  

 So back to the pool he went with Daddy, where he was perfectly pleased walking along smoother surfaces.

During naptime that first day, I walked down the road in front of our hotel to see what might be available.  Cheap and fast laundry facilities were closeby (such a must with a family that dirties up clothes as fast as we do!) and some good restaurants that we'd try out later in the week.  

I loved that this beach is so quiet.  Their website advertises it as being far from the crowds and neon lights, and they're totally right.  

Being such a family friendly resort, I also noticed that during traditional nap-time hours, the pools were quiet too!

After I got back from my little excursion, the little ones were still asleep.  I decided to take the big girls to get their nails painted.  The "salon" was in the apartment right above ours, so we weren't going far. 

Samantha chose a sparkly light pink:

and Emma read Charlotte's Web (for what must be like the fifth time!) while she waited for her turn.

When it was her turn, she chose a dark sparkly purple.

After naptime, we played outside on the grounds a bit, then had dinner.  After dinner we walked out to the beach - in our clothes - just to walk and play.  I got all the kids together, and Emma really looked like the Big Sister holding Silas in this picture, don't you think?!  

                                     

There were all sorts of sea creatures, and much of their time was spent exploring.  I don't think I can count the number of times I heard, "Mommy, look what I found!!"  It was a precious time.

                                     

Several of the prized treasures were these spindly little shells that made perfect "chalk" for writing on the sand.  Our little artist, Samantha, made quite a few masterpieces with that little shell-pencil. 

                                      

I joked to one of my friends that I should have given the girls a spelling test right there, because they wouldn't have even realized they were "in school".  I take this as further proof that in order to be a better homeschooling parent, I really need to move to the beach.

                                     

Since Abby can't really write anything, she just grabbed a sand rake and started "writing".  I'm pleased to announce that this visit to the beach was much more successful than her last visit to the beach.  

                                     

Silas thought the beach was perfectly lovely...as long as someone else was holding him.  I loved being at the beach at this time of day; it was sunny, but not hot and everything just had this general sense of peacefully winding down for the day.  We'd would end up spending every evening swimming, playing, or walking on the beach after dinner.  

                                      

These girls love their daddy.  

But I'm glad they love their mama too!

On our way back in for showers and nighttime fun - this is vacation, after all! - one of the girls spotted a starfish in the tide pool.  This was just a tiny bit of foreshadowing for what was to come a few days later...