waiting for baby = riding on elephants

If Southern Thailand means beaches, Northern Thailand means elephants.  Sure, you can find elephants all over thailand, but they're not exactly in a natural environment.  They're being paraded down the busy, touristed streets of Bangkok...or they're plodding through muddy, manmade creeks in beach towns for the benefit of tourists.  It's a little sad, but I guess people pay the money, so whatever.

But in Northern Thailand, they have the best elephant shows, the most (is it really possible?) humane elephant camps, and if you ride elephants, you're doing it through the mountains, through the jungle, through real stuff that wasn't created to be an "elephant show".  

We've done the elephant gig almost every time we're in thailand, but our kids didn't remember much from last year.  So we were excited to take them to a really good place this year.  

We started out with an elephant show, full of tricks that delighted people of all ages at the show - not just the three-year-olds.  

This elephant is actually playing soccer!  It was pretty cool -he could kick that ball really far!
All the tourists go crazy watching the elephants learn to paint.  We were told that japanese, thai and european teachers spend a year and a half teaching them how to paint.  Even though the trainers were the ones putting the brushes in their trunks and changing the colors of paint, it was really impressive watching them.  
Each painting was going for about US$100...times 12 elephants...times 3 shows a day...no wonder they're willing to spend all that time training them!  There were some paintings in the gallery that were priced at over US$1000!  
One of the tricks was this dude getting a "traditional thai massage" from an elephant.  That looked a little like taking your life in your hands to me!
At the end of the show, you could feed elephants as a way of showing your appreciation to them.  We had bought some bananas and sugar cane (for about 50cents) on the way in and were glad we had it left over.  (I'm happy taking pictures and leaving these more manly jobs to hubby.)  Samantha was happy to feed the bananas - though we joked that perhaps in her fave yellow dress, the elephant might have thought she was a huge banana!
He looks happy, don't you think?
Emma handed out the sugar cane...
After the show, emma wanted to find this "baby"elephant (it was her favorite the whole show).  She was delighted to learn that he was three years old - just like her!  - and was distressed that we had no more bananas to get.  
So after meeting baby elephant and seeing all the tricks, it was time for the big event - riding the elephants!  Let me just tell you, in case you have romantic notions about elephant riding - if it were being offered in America, there would be a warning sign longer than the scariest rollercoaster! It is not for the faint of heart, and probably not for the very pregnant either...but, in the absense of safety laws, we went ahead for it.  

Last year, Emma rode with me, so this year samantha and I were on together:
Daddy and Emma rode together:
Mommy and mantha's elephant is in the front of our 4-elephant group.  Samantha thought it was very cool that we were the leaders.  
Then everything switched up and we were at the end.  (Also - there is nothing else holding in those little ones except that bar you see!  There's no hidden seatbelts - and on the downhill slopes, samantha was about to cry because I was holding her so tightly!)
I guess elephant riders make it into lots of pictures!  =)
Ten minutes into the 30-minute ride, Samantha admitted she had had enough and was ready to get off.  It made me glad we opted out of the 1-hour ride!  Soon enough, she was happily off and we were all getting our land-legs back again.  Our tour guide told us we could walk about 10 minutes into the camp and check out the elephant nursery - and see the newest elephant born to the camp.

This elephant is two months old, and unfortunately, could not eat bananas yet.  Emma and Samantha had to be content feeding their bananas to the mama elephant.  They haven't yet discovered that behind every cute baby is a hard-working mama who deserves some bananas every once in a while!
And for sticking a bill (the equivalent of 50 cents) in the trunk of an elephant, the trainers will get them to hang all over you for the craziest picture you ever took in your whole life.  Samantha is actually sitting on the knee of that elephant...
...and yes, that elephant's trunk is rested lovingly on josh's leg.  (I was surprised he agreed to do the picture, but I sure thought it was cute!)
So the day at the elephant park was really fun.  We were all tired and it's expensive enough that we'd only do it once a year, but it was really cool.  

every year, a little bigger

Every year during our time in t-land, there's a carnival type thing for all the children who attend with their parents.  Now that we've been going to this since Emma was 1, it's funny to see every year how they girls get more and more involved in what's going on.  This year was samantha's first year to actually care about anything that was there (though, judging by some of the pictures, you'd never know it!)

I remember the first year I coaxed emma to slide down this slide -she looked so tiny (and at 2 years old, she was!)  But samantha took it like a pro, even opted for a professional twist...the belly slide:

Emma jumped high and far, not afraid of anything:
This is the part where we couldn't tell if samantha would rather have gone inside and called it a night.  She wanted to try all the games, but we couldnt' get a smile out of her to save her life:
They got tons of little prizes - dumdum suckers, twinkies, mardi gras beads, dress up rings - totally the kind of stuff they love.  (I even played the Cake Walk game twice to snag some Twinkies...)
They thought cotton candy was amazing:


Here's samantha again, all smiling and bubbly, happy to be playing with the oversized bowling set (yeah right...)

This year, one of our children even stayed for the entire fireworks show - truly a first!  I try to convince myself that they're still little, but the signs all around me show how much they grow every year.

more things we like about thailand

fun surprises for our kids - ice cream that looks like people:

and my personal favorite - chocolate croissants.  Thank heaven they don't have these where we're at now!  I'd be much heavier - and abby would probably be too!

all grown up...

When we first arrived in Thailand, before any of this baby business could get started, we joined lots of other friends for some great times of worship, teaching, and meetings.  The extra-fab part of this was...da-da-daaaaaah...childcare!  =) 

hahaha, just kidding.  I mean, the childcare WAS great, but I'm not really trying to bum my kids off on other people.  Emma and Samantha were really excited about going to their classes - they had teachers from America ("they don't speak asianese, mommy?" emma asked), lots of other american kids, and fun crafts, songs, and activities to keep them busy for 5 days!

They each had to have a little backpack of all their items - sunscreen, swimsuit, change of clothes, special items (blankets, etc).  Every night, we made sure our bags were packed and ready to go for the next day.  And each morning, they would (mostly) happily head to class.  Their teachers were all volunteers from the States - thank you to any teachers reading this!!! - and were so great to love on our kids for a few days.  

Anyway, here's my cute little ones on the first day of school, wearing their backpacks...

cute, huh?  =)

random things we like about thailand

well, even though it's been a few days, we're still here and only have two girls in our family!

We went to the doc today and he said everything is still looking good.  Officially, I am one week away from my due date, but who really keeps track of due dates?  As long as the baby doesn't come on Valentine's Day or Emma's birthday, I think I'll be ok.  

The doc did say today, "If you walk a lot, maybe baby will come early."  So I put josh on bedtime duty and went out this evening for a 40 minute walk.  (I did end up coming home with two new shirts and a present for a friend, but hey, that's half the fun of a walk, right?)

While we're waiting on Abby, I'm going to try to post some pictures of our fun times in t-land so far.  This installment will focus on the random things we like about coming to thailand.  (Perhaps in previous years I have said "love" thailand...maybe it is my old age, or my growing family, but I've downgraded to "like" thailand.  Dont' get me wrong - I still have a great time, but all things in moderation!  Two months doesn't feel like moderation and has me missing my own home right now!)

Anyway, on to a few cute pictures - 

Pink Taxis:  emma thinks they are the bomb.  They really only have them in bangkok, but still, that's enough for her.  When we get a pink taxi, her world lights up.  It's great.  

Sleeping in: or at least, not having someone knock on your door at 8:15 (even if that person is there to clean your house and cook all your meals).  There's something very pleasant about lounging around in bed in the morning...especially when you get to lounge next to things as cute as this:
Swimming: yeah!  what's not to love about warm water?!?  Our first 10 days in t-land were in places where the pool was warm and right by the ocean.  To get ready for abby's birth, we've relocated up more north where the water just doesn't get as warm...in fact, it's downright chilly!  But here's a few pics from the warm waters of southern thailand:

Reading: aaah, it's great.  Emma is reading Little House in the Big Woods, Josh is reading The Translator (a great memoir of a tribesman from Darfur who translated for reporters and other aid agencies doing work there) and mama (not pictured) is reading Sense and Sensibility (picked up at a used bookstore for a couple of bucks).  We've read hundreds of pages between us - and more, if you count all that I've read to my kids!
The internet is kind of slow, but I'll try to post more for you in the next few days.  My personal hope/guess/bet was that Abby would come on February 10...but since that has come and gone (even for those of you in USA), any guesses anyone???  February 14 and 21 are off limits - so don't guess those!

arrived and settling

hello from sunny thailand!

Just wanted to write a quick post and let everyone know that we have arrived in the location where abby will be born. We arrived last night and got our place all ready to live in, and now we're just waiting...

...and swimming...

...and eating....

...and watching movies...

...and generally just being unproductive. But what else is there to do in an apartment that's not yours and you don't know anyone? =)

Anyway, we'll meet with the doc on thursday to see if that's the hospital we'll end up using; there were a few curveballs thrown our way (the doc we were hoping to use might not work out).

We're all happy, healthy and settling in and just waiting!

More from us (as well as some really cute pictures) when I get better internet access!

how much is that doggie in the window?

One Saturday afternoon Josh had a meeting, so I did something a little unusual.

I took the girls to Pizza Hut for lunch.  (The unusual part is not eating at pizza hut, but doing it on a Saturday - the busiest day of the week!)

While we were munching on our pepperoni pizza (yum!) the girls spied a balloon seller outside the window.  Our pizza hut has big glass walls AND it's located in a busy area, so there's plenty to keep you entertained while you eat.  All during lunch, the girls commented on which balloons they saw.   They took turns making new discoveries:

"Emma, look, there's Mickey!"

"And look, mantha a yellow fish!"

"And hello kitty!"

"Mantha, do you see the dalmation?"

"I see a blue bird!"

And so on....

But two particular balloons kept being brought up - the black and white dalmation, and the pink puppy.  These two managed to stay in the conversation, and were asked for several times.  

I made a deal in my mind that if the Pizza Hut would give me the student discount (20%! No small amount!) then I would buy balloons for the girls with the savings.  (You think I'm cheap??!)  Amazingly, they gave me the discount with no problem.

After we paid our bill, we headed out in the cold for a closer look at the pups.  The cute thing about the balloons they wanted was that they stayed low to the floor and had legs that walked on the ground.  They were pretty cute, so I agreed.

Mantha chose the black and white one, Emma chose the pink one (no surprises there).  They've recently had puppy-infatuation due to a very cool Leapster game my parents bought them for Christmas, Pet Pals.  In the game, you have name your pup and feed him and love him and take him for walks and teach him tricks...you know, almost like having a real pup (without the poop). 

We got home, and Pet Pals became a reality in our home.  The pups immediately got names:  Mantha named her puppy Woofy, and Emma named hers BeeBee.  Extreme care and love has been given to them over the last few days.  They have their own blankets, their own place to "potty", and have to be walked, played with, and put to bed every night.

We've started preparing them for balloon-doggy-death, that inevitable day when the air will slowly start coming out of the pups.  But for now, there's just happiness all around...

boxes!!!

We have been so blessed and so happy and so excited with all the boxes that family and friends sent us and the girls this holiday season!  It's hard to express just how fun it is to open a package from America - even for Josh and I - but for the girls, it's like the highlight of the day!

 One of the most recent boxes we got was from josh's sister, and it was almost as tall as the girls!  Since I haven't sent her the pictures yet on CD (but I will...you believe me, right???) I'm going to post some of the good ones here.  Plus, this box-opening ceremony has my new favorite picture of the girls, but you'll have to wait til the end...

Waiting...waiting...the excitement is very clear, yeah?

And then, after opening the box, they discovered that inside was tons of wrapped presents!  Wow, they thought that was great!
What a stash!  (Those pepperonis at the bottom look beautiful to me!)
Samantha opens the first one...
These are pillowcases with "Big Sis" and "Lil Sis" on them...but they have been most recently used at our house as pretend towels.  Whenever our kids get a whim to take their day clothes off, they prance around the house with these wrapped around them!
These coke bottles were SO cute!  I loved looking at them...and loved drinking them even more!  Aaaaah, coke from America speaks love to my heart!
The next present was a box of beautiful looking handmade soap!  Bubble baths just got an upgrade...
...they smelled even better than they looked!
Everyone wanted in on the smelling action (except daddy)...
But, when you're three, even Daddy needs your help to open his present!
And the baby needs help opening her presents (one of the benefits of being big sisters to a baby, I guess!)
They loved looking through all the tiny clothes...

But the most popular present in this box is...
...these sleeping bags!  Oh my...what a fun thing for them!  They rolled around on the floor for a LONG time.
...and made silly faces...
...and basked in the glory of a new sleeping bag. 
And...ta-da...my new favorite picture:
Thanks, Aunt Kristen!  You made our day!!