Monkey Island

One of the excursions we took was to Monkey Island. We could see the island from our little stretch of beach (in the picture above it is the large island on the left). A fishing boat picked us up and took us to an island inhabited by monkeys. The driver of the boat provides bananas and then you can feed the monkeys. Josh absolutely loves monkeys and this was the thing that he looking forward to most about the trip. The monkeys would come right up and take the bananas from your hand.

The welcoming committee

Do you see the cute little baby?

Fun in the sun

Our first full day in Dolphin Bay we went to the beach, grabbed lunch and spent the afternoon in the pool -- pretty much all day in the sun. And our poor fair skin suffered for it! While we love the sun, it does not treat us so kindly. Thankfully, after a day or so our sunburns were a bit better. But in the meantime, it did not keep us from the beach and pool, we just covered up a bit more while there (and used several tubes of sunscreen).

Taking a break from the sun. Of course with my boy, it would be in a book.

My sand princesses. . .

So, I hope the kids had fun, cause Andy and I certainly did! Amree snapped this pic without our knowledge and it just makes me laugh. Every time I look at it.

The view from our porch. Can you see why we just couldn't stay away from the sand and water?

Turns out Amree is quite the sand artist. Her mermaid:

and crab:

Riding Elephants

Possibly one of the most fun things that we did while in Thailand was go on an elephant ride. Now this was not the 5 minute ride around a circle at the zoo! We were on the elephants for an hour. I must say that it was a lot different than I thought it would be. For one thing, they are HUGE (which means you are really high up). And then, they move with much more jerky motions than I thought they would. In fact, you will notice in some of the pictures we are using umbrellas to shade us from the sun and others we are not. Now it was sunny and hot for the whole trip, but I was often making a choice that I would rather hold on well to Tori and the umbrella would just not be a safe addition! In fact when we went down the first hill, I was unprepared with how steep it would be and hoped and prayed that Tori would not slip out and off the seat! But probably the most amazing thing was that midway through the trip I turned around to see Becca riding bareback where the guide normally sits. She rode that way for 15-20 minutes. She described the elephant as "having really prickly hair and that it felt weird when it moved under her."

As we were riding, Andy's elephant kept sneezing (on me). The guide says that they do this when they are hot. So I can now say that I have been sneezed on by an elephant and licked by a camel.

At the end of the trip, we went through a small river. As the elephant went deeper, Tori began to get worried. She called out to the elephant, "Okay, elephant, that is deep enough!"

Look at our girl!

Thailand!

Last Thursday we had a monster day of travel (okay, not quite as bad as traveling back to the US but it was a LONG day), but we made it to Hua Hin, Thailand. We are staying at this wonderful family resort (Dolphin Bay) and are having a blast. We were able to meet up with Amree (our sister-in-law, who would have been going alone in Japan since Andy's brother is traveling over this time). We have done a few excursions, but most our days have been like today: food, beach, pool, repeat as needed. Here a couple of pictures of the highlights. . . .

Unfortunately, this is how Andy spent most of the first day. On his cell phone finishing up business.

Josh conquering the waterslide . . .

with Daddy to catch him.

Our bungalow (it has two adjoining rooms). Josh informed us that he knew what a bungalow was -- a house that old people live in. :-D

Tori LOVES the sand.

Super Bowl Breakfast

Monday morning we got up and headed to a local bar to watch the game. They were showing live coverage of the game along with a buffet breakfast. For us, live coverage meant that kickoff was at 7:30 AM. So we had the new experience of watching the Super Bowl with eggs, bacon and coffee. Afterwards, Andy headed to work! Obviously, the game was a bit of a disappointment, but the atmosphere was fun. If we are in Suzhou at that time next year, I know where we will be!

Andy laughed at me, but I found it humorous that we were drinking coffee in the midst of all of the beer commercials.

Animal Poems

by Becca and Josh

This afternoon Becca and Josh disappeared for a while. Later they gave us a wrapped gift. Inside was a book of poems that they had written. Here they are:

Bat

Becca the Bat was

Adventurous

Terrifying bat.

Tiger

Tigger the Tiger

Is a

Growing animal

Eats no

Rats. But lots of meat.

Dogs

Diana the Dog

Often

Goes

Swimming in the pond.

Cat

Cookie the cat thinks

A bath is

Terrible.

Crab

Cristera the crab

Rides on waves

And feeds on plants.

But she is not the biggest.

Wolf

Willy the wolf

Often

Likes

Feeding on meat.

Frog

Fred the frog is

Really good at jumping.

Often feeds on plants, some are

Green.

Monkey

Michael the monkey feeds

On bananas.

Not nocturnal. Did you

Know that some monkeys are

Endangered?

You can help too!!

Aren't they great? I did not notice it at first (though I have made it easier for you to spot), but Becca informed me that they were acrostics.

Awkward Gifts

It is that time of year again. . . . Happy Chinese New Year! 春节快乐!

But with Chinese New Year brings the onslaught of gifts. Within China (and actually within many Asian countries) gift giving is an important ritual. Certain holidays require specific gifts. Gifts are also given to win business and make sure the relationship continues or as they say in China, "to keep the relationship warm". Today, I was surprised by a knock on our door. There was a driver that had previously worked at the company but had left to start his own business. He was here to deliver new year gifts. This is the part where it became awkward for me. First of all, I don't really understand why if he is trying to win business from Andy's company why he would be delivering gifts to our house. Secondly, one of the gifts (that I opened after he left) was just too extravagant and therefore needs to be returned. This is not the first time that these two awkward things have simultaneously occurred. Over Christmas, one of the company's current drivers arrived (at our house) with gifts. Yet again, one of them was extravagant. Thankfully, Andy (or someone else from the company) will return the gift in a manner that does not offend. Small gifts are acceptable. For example one of the drivers gave us a box of fresh strawberries (totally acceptable). But all this leaves me in a quandry. . . what do I do (other than just smile, make small talk and say "thank you")? And why do they keep bringing the gifts to me?