Aquarius

During the final week that Grandma Julie was visiting, we took her to visit Aquarius.  It was fun to go through the tunnel and see the sharks and the rays.  We also had fun watching some feedings, including the otters and river rats -- which were quite huge and quite cute.

After visiting Aquarius, Gabi wrestled with whether she should get a stuffed animal ray or a turtle.  She finally settled on the turtle, mostly because she did not have enough money saved for the ray.  So now Turley, the new stuffed animal turtle, is a member of our family.

CNY Dress-Up

After Chinese New Year a year ago, Tracy bought some beautiful dresses so the girls would have something during the dress-up day each year at school.  The night before, the girls were so excited to have the dresses, but that morning, Gabi decided she did not want to dress up.

Rania still went through with dressing up and looked spectacular in her CNY dress. 


Thanks to Rania's teacher, we also get monthly snapshots of all the fun she has at school.  Here are some of the other snapshots, courtesy of Ms. Christy -- her teacher.

Our Luxurious Trip to Bali

We had a great time in Bali while mom was here...just a girls' trip (older girls, that is).  You can imagine, from the pics of the pool and the beach.  And the breakfast was amazing, of course.....the cups of coffee just kept comin while we enjoyed our morning chats poolside.  We miss you mom and are still talking about your visit!

Grandma Julie Arrives!

How exciting to have Grandma Julie arrive.  She came in after school and Tracy went out to meet her.  Flight on time and exciting to have her arrive just before the kids got in bed.  And it was like another Christmas -- with all the gifts and all the hugs and all the fun when she arrived.  What a treat to have Grandma Julie for two weeks!

The girls were thrilled to get hand-made purses from Grandma Julie.  Along with a host of gluten-free goods, it was so exciting to have gifts.  But that didn't compare with the thrill of having Grandma Julie arrive. 

She was brave enough during a long layover in Amsterdam to brave the winter weather and make a journey to the Anne Frank house.    So great to have her arrive without any problems. 

Goodbye Thailand

Our final night in Chiang Mai was fittingly some of the best food of the whole trip.  We found a delicious Thai restaurant near the Night Market, and thoroughly enjoyed the delicious Thai food, the fruit shakes, the curry, pad-thai and other delectable treats. 

Tiger Kingdom

Tracy took the girls to an unbelievable place -- it was quite the experience to get to Tiger Kingdom.  We were quite skeptical about a place where you actually get to pet real tigers.  It sounded a bit dangerous -- or perhaps sketchy, so we checked out their website before going.  It is hard to know exactly, but there were a number of testimonials talking about how the place exists to protect and rescue tigers -- and ensuring that the tigers are not drugged.

The girls had the chance to go in with some of the baby tigers and get their pictures taken with some of the tiger cubs.  What an experience that the girls will certainly not forget anytime soon.

 While the girls were at Tiger Kingdom, the boys got to walk around Chiang Mai -- and the most interesting part of our day was a huge tree that crashed down just meters from where we were eating our lunch.  It took out some phone lines as well as blocking one lane of traffic -- and made for quite the entertainment to our meal.

Elephant Video

We had some fun videos of our adventures with elephants. We'll have to put them together into a nice video and put it here. In the meantime, you may have to be patient!

Riding Elephants!

We had a wonderful morning at the Chiang Dao Elephant Sanctuary.  The kids even got to feed the elephants, which was fun to watch them take the bananas out of our hands. First, the elephants took a bath in the river -- which was nice to watch them playing in the water.

We also got to watch an elephant show which is very similar to how elephants might act in the wild -- or more accurately, when they would be used to help with logging or forest work for human enterprises.  Then we had the opportunity to ride elephants.  The short ride was quite interesting, especially as it culminated in a ride through the river back to the "lodge".

After all, it isn't every day that you get to ride elephants!

Jungle Trek & Cave

We met some wonderful friends at Chiang Dao Nest and the kids had a blast playing with them. They go to school in Beijing and were kind enough to let us join them on a "nature trail" that was much more of a jungle trek with very, very steep inclines and steep drops. Rania, in her sandals was sliding all over the place without any grip.

But it was quite fun, as the boys were the explorers, trying to find the trail. The girls had a great time, too, and we did finally make it to the caves via the "long route." We decided the short walk on the road would be better when we returned!

Once we made it to the cave, we went on the very elaborate tour that went throughout the cave, including seeing the incredible formations.

And in a classic English mis-translation, we found this sign -- which must be dedicated to my sister -- who enjoys such hilarious signs and has a fine collection herself!

Chiang Dao

We made a journey to Chiang Dao and stayed in the very nice Chiang Dao Nest.  With mountains all around, it is quite the picturesque setting.  The first evening, we made a little afternoon hike to a nearby monastery.  The kids did quite well at adhering to the silence expected in such a place, and we went up the hundreds of steps to the temple at the top of the mountain -- and the spectacular view that followed.

The grounds were meticulously kept and there were many monks sweeping away leaves from the path.  Add in the labels of all the trees and it was quite a nice hike.  There were lots of questions about Buddhism, so telling the story of Siddharta Guatama kept the kids' interest for quite some time.

After we left the kids decided to make snow angels.  Quite appropriate for the first week in January -- though since there was no snow anywhere around, the gravel had to suffice.  The hilarious comment of the trip was something like , "I wish we had rocks like this back home.  This is so fun."

 . . .yea, until you get rocks and dust in your eyes.  YUCK!

Night Safari

Our second night in Chiang Mai, we visited the Night Safari -- and got to go on a ride around in the dark seeing the animals in various enclosures.

The predators were across large moats, but the herbivores came right up to us  -- including a giraffe that was just about licking Tracy's face in her eagerness to get bananas that Gabi and Rania were holding.

It was a late evening, but a nice visit to the Night Safari and the very well run organization.  A buffet dinner even allowed us to get some food before the tours.

Chiang Mai

We spent the first week of January visiting Chiang Mai as a family.  The first day was a trip to the zoo -- which was quite chaotic and crowded.  It was hard to make our way through the mass of people, cars and zoo buses that were worming their way around the zoo.

We did have our first delicious Thai meal as we hung out at the zoo while we waited for our room to be ready.  Reeve got to try Fanta -- strawberry flavor and the color on his tongue told the whole story!

That evening we enjoyed the Sunday market and seeing the colorful crafts.  It brought back fun memories of last Christmas visiting Luang Prabang, Laos.