We're back! We made it back from our two week trip to Thailand to visit my family for Christmas. It was a full two weeks and there is so much to document. I think it's going to be many, many posts with many, many pictures. But for this first post, I'm just going to address the list of fears from my previous post:
1. Losing passports - Fortunately, we didn't lose any passports on the trip. But that was only because I was checking and rechecking them the entire time we were traveling. Very stressful.
2. 16 hour plane rides with three children - The trip out there was better than expected. The stars aligned and everything went so smoothly. The seating arrangements, the long periods of sleep, an open seat for Jude to sit in, sitting in the front row, etc. Kobe and Luke were so great and my brothers helped with them a lot. The trip back was not so great. For the long flight, my brothers sat at the opposite end of the plane. And so that Jude could have his own seat (which was pretty important since he's not great at lap-sitting for 16 hours), Jake went and found an open seat three rows back. Result: Me sitting with the three boys alone the entire time. Jake would try and switch me spots, but then all I could hear was Jude crying for me non-stop and when he finally figured out where I was, he would constantly try to come back and see me. Not worth it. I think my tears started flowing at about hour 12.
During breakfast Kobe had fallen asleep and kept knocking off food that was sitting on his tray. I went over to go and pick it up when sleeping Jude rolled off of his seat and started crying. I rushed back over to him, sat down to try and get him back to sleep, when Luke accidentally knocked his full yogurt cup over on my pants. I didn't sleep the ENTIRE flight, so I'm a little hazy on the details, but I'm pretty sure I had a little breakdown on the plane involving some yelling, crying, and drama. I am still not recovered from that flight and don't foresee any plane trips ever again in our family's future. I don't know how Brad and Angelina do it.
3. 4 Hour Layovers - We had the long layovers on our trip out there, so they weren't that bad. My brothers helped entertain my boys a lot. Phew!
4. Watching my three children drown in the icy, winter ocean - Yay! No plane crashes! The plane travels so high on these long flights that there really was barely any turbulence. But when there was, I was scared. I am not a very relaxed flier. The only true scare was the crazy landing we had in L.A., but other than that I felt safe.
5. Jakob's strep-throat - Miraculously, Jake's second round of anti-biotics must have masked his strep-throat long enough for none of us to get sick. We were all very healthy on our trip, and it was so, so nice. I think the beautiful warm weather may have helped our sickly ways, because right when I saw the snow out of our plane window as we flew into Denver, my nose started to congest.
6. Child-trafficking - Some of you may have felt that some of my fears were a little irrational, but - I kid you not - we had a little scare on the first day of our trip. When we landed in Bangkok, my brothers, Jake, and I were a teensy bit distracted at baggage claim as we tried to round up all of our luggage and make sure we had everything. Jakob turned over to check on the boys, who were still very close to us, and saw an older Thai man in a suit walk over to Kobe, grab his hand, and say, "Hello. You are my new friend. Come with me and ride in my car." Kobe was very uncomfortable and Jake walked right over and grabbed Kobe away. The man only walked like 10 feet away and just stood there staring at my children. I don't know for sure if he wanted to take Kobe for child-trafficking, but it was enough to scare me to death.
But besides that, I felt very safe with my children while we were there. The Thai people loved my boys. I guess they really love children with light skin. Everywhere we went people were constantly touching my boys arms and faces. Everywhere. While we were just walking in the mall there would just be a constant stream of hands reaching out to touch them. And it was encouraged further when my boys learned to bow and say, "Sawadee-Krup", which means hello. When we got the Thai pictures taken, the "girls" that helped us get ready were even kissing their cheeks and constantly trying to hold Jude. And by "girls" I of course mean men dressed as women. There are a ton of them in Thailand. A little creepy, but I guess you had to be there because it was really cute.
While we were sight seeing, I was holding Jude and a Thai woman walked right up to us, pulled out her camera, and took a picture of Jude. All her friends behind her were reaching at his hands and giggling. Thailand really is the land of smiles. The people there were so kind and innocent and we really enjoyed spending time in that country.
7. The Tsunami -
Miraculously, no tsunami this year. :) But we didn't even go to the beach anyway because it was three hours away and we were all too exhausted.
8. The box of Christmas gifts - Our huge box full of Christmas gifts made it in time for Christmas - BARELY. It came to the embassy the very last day it could have before Christmas. Another very stressful experience.
9. My children falling off an elephant - I'm not going to say that this was NOT a possibility. There are definitely no safety regulations concerning elephant riding in Thailand. I could not cross this off of my list until we were all safely on the ground. It was an extremely bumpy ride, and the guide on our elephant kept turning around and telling us to scoot different directions to even out the weight of our carriage. Why? Because if we didn't the carriage would topple to the ground? Probably so. Probably so.
So, now that I've addressed my fears, I'd like to add three things that
should have been on my list of fears, knowing what I know now:
1. Extreme jet-lag. The time change was tough. Especially on three little boys' minds and bodies. But we got through it somehow and, after a few days, it felt normal. I think that coming home is going to be harder. My boys were up for good at 3am this morning, but then went back to sleep at 9am and are still asleep. It's 3pm. Our bodies are confused, and its going to be tough.
2. After sneaking a peak at
Denae's blog at the end of our trip, I was updated about a fatal tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo. It dawned on me then that maybe I should've been a little more afraid here:
The guide was telling us to walk very slowly up to the tiger and not to get too close or touch it. They were also feeding the tiger milk the entire time, to try and satisfy his thirst for blood, I guess. I probably should've been a little more fearful on our visit to 'Safari World' world, as well. You just drive around in your van through fields of wild animals. We were feet away from tigers. I guess now I know.
3. Biting Monkey's. Kobe got bit by a monkey while we were at a Monkey show. It didn't bleed, but it was a definite scratch on his thumb. After the Monkey show, they let us all come and shake the monkeys' hands. There were these two little ones and while we were all waiting to shake one of their hands, Kobe wandered over to the other one. When he extended his hand, the monkey took it to his mouth and bit his thumb. Kobe didn't tell us at first, but then when Luke went over to shake the biting monkey's hand, Kobe started screaming, "No! Stop! That monkey bites!" We didn't get the bite checked or anything, just cleaned it. I hope that this is the end of that story.
But my number one fear for the trip should've been dying......of happiness. I almost died of happiness here:
And here:
And here:
And here:
And here:
It was an amazing trip and I am so grateful to my parents for giving that to our family. More trip details to come!
Siam Niramit (Siam - the Enchanted Kingdom) was a show that all the grown-ups went to one night. The play showcases all of the culture and history of the different areas of Thailand. It was really spectacular. They have invested a ton of money into the production, and it was definitely one of the most memorable parts of the trip. There was a huge stage with a huge set, lots of special affects, aerial performers, and live elephants on the stage and even in the audience. And the coolest part was the river they had built flowing through the stage. It was a deep river, too, because an actor dived right in. Super cool.
Before the play we toured around the huge theatre grounds. They had all sorts of displays, including a canoe ride around the "Thai Countryside". Before the play we also all ate at a buffet in the playhouse. It was very traditional Thai food. I did LOVE some Thai food that I ate while in Thailand, but I'm not a very adventurous eater, so I mostly had rice and salad this night. And my sense of smell is always heavily exaggerated when I'm pregnant, so sometimes I almost got knocked out being around all the Thai food. But it was very yummy.
When you roll with Khoon Bill, you get all the special treatment in Thailand. We had a personal escort the entire night who made sure we were super taken care of. We got to eat at a secluded section of the restaurant, and had the show's magician come and put on a little show for us. Now I am ULTRA sensitive to people's feelings. To a very unhealthy extreme. So the magician came over to our table and started to do a trick where he was going to make a ketchup bottle disappear. So he put a white cloth over the ketchup bottle, lifted it up, and then obviously moved the ketchup bottle with his hand to behind his back. We were able to see it the entire time. Then he lifted the cloth. Ta-da! I did not want him to feel bad for being such a horrible magician, so I started clapping really loudly. Everyone else at the table didn't clap at all. They laughed at him. So rude. But it turns out that I was the rude one. The point of that trick was to have everyone see the bottle. It wasn't a trick, it was a joke. It was just very typical me. He was a great magician. 
They didn't allow ANY pictures inside which was a super bummer. But after the show they had the star elephants there and for some baht they would lift you off the ground. I was nervous at first - being in such a delicate condition - but there were some brave senior citizens braving the lift so I went ahead. The most surprising thing was the texture of the elephants skin. You expect it to be tough and thick and I always thought it would be a little rubbery. But it is not rubbery at all. It is like sandpaper. No, rougher than sandpaper. My forearm got a huge red burn just from holding onto the truck while I was being lifted. But very cool regardless.
Kobe, Luke, and Jude got to have another elephant experience, too. Nanny and Papa took them to feed and sit on a baby elephant that just lives with a family on the side of the street. They had a lot of fun.
One day we drove to a nearby province to go to the Floating Market. This was also the location where we rode the elephants. We got there and loaded into two separate little boats with motors and a driver.
We went through all these little canals to get to where the market was.
Jude was so excited to be on a boat and kept turning around and giving me this cutest little excited smile. The market is a network of thin canals with shops on both sides. They are thin, but the boats drivers are as aggressive as the street drivers in Thailand, so we were sandwiched inbetween boats much of the time and even got stuck in a traffic jam. We were told many times not to put our hands on the edge of the boat because they would get sliced off.
This picture shows how crowded it was. It also shows how Kobe and Luke got a little grumpy towards the end of our long shopping excursion.
Kobe and Luke got to get out of the boat to hold a snake at one of the booths. That was their Thailand dream, and they were very excited. I was a little nervous because who knows if this snake is really safe or not. But I only put my sons' lives in danger for really good photo-ops, so we had to take the chance.
It was such a cool experience. We didn't really buy much, but it was fun to see everything they had. We made our way to a wider stream where they sold us fish food to drop into the water. Hundreds of fish would swarm all around our boat and splash around to get the food.
The boys had fun chasing their uncles' boat and trying to shoot them down.
Kobe has good aim.
At the end of our shopping they let us off for the elephant rides and monkey show. Here's some more pictures of us on the elephants. If you look closely, you can see my poor trembling legs trying to find a secure place to rest. Riding on the elephant was an incredible, once in a lifetime experience. But it was a very jerky ride! That's why I was very surprised when Jude fell asleep half-way through. The whiplash must have felt like being rocked to sleep for him.
Luke rode with Aunt Marcie and Uncle Jamis. Kobe rode with Uncle Willie.
Here the boys are at the monkey show. The Thai entertainment industry relies a lot on physical comedy, so the monkeys were playing sick a lot. But it was hard not to be entertained by little monkeys dressed in clothes. Always a guaranteed laugh. The boys had a great time interacting with the monkeys, despite the whole biting thing.
Muay Thai means Thai boxing and it is Thailand's national sport. Because my dad is kind of an FBI celebrity in Thailand, we got a few strings pulled for us while we were there - like second row seats at a Muay Thai Boxing Match at Lumphini Park. I had the option to go, but passed without a second thought. The best Muay Thai boxers are young teenagers, and its a very violent sport. I could not watch these little babies hurt each other.
But Jake went with my Dad, brothers, sister, and brother-in-law. They do a ceremonial dance before the match starts and Jakob said it was really cool.
Here Jakob is with one of the kickboxers before a match. I guess one of these little babies got knocked-out at the end of the final match. I am so glad I didn't go. I almost started crying just hearing about it.+of+PICT0550.JPG)
Here are my little Muay Thai Boxers in training! One of their Christmas gifts was Muay Thai boxing shorts. My brothers caught the fire of Muay Thai on our trip to Thailand and took private lessons at a Muay Thai gym while we were there. We took Kobe, Luke, and Jude to the gym a couple of times to practice their kickboxing moves. The trainers were really nice and worked with Kobe and Luke on their kicks and punches a little bit. 
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Here's all the boxers together. All my brothers are available, ladies! (Well, not T. But he turns 16 in March. And I guess Kenny leaves on a mission this year, so stay away from him. But those RM's are quite a catch!)
My first post is going to be pictures of the ruins that we went and saw there. We drove two hours to the old capitol of Thailand. I can't remember anything about the names or history, which is bad. But I guess if you're interested you can look it up online. But the palaces, structures and Buddhas we saw were really incredible.
Here we are standing in front of a picture of the king. There are pictures, posters, and billboards with his picture everywhere. The people really love their king, and he is a very good man. I loved him, too, because he just looks so sweet. Because he was born on a Monday - and Monday is assigned the color yellow - yellow is the official color of the king. People wear yellow shirts all the time, but on Monday there is a tidal wave of yellow clothes everywhere. My brother, Rob, is a big supporter of the king and wore his yellow shirt at least twice a week. :)
These pictures are of an old palace of a past king that we went to visit. The grounds and palaces were just beautiful.
This statue is obviously more European than Thai, but I thought it was so cute how Jude held his hand!
Here is a huge lounging Buddha which was the official Buddha for awhile, before the current one was assigned. Super cool.
Just wanted to give a 'shout-out' to my brother, Will, for his awesome photography skills. He's studied it a little bit and really knows his stuff. Good job!
We thought this sign was funny. So many of the signs there written in English were hilariously wrong and painfully misspelled (I love that spellcheck just told me I misspelled 'misspelled'. Classic.). I just wanted to go home and print off new signs for all these people trying so hard to advertise to English speaking tourists.
This is us in front of one of the biggest Buddha statues we saw. It was huge! I guess in some temples you have to crawl in to see the Buddha because you can't be taller than the statue, but that was no problem here. We got to see a ceremony where a group of people were kneeling and worshipping and buying towels to throw up onto the big Buddha. There were men standing on top of the Buddha to catch the towels. Then they draped down a bunch of colored scarfs that covered the Buddha and the crowd tented them over themselves and said a chant.
At first we didn't know if we could take pictures inside their temples, but when we went in, they had a booth near the Buddha selling lottery tickets, so we figured pictures were okay.
The whole fam!
The boys were so good this day. We did a lot of driving and a lot of sight seeing and they were great! And they even had to go to the bathroom is some very icky places, but they were brave. Thailand really was an incredible experience.
