Amelia's first cooking class

With us getting ready to leave Thailand, a lot of friends have come recently to be able to experience it while we are still here.  A couple weeks ago Katie got a new job and decided to take the transition time to come see us.  It has been great showing her and Andy around and getting that look of amazement meaning "is that for real!". 

Katie and Amleia waiting to go to the market. 

One of the activities Katie wanted to do was a cooking class.  Being the lover of Thai cuisine she is, it was a good fit so now she can make dishes at home.  Since living in Thailand, I have done a number of cooking classes and have loved them all.  I decided this one I would bring Amelia with me.  

Our basket of good stuff. 

Amelia did awesome during the whole class.  She was a trooper while touring the market, a great assistant on organizing the ingredients, and she tried everything we made.  Her favorite was the mango sticky rice.  She ate two plates full.  While we were leaving the Silom Cooking School, she asked when we can go back for another class.

She is already planing her menu for the dinner parties she is going to throw for Grandma and Grandpa and Mimi and Gaga.

One of her jobs was to wash and put some of the ingredients onto the display. 

Sitting right next to the main chief. 

Her first dish.

She ate all the broth. I got the chunks. 

At the wok. 

Ending it off with her favorite!!!

Phuket

I flew to Phuket to meet Aimee and Jen who were touring Thailand.

I had a wonderful 3 days of relaxing on the beach, cooling off in the pool, lots of girl time, adventures, and SLEEP.   It is so fun to have friends come see where we have been living these past couple of years.  It is only then do they really "get" it (Thailand that is). 

We stayed on Kamala Beach. which is west from the crazy beach/town Patong. The resort was very nice and we got a free upgrade with rooms that opened out to one of the pools.   We also did an island tour of Koh Phi Phi and surroundings.  One of the beaches we visited was the beach the movie The Beach was filmed on. 

It was a great weekend.

Monkey on Monkey Beach.   My dislike of monkeys was reaffirmed.  One tried to crawl up my shirt!

Sunset dinner on the beach. 

One night in Patong,  Ladyboy show.  Doesn't she look like Beyonce?

Yum!

Daily view. 

Saying Goodbye

This week we experienced our first goodbye of us leaving Thailand in June.  Unexpectedly, Goma, our nanny, got a call from Myanmar that her brother was very sick and she needed to come home.  Like that, we bought her a plane ticket and she was gone.

I am comparing the experience to ripping a band aid off FAST.  There is really no time to process and life has to move on.  We all loved Goma so much. From being my "wife" to Liam's "Ma", she really became a part of our family.   She will be working for a new family in the community we currently live in and we are Facebook friends.  We will keep in touch, but I hope she understands how special she is to us.

Ayutthaya

During the break, I wanted to use my time to see and do as much as I could.  Ayautthaya has been on my list of places in Thailand I wanted to see.  Being pretty close to Bangkok, it should be just a day trip.  So we thought.  Seven modes of transportation to get to our bike tour, we learned that there was no easy way back because everything was booked due to Songkran.  Our day trip soon turned into overnight, but we made lemonade out of lemons. 

I found a tour company on TripAdvisor that had great ratings.  After some research, I learned they had a bike-boat tour for families.  It sounded good to me and we booked.  The reviews were not lying...the tour was wonderful.  Pui, our guide, showed us the ruins with a brief history on bikes and then took us to our own private dinner cruise.  

I highly recommend Ayatthaya Bike and Boat.  Also learn more why this place is important here.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_Kingdom

The old palace. 

 

Some family we don't know, but they wanted a picture with us. 

Amelia and Liam were out to count all the Buddhas.  Not an easy task. 

Can you see the Buddha?

Our guide.  The kids really liked her.  She was wonderful with them. 

The coolest Buddha in my opinion. 

Dinner cruise.  Of course Wade likes to eat all the food. 

Showing off the key chains the guide gave them.  

3 year old sweetheart.

Last night while getting ready for bed, Amelia claimed that she wanted to marry Liam because she LOVED him so much.  While I tried to explain to her the reasons why she cannot, she told me all the reason why she should.  I can see why she does want to marry him (but I will discourage it).  

Plain and simple, he is a sweetheart.  We are lucky to have him as ours.  He loves kisses and hugs, but also thinks he is a super hero who will fly in to save the day.  Even though he is small and built like a bulldog, he thinks he is big and strong (as he stands up on a table) and nothing stops him from keeping up.  

Happy 3rd Birthday Liam.  Now stop growing!!

Favorite food: Chocolate

Favorite color:  Orange

Favorite thing to do: Play horses with his action figures

Favorite Sport: American football. 

I love...Mama.

Most excited to learn..Preschool!

Best Friends: Rye and Jack

Best thing about being three is? "I am three now!!!"

Miss about being two: "I want to be five"

His Spiderman birthday party.  It was small because a lot of people were still on vacation during break.

Water balloon toss. 

He was super excited for his cake.  All day he kept looking in the fridge to make sure it was still there. It has Spiderman Legos on it. 

Skating

Having two weeks off for Songkran we have all started to get a little bored.  Since Becki and Paul left, our days have been filled with check-ups, dentist, and runs to the store.  We decided we needed to get out of the house and do something fun.

At majority of the malls here they have areas with nice movie theaters, karaoke bars, bowling, and some with ice rinks. Our favorite mall (because it has a Carl's Jr), Mega Bangna, of course houses all of these and an Ikea.

We skated for an hour and Amelia left soaked from falling into the layer of water on top of the ice.  Skating was not really her thing, but she was determined to learn how and stayed on skates the whole time.  Liam was actually really good and was soon able to skate with holding only one hand.

Koh Chang

In April one of Thailand's biggest holidays occurs and the whole country shuts down and celebrates.  This year, we aimed to stay clean and dry and stayed away from this.   We were also super excited to have two wonderful people come visit us during our time off work and school.   

For Becki and Paul's ten your anniversary they decided to cash in their frequent flyer miles, get their first passports, and travel around as much as the world they could in about ten days.  Lucky for us, Thailand was on the list of places to stop. Knowing this was probably the one time they will be doing this, I had a lot of pressure to make sure the time in Thailand was full of memories.  Becki wanted to ride an elephant, Paul wanted to see some fish, and Wade was determined to show them one night in Bangkok.  We had a lot of laughs, great food, many old memories shared, and new ones created.  

When looking at where to take them, we all knew the beach was a must.  There are SOOOO many beach options in Thailand that knowing where to go can be overwhelming.  I wanted to go somewhere new and they wanted to see what you see in travel magazines.  After asking around, I decided on Koh Chang.  Chang in Thai means elephant.  Seeing that the island is shaped like an elephant's head, it earns the name.  Koh Chang is a quiet island, what they saw is about five years before it gets too touristy like the island south near Phuket.   It is in driving/boat distance from Bangkok towards the Cambodia boarder.  It had a peaceful feel and it met my expectations of a great place to holiday.  I can see why some friend's of ours go there every chance they get.  I hope to one day go back as well. 

One night in Bangkok....

Becki and her elephant ride.  A memory was definitely made here.  On the trail a large snake went under Liam and Goma's elephant and freaked it out.  I was behind watching (not knowing what was going on), their elephant was crying, bumping into Becki and Paul's elephant and being very upset.  All I could do was sit back and realize how helpless I was and that these were wild animals that we really have no control over.  Thank goodness it didn't last long, but it was a moment I will not forget.  

Only in Thailand will they let a five year old ride on an elephant's head.  

This trip we brought Goma with us to help with the kids.  It allowed the adults to have more time together.  We rented a house on the beach, so while the big kids played, the little ones still had fun as well. 

Beach fun. 

We spent a day on White Sand beach.  Paul started to feel right at home with the Thai lifestyle. 

Date night.  Pictures on the beach before we head to dinner. 

Happy 10 years!!!!!

I never thought I would have my feet cleaned by sucker fish, but I wanted to show Becki a good time.  I HATED it.  I lasted long enough to get a picture.  Creepiest feeling ever. 

Paul found us a day boat/snorkling trip.  It was the best food I have ever had on a tour before.