Moving Day!

Today is July 4th! Happy Birthday America! Happy Birthday Aunt Pyper.
Well today we have to leave our private beach and our villas to move to the very top part of the island to the JW Marriot resort. Yesterday we spent the day relaxing and swimming in the ocean. We also took a ton of pictures of our families and a few of the restaurant and the staff that we will post.

The Secret Cove is a new place and they are just getting started and we have been telling everyone about them. The owners are Rick and Ta and when my dad was first telling people about them we all thought he was saying Rick and his Hot wife!

Elephant Rides

We went to Safari Island and had an ox cart ride, sat on a water buffalo, saw a short demo on the rice farming. Then we got to ride elephants- the kids have been waiting for a chance to do this. It was really a tipsy and jerky ride so Adelynn fell asleep, Everett was tired and Ford had fun. We all enjoyed it and the guys sitting on the elephants guiding them, were singing songs and laughing, even during the down pour. We also sat on a water buffalo, a real live one!


We also watched a monkey show and an elephant show. The kids loved the shows, the boys got stuffed elephants and were pretending to have the elephants do the show. They played basketball and soccer and the monkey rode a tricycle. While we were at the monkey show Adelynn started crawling on the ground and there was a girl guide in there and she got so scared of Adelynn that she started crying (It was really funny to see because everyone loves the baby and here she is scared to death.) Turns out the guide was terrified of monkeys and since we were in the monkey show room she thought that the baby was a monkey.


Later in the night we tried to go to an outdoor market but when we got there it wasn't there. We ended up going to Old Phuket town and found some Thai cookies.

Everett has a new girlfriend!

Just a few minutes ago, Everett and I were down at the restaurant having the gals there pop some popcorn for us. Just as we were leaving, the owner's daughter, Nicole, came to give him a good night hug.

He obliged and returned the favor. But shortly thereafter, they both turned and kissed each other... right on the smackers. Immediately following, she chased him around and he tried to hide from her behind my legs. He got really shy after that, until we were walking away. She began to cry and her turned around (now about 15 yards down the road) and shouted: "Good night! I'll see you all later!"

I asked him if we were going to tell his mom or if he wanted to keep it a secret. He said that he would tell her. So as soon as we walked into the house, he approached her and said: "Hey Mom... I just kissed a girl!"

She is half Thai, half Dutch, and about a year and a half younger than Everett. I told him that he now needs to learn to read and write so they can be pen pals for the next 25 years before they can get married.

At long last...

Earlier today, Nate and ShaNae went for a little walk along the beach with the stated goal of finding the most attractive sea shell out there. They were going to have a contest to see who could find the best. Little did ShaNae know, but Nate had sent his brothers out earlier with a decorative sea shell, inside which was an engagement ring. Thinking she had just found a really nice looking shell, she joked that there may be a pearl inside. She opened it up and she was right. Inside was a large pearl set in a white gold ring with a variety of diamonds around the base of it.

She turned to find Nate on a knee, he asked her if she'd be cool with marrying him and she agreed to do it. Congratulations to the soon-to-be newest family unit within the Littlewood clan.

If Thailand were in the USA...

An addendum to yesterday's post:

Several of us in the front part of the boat (where our spines and tailbones were most at risk), remarked that if we tried going out on the water in similar conditions to the ones we were in, but it were in America or Australia... it wouldn't happen.

There is no chance that a tour company from the U.S. or from any of the "civilized" nations of the world would take people out there. I have chatted about how things are in Britain and Australia with folks who have come from those countries, and it is the same everywhere. Sophisticated societies tend to gather their wealth of experiences and knowledge to minimize the number of risks one can take. Whether it is from law suits or top-down regulation, freedom suffers a bit each time litigation or legislation attempt to protect the citizens of the country in which the measure is being enacted.

Sure, yesterday's boat tour lead to some discomfort in our backs and posteriors, but it was well worth it. We saw beautiful places we would otherwise never see, did exciting things we could only do in a very few other places on Earth and we got to know people from other countries who were loving and experiencing the same things along with us. There was even a gal from Australia who must have vomited 7 or 8 times, but she was still smiling whenever we'd stop and see a new island (eventually her husband joined in on the vomiting).

It is just amazing to see what freedoms people have here that for safety reasons or fear of a lawsuit, we do not. This is a monarchy and they have freedoms that we never would have guessed one could have--and the best part? It hasn't lead to anarchy. There is order here and it works.

I strongly recommend Thailand as a vacation destination or a place to live to anyone. If you are coming just for a visit, I recommend The Secret Cove in Phuket for your food and lodging. It is a private beach and the staff are all very helpful and friendly. If you need contact info, I can provide it.

Our Unbelievable Adventure

To celebrate Jake's birthday we went on a Phi Phi Island tour. The bus comes and picks you up at your hotel and takes you to the dock and then you make five or six stops and it takes the whole day.
*Disclaimer: To any mothers who may be worried about the content below, it is monsoon season, which is off season (that's how we have gotten great deals on tours and souvenirs ) and we have completed the activity and are completely safe. Only two of us got hurt and that was Alisha and me, Alisha tripped over a rope that came out of nowhere when the tide went out, and I cut my foot because I kicked a rock while snorkeling. With that being said here is our adventure.

We arrived just on time to board boat 19 and about 40 people piled onto our speed boat. The boys were excited to be on a boat. We start coasting out and the tour guide immediately starts handing out barf bags. We start getting out to sea and the waves are so big that we can see them out the side of our windows. The kids sitting up front, including my four year old Ford are getting bounced around and around. Every time we hit a wave they flew a few feet into the air.

It was so choppy that the first place we were supposed to stop at was too dangerous to dock and we just floated past. Then we went around the corner and the view was breath taking. we pulled into this cove and we got to jump out and swim in this warm water. It was so fun that even Adelynn jumped in.

Then we went to monkey beach and we got out and fed the monkeys bananas. Everett especially loved feeding the monkeys. We were told we had to keep an extra close eye on the kids because the monkeys do not like things their same size. Next we went snorkeling in the same bay and we watched as hundreds of fish swam around us. The Tsunami damaged a lot of the islands and wildlife out there but what we were able to see was amazing, although some of the guys did not like the fish swimming up their trunks!

Then we headed another part of the island for lunch, where we had some delicious international food and had a chance to do some shopping. ShaNae, Nate, Jeremy and Ford found a monkey that they were able to have sit on their shoulders and get a few pictures.

Now the rain was starting to come down harder and we almost did not get to go to the next island. The rain came down and pounded our faces until we were getting cold. The water was choppy and we kept bouncing and bouncing. Some of the kids from the front even came to the back because they were so scared to be up there. I have never seen so many terrified faces, every time we bounced on this 45 minute boat ride every passenger was grimacing.

We did make it and we enjoyed some more snorkeling and fresh fruit on the island. The kids were a little cold and it was warmer in the water than it was in the air. Adelynn was adored by the people on this sandy beach island and they gave her a banana. One of the passengers on our boat got stung by some jellyfish that were enjoying the swim. Then we all trudged back to the boat where we all climbed on ready to face the return home!

The weather was really clouded and the rain continued to drench us all as we sat shivering. The kids slept on almost all the boat rides but on this last leg where Everett was cheering each wave we hit! Collin and Jeremy feel like they will never walk again from the beating that their tailbones took an our crazy journey.

Patong Pictures

Well the rest of the crowd spent the time shopping and swimming in the beach where the waves were huge and were a lot more fun for the older crowd.