Buddhist Monks and another trip to Patong

This morning at the early hour of 6:30 am the kids and I went swimming with Uncle Jake. The water was warm and the boys love that we can walk out almost to the boats from our little beach. Jeremy brought out the sea kayak and took both the boys on a short ride, when he had Everett he tipped over but Everett didn't even cry. All of the uncles kayaked from our place to the aquarium. ShaNae even took a short ride as Nate pulled her around.
Then we went exploring to the rocks where the crabs live and we ran into some female Buddhists in white robes and then a few others that were male. The monks gave the little boys some corn. Everett was so excited that he got some warm corn. He had a hard time sharing it with everyone but Adelynn enjoyed it as much as he did.

The men in the family (and a few women) had to go to their suit fitting so Grandma and the mom stayed home with the kids and we all went swimming and exploring. I am sure the crew had a grand adventure as they are still not back from their four hour trip that has turned into eight hours. Later we will write of their adventures and post some more pictures.

The Aquarium and Driving

This morning the rain was really coming down. We decided to find some indoor activities to do and we went to the aquarium. They were doing construction there so some of the really big exhibits were down, but they lowered the price to be 60 baht which is about two dollars. The kids had a lot of fun, they saw Nemo and Everett really liked the eels. The Aunts and Uncles were fascinated by the sea turtles there, they had several big tanks full of them. There was also a nature walk and the boys found a boat that they pretended to drive.


This picture of Jeremy is what Nate calls a Tim Tam slam, you take these chocolate covered waffer like cookies and you bite one corner off of opposite sides, then you suck milk up through it like a straw and then eat the cookies! It is a great night time snack for us!

Then the rain stopped and we decided to find Big Buddha, a huge white statue of Buddha that is on the top of the mountain, but it was really far away. Everything here seems to take a really long time to get to. Anyways we drove and everyone was getting hungry and so we stopped at this overlook and did some exploring there and then headed into Chalong for dinner.

Just a collection of photos... share your thoughts or request more info about specific pics.

The patio for house number 1.
One of two giant monsters standing guard near the customs office at the Bangkok airport. The kids thought they were quite cool.
That is a coconut on a beach with foamy sea water surrounding it. It also looks like there is another wave coming in right at the same time the picture is taken.
There are a ton of crabs that hang out on these rocks. Our place is nestled in the back of the cove you can see there in the background.
Everett welcoming the morning from house number one.
Southern view from our beach, including a monkey statue.
Everett gazing out the window from SLC to LAX.
This is the jungle area behind our beach houses. This is the view looking northeast.
Shalom! We were all excited to see an El Al plane.
Sunset from the beach, looking northeast. The house in this picture is the second house. This is home to the Nicholes crew and the Littlewood boys.
More beach.
More of the sunset.
One of the entrances to the mall in Patong.
I liked this palm tree. I've never seen one like it before. Also, that is a walk-up McDonald's.
This is the restaurant at the end of our road. The food is great, but pool is difficult in this humidity. The cue sticks right to your hand, so scratches are quite common. (Even more so than usual.)
This is Patong on a rainy day.
Throw science out the window...perhaps manipulating people will be easier than manipulating data?
There is a shoe/flip-flop tree down the road. People actually think these are the shoes from the victims of the tsunami. The host was quite pleased that someone finally noticed the spelling and realized that is was a play on words.

A few funny stories!

The first night we were here we ate at the restaurant and Shelli ordered a diet coke, she tasted it and said "Nate this tastes funny!" Nate started laughing after he smelled it, "Mom there is alcohol in it." Here when you want a diet coke you need to order Coke Light not Diet coke. Shelli quickly told them she doesn't want any alcohol and they brought her out a Coke Light.

Two nights ago we were trying to grill some steak but we could not get the charcoal to start. My dad went down to ask for some lighter fluid from the restaurant and they sent up a guy to start the fire. The boys had the charcoal and some ripped up cereal box in the grill and were throwing matches in. The guy who was from Myanmar looked at as like we were stupid, people start fires here all the time, you can see little ones on the beach here and there. He slowly started pulling things out of the grill and then he just dumped everything out that we had in there and put in some coconut shell stuff and the charcoal and waited until the fire was ready. He also told us that the cobras taste like chicken.

ShaNae thought that Nate was sick one night and sent him a text and said something about "I am sorry I hope you are feeling alright." When we woke up this morning my Dad had an email from Rick (the owner) that said "No I am fine, I just want you guys to have a good vacation." So instead of getting the message to Nate it went to Rick.

My Dad was carrying Adelynn in the rain during the shopping experience yesterday. Everywhere you went the people were trying to sell umbrellas and ponchos and since they are protective of children they kept trying to get my dad to buy one. He just said "No thanks, she likes the rain" Adders would look at the people reach out and touch the rain and just smile and giggle. Then they would smile and say "OK."

Monday Shopping

Today we went into Patong to go shopping at some of the markets and to get the guys a good deal on some custom made suits. We were at the suit shop forever. Adelynn slept through it and Everett and Ford waited patiently for their chance to do some shopping. Things were going ok but somehow the price of the suits kept going up and up! When they pick up the suits the men in this family and a few of the women are going to look very stylish.
It was also raining a lot today, but it was warm and refreshing. Every where we walked we were getting wet. Today was nothing based on weather here. Adelynn loved the rain and kept laughing and smiling as the water dripped on her. Everett liked the rain until we went to Swensons to get some ice cream and the air conditioning in there made him freezing.

Ford found a present for his friend Bailey. He was so excited and looked for a long time to find something for her. It was so sweet how he kept waiting to get her something.
We did some shopping at a few markets down some side streets and let me tell you ShaNae got some amazing deals. She could really barter with the people, (Mom thought that Nate was the one that helped her with the deals, because he can speak Thai [He might have told her some prices he paid for the item but she did all the bargaining]).

The Thai people really love children and they are always smiling at the kids and getting them to give high fives but they really like babies. Everywhere Adelynn went people were almost cheering for her. They were also touching her and even some gave her kisses. She smiled and enjoyed the attention. At the end of the shopping experience a group of women came up and were joking "I give you 10 baht for 1 minute." People wanted to pay us to hold our baby. The people here are incredible, they are so friendly and so laid back, it is a wonderful opportunity we have to be here as a family!

Sunday Fun

Today we explored around the beach by our house. We found a ton of crabs and walked around on the rocks. Shelli even saw one of the monkeys on the mountain while we were playing cards! Jeremy saw one too (but it had wings and a beak!) The little boys collected sea shells and we all took turns swinging in the hammocks.

Grandpa tried to open a coconut with a rock and ended up breaking the rock. The owner sent us some fresh coconut from the restaurant. Everett said it was too hard to eat but the rest of us had some. Collin disappeared for about five hours and spent the time talking to some people at the restaurant.

We walked out after the tide went out and found a sea urchin and the tide brought in a dead jelly fish. It was almost as big as the coconut grandpa tried to open and also served as a reminder to tell the boys to watch out for them. Well we are getting better at adjusting to the time change here and are planning out our adventures for the week!

Our New Home!

Wow! It is so incredible here, incredibly hot, and incredibly gorgeous! The time zone and the travel weariness have caught up with the kids. They had some hard times today and a lot of fun! Everett loved the ocean! We had some miscommunication about our ride from the airport and we ended up getting a huge taxi and the driver did not know where the place was we were staying at. (also the drivers here are nuts! First they drive on the opposite end of the road and then everyone just kind of does what they want.) We hit a few bumps and Ev cut his ear, but he if fine but being cramped in that hot van as we drove around and around brought out a lot of tears.

The place we are staying at is beautiful, it is The Secret Cove and we have two villas that have several rooms and bathrooms, and kitchens. It is also right by the beach, the second we got here the boys spent all their time in the ocean. Jake, Nate and Jeremy met us here and were able to play with the kids so some of us tired grown-ups could get some rest. We shopped at Tesco, Collin was so excited! We got a ton of weird fruit, that taste amazing! Everett had fun at the store and we came home and had some real Thai food from the restaurant that the owners of our villa run. It was delicious! As we were eating Everett noticed that the tide had gone out. “The ocean is gone!” he said. When he woke up this morning he said “The ocean is back!”

There are monkeys that live in the mountains close to us but we have been told it is rare to see them, Collin believes that he heard them last night as we were sleeping (He missed dinner and slept until the soccer game between USA and Ghana.) Adelynn is having a hard time with the time change and was up with Daddy during the night. The rest of us are managing but we are waking up to see the sun rise (well we would if it weren't raining today). We have been told that green snakes will sometimes fall out of trees and that king cobras are around us. There are also a few giant bats that fly around the villas at night and a few lizards that have been running across the floor! The rain will determine our adventures for the day and we will post later, but we are going to take the Sabbath day easy and finish adapting to this area!

We Survived!

We had a 3:30 am airport shuttle pick us up on Thursday morning! We took a 6:00 am flight into LAX, and I have to say that despite the early departure all three, yes all three of our children were absolutely perfect! We had a seven hour layover in which we all took turns sleeping and then boarded a 12 hour flight to Korea at 1:00 pm. On this too I would say that we had model children! No breakdowns, no tears and all the kids even got a few hours of sleep! After a two hour layover, where the kids completely wore themselves out on a playground we boarded for our five hour flight! By this time we all slept on the plane, only a few tears at the end that lasted for about a minute from each kid! We are now sitting in Bangkok, waiting for about seven more hours to board our final plane to get here. We have been so blessed that the kids have survived all of this with smiles and no nightmare flights for any of the passengers, at least not courtesy of our wonderful children, who already have the Thai people in love with them!

On a side note Collin really thinks the Lord had fun making Asians. He says that the Lord took all of the adorable doll-like features he had and put them on Asians. What a lovely people!

Shortly after this post was written, while we were at the gate waiting to head from Bangkok to Phuket, Collin was playing with the boys when he noticed a guy watching a movie on his laptop with Hungarian subtitles. He dropped the boys off with the rest of the family and we didn't see him for the next hour and a half as he was chatting with his new Hungarian friend Zsolt.

Embarkation: 2 Days, 4 hours

Ladies and gentlemen!

After eight long months of waiting (and saving up vacation days for two and a half years), we are nearly ready to head out to Thailand. There have been days and moments where it has seemed that we wouldn't actually be going--you know, with the near civil war and all--but it is finally upon us.

We have been scrambling to get packed and ready and we have been actively engaged in prepping our yard and garden for our extended absence.


We will be posting photos and experiences whenever time permits. Stay tuned, feel free to make requests (like posting video of us eating a cobra and taking a shot of its blood, etc.). We aren't entirely sure what is in store, but we have heard that the Shankara stones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were not really stolen by Thai people. Therefore, it stands to reason that we will not be eating chilled monkey brains for dessert, either.

More to come!