Feeding the Elephants

After we rode the elephants, we went to the camp and got to feed them. They put on a little show that the kids LOVED!

Here is Reid feeding the baby elephant.

He was fasinated that they ate the bananas without peeling them!

Everett feeding the baby a piece of sugar cane.



Ry showing us what she is going to feed "her" baby elephant.

Ry feeding "her" elephant

Her elephant saying "Thank you"

ok--the elephant painted this picture. all by herself. with her trunk. WHAT? We were all very impressed!

Riding Elephants!

This is the bridge we had to cross to get to where you ride the elephants. I don't know if you can see exactly what it was made with, but it was exactly not enough wood and nails that were popping off. WHAT? I almost didn't make it across. The boys loved it. Figures.

Here are Matt and the boys right after they got on the elephant

Here is me and Rylie on the elephant, after I stopped hyperventilating about bridge. Just kidding...kind of.

The whole family on the elephants!

We got to feed the elephants some bananas while we were waiting here. They ate them by the bunches!

The girls

After we rode across some super scary cliffs beautiful hills, we rode in the water for a bit before returning to
camp.

Sandy and John

After we rode the elphants we went on a fun bamboo raft. This isn't a picture of us (i took this while we were riding elephants), but this is exactly what we rode. The kids loved it! They were catching things in the water --we were leisurely floating--and they only caught 2 bugs!

Such a fun experience! We are so thankful that we got to take our family!

Orchids and butterfly

On our second day in Chiang Mai we went on an elephant trek. It was a day trip where we would head up into the mountains and ride an elephant, a bamboo raft, have lunch, and ride an oxen cart.

On the way into the mountains to ride elephants, we stopped at an Orchid and Butterfly farm. The flowers were beautiful and the ONE butterfly we saw was ok I guess pretty.

We saw more butterflies OUT of the farm than in it......

Here is our family pic in the orchids. 2 out of three isn't bad.....

sweet Sandy and me

Chiang mai-- Day 1

Sunshine, oh the sunshine!!

Our first morning in Chiang Mai we took a long walk in the WARM SUN!

It was delightful!!

We went to a yummy mexican restaurant for lunch with our friends John and Sandy, who had bravely signed up to vacation with our family. They have no kids yet--we have three......



John and Sandy.

So fun to have them with us! Matt and I have known Sandy since our days at Georgia. A LOT of years ago!



Rylie enjoying her watermelon shake.

Next to the warmth and sunshine, my next favorite thing about Thailand is the shakes. You can get them anywhere on the street, any fruity flavor you can think of, and they are only about 1 dollar. Does it get any better than that??

After lunch we went back to the hotel to do some swimming. The kids were SO excited to get in the water....i thought it was a bit cold....Chiang Mai is in the mountains. But it didn't seem to bother the kids :)



The pool was on the 5th floor and had a fantastic view! 

Tuk Tuk

We started our adventure to Thailand with two plane trips--the first to Bangkok and then to Chiang Mai. The flights went fine--we had to RUN through the airport to catch the second, but we made it!

Then in Chiang Mai the kids were SO excited about getting to take a tuk tuk from the airport to our hotel.  A tuk tuk is basically a pickup truck with seats and a cover in the back. It is the main mode of transportation in Thailand. It was an open air ride with all of our luggage and us piled in the back!

wow. clearly i had not seen the sun in a while.

Museum

After school got out, we had about two weeks before we left for Thailand. Two weeks of COLD, yucky grey skies. So one day we headed down to the Science Museum downtown. We went with some friends and I took Madison and Hailey with us. We took the subway and had lunch at McDonalds--quite a treat for the littles. The kids had a great time--despite what the picture may tell you.....maybe they just didn't like the photographer??

But we didn't get to do everything, so we will have to head down there again sometime!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

Cookies for Santa

We don't make a big deal about Santa at our hosue, but we usually leave cookies. Because he definitely needs a snack after putting all the toys together.

The boys wrote the sweetest notes this year.

Reid made sure to include that he knows that Christmas is really about Jesus--love it!!

Here are the cookies with the notes (notice the forementioned pink and purple sprinkles--Santa didn't seem to mind)

Here is E's note. Kind of hard to read but he wanted to make sure that Santa got home safely and his sleigh didn't crash.

The key we left on the outside of our door so that Santa could get in. We live in an apartment with no chimmney. It is a special key that only Santa can use.

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve!!

Christmas Eve Nativity play

On Christmas Eve the Todds had a really fun party with lots of YUMMY food and the kids put on a sweet little play.

Everett was Joseph alongside Kate as Mary.



And here is our super happy innkeeper.

Joseph hanging out while baby Jesus sleeps. This was right before Rylie (who didn't make the audition cuts this year--mostly because of age) ran up yelling "my baby Jesus" and tried to take him from the basket.



These are the three wise(wo)men. There is a shortage of boys around here and you have to work with what you got people. But aren't they so cute??

Making Cookies

Here is a picture of Rylie helping me make cookies. Our Christmas cookies were decorated with pink and purple Barbie sprinkles that someone left here. Christmas sprinkes are on the list to bring back next year!
But they still tasted yummy!

Christmas Lights

On Friday night before Christmas we piled in our friends minivan (there were 4 adults and 7 children) and drove around looking for Christmas lights. Notice I said "for" not "at". Living in a country that does not celebrate Christmas, makes for very few Christmas lights.

Our first stop was a hotel that had some lights outside and a big Christmas tree inside. We got out, let the kids run around like crazy look at the lights and took some pictures. We then all piled back in the van and set off. After a bit of traffic the littles got hungry so we decided to head to Tony Romas (YUMMO) for a special dinner.

After dinner we walked out the back door into a Christmas Parade! It was so fun!

There was fake snow, people dressed up as presents, trees, cows, and santa handing out candy canes (which we can't buy here, so our kids were stocking up!). What? Your Christmas parade didn't have cows? That's weird.

They had a winter wonderland set-up and the kids loved it! They had a stage where the kids watched a magic show, and then a lady wearing a mrs.clause outfit that could have had more material walked up on stage. with a chair.  then the music started. and then they dancing started. mrs. clause and the chair. we were scrambling to pull the kids away from the front row seat they had for the magic show. After several--"what is she doing?" and "why is she dancing like that?" comments, we quickly distracted the kids with more candy canes. And thankfully, it hasn't been brought up again! Things here are always full of surprises!!

It was such a fun night and the kids asked if we could do it every year!!!

School Christmas Parties

The boys both had Christmas parties in their classrooms this year and I was able to go and help with both!

It was fun to get to be at school with them and meet their friends. I don't get to go out there very much, as it is about a 35 minute cab ride.



                                   

 Here is Everett with his classmates Aiyaka and Gracelynn



In each class we did a craft (made an ornament) and made a sweet treat to eat. Here is E with his Christmas tree cupcake.

Everett and Shawn, the boy he sits next to at school.



This is Reid's best friend at school Canyon.



Reid with his snowman cupcake

Reid and Mommy rocking her sequin red reindeer antlers.......the teacher made me wear them :)



Littles Christmas Party

Rylie, Abby, and Laura Cate

Shannon had such a fun Christmas Party for the littles in our neighborhood! They made a sweet craft--

Here is Rylie working on her craft. We traced their hands and feet and then put them together to make a sweet angel ornament for the tree. And then they decorated them with glitter glue.

They then had some yummy hot chocolate with marshmellows!



Can you tell Rylie enjoyed it??

Rylie and Laura Cate

Happy 35th!!

 Last week Matt turned 35!! Closer to 40 than 30 now :)

We had a fun day celebrating! He went to class in the morning--where he didn't tell them it was his birthday--BOO!! and then we went to a fun family dinner!
One of Matt's favorite foods is pizza, so we headed down to Pizza Hut! We hadn't eaten there yet, and all were excited.

 

Here we are waiting for the bus to go to dinner.

Not sure what Rylie is doing.....

 

Daddy and his girl

  

at Pizza Hut waiting for pizza....again, not sure about Ry.....

 

After dinner we headed home to do cake and presents. The kids had worked all afternoon on their cards and they were so excited to give them to him! While we were gone, a friend brought Matt's big, heavy gift to the house, so it would be waiting when we got here! Here are the kids leading him down to his present!

(rylie is looking and smiling, but there is a toilet in the background...can't win them all)

Here are the kids with Matt and his cake. His homemade chocolate cake with homemade caramel icing. and i know i made it, but I still mourned the washing of the empty cake plate. we had some good, yummy times. sweets are a rarity over here.

There is no picture of the present, but he got an ice maker! He was very excited and the whole family has been enjoying icy drinks!!

I loved celebrating the wonderful man that God has given me! He is an amazing husband, dad, leader, and friend, and I am so thankful that I get to do life with him!

Happy Birthday Matt!!!