Overnight train

Our last day in Chiang Mai we checked out of our hotel at 12 and our train didn't leave until 9 that night, so we spent the day exploring the city....at least the part around our hotel we could walk to :)

The boys found a place to play games and Rylie and I found a place to get a mani/pedi!

She got her nails and toenails painted for the first time and LOVED it! She sat so still and let them dry.



Such a happy girl!

Rylie and Mama enjoying a watermelon shake at the boys favorite steak resteraunt before we got on the train.



The kids at train station. We were taking an overnight train to Bangkok. And we were not in sleepers. Just regular seats. I had prepared myself for the worst, but the kids did AWESOME!!

Our seats.

They loved looking out the window and the boys loved "peeing right onto the ground" in the bathroom......

Kids with the train



Ox Cart

After our hike to the village and waterfall--ok, this day sounds like it lasted FOREVER doesn't it?? We started at about 8:30 and got home at about 4. We were busy :)

ok--after all forementioned activities, we went on an ox cart ride. It was fun, but we were all SO glad that we don't travel like that.....kind of bumpy and a bit slow.....

Our ox-cart

Reid got to sit up front with the driver and help steer the oxen.

Our whole crew

Our family---you can tell Ry has missed naptime in this picture. She really did outstanding the whole day, but I was glad this was our last activity. She slept the whole hour drive home!

One last family picture

I just love this picture of Sandy and Rylie walking, holding hands.

My kids all LOVE them some mrs. sandy and mr. john

Waterfall

After the elephant show, we went on a short hike to a village and waterfall.

This is a typical house in the village...



and Jenny--there is a sewing machine, so you can come on over to live :)

The whole family at the waterfall!
Love the family God has blessed us with!

Daddy and his little girl



All three kiddos. and no one fell in. victory.

my honey and me

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!