Last of the vacation fun

 This deep area had one small shallow place to sit then went deep (deeper than our kids could touch, not us). Once Sophia and Bella warmed up to going deep, we would move over to this area and hang out. Tobin liked wearing the goggles whichever way he could.

Sophia is quite a little fish, and is really practicing holding her breath and swimming under water for longer periods of time.

 Bella has been quite scared for a while. But she grew quite comfortable in floaties and always wanted to go to the deep end, and 'don't hold on to me'.

DIRTY FEET! The resort had a great kids playground, Tobin could do it all with no worries. They all took their shoes off and ran around one night after dinner. Here is the evidence of their fun:

Again, the goggles, cracking me up.

This kid, all about mischief, but is starting to listen and obey better (with constant training). 

Tobin often runs like this, with his hands behind him like he wants to fly. We were trying for a while to get it on film

superman!

 Sister fun.

She looked cute in all her gear, a little overkill, but it made her comfortable in the water.

 Family photo, in search of monitor lizards...

Sophia took this pic. What a handsome man, my superhero husband, not kidding. In-credible.

Black Mountain Water Park, Hua Hin

 Near Cha Am beach (where our resort was), we heard about a water park. We hired a van and hit the road for the day. We did our research and knew that there were plenty of places to sit in the shade and rest, and fun even for the littlest of our kids. This was probably one of the most fun things we did. Here, Sophia is in the area for smaller kids.

 The wave pool was lots of fun and not too deep. We would take turns taking the girls out to deeper waters and holding on to the raft while they road the waves, both Bell and Soph loved it.

We did bring Tobin's sleeping tent, but he wouldn't sleep, with the bright sun and action all around who could blame him. I made Bella rest too in the shade. Both the youngest M kids slept soundly in the shade right next to me. I was glade to be resting with the four (I was very tired). Meanwhile David took Sophia on all the big slides. They looked incredible, and she was so excited, and brave. There was also a lazy river that I could have stayed in all day. We really loved this park, the lunch food was good (had standard Thai and some western), and great ice cream too! This was money well spent (did I mention kids under five were free, kids 5-12 were at a lower price than the adult ticket).

Vacation fun continued

 Lots of fun was had at the pool! Below Tobin and Bella had a little swim class, practicing kicking with Aunt G. They both did really well.

We decided to let the kids eat early one night and the adults go out to the hotel restaurant after they went to bed. One of the older M girls came down to our room and read to the girls until bedtime. Then she stayed and watched a movie. She had a cell phone and knew how to reach us if we needed to come back. This worked so well that we did it two more times after this and had many great hours of all-adult conversation! Not to mention a really good steak. This is one of the things that made this vacation so enjoyable. Thanks H for watching the kiddos!

The resort had a whirlpool area that was made to be all natural looking but swimmable. Here is where the monitor lizards hung out. This was a small one. Monitor lizards can get up to 2 meters long. Crazy. We were always on the lookout.

 The kids did like to swim over in this area, but usually with an adult close by.

Down at the beach, these are from the same outing as the last beach pics, we did only go there once.

Beach Fun

After hanging out in Bangkok for a few days and reconnecting with friends we had not seen in awhile (unexpectedly), we headed to the beach. The day before we left a friend offered to watch the kids while David and I went to get coffee and he debriefed his meetings for me. He does a great job of keeping me in the loop from all his travels and meetings, it really helps me stay connected to all he is doing!

Our van picked us up and then we picked up the family of 7 that was vacationing with us. Yes, that is right, they have five kids, that made the kid to adult ratio 2 to 1 with us all together. That may sound crazy but it was so much fun and the kids were fantastic. The van ride down took us just over two hours, it passed quickly! The place also had a really nice kids club where you could leave the kids with supervision for a little while, we usually did this a bit in the afternoon.

The pool area was really nice and perfect for our kids. This place had another larger pool with baby pool attached, but we stuck with this one, it was less busy.

I love these shots David took of the kids. They are growing fast:

 

The reason we probably would not return to this resort: the lack of beach access, at least for this time of year. It is right on the beach but the water comes up to a wall this time of year. To actually get to sand you have to walk quite a bit. We did it once and pretty much stuck with the pool. 

 Soph is still swimming well and getting really comfortable in the water.

  family photo:

Together Again

The kids and I traveled uneventfully (except the travel agent had put Bella's passport number in wrong, so that was a hiccup at first), and made it in time for dinner that David had all ready for us (Lebanese!).
We have done medical, all is well, next up time with friends here, birthday celebration tomorrow (mine), then to the beach with friends, back for time with other friends, and then Sophia and I go to the homeschool conference. So excited.

Pre game-day photos

Tomorrow is our game-day: The kids and I traveling to Bangkok. Two airplanes, totaling 3 hours in the air, no big deal. I still quite haven't figured out what to do when Sophia needs to use the bathroom on the airplane. All the other scenarios I think are doable, with some risk, but not a lot (risk meaning Tobin ends up running down the aisles of the plane....). I may just have to ask for assistance. I won't hesitate either. Plus, God always provides what we need when we need it!

Here are some pics from today. We got up (Tobin and I early, 6:20 ish, this is his daily time now!). Then we read some Little House when the girls got up. Then pancake breakfast, a CC review game to rack up some school bucks so they could have enough 'Money' to buy the special prize. I made it special because we are half-way through Cycle 1! Now a break. They each 'bought' a 'my little pony' with a little doll attached. Perfect timing for the trip!

They like to crawl up in the rocking chair and pretend they are on a boat as they drink their morning yogurt.

Then I really decided I needed to make sure all was squared away for the trip. Starting with picking up the bonnets and a skirt I had made (about 20 bucks for a long skirt and three bonnets, with nice material)

 The lady who made these did a good job, Soph really does look like a little Laura Ingalls. I couldn't tell her eyes were closed until I uploaded the photos.

After naps the kids went outside. This was a cute moment as Bella and Tobin chat it up.

Soon these two will be the same size. People already ask if I have triplets or twins weekly. They can't fathom that I actually have three kids and that I am allowed to do so.

One of Sophia's newest friends YangYang is seven, and has an 11 year old cousin. She was content here playing with the girls' kitchen. 

This contraption was built again, and Sophia is across the road on the mound playing.

David also called and was waiting at the dentist, he had already seen three docs, and all checked out good. 

Tomorrow we meet up together as a family. I am turning in soon!