Bangkok Birthday #2

Our second day in Bangkok was Isaiah's birthday! What does a 7-year old want to do? Go to the aquarium! So we went to another fancy mall - this time to the basement - where we found a very impressive aquarium with 7 aquatic zones. Zeke liked the otters, who did some tricks for us, and Saiah got to pet a boa constrictor. They also got their toes cleaned by minnows, but my favorite was walking THROUGH the sharks - a long tunnel that wound right through the aquarium. The boys even saw a shark feeding, with manta rays, which was pretty intense.


Finally the aquarium had a special 4D theatre with a short film about a sea turtle - our chairs rocked with the waves, vibrated to the machines, and we even got puffs of air in our faces... like when we were snatched up by an eagle! What a great 7th birthday!!

Of course, after all of that fun and excitement we got to go to the airport at 10pm, wait until 1am for our plane, and then try to get 5 hours of sleep in a chair. Not so fun... but such is the life of adventurers for Jesus ;)

Bangkok Birthday #1

We came back from the beach and enjoyed 2 days in Bangkok (which was dreadfully hot!). Our first morning we met some friends and went to the largest open market in Asia, which isn't too far from our guesthouse. It was pretty overwhelming, but we could stop for popsicles or iced teas whenever we needed to ;) It is still amazing to see all of this fruit and all of these flowers in March... especially since we haven't seen a leaf in Mongolia since October!





This just happened to be Eden's birthday - she has been with us 3 years now! Although a bit crabby, we enjoyed a walk through the park after that crowded market. We made our way to a butterfly pavilion - Eden's birthday choice. We took some good pictures of butterflies, but each picture of with a kid has a sour face! Like I said, it was HOT.






So that evening we snuck off to a fancy mall with a water park on top! Fun, fun, fun! We were the ONLY white people there... apparently all of the foreigners go to nice beaches in Thailand :)

Island Adventure

We rented a boat for a big excursion the other day. Actually, our first day we almost lost ourselves at sea with sea kayaks, so the next day we got a boat for the ladies ;) It was a beautiful day (it seems they all are here!) and we went down the coast past several islands - one we would like to go back and rock climb! Another island was "Monkey Island," where we fed bananas to swarms of little monkeys. They were pretty cute, except for the bully that tried biting Saiah's leg!

We landed on a nice beach that is acts as a "back entrance" to the Sam Roi Yot national park. After swimming for awhile and grabbing some lunch, we hiked up 400 meters of volcanic rock to a pair of sacred sunken caves. They were quit beautiful as the vines hung clear down to the floor and trees reached almost clear to the ceiling, surrounded by bright green rocks. A great trip and another great day!

Prune Hands

Here we are enjoying the tropics! Our week of CAMA World Retreat was really special - worshiping together and hearing what God is doing in some of the toughest places on earth. So many wonderful folks working with a great God! The Retreat also allowed us to gradually adjust to the heat and minimize the sunburning process ;) There was a gorgeous swimming pool, which the kids were in every spare minute, with a cool spiral slide.

Our next resort (right on the beach this time) also has a great little pool with a slide. The kids usually get in right after breakfast and swim and splash and dive until lunch! Here is Zeke trying something new with Uncle Larry... can you find him, he's kinda like a where's Waldo. The boys love diving for coins and we are surprised how well they are swimming (they get a lot more practice ice-skating over water than in the water!). It took Eden a couple days but now she is always in the water too... the goggles really help!