Post Christmas adventures...

As I mentioned in my last post, we went on a little "adventure" just 2 days after Christmas.  Let me just say... "adventure" is a kind way of putting it :)

Let's just say that after:

an 18 hour train ride (which was supposed to only be 15 hours), 

plus a ride on the subway,

plus a ride on the BTS (sky train),

plus a 4 hour bus ride (during which Callie threw up ALL OVER Jon, with just an hour left to go),

plus a 10 minute boat ride (to the wrong location on the island),

plus a 1km walk up hills with luggage and a very tired and hungry 2 year old in tow,

plus a 2km VERY bumpy songtaew ride,

and FINALLY arriving at our resort (over 24 hours later)....

we were pretty relieved to see such a beautiful sight... :)

We spent 3 nights at Samet Ville Resort...

We swam in the ocean...

We ate our dinners on the beach, complete with live fire shows...

We walked to the beach every morning...

... and stared at this gorgeous landscape....

We built lots and lots...

... and LOTS of sand castles...

... and enjoyed the view some more... :)

We warmed up in the sunshine after swimming in the cool water...

... and re-hydrated, of course.

We went for walks and enjoyed the scenery again and again...

We took pictures of pretty flowers (for Mom) :) ...

We played at the "playground"...

We searched for seashells...

... and other sea treasures...

We enjoyed hour long massages in this little cabana on the beach...

(did I mention it only cost about $12 for said massage?)

So... although our trip started out stressfully and definitely 'less-than-ideally,' we did have a very relaxing time in the end and will always remember those white sandy beaches and gorgeous blue ocean waves :)

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After Koh Samet, we made our way to Chonburi (where we'll eventually serve, upon completion of language school in Chiang Mai) to apply for our visa extensions.  We had a good week in Chonburi and enjoyed lots of things about our time there.... such as....

Our first Starbucks Christmas drinks in Thailand...

... so good... like coming home to an old friend ;)

We spent time playing with the most incredible kids at the Abundant Life Home orphanage...

Lots of sand tea parties...

"Mmmmm.... nii aroy maak maak!"

(translation: Mmmmm... this is so, so delicious!) ;)

We made some pretty awesome new friends... :)

We also enjoyed time with our future teammates (though, sadly, I don't have any pictures)

... AND, we had a successful visa run!  In and out of immigration within half an hour.  We were totally amazed and grateful!

So, all in all, a great week in Chonburi!  

But I have to admit, after 2 weeks away, we were SO happy to come "home" to our house here in Chiang Mai.  And it was great to finally feel like this was home :)

1st Christmas in Thailand...

Christmas definitely looked a lot different this year for our little family.  Sun shining, hot temperatures, new home... so many changes.
But, we tried to make it as "normal" as we could and anticipated the excitement of one of our favourite times of the year.

It all started with a little Christmas baking...

Callie did the stirring...

And the cookie-cutting...

Mommy did a little taste-testing... ;)

She was so proud of our creations...

Then we packaged them up (the ones that Mommy didn't eat) 

and delivered them to our neighbours...

Then, we attended our Nanny's church Christmas event.  

Callie and Eve (pronounced Ava, our Nanny's daughter) had a great time singing and dancing together...

And we got to watch Boh (our Nanny-- 2nd from the right) and her hubby (far left) be part of a drama...

Then, Christmas day arrived!  And Callie opened lots of fun gifts...

 Each one was opened with equal excitement...

And, seeing as we wouldn't be enjoying a family brunch with the Esau's this Christmas, Jon prepared some delicious breakfast bagels instead.  So. yummy.

And last but not least, just 2 days after Christmas, we boarded a train and went on a little adventure...

But I'll tell you more about that later... :)

Wishing you a...

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas

and God's richest blessings for the coming year!

With love from,

The Esaus

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Our Christmas decorating had to come in stages this year.  When we packed our bags to come to Thailand, I had hoped to be able to bring some of our Christmas decorations because I wasn't sure what we'd be able to buy here, in the way of Christmas decor.  But, if you remember from this picture, we were already maxed out on luggage and weight so the Christmas decorations didn't make it in.  

But, we had some very sweet family members give us some $$ before we left and they told us that it was specifically to buy ourselves new Christmas decorations once we arrived in Thailand.  Thanks again family-- you know who you are! :)

We managed to find a tree and most of our decorations at Makro (the Thai version of Costco) so we started with that.

Then, after some more searching through the Chiang Mai markets with Carmen, I managed to find a star for the top of the tree, some fabric to make a tree skirt (that only cost me $1.50!!) and even some snowflake ornaments to add to the branches.

I'll definitely want to add to our decoration collection in the years to come (the tree is a little more 'sparse' than I would like it to be) but overall, I was fairly happy with what we were able to find.  And for great prices too!

We knew we also wanted to find some traditional Thai decorations and were delighted when we found these woven lights at the walking street market.  They were perfect for our bannister...

They took a while to put together because the balls were flat when we bought them.  We had to carefully open each yarn ball, round them out and then snip holes big enough to fit the white lights through.  But even though they were a lot of work, we love the addition they bring to our staircase :)

We got all of our family Christmas shopping done at the Chiang Mai Sunday Walking Market and were happy to be able to send home authentic Thai gifts for everyone.  We hope you like them family! :)

Last night we attended the Christmas outreach at our housekeeper/nanny's church.  I'll post some pictures soon!  It was an awesome evening of great food, lots of laughter and good fellowship.

So, despite the warm temperatures and tropical climate, we're SLOWLY feeling like Christmas really WILL come this year :)