Its the small stuff...

When you live away from "home" and can't get familiar foods as easily, it really is the small things that make all the difference.  For us, home cooked dinners are an incredibly comforting thing these days but really don't happen all that often.  As I've mentioned in other posts, it doesn't always pay to cook at home when our whole family can eat Thai food for $3 total.

But, nonetheless, I've really been craving good-home-cooked-meals lately and so I've been doing a bit more in the kitchen these days.

I made BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies for supper last week and we all enjoyed it so much, I'm going to make it again tonight.  This may seem funny to you, but let me just say again...

Its the small stuff that makes ALL the difference. :)

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!

Our very first Thailand house-guests arrived this weekend, (some friends from Jon's old stomping grounds, Prince George, BC) so we ventured out with the Owen family last night and enjoyed the Chiang Mai Night Safari.  This place is a MUST-see if you come to Chiang Mai.  It costs a little under $2 per adult (young children are free!) and there is SO much to see and do.

Callie has been a couple of times before with the Owen's but Jon and I had never been.  It definitely 'made the cut' for both of us and we plan to visit again and again.  I mean, when your little girl gets THIS excited about a place, you know its worth re-visiting.....

There are animals EVERYWHERE and most of them can be fed for a small fee of about 60 cents.  Callie was pretty eager to feed the elephants... until she actually had one grab the banana right out of her hand.  Then she figured she'd hand the job over to Daddy... :)

Many of the animals just roam around the grounds and are free for petting.  This part was especially exciting for Callie...

If I'm not mistaken, she named one of the goats "Charlie."  

Hey little fella...

But the tigers were, by far, her favourite animals.  She kept rushing us along so we could get to the tiger cage.

The stare down.

It was actually a bit creepy how much these tigers "eyed her up."  When she moved, they would follow her.  I think they thought she would be just the right size for their supper.  Sure glad they had a double fence up...

Even the garbage cans were cool at this place...

Starbucks... is that you??

There's an enormous playground, completely covered by giant white tents, so its perfect for a hot or rainy afternoon.  This playground is definitely Callie's "happy place."

Not to mention the indoor playground, ball pits, digital video games, a huge lake to walk around and see more animals, paddle boats, and oh so much more... this place pretty much has it all.

Wanna come for a visit?? :)

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 :)

---------------------------------------------------

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... :)