Stephen & Anh Family Pictures
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| We are here in Ko Samui. It is HOT here but the kids don't seem to mind. They are adjusting well to the time zone. We are staying at a bungalow that is on a hill with a lot of steps so we are looking to move. The family that runs this place is very friendly. They are so nice to us that it's going to be hard to leave. The kids love swimming in the pool but Ryan is a little wild. It is at the top of the hill and carrying them down is hard when they don't want to go. The Thai people love children. People always stop to look at them, smile, and ask us how old they are. When we were at the airport, people gawked at us so much that it was a little uncomfortble. Maybe they never saw anyone push a double stroller around. We haven't been to the beach yet because it's a little far away. Hopefully, our next bungalow will be on the beach. We met a lot of people so far and they are sooooo friendly. One even offered to take us to the beach or the store in her car. She is even helping us look for another place to stay since she has been here for 7 years. Anyhow, we miss you and will e-mail you again. Anh Jan. 29 |
Now I know why they wanted to go
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This is the first time I have been out at night here. It is around 11pm and everyone is sleeping. It is just like in the movie "the Beach." Loud music, go-go bars and lots of tourists walking around, the main road is mobbed with cars and motorcycles and it is what we want to avoid. Luckily since we usually wake up early and go all day, we are too tired to be up at night. Massages are about $7 per hour (that includes a $2 tip). Internet is about $1.60 per hour. One blue crab steamed in our restaurant is about $1.50. Then again, we ate at a beachfront restaurant today and had some seabass curry, a crab dish, pad thai, french fries and two fruit shakes and that cost $20. We are doing pretty well with our budget so far. Love you, Stephen Feb. 3 |
If you want to see more about where we are staying,
click here
| We were in the pool for 3 hours yesterday so the kids have a temperature today. We are keeping them indoor for a day. They get really bored though. They are napping now so here I am at the Internet place. There's a fast connection here so I have time to go get a manicure and pedicure after this. We are thinking of moving near the beach. The kids have refused to walk up the hill whenever we come home from somewhere. They get so exhausted from the sun that they can't do it. Other than that, everything else great. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. We miss you and I'll e-mail you soon. Anh Feb. 5 |
Not a bad life
Outside our bungalow
A full course meal with great crabs was $20 for all 4 of us
[note: Kayla took this picture]
| We are using our stroller. The sand is so fine here that we use the stroller on the beach. We go to Tesco (kinda like a big Walmart) a lot. They have an indoor play gym and the kids love it. They have everything like a Walmart plus it also has groceries. There are little parks at some of the nicer hotels. They lose interest quickly because there are pools nearby. They love to go swimming. Ryan loves to swim both at the beach and the pool. Kayla is somewhat scared of the ocean. As for clothes, we have enough. Kayla keeps asking for her dresses. They wear two outfits a day because they get so sweaty. As for food, they eat mostly ham, hotdogs, penne pasta, cereal, and of course french fries. There is a Burger King, McDonald, KFC, and Starbucks here. It doesn't taste the same though. They use a lot salt on the fries though so we have to keep reminding them not to put salt. We really miss having nannies though. We started asking around for help. Most of the nicer hotels offer babysitting but we don't stay there. There are a lot of foreigners who don't want to leave so they need a job. I am sure we can use them. Anh Feb. 7 |
Wheeeee
All giggles
Vendors on the beach and some ice cream as a reward for the tough day
| Things are still going well for us. Although I really need a nanny now. I have to tell Ryan NO and DON'T all day. He wants to touch and climb on everything. Stephen and I did find a place to drop off the kids for babysitting. We did it twice already. We were pretty worried at first but glad we did it. The place is owned by a British lady. It's like a big Gymboree so the kids like it. We are planning to drop them off tonight so we can go to a romantic dinner. We are going to "Poppies", the most popular restaurant in Ko Samui. You even need a reservation in order to go. I can't wait. Yesterday, we went to Chaweng beach. We swam at the pool first then we had lunch. They ate a lot. Ryan fell asleep so Stephen and I got massages and Kayla got her hair braided and a manicure. It was nice because it was on the beach. We are moving to a new bungalow in Lamai on Friday. It's going to be on the beach and has a nice pool. I hope there are no girlie bars near Lamai. Stephen always wants to go check the Internet after the kids are asleep so I get a litte worried. :-) Anh Feb. 14 |
Some nightlife and a swim
A little sightseeing
Kayla gets her hair done while dad gets a massage
| Yes, we are still doing well. For those who placed bets on us coming home this month, YOU LOST! We have asked Kayla if she wants to go home and she said NO. I guess we are staying here for awhile. Anyhow, our dinner at Poppies was unbelievable. It was very romantic. A dinner without kids at a 5 stars restaurant overlooking the beach is.... I'm speechless. We paid 2700 bahts = $71 for dinner and babysitting for 2 hours was 400 bahts = $10. Stephen said that we would kill our budget if we eat at 5 stars every night. It was worth every cent. Yesterday, we hung out at The Amari (5 stars resort) in Chaweng. It was like Hawaii. You forget that you are in Thailand. A baby elephant came out to play in the ocean. Ryan kept saying that he was scared and that the elephant was gonna get him. Eventhough he was scared, he fed him a banana. I have to admit, Ryan is a big flirt. So far, every pool we go to, he meets a new girl. Yesterday was Rebecca. He kept saying her name all day and even before he fell asleep. I think he prefers older women (5-7 years old). I am sure it will be another name today and he will forget about Rebecca. By the way, Chaweng has fireworks everynight. Since our bungalow in on a hill, we watch for it every night. Kayla and Ryan love it. They would sit on our laps in the dark and wait. The looks on their faces each time they go off are amazing. We love and miss you all. Anh, Stephen, Kayla, and Ryan Feb. 16 |
Look at the view out of our window door!
| We have only been here for a little more than three weeks and so far: - I got 3 manicures/pedicures and one massage, - Kayla got her hair braided, a temporary tattoo, and 2 manicures/pedicures, - and Stephen got 2 massages and 1 foot massage. Although, they are not that expensive. Pedicure and massage on the beach is around $6-$7 each. At the rate we are going, we are pretty much going over our budget. Stephen said that he didn't calculate Kayla's into our budget. As for our new place, it's awesome. We wake up and head out for our breakfast buffet overlooking the beautiful Lamai beach. Then we all jump in the pool that overlooks the beautiful beach for 2 hours (jealous yet?). Then we order lunch for the kiddies because they don't eat breakfast. Then we go back to our room so they can rest for 3 hours. That is when I sneak out and do my thangs. After the kiddies wake up, we head out for our walk. Lamai is a pretty small beach city. All you see on roadsides are restaurants, Internet places, shops, mini marts, and bars. As we walk down our road in our double stroller, everyone smiles at us and say hi to the kiddies. Then we see McDonald and of course we have to stop there for dinner. We have been there 3 times already and today is our 4th day. You can guess where we will be for dinner again. As we head back to our room, we stop for dessert. All the mini marts sell popsicles and ice scream. As for Stephen and my dinner, we stop for a to go pizza. We found an awesome restaurant that is owned by an Italian guy. What more can we ask for? For some reasons, the transvestites here love Stephen. They always try to pick Stephen up as we are walking back. He gets a little nervous when he goes out at night now. Stephen and I usually have our dinner in our room while the kids watch their movies. At 9 pm, we head to the beach to watch fireworks for 15-20 minutes. Then it's time to get them ready for bed, bath and some more movies. We have a bathtub in our room this time. They seem to miss their baths. They could stay in there forever. So is anyone ready to join us on the beach yet? Have I sold to anyone with my long e-mail. We miss you. Anh, Stephen, Kayla, and Ryan Feb. 20 |
| A Swedish family with 3 girls (3, 6, and 12 years old) moved next door to us. Of course Ryan is all gah gah over the girls. The smile on his face when he sees them is so precious. We have to wonder if he is a little young to start having crushes yet. We can hear them when they are out on their balcony. Of course Ryan is out there too to give them some smiles. On our nightly walk last night we ran into them. The husband wanted to go for a drink. All of us (and 5 kids) went to an outside bar. The adults were having beers (except for me) and the children were having ice cream. When some of the girlie girls started dancing at the bar, Kayla insisted on sitting at the bar to watch them dance. She was pretty fascinated. I kind of wonder what she will do with this memory when she is older. This morning, we went to a monkey and elephant show. Of course I was prepared and packed some of the fruit from our breakfast buffet since nobody woke up to eat with me. When we got there, we took the fruit out and fed it to the monkey. Ryan and Kayla spent 10 minutes feeding the monkey. They even shook his hand/foot and pet him too. Don't worry, the monkey was chained up and another child pet it before we did. We made sure that he was not an aggressive animal. We also took a lot of pictures. Then the elephants came out and let people ride them around. We got Kayla to ride it but she was scared. After the show, Kayla and Ryan gave them some tip money and bananas. All in all, it was a successful day with the animals. We are glad to hear that everyone is enjoying our updates. We miss you and will write again. Anh, Stephen, Kayla, and Ryan Feb. 22 |
Our new Swedish friends
| We woke up around 9:30am to a wonderful treat. The sound of our phone ringing and my parents on the other end. They caught Kayla at a perfect time and she gabbed with them for 15 minutes nonstop. Ryan talked for a short while also and all in all it was a great success. After getting some breakfast with the Swedish family (bread and jam for the kids and omelets, yogurt and muesli, croissants, bacon and pancakes for the rest of us). Our rental jeep arrives around noon. We head off to the Tiger Zoo and Aquarium about 15 mintues away. It is a typically hot day here (about 80-90 degrees when not on the beach, which gives a cooling breeze of about 10 degrees). We arrive and have about 45 minutes to kill before the shows start so we check out the mini zoo. After Ryan and Kayla mimic every type of bird that is caged (about 30 types) we head off to see some sea lions being trained. Ryan wants to jump in and swim with them, so we have to leave that area. We find some cages with baby otters and buy some bread to feed them. They are very cute and have little hands to grab the bread through the bars. They only eat white bread, even though I told them my mom only recommends wheat bread. We tried talking to the otters but they must only speak Thai. Ryan and Kayla, however, were undeterred and made dolphin like squeaks at the otters for 15 minutes. After a quick snack of French fries and ice cream, I know, I know, we head into the arena for the shows. First the bird show. It really was quite good, but after 5 minutes Ryan wanted to walk around the audience, so we started to head out. By the time we got to the exit, the tiger show starts. About 5 huge tigers. They really are incredible up close. Very scary. Of course we watched for about 5 minutes, but after Ryan decided he was the next trainer of the nice kitty cats, we had to leave (see a trend here?) We decided a nice stroll through the cool aquarium (while buckled in the double stroller) would keep them calm. They did not like the aquarium and whined for a few minutes until we got to a tank full of Clown Fish. "Nemo, Nemo, Nemo was all they shouted at that point." (Finding Nemo, the movie, is obviously still fresh in their mind.) We got the kids dinner (McDonalds, BUT after watching the movie Super Size Me last night we got real chicken, not Mcnuggets and dropped them off at the PLAYROOM. Anh and I had a wonderfully relaxing meal alone eating Japanese food. We all had Haagen Daaz afterwards, walked around the town and they PASSED out on the car ride home. They are sleeping now and that was our day today! Love, The traveling four Feb. 24 |
Another day on the beach with our Swedish friends
We flew from Koh Samui to Krabi (still in Thailand)
and then took a small boat to Railay
where we will be until mid-April
We always go out with the kids for sunset
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