Thailand Part 3 - 2016

The day after our elephant tour, we caught a plane from the top part of Thailand (Chiang Mai) to the bottom (Phuket). We had the yummiest breakfast we could find in the airport. I definitly was not complaining! 

We stayed near Patong beach. It was pretty, but really quite overcast and rainy the day we arrived. 

My sister in law, Leslie, told me I had to try a mangosteen. I searched everywhere and finally found this yummy fruit. 

This is what it looks like on the inside - how cool is that?!

Our second day in Phuket was a bout/kayak tour of some of the islands. This was our other favorite thing we did in Thailand - so cool! Everything looked like it was out of a magazine! 

Some of the caves we went into were so low, we had to lay completly flat on the kayak and hope our faces didn't get scratched!

We got a little bit of free time to work our hands at kayaking. It was really fun!

We swam in one of the lagoon areas

And in the caves too

In one of the Hongs ("Room" in Thailand), we saw this cool looking animal. It looked like a frog in the front but had a fin like structure at its rear. A Hong is a big circular opening in the middle of the rock/island. We had to lay down on the kayak to get into them because the opening was so close to the water. Once we got inside, it was so neat to see the tall cliff faces with beautiful greenery. Such a cool experience! 

Towards the end of the night we made these pretty plant structures made from banana tree trunk, banana leaves, and flowers. When it was dark, we lit the candles on fire and floated them in the ocean. It is the Thai people's way of saying thank you to God for the water. 

A gorgeous susnset with the love of my life. Happy 10 years cutie!!

Our last day we caught a flight up to Bangkok and went to their big weekend market. We enjoyed some yummy treats and foot massages. Ryan was a good sport walking around and looking at souvenirs for hours :) 

We also saw these delicacies but decided to pass - no thank you! And if you wonering if they are real, the answer is yes! Its funny, the man was actually charging people to take photos of them - I guess he probably makes way more money doing that than actually selling the bugs! 

It was a long & tiring trip home, but it was so good to be back. The kids all gave me the best hugs, especially Griffin. He hugged me for about 5 minutes and gave me a big kiss. My heart melted!! I love those kiddos so much!

Griffin sporting his new elephant pants.

Jaxson loved the yoda shirt we found him at the market.

A huge thanks to Rhonda & Lee for watching our kiddos and keeping them safe while we were gone! They had such a fun time and we so appreciate it!!

Thailand Part 2, Elephants, 2016

On our second day in Chiang Mai, we did a 8 hour "elephant owner for a day" program. This was the highlight of our trip!! Seriously, it was so cool. We started out petting the elephants and taking a lot of pictures because I mean, how many people actually get to touch an elephant?! This was a momma elephant and her 3 year old and 2 month old kiddos.

Of course my favorite was the baby.

Ryan is a brave soul!

They loved eating that sugar cane! It made quite the crunching noise when they were snapping it with their teeth. 

I got to hold this baby (350lb) elephant on my lap. I tried to stay upright, but he was too strong and pushed me to the ground so he could lay on me/snuggle me - just thinking of that makes me smile! It was fun to see the elephants act like a dog or cat would as far as playing games/reacting to their owners. 

Next, we were each given an Elephant to take care of for the day. My elephant's name was Patwo. First we fed them sugar cane & bananas.

Then we smelled their poop (not stinky!) and learned more about the different commands (go, stop, lay down, etc.)

And then we rinsed them off so that there wasn't any dirt to rub into their skins while we road through the jungle. How cool is this picture?! A rainbow AND me washing an elephant

Patwo was good at giving hugs! 

We then mounted the elephants and went on a ride through the jungle! 

We made it to the waterfall/water hole where the elephants played in the water. 

We had a quick coconut rice snack - so good!! 

Then we got in the water to give the elephants a bath. We used a brush and scrubbed their entire bodies. 

This place was beautiful!! 

Our elephant tour group. The elephants were using their trunks to spray us from behind 

Then we played with the elephants in the water - trying to sit on them while they kept trying to lay down. Much harder than it sounds?! 

Finally, we had an amazing lunch with fresh fruit and Thailand food - loved all of it!!

We had a short ride back and said goodbye to our elephants. Love this picture - like I said, Patwo was a good hugger!

Before we left to go back to the hotel - beautiful scenery. Once in a lifetime experience!!