Phuket--Day 1

Up at 6:30. Ready and walking the grounds at 7 to see what was around. Todd and Cameron jumped in our pool. Then Cameron was the first one in the big pool. I signed us up for 4 different activities that we wanted to do this week. Today is a hanging out and exploring day. At 8 everyone but Mom went to the buffet for breakfast. We were all starving. Good food. Back to the room. Off to the pool for Cameron and Grandma. Todd, dad, and I walked 2 minutes to the store to get supplies. On our way there we walked past Harwood's room. They were out on the deck waiting for us to walk by. The kids were excited to say hi.

We bought our supplies and took them back to our room. Dad and Todd put the groceries away and I headed to the pool. At 10:00 a baby elephant showed up on the pool deck.  She was so cute.  Cameron fed her a couple bananas and we took some pictures.  Harwood's and us hung out for awhile in the pool then decided to go to the beach.

Tatum and I.

Grandma and Cameron hoopin' it up.

Cameron feeding the elephant a banana while Charlotte watches.

She's so cute.

Time for the little water slide.

Walking back up to try again.

The elephant gave Cameron a hug on the way by.

We stopped by the store to grab a surf board then jumped on a golf cart and headed to the beach. The sand was very rough. Still felt good to have our toes in the sand. The water had big waves. Cameron went in and was trying to surf. It was a little nerve wracking because a big wave would come in and there was a big slope when the water was going back out. It caused an under tow and would pull Cameron under. It was only bad once but after that Cameron wasn't interested anymore. It scared him. I ran in, grabbed him, and he was trying to stand but couldn't. It's scary. The water was very pretty though.

The elephant enjoyed the beach too.

She liked to roll around in the sand.

Cameron, Charlotte, Tatum, and Todd enjoying the water.

Riding the wave until it pulled him under.

Todd and Chris enjoyed the water too.

Cameron, Charlotte, Wesley, and Tatum searched for hermit crabs and played in the sand. I think Cameron was excited to have other kids to play with. Hardwoods left to go zip lining and Cameron and grandma started to build a castle. Cameron got side tracked because he had huge globs of sand in his trunks which started bugging him. We rinsed him off and then he decided to play in the water again. Mom was a nervous wreck. I was afraid she was going to fall more than I was worried about Cameron. I had finally had enough and we decided to leave.

Looking for hermit crabs.

Mom and Dad taking a walk.

Cute kid.

Taking a break on a log.

The kids all looking for different things.

Charlotte, Tatum, and Cameron loving the beach.

Grandma and Cameron starting a castle.

Trying to get big globs of sand out of Cameron's pants.

Grandma worried Cameron was going to go under.

Back to the hotel. We swam some more in our own pool. Cameron got all the sand out by taking his suit off in our pool. He thought this was hilarious. He put them right back on and then told me I couldn't put it in the blog. Oops.

This is one way to get the sand out of your pants.

After more swimming we hit the ice cream shop. We had some delicious ice cream and decided we were not going to go there everyday. We would gain about 50 pounds. Yummy!

That is a bowl of ice cream.

Everyone is happy.

Cameron's Snicker ice cream.

Turtle Village where the store, shopping, and
ice cream were.

Back to the pool at our place. We were doing tricks with the surf board and acting silly. I accidentally broke part of the board. Lots of laughs. Back in the big pool. At 3:15 Cameron went to the kids club to play coconut bowling.  It was him and 2 girls.  He was less than impressed.  He bowled 3 frames and then asked if he could be done.  The people working didn't know how to set up the pins.  My mom is the president of her bowling league and we thought for sure she was going to take over.  Back to the pool and the elephant made an appearance again. 

Cameron thinking his trick was cool.

I was about to attempt to jump and sit on the board.
I did it.

Cameron turning and landing on the board.

This trick was so cool it broke the board a little bit.

Judge Grandpa said Cameron won.

Cameron had to whip his hair up to get it out of his face.

We played some volleyball and then went to the swim up bar at happy hour. One drink and then off to watch Mom and Dad play shuffleboard. Mom won. Off to dinner.

We went to Bill Bentley's Pub. Mom and Cameron played indoor shuffle board. Had a good dinner. Todd took Cameron back to the room to shower while the rest of us stopped at the store again. Back to the room. I grabbed Cameron and we went to the kids club to get 2 movies. They were free and they gave Cameron popcorn.

A little shuffle board being played.

That is a big bread stick.

The torches at night.

We watched Big Mommas House and then went to bed. Some rain rolled through. Great first day in Thailand. Lots of sun and fun.

Parent Day 4--Off to Phuket

Up and ready early. Last minute packing and cleaning because today was the day we left for Phuket, Thailand. Phuket is pronounced Poo ket not the way it looks like it should be sounded out.

Mom and Cameron were searching for items in the Where's Waldo book. Our nephew who is 22 loves those books too. Silly. At 8:00 Cameron and I ran over to Sharla's to say goodbye to her. We have had so many great times together. I'm really, really going to miss her. Sharla and Will are definitely people we will keep in touch with and will see again. Love those two.

Back to our apartment and grabbed our bags. Out to the van and headed to Beijing. Mom and Cameron played UNO, read, and played video games. The rest of us didn't do much of anything but breathe and ride.


Just onto the 6th ring road Todd said "what is that a dog? A pig?" We all looked up and there was a pig walking down the interstate. Seriously, a pig. The first truck missed him. We drove by him and looked back. The truck behind us clipped him and he spun. He got back up and started walking. There were 'ooh's and ahh's in our van. Not sure what happened to the pig after that. As we drove a little further there was a truck on the side of the road and 2 guys were out tightening the net on top. Inside...pigs. Obviously our little pig friend didn't want to go to the slaughter house so he jumped out of the truck trying to make a run for it. The pig breakout was speculation on our part. He might have fallen out but our theories were more fun. And of course we made up all kinds of piggy stories as to what the loose pig said to his friends just before the jump/fall. The weird things we see on the roads of China.

We stopped by Euro Plaza to kill some time. We looked around the toy stores and walked though the grocery store. We bought some ice cream sandwiches and took them outside to eat. We then jumped back in the van and went to lunch.

We arrived at The Filling Station and found a table on the patio. The sun was beating down on us but it felt good. We had a good lunch. Well, except for Cameron. He was so excited to have pancakes but after 2 bites he said they were gross. All of us shared with him so he didn't go hungry. Back in the van and off to the airport. We were at the ticket office at 2:00. We couldn't get our tickets until 3:30. We found a spot to sit and wait. Cameron showed my Mom how to play the "non-geezer" game of solitaire on the IPad. They have a hand held game that he thinks is funny. (AARP IPad). I fell asleep. I woke up when I got a text from Rachel telling me what a beautiful day it was in Phuket and how nice our hotel was. They arrived yesterday so they will be able to fill us in when we arrive.

I couldn't stand the excitement.

Cameron on the Ipad.

 

As we were waiting we saw Kevin and Kay coming towards us. Kevin works with Todd. They were also headed to Phuket. We chatted with them. Todd jumped in line and got our tickets. Through passport control and security. Mom, Dad, and Cameron went into the lounge and Todd and I went and sat at the gate. They weren't in there long. When they sat down by us Cameron said grandma felt guilty that we couldn't go in the lounge so they left. They said there were no good snacks anyway.

Time to board. Of course the Wallace's were first in line and first on the plane. Mom and Dad had business class tickets. Cameron called sitting in business class and grandma was going to let him but once we were on the plane Cameron said it was a lame business class. He decided to sit with Todd and I. Dinner was served almost immediately once we were in the air. Beef with rice, chicken with rice, or noodles. I had the beef and it was ok. There was maybe 3 pieces of beef. Cameron and Todd had chicken. Cameron hated it and Todd thought it was ok. Seemed to be a long flight. Only 5 hours but it took forever. It was so hot where we were sitting. I am always cold on planes and this time I was sweating horribly.

Landed in Thailand. Found our little man holding our hotel sign. He got our van, loaded the luggage, and we were off to the Mai Khao Beach Resort. Took about 15 minutes. As soon as we were out of the van at the hotel we were greeted by a man who put necklaces made out of fresh flowers around our necks. Checked in and into our room. Awesome place. We even have our own pool. Looked things over then headed to bed. It was 12:30. Well, Todd swam first then went to bed.

Our welcome elephant.

Todd taking a dip in our pool.

Parents-Day 3

I took Cameron to school while Dad watched Wheel of Fortune and Mom slept.  Dad asked my Mom if she wanted to get up and walk back from school again but she wasn't interested.  She was exhausted and wanted to sleep more.

We packed for Thailand, had some lunch, watched my ayi clean for awhile, and then headed to Cameron's school for the walkathon. The entire school participated to raise money for a couple of different charities. They ran/walked for 30 minutes. Cameron did awesome. He made it 23 laps. His face was so red when he was done.

Cameron and Rebecca having a nice chat.

Grandpa wishing Cameron good luck.

Waiting for the starting gun to go off.

Running like a champ.

Cameron and his teacher, Mr. Singer.

Two Cameron's...Yikes.

We jumped in the van and ran home quickly. Cameron changed his sweaty clothes, grabbed a treat, and a drink. Back in the van. We dropped Cameron off at Decathlon to stay with Carrasco's. They were there for Alejandro's roller blading class. At 4:30 Ileana dropped Cameron and Alfredo off at school for club soccer practice.

Mom, Dad, and I went to Todd's work for a tour. We had to put on gloves, steel toed shoes, orange vest, and hard hats. We were looking sweet. It was pretty cool to see what Todd has been working on up close. The factories are awesome.

Trying to get a job on a construction site.

After our tour we went to watch soccer. There was only 5 kids there. It was actually good because the coach was able to work with each kid. By the time soccer was over it was getting a little chilly. I'm glad I had a sweatshirt with me.

Dribbling the ball.

Practicing his skills.

We went to Jacky's 2 for dinner. It was pretty disappointing. Mom wanted Jameson chicken but when it came out it had the sauce on it which it wasn't suppose to. When it came back mom still wasn't impressed. We figured out she was talking about Wai Ha's Jameson chicken we think. I had chicken fajitas and they were not near as good as a week ago from the other Jacky's that I had. Oh well.

Back home. All 3 of the boys got haircuts. This was a very annoying chore. My parents brought me new clippers. I started on Cameron's head and it was ripping his hair out. Dad looked at the new clippers and they were broken. He worked on them while I used the other clippers. Dad fixed them and I cut his hair next. But before I cut his hair he put on the cape so hair wouldn't get on him. We noticed there was wet, sticky stuff in several places on the cape. We cleaned that up. I was irritated with the new clipper set by this point. Got Dads hair cut and went to do Todd's. Clippers didn't work again. I made 3 swipes then it decided to break again. I had to use the other clippers which were not the same length. What a nightmare. I finally got all hair cuts finished, cleaned up, and clippers put away. Glad to have that project done.

Cameron and Mom played a couple different games and then we all watched Myth-busters. Then it was off to bed. 

Parents-Day 2

Mom and I took all the kids to school along with Todd.  Mr. Xue was stuck in a traffic jam so he couldn't get Todd at 7:00 as usual.  Mom and I walked Alejandro to his spot to wait and he realized he was the first one there.  That never happens when he goes with his Dad.  We took a picture of him sitting all by himself.  At 8:00 all the kids were walking to their classrooms.  Mom and I realized no one else was going to work out so we decided not to and we walked home instead.  It was a nice day for a walk. 

Back at home we just lounged around. Dad did some fix em up projects.  Finally got motivated and showered and walked to the 3rd Avenue veggie market.  We picked up a pineapple so Cameron could have it on his hamburger for dinner.  We walked back home and lounged some more waiting until 1:45 when Mr. Xue was picking us up.

Dad fixing the drain plug.

We went to school to watch the end of the month assembly for grades K-5.  The assembly was painful.  There really isn't too much organization or a reason to have them.  Cameron told us we could go if we wanted so we felt like we had to.  Luckily Alejandro's class performed a dance which was really cute.  The only other thing that was funny was Mr. Li and Ms. Williamson dressed up in Sumo outfits.  The funny part about that was they had them on backwards.  We think they did it on purpose so the boobies and belly buttons wouldn't make the kids laugh but we think it was funnier because they turned around when pointing to a screen.  Everyone saw them anyway and the boobies and belly buttons were on their backs.  At least we got a laugh out of it.

Cameron was happy to see us.

The backwards Sumo wrestlers.

This is the back shot.

3:00 we took everybody home and a big storm blew in quickly.  It got much cooler and windy.  A short lived storm rolled through.  Dad went out on the porch to watch it, of course.  Cameron wanted to be out there too but he was trying to finish his homework.  The storm was done by the time Cameron finished.

All the kids came up to play.  They played a little Wii but the big hit was Cameron's new Nerf Gun.  A big Nerf fight broke out all through the house.  The kids are awesome about sharing.  They set a timer for 10 minutes.  When it goes off they all switch guns.  That way everyone gets to use all of them.  They even used the new gun as the "pitcher" for hitting practice.  The bat was a big blow up toothpaste tube.  They hit mom and dad a couple times with the discs.  These kids sure have fun together.

Mom and Dad were pretty tired today.  Mom kept falling asleep on the couch.  Jet lag is a bad thing.  At 6:15 the Carrasco kids came up and the ladies walked over to Ashanti for Sharla's going away dinner.  She is leaving on Tuesday to go back to Canada for good.  8 girls were waiting.  Sharla and Stine walked in and Sharla was shocked to see us all.  Anthony handed her a huge bouquet of flowers.  Sharla got a little teary eyed.

Anthony surprised Sharla with flowers.

All of us girls surprised her too.

We had dinner and some drinks.  We tried to leave but Sharla was having no part of it.  Finally at 11 we walked back home.  My goal was to be home before Cameron went to bed at 8:30 though I knew that wasn't going to happen.  It was a fun night.  I'm so sad to see Sharla leave.  Such a bummer.

Mom had a shot of orange juice.

I'm sure she is pondering why she is leaving.

We got her a totally blinged out Chinese phone cover.
It weighed about 10 pounds.

Me with some of my favorites...Sharla, Ileana, and Stine.

The girls...Sharla, Ileana, Erica, Stine, Erica, Me, Claudia,
Megan, and Jessica.

One of my besties.

Ileana looking sad because of the cover.

Me and Erica.

Anthony in the background.
Mom, Ileana, Me, and Erica.

No one knows why Jessica and Anthony started dancing.

Off to bed.