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.