Phuket--Day 2

Up and Todd whipped up breakfast for everyone. We took the shuttle over to the JW Marriott to check it out. Cameron swam in the pool and then we went out to the beach. Cameron got knocked around by the waves for awhile and then him and grandma made a sand castle. Trouble was every time they would get something built a huge wave would come in and smash it. They built a big wall and then waited to see how many waves it would take to knock it down. Some girls were hanging around doing cart wheels all over...flinging sand and water on us. They had no concept of personal space.

All aboard the shuttle.

A view from the lobby area.

Cameron had to try out the slide on the way to the beach.

The view.

Taking in the scenery.

The Wallace's.

Mom and Dad with Cameron in the background.

We love vacations.

Building a wall to protect the castle.

Beautiful.

The girls took over our area.

Back up to the pool. On our way there we ran into Aaron, Annie, and Piper (from TEDA). We chatted with them while Cameron bought some bananas to feed the elephant. The guy put Cameron on the elephants back. He put the bananas in the elephants trunk from on top.

Ride 'em cowboy.

Aaron was trying to get Piper to look at Cameron.

The elephant did some tricks.

Of course Dad had to check her out.

More elephant kisses.

Back in the pool to rinse the sand off. We caught the shuttle back to our hotel and made lunch. I was looking for a container to put some left overs in.  I opened a cupboard and said "dad, there's a gecko in here". He came over and agreed then walked over to grab a towel.  He said "I have no idea how I'm going to get this guy". As he reached in the gecko jumped out onto my dads chest and then jumped somewhere else.  He was so fast we couldn't see where he went. Mom and I were both screaming. Of course Mom was all freaked out about finding it which was impossible.

He is suppose to be getting rinsed off.

He decided he had to go to the bathroom.

A little spa.

What is he doing?

Waiting for the shuttle.

Ding and Dong waiting to pull out.

Our elephant was decorated when we came back.

Chicken and pineapple pizza.  Yum!

Watermelon and chicken.

The geckos tail is above the pot on the right.  He ran when
I grabbed my camera.

This is right before he jumped on my dad.

At 1:00 we left for our ATV ride. After an hour drive we arrived at the ATV place. We filled out paper work, got our gear on, had a lesson, and drove around the parking lot to get use to our ATV's. They asked Cameron if he was 12 because that is what the paper work Todd filled out said.  I think they questioned it but didn't seem to mind.  So, he is 9 not quite 12.  But he had his own quad at home so he knows how to drive them.  After our practice we were off on our 3 hour tour. As we were going my ATV was acting weird. It was hard to keep it going. It broke down and I traded with one of the guides. Cameron's ATV was the next to break. He had to trade with a guide too. They got them started again so they could still drive them. At one point they had to jump my ATV too.  But when they jumped them they didn't have ends on the jumpers.  They were just straight wires.

Listening to the instructions.

King of ATV.

Cameron and I changed gloves so we each had 1 red and 1 blue.
Cool driving gloves.

Cameron got his ATV stuck.  They put him
on a different one while they got it out.

We drove through the country side and ended up at the river. Unfortunately it was too full with too big of a current for us to drive through. We parked and walked to the waterfall. On our way we passed some cows tied to trees. We arrived and our guide caught some funky looking creature from the water. We were all standing in the water and it felt good. Cameron asked if there were any leaches. I think he was a little freaked out to get in. As he was standing I shoved him. He fell in and then was fine. Him and I walked across the river to the other side. It was only thigh deep. One of our guides went with us. He had Cameron get up inside one part of another little waterfall for a 'massage' as he called it.

The river was too high and running too fast for us to drive through.

The waterfall.

I shoved him in.

Awwww.

The whole family.

Cameron getting a massage.

As we walked back across the guide stopped to skip rocks. Cameron, the other guide, Todd and my dad all skipped rocks too. We then walked back to our ATV's. Our one guide was full of crazy tricks. He found a big leave and had my mom pour water into it. It balled up. He played catch with it and then through it up and caught it in his mouth. Cameron of course had to try it. He wasn't the best but he did end up catching a ball of water in his mouth.

Skipping rocks.

Working on his water trick.

Cameron was getting a burn on his leg from the ATV being so hot. I started to wrap my shirt around his leg and one of our guides said "no mom. We have something." They got a huge leave and wrapped it around Cameron's leg. They then searched for vines to tie it on. With the extra huge leaf they made Cameron a skirt. He thought that was funny.

Getting his leg wrapped.

Getting a whole outfit.

We continued on our tour.  We were suppose to go up a hill but our guides stopped because there was an excavator working there. One guide went ahead to check it out. After about 10 minutes we got the ok to go up. As we turned the corner there was a big pile of debris from a rock slide on the road. Cameron started up and luckily the guide was next to him. He started rolling back and thankfully I stopped or we would have ran into each other. The guide had to help Cameron. I looked back army mom and her eyes were as big as saucers. The rest of us made it with no problem.     We wen t to a rubber tree plantation. They showed us how the farmers get it out of trees. Our guide had another trick. He took our picture with one of the little black containers connected to all the trees and it made it look like we were standing in the container. It was funny.

Excavator on the road we are suppose to go on.

Cameron making his way up the hill.

Mom made it with no problem.

Cameron in the cup.

Wallace Family in the cup.

Grandma and Grandpa in the cup.

The whole family in the cup.

This is the rubber tree cup they used to take our pictures.

Continued on. We drove through a village and a lot of the people waved at us. As we were driving I noticed I didn't have power on my "dash" and next thing I knew my ATV was sputtering. It finally died. The guide tried to fix it. No luck. The first guide had to go back and here they came with a tow rope towing the other.

Getting a tow ride.

We continued on. We stopped at a spot to where we saw banana trees and our guide was picking what looked like weeds. He told us it was a vegetable and tasted like a potato. He assured us it is delicious. I asked how he could tell the difference between that and a weed. He said he couldn't but the other guide knows because he has lived there his whole life.

Continued on and ended up back at camp. When we got off our ATV's they had a bunch of watermelon, pineapple, and tuna sandwiches for us. Also candy, crackers, water, and pop. The funniest thing was they gave us towels to clean our hands with. It said right on the package...soft and clean. They were frozen and hard as a rock. Once we peeled it open we could use it. Back in the van and back to our hotel.. Lots and lots of fun on the ATV's.

Riding back to camp.

Might be fresh but it was not soft.

Too much excitement.

Once back we went to the pool. Cameron swam and looked for geckos with the Harwood kids. The rest of us talked and ordered food for dinner. Once our food was ready we went back to our room and ate. Todd swam, Cameron and grandma watched a movie, dad went for a short walk then hung out, and I typed for the blog. Off to bed.