Phuket Town

Elephants & a Temple

It was still raining a little this morning, but in hopes that it would stop we decided to venture out anyway.  My dream of snorkeling around Phi Phi island was not going to be possible as the weather was still not cooperating, but at least we could get out and explore more of Phuket Town.  We had a driver take us around the city & it was pretty neat to see all the sights.  Tenley really wanted to do an elephant ride & the rain finally stopped so we went up near Big Buddha.  We had a great time riding our elephant up to a lovely overlook that showed Phuket Town, Wat Chalang Temple & out into the sea.  We got some great photos that I'll post.  After the ride, we went to Wat Chalang Temple.  Very impressive building although not quite ancient.  We then decided to head back to our hotel in hopes that the sun might stick around so that we could have some beach time.  Sadly, the closer we got to the hotel the darker the sky seemed to get.  The rain mostly held off, but it was a couple of hours later before it would clear some again.  It turned out to be a beautiful evening as we sat having dinner in our favorite Thai restaurant & watching our 1st sunset here.

We are all excited about traveling to Bangkok tomorrow am.  We are getting closer to meeting Trit & I think we are all ready for that day.  Even Tenley said tonight that she can't wait to finally meet him.

No more rain, for now

It absolutely poured down rain all morning long.  This was the worst of all the days we have been here.  Mon.-Wed. of this week we had almost 9 inches of rain although I think likely it might actually be more!  Thankfully, no flooding although Koh Samui flooded & they had to shut down the airport.  We checked though as I'll admit I worried a little that Phuket's airport might have issues, but all was fine & flights are still on schedule for incoming/outgoing.  They say the flooding for Koh Samui is worse that they have seen in many decades.
Finally, almost as if out of the blue the rain just stopped.  It was still cloudy, but no rain!  It honestly was really weird as it was so peaceful & quiet.
Tenley had a great day again & we could not get her to leave the kids club until we promised her a visit to the pool.  There were several of her friends there from kids club as I think all the parents had the same idea we had. 
We are hoping that the rain will hold off most of tomorrow.  There is still a 20% chance.

I'll post some video & pictures from today.

Just another rainy day in Thailand

Daniel finally posted a video (just prior to this post) that we took a couple of days ago.  Let's just say that I doubt I have a future in TV:)  You can also definitely tell that I was still exhausted:(  Also, attached to this post is video of the rain. 
Yesterday, we ventured outside the resort to a large, four story shopping mall in Phuket Town.  It was about a 45 minute drive from the resort & our family all piled up in a sedan taxi.  The ride was a part of the experience & again I wished I could have taken some pictures along the way.  The pouring down rain outside the window along with the rate of speed we were traveling pretty much prohibited me from being able to do so though. (took 1 sitting at a traffic light) My first thoughts are what a beautiful, lush area although you definitely see the poorer economic side.  Lots of temples along the way, motor bikes & small shops.  The mall was pretty neat.  Each floor seemed to be dedicated to a particular specialty - 1st floor - ready to wear, 2nd floor - shoes & accessories, 3rd floor - food & sporting goods & 4th - spas & facial clinics.  I found a store I really liked called Jaspal that is all Thai fashion & bought a really cute dress.  Tenley found an accessory store & we left with a sack full of inexpensive little hair accessories:)
Last night, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant at the resort.  Not my favorite meal so far, but Tenley finally got her pasta!

Today, it is raining yet again.  I remember waking up at one point last night to silence & was amazed it had finally stopped raining - seriously, it has not stopped in days. The silence didn't last for long as a few minutes later it started up again.  I think today will be another relaxing day for us & Tenley wants to make the craft today which is handpainting a fan.  She woke us up the night before dreaming & was begging to go to kids club.  We told her about it the next morning & she thought that was too funny.

Greetings From Phuket

More pictures

Rain, Rain Go Away!

We are all still trying to recover from our jet lag.   Unfortunately, we were up half the night and finally all went back to bed around 3:30 am this morning.  We got up around 7 am & started our day.  It rained all through the night & all day today which we have been told is quite unusual this time of year as typically this is their hottest & driest time of the year.  The rain helps to keep it is cooler or in the lower 80's, but it certainly keeps you from being able to do many outdoor activities.  We decided to make the best of it anyway & took Tenley to the pool for a couple of hours since we figured we were all going to get wet anyway.  We also went to a nearby shopping village & bought a few souvenirs.  The resort took us over in a golf cart to the village & even that short ride was an experience.  I wish I would have been able to take some pictures as once off resort property, it seems as if we were in the middle of farm land.  It almost reminds me of the setting at Disney World at Animal Kingdom in the Asia section.  Low lying power lines, spirit houses, tropical vegetation & interesting looking buildings.

I think Tenley has really enjoyed herself & I am amazed for such a little girl how well she has adapted.  She has made playmates here from all over the world - Germany, China, Japan, Egypt, Australia & England.   It is amazing to us the diversity of the people here & Tenley never met a stranger.  (We have only met 1 other American here so far & ironically he graduated from UT, but now lives in Australia due to his job.)

Tenley really wants to do the circus training that they offer through the kids club, but they haven't been able to hold it due to the rain.  This resort truly does cater to families & they have an excellent kids program.  Poor Tenley though as between the jet lag & all of her playing with friends in the kids club, she is exhausted tonight & couldn't even stay awake for dinner:( 

We hope by tomorrow that we will be over our jet lag & that we will have a really good night sleep tonight.    

Starting to get acclimated to Thailand

I know its the first day, but after the crazy flying schedule and sleeping patterns we are adjusting to Thai time quite nicely.  Today has been a "chill" day, EXCEPT for the fact that dad fell into a pond off of a bridge at the resort and is now at the hospital taking in antibiotics.  Only my father!  He seems to be OK, just he scraped up his leg and it's bruised.  Right now, we are enjoying the rare rain storm that Thailand is having for this time of year.  We have taken some cool photos of the resort that we would like to share.

Korean Air Flight to Seoul

Exhausted, but we are finally here!

It is 3:30 am here in Phuket.  Tenley traveled really well & is definitely the most rested of our group.  I think Daniel & I maybe slept a few hours this whole journey here!  We really liked Korean Airlines & also got to do some fun cultural things while waiting on our layover in Seoul to travel to Phuket.  I'll post some pictures of our trip thus far.

Leaving as 3, Coming Home as 4!

We are now down to the day before we leave for Thailand and I can hardly believe it.  It seems like that in some ways the wait has been so long, but now time seems to be flying.  Phone calls to all the various governmental agencies, a couple of baby showers, packing frenzy chaos, etc. - all things leading up to our adventure to get our son.  We can hardly wait to hold our little son in our arms, but we will have to get the almost 23 hours of flying under our belt (NOT including layovers) and our few days of R&R in or as a I like to call it "jet lag recovery"  before we will finally meet him!   Tomorrow we leave as 3, but then we will be coming home as 4 with our precious son.  Please pray for our family.

New Travel Date

We not only received an update on our son yesterday, but our agency also told us that we are now likely to be set for an April 5th court date!  Quite possibly we could be leaving for Thailand in just a few weeks!  We are still waiting to hear if the NVC has received our paperwork & forwarded it on to the Embassy in Bangkok.  Let's just hope & pray that they receive it soon.  God is definitely teaching me some patience here as I am such a planner & it is so hard for not to be able to already map out every detail of our trip;)We basically have to wait until we have a pretty firm idea that all the paperwork has been processed before making any firm travel arrangements. 

Update on Trit

We received an update on Trit today.  He has grown so much!  This was technically back from December, but it always takes a while for us to get the updates.  We are thrilled though & we sent him this outfit.  It looks like he has a new haircut.  Please continue to pray for us & our precious little boy.