Hello to all our friends and family!  We can’t believe that a whole week has almost passed since we arrived in Thailand!

We made it through 27 hours of travel, finding every airport playground in the world!

We had noodles for breakfast at 4am  in Taiwan.

And then we finally go to Thailand and…

The first week has been different than what we all expected.  I think we expected a few days of catching up on jet lag and then playing on the beach.  But Pascaline has had a horrible cough which only got worse as the week went on.  Brian ended up getting something similar, and Blaze and I are trying our best not to catch whatever they’ve got.

So  needless to say, instead of playing on the beach, we’ve been at the local clinic a couple times.  I know–super exciting!  The beauty of Thailand right inside these sterile “air conditioned” walls.  🙂

But all considering, everyone is in good spirits, especially Pascaline.  Considering the fact that the doctor said no swimming this week.  And seriously, it is so freaking hot here that not being able to swim and keeping a good attitude is an amazing accomplishment!  These kids are so great and taking the jungle on despite the colds and “no swimming orders”.

Last year we stayed in the same house all six weeks.  This year, we decided to mix it up a little more because our house isn’t available until early March.  We decided to start our trip on the other side of Thailand on a small island called Koh Tao.  (Koh means island, so you may see that word a lot.  :))  Koh Tao is a sweet little island with bright colored bungalows.

It is well known for scuba diving sites, and today, I left the ill family behind and decided to go diving.  It was amazing—just what I needed!  The coral, the schools of fish, the blue spotted sting rays and moray eels.  The whole experience felt like my own baptism to being back in Thailand.

Internet access hasn’t been great on this little island.  And in a couple days we move to an even more remote place for our second week—part of the adventure is always finding internet to keep the blog updated and connected with all of you!

We’ll be going to the other side of Thailand to a group of islands called Koh Phi Phi (pronounced “pee-pee” yes, your kids should get a good laugh out of the name.  It never gets old with our kids.  :))

Goodness, I’m so sorry if this entry is scattered. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get online and blog that I’m not sure where to start!  More to come!

Happy Monday friends!  It’s 10:39pm on Monday night here, and I can tell you that it was a wonderful Monday filled with unexpected moments!  May yours be the same!

xoxo,

Me Ra

p.s.  It’s a BIG day for the SOAR! Blog! Monday is always a special day over there!  There are TWO great posts to check out!  One is the SOAR! Hall of Fame Nominees for “Most Creative”!  You don’t want to miss these!  We were hoping to have them up Friday, but we had some technical issues with getting all the videos in the blog post.  But now we’ve got it figured out and this coming Friday, the panel of judges (made up of wonderful SOAR! Sisters who are volunteering their time to watch ALL the videos) are going to post the seven “Most Creative”.  Check it out!

AND, our own SOAR! Recipient, Lindsay, was super sick last week.  So she didn’t get to post her Details Photo blog, but it’s up today.  And you are going to love it!  See the first half on the blog, and the second half at SOARORITY! Have you registered for the SOARORITY forum yet?  If your a woman and wanting a support network with other women who have a passion for their camera, get over there and register!