Last Thailand pictures (I think)

For two days in a row we took a trip to the neighboring beach, Tong Nai Pan Yai (we are on Tong Nai Pan Noi), which lacks the charm of our beach, but has smaller waves (none, really) and is nice & shallow. Alex can actually crawl in the water without getting his face wet! Yesterday's trip we invited the Canandian family (I've mentioned Jessa here - her family - Andrew, Jamie, and daughters Ali and Jessa who are 5 and 9) and their friends (from Australia - daughter Melanie is Ali's age) and Tonya with her baby Nicolas (also in other pictures on the blog). We ended up getting onto a longtail boat with the three kids and Tonya with Nicolas. We just hung out on the beach - well, actually, I ended up playing with the two 5-year-olds in the water for about a half-hour while Alex and Nicolas played on the beach with Angela, Jessa, and Tonya. Then, after some snacking on peanut butter on crackers, the other parents showed up (as planned). Then the kids found out that there was some playground equipment and we have a great picture (except that it's terrible) of some of them holding Alex on a multi-person swing thingy. He LOVED it.

Today our nuclear family went back (by the way, Alex loved the boat rides and looked great in his lifejacket!) and went to a restaurant called Dolphin which served western food and a few thai dishes - the food was really interesting & good, actually. We then ran into a german family that we had met on the beach on a previous trip a few days ago & played in the shallow water. Alex took a second nap on return, sort of, played in the water here, ate dinner (Jessa joined us), then we brought Alex to the beach for a final cool activity. We bought a big (probably 3 feet diameter and 5 feet tall) paper hot air balloon that comes with a waxy coil that you light under it, hold it up until it gets hot enough, and let it go on the beach (after dark). It floated up until it was small enough that you might think it was a star and kept going. Alex sat on Jessa's lap, Ali did some of the videography, Angela lit it, I held it with Pete (the Australian dad) and his wife. Melanie sat with Alex, too. Alex was facinated, of course!

Then off to bed & it was time to blog...but there was no connection.

Tonight Wah is saying "cape cod" over & over to Angela. It's very funny. (It's related to the time that Angela showed her pictures of us on the beach on the Cape.)


Swing time on the beach:



Alex learns about caterpillars from the younger girls:


Digging in the sand:




And some other pictures (from the last few days):





Ali & Melanie with Alex:


Not happy to be leaving (on the last morning):




Apply sand liberally to other naked babies: