Day 6 - Phi Phi Island Cruise

About the leave the harbour

Our boat was a similar size to this one had around 150 people on board. Lunch provided, very nice. We had three stops, two to go on land and the other was snorkelling off the side of the boat.

Mark on the lower deck.

My fellas on the little boat going to our first stop

Ryan all decked out for snorkelling.  Do you think he went?

The crazy wooden boat that took us ashore.  Jamie has a close up of the motor, the blokes that drove them had the best bodies and depending on where I was sitting, they looked naked.  Noice.

Fish feeding frenzy, I was right amongst this!

Beautiful clear waters on Khai Island

SItting with the little dudes.

Maya Bay - where The Beach was filmed, might have to rewatch it.

Maya Bay again. Too rough to stop.

Monkey Beach - again too rough to stop (phew)

Amazing rock structures

More amazing islands

Swimming at Phi Phi Don Island.  Jamie took my Halle Berry shot.. but not posting that.  Don't quite have Halle Berry's figure

Just add cuteness

Phi Phi Island

Today's post was bought to you by captions only.  The seas were rough. The scenery was beautiful, the food was amazing.  Happy that we went.  Everyone liked the swimming.  

Day 5 - Thailand Trip

It was challenging.  Boys were grumpy - as in all three.  We didn't really 'do' anything.  Walked a bit. Collected the laundry, let me tell you that is the way to do laundry!  Cost about $8AUD for the entire load and it would have been two loads at home.  Stupidly happy about that.  Mark got himself his first singlet (to show off the muscles) for 180 baht.  The lady at the stall quoted 450 baht, and Jamie got it down to 180.. such a weird system.

Beach Road, Karon Beach.

The beach itself.  It was closed today, but to dangerous conditions.

Hot and grumpy.

Feels much better to be on dad's shoulders than walking

Nothing to do with the holiday, just a lovely pic of my two eldest boys

We're rolling classier here, evening milk in the wine glasses. This was taken about 2 minutes before Ben broke his.  That boy never has a drink without spilling or dropping the cup.  Drives you to distractions

Lunch was delicious, there is a lovely shop just down the road which sells BIG yummy fried rice, only need 2 of them to feed all of us.  Enjoying the local beer, every one is drinking.  Dinner we went to a lovely restaurant.  The staff quickly ran to get us two high chairs and they were all delightful.  Nothing was left on our plates, the little boys shared a plate of prawn cakes and ate the lot.  I think that was a meal we should have gotten them one each, but its so hard to tell.

Day 4

Today was very non-eventual.  Started off the morning at breakfast with Ryan throwing up!  That was pleasant for all the fellow holiday-makers around us.  The staff were amazing, they were over in a flash with napkins to clean him up.  I whipped off his t shirt and back to the room for the first shower of the day.

Ben and an enormous pineapple smoothie/crusher he wasn't the biggest fan, too tart for him.

Ryan and the teeny tiny banana - this is a big one.  Ryan had a mammoth sleep, woke up and ate six of these bananas.

The roof top garden.  This is a Buddhist altar with some elephants.

View of the pool from the roof top garden.

Next a swim in the pool, those little boys are marvellous.  They get on the edge of the pool scramble out, jump in and reach for one of us, Daddy is the preferred parent when it comes to swimming.  The one that gets me has a look of sadness on their face.  We make/encourage them to swim back to the edge.  This goes on for an hour or a tiny bit more.  The parents of similar aged toddlers are looking at us jealously... why can't their babies jump in like that.  I have never been asked Ben's age so frequently - he still doesn't look 2.. looks much younger.

Have sent my washing out... bliss... not having to wash!  So strange.

Jamie and Benno out to lunch.  I asked Jamie to smile and this is what Ben did.

Ryan and his mango smoothie from the pool side bar

A lovely pic of my eldest gorgeous boy, he wasn't very well today, but is still beautiful

Me and Jamie on the roof top garden.  Not sure why he had to sit.  Check out my new loose Thai pants.  So comfy.

The next day

Our room, its the one in the middle :)

Ok, might be a little disjointed, just had a nightmare (can't recall) and its 2.30am.

Mark on a deckchair at Karon Beach

Today was meant to be a shopping day, but it ended up being a check out prices day.  This frustrated Mark to the nth degree.  But lets start at the beginning.
Breakfast - my goodness this place puts on a good breakfast.  Whatever you can imagine.  Kiddie cereals, sausages, full English, proper Asian style - Marko is going Asian and having fried rice.  Nice juices, fruit including the tiniest bananas in history - will take  the camera to breakfast tomorrow to get a teeny banana photo.  We ate outside, quite close to the road.   Ben got very excited about the motorbikes, there are MILLIONS of motorbikes here, most with helmetless riders, and often with two or three people.  So he spent a few minutes saying "oooh motorbike, oooh van, ooooh motorbike, motorbike oooh van" you get the picture?

Then we went to the beach across the road.  Everyone enjoyed that, its super flat out far and has one breaking wave in close.  According to all the paperwork, its quite a dangerous beach, rips, strong currents... yes that was evident, but we stayed close in shore. Ryan stuck with Jamie and Ben was with me.  Ben was gorgeous (again) he got the giggles with every wave, especially if we had to jump.

Ryan just a little excited at Karon Beach

Didn't stay too long there, then we jumped straight into the hotel pool and the boys JUMPED in over and over and over again. 

Mark and Ryan in the Tuk Tuk

Ben's first ride in a Tuk Tuk (mine too)

Then around 11.45am we left to go to a shopping centre in Patong to get a stroller and have a look around.  I was expecting cheap strollers to be readily available, but this was not the case, really kicking myself that we didn't bring ours, but now we've got another one.

How did we travel?  TUK TUK, these things are adorable.  Its a mini Dihatsu ute (according to Mark) that has been pimped with a back cover and seats that run mostly lengthways, open back door and no seatbelts.  Ben was unconscious asleep and missed it.  Ryan loved it, he really likes the blue tuktuks and thankfully we got a red one.  The road from Karon to Patong is really hilly and the little car makes it with only a tiny struggle.  Fascinating road rules over here!

And yes you should be embarrassed boy, all this wonderful food and you won't even taste it.  Burger King chips for him

Shopping centre was non descript - like any Westfield.  Got the stroller and am now cheering.  Wandered the outside areas which were amazing.  Had some lunch - just food court stuff.  Ryan is being a real pain with food, we had to get him chips.  Then we walked some of the side streets, lots of stalls with tshirts, dresses etc.

Ben awake his time, this one was very cutely pimped.

Exhausted, hot Benny returning from our adventure, he's carrying his own water bottle

Street food for dinner

The anti-climactic birthday party

Ben fell asleep.  He refused his afternoon nap, had two swims, a long walk (well long carry), a walk along the beach, lots of bed jumping, walks up three flights of stairs to visit the roof.

Frangipani on the rooftop

A nice wooden swing chair within the hotel

The view of the pool from the top floor

Walked to the left at 5pm tonight, went to a market type place, I think it was actually a bazaar... it was fantastic.  Not very pushy.  Did my first haggle, supposedly I paid too much (according to Jamie), but I got a bikini for 600 baht.  Must do myself a spreadsheet of what the conversion is, as I have NO CLUE at this stage.  Love my new swimmers.  There are so many ladies here SO much fatter that me in very tiny bikinis that I felt kind of weird in my current bathers are they are quite covered, and everyone else has it all *out there* what am I hiding.

The restaurant we had dinner at tonight - The Ging

Smiling for the camera.

Then we went to Old Phuket Road, which is really just a classier (I guess) shopping strip.  Went to a restaurant which served so many dishes it was crazy.  Jamie had sweet n sour beef, Mark had a fried rice with seafood and egg, I had pad thai and Ryan had a satay chicken.  As mentioned before, Ben had nothing as he was asleep.  Tomorrow we'll find him a cake and will probably get him a blow up pool toy for his birthday.

Poor Benny... he missed it

 Tomorrow, I must steal the camera so we can prove that Jamie was on this holiday as well.

Thailand Trip - Day One Travelling

My plan in the future is to wipe this day from my memory, in all likelihood this is what will happen (I have a crap memory).  It was very stressful.  Like a self fulfilling prophecy... I thought it would be crap so it was.

The three boys at Melb Airport

I'll copy and paste the "essay" I wrote my sister on Facebook last night.  It sums it up pretty good.

Jo Geary:

• How was the flight? I am dying to hear
  
  
• 
  

  
  

  Oh Jo it was awful. From my opinion, they grizzled the entire way. Ben kicked the seat of the lady in front so much. We had junk everywhere, it was awful. Had to be picked up at 7am for our 10.30 flight. Then it was delayed utnil just after 11.
  
  
• 
  

  
  

  Then we finally got to KL it was so hot that my shins started melting. Had to walk on the tarmac a long way. Our bags were too heavy and then Marko got a major case of freakout culture shock. Had to wait at KL airport for approx 4 hrs. It was fine, but very crowded there. Flight left at 8.40 local time (11pm we think Melb time)
• - Kuala Lumpur Airport
  

  
  

  
  

  Next flight was great. Ben fell asleep prior to take off, Ryan was sweet. Arrive at Phuket, get bags very easily but now we have two VERY tired toddlers, 4 carry on lugggage and two huge suitcases.



Weird, hot-faced Christy with our almost birthday boy

• 
  

  Christy Storer
  

  
  

  Jamie organises a taxi to take us... was a scammy organisation, they stopped at a shop somewhere to discuss whether we wanted to take some tours etc. The driver was weird, kept jumping out and sped, ran red lights. Mark was FREAKING out, I was stressed but trying to keep a brave face for Mark, and now its closer to 2am melb time. Anyway the driver then tells us our hotel is closed, do we wanto to stay at one of their hotels. "No mate, just take us to the Ramada" So he finally drops us at some place that was closed. as in boarded up, says sorry that's the only Ramada I know, so should I take you to our hotel. Again, we are in the wrong place, but we'll make our own way there. Now its closer to 3am.... all the bags and we start walking what seems like 2km until we get to to the beach then a very nice taxi driver tells us our hotel is only 500m further down the road. Arrive and the staff are gorgeous. I'm nearly crying, Mark is wanting to leave. Jamie was angry. and the kids were stressed. It was so fucking hot. Signed in, the place is beautiful... the boys had a shower in the "rain shower head" Ryan snuggles up in his king single bed and Benno in his cot. Mark had a shower and a debrief. We have an enormous king size with a gloriuos pool just outside, but the door is hard to unlock... all will be fine. Need to find something delightful for Mark to help him adjust (me too to be honest)
  
  My apologies to my mother for the colourful language, oh and never ask how I am - 12 hours later, she still hasn't replied to my epic.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Thailand Trip - Day Two (Ben's Birthday)

Me at Karon Beach

Along a very busy street - very very hot

The boys put themselves in that pose at the lobby of our hotel

Karon Beach - just across the road from our hotel

This is mine and Jamie's room - its a king size, I didn't even know he was there!

Birthday Boy Ben at the beach

Easter 2013

Easter Sunday was at our house this year.  Jo, Mark and the kids came over just after 9.30 for our Easter Egg hunt.  

Seeing Jo and I were raised by the same parents, its not surprising we have very similar outlooks on the non-traditional or commercial side of Easter.  Neither of us "get" the Easter Bunny, why has that become a thing recently.  We are all for the chocolate, but getting up early to see if the EB has been and then having the kids hyped up on choc from 5.30 am just does not make sense to us.  Phew.  Finally we agree on something.

The 4 little kids all got a basket each, Sheena and Roy made theirs at school.  Sheena's was very dodgy, Roy's had structure and was actually quite nice.  My little two got pink ones from K-mart.  I'm sure they will be psychologically scarred for life.

There was a decent amount of eggs *hidden* in the grass in the backyard.  To be fair, once they'd all been collected, they went back into the collective container and re-distributed.

It was a good hunt.

Here is a cute action shot.  Ryan is running, tongue is out for added balance and concentration.

Here is our posed one.  Sheena was already inside gobbling up her stash.  Roy looks gorgeous.  

Ben is doing his "cheese" face, which now necessitates a head tilt.

Ryan is showing off his basket, and I believe also "cheesing"

Gearing up

Went though all the emails from our hotel.  Its nerve racking, hope its as we are expecting, two rooms right next to each other.  Our room looks so nice, its open to the pool, so we're going to have to be neat or we're letting the team down.

Spent the night at Nathalia with the inlaws last night.  I would be quick to call it the best trip there ever.  It was just me and the kids, it was more relaxed than other times and we achieved something.  Spent 2.5hrs shovelling wood chips to a new garden bed.  Even little Ben had a rake.  Felt so good to give something back to them.  They are always helping us.  Our dogs are staying up there whilst we go away.  They are loving it.  Get to bark at cows, have a huge area to explore. They are lazy, so they are safe.

Today was the Bush Bash - sort of an Easter Festival.  There was a Turtle Parade, all the kids dressed up as turtles or butterflys/moths and walked down the main street.  Ryan really got into it.  Ben was a little bit little for the backpacks so he carried a stick with a cardboard witchety grub on it.  Then an author read her book about a long neck turtle which was partly written in the local aboriginal language.  I would have liked to get the book , but it was $25.. a bit much I think.  There was a display of live turtles that the boys really got into it.  Mark on the other hand is all about the food, more to the point, the drinks.

Going backwards

It was my thing, my proud mamma moment, my smugness.

Ryan and toilet training.  Just before he turned 3 we decided to ditch the nappies as he was showing interest in the toilet and zoom, it was pretty much done.  Took approx 3 days, just a couple of accidents and then he got it.  After a month or so, it occurred to me that he was dry most nights too, so we ditched the night nappy too.  He never required to be reminded (yes smug), he woke himself up and then woke me up to go to the toilet over night.  It was great.  A little annoying as he woke up several times a night to go to the toilet, but I thought well he's waking up so don't complain - I may have complained a couple of times.

Then about 10 days ago.  He was drenched in the morning.
9 days ago.  Drenched at midnight.
8 days ago.  Drenched at midnight and again in the morning.
7 days ago.  Drenched at some point through the night.
6 days ago.  Purchased some pullups and explained they were undies and to wake up and go to the toilet.  Drenched - including the sheet - in the morning.
5 days ago.  Pull ups - wet.
4 days ago.  OK enough is enough, I'll wake him.  Midnight, fully wet pull up, 5am dry.
3 days ago.  Missed the midnight and drenched including sheet in the morning.
2 days ago.  Woke at midnight - wet pull up, tossed and turned in bed with me, but did not wet again until morning.
Yesterday.    Missed getting him up at midnight, wet pull up at 4.45am and then went to the loo and then DID NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP.

Get the picture?? Ok I was pretty clear about it.

Why would this happen?  I've been a little/a lot cranky lately.  The excitement of our holiday?  But he was SO good, and now is SO bad.  I've limited his milk tonight.  Will get him up as I go to bed, hopefully he'll go straight back to sleep.  And then wake him again at 4-5am and again please go back to sleep.  Its just so odd.  suggestions?  Anyone??