Mom & Dad in Thailand

::sigh::  It's good to see you again, Blogger.  ;)


Let's get down to business:

Back in January....

my mom and dad flew to thailand.  

THIS is a BIG deal.  

We had SO MUCH FUN.  We thor'ns, we beez tah-ight, so we had a lot of catching up to do.  Good thing we had this fabulous hotel to enjoy for a week.

Le Meridien Chiang Rai --- same hotel that mixandmatchmama (link to the right) stayed at when her family visited Bachelor Seanzie in Chiang Rai.  i know, don't even get me started again.  Even though I have a house just about 15 minutes down the road from the hotel, I stayed with my parents to maximize time with them.  We started off the week by touring my neighborhood and my favorite places to go, enjoyed dinner at our hotel, Sunday morning with my little home group church, lunch in a tree house (ish), ;) and shopped at the Night Bazaar in downtown Chiang Rai.  

Here's a glimpse of the rest of the week:  (I had some trouble with the format of the pictures.  what's. new.)

This was the moment when I realized, "Wow... my mom and dad are in Thailand."
We drove by the famous Chiang Rai clock tower right on time during it's light display with traditional Northern Thai music playing.

On Monday, mom and dad visited my workplace.
So glad they got to see this dream school.  

My beautiful momma read to my kiddos. 

On Tuesday, we took a long-tail boat up the Maekok River in Chiang Rai to an elephant camp in the Karen Village (perf.).

On a boat in Thailand.  Does it get any better, Dad?  (except maybe if it was a yacht?  ;)  

This was one of my favorite days ever in my life.
Nellie is riding on top of the elephant's head now, by the way.  

If you're wondering how we got this picture, my elephant guide hopped off the elephant and took several [excellent] pictures.  

On Wednesday, we took a taxi up north to Doi Tung, the location of the Queen's garden.  We toured a museum, visited the Queen's mother's house, then only got to see the garden for about 15 minutes.  =/  It started raining.  Bummerrrrrrr, but thankfully it was buy 1 get 1 hh back at the hotel.  s'all good.  =]

Then on Thursday,

Dad's turn reading!  It was International Day at school, so they got to be here for the many talents displayed, international food, special dress clothes and celebrations of all the countries represented at our school.  

On Friday, we flew to Bangkok: 

Our awesome hotel in Bangkok.

W. 

View outside our 12th floor hotel room.
Bangkok is SO BIG, y'all. 

Once again, felt like a dream. 

Learning about Thailand :)

This isn't exactly the famous "floating market," but it is similar.   

We climbed up a [steep] old temple called Wat Arun.
 It is covered in  tile mosaics and was built hundreds of years ago.  

Here we are in front of Wat Arun...  Do you recognize this location from my FIRST DAY in Thailand??  :)
... like my skirt [scarf]?  ;)  Can't wear shorts in a temple. 

Aren't my parents pretty?  We had dinner at the hotel restaurant on the patio.  

Aside from just seeing the sights and experiencing the Thai culture, I needed my mom and dad to come to Thailand to experience this life, to taste the adventure and diversity of living in a different culture, to meet the real people and feel the heart of God for them, to see me thrive in an environment that doesn't include cowboy boots, cocktails and cobblestone roads.  I wanted to them to find out what it is that I love about this country, to see that I am more than okay here in Thailand.  :)  

We had a BLAST, laughed a lot and ate fabulous food the whole week.  

I am so thankful they could visit!!!!!  =)