Vang Vieng, Laos

The day after Christmas, we took a three-hour drive north of Vientiane to a popular tourist destination, Vang Vieng. We didn't do a lot of research before we went, but found a cheap guesthouse to stay in and decided we would check it out.

 It will never cease to amaze me what people can get on the back of a scooter:

 Our guesthouse, complete with mosquito nets. It wasn't really necessary during the cold season, but the kids sure thought they were fun.

 Long boats on the river.

 Scary bridge.

 We heard about an organic farm, and thought it might be fun for the kids to see some farm animals. While we were figuring it out, the kids had a great time playing with rocks.

 goats

 pigs

 guinea pigs

 Scott could not get enough of the pigs... and they just stayed right by him the whole time.

 Bobby didn't want to get too close

 Geese

 I thought the ground looked so cool with all of the tiny pink petals from the trees above.

 Then we drove out to a place to hike up to a couple of waterfalls.

 Scary bridge.

 Little waterfall

 

 Scary bridge. (are you seeing a theme?)

 We were hiking through the jungle!

 This was supposed to be the big waterfall, but since it wasn't rainy season, it was just a little trickle. But the kids had a fun time throwing rocks in the pool.

 Then we walked out a cave... on another less scary bridge.

 Up a lot of stairs...

Not the most impressive cave we've ever seen, but it was a fun little walk.

My favorite part was the boat. I'm starting to realize that my favorite part of any trip is usually the part on the boat...
We went in the morning and saw these boats, but it was supposed to be two people per boat and they didn't have any life jackets for kids. So, we weren't sure about doing it at all. We went back later in the afternoon and miraculously, they had two kids life jackets, so we used those, and they let all four of us on the boat. The boats are initially empty, and they put in four deck chairs for us to sit on. They aren't bolted to the boat or anything...
We went about 5km up the river and 5km back. It was a fun ride.

 The life jackets came with whistles... nice... We heard a lot of whistling for the first part of the trip until we threatened a lot of time outs of they didn't stop.

 Another scary bridge!

So, Vang Vieng was a pretty place to visit, but we felt like were pretty done after a full day there. We could have stayed over night at our guesthouse again, but Matt wanted to get home so we could have a full Saturday at home. So, he drove back in the dark. It was a good trip. Both Scott and Bobby saw pictures as I was going through them and they both want to go back. Maybe someday...

Christmas Morning

Here are some pictures of our Christmas in Vientiane.

 Bobby is still working his way down the stairs after Scott has already dumped out his stocking.

 Bobby is pleased with new colored pencils.

 Scott has to bring a hat to school everyday for outdoor play, so he was excited to get a Ben 10 hat. Ben 10 is so huge here--they have hats, shirts, shoes, pants, jackets, watches, kites, backpacks, you name it.

 Bobby was going through a phase of hitting everything including us, so Matt got him some boxing gloves and pad so he could practice on something other than people.

 A helicopter book...

 Bow and arrow...

 Coloring/sticker books.

 Costumes. We got Batman and Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and the kids wore them so much, I wanted to get some more. So we got IronMan and Superman. IronMan was pretty big... but they'll grow into it.

 The big present was a climbing wall we got from a local playscape builder. Since there are so few parks around here, it's been nice to have something to climb on in our own backyard.

 Spider-man bubbles.

Matt and I were both not feeling great on Christmas. I went to bed after presents and then Matt took a nap when I woke up. On Christmas Eve, we had Matt's coworkers over for turkey and sides, so we ate leftovers on Christmas Day and didn't have to cook! It was a low-key day that ended with watching Star Wars because I was missing my family and somehow that helped! It was a fun day.

My Day as a Soccer Mom

It has been a really long time since I updated the blog. I'm not sure exactly why that is. I guess I just ran out of steam. So, this is harking back quite a ways, and I might not remember all of the particulars, but here goes anyway. This took place the first week in December, 2013.

Scott's preschool has a little soccer team that participates in a tournament once a year. Scott was not technically on the team, but one kid couldn't make it, and since Scott had been pretending to be on the team during outdoor play time at school, they asked if he could join them. I found out the day before the game, so I went with Bobby to take pictures. I think I might have been the only parent there.

Scott in his uniform:

 Waiting for the game to start:

 Bobby balling when he realized he couldn't play with Scott...

And actually Scott started balling after he was done when he realized Bobby wasn't allowed to play.

 Our team in red and our opponents in blue. (Any guesses as to who will win...?)

The other kids clearly knew what was going on a lot better than our team. When Scott came off the field at half time, I asked him if he knew what he should do. He said no. I told him he was supposed to help get the ball in the other team's goal. Oh! he says. Oh well. He still had fun.

 Post game snack

 Team Photo

They didn't win, so we never went back to play a second game. So it was my first and possibly only day as a Soccer Mom, or Fútbol Mum, I guess ;) But he sure was cute!

Our Married Life in Ornaments

Matt and I were married in August of 2006. We spent some of our honeymoon in upstate New York, so I could meet Matt's mother's family who weren't at the wedding. While there, we went to Niagara Falls. We wanted to get a souvenir, but nothing too expensive. We saw this darling moose Christmas ornament and thought we'd make a tradition of it--collect a Christmas ornament everywhere we visited. So, the next day we went to The Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York, and bought one there, too. At Thanksgiving time, we visited my sister in California and went to Hollywood and bought the third one you see in the picture below.

We were poor students for the next few years so they are pretty sparse. In 2007, we went to Chicago to attend Matt's brother's wedding. In August, we went to a reunion for my family in Ocean Shores, Washington. We were there for a whole week and it was our first anniversary, so we got two ornaments. Then, for Christmas we went to Kansas to be with my family and attend my brother's wedding in Nauvoo, Illinois.

In 2008, I was working and Matt was in school. The snowflake, bell, and Salt Lake Temple coin ornament are from my coworkers. The coin is inscribed with our names and our anniversary--made by an avid numismatist.  I'm pretty sure we visited my sister and grandfather in Boise during the summer and I know we went to Matt's parents house in Pocatello for Christmas, but I guess those destinations were not exotic enough for us to think to buy an ornament. So... if anyone finds a good Christmas ornament that says Pocatello or Boise or even just Idaho, sent it my way!  ;)

My sister who lives in California had a baby at the end of 2008, so we drove down to see my new nephew blessed in February 2009, and while we were at it, we went to Disneyland.  I was 8 weeks pregnant with Scott and luckily I feel pretty good during my pregnancies, but I do remember being very queasy/hungry when I went on California Screamin'. I really want to go back just to go on that ride again with a satisfied stomach so I can actually enjoy it! I did go on all the rides even though I was pregnant... hopefully that's not the reason Scott is so small. (Ssh... don't tell him.) 2009 was his first Christmas and we received some "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments from Matt's grandmother (bear) and mother (marshmallow snowman/s'more).

By 2010, Matt had started working and we started going to his company's AGM, Annual General Meeting. The first one was at a resort in Marco Island, Florida and it was glorious (seashell bauble). Then, for Christmas, Matt's family met in Dearborn, Michigan--Matt's grandmother bought us the bear ornaments. I had never been with so much of Matt's family for Christmas so it was so much fun!

In January 2011, Matt was asked to work for 3 weeks in California. I was pregnant with Bobby and did not want to be left alone with Scott for 3 weeks by myself. So, Matt went for a week and then Scott and I joined him later. My sister would pick me up from the hotel every morning and then Matt would pick us up at her house after work. It was a lot of fun for me--maybe not so much for Matt. On Matt's day off we went to Griffith Observatory with my sister and her family. In May, we had AGM in San Antonia, TX and that's where we got the truck ornament. You can't tell very well, but it has longhorn antlers on the front and is painted like the Texas flag. For Christmas, my family got together at a beach house in Florida. We were living in Georgia by then and had passes to the Georgia Aquarium, which was affiliated with Marineland--an "oceanarium" down the road from the beach house, where (for a fee) you can see dolphins and feed them and swim with them. We got free entrance to it, but we just watched the dolphins swim for a little while and then went back to hang out with the family. But, that's why we have a dolphin ornament.

So, in 2012 we started going a little crazy! I got a bunch of ornaments in Atlanta, where we were living. I got one from Georgia Aquarium before our passes expired (blue round one at the bottom) and we got a dinosaur from Fernbank Natural History Museum because we went there a lot since we had annual passes. I got one from Zoo Atlanta when I went with a friend and the kids (it's hard to see because of the big purple light behind it, but it's a tiny snow globe with a tiger inside). And I got a little train from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens because the kids and I went to the model train show they do for the holidays both Christmases we were in Atlanta. Good times. Matt had a meeting in Indianapolis for work at the Motor Speedway Museum and he got that black bauble. Then for AGM we went to Hawaii (!!) and went a little crazy. We bought ornaments at the Au Lani Resort (the flat wooden turtle), the Polynesian Cultural Center (the big bauble), the Dole Plantation, I think (the turtle with the flower in her hair), and Pearl Harbor (USS Arizona). And Finally, the little golden turtle was our souvenir of my birthday date with Matt to Cirque du Soleil's show Totem. It was a big year.

And 2013 got even crazier with the ornament collection. Matt went to Laos in January to do the demo to the Laotian government and on the way back stopped for a night in Tokyo--fulfilling a lifelong dream. He picked out the two little Japanese figures. Then we had AGM in Phoenix in March (the hand-painted bauble in the top left). I got an ornament from Stone Mountain Park in Georgia (the grey square one) because I took the boys a few times when Matt was out of town and it's where Bobby broke his leg, so we didn't want to forget that :-/ Then while Matt was working on the Laos project, I went to visit my in-laws in Idaho and we went to Yellowstone for a couple of days (bear hugging Christmas tree) and then I visited my sister about an hour away from my in-laws, and we went to the Tautphaus Park Zoo (zebra). And then we went to our family reunion near Seattle, WA, where I picked up the little ferry boat in Port Townsend. Next up was our move to Laos. The little map of Laos with the flag on it is hiding at the bottom and then at the top with the golden monument is Patuxay--we pass it almost everyday and it's not gold, it's made of cement. I bought that little cream-colored box thing at Buddha Park in Thailand, but I'm not sure you can tell that it has a carving in it. We went to Malaysia for a weekend for Matt's work and that's the ornament with the little city on it. And then we went to Hong Kong where we picked up a glass bauble at Madame Tussaud's, Buzz Lightyear and an Alien at Hong Kong Disneyland, and a little photo frame from Ocean Park. This has been a BUSY year!

Also this year, I learned how to bead at the sewing group affiliated with the Women's International Group here. So, I made these... I saw one like the small blue one and then got creative.

And I got together with some playgroup mom friends and made these... Scott is on the left and Bobby on the right.

So, maybe you didn't want to know THAT much about our Christmas tree, but I've wanted to write it all down for a long time and actually it took a good while to try to remember it all. I knew where everything was from, but WHEN was a lot harder. I even had to retake pictures of 2007 and 2008 because I got all confused. So I hope it wasn't too boring, but it was mostly for me anyway ;)

I'll post about the rest of our decorations next... It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... inside at least.