Thailand - Christmas day

We went to Thailand for Christmas break this year and it was absolutely amazing!  We opened presents early on Christmas eve so that we didn't have to take any presents to Thailand.   On the evening of Christmas eve,  we left the house, grabbed some traditional kfc and headed to the airport.  Upon arrival we realized that we had left Justin's luggage... oops!  He was a good sport about it.  Got into Bangkok at 12:35 am Christmas day.   Took a cab to a hostel and slept in.   

breakfast from 7-11 at the top of our hostel. 

view from our hostel

owner of the hostel.   She was incredibly sweet and loved Adam

leaving the Bangkok airport to meet yo with cousins and fly to Chiang mai!

Disneyland tokyo

The day after Thanksgiving was much nicer weather wise.  We went to Disneyland. It was fun, and predictable having been to Disney before.   Usually I don't enjoy routine or sameness,  but today I really enjoyed knowing exactly what each experience was going to be like.  Maybe being in a different country with weather I didn't anticipate just made the predictability of Disney soothing.  Everyone had a nice time,  even adam.  Nathan Adam and I left early ( around 5) so Adam could get some sleep.  Also we had committed to eating dinner at the hotel as part of our package deal so Nathan and I got the royal treatment with some delicious food.   On the way to these new hotel I realized we had left our passports in the safe at the hostel from the night before....whoops!  Justin was good enough to grab them the next morning as he and the girls didn't leave disney until 10 pm.

disney sea

We spent Thanksgiving away Disney sea this year.   It was a lot of fun,  but soooooo cold!  We met up with the Kirkpatrick  family.   The kids were excited to see each other, and Justin and I had a great time palling around with Catina and Alex.  They are a fun family.   We were used to Okinawa and  didn't dress warmly enough.   It didn't help that it rained all day long.  Disney sea was pretty interesting,  but had super long lines.  I wish it would have been nicer because the park was pretty cool. 

Me and Catina.... my terrible selfie

the kids together!

fireworks and Christmas show on the river

hostel where we stayed.... those beds were hard!  The end of the day was a bit traumatic.   We lost our Kate on the way to the bus.  Found her back at Disney... she starred following the wrong stroller and when she realised her mistake went to the first American she saw who took her to lost and found.   Then when we got to the bus we didn't have small enough bills so we had to go back and get change.   Finally made it to the hostel cold, wet, but happy and especially thankful for Kate and the Kirkpatrick family. 

grocery roulette

whenever I go to the Japanese grocery store I feel like I am playing grocery roulette.  They have lots of premade food or premarinated meat.  It looks delicious,  so I always grab some.   Most of the time it's great,  but sometimes, like tonight the meat isn't what I thought.  Tonight it was really chewy... maybe even stomach or some kind of organ.... it looked good,  tasted ok but the texture was gross..

A grocery loss, but we won with the styrofoam crackers!  My favourites!

scuba diving

We all finished up our scuba dive certification today.   It was pretty awesome.   What a great thing to do.   It's so fascinating to swim underneath the water and see all the living things that live there.   I still struggle with my ears some times,  but I am getting a lot better.  I only got pictures of Nathan unfortunately,  but we all got our certification today except Kate and Adam because they were too young.

fukugawa falls

Such a fun and beautiful hike we took with the kids on their day off.  The hike was short... maybe 20 minutes,  but we had fun in the water.... started on the second hike,  but all the younger kids made me nervous.   There were lots of signs saying to turn back, so I was responsible!   Friday and Saturday this Saturday this week were pretty great.   When we got home,  we chilled for  a bit and then Kasey came over to spend the night and justin and I had dinner at the club for free!   The next day we went scuba diving for our certification and then I took Sam,  Kate and Michelle to see a play.   It was really good.   Then we went out for katsu.  Yum!  Nice weekend. 

hiking!!!

Hiking at forest prefecture park.  It was awesome!  I got put in charge of a hiking group at church.  It's so much fun.   These ladies are truly amazing and I'm so thankful to go on adventures with them.