December birthdays

So Mike may have been a bit upset when, this year, he fully realized that all 3 girls in the family have a December birthday! Yes, all of us. Each about a week a part. Can you say FUN! I can ;)

Maggie Turned 3 before Tess had her first birthday and got to fully indulge in the birthday goodness.

Tess turned 1, WHAT! Our baby is now 1, and it feels like yesterday we took that facebook photo and said, what is her name going to be? I of course said Tess and it stuck. We love our little baby.


Then me, yes me, I turned 26 and got the surprise of a lifetime. A night away in lovely Luang Prabang. I love my husband!




My birthday princesses!



Thanksgiving 2011

We were a bit worried about what we would do for Thanksgiving this year. We've experienced plenty of different Thanksgivings, hosting our Army family, going to a family member's home in town, traveling across the states to spend it with more family, but this year none of those applied, but we do have a new "family" the Foreign Service family. The CLOs (community liaison officers) here at post organized a Thanksgiving potluck, with touch football, swimming (in NOVEMBER!) and FOOD! It was a good Thanksgiving.

Of course Mike enforced his holiday dress up ;)

Phuket, Thailand

After about 6-months of constant Mike adventures, and especially after our road trip to Thakek, Mike decided it was time for me to get a relaxing beach vacation; and that is exactly what I got!

At the beginning of November we headed to Phuket (Pooket), Thailand. The hotel was a bit of a downer at first, but when we learned we could use the sister 5 star hotel services and private beach for free, we took full advantage and had a nice concierge who set us up on a whirlwind boat day seeing all the islands Phuket had to offer.

It was a really great getaway from everyday life in Laos. And who knew, 3 kids can actually keep themselves entertained at a beach with a lazy river and lots of sand. Finn loved "surfing" the river while Tess poured sand all over herself and Maggie made cakes. AWESOME!

Some of you may know this picture for our Christmas cards....Love my babies!

Too bad it had to end with 10+ hours in the Phuket Airport and a horribly long night of bargaining for a guest room because we got stuck on the wrong side of the Thai/Lao border.

Halloween 2011

In our usual tradition, we did make our own costumes this year, but it wasn't quite a family thing and well, we didn't get great photos. We did however have a fun trunk or treat night at the embassy with lots of treats. Finn and Mike were Tin Tin and Capt. Haddock; Maggie, Tess and I were out of Little Red Ridding hood (book themed). Maggie was Little Red Ridding hood, Tess was the big bad wolf and I was grandma ;)

My trunk or treat design. We didn't have Halloween stuff, so I used what we had.

FinTin and Capt. Daddock

Pryor trip to Thakek

Oh Miserable..I think that is the only word that comes to mind from this trip. A 5-hour car ride, followed by mind numbing whining from 2 children.

Thakek is home to some awesome caves, which I didn't explore, and a good rock climbing spot, which I did not try.

The weekend of the boat race festival we left town, headed to Thakek with the family and 2 friends, not knowing that the 2 girls were sick. ACK! And thinking it was the end of rainy season...

On our second day in town, Mike dragged everyone out to the climbing site, only to have me leave 10-minutes after walking down a horribly muddy road and falling in it to go search for food, because you'd think we have left the house with 3 kids and me before...if it's after 11, we're in trouble if no food is around. Humph, didn't think about that one.

I told Mike after walking half a mile in 6 inches of mud he could pretty much find me in the car and not to count on me walking back to the climb site. Did I mention I fell in the mud while carrying the baby on my back and Maggie on my front. It was awful.

We didn't actually end up sitting in the car, a friendly Lao women invited me and the girls to sit in her home, an open air hut on stilts, and Maggie actually took a nap while Tess showed us her climbing moves. Me and said Lao women spoke about 3 sentences to each other, but I consider that pretty good.

Meanwhile Mike found an awesome cave which he and Finn swam in. And C and A were hungover lumps.

All in all Thakek might be a great place, and I look forward to visiting again in a month when the Pryor family descends on us, but I can say I've learned a hard lesson, sick kids and road trips don't mix. We found out both girls had ear infections....bad mom award!

The horribly, awful road we walked down. Photo by Andrew Craft

Mike showing off ;) Photo by Andrew Craft

Boat race festival

The day after the light festival was the boat race festival.

Because the traffic was so awful the night of the Light Festival, I chose not to partake in boat race activities, but Mike and Finn wandered down to the river and got a few good shots.

The boat races are kind of like a celebration for the end of rice planting, near the end of rainy season.

Boun Hua Fai

The Lao Light festival, took place back in October...I know I'm a little behind, but attempting to catch up.

The Light festival is a Buddhist ceremony that signifies the end of Buddhist lent. From what I've been told this is when the monks shelter themselves during the rainy season and shouldn't be seen walking the streets or tending crops. Things have changed a bit. Monks were still out, but there were several big temple holidays when people would go to give alms to the monks to help feed them during the rainy season.

During Boun Hua Fai in Vientiane, banana leaf boats and several larger boats were set ablaze and sent down the Mekong to celebrate. There were also really beautiful lanterns released into the sky (think the movie Tangled). From what I've found many Buddhist countries do similar celebrations, but all vary. A week after our light festival we went to Phuket, Thailand and saw advertisements for the following weekend light festival events.

One of the many larger boats we saw float the river that night.