Big News in LAOS

Finn Lost his first tooth

Oh yeah, and Secretary Clinton Visited us for a day.

This was a very big day for the Officers, Local staff and family at post. The Lao people were very excited too!



I want to take this chance to clarify a story that is making it's rounds through the expats here in Laos. A frog did not fall on her in the Prime Minister's office.

A man, who looked official, approached the Secretary and the Ambassador and told her that the frog was speaking through her and the spirits had a message for her. What the message was, we don't know, but it's still an intriguing story for her to leave with.

Dinosaurs, Monkeys and caves oh my!

What did you do with your presidents day holiday? Perhaps some of you hit the sales in the states, or others lounged around a pool with a day off...well, we hit the road!

We were really hoping to go to the annual elephant festival, but since Mike was traveling with the Ambassador until the night before, we decided 9+hours in the car headed north with everyone else headed to the same place, plus no where to stay but a possible homestay (with 3 kids) it just wasn't worth it. Instead we headed South!

Our first stop was Thakek for lunch and CAVES! Have you heard me rant about Thakek before, why yes you have! And this time was 10,000X better.

We visited 2 caves, both of which Lonely Planet will tell you are the same, neither are the same.

The first cave we visited - called Elephant Cave, for supposedly having an elephant born in the cave - had tons of Buddha images everywhere and was pretty much just a walk to the top of a huge hill and then seeing some bats and smelling pee.

The second cave we visited, Maggie proclaimed, was the most beautiful place she's been to. I can't recall the name, but it was really awesome. Very similar to several caves in Virginia, but it had pink, purple and yellow lighting everywhere and NO barriers. You could climb and touch anything you wanted, but my American-rule-abiding-motherly ways die hard and I did not let Finn climb any rock surface he saw, till Maggie decided she needed to pee within 5 minutes of us getting to the top of the cave, and I'm sure Mike probably let Finn explore the way boys do. Alas no photos of either cave...

After cave hopping, we got back into the car and headed down to Savannakhet, which is a pretty large Lao city, home to Savahn Vegas, a large casino, and DINOSAURS. Anyone with a 5-year-old boy knows this is the best kind of trip to take. In the middle of town there is a roundabout with a grassy hill and two very large Dinosaurs. The kids were in heaven climbing on them.

The Dinosaur museum itself is very small, with cases of bones and pictures of dig sites where French paleontologists worked in 5 different areas to unearth bones. The actual bones of a very large dino they've found  have not  been fully put together, because, from what we were told, they haven't fully figured out how to piece it together. Although, there is not much to see and can be a bit of a downer for a young kid looking to see tons of dinosaurs, the staff are very happy to talk about everything they know and answer any questions. It was, in my opinion, treasure for Mike, since he could easily switch from Lao to English with our guide and gets tons of information. Below is a picture of Finn and Maggie "holding" the unfinished dino, which is strung out with lights and fragments of bone hanging on the wall to show how it might look.

Once we finished at the Dinosaur museum we hit the road in search of the Monkey Forrest.It was a long drive, but well worth it. The kids got to feed greedy little monkeys to their hearts content and more importantly, I LOVED it. I'm such a kid sometimes. Mike made lots of fun of me since I was so much more enthusiastic than the kids, but I thought it was the coolest. Tess on the other hand didn't quite like the fact that even though she offered a monkey her banana, he took it!

Maggie loved it!

Even farm kids in Laos have some style, reminds me of "Outsiders". Hanging out feeding the monkeys junk food. 

Her you go monkey...wait he just took my banana!!

Then we went home and it was AWESOME!



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