The night market in Chiang Mai is apparently beyond belief! Hundreds of vendors selling anything and everything. Amanda picked me up a sweet Killers t-shirt that she was hoping I would not like so that she could have it. I am wearing it as I type so her plan was not successful.
Hers' a couple pics:
41 down, 59 left to go!!!
In other news-the out-laws arrive tonight and they are bringing 4 suitcases full of shmag for us. Amanda and the kids are vibrating with excitement and can't wait till they get here. I am just hoping Tom will fix our stovetop and Pat will do what Pat does best...cook good things and clean our fridge!
The girls went to Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai and learned a lot more about Buddhism while they were in Chiang Mai. This particular temple is over 700 years old. They met a buddhist man who used to be a monk and chatted with him for quite some time about the Buddhist way of life. While they were there they also saw a lot of monks in training-young boys who were spending a couple of weeks at the wat taking classes.
Several months ago I began hatching a plan to do something special to celebrate Kylisha turning 16 in March and Danika turning 16 in April. With Danika's mom's blessing I booked a surprise four night trip for the 3 of us to Thailand. We left Thursday and just returned today. It was an action-packed and fun-filled weekend of surprises and laughter.
I have been saying to Les over and over the last two weeks that everything seems right with the world again-Danika being here with us has been wonderful. She is like a daughter to us and we love her very much. Of course-Kylisha has been pretty happy to have her around too!
Now-back to the surprise. I told the girls we would be spending the weekend in HK and that I had lots of surprises planned. Lies. Instead of heading to the ferry terminal we ended up at the airport and flew to Bangkok. Then it was on to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a weekend with the elephants at Elephant Nature Park. We spent the weekend learning about and interacting with elephants who have been saved from horrendous abuse. Some have horrific physical injuries from land mines or illegal logging. Some have suffered physical and mental abuse and have been malnourished and passed from owner to owner. But, they have all been saved by an amazing woman and are living the rest of their lives in peace and happiness in a beautiful sanctuary in northern Thailand. Words cannot begin to express what an amazing experience it was. Hands down the greatest weekend!
Saying goodbye to D. Humes tomorrow will be rough (for more of us than just Kylisha). But-we are thankful to have had this time with her and the memories will last a whole lifetime.
