New Member of The Family

This is Chunk the Chinchilla.  I like to call him Chico because his ancestors are from South America.  He is from the pet store though.  Isn't he just the cutest little thing?  When we first got him, he was scared of people.  Now he loves us.  When we scratch his little chin he raises his little arms up so we can scratch his belly.  He even lets us hold him.

Yes, we really are animal people!  All of us.  Sean and I were felt very lonely when all the animals were send to the kennel before our flight to Thailand.  We were only alone for four hours but we missed them already.

            
This winter has been the coldest in Shanghai in 30 years!  Casey doesn't like the snow.  It has snowed a hand full of times this year and it's a nice change.  Everyone loves building snowmen.  Snow ball fights are great also!
                                                                                                       

More Fun in Thailand

Our cool shark dive in the Bahamas

The diving wasn't fabulous in Thailand.  Last year they had lots of coral die because they haven't had enough tsunamis.  Go figure.  The tsunamis bring cold water up from the depths of the ocean.  But we still had some fun.

Please note the size of the man behind Sean.

We dove with a German dive company and they brought new emphasis to the term "German efficiency".  Everything ran on schedule to the second.  It was a little scary while on vacation to have to keep on a tight schedule.  But they had great food and the kids could come on the boat for free.  Ryan even got to drive!

We didn't see tons of fish, but we did see a Manta Ray.  We dove and swam for an hour looking for some Manta Rays but didn't find any before we started running out of air.  We had to surface is discouragement.  Everyone but me (Lisa) took off their masks.  I was just gonna keep it on so I didn't jab a Jelly Fish.  There was a two meter in diameter Manta Ray about two meters under Sean.  So we did get our Manta Ray viewing for the day!  He was really cool!

Thailand

Thailand was FABULOUS!  We just aren't lazy enough to fully appreciate the lifestyle.  It was rough.  Everyday we would get up late and stroll to the buffet.  Then swim at the pool and watch the kids on the water slide.  Around noon we would mosey across the street to the beach.  The kids would be screaming "We don't want to go to the beach, again".

Europeans as far as the eye can see!

At the beach things get really lazy.  You set your butt down on the chair and stick your hand up when you want a beer.  A little man runs and gets it and it only costs $2.  When you get hungry, you roll over to the restaurant ten meters away and order fabulous Thai food for $5.  The food is simply amazing, at every shack!  Next you roll over to the massage table where $10 buys you an hour of massage.  Then back to the chair to read.  We even got Ryan a massage!  He thought it was a little creepy.

                                                                                                           


Of course, Linds needed the island hair do!






My illegal pic from the camera I smuggled in!

                                                         
 We did stay up late one night to go to the Fantasea show.  We were just expecting a couple elephants to parade around on stage.  But the show was AMAZING!  The people who put on this production, dumped millions of dollars into this little elephant show!  It was like Elton John meets Michael Jackson's Neverland.  The show even had chickens, goats and doves that were trained to run in a certain direction in unison.

Dad always get hurt on vacation!

Yes, the white tigers have a hot tub!  We could even play with the baby elephants.  Lindsey and I want a baby elephant!  Do you think they would cost much to feed in Arizona?  We really want one!

This monkey was cool!  He kept grabbing my fingers to play with me but I was afraid he could bite.  I didn't want to get a rabies shot.  That could ruin a vacation.         

Our hotel was just up the hill from the show and we could hear the elephants trumpeting after the show.  We could also hear the crazy bird that the farmer next door has as a pet- all night long.  Every ten minutes.  The hotel has so many complaints about the bird that they want to buy it from the farmer.  But they are afraid that if they pay him a lot, he will but many more birds to keep the guests up all night.  It worked out for us because they had to upgrade us to a three bedroom apartment to keep Sean happy.