There and back again

Here is a true Mowery Family Adventure! We drove our family to Thailand during February. Yes, I said DROVE. It took two full days from our front door to our good friends' home in Chiang Rai. When I say full days I mean waking up at 5 am and not stopping till after dark. We hardly stopped. I made food ahead of time and we just ate in the car. Our kids did great being stuck in the car. At each stop we made them run races, do jumping jacks etc to get their wiggles out. Here is a picture at the China boarder coming back home We were so excited to be home (especially after we missed crossing the border by 30 minutes the day before and had to stay in a tiny little Lao guest house).
Our little "Jac" (a chinese brand of van) getting ready to cross the Mekong river. Don't worry, the ferry pulled a little closer. Our friends, the Langstons, were so generous to offer us their van for this trip. I was terrified of damaging it some how on the unpaved roads etc. but thankfully it did great (and we drove slow). Unfortunately two weeks after returning from Thailand another girl was driving the van near our home and ran off the road and ended up upside down in the river. Little Jac is not with us any longer but we are so thankful our friend XZ is! The insurance inspector who came out said, "your God must be real because I have never seen anyone walk away let alone live after wrecking into the river like this."
Here are the kiddo's taking a break at one of the many immigrations we went through. They were great to make up games out of nothing. One game they often played while standing and waiting was to see who could find the most cigarette buts. At first I did not like them picking up cigarettes but after some of the yelling and running games I came to appreciate it and just tried to remember to wash their hands afterwards.
Here are the three older ones in Myanmar for an afternoon. We came out of China into Laos and then into Thailand. The Myanmar trip was only to extend our visas as we visited our old home and friends in Mae Sai.

Monty and the kids on our last morning as we realized we had about two pounds of Thai change weighing our bags down. We took the kids 7-11 and let them have their last Thai candy shopping spree. They also bought cheap toys from 7-11 that provided hours of entertainment in the van. It was so fun!

The Chiang Mai Zoo!
Judah was quite hot from all of the walking and took a dip in the fountain to cool off!
Judah is putting his head in the Crocodiles mouth! Not to worry - it is a statue.

We happened to be at the zoo on a Thai school field-trip day! It was wild and often our children felt like an exhibit as the other children would leave an amazing animal to run to stare at the "dek dek farang" (foreign children). Monty was sick on this day and stayed in. I found 4 children quite easy to manage especially since Ezra is getting bigger and can walk well and Judah does not need a nap most days.

Here we are at the snake farm. Manon wanted so badly to hold the python so she could tell her friend Spencer how brave she was.
Here is Monty on the phone with some important business in China while watching the snake show.
We also rode elephants and visited an elephant camp. It worked out that I was on one elephant with the boys and Monty was on one with the girls. I don't think this was quite fair as the boys don't know how to hold on yet. I was terrified going down hill with the two giggling boys who were just along for the ride.
Here is Ezra chasing pigeons at a park in CM.
Dates with Daddy!
Manon took her first standardized test while in Thailand. We told her that for a reward she could choose a special evening of doing things she likes to do. She chose to eat Sushi and have fondue for desert with just Daddy. It was a special evening.
Henna heard so much about the date that she had to have one of her own. Later in the week when a friend was babysitting and Monty and I were going out, Manon pulled me aside and said, "you must have daddy take you to get "fondue for 2" at Swenson's - it is perfect for a date. And, I really think you should wear a dress - that would be much nicer than jeans for your date."
The new thing to do in Thailand is a "Fish Spa." This is where you put your feet in water and fish come and eat the dead skin off of you. So we did it. It was so weird at first trying to relax while fish swarm your feet gently biting it.
One of our first stops in Thailand is for hair cuts. We have a good friend, "Ong", that we have gone to for 10 years now and no one compares to him.