Friday was Vivi's last day of school, and she finished at 11:30. It was also crazy hair day, and Young insisted on helping with Vivi's hair. The end result was pretty fun.
We fed her some lunch when she got home from school, and then we piled into a van with another family and headed south. We got stuck in some traffic, but it wasn't too bad, and we made a pit stop at McDonald's. Elena and I both love that Ronald McDonald gives a welcome wai to everyone who comes in.
We got in some pool time before it got too late, and then we left the girls with Young in the room, and went out for dinner with the sound of waves in the background. After the hectic week of packing and finishing up school, it was wonderful to relax with good food and friends.
The next day was a full on pool day. There were eight kids altogether in our group, so there were plenty of playmates. Elena alternated between playing in the pool and sitting in my lap.
The pool staff was great and kept us supplied with drinks, and eventually lunch. They even made a special trip to get pad see ew for Vivian since it wasn't on the menu. She enjoyed it with her friend.
After a while, we figured we should get the kids out of the sun, so we kicked them out of the pool and sent them to the kids club while the adults had pre-dinner cocktails. We got a picture with most of them, but of course, Elena the rebel refused to be included.
While they were playing we got to witness what I dubbed beach basketball being played by what we assumed was some kind of work retreat group.
The hotel had a reasonably priced international buffet for dinner, so we invaded with our group of eight children and seven adults. It was a lot of fun.
The next morning we hung out at the infinity pool near the beach, and the kids got to explore a bit.
After a couple hours of fun, we cleaned up, checked out, and headed home. We stopped at McDonald's again on the way home. Part of the allure is their relatively clean bathrooms (with toilets!). I had to get a picture of the sink set up though. There's no window, just the fresh highway air.
The next week was basketball camp for Viv and Elena's last week of school. On Viv's last day of camp, we got pictures at the Grind, her favorite place for a strawberry banana smoothie, and in front of the ISB panther to say goodbye one last time.
I was definitely feeling sad about our time in Thailand coming to an end, and I was so thankful that I had thought ahead and scheduled another fun weekend for us. This one was in downtown Bangkok at the Anantara Riverside, which is a really nice hotel across the river from the main part of Bangkok. As a bonus, they also have lots of great restaurants, including a Benihana. After Vivian finished camp on Friday, the girls and Young and I got in a taxi to meet Jeff at the hotel for a fun Friday night dinner.
Our chef put on quite a show and made us some delicious food.
Elena loved the soup, and spent most of the night eating it.
Vivian was all about the steak, and she got a kick out of the easy to use chopsticks they gave her.
On the way out, they gave all the ladies pretty purple orchids which was a nice touch. There are really cool painted elephants all around the hotel, so we stopped for a flower enhanced photo op after dinner.
We left the girls in the room with Young, and then Jeff and I went to the riverside bar for an after dinner drink.
While it was lovely, it was so hot, even at night. We had been hoping for a breeze from the river, but no such luck, so we only lasted for one drink.
Luckily, it was much cooler the next morning at breakfast, and they had fans, so we sat outside. Breakfast seemed to be specially designed for Elena. The pancakes had chocolate elephants, and there was fresh cut mango.
After fueling up, we headed to the pool and stayed there through lunch. It was a simple, rectangular pool, but we still managed to make it fun. Elena enjoyed the kids' pool where she could walk around, and she kept trying to make friends with the Japanese kids who were playing there. They were nice, but clearly had no idea what she was babbling at them. Eventually, Vivian got in to play with her.
After all that pool time though, Viv needed a nap. Can you find the Vivian?
The hotel had beautiful flowers everywhere. We eventually got the girls cleaned up, and got a picture of Viv near one of the cool garden areas.
We dropped Young and Elena at the kids' club, and then Vivian came with me and Jeff to explore the mall across from the hotel. They had cool elephants too.
Our best elephant discovery though was nylon bags that folded inside a stuffed elephant. I got one for each of the girls, plus one for me and one for my mom. Vivian, Jeff, and I had a late lunch/early dinner at the hotel's Italian restaurant, and then we took it easy for the rest of the evening. I was so exhausted from everything that I fell asleep around 8:30.
The next day we were up early and ready to celebrate Fathers' Day. We had a great time at the breakfast buffet again, and I got a picture of Jeff with the girls in part of the hotel's gardens.
We spent a little more time hanging out in the hotel after breakfast. Jeff and the girls really liked the lobby's boat waterfall.
We finished up our Fathers' Day celebration at our friends' house. It was great to just hang out and talk. Even Elena had a great time.
I had trouble sleeping that night, which didn't matter too much, because the van came for us at four in the morning. We piled in with our eight suitcases. It was almost impossible to say good bye to Young, but we managed. I got a picture of the family and all our bags at the airport.
It was heartbreaking to get on a one way flight out of Thailand. I don't know if we'll ever go back. We had my parents waiting for us in D.C. though. They brought us home and took care of us, which was such a great help.
We'll recover here for about a month before setting off on our next adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment