Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Wanted to share some quick photos from our trip to Australia this holiday and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Here we are snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Port Douglas, Australia. Here we are on Christmas Day at Gold Coast, Australia, just south of Brisbane.  Here's Zamin being a Star Wars Holiday tourist at the beach. 🤣🦌🎅♥️

October 11-14 We had a three-day weekend in October and decided to hire a driver to take us to Hua Hin, a seaside town on the Gulf of Thailand about 3.5 hours south of Bangkok. We booked a bungalow at Thai House Resort , just outside of the city meaning less people and noise. :) It was a sweet, little place which was perfect for us. Here's a few photos and video of the place. This place was so relaxing and breakfast was awesome (coffee and tea included). We were able to spend time playing games (Uno and Chicken Foot) and plenty of swimming (at 6:30am, lol). We plan to go back again and not leave the resort. :) There was a great restaurant right around the corner, and a beach within a short bike ride, so everything we need. :)  Colt wasn't feeling well on Day 2, so Zamin and I explored the local beach, Hat Soi Noi . The resort had bikes for guests to use for free, and even had one with a child seat for Zamin. There were only a few people on the beach and...

September 1-15 Here are some random pics from the first few weeks of September. Captions with each picture. Colt went to a camp with the rest of the secondary school, so Zamin and I had a few days together on our own. Highlighting Zamin's evening wear in 85 degree weather.  🤣   I made runny eggs and toast! Two reasons this is an accomplishment. 1. We don't have a toaster, so I got innovative. 2. First time I've cooked anything beyond hard-boiling eggs since we got here.  🤣 🤣 🤣  Thai street food is so yummy and it's so convenient to pick up or order that we haven't had a reason to cook yet. Don't worry, my personal chef is itching to get back into the kitchen.  👏 👏 👏 Took public transportation to the nearest park/green space. Luckily, we found one of Zamin's favorite things right now, a map. :) Ready for school in his PE clothes. (That bucket was emptied the previous day. So much rain!)   One of his favorite snacks: corn. Picked...

August 10 Another teacher  invited us to meet her at the local temple, Wat Dhammamongkol. We have decided to walk when we can, so we walked to the temple. Ended up being a great decision. Got to see interesting things along the way, including this bright orange house and this shrine along the "jungle" walkway next to the canal. I didn't get many pictures at the temple, as there were dozens of people praying while we were there. This temple is fairly new, as it was built in the 1960s. Afterward, we walked to a really neat coffee shop and I took some random pictures of cool kettles and coffee makers.  :)  Then, we walked to lunch before heading our separate ways. It was a great day! August 12-18 This week and weekend were pretty slow. We have been reminding ourselves that we moved to Thailand so we could take it easy, spend more time as a family, and travel when we can. We have been doing well at the take it easy part.  😜  Here are a few pi...