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We made it through an entire night‘s sleep without waking up! Miracle of all miracles! She didn‘t wake up crying once which allowed us all to get one, very much needed, night of good rest. She just sat up in bed this morning, awake, and fine as could be. Another great day today! Breakfast went well and we finished in time to say our goodbyes to our new friends from Norway and then headed back up to our room to pack up for one last hotel. I was really concerned about Mia and seeing us packing / another transition, but she thought it was great fun, putting things in luggage and has been absolutely amazing today. She is definitely a new girl from the one we first met.
Today was rainy as could be, so rather than fight the weather, our friends suggested that we head to the aquarium at Sea Life Ocean World. Awesome experience. It is a huge aquarium that is basically in the basement of the Siam Paragon mall that we were at last night. We got to see all of these amazing sea critters including a happy 5‘ wide manta ray who splashed water at us out of his enclosure, freshwater fish that weighed more than me, and a tunnel that you could walk through to see sharks swimming over you.
Each area had this epic music playing that so perfectly matched the mood of the exhibit and it felt like we were living in a Planet Earth documentary. Mia enjoyed it, but I think we loved it more. 🙂 She did let me carry her the entire time, always very aware of where Aaron was, but not unhappy in my arms.
For lunch, we went upstairs to the food court and grabbed some McDonalds. Mia was one happy girl with her chicken and french fries until she dipped a fry into Aaron‘s spicy sauce. Her face turned red and eyes started watering, but she didn‘t complain. I feel like lunch held some of the best moments that we have had with our girl yet. She was brilliant – laughing and talking to us, she let me walk my fingers across the table to tickle her and I got some of the best laughs out of her. It was so good for my heart.
These were our last moments with our friends before it was time for them to take off. It was so wonderful to have been able to spend the day with them again today and even though they live here in Thailand, they feel like a piece of home. We went back to H&M to grab a pair of shoes for her for when we get home so that her feet aren‘t freezing in sandals (although we heard tonight that it‘s still been 80 degrees this week – what?!).
We went back via tuk tuk to the Pantip one last time to grab our bags that we had stored earlier in the day. It felt like saying goodbye to old friends. They were all making fun of us for one of our “souveniers“ that we are bringing home. It‘s a gift, so I don‘t want to give it away, but let‘s just say everybody from the door man to our taxi driver was laughing with / at us for this one. It is a little ridiculous, but I hope we can get it home in one piece for a friend. 30 minutes later and we were at our last hotel that we‘ll stay in until we are on our way home with our girl!
It‘s amazing here at the Chatrium, definitely fancier than the Pantip, but about the same price and definitely less than you could stay at a Holiday Inn at near home. Just crazy. As we unpacked and settled in, Mia was all over the place, curious, playing, and checking everything out. She had all of her toys strewn across our new living area which hasn‘t happened yet. She is laughing and smiling freely, interacting with us really well, and she repeated “mom, mom, mom“ tonight. What?! Not addressing me, but just repeating sounds, but I‘ll take it! Aaron got the first kiss, I get “mom“. 🙂
We did a little bit of exploring around the hotel, but to be quite honest, I am just exhausted tonight after carrying the girl today (thankful to be able to do so though!). We ordered room service and got the girl ready for bed. She made it through the entire day without a nap, but was exhausted tonight. She threw a fit tonight when she didn’t get something she wanted and I‘m thrilled to be able to tell the difference between a tantrum and grieving. Within minutes, she was fast asleep in her crib.
Room service for dinner was awesome. Got to facetime with my brother, eat dinner alone with my husband, spend some time talking with Ty at home, and am now blogging on our balcony as Aaron works on photos. We have the most spectacular view of Bangkok laid out in front of us. The city lights go as far as your eye can see and fade into a hazy mist. Literally right below us, riverboats are lit up and are streaming up and down the river, and you can hear their engines fighting to propel them through the water. You can also unfortunately hear “I Will Survive“ being sung (really horribly) on a karaoke barge floating by.
There is a ferris wheel turning circles right in front of me. There are extremely poor residential areas mixed in with modern skyscrapers which just seems strange and off. It is another unique piece of Thailand that we haven‘t experienced yet and if I weren‘t missing Ty so much, I could really enjoy spending some time here. But I do, and home is definitely calling louder each day. Miss you kiddo! Love you more than you know and I am so proud of you. Can‘t wait to give you a giant hug when we get home!
Random bits – As we we were talking to Ty tonight, Aaron was on the balcony as I was in the living room. He thought of something he wanted to say and quickly turned around to come inside, but ended up walking right into the glass door and splitting his forehead open. :T We both laughed about it, but he is going to have a bruise in the morning, I‘m afraid.
So many of you have mentioned that you love reading the blog and my writing and wonder how I am keeping it up with everything that we have going on. First of all, thank you! I‘m so glad that you love following along and we love having you along here with us! I can‘t even begin to tell you what an encouragement you have been to my heart as we have struggled through some really rough days and we so appreciate the prayer support!
Secondly, it is exhausting and there are nights where I would love to just go to bed, but I write this mostly for myself and for my kids. I want to remember every beautiful, painful, exhilarating, humiliating, learning, joyful moment. The big ones and the tiny ones that are so easy to forget. I want my kids to be able to relive these moments that are so dear to our hearts someday and read them for exactly what they were – the highs and the lows of learning what it was to be a family for the first time. For me, writing is kind of therapeutic, getting out all of the emotion of the day into written word. I sleep better at night with life and thoughts recorded. So there ya go. Love that you love reading, but it‘s slightly for selfish reasons that I write. 🙂
Tools to document your day…
- Camera Phone (for easy pictures and handheld video)
- Mirrorless Camera (for wide angle & zoom options to add quality video and photos)
- Osmo Pocket (for adding smooth movement to your video and for easy remote photos)
- Insta 360 (to put yourself in the video and add unique perspective – although not the best in low light, so choose when to use it wisely)
- Mini Tripod and / or travel tripod (for putting yourself in the photos and video)
We spent our day somewhere between vacation mode at the aquarium and travel mode as we switched hotels. This is how we roll, but it doesn’t mean you have to. Mix and match what is going to give you the best experience and level of documentation that you are comfortable with. Technology changes quickly, so we’ll try to keep you up-to-date with what is currently in our camera bag and the tools we are now using to document travel.
