Crocodile Farm and Zoo

This beautiful Saturday we headed out to the Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Samutprakan, Thailand (a little to the south of Bangkok)! It is the largest croc farm in the world with over 40, 000 crocs and 28 different species. We had a great day seeing a Croc show, an elephant show and tons of other animals. First of all, this is a "Thai" croc farm and zoo. Pretty much anything they do here would not remotely be allowed in the States. But, that being said, it made it tons of fun!

As soon as we got there, we headed to see the Croc Show. Two guys come out and stir up the croc pit and drag crocs up on the cement center. They held them, used bamboo sticks to place in their mouths before pulling it out quickly while the crocs jaws snapped shut (loud, loud sound), placed their hands in the crocs mouth and their heads in the crocs mouths! It was beyond entertaining and totally crazy! The guys were a riot (totally in Thai, but we all thought they were so funny - thankfully humor translates languages)! We enjoyed it immensly! At the end, you could pay 200 Baht to go down and have your pic taken with a huge croc in the middle. Seriously, a live crocodile. For $5.88. Only in Thailand. Because PETA and OSHA (or whoever) would have been all over this place if it was in the States!

Then, we got to see a Bengal tiger chained up on a "not so safe" looking chain. You could get your picture taken with the tiger for 200 Baht. Or a chimpanzee or a albino python or a leopard. You could literally pet the Bengal tiger. And the 2 people in charge of him were just sitting on chairs near him chatting. We were never really sure if anyone was actually a zoologist at the Zoo or just random workers. I told Dan, "You know when you read crazy stories on CNN about a tiger escaping at a zoo halfway around the world in some country you don't really pay attention to and it eats innocent bystanders and you think, "Yeah, well, that's Thailand for you" it could actually be MY children we would be reading about!" He wasn't as fazed. Thankfully he thought the croc show was insane. At least I wasn't the only one!

Then we got to ride on a little train 1/2 way around the zoo to see the elephant show! The elephants (4 in all) walk around in this amphitheater-type place. You can buy a bunch of little bananas for 10 Baht to feed them. Each of the elephants does a trick or 7 and will come up to the stands to try to get bananas. Again, amazing and kinda sad. The elephants walked on their hind legs, walked on cable wires while balancing, peddled a bicycle, bowled with soccer balls, sat on seats, stood on a stand, danced and pooped and peed (part of Dan's favorite things of the day) - I don't think that was planned, though. :) Then, we got to go down, pet them and feed them bananas! You could also ride on another elephant waiting on the side for 200 Baht. It was Kylie's favorite (along with the hippos).

After the excitement of the elephants, we were pretty hungry and went in search of lunch! We found a good place to eat - that served Croc meat - and we got a plate of Pad Thai, Chicken with Cashews and Chicken Fried Rice! So yummy, all the kids liked it and we spent $9 for lunch! Neither Dan nor I could bring ourselves to order croc meat. Me because it grossed me out and Dan because it was too expensive for a meal :)

Dan got to purchase a couple of raw chicken rib cages and fed the crocs. The kids and I got to get ice cream.

Because it was also a Zoo, we got to see Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh My! And leopards, porcupines, hippos, all kinds of monkeys, snakes, monitor lizards, horses, a camel, ostriches, peacocks, racoons, deer and chickens (i think they were raised there to be dinner for the crocs)! All of the animals were only separated by a chain link fence. ALL OF THEM!!! (read the sign on the fence below - surprisingly the only warning sign we saw in the whole place)! more tomorrow...

Samantha Gale

She's here! Miss Samantha Gale was born to Matt and Tiff this morning at 1:15am, November 7, 2008 - weighing in at 6lbs 12 oz and is 20 inches long! So cute and apparently already a good eater! Her brothers and sisters (Hannah, Joshua, Laura and Michael) will visit her soon to meet her outside the womb for the first time! Congrats Matt and Tiff, we can't wait for more pictures and can't wait to meet her this summer (or on skype)!!!

Sock Monkey's Adventures in

...our House! Jack got to bring Sock Monkey home last weekend to spend the weekend with us. Then we had to take pictures and put them in his Pre-K notebook for him to share with the rest of the class. It seems, from the other kids' entries, that Sock Monkey has been all over Thailand so far: to the mall, the beach, the movies, the grocery store, trick-or-treating...pretty exciting life of Sock Monkey. The notebook is kinda like his own blog :) Go Monkey.

This Bug

My little Bug has been cracking us up with different things she says...non-stop. All day long. Continuous conversation. She can't not talk. We've tried. I think it's physically impossible for her. Here's her latest and greatest:

Elegator (not to be confused with Alligator) = Elevator

Sickle Me = Tickle Me

Sniffle Me = When Daddy makes sniffing noises at her neck like a puppy dog (she loves it)

Movie Payder = Movie Theater

That makes me Fizzy = Dizzy

And here she is with the dish towels she folded all by herself for me!

And singing the main song from "Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses" while making her Barbies dance.

We recently received an email updating us on milestones for Kylie. It said that by her age (2 years 10 months) most children are now putting together sentences of 2 to 4 words. And if your child is not there yet, don't worry, they'll catch up. Really? What do you do if your child talks all day long? "Mommy, can I ask you somepin?" "After Moo and Jack go to school, we watch a kidshow and then afer Word World, we can have a 'nack." A little bit later, "Mommy, my tummy is really rumblin."

The other morning after she woke up, she needed to go potty. I heard her calling me from the bathroom, so I walked in and saw her standing on the floor with pee on it. I just looked at her and she said, "What are you gonna do wif me?"

Then the other funny-ish time (not so much for Dan) is that we were in the car and she was talking non-stop while Dan and I were trying to talk. Dan asked her to be quiet for a little bit. She replied, "Okay Daddy, I can be quiet. I'm not gonna talk. I can close my mouth like this. Why do I need to be quiet? Mommy, see dat pumpkin over der?" It's a losing battle. Hopefully we'll continue to work on it. :)

Happy Halloween!!!

You're probably thinking that we wouldn't be celebrating Halloween in Thailand, but we are! Our neighborhood put on an excellent Trick-or-treating night and neighborhood Halloween Party! We met up with friends to trick-or-treat around the 40 houses in our neighborhood and then went to the party, which was fun and geared toward the kids (but all the adults had fun, too). It was nice to see everyone dressed up, including the parents :)

In our family, we had 2 Jedi Knights (and 1 Jedi Sock Monkey - Jack got to bring him home from Pre-K for the weekend), a ballerina, an Indian and a Gypsy. We got some great candy from the States because you can buy it here at Dan's work. Otherwise, you can't find it here in Thailand. Apparently if you go and trick-or-treat at the Thai homes near the kids' school, you get lots of Mentos and Halls cough drops - both real "treats" for the Thais!

Birthday Party

Jack had a great birthday yesterday! We decorated the house Saturday night for his birthday and Dan wrapped his presents (we hadn't found wrapping paper, so Jack got his presents wrapped in a Bangali newspaper - how many kids can say that about their 5th birthday?)! Megan woke Jack up on his birthday Sunday by sing Happy Birthday to him and ending with Cha-cha-cha, Kumbaya, Hi-Yah, which we continued all day and added Sawatdee Kah, Kap Khun Kah! Jack liked that his sister woke him up by singing Happy Birthday :) Then we all got to come downstairs and he unwrapped his presents! He got a Star Wars X-wing and characters as well as a DS Indian Jones game from us, a remote control helicopter, nerf gun and nerf basketball hoop from Grammy and Grandad, a cool outfit (which he wore for his party under his Jedi robe) and a Transformer plane guy from Mom Mom and Pappy and a cool game (Rush Hour) from the De Vidos! So fun!

Jack got to choose his meals for his birthday and this is what he chose: Cereal for breakfast (Cereal!). He chose Cookie Crisp. He wanted 2 red breads and 1 cheese for lunch (with ramen noodles). And then, we let him choose a restaurant for dinner. He chose Pinocchio's Pizza for dinner. He wanted a cheese pizza, a pepperoni pizza, a salad and an orange soda!


Jack's "Jedi Training Academy" Party went off without a hitch! We had 5 friends + our 3 here and it was a blast! When they came in, we dressed them in the Jedi Robes we made and gave them each a light saber we borrowed from our neighbors! (10 light sabers between 3 families - impressive)! Then we played Star Wars Bingo, Pin the Light saber on Yoda, Jedi Obstacle Course , Death Star Pinata and Use the Force to keep the balloon in the air! We opened presents, ate cake and chocolate ice cream and played until the parents came! They got to take home goodie bags that Megan and Jack had decorated and keep their Jedi robes! So fun and fun to meet some of the kids from Jack's class!

To finish off the day, we got to watch some more scenes (not the whole movie, don't worry) from Star Wars episode 2! We had a great day celebrating Jack, having fun, eating cake and hanging out with friends! Happy 5th Birthday Jack!!!