Childcare for Lillie, the flu for Judd and a walk at the lake

Last week Lillie had her first day in childcare.  I had been working myself up to taking her for months.  It is a Thai owned and operated family day care which a friend of mine told me about as she takes her 2 1/2 year old there while she goes to the gym.  Childcare in Pattaya is almost impossible to find, which is why most westerners use their maids as nannies but at present we don't have a maid and I was grateful to find out about this place.  Unfortunately it is very very basic and they don't seem to have a limit as to how many children they take each day and most of the day is spent with the kids sitting around on the mattresses on the floor watching TV.  There is a small play area outside in the carport but I am not sure how much time they spend out there.  I spent ages back in Melbourne finding a suitable childcare for Judd and Lillie making sure they were safe, clean and friendly but here the my options are so limited I have found myself lowering my standards. 
Her first day she was great, she didn't cry when I took her in and she seemed quite happy when I came back 2 hours later to pick her up. The next day I took her and the TV in the kids room was so loud I could hear it way down the street.  She seemed a bit more reluctant this time but when I came back to get her they told me she was sound asleep and to come back a bit later if I could. 
Now I know she was perfectly fine but my mothers intuition tells me that its just not quite right. My other problem is that the children that attend this childcare aren't from particularly wealthy families meaning that the parents probably cannot afford to stay home from work if a child is sick or contagious and I am concerned about Lillie getting sick more often.  There are so many kids that go and there are obviously no rules in regards to children not being allowed to attend if they are sick and the colds and flu's that are around this country seem to be so much more severe than back home, we have all been sick numerous times especially the kids I just don't want to expose them to much more.  At the moment there is a virus going around Marcus' work which has put a couple of people in hospital, its a bit scary.
I think I may only use this childcare occasionally if I have a lunch on or if I want to do some shopping or to just have a break.  I do want her to have some interaction with children her age to learn to play and share well.

I decided on Friday night to ask a few people over to our place for drinks and nibbles and it turned out to be a pretty good night.  I bought some ingredients to make hamburgers just in case it kicked on a bit longer and we got hungry.  We finished up around midnight which is a pretty good stint for me these days.  It is so much easier to entertain here as I can put the kids down to bed and we can stay up longer and enjoy having company without being bombarded with "mumma and dadda" all the time.
On Saturday we took the kids to Underwater World here in Pattaya.  I have been meaning to go there for some time now but just never got around to it, but since I made my list of places to visit I decided to try and see one tourist attraction each weekend otherwise we end up just hanging out at home or going shopping which always ends up with whiney kids and a cranky mum.
The aquarium was surprisingly good, it was small but the kids loved it.  We walked through twice and Judd made me read out all of the plaques that had information about each of the fish.  Lillie really enjoyed running through the tunnels and pointing at the fish.  They had a touch tank but we were all too scared to try.  It was a good way to spend the morning and luckily we went early before all the tourist buses turned up full of pushy Russians.
Now I am stuck at home with 2 sick kids, Judd brought home a cold from school and by Saturday afternoon he was miserable and still is.  Lillie woke up this morning at 5.30am with a fever and crying so today has been full of crying, yelling, tantrums and frustration.  Lillie got her Tuberculosis needle back in early February and only now is it turning into a hard purple bruise and is very very sore.  She was crying so loud last night when Marcus put her nappy on I was very close to taking her to the hospital to see a doctor about it.  When she got the shot I didn't get any information about the side effects or possible reactions she may have unlike back at home where they make sure the parent is fully informed and aware of what could happen.  I messaged one of the mums I know who has a little one and she reassured me that her daughters did the same and said it will turn into a lump and possibly burst before it starts to go away.  YUCK, poor kid.  I am so glad they gave it to her in her bottom and not her arm as alot of people get permanent scars from them.  But she had to have it as TB is still a problem in Asian countries especially for young children.  The hospitals here give it to the new born's on their very first day!
I am hoping they both recover quickly enough that by next week when we fly out to Melbourne they are all happy and healthy again.

A lovely friend of mine has offered to babysit (or dog sit) Lady while we are away.  She has 3 dogs of her own and said she can come and play with them.  She came and picked her up yesterday for a play date and she took all 4 dogs for a big walk and of course Lady rolled in something dead so when she dropped her off she messaged me to warn me to buy some dog shampoo because she smelled really bad.  Lady must of had a great time, we don't get to take her out for a run very much and we wouldn't even know where to take her anyway as everywhere there are soi dogs lurking about.  I would take her up to the lake with us when we go walking but there are so many dogs up there. 



Some of the soi dogs who live at Lake Maprachan

 On Sunday I got a photo of 7 dogs all sleeping by the side of the weir wall.  They don't seem to bother anyone but we have still heard many stories of people being chased or bitten while out walking or running.  The other weekend I saw a litter of 7 puppies all playing by the road, they started to follow us and all I wanted to do was scoop them up and take them all home.  Even at such a young age (probably just been weaned) they were showing signs of mange and scabby skin.  They weren't anywhere to be seen the next week.  I wondered if they were dumped by someone, it does happen I have been told as some kind Thai people go down and feed the stray dogs that live by the lake so it becomes a dumping ground for unwanted dogs and puppies.  So sad. 



Lake Maprachan view from the weir wall

 Right next to the weir is a little community of shacks so run down and sad looking that I just had to try and take a photo to show the contrasts this country has ( as many countries do).  The beauty of the water and the forest, the big houses and estates around the lake and then the shacks and lean-tos with dirty dogs and dirty kids running about.  However I did see the occasional shiny new pick up Ute and car parked next to the rusty old units.  The Thais would prefer to spend their money on a new car than to make home improvements or buy a newer house. But in saying all this and seeing the poverty I would safely



There are heaps of these one room unit
blocks next to each other

 walk into any one of these villages, unlike back home where the poorer communities and government housing apartments are unsafe, full of drugs and addicts and just plan filth.  There may be poor families here but they do what they can with what they have and I have yet to come across an angry or "bad" Thai person.  Just because someone is poor does not mean that they are going to rob you or hurt you.  But a person still has to be careful and alert. Living here has really opened my eyes to how other people and cultures live.

New Hairstyles and old frustrations

On Sunday I finally worked up the courage to go into town and see my hairdresser and ask her if she could cut my hair short again.  I had been deliberating for a couple of weeks about whether or not I should cut it again.  I do this all the time, I cut it short then hate it and then spend months and months growing it long then hate it long so I go back in and cut it short again.  I just can never make up my mind.  I finally found a style I liked on the Internet and printed it off to take with me but the problem with choosing styles out of books and magazines is that the model always looks gorgeous and has had it perfectly styled.  There never seem to be 'realistic' hair styles, ones that show you how it looks for everyday wear and not hours under the hair dryer and straightener. 
So I headed into to Central early Sunday morning and thankfully my usual hairdresser was working and I showed her the picture and told her what I wanted.  Surprisingly she said yes she could do it, but I had to ask several times if she was sure and confident that she could cut hair that short.  The salon I go to charge almost the same as the salons back in Melbourne so one would expect that the hairdressers who work there can cut hair properly. 
So 3 and a half hours later I was still there but that was mostly because they tried to put highlights in after they cut the hair short and I wanted a full red colour with brighter tones highlighted throughout, but they put in blonde highlights as best they could with my short hair and then after washing it all out they put the full colour in hoping the blond highlights would take the red on brighter than the rest of my hair.  So totally backwards and it took so long I nearly fell asleep in the chair.
But the end result was good, I had to tell her several times not to cut the top of my hair anymore as she already cut it shorter than I wanted and I had to tell her several times not to blow wave my hair as I don't like big puffy hair but in the end we worked it out and I got the style I wanted.  I did have to fix it up a bit the next day to make it more manageable.  The sole reason for having a short style is for convenience, a quick shower and wash, jump out now blow dry just some product, a scrunch and out the door and so far that is what I have managed.

I had hoped I would have got a bit more encouragement and maybe some compliments from Marcus but lately he is always tired and grumpy and doesn't want to talk or interact with me or the kids.  I have told him several times that when he gets home it is the usual 'crazy hour' and that I am worn out by then and tired, and I understand that he is tired too but he doesn't understand that yes he goes to work everyday but my day starts at 6.30 and doesn't end until everything is cleaned up and the kids are in bed which is about 8.30 pm.  He thinks its so easy being at home all day, he thinks I sit on the couch and watch TV.  I am so tempted to take off for a few days and leave him to handle everything without me.  I wouldn't leave any instructions I would just walk away and leave him total responsibility of the house.  I had no one showing me what to do I had to work everything out on my own. 
It seems lately that all we do is fight over me wanting him to clean up after himself and him telling me to relax.  I am so tempted now to have the kids fed, bathed and sorted before he even walks in the door in the evenings so we can avoid all of the arguments.  All I expect from him is to do the dishes after dinner and not leave his clothes and belongings lying all over the house.  Oh and to pay attention to the kids and play with them before their bedtime.  He complains that Judd doesn't cuddle him or talk to him anymore and he wont listen when I try to tell him its because he doesn't give Judd A grade attention, not the occasional nod and grunt while he watches TV.  Children crave their parents attention and as hard as it may be sometimes you just have to put down whatever it is that you are doing and be there for them.  Yes he may be tired but so am I and I still manage to give the kids what they need.  I am just so tired of arguing, I miss it when we used to laugh together and have fun together but now all we do is bicker and some days I can barely stay in the same room as him.  I have times when I wonder how on earth we are going to stay married.  I wonder do other married couples have these same feelings at times?  Or are they still in love like they were when they first met?  Surely not.  I blame myself alot for having these frustrations but I know I cannot take full blame for our quarrels, he has to take some as well.  He wont talk about issues, he never shows interest in my day or my interests (which are few these days as there is not a whole lot to do these days other than clean house and grocery shop).  I am tempted to move back home after our initial contract expires so I can do more with my days, go back to study at school or even get a job, anything to make me feel like I am contributing rather then holidaying.  But our goal was to stay abroad for 2 years to save enough money to make life more comfortable on our return to Australia and to save for the kids high school education as well.  I don't know, I do try, really I do but it is frustrating when I get nothing back in return.

Shopping in Bangkok, full of surprises

Today Marcus and I decided we would drive up to Bangkok with the kids to find a shopping center we were told about to gather some gifts for our friends and family back in Melbourne for our trip home in April.  What a great idea, we had a great day.  Not only did we only get a little bit lost driving in, considering what has happened the last few times but we didn't start world war 3 and threaten divorce either.  We managed to find the shopping center MBK, it is absolutely huge and sits amongst all the other major shopping centers on Rama 1 (Sukumvit rd) like Siam Paragon (which I cannot afford to shop at so don't bother) and Central World.  These places a so big its quite daunting.  But funny enough when you are driving along not being able to read the signs as they are all in Thai and wondering if we are really on the right road at all or if we are on some random street north of the city, the huge tall buildings all look the same and we still managed to miss the gigantic signs that a 3 stories high stuck on the side of the buildings. 
But we did find it and also a park straight away thanks to the lovely parking attendant with his noisy whistle that you find at every major car park in Thailand.  And as soon as we walked in we knew we had hit the jackpot.  We wanted to go somewhere other than a hot and stinky market full of sweaty tourists to be able to find some nice "copy" items to bring home as gifts as most people do when travelling abroad in Asia.  It took Marcus about an hour to get the rhythm of shopping as he is the worlds worst and grumpiest shopper and he will never admit to it, although once we split up for a little while that's when we started to buy up.  I found lovely jewellery both copy and handmade, clothes, Thai costumes, kids stuff and of course sunglasses.  Within 2 days last week I broke both pairs of my sun glasses, the Channels and the Pradas, but seeing they only cost me 250bht I was happy to replace them today with another 2 pairs.  Marcus got tshirts and pyjamas for the kids as Melbourne will be freezing for us now that we are sort of acclimatised to Thailand and the kids only wear summer clothes. 
Judd and Lillie were fantastic, they both sat in their prams and chatted to the sales people.  Of course Judd nagged for toys and clothes and money but I expected that considering we were out shopping.  Lillie took a nap half way through and considering she normally prefers to run around and hates her pram or the shopping trolley I was impressed she sat still for so long, we must have been there for at least 5 hours.
The icing on the cake was when Marcus discovered a lady selling handbags and we had a picture that a friend had sent us asking to buy for his wife a certain type of bag if we came across it.  The sales lady said she didn't have one in her shop but to come back in 30 mins and she would have it delivered.  She did want a guarantee that we would buy it but I flat out refused to commit sight unseen to what could have been a gross cheap copy and particularly so because it was for a friend and not for myself.  Well while we waited we asked a couple of other stall owners and one lady produced this ugly cheap plastic copy and when we said no she and a man kept pushing and pushing and almost getting angry that we wouldn't buy it.  I ended up calling them pushy assholes and walked away.  We have been to a few markets these days and never have we been pushed or pressured into buying, usually when you walk away more than 5 steps they give up and turn to the next sucker, but these guys made me feel very uncomfortable and the man was a bit scary.  I do have to watch my tongue here as it is very impolite to lose ones temper or raise ones voice to a Thai person and I am a very short tempered lose cannon when someone gets me riled so swallowing my curses can be hard sometimes but in the end as most people say its always better and safer to just walk away.
So we bought some more Tshirts and kids clothes and headed back to the nice lady with the bags and she ushered us in behind her counter and said very secretly that we had to be careful and not show it around for others to see and she pulled out this gorgeous leather bag that I would swear was the original item, I honestly could not tell the difference and knew straight away that this was exactly what we wanted and as it was such a lovely bag and such good quality that Marcus offered to buy me one as well, what a sweat heart.  And thankfully she had brought 2 bags over so Marcus then started negotiating the price and surprisingly got her down by 700baht, which considering what we got for our money was pretty good.  She wrapped them up tight and tucked them out of sight and I felt a bit naughty walking around the rest of the afternoon with my little bundle as she was so secretive about it I felt like any minute now a cop will tap me on the shoulder and take me and my gorgeous bag away.  But no, we finished up and tucked the kids and our 20 bags of shopping into the car and started the 2 hour, or more if we got lost, journey back home.
We did get a little bit off track as soon as we left the car park Marcus turned right straight into a bus lane, but how were we to know as the sign is written in Thai, and just has we got through the intersection a policeman on a motorbike pulls up in front of us and waves us down.  I get a bit nervous at this point, firstly we don't have Thai licenses or for that matter international licenses either and secondly I was worried he might make us drive to the police station, where ever the hell that may have been, and then if they wanted to they would check the boot of the car and see my naughty purchases and take them and me away. 
But no, he asks us where we are going which is a usual question for Thais to ask, and then explains that we are driving in a bus lane and its 500 baht fine at police station but Marcus quickly says "how much if I pay you the fine" as I emptied out my purse which had bugger all left in it and I could only give him about 300baht and thankfully he says OK and Marcus discreetly hands him the cash below the window, he then hands him back his Australian license and only takes 200baht and then waves us back on our way on down the bus lane.
So we have now popped our cherry and have had our first run in with the infamous Thai police and as most westerners have told us it was a simple matter of paying the officer the "fine" and being polite and considerate and being sent on our merry little way.  If this had of happened 6 months ago I don't think I would have survived quite so well, I would have broken out in a cold sweat of worry and panic wondering how in hell I was going to explain myself to a Thai police office who probably doesn't speak much English and also carries a big black gun on his hip and may or may not be in a bad mood.  But this time as we drove off down the bus lane we both agreed that it wasn't so bad and we were both smiling and laughing about our little adventure and grateful it was painless and inexpensive.
We eventually found our way out of the bus lane but this of course threw us off our intended route, so much studying of the map with the great big tear in the middle of it and we found our way back onto the motorway, of course after a few u-turns, and headed back home to Pattaya after the most successful day of "family" shopping we have ever had, few tears, no smacks, no money arguments and thankfully no 'divorce'.

(Now I say divorce, but what I mean is one of those stressed out fights that erupt when 2 people are entering into unknown territory and the fight that ensues is one where neither person wants to speak, let alone be trapped in a tiny car with for the duration of the journey, those nasty little fights that I call divorce fights).

R.I.P. Sticker the Toy Poodle

We got the most terrible news last night.  Marcus brother phoned to tell us that our beloved little dog, Sticker, got hit by a car yesterday and after rushing him to the vet they had to put him to sleep as he apparently had too much brain swelling to have been able to survive.  We are devastated.  Marcus brother was so worried about how our son, Judd, would handle the bad news as he adored his dog Sticker.  We left Sticker in their care when we made our journey over to Thailand as dogs are forbidden to travel from Thailand to Australia due to the rampant spread of rabies over here.  So they very kindly offered to take him in for us and care for him until our return.  And they did, they told me how he would travel with my sister in law to work most days and then have a sleep over occasionally with a lady she worked with as he was adored by everyone at her work.  He would have been quite happy living with them and I am sure there would have been plenty of cuddles for him too.  And I know how much my brother in law loves dogs, so I can only imagine how upset he would have been to have had to deal with the accident.
I must admit when Marcus first told me the bad news I was angry that something like this happened but that is just my way of dealing with grief.  Marcus was asking me last night why I didn't cry when he first told me and I had to explain that I am not the type of person that breaks down into an emotional mess at the first mention of bad news or death, it takes me some time and especially some alone time for the information to sink in and for me to realise the enormity of the situation.  I tend not to like to cry in front of people either, even my husband.  If we are watching a sad movie I hide my tears from him as I hate it when someone turns to you during a sad scene and says "oooh are you crying?", it makes me uncomfortable.  So I had to explain to him that my grief will appear over the next few days in bursts of sadness, anger, frustration and maybe even a tantrum or two.
I harbour no blame towards my brother and sister in law for this accident, because that is all it was, an accident.  Sticker always had a tendency of running out onto the road and going off on little adventures as most dogs love to do.  But I am very very sad that all of my plans for seeing him this coming April and cuddling him tight are now gone. I even thought to have him come and stay with us in our apartment and spending some good quality time with me and the kids.
Marcus is very upset, for a man who doesn't particularly like dogs he was won over by our little Sticker, he would snuggle him and pat him constantly and he never got upset with him.  He was the epitome of the perfect dog, he hardly ever barked, he was perfectly house trained (unless he was mad with me over something), he was gentle and kind with the kids, obedient and had the most softest beautiful fur and he never smelled like a dog. 
Which is why when we decided to move to Thailand we could only bare to re home Lance our other poodle and not Sticker.  We planned on having him back when we returned from overseas.  We even discussed bringing him back over with us if we signed on for another 12 months but we didn't want to have to put him into a kennel for 6-8 months upon our return so we agreed that he would have to stay in Australia and wait.

We decided to tell Judd the truth last night, he is a smart little boy and he would want to know where Sticker was when we went home for our trip.  So we sat down and I worked up the courage to tell him what happened.  He understood and then promptly burst into tears and fell into my lap sobbing, saying "Sticker, Sticker, Sticker...."
Oh my that just brought us all undone.  We took them outside for a walk and he eventually cheered up.  I had another chat with him at bedtime and we had some more tears and this morning he woke up OK and has so far only talked about it once.



The little guy on the left is Lance and Sticker is on the right.

 We will never find another dog like Sticker, he was one of a kind and I cannot believe that he wont he there wagging his little stumpy tail and jumping in my lap when we return.  RIP my little friend, I only hope that you didn't suffer and you are now in doggy heaven with all the other wonderful loyal friends that we have had over the years.

A chance to visit home

I received some fabulous news on Friday. Marcus phoned me to let me know that the Australian branch of his company want him to return for the month of April to do an audit for them and they will fly me and the kids too (which is part of our contract anyway) but because he will be working they will provide us with accommodation and a rental car. We had wanted to plan a trip home but accommodation is so expensive it would cost us a fortune to rent a apartment and car for 2 or 3 weeks, so this came as such a lovely surprise. Now nothing is confirmed just yet, they have to get approval from the Director in Thailand first and he better say yes or I will have a serious bone to pick with him. Once again he has not paid us our expenses for January, he also still owes us for July and August last year. I am beginning to get very frustrated with this man. He is the one who promised that we "would be well looked after" during our stay in Thailand and he has done NOTHING to honour those words. We have had to do everything ourselves and then he gripes about having to pay us as well when it is clearly stated in our contract what we get paid for. Thankfully Marcus REAL boss is going to be here early April and I am hoping that Marcus will discuss all of these issues with him because if he wants us to extend our contract another 12months here then things need to start running alot more smoothly than they have been. I mean we should not have to be dipping into our savings or living on credit each month because the Thailand office forgets to pay us, it is very unprofessional to say the least.


But back to our trip home, we should be there 2 weeks or more hopefully and I would like to plan a quick little visit up home to see my parents and grandma in Townsville while we are in the country. We cannot stay any longer than April as we have a paid for holiday and wedding to attend in Phuket in early May so we will be very very busy for a few weeks. I am very excited to be seeing everyone, I didn't realise how homesick I was until he phoned me on Friday to tell me the good news. I was starting to think how exciting it will be when we do make the final decision to return home permanently. We have been talking about that maybe if we do extend our contract for 12 more months we will move to a bigger house with a pool, we think we rushed into renting this house due to the fact that we were stranded way out in Amata City miles away from anything remotely familiar. But now we know the area, we know how to bargain and negotiate so maybe a small move to a bigger place would be a good idea. At least something with nicer furniture.

I also have started to make posters to put up in local vets and shopping malls to find a new home for Lady the dog. She just cannot settle her properly, whenever it rains she gets completely wet as there is nowhere at this house where she can take proper shelter, the rain blows in under the carport and all the eaves and we don't have a back porch or anything and also we will be away most of April and half of May it wouldn't be fair to lock her up in a boarding kennel for all of that time. Our financial adviser has offered to take her for the time we are away thankfully. He has just has a new baby and he travels away alot for work and would like a outside dog to guard his wife and house while he is away and hopefully if she is well behaved and he likes her he may even offer to keep her. Fingers crossed because then I can rest easy that she has a good home and I will still see her occasionally. Judd will be sad, he has enjoyed having a dog around, but it is just far too much stress always wondering what on earth we will do with her when it comes time to leave as no animals can travel from Thailand to Australia without costing thousands and thousands of dollars.

Judd is off on summer break now, his last day was on Friday and he brought home his exercise book with all of his work in it from semester 2 and I must say it is pretty good for a 3 yr old, tracing Thai alphabet and English and writing numbers and colouring and puzzles and so much more. He also brought home his report card with all TOP marks for everything except eating, how funny, but he doesn't always eat the Thai lunch that they serve so he got a good instead of a 'very good'. Little champ, his comments from his teachers where excellent too. They love having him. He has this week off but then I have signed him up for Summer Camp which is about 4 weeks of casual play and activities and excursions. Should be fun for him. It all sounds very American with the way the school year is broken up and the names they use for everything. But it works out pretty good in the timing too, he may miss a couple of weeks at the end of summer camp when we go away but the new school year doesn't commence until the very next day after we return from Phuket, perfect! But that is another reason why I am annoyed at the Thailand office for not paying us, we had to pay Judd's school fees and Summer Camp fees for next semester last week, that's $1200 that I had to pull out of a credit card because our money was missing. Very very frustrating, I should send him an invoice for all the interest and fees we will get charged I am sure he will like that.

The timing on this unexpected trip seems almost uncanny. Just the day before we found out I spent hours scouring the Internet trying to find a good deal on a family size room in a hotel on the island of Koh Chang for the week of the Thai new year, Songkran. Marcus would have had 9 days off of work as the Thai new year is a week long celebration. Alot of people had advised us to leave the country for the time as the water festival as it is more commonly known is very crazy, the traffic is horrendous and it is meant to be almost impossible to go into town without getting wet. So we thought about maybe going up to Chiang Mai, northern Thailand for that week but then the principal at Judd's school told us that Chiang Mai is the countries center for celebrations for that time of year, alot of tourists go there but also many Thais holiday there as well. So we scrapped that idea and started looking at the local islands instead. I finally found a family size bungalow at a little beach side resort on the island of Koh Chang for only $79 a night, a bargain especially for this time of year. I jumped on it of course, booked and paid for a whole week of sun and relaxation and then the very next morning Marcus calls me to say that I need to cancel the booking as we are needed back in Australia for that week. I was excited and frustrated at the same time, all those long hours spent on hotel websites looking for a cheap deal and after finally finding what I wanted I had to let it go. But the excitement over going home totally out weighs it all, I cannot wait to see my girlfriends, my family and my darling little dog Sticker. I am going to cuddle him so hard he might pop.

A pretty damn good weekend

What I thought was going to be a "nothing" kind of weekend turned out to be pretty good. Friday night wasn't so great, I started off with a couple of vodka and lemonades that hit me like a tonne of bricks so by the kids bedtime I was bombed after only 4 drinks. Strange but I think I was more tired than drunk. Thankfully I woke up fine Saturday morning and the kids and I hung out and did some grocery shopping together while Marcus went to work, once he came home though we headed into town where Lillie and I went shopping and Marcus and Judd went to see a man about getting Marcus some more tattoos. We met up later that evening and had a lovely dinner at the Holiday Inn. Great pizzas and 2 for 1 drinks, but I only managed one small glass of wine and even that started to knock me around a bit. The kids played really well, its funny how much fun can be had with a couple of ramps and steps, up and down up and down all night.

Sunday we headed out early for a nice walk along the weir wall at Maprachan Lake but it about half way through it started to rain and we got nice and wet, but being that it is now summer the respite from the rain didn't last long and we were not only soggy but sweaty too. Marcus loves this kind of heat, I DO NOT but I am learning to handle it better and not let it make me too cranky.

In the afternoon we took the kids into town to do some rainy day activities and we decided to take them to Ripleys Believe It or Not. It was way better than we anticipated and the kids enjoyed it too. We bought a group package and so we got to see the Ripleys Museum, the Infinity Maze of mirrors and lights which was great fun for the kids (a bit scary for mum when the lights wouldn't turn on) and we also went and saw a 4D film where we strap into the seats and wear 3D glasses and we were taken on a snow sled ride down a mountain. I wasn't sure if Judd would like it as he couldn't fit in the seat properly and we we concerned he might fall out but he held on tight, wore his glasses properly and squealed with laughter the entire film (a total 8 mins). Lillie was even laughing, I had her on my lap and she loved the bumping and bouncing of the ride just as much as Judd. But the most surprising for me was how much Marcus was laughing, he normally keeps pretty quiet through these things but he laughed along like a 12 yr old. It was a great ride.

After the show we went into the Infinity Maze which was alot of connecting rooms all with different themes of lights and mirrors and music. We had to wear silly white socks over our shoes and white gloves on our hands. At first I wasn't so sure about the maze as when we first walked in the room was completely black and we were searching with our hands to try and find a door while trying to keep hold of the kids, but after that each room was different and the kids loved it. The lights and the glow in the dark objects were really cool. I managed to get a great photo of Marcus and the kids in one of the mirrored rooms. The only downside to the maze was the group of Japanese tourists behind us who even when the lights were on the man in front leading their Congo line still kept touching me and pushing me. Now I am a firm believer in personal space, even in the pitch black.

After the maze we thought we would finish off with the Haunted Mansion. Not a good idea. We didn't realise how scared the kids would be. We thought it would be aimed more at children than adults. We were so wrong. Poor Judd was being carried by Marcus the whole time and he was shaking like a leaf and whenever a loud bang or noise happened he screamed and cried. Lillie just tucked her head into my shoulder and didn't look. So we walked through the mansion as quickly as we could, trying to bypass some of the more scary things. When we finally emerged into daylight I am sure I could see the disapproving looks some of the other tourists were giving us, but at least Judd saw the funny side and within 30 secs he was laughing and talking all about the scary monsters and thankfully there were no nightmares that night. We treated them both to KFC, Judd's favourite and all was well.

We realised it was still only mid afternoon so Marcus suggested we go on down to the tattoo parlour nearby and I could approve the tattoos he had chosen for his leg. So we wandered down and Lillie slept in the pram and Judd hung out with the tattoo guys and girls out the front. Marcus decided that we would get started on his tattoo that afternoon so after I helped him finalise the design and saw where the guys would position it on his leg I took the kids home for dinner and a bath. We headed back in to pick Marcus up at about 8pm, he had spent over 3 hours in the chair and the outline was finally finished. I was more than impressed with their work. Next week he will go back to get the colour and the shading, it may take another 4 - 6 hours to finish so it might have to spread over another 2 visits. But all up this tattoo that covers the entire bottom half of his leg is only going to cost us 12000 Baht, which is about $420 AUD. So good. I of course am now wanting one more for me, but the one I want requires me to lose more weight so once I reach my goal weight I will treat myself to my new tattoo. Marcus only rules are that I cannot get any on my legs or arms and it must be able to be covered with normal everyday clothes. Yes Dad!



In the Infinity Maze





Marcus getting the outline of his tattoo