Category Archives: grandparents

floating market

10 Friday May 2013

Posted by in adventures with kids, extended family, grandparents, Thailand, world travel

≈ 20 Comments

I have been wanting to go to the floating market in Bangkok since we arrived in Thailand almost 1 year ago. I see photos of it in all of the cities we visit and it looks so amazing. So we planned to go with my parents when they visited. I did zero research on it, just found a taxi to take us there. That turned out to be a bit of an ordeal, but it ended up working out.

The taxi driver pulled up in a small car. We had 4 adults and 2 not-so-small children. I thought, eh, how bad can it be? Wrong thought, it was 1 1/2 hours to get to the floating market in Bangkok, apparently Bangkok is really big. It was a little intense in the little car with arms and feet and butts everywhere, and it poured down rain the entire ride there, so more than once we almost turned around.

haha, cramped much?! My mom somehow managed to take this photo from the squished spot she was in beside us. Papa T was lucky to have the longest legs and get the front seat all alone.

Many times it has rained on our travel plans these past months of travel, and we have never turned around, and we have never been disappointed. So we trucked on, and after the looong drive, we arrived at a small dock where the guys told us it would be $300 for us all to take a 1 hour boat ride to the market! Waaaah? Seriously, I thought it would be free or like $10.

I was pretty bummed, I really wanted to go, but $300 for a wooden long boat that takes about $5 worth of gas is a joke. We were about to leave and called our taxi guy to pick us up. He asked how much we would pay. We talked and decided we would pay $100 for all 6 of us. Still way too much, but we were already there and did I mention I really wanted to go? They accepted the $100, making me feel sorry for anyone who ever paid $300.

As far as I am concerned it was totally worth $100. It was amazing, and is one of the top things we have done on our travels.

The driver stopped off at a Coconut sugar farm where we got to try freshly made coconut sugar.

The boat ride was about 90 minutes of slowly meandering down the river between other boats and little shops. If you wanted to buy something you just told the driver and he would dock the boat and you could buy food, drinks, or stuff right there in the boat.

We stopped to buy fresh fruit a couple of times. There were even boats going around with sodas and cold beer. Peyton spotted one lady across the river that he wanted to buy mangoes from. I saw a lady closer and asked her. I turned around to an upset little Peyton. He said the other lady was crying and he had really wanted to buy her mangoes. We quickly waved her down and she rowed backwards to our boat, where thoughtful Peyton happily bought her mangoes:)

that’s the lady in the plaid shirt behind

were you ready for this old lady cuteness?!

my paper and wooden umbrella I bought at the market:)

If you are ever in Bangkok, the floating market is amazing, you have to go!

to Bangkok by ferry and train

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in extended family, grandparents, Thailand, world travel

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After 6 amazing days on the island, we said good-bye to our beach shack and headed to the big city. The last time we were in Bangkok we had Trek with us, so I was a little nervous to see how I would feel about it.

10 months ago in Bangkok with my  little Trek

We have accumulated quite a few belongings on our travels. 4 suitcases, 3 bags, 2 boxes, and a guitar. I occasionally ship things to my parent’s house to store, like Trek’s things, and the boys’ drawings and clothes that are too little, but too special to give away (I am a big boob). I shipped the 2 big boxes ahead to Bangkok through the Thai post office. They were 30lbs a piece and only cost $8 bucks each! We have no idea what our plans for the future are right now, we are considering many options. But we did know we only wanted to go to Cambodia with one suitcase, so we could travel lightly. We are storing  the rest of our things in Bangkok Self Storage for the time being. They had a great backpack/luggage storage plan.

We could have flown to Bangkok from a nearby island, but we wanted my parents to experience Thai train travel. It is our favorite form of travel, and Conner wants to live on a train:) We knew they were coming early enough, so we were able to plan ahead and book a 1st class car. We have always wanted to try 1st class, but they sell out fast and we have never booked early enough. There are 2 beds and one sink in each private car, they cost $80 for 2 people to go from Suratthani to Bangkok (about 12 hours).

rock-paper-scissors waiting for the ferry to take us from Koh Phangan to Suratthani

my parents at the Suratthani train station

Conner falls asleep every time at the train station!

the 1st class train car corridor

it was super tiny

and there were some weirdos roaming the halls

mine and Conner’s room

since ours was beside Jarrett and Peyton’s car, we were able to open up the middle divider and hang out together

best way to travel, snuggling and playing games

the boys brushing their teeth in the morning

and then acting like monkeys:)

happy to be moving on to a new adventure

sweet brothers hanging out together

Bangkok train station

our traveling family, ready to offload some stuff in Bangkok so we could travel with one bag!

it took us about 2 seconds to find the donut shop, a little longer than it takes me to sniff out a Starbucks

My parents treated us to a fancy hotel in Bangkok-it was seriously a HUGE treat! We were all freaking out, this is what $100 a night gets you in Bangkok-a super fancy hotel in the best part of town.

a bathtub! jump for joy!

The plan since my parents booked their plane tickets months ago, was to go see Iron Man 3. We headed to the mall as soon as we settled into the hotel.

and of course to get a Starbucks

since it was opening day for Iron Man 3 in Thailand, he was there in a cardboard costume:)

the spiritual house outside of the mall

heading out for dinner with my wonderful parents

cruisin the streets of Bangkok in a tuktuk

having a tuk tuk all to ourselves-smoochy smoochy:)

after dinner we came back to the hotel for a little belated birthday party for Conner, I am pretty sure this is his 4th celebration:)

fancy cupcakes from the cupcake bakery

The next night we got to go on a date! It has been almost 2 years since we have been out on one, so it was very special.

Peyton hanging out with Papa T while we were out

The cool/freaky channel where you could watch the lobby from your hotel room. We stopped by to tell the boys “hi” when we came back from our date

the breakfast at the hotel was AMAZING and included in the price-wattup!

a Thai ladyboy:)

hanging out at the mall with my mama:)

I totally need this statue for my house

Conner, Nana, and me hanging out at the hotel pool for some wine and a swim

we had such a special time in Bangkok with Nana and Papa T!

enjoying Thailand with my parents (and a photoshoot)

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in extended family, grandparents, koh phangan, Thailand, world travel

≈ 20 Comments

We spent 6 days on the island of Koh Phangan, Thailand with my parents-Terry and Jackie. The boys had so much fun showing them around the country that has been our home for the past year.

All of these photos are from my mom’s camera, mostly from her view. It was so nice to get some photos of our family around Thailand that included all of us in them!

my cutest moped buddies

my other cute moped buddy-my mama:)

Papa T cruisin on his moped

nana and Peyton getting some fruit

street relaxing

Thai coke can

I can’t get enough of this guy

Papa T ordered an iced green tea, but was brought a green tea latte which the boys happily took off of his hands

my mom and dad at a Thai roadside temple

watching fish

my handsome dad

family fish watching

we ate at the market with my parents a lot, it’s so nice to go where everyone can get what they want

my love

my mom and I thought this random spiritual house collection was so cool

frisbee in the ocean

Peyton doing an underwater split-hehe

Conner protesting the beach-he wanted to got to a pool:)

his protesting worked:)

we paid to use a hotel pool by the beach, and had such a fun time playing and relaxing

chicken fight with mama and daddy

chicken fight with Papa T and daddy

me and my dad:)

Now from my point of view. Capturing my mom and dad’s love for each other in a photo shoot by the beach:)

for Trek

the boys with Papa T and his tattoo for Trek

all about his tatoo here

my beautiful and in love mama and daddy

Papa T and Nana are here!

01 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in extended family, grandparents, koh phangan, Thailand, world travel

≈ 26 Comments

My parents flew in from Colorado a few days ago and we could not be happier! It has been so amazing to be with someone we love. We have not seen any family since before Trek died 11 months ago. That is a long time. We have been filling our days with good food and talking and exploring. It has been an amazing week so far and we still have 5 days left with them!

Nana and Peyton seeing each other for the first time in almost 1 year

me and my daddy

The closest airport is on a neighboring island, Koh Samui, so my parents flew in there. We had a few hours before our ferry left to take us back to Koh Phangan, so we hung out in a local Thai shopping center with A/C and a play place. (and a Starbucks-muahahaha:)

Nana came bearing gifts. These goodies were from Auntie:)

Conner got his favorite-Beanie Boos

heading to our catamaran ferry

Nana’s 1st tuktuk ride

Nana and Papa T’s bungalow, a couple houses down from ours

Nana brought the boys some new clothes and some nunchucks (amongst other bags of toys:)-the boys were pretty excited

the first day we rented Nana and Papa T mopeds, their first time!

Papa T was a natural

so was Nana (for awhile, but more on that later)

I think they are such a cute couple!

taking all our motorbikes into town for some breakfast

an over look we stopped at for an amazing view

I took my mom right away get a massage by the beach. $10 each

while we got massages, the boys played at a nearby pool

we took them to our favorite restaurant-Fisherman’s to get some yummy local seafood

our waiter Nemo balancing dinos on top of Conner’s head

Peyton won with 4 dinosaurs

the view from our table

And then tragedy struck after lunch. We headed across the island to a beach on our mopeds. I was a little worried about my parents, since they had only been on their mopeds for 2 days, and rightly so. On the first big hill, I saw my mom flip over her moped and go head first into a concrete ditch. I think my heart stopped. It was awful. Peyton and I parked at the top and ran down the hill to my poor mama. She was amazingly not crying, and said she was fine to keep riding her moped. But we took her to an emergency clinic. She ended up having some bad road rash and needing some stitches on her thigh from some glass or rock that had cut her, but she was ok.

she was in such good spirits, I think we all were way more upset than she was!

hehe

about to get stitches, I would have been crying, but she was so tough

Conner was having an arm wrestling fight with a nurse while Nana got stitched up

Papa T holding up his taxi money. He took Nana’s moped away for the day and made her ride a taxi home:)

We jokingly call my dad Mr. Clean, can you see the resemblance?! hehe

Nana survived a moped crash and a Thai hospital all in her first 2 days here!

playing horse shoes with Papa T

poor beat-up Nana enjoying the hammock

Nana brought the boys presents for Conner’s birthday

GI Joe action figures

The next day we headed out on a fishing boat

Conner loves boats. Boat rides always remind me of Trek, he loved them so much too.

little sweet Trek on a boat in Maui:)

my cute little snorkelers

our family snorkeling

Papa T fishing

Conner’s 1st fish of the day!

Peyton’s first fish!

all the fish we caught

swimming in the deep ocean off of the boat

Conner so brave jumping in

my life jacket diaper-ha!

pretty good looking for a 50 year old man!

Papa T in the ocean at sunset

Nana and Conner having breakfast by the ocean

our taxi into town to get a rental car (to go again to the beach, we never made it to, before Nana’s crash!)

It has been fun watching my parents see Thai culture. Some things we have gotten so used to, like the extreme safety standards above.

sharing my love for Pad Thai with my mama

more presents-our family friend Tammie sent me this cute headband from her store

taking Nana to the hospital to get her bandages changed

me cooking everyone eggs for breakfast

One of the top things on my parent’s list-to ride an elephant:)

haha, me and Nana taking a picture of each other

Conner felt way safer this trip from the last one. The seats were deeper, so he really enjoyed it

we felt so lucky to get to ride elephants for a second time

Peyton was so brave to ride bareback!

we all ended up getting a chance to!

such a cool day!

It always seems like something is missing when we have family photos without Trek. It made me sad that he was not in these either.

the last time we saw Nana and Papa T sweet Trek was with us

at a fish spa

hiking to a waterfall

swimming in one of the waterfall pools

Nana and Papa T at the Thai food market

Papa T’s shopping find of the day-a new do-rag to protect his bald head from the sun:)

We have been having such an amazing time with my mama and dad. We still have so many more fun days ahead. I can’t wait to make more memories with them!

happy news

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in chelsea's thoughts, extended family, grandparents, world travel

≈ 16 Comments

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:::Thanks to all of you, we sold over 100 anklets for Quinn! I can’t wait for the rest of the checks to come in to tell you the total amount we raised! I bought the nice Thai man out of his anklets, at the night market, the other day:) He ordered me more, and they will be in on Friday. I have already mailed out 30 packages, the rest will be mailed out this Saturday. I sent my sister’s to her 2 weeks ago, and she already got it. I hope they get to everyone in that same time frame!

I snapped a picture of this cute chubby Thai baby with her anklets so you can see how cute they look:)

if you missed out on the fundraiser, but still want an anklet, just email me. I will know on Friday for sure, but I may have some extras. (jarrettandchelsea@gmail.com)

:::Jarrett has 6 more weeks on his teaching contract, but no more classes! So we get to explore some more around this part of Thailand. We, of course, are heading to the beach-woohoo! We found a house to rent for the next month on the island of Koh Phangan. We visited there a couple months ago and we are so excited to go back and have more time to see it all.

:::To make it even better something soooo amazing is coming our way in 4 weeks:) Nana and Papa T!! My parents are coming out to visit us here in Thailand. We have been planning on seeing them ever since Trek died, but things kept not working out. Mainly, we kept moving all over Thailand. We were going to go visit them, and the rest of our friends and family, in March, but we postponed our trip so we could be there for my sister’s birth in August. So my parents decided to come see us  in the mean time:) They booked their tickets yesterday. It was the best email ever to see their itinerary! They will be the first family we have seen since we left Hawaii last June. I am so, so happy.

The last time we saw Nana, we had Trek with us:(

I can’t wait to see you mama and daddy!

:::And last, the amazing yoga instructor, that taught the boys yoga and meditation when we were in Nicaragua, made a really sweet post about our family on her website. Thank you so much Grace, you were a light on our journey with Peyton, Conner, and Trek.

A Continual Story of Courage by Chelsea Ingram

Peyton and Conner having fun learning yoga from Grace

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

hehe, that smile melts my heart everytime:)