Porter's Birthday!

Porter turned 3 this year! We had a little birthday party for him right before we left on our trip because we actually flew out on his birthday. We just had a bunch of family over (meaning the Snows, Trent and Jess, and Janiece and Connor)

 I tried out a new pinterest trick and made a Buzz Lightyear cake. Porter thought that was pretty exciting.

 So here is a funny story... We bought this game for Porter for his birthday. He opened it and the kids played it and it was the dumbest game ever. So, Toby told Porter that the game was broken and took it back. Haha. Good thing he got other presents that he really liked and totally forgot about it. 

We really love this little redhead in our family.

Zeke's Birthday Party

Zeke's birthday is in October, but this year we decided to let him have a combined birthday party with his best friend Jakob. Jokob's birthday is the end of August so we had the party before we left for our trip. We set up this huge plastic, covered it with soap, put a hose on it and let the kids go at it. They loved the huge slip n slide down the hill.

 Porter thought that the food was especially delicious. They had kid sized chips and soda. He didn't spend very much time in the water.

 The group here for the fun. Including Sammy who broke his femur and was really bummed that he couldn't play in the water.

 Jakob and Zeke blowing out their candles.

 Present madness. Zeke was definitely spoiled by all of his friend.

At the end, all the kids got to take a balloon from the decorations and release it.  As for a first friend birthday party for the Landers, it went great. The Snow's did most of the work, but hey, we'll take some credit.

Catch up....

I know I just posted about our trip that ended in October, and it is now January, but I need to go back and get all caught up on what we have been up to. Starting with September...

We had a great date night with our friends the Snows and Colvins. We went to the shooting range to try out a few new guns.

 Toby looks surprised about something... maybe that he actually hit the target. Yeah right, he's a good shot.

 Trisha and Aaron. They were trying to decide which gun they wanted to eventually own.

 Trisha and Kristin. So cute and such good friends.

Yeah, that's me with the big one. I did pretty well too. We had a great time and are glad we have such good friends to go do stuff with.

Thailand part 2

The next day we took a tour. We visited the emerald pools, a hot spring and on an elephant ride. Don't ask me why we didn't wear our swimming suits. We're just weird I guess. I couldn't stay out of water that pretty anyway so I was just wet for the day. It really didn't matter because it was so hot.

The elephant ride was definitely the highlight. It's the thing that Zeke talks about the most. Our guides were great and pulled the boys out and let them ride on the elephant's heads. We went up this muddy crazy hill and then back down the other side. I seriously didn't know if we were going to make it down. We were holding on for dear life!

Then our guides took us back in by these caves and took some pictures for us. It was a great ride. I loved it.

Sunsets on the beach were amazing. The boys were in the water every spare moment that we had and swam until it was too dark to see anymore. We were sad to leave the beach and the boys are already begging to go back to the ocean.

We had the most amazing trip ever. We were so lucky to be able to take our boys on such an amazing adventure. They got to spend lots of time with their Grandma and Grandpa and found out that they have a lot of fun playing together. They informed me, however, that they don't want to go on another airplane for a really long time.

Thailand part 1

We flew into Thailand on October 1st which also happened to be on Zeke's birthday! We had a great donut hole "cake" and opened a present of an elephant puppet that Grandma and Grandpa got in Myanmar and that Grandma was so gracious to play with. The kids were enthralled and talked and talked to the elephant like it was real. It was so funny.

We stayed in the Krabi area on Railay beach. The kids thought it was great to be staying right next to the ocean. We rented a house from the Railei Beach Club which was right up against the limestone cliffs and about 100 feet from the beach.

We rented a longboat and headed out to go snorkeling. For some reason it was impossible to find a snorkel that fit Zeke so we got him these nice goggles and called it good. He was surprisingly good at holding his breath and swimming around to find the fish. He only got out of the water (after almost 4 hours) because his life jacket had rubbed the back of his neck raw from lifting his head out of the water so much. Porter even put some goggles on and looked at the fish. He mostly just liked floating around in the water or sitting on my legs to have me pull him around while I snorkeled. It was a blast and probably Zeke's favorite thing.

We also went rock climbing on the famous limestone cliffs there. Zeke decided he wanted to go as well. He got pretty good at climbing up that rock. They had the perfect routes from beginner climbers to expert.

He got really scared on this one for no real reason at all. Another kid before him went and got scared so Zeke decided that must be the thing to do. The guide had to climb up and bring him down again.

Toby and I also got a chance to do some rock climbing. It was exhausting, but so fun. The routes I went on pushed me to my limit. I fell more than a few times but always made it to the top. (except the last one but that was the hardest one and I was just too tired!)

Toby practically ran to the top of each route. He didn't want to go on any harder ones though because he really doesn't like falling off. He never fell the entire time.

Myanmar part 6

Kakku and back to Yangon

We decided to take a drive out to visit Kakku. It is amazing! Seriously! Check out that place. We had to be rushed away because we were having too much fun exploring this amazing place. We also hired a couple local PaO guides. Susu was the main one and the other was training. Susu was so cute because she kept telling us jokes that she had learned.

 

We came back to our hotel on Inle lake and were treated to an evening of local dancing and performing. The kids loved it and at the end were able to get up and join the fun.

  

 Our last day in Myanmar was spent shopping at Scott's market and visiting some of the places from the first day that we were too tired to enjoy. If you look closely, you can see Porter sitting in front of this laying down Buddha. It was soooo huge!

  

We finished up by visiting Shwedegon in the evening to see it with all it's lights on. Toby and his mom had a great time playing around with their cameras.

Myanmar part 5

Pindaya and Inle Lake

On our drive to Pindaya, our guide had me convinced that the cave was full of big fist sized spiders. Seriously, I totally fell for it. There is a whole story that goes with the cave about a giant spider and an archer that killed it. Luckily, this is the only spider I encountered.

We did, however, find lots and lots of Buddha statues. The cave is filled with about 8000 of them. They even have a section called "the maze" because you can't see where you are going and weaves around into different dead ends. Our favorite discovery was the tiny little crawl space that let into a tiny meditation cavern. The whole time the boys ran around trying to find another "secret passage way".

Inle Lake was the next on the agenda. We visited many of the local shops. This woman is checking the silk thread to make sure none of it had broken. They say she walks several miles a day going back and forth.

These gold blobs are actually Buddha statue completely covered with inches of gold leaf. There is a great story about how they came reside here. Inle lake is a huge lake community with people living on the lake in stilted houses. They were bringing the Buddhas here in a canoe and a storm came and one was lost, but somehow mysteriously made it on it's own.

We visited a shop with 3 Padaung or long neck women. They showed their rings to us and some of their weaving.

We stayed in a hotel right in the middle of the lake. The staff were so friendly and always had people waiting for us whenever we arrived.

This is how we got around the lake to visit all the different places.

A local fisherman showing us how to catch some fish. They have the most amazing balance.

The people on Inle lake are famous for their leg rowing. They stand at the front of their canoes and row using one arm and one leg. It really is so amazing to watch.

Somehow living in the middle of the lake didn't stop these people from being industrious. They have a large floating garden for tomatoes. They use seaweed to grow it and grow enough to export to the rest of the country.

The boys loved running around at night looking for lizard. They would flick them off the lights into the water and listen to them swim back to the wood.