Beth's Visit

Beth and Cara

Beth and Isabelle

Play Time

Gabby and Guide-Mama Beth

Bad Chinese Translation- Gotta love these

Travis and his girls

The Tebo Family Great Wall Pic

Old Summer Palace Ruins

I wanted to get some pictures on the blog of our visit with Beth...

We went to the Old Summer Palace and the Lakeside Great Wall and pretty much just hung out. Both were really good visits and the weather was awesome...  I tried to get done early at work as much as I could...  Highlights were just talking and catching-up on the couch and getting massages. I'm pretty easy. plus, we found this new yummy burger place, which was expensive but tasty. The day after beth left, Gabby told me she was sad that she was gone... I think a good dose of Beth Zarling is what the family needed to get through the rest of the months. THANK YOU TRAVIS TEBO!

Easter 2012

A lovely decorated Easter egg

Taylor, Gabriella, and Reagan

Westin Brunch

Showing off her Easter eggs!

Easter baskets!

Going through their loot...

Easter bunny was very generous this year...

Lots of GF candy, board games, Littlest Pet Shop, Books!

Littlest Pet Shop Eggs

Playing the, "Lady Bug Game"

My baby girls! Love them!

Easter Bunny

He was passing-out bunny ears at the brunch

Smile!

Easter 2012 was awesome!!! The Easter bunny brought yummy treats from the US and fun toys for the girls. He hid the baskets and Gabby had a good time finding hers... After we played with the new toys and board games- Travis, me, and Gabby went to the Westin brunch. IT WAS AMAZING! They food was incrediable and there was a dessert room. yes, a room with only dessert. Loved that! It really was like a big Easter party because they passed out bunny ears and there was live music... The best part was the kid's play area. They had arts and crafts, games, and they even had an Easter egg hunt. There were some friends from school so Gabby had people to play with, so she was totally entertained. Isabelle stayed home with the ayi. We met-up with our friend, Ashleigh and her family (visiting from the States), and our friend, Velora, came as well. Great weather, good conversation and food... A very fun Easter!

Cara's Big Surprise

I have the best husband ever... knowing that I was missing my friend, he flew my BFF to Beijing and completely surprised me! Not just surprise- I'm talking shock. You can check-out the video here. Please note that I was just coming back from a day of traveling (we just got back from Thailand) and I'm keepin' it real with no make-up... It also hapens to be "April Fool's Day." What's funny to me is that Gabby calls me out on saying "Oh my gawd!" But doesn't say a thing when I say s*it. We wont be seeing the Zarlings very much because they're moving to Trinidad and Tobago and wont be back for X-mas break, which is another reason why Travis flew Beth out... It was a great visit and now I'm all sad again... Until this summer!

We Heart Bangkok, Thailand

I think Travis and I would move here in a heartbeat if there were jobs... We just love it here...

As I mentioned previously, we're staying at the Shangri-La Hotel. It totally rocks. There's a beautiful pool with loads of comfy poolside chairs and it's right by the sky train stop. The executive chef, Frank (Aussie guy), has totally taken care of Gabriella and her diet. She even had a yummy Thai curry that the chef said was gluten free. This is a huge relief for me because she'd be eating a lot of eggs, fresh fruit and veggies, and rice- if we didn't have this option. The buffet in the morning is the absolute best in the world!

After conferences, we went to a fancy aquarium at a high-priced mall. It was actually pretty cool and nice to get out of the humidity. They had loads of western restaurants, so we decided to go to Tony Roma's. Pretty random, right? Are those even around in Washington anymore? It wasn't that great but there was a Cinnabon there and that was a nice super yummy treat. We met up with Toby and Debbie's friends from Dubai who are super awesome too (Jennifer, Isaac, and Julie) at this hole in the wall down the street from our hotel. The food was amazing and not super greasy. Needless to say, I've been getting my Phad Thai and mango sticky rice fix.

On our last day, we had loads of swimming time and I went to a conference. A thunderstorm interrupted some pool time but at least we got some packing done. All in all, a wonderful trip...

*pictures on the way

Elephant Trek

Quinn, Karissa, Karina, and Gabriella

Kids we met at Dolphin Bay

Travis took Gabriella on an Elephant Trek and they had a great time... She got to feed the elephants and obviously they rode on one too. Good times!

Hou Hin, Thailand Vacation

Gabriella- Gettin' her Snorkel On

All Ready to Go!

Isabelle... Ready to Eat

Pool at the Dolphin Bay

Gabby Playing in the Corner

Loved that Water Slide!

Beach is Just Across the Street

View of the Beach

Relaxing...

Isabelle and Mama

Time to get my roots done. Ha!

All Dressed up and Ready to Swim!

Isabelle and Caitlin

Waiting to get her her Braided

Braids!

Night Market- It was so hot!

Karissa and Gabriella- New Buddies 

Tebo Family Portrait

I love family beach vacations, and I have to say... We seriously deserved this break. We work our booties off at ISB so we needed some quality family time.

We had a driver pick us up at 4:30 am on Saturday, which means we woke up around 3:15... I know, brutal. The plane ride was uneventful... Moments of hell mixed with relief. When we got off the plane we had another driver pick us up and we drove four to five hours to a place called Hou Hin and we're staying at the Dolphin Bay Resort. I'm a bit mixed about the place. Now that I've seen awesome beaches, I'm a bit of a beach snob now.

The positives... Our room is right next door to the massage room. You know I love that! It's super cheap to stay and the street food is good. The pool is absolutely perfect for both Gabriella and Isabelle. It's clean and has a water slide and a huge pool that's not very deep. Our room has a kitchenette (a must now with G's diet) and two rooms, so we can still hang out while Isabelle either takes a nap or goes to bed. The massages are amazing and super cheap and I only have to walk next door- yay!

The negatives... The food is just so-so. I love Thai food so this was disappointing, but to be fair, we were warned. The beach is not the beautiful blue of the islands and there are a lot of broken shells so you need to be careful where you walk. Everything closes down early, so if I wanted to party with friends we'd have to hang in our room.

Since we're Tebo's, we've met some people and Gabby made a new buddy. The family we met are also also teachers and work in Japan. We went to a night market last night and Travis is taking Gabby to ride the elephants today. Loved the night market! Lots of Thai crap but I love what they sell. I bought Gabby and I a dress. Also, our friends, the Armstrongs, are here and they have kids Gabby and Isabelle's age. In fact, Jack and Gabby are in the same class. All in all, I would actually go back, mainly because it's cheap and the pool is great for my girls. Our days have pretty much consisted of pool time, eating, hanging out, massages, and more swimming. Not too shabby for a vacation. Tomorrow we leave for Bangkok. We're staying at my favorite hotel... The Shang Ri La... Aaaaawe, I just go to my happy place just thinking about it...

Tebo Girls Dancing!

I seriously cant believe how much I love these girls... Travis took video of Gabriella and Isabelle Dancing. At the start, you'll see Gabby fall down and Isabelle goes over to her and gives her a hug. That's Isabelle. She's a total sweetheart. Very loving and already showing empathy. :)