SCUBA Diving and Elephant Riding

McLeod is my hero! Here is a man who loathes swimming in lakes, oceans or rivers because it gives him the heebee-geebees to think about what's swimming in there with him. He attributes it to a few too many viewings of JAWS while spending childhood summers at Panama City Beach, FL. (Jon Bell, if you're reading this, you'll remember those marathon sessions of watching the Jaws video while eating a pot of Nanny's campfire stew.) But facing his own Fear-Factor issues, McLeod recently completed his dive cert and has since been diving off the coast of Green Island (near Taiwan) and then again on our vacation to Phuket, Thailand. YEA!!! MCLEOD!!!

The Green Island dive trip was a classic guys weekend. The menfolk roughed it on tatami mats in the rooms above the dive shop. There were no showers (really, really stinky laundry and hubby came home from this one). They sped around the island on motorscooters. They nearly boiled their skin off in a geothermal salt-water hotspring. And most importantly, they got an up-close-and-personal view of one of the oldest living coral reefs in the world. It amazes us that more of the local Taiwanese don't seem to know about the ecological wonder at their doorstep. Part of the issue may be that Green Island is like the Alcatraz of Taiwan. The now-defunct prison there was the home not only for hardened criminals but also for political prisoners at odds with the government prior to democracy. So a bit of an image problem. It also lacks much of an infrastructure for tourists, but according to diving enthusiasts, the lack of tourist traffic is part of what keeps the reef protected and a truly fantastic dive site. McLeod's friend John was able to capture some great shots that he graciously let us post for you to enjoy. By the way, that's a scooter tire in McLeod's hand, proving that motorscooters really have taken over Taiwan.

(Green Island photos © John Heinemann 2007)

Spring Break Escape to Thailand

About two weeks after McLeod's Green Island adventure, we headed to Phuket (pronounced puh-KET by those in the know, which we weren't for awhile and so were afraid to announce where we were going, lest we embarrass ourselves). I don't really remember the trip there. To be honest, we'd had a week of pouring rain, frenzied finishing of projects, and general grumpiness at our house. This seems to merge together in my mind with our 6am ride to the airport, scramble to get ourselves and our bags through check in, the change of planes in Bangkok and the general exhaustion of air travel with small children. I'm always amazed at our bag count. For this trip it amounted to 1 suitcase, 1 bag of swim/dive/snorkel gear, 1 set of golf clubs, and 3 carry-ons stuffed with toys, electronics, diapers and all the various medicines we might need (non-liquid, of course, due to airport rules). But Hallelujah, we didn't have to take the stroller!! This was our first non-stroller vacation in 5 years and somehow, that seems like a milestone.

My first technicolor memory of the trip is the ride from the Phuket airport to the Laguna Beach Resort. Bouncing along in a shuttle van, I suddenly realized the sun was shining and we were all smiling. Strangely, the ramshackle collections of buildings that interrupted the pastures and tropical forests looked exactly like the tiny rural towns we'd grown up passing on the way to the Florida panhandle all our lives. We were really going to the beach at last! This thought was interrupted by the sight of water buffaloes cooling in mud puddles and munching grass. OK, we were definitely NOT in Florida. (However, at one point on the trip, two-year-old Caroline pointed to those long-horned creatures and exclaimed, "Hey! We're in Texas!" This is the first time in the 6 months since we've moved here that I've heard her make any specific Texas remark so it was good to know she still has memories of living there.) Once we got to the hotel, we changed into bathing suits in record time and began alternating between the pool and the beach. I was still pretty keyed up from the harried week--I had squeezed 3 interviews in for some articles I'm writing on local artists which meant a whole lot of arranging babysitters, trying to get food cooked up ahead of time for everyone's dinner, plus packing for the trip. McLeod was convinced that I was having a miserable time the first two days because I was so jumpy and generally short-tempered. Honey, I promise you, I WAS having a good time--I'm just sometimes kind of like a Coke bottle that someone shook up, and it takes a bit of time to slowly release the pressure so I don't spew my contents all over everywhere. (By the way, if you read the "Random Funny Things" post, you'll see yet another reason why the pink shirt is so fitting.)

By the end of the second day, though, fortified by a 2 hour visit to the spa for some pampering, I was in vacation mode. I stopped caring what I looked like, became concerned only about things like whether I wanted my lounge chair in or out of the sun and when the 4-year old elephant who lived at the hotel was coming out for her next visit. Relaxing by the pool or walking down on the beach were the top priorities, but we also managed to squeeze in some sailing and kayaking on the lagoon, a Thai cooking class (me), diving and golf (McLeod), and several Kids' Club activities for the kids.

On the topic of elephants, we are completely enchanted by them! Anna, the hotel elephant, was a doll. She'd take bananas out of your hands to eat and then give you a big "kiss" by suctioning on your face with her trunk. Sounds kind of gross but really quite cute. Each morning she'd visit with the guests, and then her caretaker would lead her down to the beach so she could play in the waves. We also got to ride one of the adult elephants during our stay and watch them working, eating, and bathing in the lagoon. Definitely an unforgettable vacation.

General Updates
So now we are back to real life again and counting down the days until summer vacation. This week, I registered Barret for kindergarten (wow) and now we're trying to figure out some extra activities. His top choices are karate and in November, soccer. Might be fun to actually take martial arts from real Chinese instructors. We'll see. Caroline is going to continue with Saturday morning gymnastics in the fall (or "mastics" as she calls the class) and will start 2-day-a-week preschool. That's plenty for us. We like to keep lots of time open to play in the park or just do nothing. We still like having occasional "Totally Pajama Days" where we do things like watch Disney movies and eat toaster waffles at every meal. Those precious times with my babes won't always be here, so I want to savor them.

UPDATE: This video is finally working. Here's the latest of Caroline. She often walks around (or twirls around) the house singing "That's what I do. That's what I do," or her other favorite self-composed song, "I am a PRINCESS." I thought this particular version was funny because a) she mixes in "We Are the Dinosaurs" from the Laurie Berkner Band and b) her motions look like a happy version of her having a two-year-old tantrum meltdown. Even the roaring seems oddly familiar...