The resort we are staying at is beautiful. We have enjoyed the food, the beautiful spacious rooms looking over a nice pool, and of course, the beach. The beauty of it all really is amazing.
It is also quite an experience to ride or walk through the little town on the island that has poverty mixed with the usual tourist fare. Animals and people roam pretty freely through the "streets," and we make a bit of a spectacle as a party of eight white people - four of whom are small children. Yesterday afternoon after riding a ferry over from the mainland we ate lunch and spent time on the beach all afternoon.
While we have been here, we have been enjoying Magnum bars, sometimes a couple of times a day. Here is Lily sharing her's with Bella by the pool.
We've really enjoyed trying different kinds of fruit - including this sort of hairy one. I don't know the name of it, but it was way more trouble than it was worth to eat very often.
Today we hung out at the beach in the morning again. The girls only partially enjoyed being in this boat - actually, Bella hated it, mainly because of waves like the one pictured.
Family beach picture with typical strange or blank faces on our children.
People walk up and down the beach selling fruit or cooking chicken and corn on the cob for you right there on the spot, so we used several of these people to create a delicious lunch today. Bella ate literally about 10 mini bananas by herself, and I found myself wishing that someone would always cut up a fresh mango for me. A couple of other people were out doing metal detecting. I wish I had gotten a picture of one of them who was basically wearing a ski mask. He came over to talk to Bella, which scared her to death.
This evening we went to a different beach to comb for seashells, which the kiddos loved.
I caught this moment right before she lifted up her dress to access her belly button again. Check out the massive purple-ish bump on her forehead from when she fell on the pool bar. Poor thing.
Say, "Sisters sharing seashells" five times fast.
We are having a wonderful and rich time with the Benno family, which is such a blessing.
We had dinner right there on the beach, and when Bella started fussing, the staff brought over a ceramic monkey for her to play with, since that is a great idea for kids. The kids had a great time playing with them, until one got broken. Thankfully, everyone has been so gracious with all the children, and they were not concerned about it at all.
The sunset was a sight to behold.
Tomorrow we will fly out of Thailand to continue our trip here in Asia. What an adventure it has been so far. We are so thankful for the prayers and looking forward to the rest of our trip, which will bring a whole different feeling along with it. Please pray that the Lord will be magnified in our lives as we continue this journey.