Sunday, December 31, 2006

More Koh Lanta Pictures

We have been having an extremely relaxing time in Koh Lanta. I would have to say that this island is definitely set up for just lounging around and catching up on a good book or spending quality time with your family. I think this is probably the most relaxing vacation we have ever been on.

We have also made some new friends and also had the chance to hang out with some of our friends from Chengdu. Asma and Mazher were in Koh Lanta for about 5 days for the Christmas break. Asma volunteers at Gemma's school adn Mazher works with Jonny. Both of them absolutely love kids and Angus had a great time playing in the sand with them.

asma_angus_mazher_1

On Christmas Eve we met a couple with their son visiting Koh Lanta for Christmas. The son is working in Bangkok and the parents live in England. The wife is originally from Ireland and we enjoyed their company on more than one occasion. We were even lucky enough to get an invite to see them in England. Little do they know we may take them up on their offer!

john_jonny_angela_1

Jonny with John and Angela.

We seemed to get into a routine every day. We would wake up and head to breakfast, the kids went to play on the beach while we finished our breakfast, then we joined them. One of the days Jonny and Gemma pretended she was Dora the Explorer and dug a hole and put a treasure in it. Jonny then made a trail for Gemma to find the buried treasure.

gemma_jonny_treasure_1

Here is Gemma discovering her treasure!

After our time at the beach we would go back to the room get ready and spend the morning at the pool. Here are some of the photos of the kids at the pool.

gemma_angus_lounging_1

Gemma and Angus lounging in the chairs.

gemma_pool_standing_1

Gemma standing at the negative edge of the pool.

kim_kids_pool_1

Me and the kids goofing around!

jonny_gemma_rugby_ball_1

Jonny and Gemma playing a little water rugby!

angus_jonny_one_hand

Jonny and Angus doing a bit of acrobatics. Note: Angus doesn't have armbands on!

One of the most exciting things of this holiday was Angus can swim by himself! About 3 days ago we went to the pool in the morning and Angus decided he couldn't wait to get in the water and went in and jumped in. He immediately turned around, started kicking arms and legs and swam to the edge. We were shocked! We couldn't believe he was already able to do this. We are sure it is all the encouragement given to him by his sister. Here is a little clip of his new talent!

Also in the swimming department Gemma's swimming has really improved. She is now diving into the water, swimming at the bottom of the pool, doing acrobatics like somersaults and backward somersauts. It is so great to see her love the water and improve so quickly. It has really done wonders for her confidence!

One of the evenings we decided to walk down the beach for dinner. We found these beachside restaurants with boats in the front of them filled with fresh fish and seafood. We couldn't resist and stopped at this place for some white snapper, jumbo prawns, and king mackerel.

fish_1

The food was amazing! I have never had such good seafood, but how can you beat stuff right out of the ocean!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great job Angus!!!! You are so cute!!! and Kim, I love Gemma's haircut!
*Happy New Year!*

Anonymous said...

You all look like you are having a great time. The seafood sounds great. Angus has made vast improvements in his swimming since this past summer. Happy New Year.

Anonymous said...

What a great little swimmer! Swimkids would be proud. Both Cayman and Jagger are both still there. Hope you guys got our x-mas card I sent it at the beginning of dec.

Anonymous said...

Your Thailand trip sounds wonderful. We did a "middelandszee" (Mediterranean) cruise for Xmas, so got to visit Rome and Athens and the Pyramids.)It looks like we are definitely moving to Taiwan in October or November after our year in the Netherlands. Once it gets a bit closer I'll definitely be asking you for tips on adjusting to Asia.

Paula from the AZ S'n'B

Anonymous said...

Update. (:
Miss you.