Our New Home

Brad and I moved into our new home today. We closed yesterday and spent the night on an air mattress, it was super fun, ha ha.
We had some wonderful people that helped us today. Rick and Vicky, Brad's aunt and uncle came up from Colorado Springs; my parents came up from Lakewood; Carrie, a co-worker of mine came in from Eaton; Sarah and Jay came from Greeley and Brad's parents from Windsor. We got a lot done in pretty quick order I think. We had everything out of our 10 foot by 25 foot storage unit by noon and in the house. While the boys went back on the 2nd trip for the big bedroom furniture us girls started working in the kitchen. I must say us girls are more efficient than the boys. The ladies (with the exception of me) got that kitchen cleaned really quickly; then all of us girls got the kitchen boxes unloaded and put away in short order.
I am very grateful though to the men that did all the really heavy lifting. I did not want to have to move any of that stuff.
I do have to tell a cute little story though, Aiden (Sarah and Jay's son) and Quirt (Carrie's son) we helping us take things off of the moving truck and into the house. When we got to the part where we needed to get the boxes from the "attic" we needed someone to push them more to the front. I put Aiden and Quirt up there and they pushed the boxes forward so we could reach them. They were great little helpers. They also helped test out the house for kid friendliness.
I will post pictures as we get room settled so those of you that can't make it up here can see our new home.
Thank you to everyone that helped today. We really appreciate it.

1st move

We have officially moved out of the condo. We are now living with Brad's parents, Steve and Gail, for the next 3 weeks unless we can close early. The condo isn't completely empty but about 90-95% done. So for the next 3 days I'll be visiting Greeley to pack the kitchen, master bath and the other delicate stuff that we have to move. Brad will have to come and spackle the holes and then go back and paint them. That's our deal as of now any way.
Thank you to our parents and our friend Jay for helping us move all of our BIG furniture!

Our New House!!!!

Brad and I put an offer on a home in Windsor and it got accepted so now we are under contract!! It is a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with a lovely kitchen, dining and living area. It also has a 3 car garage for our morotcycles!!! As of right now we are supposed to close on August 14th but we're hoping to move that up since we have to be out of the condo by July 31st.

We had our inspection today and it went pretty well. Our inspector, Jon from I.D. Inspectors, was great. He really took the time to talk us through everything which is nice since we're 1st time homeowners. The most significant thing he found was a small gas leak on the water heater.

Anyway, the inspection went well and we're moving forward with the purchase of our home!!

LIfe back in Colorado

So we've been back in Colorado for almost 4 weeks and it has been busy. We will officially be landlords as of August 1st. So, that means Brad and I have been house hunting and packing the house up so we can be out of the condo by July 31st while both working. Brad started his new job on June 22nd and I am working 6 hours a week in Eaton for the summer.

We have looked at a lot of different houses in Eaton, Severance and Windsor. We haven't written an offer yet but we are pretty sure we are ready to write on a home in Windsor. We are very excited to be starting yet another chapter of our lives together.

Final 3 nights in Thailand

For the last 3 nights in Thailand we stayed in Phuket at Indigo Pearl. When we pulled up it was wierd because there were guards that walked around the taxi with the mirrors that look under the car, like we were on a military base or something. Then we were taken to our room by golf cart while a 2nd cart was needed just for our luggage. The building the room was in wasn't all that impressive, I was beginning to wonder about where we were staying. But once we walked inside, we knew we were at a beautiful hotel. We had a private salt water pool and they even set it up for our honeymoon.

While we were on Nai Yang beach we ate dinner on the beach, got 3 massages (1 was 2 hours), and went scuba diving. While we were scuba diving Brad pointed out an octopus to me and I saw an eel swimming between 2 areas of coral so I got to watch him for longer than I've ever seen an eel out in the open. For our last meal in Thailand we ate at one of the hotel's restaurants, The Rivit. It had such a cool atmosphere. We were the only 2 people in the whole restaurant so the service was phenomenal. They filled our water constantly, used white gloves when they came to reset our utensils or switch out for different knives.

Nai Yang was nice and quiet and we could walk everywhere. There weren't any stores, but after all the shopping in Chiang Mai that is probably a good thing. This was a beautiful way to end our honeymoon.

From the time we left our last hotel, Indigo Pearl, until we arrived at our front door, travel time was 40 hours and 14 minutes. 40 hours included a 9 hour layover in Tokyo and a 6 hour lay over in L.A. Needless to say, Brad and I were spent and it was straight to sleep for us.

A wonderful honeymoon to start our lives together.

Wednesday in Chiang Mai

Tuesday night when Joe dropped us off he said again that we could wait to pay him until he dropped us off at the airport on Thursday. He was so trusting, so different than here in the States.

Wednesday morning Joe picked us up again and off we went to the factories in the area. We stopped at a silk factory, jade factory, teak factory, silver factory, and jewelry factory. The silk factory was the most informative. First they silk worms are in a tray where they eat as much as possible, then they make they're cacoons, and then the cacoons are boiled to get the fibers off the cacoons. While the cacoons are being boiled the fibers are wound together into silk thread then they use looms to make the fabric. The teak factory was the most dangerous for us, we ended up buying a bar that should be here in late July.

We visited multiple temples. They were very neat to see but Brad and I both felt awkward because we don't understand the Budhist religion and didn't know what the rules were.

We enjoyed our day but were ready for dinner on our way back into town, again we went with Joe's suggestion and it was wonderful. We headed back to the night market after dinner and a massage and finished up our shopping. For the little amount of shopping we did in all our other stops, we sure made up for that in Chiang Mai. We decided to take a tuk tuk back to the hotel because we just had too much to carry back by hand.

Thursday morning it was time to head to the airport with Joe. We got to the airport and headed back to Phuket with 4 suitcases when we arrived with only 2, plus we had shipped 2 boxes home. Like I said, we did a lot of shopping.

Continuation of Chiang Mai

First of all, sorry it's been so long since we've posted.

When we arrived in Chiang Mai I told Brad we needed to get a taxi meter because I didn't want to end up in a mystery car like we did in Bangkok. That's how we found Joe, he spoke English and had a SUV which we needed for all of our luggage. On our way to our hotel, he asked what we had in mind for outings while in Chiang Mai. We chatted and he just seemed really nice so we decided we would have him take us to the Elephant camp Tuesday. Joe is very trusting because he said we could pay him at the end of Tuesday for both the ride from the airport and all day Tuesday. After Joe dropped us off Brad and I walked towards the night market area just to see what we were in for later that night. We had dinner at a German restaurant and then went for a massage before actually heading our for a fun evening of shopping. We shopped until after midnight and then headed back to the hotel, there was so much to see and so much to buy.

Tuesday morning came early and we were off with Joe to the elephant camp. There were maybe 2 or 3 other families at the elephant camp so we had a lot of time with the elephants without having to wait. First we got to see the 2 youngest elephants with their moms and feed them sugar cane and bananas. They were so cute! Then we went to the elephant show where the elephants showed us their parade, sat down and said "sawadeekaa" which is hello, played soccer, showed us how elephants help Thai people with clearing the forests, how to get their caretakers on and off of the elephants and last but not least, watched Suda paint a picture with her trunk. We had to buy the painting, how cool is it to say you have the painting you watched her paint. After the elephant show we went for our elephant ride, we sat on the chair on the elephant's back and the trainer sat on the neck. We even had a baby following next to her mom on our trek, sooo cute! After our trek we rode in an ox cart with an English man and his 2 sons back up to the main part of the park. The younger of the 2 sons even got to drive the ox cart for a while, I think I thought that was cuter than Brad did. After the ox carts was lunch (well really lunch was after buying a disposable camera because the battery died on our camera), a Thai buffet, very good. Brad had these colorful jelly balls with coconut milk, although he said the jelly balls had no flavor, they did look pretty. :) Then it was time for the bamboo raft ride. Brad and I were the first ones to get on our raft so we were alone except for our raft captains. It was not anything like rafting here in Colorado. On the way back from the elephant park we stopped at a monkey show, to see the hilltop tribe of the long necks, and at Tiger Kingdom where we ended up meeting 2 month old tigers,
4 month old lions,
8 month old tigers,
and 14 month old tigers.

Brad and I ended our Tuesday with dinner at a restaurant suggested by Joe and another long evening of shopping.

Chiang Mai

Today's blog is going to be a quick one. We're at an Internet cafe across from the hotel.
We have done a lot while we have been here. We have a great cab driver named Joe and he has taken us to wonderful places and delicious restaurants. We have been on an elephant trek, rode ox carts, went bamboo rafting, watched a monkey show, had 2 month old tigers and 4 month old lions in our laps, laid on 14 month old and 8 month old tigers, visited teak, jewelry, jade and silk factories and 3 Buddhist temples. Oh and shopping every night, LOTS of shopping. I will write more and add pictures next time I can get the internet in our room.

Koh Samui

We arrived in Koh Samui on Thursday afternoon after a short flight and luckily no rain. The weather in Koh Samui has been beautiful since we arrived. Kat, a friend of the Budner family, takes care of the villas we are staying in and has been wonderful about taking us out and showing us some wonderful and some hilarious parts of the island. Thursday she picked us up, showed us Chawang beach and Lamai beach then took us to our villa so we could get settled. Our villa is beautiful and has an even better view. Friday Kat took us around the island so we could see the sunset from the west side of the island and then we stopped in Chawang for dinner and a cabaret show. We ate Mexican food, Brad thinks it is too funny that we come all the way to Thailand and I crave Mexican, but I did. The chips and salsa and nachos hit the spot. The cabaret show was really funny. It consisted of Thailand's legendary lady-boys lip syncing to all kinds of songs. Brad also made an English friend that night who was guessing whether the people on stage were men, women or lady-boys, he was wrong on more than 1 occasion. After the cabaret show we went to a club with Kat, she wanted to go dancing, we don't dance but thought it would be interesting to see the differences between American and Thai clubs. Both Brad and I found ourselves doing a lot of people watching and guessing at who were women and who were lady-boys; I still have no idea how to really tell. Saturday was a relaxing day, we walked down the VERY steep hill to the main road and then walked some more until we finally gave in and rented 2 motorbikes (or as we say in the states, scooters). We motored on to lunch and then to a massage before heading back up the hill so we could go to the Jungle Club for dinner. The Jungle Club has a phenomenal view of both the city and the ocean, it was awesome. We had barbeque for dinner, Brad had seafood and I had meat. The plates were enormous and while Brad ate a lot he said it wasn’t as heavy as mine. My plate had a chicken breast, 4 or 5 pieces of steak (prime rib maybe- I don’t know my steak), a pork rib, a sausage and potato salad! On a good night at home I can eat a chicken breast and a small side, how in the world was I supposed to eat all that meat by myself?! In the end we ended up bringing a good meal back to the room. We didn’t get to stay long after that though because my stomach was not doing well and I was shaking all over. I came back to the villa and went to sleep. Brad and I decided to see if I could go play today by testing my ability to go down to breakfast. I was able to eat my breakfast but walking anywhere still made me shaky so I had Brad bring me back to the villa and he went off on his scooter around the island. He went all the way around the island going up random roads just to see where they went and around the beaches to see where a good place to go would be. He came back in the early afternoon and persuaded me to go to the beach, I did okay but didn’t feel comfortable walking too far. The beach, Lamai beach, was beautiful. The water was sooooo nice and calm, I wish I had been feeling better so we could have played in the water more. I am not feeling shaky anymore but I am still weak, I should do better after the wonderful meal Kat is planning on making for us tonight. Next stop, Chiang Mai!

Railay Pictures

View from Our Resort
Little Monkey Family :)

Mama and baby

Brad and I in our new funny hats

A monkey getting the banana

Railay Bay

Bear with me this is a longer blog since we didn't have internet in our room.
Railay bay is beautiful. The water is so warm. The water is all different colors depending on how the sun hits it and the sunsets are pretty cool too. There are mountains here but you have to be a rock climber to be able to go up them. The mountains have stalactites hanging down from all over. The rock is different colors and it’s neat to see all the colors mixed together in such beautiful swirls and patterns. Everything is so green around here too. There are only a handful of restaurants here and all but 1 of those is resort restaurants. The other one, Flametree Restaurant, is in “Downtown Railay.” Downtown Railay is really just a little strip with shops on either side, probably about 10 shops in the whole area. When we got here we had to transfer from the big boat (there were probably 30 people on it) onto a long tail boat to come into the bay. That was interesting because we had packed into 2 bags. The large suitcase had the 2 smaller suitcases inside of it as well as all of Brad’s clothes and the backpack had all of my clothes and the swimming stuff. The suitcase was HEAVY; it took Brad and a Thai guy just to lift it to its next destination. Then when we finally landed on Railay, we landed on the east side and had to get to the west side. It’s not that far of a walk…when you know where you are going. There were no signs telling us which way to go to get to our resort so we just followed other people who sounded like they knew what they were doing. We did make it to our resort but not before we were soaked from the humidity. We immediately got into our swimsuits and hit the pool, then the ocean. During our stay here we have eaten at all the restaurants except the ones at the really nice resort, you have to dress up to go there and we didn’t bring any appropriate clothes, and when the rooms start at $500 a night we figured the food wouldn’t be the most affordable either. We have tried to go sunset snorkeling twice and would have tried a third time but the weather Tuesday morning and night as well as all day Wednesday was too much for the boats to be able to come and get us and both of our trips were canceled. Then we were going to kayak but again the weather decided it had other plans, if it hadn’t been for the lightning we would have gone out, even in the rain. So, I finished my third book during the trip and am now on my last one so I’m trying not to read too much. We went to a different beach yesterday, it is really probably the expensive resort’s beach but there were a lot of other people there too. On our way from the path out onto the beach Brad was showing me a map of the bay and when I looked up I saw a tail hanging down and then more tails, we were watching the monkeys come out of the mountains onto the beach for their afternoon snack. There were people selling bananas so that we tourists could feed the monkeys, we bought two. Brad and I each fed the monkeys and Brad even got one to climb in his lap for the banana but I didn’t have the camera ready and missed the shot. They were so cute, there were 3 tiny little baby monkeys clinging to mommy’s tummy and some adolescent looking monkeys and then the adult monkeys. It was so cool to see them so close and to feel them climbing on you to get a banana. In the rain Brad and I have done a lot of reading, in a little napping and played a couple games of cards, score is 5 to 3, I’m winning. So we’re leaving here tomorrow to head to Koh Samui. We leave at 11am so hopefully the rain will keep itself in check until we are dryly in the airport, if today is any indication though, we’ll be soaked through before we get anywhere near the airport. Ta ta for now!

Last Day in Phuket

Sunset Viewpoint

Elephant outside Dino Park

A stop on our way to Sunset Viewpoint

In the pool at Aspasia

Today was our last day in Phuket on Kata Beach. We left early this morning and went to Laem Sing beach like I had said yesterday. It was a beautiful day for the beach, the sun was hot so the water felt good...that is until the waves knocked you over and you got pulled underwater. The waves were pretty darn big, not pipeline Hawaii big, but definitly big enough to get yourself in trouble if you weren't careful. We were the first visitors to the beach this morning and it took about another 15-20 minutes for anyone else to show up. When we left the beach was busier but not crowded. I even got a massage right there on the beach. It was a great day at the beach, I even finished my 2nd book of the trip!

Everyone here is so nice and polite. I was told by someone that women are not treated well here or anywhere in Asia. Well, I have encountered no such attitudes. They talk to Brad and I equally and are more than willing to help either of us if we look like we need something. For my first trip to Asia, I am impressed with the hospitality of the locals. We managed to have the same tuk-tuk driver our entire stay in Kata and he was so nice, he took us where ever we wanted to go even if it meant 3 or 4 stops on the way to our final destination. He was just so cute.

Well, I told you I'd attach more pictures so here you are.

Honeymoon Day 9

Brad and I are just amazed by how empty everything is here. Everywhere we go locals tell us how no one is here, how slow business is, etc. Our tailor (yes we're having some custom clothes made) told us tonight that he charged us about half what he charges during high season. It is just so funny. We were told we would be lucky to get chairs on the beach and there has been only a few chairs taken at any given time of day so far. When we first got to the beach Wednesday morning we were one of two couples on the beach, when we left there were maybe 10 couples within about 1/2 a mile I would say. There is another young couple staying at our resort and we see them everywhere it seems. We saw them at dinner last night, outside the tailor tonight as well as at dinner tonight. You just don't think you would see the same couple everywhere you go when you're trying to find different things but some how, there they are.

Today we had a lazy start. We woke about 6 again, (which is really irritating me, we never get up that early) and just read for a while. It was raining pretty good most of the morning. I think Brad was kind of bored because he began making random noises and saying Thai words he's heard here whenever he felt like it. I do have to admit, he makes me laugh. Around noon we headed out for some food, we ate at a little local place not to far from our hotel. Local food is pretty darn good and the menus seem endless at most places. Then we came back to the hotel and played in the pools for a few hours. After that we had a tuk-tuk take us to a few view points to watch the sunset; it was very pretty. Then we came back to Kata beach and had dinner at this Italian place, I had some bruschetta and aglio olio, they were great, Brad had the devil's pizza and said it was pretty darn good. We wandered a little more through the shops then headed back. All in all, it might have started slow but it was a very enjoyable day.

Tomorrow we are going to Laem Sing beach which is supposed to be spectacular. I will upload more pictures tomorrow!

Honeymoon Pictures- Aspasia

Kata Beach

Brad on Kata Beach

View from our balcony at Aspasia

Honeymoon day 7

Today was our first full day in Phuket. We woke up at 6:30am (WAY to early) and got ready for breakfast and the beach. We went down to Kata beach and just relaxed for a while. Brad walked the entire beach and I read. We stayed there until about noon and then came back up to the room to get ready to go into town. We had a tuk-tuk take us to Patong beach for shopping. While we were in Patong we got our first Thai massage. I had a woman and Brad was lucky enough to have a lady man give him his massage. Evidently, this is not the first time Brad has been lucky enough to have a lady man as his masseuse. We had a lovely dinner in Patong and brought our tuk-tuk back to Aspasia. It is beautiful here.

Honeymoon Day 6

We landed in Phuket Thailand today! We have been on airplanes so much that when we got off I still felt like I was on a plane or a boat bobbing and floating kind of. We checked in to our beautiful hotel and are just trying to get adjusted to the time change. It is 5:27pm on Tuesday May 19th here while it's 4:27am on the 19th back in Colorado, just a bit of a change. I will load pictures onto the blog when we connect our camera.

Hawaii was beautiful. It was a quick 3 nights but great to see my parents, sister and cousin. As I said in my 1st post, my sister graduated from the University of Hawaii on Saturday. It was in the basketball arena and there were a ton of graduates. They have a cool tradition, after graduation all graduates have leis placed on them by friends and family to say congratulations. Caitlyn, my sister, got quite a few but other native graduates had so many you could barely see their eyes. It was fun. While we where in Hawaii Caitlyn took us all out to Sunset beach which is where pipeline is. It is definitely a beautiful beach, we had to imaging the crazy waves because it is low season now. Brad and I had dinner with a college friend of his Friday night and it was good to catch up and eat some real local food. On Saturday after graduation and a vegetarian lunch, we went to Waikiki to play and swim. It was also beautiful but a lot more crowded than Sunset. Honolulu is definitely a beautiful place with lots to do, we'll have to go back sometime in the near future.

Honeymoon Day 1

It's Thursday morning and Brad and I are finally all packed and getting ready to head to the airport. We are getting to Honolulu tonight to help my sister, Caitlyn, celebrate her graduation from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Check back for updates throughout the next 3 and a 1/2 weeks!!!!!