ELEPHANTS!

 

A Swift Night in Bangkok and on to Chiang Mai

 

Our only night in Bangkok we stayed at a nice place…. in the middle of the ghetto. It was late when we got in and being completely drained we let the little, slightly pushy, old lady at the airport send us to what looked like a swanky joint. And though it was, certainly quite fancy for the price we paid, when the shuttle picked us up and took us through some sketchy, graffiti laced- wild dog roaming areas. I thought at one point they would just stop the van and kick us out on the street, until we pulled into this gated compound-like area with a very nice hotel in the center. My favorite part was the rooftop breakfast. Our first intro to Thai food and for me, papya. Weird huh? You would think we would have had that before, but no. Very yummy.

A bus, a shuttle, and two good little travelers later… We enter Chaing Mai!

 

I’ll admit, the name “Princess Hotel” did slightly appeal to the girls. They could sit in the lobby all day long and be happy on their “princess beds.”

 

They enjoyed street side fruit shakes and lots and lots of bartering. I think Mina is a natural. Marie… likes to shop, but will need a future husband to do the bartering. Marie just loves it all!

 

The plaza across from our hotel, sharing a drink with my cuties.

Vacation of a Lifetime

Our two week vacation started off right- at the New Sanno! We just waltzed right in and they had a room open just for us. How lucky are we?

Even more convenient is that the Tokyo Temple was built in 1980 and 5 minutes down the road the New Sanno was later built in 1983. Tokyo could not have made it more awesome to attend the temple in Japan.

 

This day was especially nice because I was able to hire a sitter from the local ward to watch the girls while Brett and I went together.  Mina and Marie played with them across the street at the park. Cute as can be.

The fountain of the New Sanno. President Madsen was nice enough to take all our luggage to our next hotel- the Kanto Lodge at the Yokota Air Base. Sunday was fun to go the ward near the temple. And seeing as I am camp director I was able talk to the girls of the Tokyo 1st ward and psych them up for camp.

 

My little skirt loving cutie.

Monday morning we gathered early for roll call at Yokota and go on a free hop to Singapore! This is Mina getting comfortable. The flight was so awesome. 2 hot meals, 3 movies… and flight attendant comes around with a basket of full size candy bars. It was then I knew it was Heaven.

 

We arrived in Singapore only to try to head straight to Bangkok.

This is what we call a good omen.

 

So if you are slightly offended by my love of stereo-types, this blog is not for you. Our first lesson of Thailand was that no one believes in waiting in line. After 3 years in Japan, our minds were blown. But Brett took “care of it” and soon enough mina was on her way to Bangkok.

Mina-Mina-Mina-Chan! Happy Birthday!

The usual outfit- dress, boots, wings. She is set… at least for an hour. Then it’s a new dress, new shoes, different wings.

  

Little known fact: Mina has an amazing pallet. She loves celery, stews, curries, sweet, savory, you name it. She also liked her cake !

Marie is her best friend. She idolizes and copies her whenever possible.

She got two pairs of shoes and a Minnie Mouse cup and bowl set. Pretty big deal in our house.

 

Yep, thats MY GIRL!

MINA-MINA-MINA-Chan! (Mina turns two)

Today I celebrate the two year anniversary of hearing the words “We’re out of C batteries!”  HAHAH, just kidding. I get to celebrate one of the most beautiful fun human beings I have ever met:

Mina Lucille Millburn. Love. this. girl.

At exactly the time of her birth I made her stop and take a picture. Luckily, it was near a snow snake, a lantern, with the Castle in the backdrop. It is the year of the snake, which either means its a selfish year or a year to get things done. I say it’s one more year to enjoy some cute girls with some cute desires. Like a desire to see bunnies made out of snow. 

Marie, who I am psyching up pretty heavy for Kindegarten next year (or trying to prepare myself at least) ran into a classroom of snow children, one of which had glasses like her!  

Then Marie says, “I’ve got to spend some time in that snow cave.” There is nothing like conversations with a 4 year-old. You've got to remind yourself they are like a baby, but they can form words and have conversations. These are the things they think deeply about. Love it. Mina, is starting to form sentences, but has been talking well for a few months now.

For this trip we came down on a Friday night (see post below) and stayed in a hotel near the Castle. It was pretty good choice, because as we got worn out quick the night before, we were able to come back and enjoy the sculptures teh next day. I am not quite sure what some of these are but the one to the far left is like “peach man.” I see his face on peach flavored candy. Weird, but fun to somebody.

This took me off guard! It was probably a good 30 feet tall.

 

Then we tried to get a picture with this owl and Mina was flipping out. Remind me never to take her to an aviary.

I think these were my favorite. Just a reminder to some that may not know or remember, the swastika is actually an ancient symbol that denotes a myriad of things, but in Japan it means place of worship.

Here is a princesss gazing at her Castle.

 

Then we packed up and headed home. Mina slept the whole way- about 2.5 hours. Sorely needed rest for a tiny girl trying to be two.

We got back here and I tried to make Fajitas, but man, I am just a sub-par cook sometimes. I wish I could just throw something good together, but I have not mastered meat. I am just bad at grilling too. (This all happened today, so now as I am writing I realize that waiting a day or two for the menial details to fade is probably a good thing. But I promised my parents I would blog now darn it! So that includes my cooking woes).

See above post for the real-birthday-deal (aka the rest of the day) :) and the below post for the night before.

Hirosaki Lantern Festival – A Cold Friday Night

 

 

These warm faces want to welcome you to a virtual tour of the the Annual Hirosaki Lantern Festival. Held the second weekend every February in the the ancient Hirosakijo Castle grounds.

I love this Castle. I can never do  it justice through pictures, but it has an ancient, yet timeless appeal  that captures the admiration of many. We met a man Friday night who told us he came up from Tokyo just to see the Castle’s small festival. (We were the only Americans we saw that night, so people were a little more interested to talk to us than usual… besides they needed a picture or two of Mina and Marie, ya know, the usual…. which makes me think, what are we going to do when we move back to the states and strangers don’t want to take our picture. I will probably miss that.)

  

It was a cold one! Yeesh. The girls wore pants, then footy pjs, then a snow suit and barely kept warm!

  

Here Marie takes in the fine sights. She was a great walker. I think the fairy wings helped.

       

And here is the part where my camera runs out of batteries and we use the Blackberry for pictures. Hmmm… that’s life isn’t it? A beautiful trip where your camera breaks and you have to make the best of it and pretend like it doesn’t bother you. That’s ok though. For those of you avid picture takers (who isn’t really) when you finally stop posing and clicking the camera you just have to soak it in and enjoy….

 

…until you see a giant Winnie the Pooh. Then break out the cell phone!

We walked until some festival volunteers handed us two lit lanterns that we could put anywhere in the park. And seeing as our lives are currently one long homage to all things Disney, we found this carving of Minnie Mouse to give worship to. The girls, with their electric Tinkerbell wings, stood in reverent silence as Daddy laid the lantern at the foot of the oversized head.

Later we found RAINBOW SNOW! An empty field of snow was lit up with fluorescent lights. It sounds simple, but it was really my favorite part. So pretty and a lot of fun to play in :) 

Lastly, a line of translucent paintings, lit from behind to create one large latern-like museum. I found a painting of a mother carrying a crying child. I joked, referring to it as “Me and Mina!” But then I saw this picture and it took my breathe away:

Japanese Mina! Really! The short full lips. The flat nose, and big turned down almond eyes. I love it.

Someday I hope to know the stories behind some of this art work. Someday.

Then later I found this lovely picture of a mother and daughter.

 

Instead of posting the one of the crying child I thought I would post this sweet one that reminds me of me and Marie. Mostly because of the ages (and it’s purdy), but also because the little girls looks like she is asking for something… maybe the ancient version of a barbie or something ;)

And the snow fell harder as we briskly walked back to our hotel.