August 29 - 30, 2017
A bright and happy spot in our final days of goodbyes, we were blessed to have our three boys back for one more visit. This time they brought along their lovely ladies, as well as a good buddy and his new wife, for a total of eight guests!
Logistics for a group this size had to be taken into consideration. We rented a fourteen-seat van that would fit our eight guests, Tim and I, and our driver. Tim accompanied K. Mick to the airport while I waited excitedly at home. Ted and Hiustyn arrived around ten p.m., with the rest following close behind at eleven. It was nearly one in the morning by the time they made it back to Pattaya. I took four of them over to the Suites next door, and we settled the other four in our spare rooms. Feels so right and wonderful to have us all together!
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| Lots of shoes at the door! |
Their first morning here, I dragged half of the group out on my morning walk. Nice to have such excellent company! Even the "Mayor of the Hill" noticed my entourage. He said (in his simplified English many of us westerners fall into when speaking with Thais) - "Oh, today have many people! She usually come alone!"
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| Our condo in the background |
When we returned to the condo, the other four had appeared, and we all walked next door to the Intercontinental Hotel for a lovely welcome breakfast. The grounds of the hotel are lovely, and we all went for a stroll down to the water. When we all gathered on the lower level, we noticed that Tim and Chloe were not with us. We were confident they could find their way back to the condo, and headed that way ourselves. They were waiting for us in the hot and humid stairwell. We all decided this would be the perfect time for a swim!
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| Koh Larn in the distance |
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| Infiniti restaurant on the gulf |
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| the "Blues" |
We threw on our suits and migrated down to the beckoning pool. The never-cold water was still a refreshing relief from the heat. Tim had his waterproof GoPro and told everyone they had to enter the pool as an animal. You can imagine the crazy iterations this creative bunch came up with. Tim's flying squirrel and Evan's rhino were especially memorable. We stayed in the pool way too long, and I got a pretty good sunburn. But it was so enjoyable.
In the evening, K. Mick and his wife had us over to their house for a farewell party. They went all out with many tantalizing dishes. They were very thoughtful and conscientious, keeping the usual Thai spiciness to a minimum for our western palates. I'd ordered some chicken wings to supplement, but there was more than enough food already. K. Mick cooked his Coke chicken he'd been raving about for weeks - he told us we wouldn't want to leave Thailand once we tasted it! Their friend helped prepare pork, fried fish, fried rice and beautiful crabs. K. June showed us how to crack open the crab and just eat the legs. Our guests sampled some rambutan for the first time. Everything was so delicious.
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| Seen on the way to K. Mick's - that looks safe, doesn't it? |
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| Feel like someone's looking at you? |
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| Rambutan |
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| Coke chicken |
We enjoyed playing with their friends' little ones - so cute. The three-year-old girl passed out candies to each of us when we arrived. In honor of Ted's return to Thailand, K. Mick gave us a framed picture of our ATV trip from his last visit.
Jet lag was setting in, so we bid our farewells and piled into the van for the drive back to the condo. What a lovely evening, shared with our favorite people.
💓💓💓
