Shepherd's Outback Adventure

January 18th Hi everyone! We only have two days left in Thailand and then our 5 weeks of travel will end and we will head to Sydney. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. I have to acknowledge Chris and what a great job he did planning the last 5 weeks. I know it took a lot of time, but it all turned out perfectly. We have seen so much and such a variety of experiences, and then we get to end it with a little down time in paradise.

So we have been in Koh Lanta since the 14th. It is such a beautiful piece of Thailand. We arrived by boat and the girls and I did not know what to expect. Chris jokingly tried to prepare us by letting us know we would be staying in the jungle, in a tiny hut, and potentially see many snakes and spiders:) Much to our delight, we are in the jungle, but have a wonderful view overlooking the Andaman Sea, surrounded by a beautiful beach and pools. Chris has kept us very busy with day excursions over the past 4 weeks, so for this week we are just sleeping in and enjoying the view!!!! It has been so relaxing and enjoyable. We have just spent our days moving from beach to pool. Not to tough:) We did do a day trip yesterday to Koh Rok. It took an hour by boat and then we arrived at a small island surrounded by the whitest sand and bluest water. It was so beautiful and was very private compared to a lot of the other islands in the area. We all went snorkeling and enjoyed seeing lots of beautiful fish. The girls took to snorkeling very quickly and even Danika lasted quite awhile and had fun pointing out a variety of colorful fish and other marine life to the rest of us. We saw a few clown fish (Nemo) and the water was very calm and warm. They did decide to end the snorkeling after encountering a 5 foot Giant Morey Eel that let us know we were too close to its rock.

After snorkeling, we returned to our villa, only to once again be met by our lovely friends, the monkeys. These little guys really seem to like us and they are not at all intimidated by us. It is very much the other way around. I am sure the rest of the villas have enjoyed our daily screams, of what sound like torture, as we are trying to avoid the monkeys jumping off the roof trying to get into our bags. They are somewhat scary up close and they like to make eye contact, which in most cases I appreciate, but not with a wild monkey. Needless to say at times in the late afternoon we move from place to place quickly and are always waiting for something to jump down on us:) Chris made a short video trailer that I will try to share when we have better internet connection to upload.

Although I will miss our exciting daily excursions, I think it will be good for all of us to get back to a little structure. We will have one week in Sydney to move into our place and then the girls will begin school. I think they are a little nervous, but also very excited. I have found that I do miss a few things from home that I took for granted like my Keurig, smaller creatures, a car, Martin's supermarket and smiling faces of my family and friends:) But I have so enjoyed first being with my parents and now with just Chris and the girls. It is nice to not be running around to a bunch of kids activities and we can just enjoy one another's company. Our experience, thus far, has been wonderful and one that we will always remember!

Hope all of you our friends and family are doing well! We miss you all and think of you often!