Loi Krathong

Each of us has a holiday that we seem to relate to better than others. For people that love spending $400 for a dozen roses this may be Valentine's day, if you are into free candy than probably Halloween is more your thing, and if your last name begins with the letter 'O' or has an apostrophe anywhere in it chances are you have a ridiculous affection for St. Patrick's Day.

I am overjoyed to announce that for the heretofore ignored group that a.)never saw that career as a pyrotechnician materialize, or b.)stills thinks back longingly to the days when charcoal grills were more abundant we have discovered the perfect holiday. It is called 'Loi Krathong' and is really very simple: thousands of people gather together and release 3-foot tall mini hot air balloons (powered by large open flames) into the night sky. My simple description begs several important questions such as: 'isn't that a lot of fire', 'isn't that dangerous', and 'do people ever lose limbs during this holiday'. To which I would answer 'yes', 'yes' and 'it has been known to happen'.

With that in mind a couple of pictures to prove that I'm not full of it (at least in terms of what I'm describing here):


Hot air balloons. Each comes equipped with its own mini bonfire (yes I recognize the oxymoron--you had to be there to understand)


Those are lanterns. Lots of them. At this stage the risk of losing a loved one to third degree burns decreases by 30%. Word.

Loi Krathong II: the video

Video of Loy Krathong captured by Dianna!

Maisy and Her Dad

Shaun tells me that it is my turn to post a blog. I figure I'm getting off pretty well if I only have to do one for every 17 that he does...

So, I'm going to use this opportunity to post some of my favorite pictures of Maisy and her Dad. Maisy and Shaun have become quite the pair since moving to Thailand. They have a Daddy-Daughter Date every other morning at about 6:30 a.m. while I sleep in and then they spend time together EVERY evening while Shaun gets her ready for bed...bath, p.j.'s, story, and a song. It is one of my very favorite things about living in Thailand--not just because I love the free time, but because I love that they have so much time to spend together.

Feeding the Birds...


Chasing the Birds!!


The Merry-Go-Round


Close up of the Monkey


Dancing with Dad

They Love Mopping

Seriously, a lot of joyful mopping goes on at the Odell household in Thailand. I can't explain it, but I like it.

I realize....

...that this is a stretch, but I thought I'd devote this entry to one of the oddities of Chiang Mai--getting to feed over sized animals. I figure that in that this is one of my greatest joys in life it is worthy of mention here (to all of you who are surprised/dismayed by this statement remember I am more easily amused than the average third grader or even monkey who has borderline intelligence).

Without further ado a few pictures:

Check out the tongue...

This giraffe had horrible, horrible breath. Seriously.

Apparently elephants eat 100kg of food a day. We gave this guy 6 cucumbers each, so no one can claim we're not doing our part

Took Maisy a little while to warm up to the elephant

I guess this falls in the 'animals that rule' category more than the 'extra large' animals category, but I couldn't help myself, I just love goats. No really can anyone name an animal that is more versatile than a goat? They can be ridden, milked, used to get rid of extra tin cans, or simply kept for pure aesthetics. You can't go wrong here.

The New Ride

In our branch (our church congregation) on Sunday we were talking to one of the members about the price of cars in Chiang Mai (they tend to be expensive for the quality you get). One of the members, Sister Natthamon (pictured sharing a hymnal with Dianna in the Thanksgiving post), overheard and immediately offered to let us use an extra car that she had. Even more strikingly, she refused to let us rent it from her and even put gas in it for us. I'm not sure exactly how to qualify this generosity, but to those of you who know what I'm talking about, because of this (and several other strikingly similar situations) Dianna and I have a new appreciation for tithing.


Oh yeah, also pictured is our home here in Chiang Mai (or maybe the lower half of our home)

Also for good measure I'm throwing on a couple of pictures of Maisy (let's call a spade a spade, I know that there are only five of you actually reading the stuff I write, everyone else is just looking for pictures of Mais):

Maisy's favorite spot in Thailand--the kidzone at the local mall.

An Early Thanksgiving

There are two wonderful women in our church group who spend a good portion of their year here in Chiang Mai as a part of their business (Rainy's outdoors), the corporate office of which is in my hometown (Logan). Each year they throw a Thanksgiving dinner for Thai and farang (foreign) friends in Chiang Mai. Their travel schedule during the holiday season this year allowed this feast to take place a little early. Words can't describe how good the company or the food was. It felt so good to dive into the holiday season while amongst friends that we've gotten to know while here. Sadly no single picture can accurately take in the entire spread that Rainy and Ellen (our hostesses) prepared, but needless to say it was one of the most delicious and memorable Thanksgiving meals we've experienced.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the evening was singing Christmas songs, as is tradition at this yearly gathering. It may sound a little early in the year to break out the Christmas music, but just sharing this time with new friends made for a great experience regardless of the time of year.

Sharing Christmas hymnals:



Branch President Ken and family:
It is always interesting for us to hear what brings people to this amazing little spot on the globe. In the group pictured here we have missionaries, moms, English teachers, representatives of oil companies, business owners, nursing students, members of the US consulate and those on HIV fellowships accompanied by social work geniuses (that would be us).
As we draw closer to the holiday season we wish all of you the best. We miss you all and wish that you were here with us!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Shaun!

Shaun's birthday was October 29th (the day the Sox won the World Series!)! I'm still trying to figure out how to post a blog, so I didn't get a post in on time. But, Maisy and I couldn't let our favorite day of the year go "unblogged".


Maisy and I just took a vote and officially designated Shaun as the best Dad and Husband ever. We are SO lucky to have him! Happy Birthday Shaun!

Our Thai Halloween

Today was a memorable Halloween. I think Thais have heard of Halloween (kind of like Americans have heard of Boxing Day), but as expected it's celebrated by very few people. Along these lines there were no stores selling costumes so Dianna got creative:










Maisy was the prettiest ballerina in Thailand.





We took her out trick-or-treating to a few friends, as well as at the hospital where I work. I'm not sure people understood exactly what we were doing, but there were plenty of people who wanted to see Mais in her new threads anyways.

Since I'm told that Halloween costumes are like wedding dresses (you only wear them once) I'm going to maximize our take from this one by throwing on a couple more pics.

I got a little festive too, and decided to dress up...as a Yankees fan:

There's always next year!

Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

...Our Thai Halloween II

Couldn't resist a few more of these!



Or one of these!