There’s No Place Like Home

In the words of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz "There is no place like home". Particularly because you don’t spend half your time wonder where such-and-such was packed. Yes, we are home and I obviously don’t have as much free time because it’s been nearly 4 weeks since our last post.

Sunday, April 29th we boarded the airplane headed for home. It was a grueling 27 hours before we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale but thanks to the time change it was only 10:30 pm on the day that we left. Karl occupied his time taking pictures and some of them are quite interesting. Karl got this one of Mt. Fuji as we flew over.

Even after getting a good night sleep we were still dragging the next day. It didn’t matter to me because I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my sister and her family before they had to leave. That evening we went to the drive-in at the Swap-Shop and enjoyed a movie in the back of their truck. We had the great idea to sit on an air mattress. It lasted for about 5 minutes before all the air leaked out! It didn’t matter we had a great time watching “Meet the Robinsons” and munching on popcorn and licorice. The first picture is Dallan and the second is Ruth and Allie.

















Tuesday, we went to the beach and it was so much fun that we didn’t notice how badly sun burnt we were until several hours after we returned home! When we first arrived, we were a little concerned because we saw jellyfish in the water. After learning from the lifeguard that they didn’t sting, Dallan had fun gathering them up off the beach and throwing them back into the water. In the picture, Dallan is showing off two big jellyfish he found. Allie seemed to like the sand and some how she got sand all over in her hair. She also found it amusing to play peek-a-boo with a seashell. Allie would hold the shell so the inside was facing away from her. Then she would turn it over and say “Boo”. It was really cute. Dallan had a lot of fun with the boogie-board we brought. We showed him how to use it to ride a way and with some help from his Dad he caught a few good ones. Brent got a little creative and had Dallan ride the boogie-board against the waves. Doing that Dallan caught a little air as the board came over the wave. Ruth and I got Dallan to stand on the boogie-board and try a little surfing. After the picture was taken, we waited for a good size wave to come along and then we let go. Dallan rode for a short distance before he fell off. Good Job Dallan!

We went home in the afternoon after spending a few hours. For dinner we made some Panang Curry so that Ruth and Brent could try some Thai food. They really liked the curry, but it was a little spicy for the kids. It wasn’t until that evening that Karl and I started feeling our sunburns. Ruth, Brent and the kids were fine, they had learned from their first trip to the beach back in January to spread the sunscreen on thick.

I had told Due’s family that I would wear the dress his Aunt made for me on my first day of work. I was glad that the skirt was short because Wednesday morning my legs were bright red. I had been transferred to the Purchasing Division at Broward County so I was actually starting a new job. It was a usual first day where you meet so many people that your head is spinning by lunch time. The rest of the day was spent getting used to where things are in the new office. As promised to Due’s mom, Noy; here is a picture of me in my beautiful dress on my first day of work.

I was glad to get back home because Wednesday was Allie’s 2nd birthday. After dinner, we had cake and ice cream. Allie got her own little cake to eat which she enjoyed very much. Next, Allie opened her presents including a little doll that we had bought for her in Thailand. Taking pictures turned out to be a challenge. With limited light on our patio and a little girl who was always moving, most of the pictures were blurry. Here are a few that turned out nice. In the last picture, Dallan is holding up the toy we brought from Thailand for him; a squishy mouse that goes splat when you throw it, then slowly returns to its original shape.




Thursday we said goodbye to Ruth, Brent, Dallan and Allie. We spent the morning with them getting everything loaded into their trailer and taking last minute opportunities to spoil the kids. I don’t think Ruth and Brent appreciated the homemade kazoos I gave the kids. That’s OK, they don’t have to worry about me doing it again for awhile. When everything was ready to go, they loaded up the kids and were off to St. Louis, Missouri. Ruth wrote a bit about their trip on her blog. We really enjoyed our few days with Ruth’s family and hope that sometime in the future they will be back in South Florida for dental school. I know they made a lot of friends here that are hoping the same thing.






From that time until now, I can recap our activities with just a few words: work, eat, sleep. Ok, it’s not that bad. Karl went to the doctor and found out that he has a broken collar bone from the motorcycle accident in Authaya. There is no ligament damage and it is healing well. We have been getting resettled into our house. We had packed some things in a closet to make room for Ruth and her family and we’ve been unpacking that. We really like the new closets that Brent built for us. Karl is particularly happy with the master closet because now there is enough room for my clothes and his. I am happy with it too because I now have a nice shoe rack for all my shoes! We are now wishing we’d had him do the other two closets as well. So, Brent you have plenty of work if you decide to come back! Even though our days have been full, the everyday stuff just isn’t as interesting. So, we are looking forward to our next adventure. We are not sure when that will happen. In the meantime, we’ll do occasional updates on the blog. We have lots more pictures from Bangkok that I’d like to put on our photo gallery when I get the time. Also, you never know when we might have an adventure in our own backyard! We’ve already had the first named storm of the season (subtropical storm Andrea) and technically hurricane season hasn’t started yet. However, we are hoping that we don’t have too many adventures involving storms. This last picture that I am including is of the rose bush I received as a goodbye gift from the development team I managed at my former division in the county. They are a good group of people. It was planted right before we left and I was so happy to see it blooming.

Special Post!

I was happy to hear today that we are not the only people having an adventure. My sister Ruth and her family are staying at our house while we are away. They recently went to the beach and discovered what looked like a nudibranch. Everyone was very excited. I was excited to hear about it! Yesterday, they went to the Everglades and got to see some aligators. Ruth sent me an email and said that her little boy Dallan wanted me to see the pictures. Here is one with a momma aligator and her babies.



Thanks for the pictures Dallan!

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I can understand that you may not want personal information posted on the web. A first name would be enough for me to recognize you. Also, you can indicate in your comment that you don't want it published.

Merry Christmas!

The last couple of weeks have definately been interesting! With my resignation there has been a flurry of changes at work and I've been trying to do what I can to leave my team in a good situation. We have also been amazed by how much encouragement and support we've received from family, friends and co-workers. It is something we really appreciate because it helps to fight back that apprehension I mentioned in an earlier post. We feel so blessed to have this opportunity to travel and experience the beautiful Thai culture in so many ways.

In response to my team asking me where we are going in Thailand, I have prepared this map which shows the places we are currently planning on visiting. I do have to include a disclaimer because Karl says our plans may change once we get there. The Thai people are so friendly and welcoming that we were wishing on our last trip to Thailand that we hadn't planned everything so strictly. We often wished we could stay just a few more days with our new found friends.

We are really getting down to the wire and I don't expect to be able to make another post until after we arrive in Thailand. There is a lot to do to get packed and prepare for my sister's arrival.

4 days of work remaining and 10 days to take off!

- Elizabeth

Start Spreading the News!

The news about us going to Thailand has been spreading around our families and a few friends, but mostly by word of mouth. It’s about to become common knowledge because we just mailed out our Christmas newsletter! Not that our Christmas newsletter is equivalent to the evening news but we send it to quite a few people whether they want it or not. Sometimes I’ve wondered if we should include unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the Christmas newsletter for those poor folks that really don’t care to hear about the yearly goings on at the Decker household.

There was a time when I was against Christmas newsletters because I thought they were so impersonal. However, I have since discovered that with families as large as ours, handwritten notes to every family member at Christmas time is quite impractical unless we both quit our jobs for the entire month of December. I also realized that when I received Christmas newsletters from others that I got a lot more information about what was going on than from the handwritten cards. I was reluctant at first and only sent out short little quarter page newsletters, but for the last four years I have done a full double-sided newsletter. Karl and I do try to make it interesting but I will let the recipients be the judge on whether we are successful. I do know that we enjoy all the holiday cards and newsletters that we receive. It’s one of the things that we love about the Christmas Season.

In addition to spreading the news to our friends and family, I have just resigned from my job. When we made the decision to go on this trip we knew that it wasn’t likely that I would be given a leave of absence. We agreed that this opportunity to travel for several months was one that couldn’t be passed up. Even though we have talked about this, there is still a little apprehension as we take this step. After all, we are just regular people not financially independent or anything like that. I think a little apprehension is natural for this situation and actually the feelings of excitement, enthusiasm and freedom are a whole lot stronger. For those that are doing some worrying on our behalf; don’t! We’ve planned well and should be just fine while we look for new jobs upon our return.

Before I close this blog entry, I do need to make a note that some of our Christmas newsletters got printed with out our email address that we will be using while we are in Thailand. I’m not sure who got the newsletters with out an email address, but everyone got this blog address. So, if you want the email address please post a comment here and ask for the address. I have to approve all comments so I’ll get your message and be able to send you the email address. I don’t want to post the email address on the blog because then we’ll get all kinds of junk in that email address.

24 days to go!

- Elizabeth

Let the preparations begin

We've actually been preparing for some time for this trip but things are really getting more definite now.   A few months back Karl bought a new digital camera. He got a new SLR but I'll leave the details to him.   He's been practicing to make sure that he knows what all the buttons do and he's not fumbling with the camera as the perfect shot gets away from him.



We have an exchange student staying with us again.   Her name is Ploy and she is with us through the end of December.    She is very nice and we enjoy having her stay with us.    Ploy is from Thailand near the Bridge over the River Khwai.



We also had an exchange student last year.    His name is Due and he is back in Thailand finishing his last year of school and studying for college entrance exams.    We hope to be able to visit him and his family during our trip. Here is a picture from our trip to Utah with Due Thanksgiving 2005.   This picture was taken with my little digital camera not Karl's new one, but I think it did a fine job.    I'll be taking my camera with us as well.

Besides the camera we are also getting some gear.    We need to travel light so the conventional luggage isn't going to do it.    We're getting backpacks for the camera and laptop and duffle bags on wheels for our clothes and toiletries.   It's going to be tough to decide what not to pack so that we don't have too much stuff to haul around.

We also got a global phone.    It is kind of cool because the phone will work anywhere in the world where there is a local phone service, but it is expensive for the calls that we make or receive (about $2/minute).    So, we'll just use it as a backup in case of emergencies.   Anyway, the best way to reach us is through this blog.

Wish us luck with the packing!

- Elizabeth

Getting Started

Although I work with computers for a living, this is the first blog that I've put together.   I guess I just don't get too caught up in the latest things until I find a need for it.   Well, going to Thailand for a few months has presented a need.   Blogging seemed to be the best way to keep our family and friends up to date on what is going on.   All the other means for doing this required user names and passwords for people to get access and that is just too much trouble.   Believe me the stuff we are going to be putting up here doesn't need protecting.   So, we're going to give blogging a try and see if it provides a no fuss way to communicate to a lot of people (We both come from large families).

- Elizabeth