Fang....

This cave was so cool.....you could follow it all the way into Myanmar....by pass the check points....likely a loooooong dark walk.

Sights into Myanmar.....

Ready for church....

wonderful youth worship team....

Chiang Mai Night Safari

Our first encounter with a giraffe's tongue.

Cool trick.

This baby was BIG!

Our Yaya and her laugh.....love her.

Love birds.....

This girl LOVED the birds...

Gorgeous woman, inside and out.

My favorite smile.

Mia did not fancy the birds....

So cute!

Probably the highlight for me and Mia...baby tigers!!

Our team

crazy crew after taking the night tour.......

Disneyland is nothing compared to this place!

Our rental house...

Noa and 'Squiggles', whom she still asks to go visit.

So Chiang Mai......why Chiang Mai?

For a while after the big Festival in Osaka in 2010 we thought Chiang Mai, Thailand was next on our list of 'places to live'...Mia and I spent weeks on the internet checking out our 'new' city......then the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku.....and though we were sure of the fact that Tokyo was the place for us, Chiang Mai was nestled in our hearts.  Turns out Chad is coordinating a Festival there in November of this year and although we aren't the ones living there it seemed this summer was a great opportunity to see all that daddy has been up to..... 

Chiang Mai is a smallish city in northern Thailand....and so very geared toward foreign tourists especially ones that love night markets and animals.  Perfect for this family.  Grateful for all of my husband's collected miles so we can make amazing trips like this as a family.

We rented the home of a foreign family that was out of the country a few weeks.....the house was perfect and even included Noa's favorite thing....a cat!

Shortly upon arrival we visited the Night Safari (animals galore and an after dark trail ride to see the nocturnal animals active), we traveled even farther north to Fang (pronounced Fong and almost to the border of Myanmar) as Chad had a couple of speaking engagements and took in the sites on the way up, later we toured Chiang Mai, an elephant camp, a tribal village and Tiger Kingdom.

A-MA-ZING trip.  One we will never forget.....

Love my small world....

This is Cinna, she has been a sweet friend this year....joining my Thursday Bible Study.  Cinna is Thai but her husband is Japanese.  Her daughter is in Mia and Nykolas' class.  Yeah, small world as she was visiting family when we were there....we had a day shopping and getting a massage with Cinna and her daughter Cindy as our guides.