Khao Yai National Park, AKA LeechyLand!

One of our favorite things to do around Ryan and Laura's hometown is to go to the National Park.  You can see last years visit here.  We made sure to go back again this year, though our plan for the day was a bit different.

Kids (one of which with a mischievous smile) dangling bananas from cars.  Are they just not hungry?

Nope!  They're feeding the monkeys!
(Who knew monkeys close their eyes when they go in for their prey?  They're like a great white!)

The little buggers are fast.  It was hard to get a picture of them grabbing the bananas.  Sometimes they would jump up from the ground and others they would jump into the car and then snag their prize.  We quickly realized that we needed to shut the windows so that they were open only wide enough for our arms to reach out for fear that they would hop in with us!

So cute!

I love how they peel them!  They would eat the banana and then go back and get any bits left on the peel.

This year we found a nice spot near the water to have a little picnic and some water play.  Many of the places we visit in Thailand come with built in pets.  The park has a deer for the kids to play with!

Marshall and Lia on the hanging rope bridge.  The kids had lots of fun running from one end to the other, making it sway.

My sweet Meemers and her equally sweet Daddy!

"We're both going to pretend that you're my horsey, ok?  You let me ride you and in return, I'll pretend that you are the most beautiful Percheron with a long flowing white mane and tail...K?  Oh, and I'll give you my corn.  Deal?"

Lunch Menu:
Grilled Cheese
Grilled Corn on the Cob
Potato Salad

That's one brave deer trying to steal Ryan's lunch!

We did share some corn with him!  Pretty sure this is why he hangs around people.

Yet another snake...this one was sunbathing itself in the water the children were playing in.  The worst part?  The kids didn't even care that there was a snake in their water.  Gave it no thought and hopped right in!

A squat pot!
Initially a rather off-putting contraption, but I really did grow to like them.  All in all, it's much more sanitary than our U.S. toilets.  You stand on the sides where the grooves are and just squat.  The part I could do without is the bowl in the tub of water.  You flush just by scooping the water into the pot.  Do you notice what's missing in this picture?  That's right!  The toilet paper.  You have to bring your own!

I love the open air concept that many buildings have.  It's so nice just to have a breeze blowing right through the room.

There may be a few drawbacks!
Perhaps they should just stick with windows by the sinks.  ;)

And this is the bathing area.  Apparently the Thai are a less private people....

The Dads and kids had lots of fun moving rocks to dam the river.

There was still a lot of flooding around the perimeter of Bangkok, so there were quite a few families that appeared to be living at the campground.  These sweet little baby girl had the rapt attention of her parents and grandparents.  They doted on her like I have never seen before.  (Including tucking the bear in with her for her nap.)  I thought her baby version of mosquito netting was pretty ingenious.

And because kids will be kids, each Dad took a turn at chasing a runaway shoe..

We spotted this 5-6 foot long Monitor Lizard from our campsite and had to go get a closer look.

He was huge!

Well, how else do you get your truck through floodwaters?

The beautiful waterfall!

On our walk to the bottom of the waterfall, the kids all had fun playing on the thick vines.

Ms. Madeline

Super sweet Katie!

Lia thought her Mama needed some cooling off!

Creative way to keep your boulder from tumbling...

When we were dirty, tired and hungry enough, we moved on...

To DAIRY HOME!
The food is ok, but their take on ice cream is AWESOME!
Everything is set up to look like a farm, typical of what you would find in the U.S.
The kids had fun in the little playhouse.

While some of the ice cream flavors don't appeal to my American palate (like banana cheese or flower), the more traditional chocolate and more exotic mango and passionfruit can't be beat!  And your scoops are served in these cute little mugs that you get to keep.

The sweet little doggie that will be your pet while you eat your ice cream.  She'll even clean your mug for you so you don't have to carry it home messy!

And isn't she working her pathetic doggy face?!?

And just in case you looked at last years post and are wondering about the leeches... this year, I was the only one to be caught by them!  I hopped out of the car into some leaves for about 5 seconds and when I got back in, I realized I was being attacked.  Needless to say, I did not handle having my blood sucked by nasty little parasites with any modicum of grace.  By the time I was finished screaming, yanking them off of me, attempting to squish them and throw them out the window, poor Marshall was whipped up into a whole nasty PTSD flashback from the year before.  I'd like to say that I wish I'd conducted myself differently, but I think we all know that just isn't possible.  I've decided to feel better about the whole situation by tossing a couple-a extra Baht into his therapy fund!