The Steiners

In the Chengdu airport...Madeleine is excited to be going to Thailand and practicing saying hello.

Waiting for our plane to be refueled and cleaned.

The weekend market in Bangkok. The best strawberry smoothies ever.

Reading break at a bookstore in the weekend market.

All tuckered out.

The courtyard at the guesthouse we always stay at in Bangkok.

Banana roti. Mmmmm.

Hair dryer.

In the hotel room at our first conference of the trip.

Breakfast.

One great thing about Thailand is that there are so many bugs and other cool things to teach the girls about. We dug this ant lion out of the ground and Phil taught them all about ant lions.

At Tha Phae Gate in Chiang Mai.

This spider had built her web between two trees outside our door at our first conference. It was always nice to see her whenever we left or came back to our room.

In the back of a songthaew, which is a pickup truck outfitted with a cap and bench seats. I'd love to have one in the States.

Swimming in a cold Chiang Mai pool.

Bug at the pool.

I went to one of the Catholic churches in Chiang Mai with my friend John. I think the triumphant crucifix is fantastic.

A pedestrian bridge over the river near the Littletons' house.

Madeleine found a beat up motorbike helmet. There's treasure everywhere.

Lighting paper lanterns. They float away beautifully.

Sparkler time.

And some very loud fireworks to finish off the evening and make enemies of all the Littletons' new neighbors.

A visit to the Night Safari. Madeleine is holding Jeff, and Sam is riding the other pony.

This was Maddie's favorite part of the whole day.

Baby porcupines are very friendly. I had no idea.

Feeding some very nice looking chicken to a lion cub. Living in Asia is great. I don't think you usually get to touch the lions when you go to an American zoo.

Madeleine tormenting some hungry goats.

Steiners and Littletons. We have no idea what Maddie was doing.

The deer at the night safari were as friendly as the porcupines. And I didn't even have any food for it.

Serpents are prominent in so many of the world's religions, including Thai Buddhism.

We fell completely in love with this tree, which is near the river in Chiang Mai. It's a rain tree a.k.a. monkeypod a.k.a. Albizia saman

Julie and Caitlin had high tea at a lovely hotel.

Hiking in the hills above the city.

Saying goodbye to Caitlin at the airport.

Back at the guest house in Bangkok.

In the bus on our way to our forum.

We have to do something for the talent show every year. This year Julie sang a song by Dolly Parton, "Jolene," to our team leader, Jolene.

Dragonfly at breakfast.

Relaxing at forum.

Maddie and her friend Hattie. We have a similar picture from two years ago.

Ready for swimming.

Our vet friend shows the kids a gecko he caught. This is before it took a bite out of his hand.

Kids at forum showing what they learned during the week.

Here we are with two of our favorite people, Dick and Edna Williams.

Lilian and her friend Elijah.

Now to our week of vacation on the beach with Julie's parents and some of our friends. Lilian slept in the big closet.

Madeleine and I made our third annual kayak trip to Monkey Island. This was the first year she did not fall asleep on the way back.

We also took a boat out to the island.

Natasha taught Madeleine to swim!

Maybe even moreso than the beach or the pool, the girls love the swings.

Nearly every shell on the beach has a hermit crab in it.

Playing with the camera while we wait for our supper to be cooked.

Birthday celebration for Clinton, Hudson, Lindsey, and Aidan. Doughnuts instead of cake.

That shack across the road, the one on the right, is our favorite restaurant in this part of Thailand.

Early morning fishing trip.

But I see I didn't actually include pictures of actual fishing. Anyway, here is a nice family photo of 4/5 of the Tompkins family. Maddie is artfully obscured by the mast.