A New View

Josiah has a new view on life now...he's sitting up! He can't pull himself up into a sitting position yet, but he can balance pretty well when we sit him down. It's been really fun to watch him playing with his toys in this new position. Sometimes he can sit for a long time and sometimes he topples right over. Either way, he really seems to enjoy it!

What a goofball!!!

Our good friend from home, Jim, came to visit us last week. We've had such a great time with him. Josiah has really loved having another person here to hold him and play with (imagine that!). Of course, Jim lets Josiah do things that Mommy wouldn't...

like eat his watch...

or pull his hair. When Josiah gets excited he SCREAMS. Watch this video to see how happy Jim makes him...silly boy.

On another note, Josiah really admires his Pawpaw but we think he might have taken the hair thing a little too far.


Side view

"Thanks for the hair styling tips Pawpaw!"

Josiah has a way with the ladies...

I guess most little boys are like this but Josiah really prefers to be around women more than men. He likes men just fine, but he gets much more excited and animated around the ladies. While we were in Thailand we spent a lot of time with some good friends...and yes, they happen to be female so Josiah was very happy! Here are some pictures of him with his ladies.

Josiah and Jessica


Josiah with Angela...he really likes her curly hair!


Here he is with Jessica, Angela, Lindsey and Janna.


He's trying to help Janna decide what to order.


And although he seems to prefer women much older than himself, he still finds the younger ones intriguing. This is Josiah admiring his friend Lydia.

Fun pictures!

I don't know if you remember or not, but this summer we decided to start a tradition of going to a photo booth every time we are in Thailand. I think we did a little better this time...I mean we remembered to change the backgrounds and we were a little more creative with our poses. Of course, there's only so much you can do with a 4 month old! If you want to compare it to our last one go here.

Here are some pictures that we took when we were out with friends. I think the ones of Josiah by himself came out really well. He is teething so you can see lots of drool!

Motorcycle Madness

While in Chiang Mai, Thailand over Christmas and New Years, Jesse and I rented motorcycles. We enjoy taking them onto dirt roads and exploring out of the way places. This time we did three separate trips.

The first trip was on some back roads near his home. The only thing of interest that day was an abandoned home we found near a lake. The area was about thirty minutes outside of the city.


This is the home as viewed from the dirt road, we had to cross a mostly dried up lake bed to get to the home.


This is the house, many of the homes in this area in Thailand are built on stilts. It was constructed of wood, bamboo and grass. For being abandoned it was still in pretty good shape.


This is a picture of one of the rooms, notice that the mats which make the floor are missing. I had to walk on the wooden beams to walk in the room. The walls are woven bamboo which has been split into thin, flat pieces.


This is not sasquatch, it is Jesse. I was in on the porch and took a picture of him looking thorugh the railing at me.


The second day we drove to a Hmong Village we had been to last January on a previous motorcycle ride. The village is about twenty minutes from the nearest road and is only accessible via a rough dirt trail up the side of a mountain. The scenery is beautiful and there are many fruit trees growing on the steep sides of the mountain.


This is a picture from the road up the mountain to the Hmong Village. It was very beautiful.


The road up to the Hmong Village and Tak Kar Tan Cave.


We rode past the village this time and continued to the top of the mountain. The top was not a peak but actually a large plateau which was used for farming. It was beautiful and there were mountains and fields visible in every direction.


The view on the plateau.


As we continued to the end of the road, we made it to Tak Kar Tan Cave. It is was unlike any cave I have ever been in. The floor was lava in most places and after entering about fifty feet, it became very humid. The cave is thought to be about 7,000 meters (4.35 miles) deep and is mostly unexplored. It stretches throughout the inside of the mountain. We did not explore the cave that day (that was day three's adventure). Not many people come here since it is somewhat difficult just to make it to the end of the road (grass and dirt trail). Once you park, you have to hike down the mountain into the woods for about 10-15 minutes to reach the mouth of the cave.


Here is a picture of Jesse and me at the mouth of the cave. I did not have a caving helmet so I used my motorcycle helmet.


After we left the cave, we continued to ride through the mountains and in the end we had completely driven around the mountain upon which Doi Suthep Temple (the one with banana waffles) is built. We drove through Samoeng Forest on the way and there was a great view from the side of the road.


This is the daring duo in front of the Samoeng Forest sign at the pulloff.


The view from the pull-off.


On the third day, we dressed in old clothes and headed back for Tak Kar Tan Cave to explore. We entered and discovered that there are three separate Buddha shrines inside. The one furthest back in the cave has old paintings behind it; we are not sure what they meant or what they were supposed to be. After an hour or so, it was getting difficult to breathe due to the very humid air; it felt as though we were in a bathroom where someone was taking a shower. We saw some really large rooms, areas of breakdown and a few bats. We also saw a very large spider- not something we had ever seen in a cave before. I told Jesse that I would give him one Baht if he ate it (approx 33 Thai Baht to one US dollar), he chickened out and would not do it.


This is the Buddha image which is the furthest into the cave. Notice the painting behind the idol.


Here are two homeless mental patients who were living in the cave.

Good times...good times. I am thankful to have a friend...even if it is Jesse.

Merry Christmas....

We left for Thailand on December 22nd and arrived back home yesterday. It was difficult to get on the internet to post so we're just now catching you up on Josiah's first Christmas. Actually Josiah had two first Christmases - one in India on the 21st and one in Thailand on Christmas day. Anyway, here is what you really want...pictures!

The Christmas stocking was made for Josiah by Nani (Mel's Mom). It has become a family tradition that anytime we get a new family member, she makes their Christmas sock. Isn't it beautiful?!

Josiah is posing with all his Christmas loot. This was from our India Christmas.

Uncle Greg and Aunt Elaine sent a package to Thailand for Josiah to open on Christmas day.

Uncle Greg sent some great new rattles. As you can see, Josiah likes the wrapping paper best!

Doesn't he make that look so good?

Uncle Richard, Aunt Elaine, Stephen, Amelia and Catherine gave Josiah his first Bible for Christmas. What a great gift!

Of course, our Christmas in Chiang Mai was spent with PeePaw, Doo-dah and Birdie. They gave Josiah some cool books and great new toys.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying this new year!