riding an elephant

Julianna still likes to talk about riding elephants. We got this photo via email from some friends of ours... you can see Matt hanging on tight to Julianna. Elephant-riding is not for the faint of heart, it's a pretty bumpy trip.

When my mom and dad lived in Thailand, they visited the same elephant camp with my paternal grandparents. That would have been 1975 or 76, I think. Some of the elephants at the camp were over 30 years old, so it's possible that 4 generations have now seen the same elephant!

I made a trip to the local Wal-mart this morning. Yep, we have Wal-mart. And, nope, it doesn't have the same items as the store at home. In fact, I just sent my mom a long list of things I'd like her to send me - and almost all of them are available at her Wal-mart, but not available at the one here. Still, it's a good place to buy non-perishable groceries, diapers, etc. I was mainly excited to find boxes of ultra-heat-treated whipping cream. I use it to make sour cream, whipped cream, and other fun stuff.... it was out of stock everywhere in the city this past fall, so I loaded up! The great thing about UHT stuff is it can sit on the shelf for 6 months.

My mom is sending lots of goodies with my dad in a few weeks. He comes (with 5 other friends from home) on March 8th! We can't wait! It will be like having a live-in playmate for Julianna... she has no idea how fun it's going to be!