Thailand Part 1

 Why hello there! 
Greetings from Thailand, from a place of yummy food, family, friends, travel.. and of course, greetings from a season called summer .

This is a post long past due, due to a lack of rest, which is also long past due.

I'm actually mourning the fact that we're already in July! Goodness me, I'm already feeling like I'm in crunch time for school.

Ryan and I traveled with the crew (Michelle, Kyle and Marley) to Bangkok at the beginning of June. I came straight from my last day of school, still recovering from strep throat, humming songs from our school play and wiping off shaving cream and popcorn from end of the year festivities. 
Us "seasoned" travelers were excited to accompany Marley on her first international flight-- showing her the tricks of traveling, such as leaving your passport in the duty-free store. (ahem.. kyle) 

After many hours of sitting, eating and catching up on movies, we landed safely in our dear home city of Bangkok. 
The day we got in we jumped into a car, sat in 6+ hours of traffic, and then jumped onto a speed boat heading to our beloved island of Koh Samet. "Marley, tip #2, don't forget to leave your suitcase at home when you're heading somewhere." (ahem.. Kyle. :) I'm allowed to pick on you)

There we joined a crew of 8 other friends and family and began our island traditions and festivities. Our first day we celebrated two birthdays including the 63rd birthday of my dear father-in-law. 

I was pretty proud of how I fought off jet-lag when I got here, but these pictures show otherwise. I was determined to get a few rounds of our family game shanghai in that first night, despite the sleep that was dragging me under. I think I might have lost that game, but I'm going to say I just can't remember. 

We ventured around the island, telling Marley about "back-in-the-day.. yada yada yada" and often creating a hype over what was actually very unhype-worthy. There were just so many memories to live up to. 

Below are pictures of our favorite snorkeling spot across the island where we once found our beloved "pearl of great price"! (yada yada yada)We trekked via truck-taxi to this oh-so-special spot and to our great disappointment the waves were too rough to go in. poor Marley.    

We made sure to start getting our Thai food fix right when our feet touched land and the beach was a good place to start. Fresh fish, fried bananas, breakfast buffet, we were living the life.  

Our island trip was short, but oh so sweet. We even tried (without 100% percent success) to relive our glory days of L&O* football (*land and ocean football~ A once brutal and endless game played by young and old.)

Just for the sake of reminiscing, since we were so obsessed with it..Here are some pics from our trip back in 2006.. 

hmm... notice Ryan's swim suit.. (this is what happens when you take traveling tips from kyle)

 So many more fun memories made. 
Til' next time. 

Naomi

Michelle's Birthday Bash

At the beginning of the month we celebrated the 25th birthday of our dear sister, Michelle! 

We're loving celebrations at the new Fitz house. Let us know, and you can book one here at fitzpartying.com...

We had a chill, low-key afternoon with some good friends though. 

Along with our classic feta and caramelized almond pasta salad, we had chocolate fondue with all the fixins, chips & salsa, and the Fitz's age-old tradition of ice cream cake. 

Usually the Fitz dad is in charge of the cake and incorporates a "secret" layer that has once included dog food, and plastic bugs... but I decided to omit this part of the tradition this year and just go for the classic fudge, bananas, strawberries yadayada...

I'm a crowd pleaser, I'm not quite at the pranking stage of my "Fitzness" yet. Maybe I'll grow into it. 

Because of the aging element, Michelle was having difficulty blowing out her candles-- and they weren't trick candles. People who are a quarter of a century can start to get winded... it just comes with age. 
but after she huffed and puffed... she finally succeeded. 

Everybody hung out and played some farkle, probably because of the yummy prizes, but we had some intense games going on. You know how farkle can get with all it the "skill" it requires... I obviously didn't win at my table, but that doesn't bother me at all... 
right? 

We even played basketball in the warm February sun. Sometimes when you're in denial that California is in drought, you can enjoy the warm, sunny, winter weather. :)

'till next time, 
Naomi

yurt alert

A few weekends ago we went on a little adventure with our friends to a yurt out yonder. 

Our friend Hannah is a seasoned back-packer and traveler, so she planned the whole shindig and we scrounged up some backpacks from our more adventuresome friends and set out to Butte meadows about an hour outside of Chico. 

Ry, Michelle and I were newbie packers so of course I packed a few (hundred) pounds too much. I felt like a Sherpa. 

Here was the crew:

It was an arduous 1.5 mile trek from where we parked to the yurt, but because of my lop-sided pack I was hurting by .8th of a mile. 

Lame. 
I tried not to show it, but I was little bent over like a little russian babushka. (forget the sherpa)
Good thing it was beautiful, it made up for the cramps and the future soreness I was going to experience the next morning... and week. 

... and after we went over the hills and through the woods, there she was..
Miss Yurtle 

We unpacked our belongings, made the place cozy and then went on a 8 mile hike. It was such a perfect day. This was suppose to be a snow-camping trip but because of the drought that we're in, it was just a crisp stroll. 
--no snow shoes necessary.

We got to a watch tower, munched on snacks, took quick naps and I snapped a few photos.

We headed back, chowed down on spaghetti and jumped into some late-night games. We made sure to rotate seating each round so no one was hogging the wood stove.  

Our night was super duper nippy, but we woke up to a yummy quinoa breakfast, compliments of Hannah. 

So that's just a little window into our first back-packing trip. A nice little intro I'd say. Next time I'll learn to pack the heavy things on the bottom of my pack, and to not bring 6 rolls of toilet paper. 
:)
Who would have known. 
All for now brown cow,  

Naomi