M: It’s so weird to be up this early!

Now it’s time to embark on a 20 hour plane ride, with drinks with no ice, screaming children, the hum of percolated air, diet coke after diet coke, soduku after soduku. And then…

sunshine.

Hopefully we’ll have our first post up sometime on Saturday America time.

I miss my dog.

See you in the land of smiles.

M: Let’s not kid ourselves. Although there are many things that scare me, or worry me, or make me anxious about this trip, there is one thing above all other things that makes it hard to leave this town.

Remo, Buddy, Button, Chicken Feed, Little Man, Uncle Remo, Lil Ray, Puppernutter, Chicken Butt, Lil Butt, Button Licker, Buster, Monkey.

Our dog.

Remo will be going to a wonderful place for three weeks. He’ll be staying with our friend Elisabeth who has two wonderful dogs of her own, Ralph and Radar. Remo has gone over there many times in the past when we’ve been out of town and I know he’s safe and extremely well-loved there.

Sometimes Elisabeth will just send an email asking when we might be going out of town, she enjoys our little guy that much. Thank goodness.

I’ve been talking to Remo for a few weeks now, telling him about the trip, telling him he’s going to Elisabeth’s, telling him that we always come back for him.

But three weeks is a really long time. What if he forgets about us? What if he decides he loves it at Elisabeth’s more than anywhere? What if he doesn’t want to come to our house by the time we get home? What if he can’t figure out who we are because we left as pale-faced, Vitamin D deprived, tired and chunky Americans and we come home tan, healthy, happy and fulfilled?

I try not to worry about it now, I can worry about it when the time comes to take him over there. But there is no doubt this is one of the hardest parts of the whole trip. Gah.

Here is a picture, one of my favorites, of Ralph, Radar and Remo, pic courtesy of Elisabeth.

Margaret: well, since I can’t be in EVERY shot in Thailand (heh), John and I figured it was about time I started practicing with the camera. I can honestly say I’ve never really even shot any video, so it was fun to learn about the camera and scary because I have slippery hands…that’s why John fell in love with me in the first place.

So, here’s the video I shot of Remo. I hope you enjoy it.