Bachelor Episode 10 Recap: We go to Thailand

I've waited 4 months to talk about this.  The longest four months of my life!

In case you missed it last night...we went to Thailand!

Now...if you know us, you know that we like to travel.  My kids had already been to 12 countries and between the 4 adults, we'd been to over 50 countries...so, traveling is our thing.  That being said, we flew for two days to arrive in Northern Thailand and then only stayed 3 days before flying home for two days.  Even your most experienced travelers would be exhausted after that!  Four days of flying and only 3 days of actually being at your destination is hard work!  But...we were so excited to do it!


On Friday, November 9, Lovie, Papa Jay, Andrew, Kensington, Smith and I arrived at DFW Airport to take a two day trek, 23 hours in the air, 4 flight journey to Chiang Rai, Thailand.

(see the black dot at the very, very top of Thailand...that's where we went)

Here are my little ones at the airport waiting for our first (of four) flights to Chaing Rai.

Oh yes, we have this under control...

When I see this picture, I think about how clean and fresh I look.  Two days later, after four flights with two small children, I did not look this clean and fresh!

Shhhhhh!  It's a secret that we're going to Thailand.  

The trip started with a two hour delay at our home base airport...but nevertheless, we were excited and ready for this adventure of a lifetime!

Praise the Lord!  We made it to Chaing Rai!

This was our resort.  Each final destination situation is different but for this season, they couldn't fit the entire crew in one hotel.  Therefore, we stayed at this resort with a few producers and the lighting guys while everyone else stayed between two other resorts.  Sean and his producer Cassie stayed in the house where the episode was filmed.

The view from our balcony.  The Bachelor was kind enough to give me and my family of four two adjoining rooms.  It was beautiful!

Checking out Thailand

We couldn't let the kids go to sleep because we needed them to sleep that night.  It is a 15 hour time zone difference from Dallas to Chaing Rai...Kensington couldn't even keep her head up while we ate lunch.

So, we decided to let them swim in order to keep them alert and awake.

They had the best time!

I love these three!  Swimming in Thailand!

The next morning, we had our only free day.  At this point, it is Monday, November 12 (because we crossed the international date line, we completely missed November 10...weird, right?!).  On our free day, we went with Katy (our fabulous producer and handler sitting next to my mom) to ride elephants.  The following two days would be filming, so this was our only real day in Thailand.

This is my "what in the world are we getting ourselves into" face.

We went to an elephant habitat...and it was magnificent.  I really can't think of another way to describe it.

Kensington dancing with our Thai driver that shuttled us around for 3 days.

Look at us crazy fools about to ride elephants with our toddlers in Thailand.

This is us looking at the elephants going, "How do you expect us to climb up there?".

We're all still dumbfounded.  They literally said, "Grab its ear and pull yourself up.".  What?  Excuse me?  Grab what?  Pull wear?  I needed a ladder.  And a Xanax.

They showed us how they could get the elephants to do tricks.  I was still busy thinking about how the heck I was going to climb up there.  Little did I know...climbing up was the easy part.  Climbing down...not so much.

We're still dumbfounded.

But by the grace of God, we made it up.  I took several pictures of us climbing up...but I've been threatened by my mother never to post those on this website.  They're not the most flattering.

Papa Jay getting the swing of things.

Andrew made it up.

And I made it up too!  I kept asking what I was suppose to hold on to...and again, the answer was his ear.  Seriously people!  Couldn't you have given me a rope or something.  Reins maybe?  Nope.  Just his ear.

They asked me if I wanted Smith.  I couldn't yell out "heck no" fast enough.  I was just trying to stay alive up there...the last thing I needed was my two year old.  Papa Jay took Smith.  Just your average day of having your 2 year old riding on an elephant's forehead.

They hoisted Kensington up with Andrew.

And Lovie made it up too!

Before we went off with our elephants, we fed them bananas and sugar cane.

My mom looks like a pro!  She should join the circus.

Once.in.a.lifetime.

My crew about to head out!

Ok...quick pause...I don't have pictures of this but we rode the elephants for a long time...and waaaaay off the beaten path.  At one point, Andrew and my dad took their elephants into a lake and swam with them.  I'm not joking.  The water was taller than the elephants and they just walked right on through the water to the other side (with Andrew and my dad holding on).  It was incredible!

We had lunch at a beautiful restaurant after our elephant extravaganza.  This is Kensington looking at Burma...only a few miles away.

That night, we let the kids swim some more.  And drink fruity virgin drinks.

Smith had a snack (and yes, the tattooed man in the background is my husband).

After this mom and I had  Thai massages.  It was the best massage of my life!

And then we went to dinner with some of the producers.  Smith sat just like this for over two hours.

And Kensington like this.  They were beat.

Now...I have very limited pictures of the following two days.  But I have a few...

About 10 minutes after Catherine came in to meet us, we all looked over and saw this.

And he stayed like this for over 4 hours.  While we filmed a TV show...Smith napped.  The funniest part was that the crew kept leaning down and taking pictures with him.  I bet 20 people posed with sleeping Smith.

After two full days of filming in a house with no A/C (it had A/C but the producers shut it off, so that they could keep the doors open and it look pretty without hearing the A/C run...it was HOT!), we were done filming.  Andrew, Elan and me.  Elan just makes everything more fun :).

Cassie Lambert Scalettar (Sean's producer), Alycia Rossiter (one of the Executive Producers) and Katy Chen (our producer and caretaker for the week).  These three ladies are so sweet and I wish I could hang out with them all the time.  XO

And here we are...about to head home the next morning.  Two days later, we arrived back in Dallas.  

Our experience with the Bachelorette and Bachelor was nothing but positive.  The producers and crew really create such a happy, family-like atmosphere.  Our trip to Thailand was short but it was fabulous.  I really do think the world of everyone involved in the production of this franchise.

As for the future...I'm just doing what I always do...I'm praying for my brother and his new relationship.  I'm praying for him to always trust in the Lord with all of his heart and live a life that pleases Him. Our life in Dallas is really simple...we love the Lord and we love our family.   The day Andrew and I turned in Sean's application for the Bachelorette was just a random Monday night.  We had no idea what would happen after that.  No idea.  This experience has been a blessing because we've been able to meet so many wonderful people, we've been able to travel the world and more importantly, we've been able to share our faith.  

I've decided not to publish any mean or angry comments today about the show.  Normally, I publish all of my comments unless they have spoilers in them but today, I will not be publishing any that are rude, mean or hateful.

I started my blog 6 years ago as a way to scrap book my life.  I've been scrap booking my brother since day one and will continue to do so until I stop blogging (which I hope is never!).  Six years from now, you all will have moved on with life...many of you will even forget Sean was ever a Bachelor.  He will be old news.  But...I will still reflect back on my posts as a way to look at my family's past...and I don't want to look back at this post years from now and see hate.  This is a place for me to document my life...and right now, the Bachelor is a big part of my life.  But I want to look back and remember this as a good experience...and I don't need mean comments connected to this post to make me remember it in a negative way.  I would love sweet comments though!  This process wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without YOU!  From the bottom of my heart, thank you for cheering Sean on and being so supportive during this last year of our lives.  Thank you.

As always, you can check out my foodie blog here and Sheaffer's A Bachelorette Told Me To here.

XOXO