A couple of quick things while I hold a sleeping baby in one hand/arm and hunt and peck with the other.

1.  We’re at the famously kid-friendly Dolphin Bay Resort in Pranburi for the very hot Songkran holiday.  This place couldn’t be more accommodating when it comes to kids – a great, beautiful beach front with no waves (which is a stark contrast to Hua Hin’s lack of a beach front), kid-friendly pools, a water slide, kids activities, bikes with children’s bike seats — as well as children’s bikes — for hire, a fantastic play ground and lawn area to play sports, an old-fashion popcorn-making machine, ice cream always within reach, and best of all — lots of friendly families with lots of other kids.  If you have a child who likes to make friends and play with others, this place is for you (side note:  it also reduces the burden on you, parents, when your children are entertained by others — we have learned this slowly over the course of our three years of vacationing in Thailand).  My husband, who has graciously always woken up early with Katelyn (now almost two years old) and allowed the rest of us to “sleep in” until 7am, said that for the first time on a vacation, he did not feel out of place walking around the resort with a toddler at 6am.  Apparently, there were plenty of other dads doing the same.  Bingo.  This is the spot if you have early-rising toddlers!

Super-awesome playground and lawn area for the kids

Kate at Dolphin Bay in 2013

Quick note on the digs:  the rooms are not lux, but we were very fortunate to get into the newly-renovated two bedroom suite (features two bedrooms, a living area, two flat screen TVs, excellent wifi, two bathrooms, and a kitchenette).  It is plenty big for a family of five and is clean, nice, and well-equipped.  If you are on your way down, ask if a newly-renovated room/suite is available.  I believe the owners are slowly renovating all of the rooms.

2.  I wanted to test out the awesome, new slo-mo video function on my iphone 5, so I captured Walter and the kids going down the slide.  Check this:

Cool, right?

3.  Vacation success?  Now being two parents with three children under the age of four, we have only lost one child on one instance during our vacation so far.  Not so bad.  #parentingstandardsareslipping #zonedefense