They came and conquered.

Here's a little update since I haven't blogged in a while (wow, did we ever think "blogged" would become a verb?):

My family had a great time. I had a lot of fun taking them to my favorite places in Chiang Mai, as well as elephant riding, Doi Suthep, and Koh Chang.

I think the highlight of the trip was going to Koh Chang, an island several miles off the coast of Cambodia in the Gulf of Siam. We stayed at a gorgeous resort right on the beach and did nothing but lay on beach chairs, swim in the ocean, and read for five days. We did go snorkeling one day at a smaller island near Koh Chang. My mother, the snorkeling FANATIC, went crazy and stayed in the water looking at fish long after Dad, Lauren and I had retired. My favorite fish that I saw was the parrotfish, which is crazily colored. And we saw about a gazillion sea cucumbers, which I've never seen in the wild before. Pretty cool.

Now they have returned to California and I'm back in the routine of teaching classes at CMU. My students have about three more weeks of class and then we start final exams! I can't believe it.

I'll try to bum some pictures off my family in the next few days and post them so y'all can see a snippet of our adventures.