D's Merit Award

Something very cool about D's school is their Friday assemblies and student awards. Each Friday morning, the whole school gathers together. They sing the school song, announce birthdays from the week, sing the National Anthem, and hand out Teacher's and Principal's merit awards. D has noticed her friends receiving these awards, which come with a handshake from the principal and a special certificate, and wondered when she might receive one. Well, today was her day. "For being such a fantastic listener and always following the instructions you are given. You are such a great example to your friends. Thank you D."

Miss Delle Donne is very good to notify the parents ahead of time so that we can attend assembly and bring the camera.

D's friends Ariyah and Jorja were also recognized. Sweet, sweet, kids! Well done!

I also wondered if perhaps D might receive a 2nd award... for loudest singer at assembly. I'm not sure if it's because she has a more pronounced "r" sound (Advance Australia Fair) or just her volume but you could easily hear her singing over the roughly 200 students at assembly during the school song and national anthem. I just about wet myself, I was laughing so hard.

I also have to mention the school's birthday song. They sing the traditional happy birthday verse, and then they add a second verse:

"Happy birthday to you,

May the dear Lord bless you,

May he guide you forever,

Happy birthday to you!"

Love it. Makes me cry every week.

Bangkok!

In blogs to come, there will be fabulous photos of the sights and scenes of Bangkok. A few friends have asked us about various attractions, if we saw them, if the kids loved Bangkok. But, our fast trip to Bangkok was not the fun part of our trip- it was the work part.

We arrived on a Thursday afternoon, met our transfer (I love being met by a guy with a sign that has my name on it, who takes all my bags and my children and loads us into a nice air-conditioned mini-bus), and crossed Bangkok to get to our hotel. It's a busy place! Traffic was as thick as people had warned us, but there was so much to look at, we didn't care so much. And the taxis in Bangkok come in every possible color so the kids were entertained counting how many of each color they could spot. C reserved all the pinks for D, shouting each time, "Pee ta-he DD! Mo pee ta-he DD!"

Friday was spent visiting International schools and viewing houses. We found a wonderful place for our little family and an amazing school for D.

We'll have a guest suite, and would loooooove to have you stay in it!

The house. More pics to come when it's officially ours.

The pool. I wasn't keen on a pool in our yard because the kids are so small and they don't commonly put fences around them in Thailand. But this pool is just a couple of doors down and we'll make good use of it!

We also managed to squeeze in a night out on the town. Some friends took us to a great spot for Thai food and icy beers. Will go again sometime and take some pics. It was a unique place.

Maybe can take you there!

Mom and Dad's Day Out

T and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary while in Phuket. To honor the day, we booked a babysitter for the whole day and set off on an all-day snorkeling tour of Thailand's Phi Phi Island.

The tour made several stops but the best was Phi Phi Island, FANTASTIC snorkeling! The water was crystal-clear and full of amazing fish, sea urchins and coral. I've never seen anything like it. This stop inspired us to buy a nice under-water camera!

We also stopped for swim in a shallow area between a series of massively-tall islands. The guides encouraged us to jump right off front of the boat, and we did! Lots of fun, and absolutely gorgeous scenery.

Mind the jellies! We stopped at a developed island where a great, big buffet lunch awaited us. We ate and had plenty of time to sit in the shade on the beach and have a little nap, well I did anyway.

Our final stop was at a beautiful beach covered with loungers and beach umbrellas. We were served yummy ice cream sundaes and read our books for a couple of hours before it was time to head back to Phuket. Sooooo relaxing!
Phi Phi Island is a "must do" on your next visit to Phuket!

Phuket Pampering

One of the kids' favorite things to do on our trip was to go to "Camp Safari" (the kids' club) at our resort. C wasn't quite old enough to go on his own (without a parent or caregiver), but we made sure he had plenty of time there too.

One of the activities was nail painting- D insisted we take a photo to remember it always.

And C didn't want to be left out... of the finger nail photo taking.

D's hair is just long enough to feel nice and hot on her neck, but not really long enough to get into a ponytail. So, I thought I'd try my hand at French braids. Hmmm.

We decided to try the salon just outside our resort...much better.

Since we were headed to the salon, and T's feet needed a little pampering, he found a treatment he couldn't resist.

This is T enjoying a Fish Spa. Yes, you submerge your feet in this large tank and tons of tiny fish nibble away at your feet. Sound horrible!?!? It was actually pretty fantastic. T said it didn't hurt, just felt very strange, and his feet were incredibly soft after! I wasn't up to the task, but I'm game when we go back!

Yum yum little fishies!

D Watching the Rugby Match

We'll try not to let her loose on a cold day at Soldier Field, for the safety and enjoyment of those sitting in the row in front of her.

Pre-Primary Assembly

Today, D's class put on a wonderful performance themed around the Australian animals and farm animals that they have been learning about.

First, a new version of Old MacDonald's Farm.

Then, Dingle-Dangle Scarecrow.

Finally, The Boomerang. This involved some hip-shaking and boomerang technique. I included a short video.

C says, "Rock on Pre-Primaries!" He enjoyed the music but for all the talking parts he went and collected leaves from the playground with a few other bored little brothers.

Elephant Trek

It started out too rainy and I'm not sure anyone was happy about our plans for the morning but we are so glad we stuck it out. Day 4 was Elephant Trek day.

We booked in with Sara, Paul, and Sophie for a 2.5 hour tour into the jungles of Phuket Island. This included an hour long elephant trek through the jungle and a monkey show. We had no idea what the monkey show would entail, but we were up for anything having to do with monkeys!

We were entertained by some very skilled and friendly howler monkeys. I love C's grin in this photo. He was delighted with shaking their hands and getting to see them up close.

Coconut picking monkeys. Exercising monkeys.

Slam dunking monkeys.

Bicycle riding monkeys.

Low-budget but good for some big laughs. Next, on to the fantastic elephants. First a snack for the little guy who did a bit of dancing for us.

Then we loaded up and began our trek through the Thai jungle. I had a stop and think to myself a few times, 'you are riding an elephant through a Thai jungle. You are riding an elephant through a Thai jungle.' It was hard to wrap my brain around it at times. What an adventure.

C and I rode an elephant named Nancy.

A thank you snack.

Nap time (some of you may remember from the Hamilton Island post, that C does some good sleeping on hols).

That night was a lovely night out for just Todd and I. We rode a tuk-tuk into Patong, did a little bit of shopping, and had a nice dinner. We returned to the cabana around 11 and were greeted by the kids, happily doing puzzles with the non-english speaking baby-sitter. I guess she missed the whole bit about 8pm bedtime! Oh well, we all slept in.