April – June 2011 ~ Easter & the Boys :-)

Posted on June 30, 2011

Oh has the time escaped me. I started this entry months ago and never put the finishing touches on soooo I am rewinding the calendar back a wee bit, all the way back to the Easter Bunny 🙂

There is no shortage of festivals in Thailand. April is usually one of the hottest months here in the land of smiles which is the reason for the funnest (as the kids say) festival all year Songkran aka ~ massive water fight.

Songkran is celebrated in conjunction with Thai New Year and way back when, the tradition was to sprinkle water on another person to cleanse their soul, wash off the bad spirits. Well fast forward many years and believe me everyones spirits are being washed away.

We have never experienced anything like this, no one is safe and it is best to lock your vehicle door because people will open it and drench you inside. The kids had a blast! The festival is 3 days long of water being splashed and sprayed everywhere.

(the kids getting loaded up for a big shoot out)

(Em playing around with a local Thai girl)

(two of my boys loving this!)

(crawling along the klong, this was crazy… water was flying everywhere)

(common sense is ~ this is totally dangerous ~ but so fun)

~ Easton turned 9!!! ~

(a few buddies came to celebrate Easton’s birthday… a fun day of drift carts, zorb balls and fun games)

(East falling out of the zorb ball)

(a fun game of fishing for candies in a plate of flour 🙂

(good thing we can hose the kids off)

(Happy Happy Birthday Day buddy)

(Here is the outside of our new house which we absolutely love, more pictures to follow)

(great decorating Em)

~ Earth Day! ~

(Celebrating Earth Day at school by planting a tree)

~ Happy EASTER!!! ~

(it was very exciting that the Easter Bunny found us in Chiang Mai. The chocolate eggs and chocolate bunny came all the way from Australia (good planning Easter Bunny..haha)

(Ev following his trail around the house)

(the kids have not seen chocolate Easter Bunnies in years ~ thanks Mr. Bunny)

~ Em’s Grade 5. Exhibition ~

(Em along with her class worked for months to prepare for a large Exhibition to present to visiting schools, as well as their whole school. The premise of the exhibition is to bring together all their learning they have had in all their junior school years. Em and her group (Rigpi & Ugen) report was on Animal Cruelty. They had to put together a information board, a iMovie, a sculpture and a dance… Awesome job Em)

~ Mai Ai for the weekend ~

(Racked and packed… Trent and his buddy James jammed two dirt bikes and all the kids mountain bikes in the back of our truck… great pack job)

(the Chalmers and us Schmu’s ventured to northern Thailand for an adventure in the middle of nowhere!)

(the evening entertainment was the local village girls that came to sing for us… They were sooo good and beautiful to watch)

(a quiet meditation spot ~ I would know nothing about that because my kids are never quiet..haha)

(we walked up to a look out point and we seen a small village below)

(the small bamboo cabins that were our home for the weekend)

(Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom)

(The kids cozy room on the other side of the bamboo wall)

(The resort pool, easy kids entertainment)

~ Boys will be Boys ~

(Trent and his mate James ventured off for a day of adventure riding dirt bikes through small villages who have never seen a white man, high in the mountains of northern Thailand. Boy oh boy does Trent love this)

(all the fun of it is driving through the muck and getting all muddy)

(the boys came back with smiles we could not wipe off their faces)

(how many can you pile on a floating turtle? ~ Answer alot)

~ Ev turns 7 (already) ~

(Ev had a crew of kids over to celebrate. Emma (our official party organizer) arranged all the games and activities for the party which was awesome)

(Ev wanted a cake with whipping cream not icing this year)

~ Easton’s Grade 3 Camp Out ~

(East along with his classmates had a fun night of camping and cooking for themselves to appreciate what it is like to have NO electricity. They cooked over an open fire, made smoothies by pedaling a bike to generate energy for the blender to work. It was a great time of singing songs and enjoying the outdoors)

~ So proud ~

(Em has officially graduated into Senior School. This very special day at her Gr. 5 Graduation Emma was the only student in the Junior School ever to be awarded an academic scholarship (smart cookie) as well as her peers voted Emma with having great Respect for herself and others. So proud of our baby girl)

(after the formal graduation it was time to hit the pool. Here Em is with 3 of her best classmates. Rigpi, Makalya, Em and Athena… such fun girls)

~ Sad Goodbyes ~

(some very special friends who we have spent the last year with are moving on to the United States for another adventure of a different culture (they are Australian). We wish them all the best in their new endeavors and thank you for everything… we will miss you!

Another school year is behind us and we are packed and ready to head all the way back to the other side of the world to see some beautiful smiling faces of loved ones. Before we land in Calgary we are flying into LA, jumping in a rental van, then driving up the coast. We just finished the whole series of Full House (it is so dated..haha) and the kids wanted to see where the Full House, house was..haha. It will also be a good time to show them the beautiful Golden Gate bridge and visit the infamous Alcatraz prison.Have a fantastic summer!

Lots of love
Trent. Jody. Em. East. Ev