April update!

Well, dear friends, as it turns out, babies take a lot of time. Hence, I haven't been motivated to do any updating for the last few months. Ha! However, things are slowing down now. We are on official summer break from school, which means Michael is home with us every day! We've had lots of fun just hanging out as a family over the last few weeks. Michael's parents came to visit us...and by "us" I mean "Gerrit". Haha. Pops and Gram got lots of cuddles from the little guy; they went on lots of walks outside (G sure loves being outside, and Pops was more than willing to be out there with him during the cooler parts of the day!), and G even showed off by having his first-ever round of I'm-so-tired-but-I-don't-want-to-go-to-sleep-yet giggles. (These are also known as the Vrieland giggles, for those of you who are acquainted with my extended family!)

 Pops and Grams with their grandson!

The Van Maanen boys just hanging out

This week is a major holiday in Thailand. It's the Thai New Year, also known as Songkran. If you've never heard of it before, you are missing out. The holiday is spent as a nation-wide water fight - dumping ice cold water on strangers, just for fun! There are a lot of big events in downtown Bangkok, but Michael and I have never ventured down there, as things seem to get a bit crazier than we wish to experience. So, instead, we celebrate Songkran in the GES style - hanging out with friends by the roadside and using water guns, buckets, and hoses to spray passers by. Groups of people come by in pickup trucks and stop to have a water fight with us. Other times we just chuck water at the passing tuk-tuks, cars, and (our favorite) buses!

 Loading up the water guns for the next victims!

 Bring it on!

 Gerrit and I hung back, watched, and took pictures. Michael and I switched for "Gerrit duty" so we could both get some good water fighting in!

Another truck stops by for a fight

Our neighbors across the street hired a DJ, so there was some crazy loud music every afternoon/evening. I think it enhanced our enthusiasm for water fighting...although it probably didn't do any favors to our eardrums. It was three days of fun and chaos, that's for sure!

Now that the holiday is over, things are a bit calmer around here. We are happy to have a few more weeks of chill time before heading on our next big adventure to the US of A (coming in May, June, and July!). We look forward to seeing our friends and family during our extended summer break!