Keeping Close "Thais": Final Hurrahs of 2015!

The last few weeks have been filled with many things: Christmas programs, Gerrit's birthday, a trip to the beach. Now I am looking at starting school later this week, and I can't believe that so many things that I was looking forward to have gone by so quickly already. Here's a little recap on the end of our 2015:

1. Christmas Program
On December 17-19, our school held its annual Christmas program. There are 4 different programs that take place over the course of three days...which makes it a really intense process! The programs this year went really smoothly, from what I could tell. I got to be an emcee for one of them, which ended up being more work than what I remembered. However, I have to say that it was a lot of fun to do that job, and I received a lot of complements afterward. Sorry I don't have any photos from these programs - if you'd like to see them, check out Global English School on Facebook; pictures from all the programs are posted there.

2. Gerrit's First Birthday
Well, before his birthday actually arrived, we had a little party for him on campus. One of the resident photographers at GES was willing to come and take some pictures for us (Big thank you to Erin Spruell Photography for these!) We originally didn't have a theme for the party, but my friend Sarah found a cute idea for a puppy cake and cupcakes, which she made for us. Gerrit loves his stuffed puppy, so we brought it out and he dragged it around with him throughout the party. When the kids started coming and saw the cake, they ran home to get their stuffed animals....and it turned into a puppy-themed party! It was low-key (you know - show up and eat food and sing happy birthday), but turned out to be super fun! Here are some of my favorite photos from the party:

There's his birthday cake! (I was more excited than Gerrit was). It was intended to look like his little stuffed puppy, which you'll see in other pictures below.

Gerrit's little personal cake (the puppy) and cupcakes for the rest of the guests

Gerrit didn't know what to do with the cake! He put one finger in it, then wouldn't touch it any more. The only way we got him to eat some was by feeding it to him with a fork (which the other kids really enjoyed helping with, actually!)

These are most of the kids that showed up for the party, but not nearly all of the teacher's kids that are at GES!

Trip to Phuket
On December 21st, we embarked on our second domestic flight in Thailand (first for Gerrit!) to the southern island of Phuket (which is pronounced "Poo-ket", for those of you who are wondering). It is the largest island in Thailand and a popular tourist destination. We got to hang out on the beach for a week there with Michael's dad, mom, and sister, where we celebrated Gerrit's actual first birthday as well as Christmas day. We had a whole lot of fun going between the pool at our resort and the beach which was about a 5-10 minute walk from where we were staying.

Checking out our airplane before we left Bangkok

Playing in the sand - the first day Gerrit experienced it he was a bit timid; hence, he's sitting on a blanket and looking a little worried

Gerrit's first birthday - celebrating with Pops, Grams, and Aunt Courtney! Gerrit got to try some ice cream in the form of a banana split for his treat this time, and he liked it a lot better than he liked the cake!