Regent's International Day 2012

I love that Dustin and Ethan attend an International School, it is so diverse, with over 50 countries represented. One day a year they celebrate that diversity with a parade of countries, an International cafe, country performances, and country rooms.

All the little ones are given a fake passport to visit each country room. I loved our theme this year and not just because it was Ethan's idea either! We had a North American Innovators room (we have to include Canada because they only have about 4 students at the school). It was like a mini Smithsonian of Innovators. Our family contributed displays for Walt Disney, Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs. I think our room really reflected one of the things that makes America so unique and wonderful-our innovation and how creative thought is encouraged. Can you imagine our world without just the three guys we presented on??? Did you know that Benjamin Franklin invented swimmer fins? besides being our first postmaster, establishing the first library, the first firehouse, inventing bifocals-I wouldn't even be able to see the screen right now without that!!! Besides the whole electricity thing! Ethan sure can't imagine the world without Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Lion King.....and Dustin can't imagine it without the Apple computer!

The International Cafe is always a huge hit, we all enjoy trying food from around the world. It's a huge parent effort and fundraiser for our community partners. This year the American table sold French fries and snow cones. It was a hot day and the snow cones were a big hit, over 200 were sold in 4 hours.

There were country performances and other musical groups all day. The USA presented about some of our innovators and then sang the 50 states song, Dustin accompanied on the ukulele. It was so great because it was a Thai holiday and Mark was able to be there the entire Wednesday. A fun family, student, cultural day at school.

My only regret? That America doesn't have some cool, clothes to wear like the Russians, the Koreans, the Japanese, the Thais....it just seems so boring wearing jeans and a t-shirt!

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Ethan turns 14!

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Sergeant Northcutt

Happy to report that we received news from Nathan this week he has been promoted to Sergeant at Fork Union! We are so proud of him and how hard he has worked since enrolling at the Academy. He has managed to go this far in the year with ZERO demerits, what an accomplishment! He has also been elected the Interact President for the campus, finished his Rescue Diving requirements, is currently working on obtaining his lifeguard certification, sings with the Praise Choir, is in the Praise Band, the Marching Band and his favorite band with two other classmates. We are awaiting their recording of 5 original songs! He also was a member of the rifle club and appealed to the FUMA President for an air-soft team to be formed on campus, which will start after Spring Break. We purchased a Fed-Ex package at a recent American Chamber of Commerce silent auction in order to get all his air-soft gear shipped to him. Over spring break he will be skyping us all the instructions on how to take apart guns for packing! He is so excited to be flying to Houston to spend the week with Uncle Mike, Aunt Kristy, Hunter and Avery for Spring Break. Then it feels like no time until he will be here again with us the end of May-we miss our Sergeant Northcutt!!!

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February in Korea

We volunteered/paid to go with the Regent's School on a school ski trip to Muju, Korea in February. What a trip!!! Exhausting! I have never skied so much in my entire life. 37 kids went from the school, 32 had never skied before, 5 had never even seen snow before. There were only 5 skiing chaperones-thus all the skiing! I had to stay up with some teenager boys, thankfully they were beginners but still dare-devil newbies!

We were excited because our friends the Whitcombe's were also attending, they are our friends from New Zealand who had never skied before as well. Sadly on the second day, Gerard broke his leg very badly. He had a twisting break inside his boot! Muju, Korea probably isn't the best place to break a bone. The clinic was used to seeing broken bones near the ski resort, they reported they see about 12 a day! They were very prepared for a broken bone but Gerard's was more serious than most, not a simple, casting, break:(

After ambulance transfer to Seoul and then a 5 hour commercial flight back to Bangkok he finally had surgery on Friday morning, he broke his leg on Tuesday! Say a prayer for him if you will, the Dr's worry that it won't heal well enough to support his body weight. Dr's orders were 1 month with absolutely no weight bearing on the leg.

We carried on at the resort with all the kids, praying that there wouldn't be any other injuries. Thankfully, the rest of our group returned intact and ready to go again next year!

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Segwaying Ancient Siam

Ethan and I spent his last day of holiday break taking a Segway tour of Ancient Siam with some friends. Ancient Siam is a replica of the country of Thailand. The whole park is laid out like Thailand with replicas of the most popular sites located throughout this huge park, it's really an enjoyable tourist site.

The best part was learning to navigate around on a Segway. They were cool! Ethan and I both commented we would like to have one for our own but then we heard the price of one!! A great way to end his Christmas break.

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Pattaya Praise 2011

great to be a part of this wonderful event in Pattaya. If you look quick you might catch a picture of one of us!!

New Year's Eve 2011

We had such a blast this New Year's Eve. A friend and I planned a New Year's Eve, Family Sports Day. We began the day in the afternoon and planned several competitions for all family members along with a progressive dinner or should I say grazing marathon!!

We began the day at the Whitcombe's for nibbles and lots of fun games. America would be proud of our representation in the baseball game, except the one point where Ethan threw the ball to get someone out rather than tagging them!!! He has been in Thailand too long! We also had a good ole-fashioned barrel race there. Mark and I both came in 2nd in our heats, and Ethan and Dustin won their heats easily! We then had a trivia contest with Mark and Dustin racking up the points, it helped a lot that it was an American version! We didn't do as well in the darts game but enjoyed the chips/dips, shrimp cocktail, grilled squid, and cheeses.

We then moved to our home where the friendly games continued. All teams were greeted by Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam. We had a very intense ping-pong tournament and Australia was the big winner there, Dustin dominated the basketball game and the Northcutt's also captured the charade win! We enjoyed a set-down dinner at our home while we reflected on goals for 2012, which were all sealed and kept by family members for reflecting on next New Year's Eve.

For our dessert time the party moved on to the French representative's home. We had a blast doing some Congo dancing and much laughing before enjoying Chocolate Mousse, Apple Crisp, among other tasty treats while the points were tallied from the day.

The Northcutt's were able to prevail in the first New Year's Eve, Family, Sports, Day taking home the huge, gaudy, pink, traveling, trophy. Hopefully, next year more families will be here over the holiday and we can have even more join in the fun. We are going to be busy practicing our darts!!! We won't want to hand that trophy off to anyone else next year! Just a blast!

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