Arriving yesterday we picked her up from Sarapee on the way home from collecting our four Mattayom level students who have been away on a 3 day Scout camp with their school.

That was lunch time and it didn’t take long for Emily to pitch in, helping the girls with the post-lunch clear up.

And she appeared to be an instant hit with the kids after that joining them in their Saturday afternoon free time and instigating some fun and games herself.

She also helped the May 2 and Jor with their new “spring” mattresses purchased yesterday.

We bought 3 with one going to Tai. We will be replacing more in the near future but are still looking for a kind hearted sponsor to cover the costs.

Emilie will be with us until next Saturday so I’m sure there will be much more fun in-store.

The whole team, plus Zak, pitched in , working very well together once again. Its been great to see the team become more efficient and organised over time.

I only hope they know how proud of them I am.

I think the photos and videos say much more about this weekends work than I can.

Last week saw much Mural painting and also the start of prep work for the planned Batong Pit.

This weekend, noticing that so many working on one thing was actually hampering progress, the younger children were given their own Project to tidy and renew vegetable plots down the side of the house.

On Sunday everyone got a lot done.

The Mattayom children finished off leveling the site for the Batong Pit and the Prathom gang did a great job starting the tidy up of our original vegetable garden.

Well done kids.

If you are as proud of our kids as I am please donate now.

Some nifty phone calls secured places on this free course, mainly aimed at prospective Bee Farmers, for our four Mattayom level students.

Always looking for new learning opportunities for our children I am very happy that we got this one sorted.

I went along to supervise the kids but even though the course was in Thai language and I struggled with the classroom sessions I still found it quite fascinating myself.

I was also very proud of the children as they did their best to keep up.

The classroom sessions were quite long and many of the adults got fidgety so I think our four handled it very well.

As usual Tai, our top student who appears to have a general thirst for knowledge of any sort, was most attentive making many notes and being keen to have a go at the practical session at the end of the first day.

It was a long day 9am -4pm, with a 15 minute break at 10.30 and an hour for lunch at 12.

Coffee and cake in the short break and a very good lunch was all laid on free as well.

The second day arrival at the course was hampered by the flooding in Chiang Mai with traffic at a stand still every way I tried.

We ended up taking a long route around Rim Ping and towards Ban Tawai having to turn back on the BanTawai road which was swamped with flood water.

We finally made it by 10.30am. There was even more classroom time on the second day but it ended with a very interesting session with the bees where staff demonstrated feeding and cleaning methods.

It is an activity that takes a long time to build up as a business with profits taking up to 2 years to come.

However, we may well try a little bee keeping here on a hobby scale in order for the children to put their  learning into practice if they wish.

The Foundation would like to thank his Teacher, Khruu Supata, for her part in Bongs education, (and indeed all the childrens Teachers).

Also thanks to his friends for popping in to say hello to.

Committed student that he is he also still found time for more study at home.

After a light dinner in the early evening, it was Cake and Kanom time again. This time round we chose Icecream cake. Having not long come out of the freezer Tai had quite a job cutting it, but got there in the end.

Tai, I hope your 14th year sees continued success in your school studies and more self discovery of the many talents you possess.

Clearly needing a break from the books 3 of them chose work and did a great job clearing up the debris from the Lamyai pruning we did earlier in the week.

It was no great surprise that Tai chose study, can’t knock his determination to do his best at school. He is also on relief from any heavy work this week as he is suffering dyspepsia right now.

Work finished it was back to the books for a while before lunch.

As they had all either studied or worked hard in the morning I allowed some time out to relax and watch a movie on the TV.

After more study it was great to see them all blow some steam off playing out in the yard with the rest of the children after the little ones returned from school.

It was a morning of much queing and waiting but it was worth it to see May getting sorted for her move up to the ‘big school’.

Gu and Tai were there to offer support and also to collect books for their new year in May.

Then on Sunday morning it was back there bright and early for the boys to collect their grades.

A morning of pride in the boys as Tai collected his special certificate having come in 7th in the top grade of Mattayom 1, with grades of 4 for all but one subject.

This was followed shortly by Gu who has continued to show huge improvements over the year. I glowed as I noted 4′s , 3.5 and 3′s amongst his grades. Previously 2.5 had been the highest.

Indeed Gu received recognition from the school for outstanding effort, being chosen by his teacher to receive a financial reward towards educational materials.

Well done both of you, hope you know how proud I am of your efforts, enjoy your holiday and keep it up next school year:)

The guys and girls from Art International, along with Sara Latshaw from Cultural Canvas, arrived at around 9am, just I was off to fetch Khruu Kem and a few of her Mattayom 1 students from Huay Sai School.

By the time we got back things were well underway already.

Big thanks to our friend Ally for supplying the marquee for a little shade.

As well as the mural painting Art Relief Volunteers also held craft workshops including bracelet, keyring  and kite making and  “kratong” style banana leaf boats.

It was a hot day outside, so the chance to take a break in the cool of the house, with equal interest, was a popular option with some of the children.

Everyone worked really hard on the wall.

In the afternoon we were also joined by Nok and Pap, the Winnie the Pooh artists.

The Art Relief volunteers did a great job with the main design and the children did some equally great stuff in their allocated circles.

I am continually amazed by the talent of some of the children here.

Art certainly seems to be in the genes of many Thai people.

It was amazing to see such a big stretch of the wall completed in just one day, wrapping up at around 4pm.

Everyone here at Stratton House would like to thank everyone involved and look forward to to much more with you all in the future.

If you like what you see please look out for our collection boxes in and around Chiang Mai or consider donating now using the online donation facility.

For all the photos from the day please visit our photobucket album here.