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| Launching into year 6! |
JANUARY 5, 2017
The Golden Year is over....turning 5 years old on the 5th in a tribal village in Northern Laos was a fantastic way to get things started....but where did Graeme go from there?To cover some stats, this year Graeme flew just under 30,000 miles. He added Laos, India and Japan to his list of new countries visited, bringing his count of total countries visited up to 17. He also burned through his first passport. Let's think about that one for a second. As a child your US Passport is valid for 5 years and has fewer pages then an adult passport, but there are still plenty in there. Graeme got his passport when he was 2 years old. This means in the span of 3 years he covered every page with enough visa stamps from all over the world that he ran out of pages and needed to get a new one. Wha Da?
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| It ain't all rainbows and unicorns... |
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| One down... |
It was a busy year full of milestones, growth and adventures. Remember learning how to ride a bike? Graeme crossed that off his list this year. Now he even tackles the streets of Saigon outside our "quiet" neighborhood, riding his bike to school on occasion and learning how to read, anticipate and react to the chaos that ride entails. He hasn't gotten any tricks yet but he does like to "surf" by carving in and out of driveways (wonder where he got that from?).
Educationally this was a transition year for Graeme. Sadly saying goodbye to his Ms. Tina (more on that HERE) and his crew in Early Childhood (EC), Graeme started Kindergarten in the Fall with Mr. Chris and Ms. Hue. Still somewhat play based but more curriculum focused, Graeme has hit the ground running and working incredibly hard learning how to Read, Write and understand Math. One thing is for sure, this kid gives everything he does 100%, be it play or learning. It makes us so proud to watch him try his best and even though he may not succeed at something he doesn't give up but tries harder. This has been very evident in his reading and writing, where just walking around in everyday life he is trying to read signs, asking what certain words mean, etc. Not only learning it in the classroom but applying it to real life. This may seem trivial but it's critical for these little humans and Erin and I are overly impressed and amazed at how he is tackling life in general.
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| Ms. Tina and EC Crew |
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| Mr. Chris' KG Class 2016 |
Graeme has introduced a bit of mindfulness into his life this year. Attending yoga classes every Tuesday as well as reminding Erin and myself to be mindful at times when we may be stressing on some future event or whatever. He helps us keeps us grounded. A five year old keeping you in check.
As a parent sometimes you hear from others some sort of praise about your child and you are grateful but in reality you know they may just be exaggerating a moment or trying to make you feel good for some reason. We hear these praises from time to time about Graeme and one theme that has repeated itself is how he helps others in the classroom. Sometimes there is a classmate that just needs a little bit of extra attention or comfort and it seems Graeme is known to go out of his way to help provide that. We got to see this firsthand while spending Christmas at Legoland in Malaysia. There was a Magician show and Graeme got picked as his helper for one of the tricks (you can see it HERE, gotta admit it's pretty darn cute). For his efforts Graeme was awarded a special pin which he had Erin attach to his shirt right away with pride. Well after that there was a little boy about 3 yrs old behind Graeme that was trying his best to get picked to help the Magician with all the rest of the tricks. This kid had his hand up high, jumping up and down screaming Me! Me! Me! Well, he did not get picked. At the end Graeme turned around to Erin and asked her to take his pin off. He then handed it to the little boy saying he thought he wanted it much more then he did. Our hearts melted. One of the staff saw this happen so they approached Graeme and gave him another prize, a small Christmas lego piece. Later on there was a dance contest that Graeme and Erin happened to win (video proof HERE, and HERE, and HERE). The prize was the same lego piece that Graeme already had. He immediately went and sought out the same little boy and presented him with the prize. Seeing in action things that you've talked about countless times and only hoped would someday, somehow come to fruition in even the slightest way was truly remarkable. I'd like to think we have instilled this kindness and giving in him but I believe the reality is that it's just who he is. And we couldn't be more proud of that.
While we didn't tick off as many countries in our travels we did manage to take some of the best trips we've had to date. Great mixes of exoticism, adventure and spending time with great friends.
- Laos was just an unbelievable place to spend time. Such a beautiful country with fantastic people and food. Graeme hiked his first mountain in the jungle as well as soaked up the abundance of culture on tap.
- India was quite an adventure and even better was spending time with such great friends and lovely people Paul and Sepi - Hey Paul, would you rather be a Giraffe with monkey ears or a sleeping koala bear stuck in an igloo?
- Graeme added two Vietnamese islands to his repetoire - Can Dao and Phu Quoc - and while both were great fun playing in and around the water even better was spending it with our besties - Team Sylvester.
- Summertime brought on Disneyland in Tokyo as well as our pilgrimage to the USA to spend time with family and crossing a visit to the Statue of Liberty off of his bucket list (he asked about going there for almost an entire year).
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| New Delhi, India |
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| Team Hawken in Nong Kiaw, Laos |
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| Lunch in Laos |
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| I did it all by myself! |
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| Turning 5 in Laos |
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| Mickey dreaming... |
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| M. I. C. K. E. Y. mouse... |
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| Lady Liberty with Mimi |
The year was also full of exciting family events! Graeme got to meet his new cousin, Greyson! Born in May, Greyson proved to be a fantastic sleeper while we visited him over the summer and is apparently becoming quite the big boy, wearing 18 month old clothes at only 6 months old!
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| Rest up little dude, fun is about to start! |
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| It's a boy! |
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| Theme park action |
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| Snow in Singapore |
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| Legoland surfer dude |
Wow. Looking at everything Graeme has done this year, it is tough to realize that it is only a snapshot of him being 5 years old! Looking back I think there were so many milestones, growth moments and adventures that I am in awe at how well he handles it all!
But now, we'd like to have everyone wish him all the best as he tackles his 7th year on earth with all the zest, health and mindfulness that he has -
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAEME ROBERT HAWKEN!!
WE LOVE YOU WITH ALL OUR HEART!
Hoa BIn,
The Hawken's in HCMC
