The best 50th birthday ever!

Yesterday was my 50th birthday and in spite of my trepidation about turning a big corner, I ended up having one of the best birthdays ever. The lead up to it was not a good one when Tom spiked a 40C temperature the night before, complained of neck pain and sensitivity to light. He had not been feeling well all day.
To be on the safe side, we took him down the pediatric clinic, where the doctor diagnosed laryngitis, prescribed antibiotics and lots of rest. We had a disturbed night and I woke, fairly tired on my birthday, already feeling my age.
The day before the girls had been busy with washing and cleaning and doing dress rehearsals with the preschool children in their new tutus that we made. They are all loving it!
There is a lot of activity at BTN at the moment, in the sewing room, putting up awnings, cleaning and scrubbing, rehearsing songs and preparing food.
I found some of the children in the playground, painting with the lovely art teacher Krutoy. One of them presented me with a beautiful painting for my birthday, which I will certainly take home and frame.

Tom could not play soccer but was happy to stay in bed and watch football on the laptop with Gean.
In the afternoon, I organised a jelly and icecream party for 87 kids, with all my little helpers and the children were all very excited.
That evening we had been invited over to drinks at Le Meridian to Kay and Sue's villa. This is the resort we will be staying at for the last four nights and I had purposefully kept us all away, knowing that the contrast between its 5-star luxury and our simple, but wonderful, life at BTN, may be too much for Hannah and Meg to stomach.
I don't think I have ever seen their jaws drop before, as we we walked down the perfectly manicured paths towards the private villa. They had never seen anything like.

The children ran off to explore the resort, the submerged trampoline, the baby elephant and I was given a couple of (rather strong) pool-side vodkas by our gracious hostess, Kay, and, soon enough, we were all getting rather silly, especially as we had not been drinking much for a couple of weeks. We all went out to a simple restaurant at the entrance to the resort, which also happened to be where the taxi driver resides. I don't think they knew what had hit them but ended up serving a delicious assortment of lovely food.

Tom, who had spent the day in bed and had a long sleep, had been feeling better. However, as the evening progressed, he started to fade and retired “Thai style” to have a quick sleep while we finished our meal.
I have received messages from friends and family all over the world, which meant so much. What was even better was spending the day with all the beautiful children, including my own and in the company of new friends, Sue's lovely extended family, and Maya and Jo.

Thanks to everyone for making it so special.