SNOW in the Pilbara

Friday, February 7, 2014

Playing with Friends in Perth

Like I said, I have heaps of photos from our trip to Perth and it will be too hard to try to recount our month there week by week in perfect order. Instead I have decided to randomly pick out events from our holiday and blog about them. Hopefully I will end up covering most of it in the end!

We were in Perth from the 2nd of January until the 29th of January and had a fantastic time. The only problem was that Clinton had to work in Karratha and we missed him a lot! He did manage to visit us one weekend while we were in Perth but more on that in a future post.

My best friend Penny happened to be visiting Perth from Queensland and we were able to catch up for a few days before she returned home on the 9th of January. Our first Saturday in Perth, Penny came to my Mum and Dad's house with her two daughters Jordyn and Jayme (her husband Mick was home in QLD working too). My other best mates Georgia and Kent also came with their children India and Reeve. We all had a swim together and some dinner then that night when the kids were asleep Pen and Georgia came back over and we hung out. It was such a fun day! Here are a few photos I took...

Kent entertained the kids in the pool while we watched and chatted...until Georgia had to jump in and save Reeve at one point (Kent was not in the pool at the time and Reeve just walked in with no swimming vest)!

They loved running and 'driving' around the tennis court

Not sure what is going on with Harry here but Indy and Jordy look pretty cool!

Kent playing tennis with the 'scud' junior Reeve (hopefully he'll make his parents a lot of money one day!)

Then later in the day Penny took these photos with my camera - she has such a great eye! As I edited them I realised how easy it is to edit amazing photos compared to my mediocre ones - go figure!

Lots more photos with these guys to come!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Boating with the Pilkingtons

On Saturday it was the perfect conditions for boating, the water was so smooth and there was hardly any wind. We invited the Pilkington family to come with us as they haven't been on the boat yet. Amy and Emily stayed home as Amy was nearly 40 weeks pregnant and ended up having her baby the following Tuesday morning - too close to go boating to an Island with no phone reception! Bryan came with Michael and Tyler and we first took the boat to Angel Island but there was a lot of seaweed and muck in the water so we went to our favourite, Marney Bay.

On the way to Marney Bay we spotted a group of Dolphins and they were leaping out of the water, of course as soon as I tried to photograph them they stopped!

Bryan showed the boys how to build a proper sand castle

Such a paradise!

Alissa is now walking everywhere and even had a go walking on the uneven sand. She is such a beach baby!

This is as far as the sandcastle got as the tide was coming in fast and soon swept it away.

A very quick photo I took of a crab - it quickly buried itself in the sand after I snapped this photo.

Clinton took the kids and Bryan for a biscuit ride on the water while I stayed behind with Alissa who fell asleep in the shade...she was so peaceful.

These two are such sweet friends!

We had sausages in buns for lunch and then headed back. Unfortunately we all got sunburnt! My kids hardly ever burn and even though I put suncream on them they were all a bit red. Poor Michael and Tyler got burnt the worst though! I think hats will stay on the whole time next time!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Sienna's Nursery Graduation

Karratha Branch has a really cute tradition of having a 'Nursery Graduation' for the children going into Primary that year. Sienna cried a bit on Sunday going into Primary but once she was in there she had fun. I think she'll enjoy Sunbeams. At the end of Primary the leaders put Sienna and Milla in graduation robes and hats and welcomed them into Primary. So sweet!

President Pilkington giving Sienna her certificate. He barely go to shake her hand before she was back in her seat again...a bit shy!

First Day of School

It has been weeks since I've even opened my blog account...I took the kids to Perth for most of January and I now have literally a thousand photos to sort through...be prepared for a bombardment!

I will eventually get to editing my Perth photos but in the meantime I'll start with what has happened over the past few days. Yesterday was Harrison's first day of year two! He was a little distressed to discover that Michael, his best friend, is in a different class this year. However, we were able to comfort Harrison by showing him all the children in his class who he does know and telling him that he can still play with Michael at recess and lunch. He was pretty brave when I dropped him off to his new classroom - there were some tears in his eyes which he quickly wiped away. I was pleased by my first impressed of his teacher, she is young and enthusiastic and has a kind manner with the children. When I picked Harrison up he was really happy and when asked about his teacher he said, "Oh she is just lovely Mum". I had a giggle!

Sienna also started "school" yesterday...well a 'school readiness program' that she'll attend every Monday for two hours. I was worried about how she'd go as the whole day care thing hadn't worked out and I was bracing myself for tears when I left her. I was pleasantly surprised by her reaction, she didn't cry - just waved goodbye to me! The program is run by two teachers and it is structured like a kindergarten program. I sat with her for a few minutes and we practised tracing, then I played with her for a few minutes in the home corner. The teacher then rang the bell to indicate it was time for Mummies to leave and for the children to sit on the mat. Sienna sat with her new friends Milla and Tahlia (she has two other friends with the same names so she warmed up to them fast) and waved goodbye to me! Yay! I'll see if I get the same reaction next week. She told me she had a great time and was excited to show me her painting and a macaroni necklace she'd made. I think the program only being two hours is a good thing for Sienna.

After school we had a special 'first day' afternoon tea of jelly, cupcakes and ham and cheese croissants - not super healthy but I think it's ok for one afternoon tea!

So far, so good for school in 2014!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy Birthday/New Years!

On new years day one year ago our precious little Alissa was born, 2 weeks early! She has brought so much love and happiness into our home. Her smile is infectious and she's such a happy and content little soul.

Harry wrapped his present himself and said it looked like it had cat ears - so he made it into a cat. Love his message..."dear Chog..."

Alissa having a quick ride in Harrison's go-kart...she loves sitting in it and pretending to drive!

Let me open my presents already!!!

Sienna gave her an activity table

Alissa has loved playing with Sienna's furbie from Christmas so Harrison gave her a mini furbie!

Harrison tried to take it off her to open the box...this is what happened!

She loves it!

She loved playing with her activity table...putting the balls in and out

Sienna has been stealing the mini furbie...

We intended to do dinner with the Pilkington's for Alissa's birthday but with her vomiting the day before I wanted to quarantine ourselves for another day in case anyone else got it! So far so good! We went to the KI for dinner and came home to quickly assemble this giant cupcake cake I had baked earlier. Clinton bought me a surprise Christmas present (which I forgot to blog about at Christmas), it was a silhouette Cameo - a paper cutter that can cut any shape, design you can imagine all connected to your computer. Clinton made this customised cupcake wrapper.