Gone Fishing!

We interupted all plans of a sewing Sunday yesterday to go fishing with friends on the King River. Worth it as Grace proudly caught her first barramundi. 61cms, 3cms longer than Darren's 58cm catch! Go Gracie!!

Back to School!

Back to school today for the girls. It has been a long, busy and exciting holiday, nice to get back into some routine. Milly is in year 2 this year and Grace is in year 4. Their hair braids are coming out this weekend, we were waiting to go back to school to show them off before taking them out!

Beautiful Bali.

Daz and I are back to school tomorrow, the girls start on Wednesday so today is officially the last day of holidays. Thought I would share some snaps taken at Bali. We had an amazing time. So many West Australian's holiday in Bali because it is so close and so cheap, but this was my first trip. Daz has been before when he was straight out of high school with a group of graduating friends and doesn't remember much of that trip, this one was much different!

We stayed at a hotel in Nusa Dua called the Melia. The grounds were amazingly beautiful.

This was the view from the end of our corridor. This pool was private access only for the rooms on the bottom floor. You could swim from your verandah!! Next time we are staying in those rooms!

This was our daily view going to breakfast.

We had breakfast every morning at the hotel, buffet style, every single breakfast food you can imagine! Daz and I had omlettes made fresh for us, Milly had pikelets made for her. Both girls ate their body weight in watermelon each morning. Fresh pineapple juice and chicken noodle soup for me.

This man played this type of bamboo xyolophone every morning throughout breakfast. He always had a smile on his face and would nod hello. When a child approached he would switch from traditional Baliness tunes to Mary Had a Little Lamb. Milly loved it.

Daz's first bintang beer and nasi goring. I think we had been at the hotel for an hour when this shot was taken!

We stayed at the hotel mainly but did venture out a few times. We spent a day at Waterbom Park which was just awesome! Here is Grace being brave on the bungie jump thing.

Chips Waterbom Park style, served in a wooden cup with the sauce in a handmade coconut leaf basket! Love it!

Another outing we went to the Bali Safari and Marine Park. We rode a camel and also rode an elephant but I was so focused on hanging on I didn't take my camera on that ride and now of course I wish I did!

We had our photo taken with a baby orangutan also at the Safari Park. Her name was Chloe. The girls were trilled to touch a real orangutan.

Back at the hotel.... Kids Club was optional, Grace was so against going but of course when she got there, she loved it! They did things like crab catching at the beach, sand castle making and visiting a temple within the hotel grounds.

Dress up Bali style.

We had the traditional buffet one night for tea at the hotel. This was the fruit display at one end, on the side, behind this display was the real fruit to eat. We particularly loved the watermelon face here!

With the dancers after dinner.

My first of many pina colada's of the holiday! Happy hour was from 5 till 7, buy one get one free!!

This was my view poolside most days! I did go for a swim sometimes, but reading and people watching was just as much fun.

The girls had their hair braided on the beach. It took 3 ladies an hour to do Grace's hair. She was in tears the whole time. "It hurts Mummy!" But as soon as the last bead was put in, all the pain was forgotten. And now three weeks later as I write this post, both the girls still have the braids in!

"Mum we can't stand in the middle of the road!" On our last day there we walked 5 minutes down the road to a big shopping area called the Bali Collection to get the usual cheap dvd's and sarongs. It was a fantastic holiday, we all had an awesome time. The right mix of hanging by the pool and going out. It was perfect, I can't wait to go back!

Grace's Merit Certificate!

Gracie got a Merit Certificate at assembly on Friday. We organized this term for her to be tutored twice a week which she loves attending. She is an average student but just needs a boost in her confidence. Her certificate was awarded for "all the extra work you do to improve your reading, writing and spelling skills. You are a very responsible and reliable student Grace. Fantastic effort! Well done. PS. We love your artwork too!!" Go Gracie!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Milly!

Happy 7th birthday to our Milly Moo! Being a Tuesday you had to go to school, but you didn't mind as you love school, your teacher and your friends. You handed out 24 pink cupcakes before recess, you came home covered in stickers! You bring so much joy, happiness, laughter and pride into our house as you are our daughter. We love you very much Matilda.

Broome.

We have just come back from six days in Broome. It was lovely! We went to Cable Beach. To swim....

... to enjoy the sunset...

And to ride camels! Here is Milly looking very confident at the start. That changed the minute she sat on our camel, he was named Bully and had a loud groan/grunt when he went to stand up with us on him, it scared her!

And a family before shot, still smiles from Milly!

This was my view from behind everyone.

We also enjoyed a few beers at Matso's which was fantastic. Daz is here giving the chilli beer the thumbs up before he actually drank the stuff!

And this photo is for Mum to show, yes, we really did see Uncle Scottie in Broome!

Miss W's Quilt Revealed!

I don't blog quilt stuff here but I know Mum reads this blog and not the other, so thought I would post this here!

Today was the day we gave Miss W her quilt!! We asked Miss W to leave the room for a few minutes while we worked out what child was going to say what. Then she came back in and sat, very puzzled and curious. Six kids spoke a sentence each. "Miss W, we are very excited about your wedding." "We wanted to make you something special." (She starts crying about here!) "Miss Helen helped us do some drawings at recess and lunch." "It was top secret, we had to pinky promise not to tell you!" (More crying about here!) "We hope you like your present." "We wish you and Mr H lots of love and hope you live happily ever after." Then she got to open it and because the kids hadn't seen the quilt it was zoom, they all rushed in. Then there was squeals of "Look there is my drawing!" "Look that's mine up there Miss W!" "Look Miss W I drew you holding Mr H's hand!" It was fantastic!

Here's Miss W with Alice. I told Alice her block was my favorite, she got all shy.

And here is Miss W and I in that happy post quilt gift giving glow. I am so looking forward to their wedding in a few weeks. She is such a beautiful lady, has a heart of gold, an amazing teacher, it's going to be a joy to share her day with her.

Here are the amazing kids of Room 12! Their art makes this quilt so special!

And here is the quilt. There you go Jules!