Milly the Maths Super Star!

We have a very enthaustic and lovely GIRN (Getting It Right in Numeracy) teacher at school. She is inspiring all these budding mathematicians! Every week there is a magic number and the students have to do on an A3 sheet of paper all the ways they can come up with that number. And then the best are awarded a certificate and get to have the Mrs Marshall Maths Trophy on their desk for the week!! Guess who won this week? Miss Milly! Go Milly!!

Book Week 2012

This year for Book Week Parade at school we went for a Roald Dahl theme as he is such a well loved author in our house! Grace went as a walking wonka bar and Milly as the an himself, Mr Willy Wonka. They both looked awesome,

Faction Carnival!

It is that time of the year again, Faction Carnival time! I made Grace and Daz an "I am the Lord of Ord" Tshirt. Milly choose not to wear one! Wonder why?? No ribbons this year. Milly has just survived four days of a gastro bug going around town. This was her first day back at school for the week.

 

Here is Grace giving the zig zag throwing relay a go. We are in the faction Ord, blue. We won the carnival by one point which was fantastic but just a little bit suspicious as the red faction has dominated winning for the last eight years.... But everyone cheered when the winner was announced, we were all happy the red faction was second for a change. Its been a big two weeks, Daz away on school camp, Milly sick, Daz away in Perth for four days, Faction Carnival.... am looking foward to a nice boring school week this week.

Hanging with Julia!

 

Look who we rubbed shoulders with this morning! Australia's Prime Minister, Ms Julia Gillard.

She is up this way doing a two day whirlwind tour. We couldn't miss the opportunity to go down to the local park this morning, watch her plant a tree and say hello. I helped the girls make a quick sign to attract her attention and it worked! Half way through the planting, her media man came over and asked if she had seen the sign Grace was holding. I said she had made eye contact and he said he would make sure she came and said hello. She was very friendly, shook the girls hands and asked them their names. I took the first photo and then she suggested that maybe I would like to be in the next shot. All very exciting!

Ahoy Captain!

 

Look! I have a piece of paper that says I can drive a boat now!
Daz now has to share the boat when we take it out!

Lovely Litchfield.

 

School holidays here and we decided to visit Litchfield Park across the border in the Northern Territory. All our previous trips to Darwin have just been a rush to get to the shops and movies but this trip we decided to meet up with Darren's folks in the sleepy hollow that is Batchelor, make that our base and do a mix of Litchfield sights and shopping! Above is Wangi Falls. So nice we visited it twice! The water was crystal clear.

  

Tolmer Falls was seen from the viewing platform as see that little black hole at the bottom of the falls? Home to several colonies of rare Ghost Bats and Orange Horseshoe Bats apparantly.

Our favourite spot though was a place called Buley Rockhole. A series of waterfalls and rock-holes were you could wander down away from everyone else and find your own little pool. Which was good cause guess who forgot to pack their bathers??! It was cold when we left Kununurra! Didn't think we'd be swimming in the dry season!

Just had to include this photo. Now we know were the girls and Daz get their camera face from!

The other big attraction at Litchfield is Florence Falls. It was very busy here.

The park is also famous for these Magnetic Termite Mounds. The mounds are aligned north to south to minimise the exposure to the sun.

In typical Aussie fashion, we had to take the shots of child trying to push over giant termite mound.

 

And also the shot of the whole family in front of the termite mound.

We also visited Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin.

They had a great reptile display, including this water monitor that was itching to get out of his enclosure.

And lots and lots of crocodiles including this one who was the same length as our boat, 4.9 metres!

Lake Argyle Swim 2012

Remember last year, the Lake Argyle Swim, here? Well this weekend we did it all again! Only one new member of the team. Here they are driving away from the boat ramp. Good luck!

  And then 3 hours and 15 minutes later, here they are, not far from the finish line! They finished the 10kms in 3 hours and 30 minutes, they shaved 16 minutes off last years time.

And over the line they go!

Flying the team flag proudly as they are coming back into the boat ramp.

All smiles but looking a bit tired.

 

I made Daz change out of his Dockers shirt once he had finished he could wear the "I survived the Lake Argyle Swim" tshirt with pride! The fourth swimmer, Mr D is still out on the boat.

Well done Daddy! Hope you had fun Daz because next year you are driving the boat while I do the swim! Two years of standing on the land watching is enough, my turn now!