Swimming Carnival!

That's my girl!




On your marks...


They had the junior school Swimming Carnival, and guess who won their breast stroke race??! Yes - it was that Anna. I was soooo proud, and she was soooo excited! Well done Anna!

We are back into the school routine now. For the first couple of weeks it was a bit of a shock to the system to be back getting up at 6.30am, but now I'm waking up before the alarm clock and feeling less exhausted. All the after school activities are now in full swing, so I am dealing with dancing, singing, netball, riding and occasionally climbing for Anna, and basketball and cricket for George. George has a lot more homework than he has ever had to deal with before, and is needing a lot of support to get it done without becoming suicidal! He is also coming home sometimes on the bus and letting himself in when I have something with Anna. He is really growing up.

Also, I've volunteered for a couple of things. I'm helping run a book club at school, which involves collecting together all the orders and entering them in on a website, and I'm now a Year 6 Class Mother. Along with Maria and friend Paula, we will be responsible for all the parents socials in that year. They don't know what they've let themselves in for!

We've got lots of things to look forward to at the moment as well. Anna goes on her school camp next week, and not long after we are going camping at Jervis Bay with Sharon and Richard and their lot, and Nicky and Graham and their lot. Should be fun. Then the weekend after, Mum and Dad arrive and we will be out and about with them. We have a 2 day trip to the Blue Mountains planned, then a week at a bushland resort about an hour out of Melbourne, and then they are going with the children to Jervis Bay for a few days. Mum and Dad go home towards the end of April, and then it won't be long until we are back in the UK for a month in June/July. It's all happening, and I'm sure other lovely things will come up in the meantime.

We are cruising into autumn here - it's been the coldest February for 100 years, and people are pretty fed up with the poor summer we have had here, but we've had plenty of days on the beach, and a number of days when frankly I've been way too hot. I think it is probably a good thing that we have had a gentle introduction to a Sydney summer.It's very humid here at the best of times, and I have discovered that my head sweats tremendously. I know that only horses are supposed to sweat, but I can assure you that what I am doing is not glowing. I feel quite self conscious about it, but I'm told that it won't be long before I will acclimatise. The children really don't seem to be having a problem with this at all - in the UK I had trouble getting them to put on a coat in the deep mid winter, but here they think it is cold on days when I would quite happily be in shorts.

Hope you enjoy the photos - all Anna I'm afraid - George doesn't like me to take photos of him, whereas Anna is a bit of a poser!



Anna and Stanley the cat



Guess who?



Freshwater Beach Rock Pool, where the children have their school swimming lessons.



Anna and Olivia off to Ally's birthday party. They literally took all day to get ready!