Smiles

My sister sent me these photos of her kids and seeing them made me smile. One thing that I adore about technology is the ease that it enables you to keep in touch with family that are too far away to see regularly. With mine and chrissies lives so busy with our respective families, it is ezy to keep in touch at minimal cost and effort but still have a healthy relationship with each other. Most of the time anyway hehe

This is Shakira on the left, 2 1/2years old, and my godchild Amber Jade, 18mths.

Sharon, 6 1/2 years old and her cousin Louis, 18 in may.

Cassidy and Sharon having a bubble bath by the looks of it!

Cassidy, 3 1/2 yrs and the only boy

Chrissy, 32 yrs.

We stayed with these guys for a while before we headed out to Perth. I saw how hard it was for chrissie at times to handle her 4 kids as they are so close in age but she does it so well. The hardcase thing is that apart from Cassidy, who was born in October, all the kids were born in September, like their Dad! I think that is a hell of a coincidence. And Sharon and amber are so tall. Sharon is only 6, but she is in size 10 clothes and towers over Maddisyn and Destiny, who are only 6mths younger than her. Amber sounds like she is going to be the same way. Poor Cassidy has it hard being the only boy but seems to handle it well in his own way. Where her sisters are fair, Shakira is dark and her hair curly, sorta like her personality in some respects, thats if I read it right when my sis is telling me about their shenanigans.

KISS KISS to you all

Penguin Island Pics

I was doing real well the way that I was doing these posts so that they went in the proper order but stuffed up along the way and cant be bothered fixing it. These are more pics of the penguins and the lizard that I cant remember the name of. Interesting animals I must say.

Penguin Island

Today Maddisyn-Rose and her class went to Penguin Island for a school trip. Following is a short paragraph describing the island and a few other ones around it.

The islands are designated bird sanctuaries. Species you are likely to sight include cormorants, darters, terns, fairy terns, noddies, silver gulls, oystercatchers, ruddy turnstones, bar tailed godwit (all the way from Siberia!), Artic Skua, Little Eagles, Ospreys and Sea Eagles. The Islands are also breeding and nesting sites for colonies of Australian Pelicans. There are networks of boardwalks that allow you to explore the island- please remember to stick to the boardwalks to ensure nesting sites are not disturbed

This Island is mainly a sanctuary for Penguins, obviously. We had a short ferry ride (that was bloody expensive for the trip!! I must say) and then we were there. Most people, probably because of the cost, walk along the wide sandbar that starts at the mainland and takes you all the way to the island. Obviously we couldnt because of the amount of kids we had, but I dont think I would anyway since I have a slight phobia of open water, though Im fine in a boat! Karleen and I were assigned a group of 5 kids, 2 of them our own, and we were the penguins. We saw the babies in the enclosure being fed and then we saw the caves and the beautiful beach surrounding the island. There were these lizards (cant remember their names) and a hell of a lot of birds. Oh and primitive long drops for toilets. Apparently they use the waste for manure YECK! Oh and the freaky flies that bite! I got bitten and it stung and swelled a little OUCH.

So after a bit of hiking and play, the day came to an end, thank god, and we caught the ferry back to the mainland, and after getting the kids on the bus and dealing with an irate busdriver (we were late and the bugger was gonna leave the other class behind coz they were on the other ferry and hadnt arrived yet and he had to get back to a private school before the end of the school day) we got back to school safe and sound. It was a good day but very long and hot.

Poser!!

We were walking along the beach and this sealion was basking in the sun a fair way down the beach. Upon spotting us, he made his way into the water and let the tide carry him closer to us. Then he emerged from the sea tossing his head ( you know, like the woman lifeguards in Baywatch when they used to come out of the sea tossing their hair and pushing out their chests) and I shit you not, as us parents were taking photos, he would stop and pose! Vain or what.

If you can notice the light patch at the end of his rump, thats actually a huge chunk that has been taken out of his butt. It looks like a shark bite, but apparently hes had that for the last 6 years and was only the size of an adult fist to begin with. And it looks real bad when you see it. And get this, when he noticed us taking notice of his injury, he dropped to his stomach and dragged himself up the beach like he was sick!! Ive got that photo too somewhere. Funny animal

Eccentric NZers

The following bit of history will explain these caves. Enjoy

The first person to have lived on the Island was an eccentric New Zealander by the name of Seaforth McKenzie. He was described as a 'bearded man with gallant manners and a twinkling eye' and first squatted on the island in 1914. In 1918 McKenzie was granted an annual lease by the WA government and he set about establishing a holiday resort on the island. Several of the limestone caves on the eastern side of the island were hollowed out and crudely furnished for use as accommodation, a library and a small store where visitors could manage their own account as long as you left a fair amount of money or something of equal value. McKenzie also excavated a 'grand ballroom' known as the palace where he was crowned the 'King of Penguin Island' at a grand ceremony. He was a lover of literature and visitors were invited to his 'library cave' for lamp lit poetry readings. By all accounts visitors greatly admired and respected Seaforth McKenzie despite his eccentricities. McKenzie left the island in 1926 and returned home to his wife Sarah and six children in New Zealand after an absence of 45 years! Apparently he left home to go to work one day and failed to return- his explanation being that he had only just regained his memory of his family!
Today the shifting sands of the island have changed much of McKenzies caves, but there are still some nails in the cave walls, his old well and some gnarled fig trees to remind us of the 'King of Penguin Island'

I felt like posting these, but ive realised that i need some new ones of my kiddies!!

Its been a while.....

For the first time in a while, Ive finally managed to wrangle a day at home to do washing and housework and all the rest of those mundane things, and yet here I am, on the computer.

Tho I havent done any posts for a while so thought this was a perfect oppurtunity.

Alot has happened over the last 10 days or so. As you probably all know, Shanley came over from NZ to surprise Liane for her birthday last Wednesday. It was such a sweet gesture and I very much enjoyed being in on it. The look on Lianes face was classic!! but dumdum me didnt have the prescence of mind totake a photo at that time.

So from that Wednesday to the following Monday, it was a time for alot of drinking (more them than me!! honest) cafes/restaurants and reminiscing. It was so cool as the 3 of us hadnt been together in the same place for so very very long. I figured out that I had known these two girls for 17 years!

So Shanley, thanks so very very much for the oppurtunity to spend some quality time with you and reminding me that you are the best sort of friend a girl can have 'kiss kiss'

Oh and much thanks and love to my wonderful man who handled me flitting in and out of the house over this period, and looked after his kids and house as well as worked, without too much of a groan xxx

Never enough time

This week has gone so fast and has been so busy that I feel like my head is disproportioned from the rest of my body sometimes. Where do the days go????
Have a big weekend ahead of me as well since its the Labour weekend and the kids are home an extra day so its big cleanup around the house. And I plan on spending the time at home getting this toilet training thing sussed with my son.
I have to admit that Ive been slack with Ethans training as Im never home to concentrate on it. However, the last few days have been hilarious as wherever we are, wether its at nanas or in the shops, if Ethan is filling his pull-up, he will stand stock still with his legs crossed saying at the top of his lungs ' Muuum Ive done pooos. Yuck!!'
Been going to the gym lately so am feeling pretty good. However you meet and see some strange people there sometimes. Like the stalker maori chick that I only smiled at when she waved hello to me (never met her before in my life!) and then proceeded to follow me around the gym. Then there is this other lady who has not an ounce of fat on her body, but pushes herself so very hard that it makes me wonder if theres something not quite right with her.
Oh and HI to my gym buddy who accidently walked into the wrong changing rooms today and got the shock of her life :D yea you know who you are hehe