School Assembly

Emily and Tess take part in assembly once a week along with all three Kindie classes, both Year One classes and the one class of Year Two. Each week one class hosts the assembly and presents a little skit or song. The school posts the schedule ahead of time so parents can come watch.

This week Emily's class (1S) had their first time on the big stage. The children introduced the various presenters. They took turns speaking into the microphone. They sang songs. They told jokes. I found it all adorable. Emily grinned the entire time.

The whole school sang the Australian national anthem. I'm not sure I understood a word of it! I did understand all of this song. I find it sweet that Emily tends to sing with an Australian accent when she's learned a song at school.

In other news, Nina and Grampi were scheduled to be on a plane today but delayed their trip for a week to get past a minor health issue. Tess and Emily drew a happy picture for their grandparents to say we miss you and get well soon. The pink sun, red flowers and center fairy are Tess's handiwork. Emily added the bird and the brown eyed, brown haired fairy. 

We are counting the days until Nina and Grampi arrive. We can't wait to show them around.

Rainy days

How do you follow a weekend in New Zealand? We followed it with a quiet rainy weekend at home. Can you tell the girls started going a little stir crazy? 

Emily and Tess went to a birthday party for a classmate of Em's. We got to see inside another cool Balmain house and we confirmed that kids really do eat fairy bread for special occasions. They even cut it into cute shapes. The girls bragged to Brian that the guy at the party did real magic. "No, for real. Like real magic!" 

Today we ventured out to the Sydney Markets in search of some fresh produce. I have been on the search for fresh basil so I could make some homemade pesto. The pre-made ones I've found have all just been a little off. While I was able to find basil it turns out the Sunday markets are largely stalls filled with cheap junk. I must have missed the fine print on the website that explains that the flower market, growers market and produce markets all fall on a different day. Sigh.

We did get to hold a little duckling. They sold them for $5 a piece and we miraculously left without buying one. We tried to salvage the day with a visit to the very cool playground out by Brian's office but the rain found us there as well. 

So, all in all, not a bad weekend, just an ordinary one. I figured I should take some ordinary photos just to let you know it's not all beaches and ferry rides around here. 

Auckland Trip Day Two - Piha Beach

New Zealand drew me in from the start but our visit to Piha Beach put me over the edge. It is one of the most stunning places I've ever seen. It amazed me from every angle. It changed in every light. It went from foreboding to welcoming from playful to brooding. I found it serene and spectacular. I fell in love.

We first glimpsed Piha from above. The winding mountain road leads to an overlook. From there we could see that most swimmers and surfers convened on the near end of the beach. We also saw the imposing Lion Rock. 

Down by the water we watched the daring surfers head out into the crashing waves. We also saw families playing with boogie boards in the shallower areas. The life guards stood ready and watching with a boat standing by prepared for ocean rescues. We stood along the edge, felt the water on our feet and listened to the roar of the water.

Here are Emmy and Tess scaling one of the volcanic rocks that lend the sand its grey/black color.

After playing for a while we walked over to explore the beach on the other side of Lion Rock. Note the no swimming sign and the complete lack of people - even on a summer Sunday. Also note the low lying mist from the spray of the water. 

In between these two beach areas stands Lion Rock and a steep narrow path leads up to a look out. To our surprise both girls were up for the climb. 

Afterwards, we let the girls play in the shallow calm waters of the tidal river area. I actually found this view back at the quiet little town almost as beautiful as the view out at the water.

They built more sand castles here and declared it Castle Island with me as the queen, Brian as king and the two of them as teenage princesses.

We took one more run at the waves before reluctantly climbing in the car and driving the hour back to the airport. It made for a whirlwind of a weekend but I know I'll remember it for a very long time and I hope the kids will as well.

Auckland Trip Day Two - Waitakere Ranges

Brian and I love to travel. We thrive on our annual international trips. We enjoy discovering new corners of the world and seeing places that look like nowhere else we have ever been. Some people love museums, nightlife, wine or food. We like those things as well but we focus on amazing natural splendor. New Zealand offers nearly every kind of spectacular scenery you could possibly want to see. It's also a place that really speaks to me. Some places expand my horizons (like seeing the desert in Dubai) and other places feel like coming home.

I really enjoy the lush forests in New Zealand. The Australian bush still seems dry and foreign to me. The Auckland area woods with their ferns and large trees and all their green - they feel inviting. The weather is also quite temperate. I'm not a big heat person. So all of this is to say I was already primed to love New Zealand.

Still, prior to going there I'm not sure I understood that these dramatic scenes could all be so close together. Auckland sits along two large shallow blue bays. A half hour's drive from downtown takes you up into the mountains of the Waitakere Ranges. From there you get amazing views back towards the city.

We read good reviews for the Arataki Visitor Centre and thought it would make a good way to break up the drive to the coast. We didn't expect much but once there we found ourselves looking at each other and saying, "Best visitor's center ever!" The walk up to the building takes you through the different forest layers and also directs your attention to the expansive vistas. Inside they had cozy sitting areas with large picture windows, native Maori art, informational displays, puzzles, books and even dress up butterfly wings. They managed to educate and entertain all four of us on a range of levels. I was really impressed!

We ended by taking a short walk through the rain forest to another lookout. I wish we'd had more time to walk but we still had a lot on our agenda for the day.

Auckland Trip - Waiheke Island

Last week Brian traveled to Auckland for work for Wednesday through Friday. We decided to extend his time over the weekend and the girls and I flew out to meet him. We weren't sure how much we could see in two days but we figured it was worth a try. We read up, asked around for advice and decided on how to segment our time. Auckland sits in spectacular location surrounded by water on all sides. To our amazement we could see wild and amazing places without traveling more than an hour from the city center.

For our first day we opted to travel a scenic forty minutes by ferry to Waiheke Island. This swanky suburb boasts several excellent vineyards and many rambling walks but we focused on the many lovely quiet beaches. 

We started by exploring the area closest to where the ferry let off. Here we collected shells, watched ducks and generally took in the views.

Next we took a guided bus tour around the island. Brian and I enjoyed hearing some of the context and getting up high to see some views. 

The girls had little patience for the guided tour and began to look a little car sick so we got out at the second stop, built some sand castles and then retired out of the sun for a lovely meal of fish and chips.

We hopped on the bus again and made our way to a third beach. This time we all donned suits and actually played in the water.

The girls spent an hour or two gathering favorite shells and arranged them on top of piles of sand. This gave Brian and me the chance to go in and actually swim.

We took a late ferry home and arrived back at the hotel in time for a quick pizza dinner sitting cross legged on the floor. Tess told me this morning that the "picnic" in the hotel room stood out as one of her highlights of the trip.

At night at the hotel we washed and organized the shells. Tess cried before bed because she missed her sand castle so much. I think she would've brought the whole beach home if we'd let her. All in all, it was a great first day in New Zealand and made for a beautiful and surprisingly relaxing Saturday.

Play dates

This week we enjoyed two play dates with friends from Emily's class. We tread a fine line here. I truly believe that friendships will help ease our path and that time spent together outside of school is a great way to solidify them. On the other hand, school itself exhausts these girls and when we play too long after school the day often ends in tears. So we try to balance our busy afternoons with lots of down time at home. 

This sight makes me very happy. In this case the younger sister is two years younger than Tess but the two of them still hit it off. I asked Tess who she'd like to have over and she teared up and requested two friends from her old preschool. She'll make friends. I know it. For now we'll focus on getting her to actually eat her lunch. 

Surf and Song

Now that I know how to upload videos I thought I'd share some recent views of the kids. First, here's Emily playing in the surf.

And here's Tess singing a song she learned at school.

Singing Waltzing Matilda

Every morning before school the Balmain Public School kids join for a quick outdoor assembly before the start of school. The students greet their teachers. The older kids make announcements. Three days a week their fabulous groovy music teacher leads them in a song. Today they sang Waltzing Matilda.

I love it! It's so quintessentially Australian. I grew up singing a lot in school and I remember singing Waltzing Matilda and also the song about the kookaburra in the gum tree. I decided to look up the lyrics when I got home and found this neat video that also explains some of the terms.

Speaking of Aussie terms like tucker bag, I learned a new term this weekend. A slippery dip is a term for a playground slide. I cautiously Googled it before publishing this and the Interwebs agree. Also, naughts and crosses refers to tic tac toe. I learn new things every day!

Palm Beach day trip

This weekend a friend asked me if I experienced culture shock here. At the time I said no. Life in Sydney feels familiar. But then we drove out of the city and I remembered that Australia itself still feels quite foreign. I cannot get over that these spectacular landscapes lie so close to where we live. 

Brian asked his colleagues for advice on good day trips out of Sydney. Options abound. Unfortunately, many of them involve long windy drives. This weekend we explored the northern most of the Northern Beaches. A one hour drives seemed reasonable and yet in reality the drive took longer and I'm sad to say that Emily got car sick on the way out and Tess got car sick on the way home. It looks like my Monday task is to find where to get an extra large supply of Children's chewable Dramamine. 

But the woes of car travel aside our destinations proved spectacular. We started by exploring the calmer harbor side of the peninsula. We started in the town of Long Beach and took a ferry over to a spot called The Basin in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. 

To get to The Basin you need to either hike in forty-five minutes or take the ferry. Once there, you can enjoy the calm shallow waters separated from the harbor by a shark net. The girls adored running in and out of the water and playing in the sand. 

The interior waterways felt familiar in many ways but it looks very different to see the bush come right down to the shore. I enjoyed scanning the trees for koalas while I bobbed in the water. I'm told you can see kangaroos and wallabies by the campsite but I suspect they come out in the mornings and evenings. We did see a pelican.

After exploring the child friendly swimming area we set out to the ocean side of the peninsula to admire the dramatic surf. Long Beach did not disappoint. 

Palm Beach extends for 2.3 km and earns a general beach hazard rating of seven out of ten due to a strong rip current. Each day the lifeguards set up flags to mark the safest swim area and this day the flags were about fifty feet apart. As a result, swimmers congregate in one small area leaving the rest of the beach open for us to play at the edge.

The girls adore the surf. We all do. We could spend all day watching it, listening to it, and feeling it run up over our feet. 

Emily and Tess love to run back and forth taunting the water and seeing how wet they can get without soaking their clothes. I love seeing them do a thrilled little dance, laughing all the time.