Yep I'm still here ...

Thought I better update ... photos of the kids again, as I haven't done any scrapbooking for simply ages! Oh well ... one day hopefully my scrapping mojo will return with gusto!

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So Aaron started Grade 1. Here he is on his first day waiting for the teacher to welcome them in :-)

Getting his name tag on.
Setting up his desk with all his new stationery.
I had Maddison and Samuel with me that day as Lyndon was away and I had to be at school early to get a park, so couldn't drop Maddison off at her school before hand. Samuel was really good and just sat and watched in his pram. I was helping Aaron put away his stationery and books and looked around and my heart skipped a beat or two as I couldn't see Maddison ... so I did another scan of the room from a different vantage point and spied her being a darling! (for a change hehee) Sitting quietly in the hand chair reading a book. I was MOST impressed!

Later on her and Aaron sat on the mat and checked out one of the games.
Blue raspberry iceblocks leave a lovely mess! She tells me they are delicious, but doesn't like me scrubbing her face trying to get off all the blue stains!
Samuel is a ball of energy ... he's running, climbing and scampering everywhere, chatting the entire time. Loves sitting at the bookcase pulling out a book at a time and "reading". (This just takes me back 5 years ... it's exactly what Aaron was like!) :-)
Ahhh yes ... good morning gorgeous hehee :-) (time for a haircut I think!)

Tissues are very exciting as well ... if a box is within reach (even climbing reach) then each one is pulled out and "tested" with a nose blow, before being discarded and pulling the next one! (If it wasn't so messy it would be cute!) :-)
He loves climbing ... I can't even leave the pram up now. It needs to be folded and left upside down. I am afraid he will tip it over while standing up there screeching with delight! (Note the dining chairs stacked as well for the same reason. He climbs up onto the table!)
i-Pad time.
So that's it. I will probably be back tomorrow with more pics :-)

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Thanks for visiting.

New School Year about to begin ...

tomorrow for Aaron. This morning Aaron, Samuel & I headed to Aaron's school to see which class he was going to be in, who his class mates are and his new teacher. We managed to met his new teacher and she's just lovely. Her class is the "Lion Class" :-) There's a lot of soft toy lions in that class and books all about lions ... so should be an interesting year for him! :-) I had to grin to myself because last year the only 2 red haired boys at Kindergarten level were in the same class and they are this year too! Lion Cubs together!! heheee

Outside the classroom the noticeboard had a big welcome sign and letters from all last years Grade 1 Lion Class students welcoming the new Lion Cubs to Grade One! I thought that was pretty special.

Inside there was a world map jigsaw puzzle set up on a table and Aaron very quickly got busy with that and didn't want to leave until it was finished! (I suggested to the teacher she undid it all ready for tomorrow because he'd be happy to redo it again heehe) You can see a shelf in the background full of lions.
After he'd completed the puzzle he went looking around at everything on the shelves and pulled out a plastic Lego bin and asked if he could play with the Lego. The box didn't have Lego in it though! It had a bag full of short pieces of plastic pipe and elbows, which the teacher explained made "telephones" to practice phonics. She asked if we'd like to take the bag home and put the telephone's all together. So we've spent a bit of time this afternoon doing that and the kids have had fun "talking" on the phone! I must say you really only need to whisper because if you talk loud or shout you nearly blow out your eardrum!
Samuel loved them and spent ages saying "hi-eeee" and lots of other gibberty gook! :-)
So that's us for today. Hopefully the kids will actually go to sleep when they go to bed tonight so they will be up and going on time in the morning! (Won't be holding my breath about that though!)

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Thanks for visiting.

A Final Night in Penang & Then Home!

We went back to the same hotel we stayed at the previous week in Penang. After we had settled into our room we headed to the restaurant and Lyndon & I enjoyed an Indian buffet and watched another beautiful sunset.

Saturday morning Aaron & Maddison enjoyed time at the kids club, while I went to the Butterfly Farm and Lyndon took Samuel for a walk to get him to sleep (and he had a foot massage!) :-)

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The Butterfly Farm was beautiful - if you are ever in Penang it's really worth a visit - it's much much much nicer than the KL one.

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Entrance.
What you see when you first walk into the butterfly section.
There was a display filled with cocoons/chrysalis ... they were awesome colours.
Lots of different types of Caterpillars.

And of course butterflies.
And flowers! I'll let the pictures do the talking :-)





Water Dragon.
Green Iguana.


Very pretty ponds & waterfalls.



"Monkey Cups".

Inside there were wonderful displays of other bugs & creepy crawlies :-) One glass cage was full of all different sorts of frogs & toads.

This one is a tree frog.
Can't remember what these beetles were called sorry. But they were so shiny!

Other glass cases with lizards in them.
A couple of close ups.

And can you guess how many snakes were in this tangle? (I think they are whip snakes.)
There were 4.

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After I got back from the butterfly farm we had lunch, packed the car and headed for home. It wasn't long before Samuel was fast asleep and Aaron & Maddison were asking if we were nearly home! It was a LONG trip back I tell you!!

A small glimpse into the motorways here.
We stopped at a rest area for the kids to have a run around in the scorching heat (it was 39degs when we left Penang!). It helped with the complaining a bit ... I was just sorry they didn't sleep like Samuel did! ;-)


Having a donut snack.
Samuel had his donut squashed in his hand! His fake grin just cracks me up :-)
We got home about 6.45pm on Saturday night. Yesterday we got back into the swing of normal routines again. Lyndon left for Taiwan for the week, Maddison started back at school and Aaron starts on Thursday! :-) It's been a long summer break hehee :-)

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Thanks for visiting.