ANZAC DAY

Anzac dawn service

ARTHOUSE OPEN WEEK

YACHT CLUB

Lilli's class took a trip to the beach today. Not nearly as nice as most Australian beaches AND you have to pay to use it - but the children had a great time.
Lilli, Rania and Leen.
Getting ready for lunch.
The obligatory class photo. Lilli second from left in the front row.

PLAY DATE

Lilli had a play date with Lise at 'our place' today. Lise is in the same class as Lilli and they have regular plays together. Lise's family are French and she has managed to teach Lilli a few words.
Here is Lise.
A couple of others join in in the sandpit. Here are, Chelsea, Lilli, Ben and Lise. The pool area is quite a social hub in the afternoon.

FRIENDS FOR LUNCH

We had a lovely BBQ lunch with friends poolside on Saturday. Altogether 10 adults and 6 children ranging from 5 months to 11. The kids had a ball. Loads of lovely food, with a nutty rice salad, Greek cresent shortbread (I can't pronounce the name let alone spell it) and marble slab icecream the highlights. My pav was also a hit. I am going to try and make pav my signature dish - it seems to be the only thing that turns out consistently good when I attempt baking. This one had a topping of strawberries, banana, chinese gooseberry ;-) and passionfruit in honour of the 4 New Zealanders attending. The pommegranate was an afterthought - it needed using.

Remember these? Jelly filled oranges. I was needing an idea for an Australian dish to take to Lilli's school's International day to sell on the PTA stall. My friend Julie suggested the jelly oranges. Cheap, easy and a HUGE hit with the kids - they sold in minutes. Not quite so popular at the lunch, but then they were competing with icecream, pav and biscuits - go figure.
Here is NZlander Dave and baby Berty.
Moose on the left and Dimitri on the right. Fellow Aussies and also Tim's work colleagues. They travel to work and home again together. The 3 Amigo's!
From left to right: Vera, husband Marwan, Julie (Dimitri's wife), Tim, Dave, Berty & Kristin (Dave's wife).

BIZZIBEEZ

A work colleague of Tim's introduced us to a great play venue for Lilli. It is only 1 month old and is just fabulous. The centre features multiple play areas including:

• art & craft - fab materials including collage and all sorts of paints all great quality
• books and puzzles - excellent choice of educational books and puzzles
• a pretend play supermarket - someone has go0ne to a lot of trouble collecting empty boxes and containers to stock the shelves *see above*
• soft area for babies
• pool
• sandpits with blue or pink sand
• outdoor play area with cubby houses and trampoline etc
• lego station
• cafe area for parents
• outdoor ''grand prix'' circuit

I am really impressed with the quality of the equipment and how safe and well supervised the areas are. I wish I had found out about this place before the holidays started rather than at the end. I took Lilli yesterday for the morning and worked on my menu plans and shopping list with a nice cup of coffee while Lilli 'created'. It would be amazing to have something like this in Australia.

ICE SKATING

As ,many of you will know, Lilli has been ''iceskating'' on any shiny surface since she could walk (without the brace). Tim decided to take her for her first real experience a few weeks ago. Lilli loved it, but Tim was left batttered and bruised by Lilliu's blades after many attempts to ''do it herself'''. We thought that maybe lessons might be the way to go. Lilli had her first lesson last Saturday. She was lucky enough to have a one-on-one lesson as the other students were unwell. Her teacher, Karen, is just lovely - and posesses extraordinary patience. Karen seems to think that Lilli is well on her way to skating already, and sees her over-confidence as a helping rather than hindering her (not sure that Tim would agree). It will be great when she and Tim can skate together (without pain).

Live blog

Lise's birthday party