School Assembly

Last week, it was Anna's classes turn to present an assembly. It is up to the teacher what subject they do and how they present it. Anna's teacher decided to do a Christmas theme and it was called, "Santa takes on Survivor".

Anna was cast as a reindeer and had some lines and a dance to perform. She did amazing and we were all very proud of her!

Below are some photos ...

All excited before the show

Getting nervous before the show

Anna is sat between Elvis Santa and Bookworm Elf

The dance

Anna is on the left

The game show 'Survivor'

On stage, the final bow

The cast after the performance!

Anna is sat in the front row, second on the left.

Ear's Pierced

On Friday I took Anna to get her ear's pierced for her 7th birthday. It hurt me more than her ...

Pjamarama Birthday Party

On Saturday it was Anna's 7th birthday and we had a Pjamarama Birthday Party. Anna invited 13 girls and so I enrolled the help of a company, 'Parties Kids Remember' to help!

All the girls had to wear PJs and I had made party bags as pillow cases. Parties Kids Remember had sent two 'hosts' for the party who arrived in their PJs and were brilliant! They started by putting makeup on the girls, then moved on to decorating a pillow for Anna, making jewellery and playing games. While all this was happening, I was free to make the food.

Anna and the girls had a great time and it was the most stress free birthday party I have organised. I'll definitely be using them again!

Little Athletics

Little Athletics is an organisation that runs throughout Australia. Anna has joined the Bateman and Bull Creek Club. To give you an idea of size, there are five Clubs that make up the Melville Centre and there are nine Centres in WA. In the Melville Centre alone, there are 600 kids enrolled. No wonder that Australia does well in sport!

There are two training sessions a week and every Saturday there is a competition. So far, Anna has done two competitions. The events that they do (split between two weeks/programmes) are:

• 50m run


• 70m run


• 100m run


• 200m run
  
• 60m hurdles


• Discus


• Javelin


• Long jump


• Shot put

We are very proud of her as she is currently 3rd overall in her age group (Under 7) for the 70m and 200m run. There are about six groups that compete in the Under 7 category each week. From next Saturday these groups will be graded by ability, as all the kids will have completed all the events. Times are recorded electronically. There are no stop-watches here!!

Parents have to get involved on competition days, by helping out with the organisation/events. As you can imagine, with 600 kids going every week it's a mammoth task. Next week it's our turn and I have nominated Nige for the task!

Rollerblade Queen!

Anna has become the "Rollerblade Queen"!

Perth Show

This week it's school holidays and the Perth Show. The Perth Show is a MASSIVE agricultural event, that has grown in size into something spectacular! The Show runs all week and contains every agricultural event imaginable; every breed of dog, horse, cow, llama, cat, guinea pig (yes, really), fowl, pig, rabbits, sheep, alpaca, emu etc. compete for the "Best in WA".

It has three massive fairgrounds, photography and craft exhibitions etc, wood chopping, daily shows, fireworks, motorbikes, trucks ... I could go on for ever ... It really is something to see to be believed!

There is also the phenomenon of the "showbag". There are more than 280 showbags that are available to buy from between $5 and $25. They are full of things such as, chocolate, action heroes, magic gear, things for pets, sports gear, cartoon characters.

Anna had the Hannah Montana one (contains bag, diary, wig, glitter scarf, lip gloss, makeup palette, microphone and key chain) and the High School Musical one (contains bag, book, disposable camera, badges, poster book, coffee coaster and mug). They are actually really good!

We went with some friends to the Show on Bank Holiday Monday and I went back again today. I'm now nursing a very big glass of wine, which I think I have earned ...

Friendship Party

Anna in designer mode!

On Saturday, Anna invited three of her friends around to her "friendship party". I had been to the craft shop and bought boxes for them to decorate and then did lunch for them all.

Friendship Party friends; Emma, Zoe, Anna and Meagan

It was a great day and they all had a great time!

Party food; Guess what was eaten first?

Sports Carnival

It was the sports carnival at school on Thursday, actually it nearly wasn't as it rained and they were going to cancel it! It was the first day that we have been in Australia where we checked the weather forcast to see what the weather was going to be like. Usually, you can pretty much guarantee that it will be sunny.

Anna was running in the Junior Champions; where they select the fastest runners in the Year 1 to Year 3 bracket for a 200m race and a relay. We were so proud that she was selected, although she had to run against three Year 3 girls and one Year 2 girl. As you can imagine, Anna was at least a head shorter than the others and so it wasn't really fair.

Getting 2nd place for the 80m race

She also ran in the 80m race, against other girls in Year 1. In this race, she came second, having just been overtaken on the last 10m. The remainer of the day was team sports.

Running in the Flag Race

I volunteered to help on the cake stall (having made some cup cakes as well) and with selling ice creams at lunch time.

Nige was able to attend, spending time lying on the picnic blanket and going for short walks. It was his first trip out since he's had his operation.
In total Anna won five ribbons, a second, a third and three fourth places. It was a great day!

All done!

Rollerskating

Uncle Michel, are you as good as I am at Rollerskating? Anna xx

Footy Day at School

Today is Footy Day at school, where all the children can dress in the favourite team's colours and donate a gold coin to the school. Anna was very excited as this meant she could wear her Newcastle United football shirt to school. As Nige says, "a real football club's colours". She was told to, "wear it with pride"!

National Book Week

It was national book week this week in Australia and so the Year 1s and Year 2s at school were allowed to come to school dressed as their favourite character from a book. I was expecting Anna to choose Cinderella, or something similar and to begin with she did keep talking about going as Tinkerbell, then from out of nowhere, she announced she wanted to go as Pippi Longstocking! We don't even have that book! I was very pleased with her choice as it meant she could wear something warm and sensible.

It was great seeing all the costumes at school. There were pirates, Cinderella, Goldilocks and a bear (yes, a girl came dressed in a bear costume), little red riding hood and lots of fairies. They all got to go up on stage at the assembly and show their costumes to the rest of the school. Anna had a great time!

Now for an update on Nige. He has had a bit of a set-back, with the Doctor saying that he is doing to much. He's only been getting out of bed to get a drink. He now needs complete bed rest, only getting out of bed to go to the toilet. I have been and bought him a Sudoku book, lots of magazines and a pile of DVDs to try and encourage him to stay there!

My employers have asked me to extend my work contract for another two months. I am due to finish this month. I have declined the extension and will finish next week. This means I can spend time at home with Nige. I'll let you know how it goes!

Home Again

Nige is home! I went to pick him up from the hospital this morning. He is looking and walking well. In fact, better then he went in, which is something as most people leave hospital looking terrible!

He has to stay off work for the next 6 weeks and take things really easy, I'll keep you all posted to how he's doing.

Surgery

I have just been to visit Nige, as he had his surgery this afternoon. He was very groggy but everything seems to have gone well.

I'll visit him tomorrow and find out a bit more what they did and how he's feeling.

It's operation time ...

Nige has had a bad back for 6-7 weeks now. It's basically been bad since he got off the plane from his Europe trip. He's had physiotherapy and acupuncture on his back but this hasn't helped. He is now booked for an operation.

The time line goes like this:

Monday 28 July - Doctors appointment (follow on from physiotherapy and acupuncture sessions)
Friday 1 August - CT injection into the nerve to alleviate the pain (unsuccessful)
Monday 4 August - Doctors appointment
Friday 8 August - Neurosurgeon appointment
Tuesday 12 August - Surgery

Isn't that amazing! I know that we are private patients but it's still incredibly quick.

Nige has been diagnosed with a bulging disk in the lower back that has impinged the nerve. This is not going to get better without surgery. His x-rays look amazing! I'm amazed that he has been able to cope with the pain as well as he has. He's been off work (laying flat) and taking pain killers but it still looks incredibly painful.

After the operation, he'll be in hospital for 3 days. Then he should make a good recovery; even be able to get back on his bike.

Please send him your good thoughts ...

The weekend rollerskating

Some much needed refreshments at Rolloways

It's become a regular weekend excursion ... rollerskating! Anna and I really enjoy it. It's very good for the bum and thighs I have heard, and I need all the help I can get at the minute!


Nige is unable to join us as his back is bad at the minute. His CT injection hasn't helped and he's been referred to a neurosurgeon to look at the option of operating. He has a herniated disc that is pressing on the nerve in the lower of his back - ouch!

I'll keep you updated (now I know you are reading)!

I've been very lax at not updating ...

Huge apologies for not updating this blog for such a long time, I didn't think anyone was reading it any more! I have been corrected, hence this update.

We have had a great two weeks with Louise, Katy and Charlie staying with us. The weather hasn't been great as we are now in winter, but we had a couple of days where we could go to the beach. The children were very brave and did some paddling.

I have been very busy with work, just five more weeks of my contract left (not that I am counting).

Nige has an extremely bad back at the minute which is taking a long time to heal. He's been to the doctors today for scans, so fingers crossed that it's something that can be fixed quickly.

Anna has her own blog, http://www.annaunderwood.blogspot.com/ so please drop by and add some comments!

Here are some recent photos of us ...

Back at school

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but there's not much to report. Anna is back at school and luckily she got into the class that I wanted! It's a split Year 1/Year 2 class (which seems the norm here) and she's finding some of the work challenging but all good!

She has just won a "merit" for a piece of her work and it has gone up in the library on the Merit Board. We are so proud of her! At assembly she had to stand up and everyone clapped.

Anna's work posted on the Merit Board.

I was surprised that it wasn't a drawing!

Just thought that I'd add this from yesterday. As you may know, I work from home on the PC and this is where Max sleeps when I'm working! I can't say that it's the most convenient place, especially when he lays on the keyboard! Oh, please excuse the messy desk. It's strange but I hate the house being in a mess, but I don't mind my desk (it drives Nige to distraction!).

The HOLIDAY!

We have just arrived back after our three week holiday. We had a week on the Gold Coast in Australia and then just under two weeks in a camper van touring the South island of New Zealand. It was amazing, and the two were very different!

The Gold Coast is renounced for its theme parks, surfing and beaches. It's here you'll find Surfer's Paradise, and the theme parks to rival those in the USA. It's takes four and a half hours by plane to get there. We stayed at the Sea World Resort and had day passes for Movie World, Sea World, Wet 'n' Wild and Dreamworld. We were well over theme parks by the end and ready for the change that New Zealand offered! However, Anna loved it and it was good to see a city that was thriving!

New Zealand is a three and a half hour flight from the Gold Coast (as you can see, Perth is well and truly the most isolated city in the world, there's no "quick" trip anywhere!). We picked up our camper van and planned to stay at a different camp site each night, travelling around the island. The first thing that struck us about New Zealand was how green and "British" it seemed compared to Perth. There were trees and flowers that we recognised, rain and the architecture was very similar.

Our plan for the trip was:
Day 1 - Christchurch - Dunedin (4.75 hours drive)
Day 2 - Dunedin - Te Anan (4 hours drive)
Day 3 - Te Anan – Milford Sounds (1.5 hours drive)
Day 4 - Te Anan - Queenstown (2.25 hours drive)
Day 5 - Queenstown - Wanaka (1.5 hours drive)
Day 6 - Wanaka – Franz Joseph (4 hours drive)
Day 7 - Franz Joseph - Greymouth
Day 8 - Greymouth - Kaikoura (4 hours drive)
Day 9 - Kaikoura - Christchurch (2.25 hours drive)

Of course, it didn't go to plan as the camper van broke down and we needed a new starter motor and battery (I won't bore you with the details but it meant an overnight stop in an area that we hadn't planned) and then I managed to hit the camper van and we needed to exchange it for another (oops ... thank goodness we took out extra insurance ... ). We therefore had to miss out the very top of the island.

We did fit in - horse riding, heli-biking (where an helicopter takes you to the top of the mountain and then you have a three hour biking descent down - just Nige on that one!), whale watching (saw a beautiful Sperm Whale and countless Dusky Dolphins), a boat trip on Milford Sound, penguin and seal watching, the luge and a gondola trip up a mountain!

Overall, it was a fantastic holiday and I'm already looking at the next trip ...

The Gold Coast, Australia

Arriving on the Gold Coast

Movie World

The Batman Ride at Movie World, and yes, Anna did go on it!

Sea World
Wet 'n' Wild

Dreamworld and theme parked out!

Ranch show at the Gold Coast; cheesy but great fun!

New Zealand

The first night in the camper van

Anna in "Lord of the Rings" country!

Broken down!

Te Anau

Milford Sounds

Nige with Mount Cook in the background (ahem)!

Seal watching

Heli-biking

The horse (Sid) that Anna rode!