Simple Woman's Daybook

I got this idea of Larissa....hope you don't mind Riss but its great.

FOR TODAY

outside my window.... the sun is shining and there is a breeze blowing, not to hard. Just enough to open up the windows to air the house out and to dry the washing

I am thinking .....that I really do neglect my blog and its about time it is cared for again

I am thankful for....my family and that we are happy and healthy

From the learning rooms.......Talia has been accepted into a Baptist College we had her name down at that we never thought she would get into...she will start in a week or so but that also means 4 kids in 4 different schools!

From the kitchen.....Megan has now started a gluten free diet so that is changing the way we eat slightly, though there are quite a few gluten free substitutes which is great.

I am wearing......my house trakkies.....its Sunday and I cant be bothered

I am creating.....nothing much at the moment, I have almost finished my second last assignment, I have a scarf on the go and I am itching to get back into scrap booking once we get the games room reorganised....

I am reading..... The smart step-family

I am hoping....that Talia's transition to her new school goes smoothly

I am hearing.....too much noise, we have 2 TV's going at the moment and Joel is banging a t-spoon on the coffee table

Around the house.....I have finished the washing for today, the last load is in the machine now. We are meant to have rain this coming week. I would love to de clutter my bedroom and I really need to get into the games room and sort that out...

One of my favourite things....is the kids laughing together,which the 12 years olds hormones influencing the house makes laughter rare these days...oh the joys of puberty

A few plans for the rest of the week..... Tuesday Matthew is off to the pediatrician to make sure that his medication levels are right, and just to see how things are going....

After that Talia and I are off to her new school to get some new uniforms and for her first look around.

We have Megan from Tuesday to so that means school drops off and pick ups....

Happy 6th Birthday Matthew

Today is Matthews 6th Birthday.....

I made him a chocolate cake and was going to put a toy story cake topper on it but that broke so the cake ended up like this

The family gave him his birthday present which is a remote control buggy that lights up....he absolutely loves it...

 

Then after this he opened Gran and Georges present which was a little computer....another BIG hit..

 

We then sang happy birthday and blew out the candles

I think he had a nice day....

Bali Day 4

Today was a rest day, no sightseeing but a pamper day for me..

I had booked in at the local Melasti Spa a full body massage, a pedicure and a set of nails...I was going to spoil myself...

It was heaven...

Each treatment cost 95 000 rupiah or about $14....and each lasted an hour.....

After my indulgence we went shopping and bought a few more gifts ...and a few more.....

I love Bali...we want to come back and bring the kids....

Bali Day 3

Why is it in every day life you would give anything for a sleep in...so of course on holidays its on the top of the list of things to do... but we were up at sparrows....6.30 on the dot.....so we had breakfast early and decided to take a quiet walk down the beach...

We had organised for our driver to pick us up and he would take us for a bit of a sightseeing day

We started off at the Barong Dance, which is a traditional Balinese dance....half way through our camera died so we only got a few photos....

The costumes and dance were amazing

 

Once this was over, our driver kindly took us back to the hotel so we could get the video camera, and then we were on our way again

We went up through Ubud to see the Batur Volcano...sorry about the horrible photos, these were taken on my mobile and still shots on the video camera....we had lunch here...the resturant sat on the edge of the mountain and there was a drop straight down.....

you can see the latest lava flow which was in 1994, the locals use the volcanic rock to do sculptures...

We left here and started to head back down the mountains when it started to rain, we stopped in at a coffee plantation and had some of the best hot cocoa (I bought some to bring home ...and some chocolate)....

We also went to the sacred baths and temple...we had to wear a sarong each to get in but it was raining so hard that when I video taped it instead of pushing pause to stop recording I was doing the opposite....so on the video there are lots of shoes and rain...

We then went to the Monkey Forest in Ubud.....This place was amazing...it was late and we were running out of time but the forest was so beautiful and the monkeys didn't hassle us at all (I had heard some bad stories)

Some stone statues that were overlooking a steam

We then drove home, very tired and very wet...we had a great day and saw heaps

Bali Day 2

Woke up nice and early to discover it raining....but at least it was warm rain...

we then walked down to breakfast

 

Breakfast was included and we had a choise of, cereal, youghurt, toast, croisaunts, bacon, sausage, and eggs made to order. Either fried, scambled, omlet, hard boiloed or poached...there was also tea coffee and a fruit juice and fresh fruits....

we ate until we could eat no more :)

We decided today to get a driver and have a look around. So we went out to the front and got our selves a driver. His name is Gusman.

 

Fist he took us to some shops to do some shopping, we bought a few shirts and some jewerly for the girls and a few small handbags for them too.

 

we then went to the bali bombing site to pay our respects, you can see the star they have paved into the road where the car bomb exploded....they have not built on the site of the Sari Club.

 

We then went to the Matahari, which is a large department store where we bought more shirts for the boys and a few other things....

By this time we were shopped out...we were still not used to the amout of peopkle and traffic on the roads

We came back to the hotel room and ordered some room service

 

The beer was 27000 or about $3.40 ...I started off with a fruit mocktail and then hit the beers...this became our afternoon routine, sitting on our balcany over looking the pool.

We then went down to the restaurant for dinner and I started to work my way through the cocktail menu

Arriving at our hotel

 

The trip from the airport to the hotel took about 20 min, luckily the bus was airconditioned as it had stopped raining and the air was humid. We had our first taste of Bali traffic...lots and lots of scooters, horns being blown but it all seemed to run smoothly...our hearts were in our throats the whole time...didn't help that we had no idea where we were going. Finally we got to our hotel...The Melasti at Legian

We were greeted and given a fruit drink on arrival and was given our room key and our bags were taken there for us...The first thing we did was put the aircon on.

Our bed, which had the best mattress...I slept soo well

 

The foyer, the two wooden back boards fold down to 2 single beds if needed and the T.V and wardrobe....the bathroom was off to the left...we didn't get a photo of that.

Bali....here we come

Darian and I have been planning this trip for a while, originally we were going to take both boys with us, but Matthew wanted to stay home. So we booked the flights for us and Joel...

Then mum (thanks mum) suggested that we should leave Joel at home too...we ummed and ahhhed for a while and thought well why not.

So I have spent the last few weeks getting the kids organised and what seemed of hundreds of lists of routines, phone numbers, what to do when and why....

But at last we were ready to go. Mum and George came up a few days early so that Joel could get used to being put to bed by someone else....no problem there :)

So the day has come for our holiday

We were up at 4am and left the house as silent as possible at 5 only to get to the freeway and discover that I forgot my other suit case key (just incase I needed to unlock the stupid pouches that they put on the outside of the suitcase) so I had to wake the house to get back in...

But we were off again...good thing that time of morning there is no traffic...we got to the airport with time to spare, dropped our car off at the secure airport parking and went to check in...

hmmmm we were flying Garuda and we must of got the only person there that didn't know what she was doing.....first Joel hadn't been taken off the ticket so she had to do that and then she checked me in...all done and then tried to check in Darian, only to be told that as a South African he may need a visa to go to Indonesia.....Flight centre didn't tell us this....and no visa means no go.......so after a wait and a few discussions with others she discovered that NO visa was needed......ahhhhhhhhh. She then tried to book him in and his passport wouldn't swipe and that she had to manually process his passport. She didn't know how to do this so had to ask someone else how to do it....and then of course his resident visa is in his old passport.....we were there for a good half hour sorting this out....

So finally we had our boarding passes and it was time to go and do some duty free shopping....

I bought myself 2 bottles of Amarula and Darian bought 2 bottles of Brandy...and then to wait for boarding. By this time the sun was rising and we could see fog out side on the runways....our flight was due to take off at 7.30 am...

We boarded the flight and sat down, we were right behind business and we had 3 seats...a spare for Joel :)

the engines started and then the captain spoke and told us that the flight was delayed for an hour due to the fog...we had to sit and do nothing for an hour...I am so glad that we didn't bring Joel...the other parents were having such a hard time....

eventually we took off at 8.45am and the flight was a dream...I even got to watch a movie (race to witch mountain) brekkie was delightful....Couldn't fault the cabin crew or Garuda itself....

We landed at Bali and it was raining...Hard....we got through immigration and collected our baggage with no fuss....we went out side and waited for our hotel transport...

Easter 2010

School holidays are here again, it has been a short term, only 9 weeks. Talia and Eloise have gone to Karatha to visit their dad so its very quiet here.

We even had a very quiet Easter Sunday

The Easter bunny came and dropped off a few eggs during the night

3 happy kids

Look what I have :)

Megan and Joel. Poor Megan had sore eyes..

After dad got home from work we went out the back yard and had a small egg hunt....

Face painting

Talia and Gabby took the girls and Matthew up to the local shopping centre for a fete/ one year anniversary for the shopping centre. They all walked up and came home a few hours later all very tired but happy

Matthew had a spider painted on his cheek

Eloise had a green butterfly painted on her

Megan had a mask painted on her face

Happy 8th Birthday Megan

 

Today Megan turned 8.....

 

She had 2 of her friends stay over for the night, Abby and Lily-Rose. The girls had planned to stay out in the tent but ended up coming in

All went well and she had a great time...

My big girl is bigger....

Happy Birthday to my princess Talia....

She turned 12 today.....she is no longer a little girl.....

From us she got a new MP3 player and a CD case to put all her CD's in. From her Dad and Sue she got a skate board.

She invited Gaby, Lia and Amy over for a BBQ/ sleep over and I was nervous about having four 12 year olds plus the other 4 in the house but it all ran smoothly...they spent most of the time in the pool and giggling in the bed room...

Talia wanted a cheesecake for her birthday cake and she helped me make it that afternoon...

Gaby bought her an artist pad and markers, Lia bought her a blue eagle glass sculpture and Amy bought her a large packet of pens. We also invited Eric and Diane over for the BBQ and they bought her a beautiful silver heart necklace.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This is Joel favourite  song at the moment. He cant say the words but he makes up his own babble to the tune and does all the motions.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky

My little man is so cute

 

The kids in Feb....

Just some random photos of the kids in Feb...

My two favourite photos of Eloise taken this month...

I didnt get a chance to Take any of  Talia, she has turned into a tween and doesnt like her photo taken...hopefully next month.

Megan....

Matthew has hit the age of pulling funny faces every time the camera is out....funny boy

Joel is now walking more than he is crawling, he is getting more and more confident every day...clever boy