End of term

Jules blogging today.  Hard to believe but the second school term finished on Friday and the kids are now half way through the school year.  Very cliched to say but it's scary how quickly the year is going.  Monday was school assembly day and Tess won an award for "Pleasing progress across all key learning areas".  Wasn't sure if this was a case of being damned by faint praise or what.  I managed to get along to the assembly but Lenka had to work - great to see Tess and all the other littlies get their awards in front of the school and a host of proud parents.  The school band playing the Pirates of the Caribbean were a hit. 

I had a rare night out on Wednesday to celebrate (?!) the end of the financial year at work (what do you expect for a firm of accountants).   Have to admit to feeling a little bit like a teacher at a middle school disco (there were grads snogging on the dance floor). I think I made the fatal mistake of not drinking enough but it was fun and i wasn't too much of a curmudgeon.  More importantly on Friday Tess went to the dentist and had her plate taken out so her mouth is metal free.  This is big news and has been a real milestone on Tess' journey to being one of Sarah's bridesmaids in August - very exciting!  Will save on the touch up fees for the wedding photos.

On Thursday night Lenka picked up our new iPad.  Having had it for an entire weekend we understand why we got one - with 4 "Mac" devices in the family there's now one for everyone!  

Saturday dawned beautiful, sunny and the temps got up to 20 degrees.  No netball for Tess as school hols but Tom's soccer was at midday so we had an unbelievably lazy morning.  The mighty Condors won both games, Tom scored a goal (not to diminish this achievement but the score was about 20-0 the poor little Mosman Crows struggled a bit).  After soccer because the weather was so fantastic we went to Little Manly beach with the Proctors and an assortment of children from the neighbourhood.   The kids played tip and "44 homes" for hours.  Tom then decided that he had to go for a swim. The only other people in the water belonged to Manly Dive school and were wearing full steamer wet suits.  After his swim Tom helpfully collected up all the sticks stuck in the sand which the divers had carefully measured and pegged out along the beach for some crucial training exercise.  We decided that it was probably about the right time to go home.  

Tom channelling his inner dolphin

Tom swimming in the middle of winter

Neighbourhood kids playing "44 homes"

Another amazing weather day on Sunday and we did a bit of DIY and then took Tom off to Charles' party at Narrabeen. 

Manly beach at sunset