Sailing course

Tom is helming the boat on the left and Tess is crewing on the right

It was over 40 degrees on Tuesday which was the first day of Tess and Tom's 3-day sailing course run by Manly Yacht Club.  I packed them off with long sleeve rashies, hats pulled down tight, loads of zinc on their faces and enough sunscreen to last them until next January.  Due to the temperatures the course instructors decided to spend a lot of time in the water teaching the kids how to capsize and playing lots of games when the heat made the kids tetchy.  Wednesday and Thursday couldn't have been more different with temperatures in the low 20s and some quite gusty winds.  There was a certain amount of complaining from Tom about attending the course but we think Tess quite enjoyed it and she has expressed an interest in taking her first certificate which would allow her to join Manly Juniors on a Saturday afternoon.  

We had a home day on Friday and Tess persuaded me to try out the Cake Pop machine that Aunty Kristie gave her for Christmas.  I struggled a little bit with the fiddliness but Tess loved it and was very proud taking a whole heap of them round to her friends house for afternoon tea.  

 On the ferry

In the Opera House

There has been lots of talk here about Blaze, a dance performance mainly hip-hop/street dancing, which has come over from the UK.  I was lucky enough to get us tickets and on Sunday we took the ferry over to the City.  The performance was fantastic - Tess and I loved it although Tom got a bit bored towards the end and Jules wished there was more music that he was familiar with.  However, we don't often go to see live performances of any kind so it was a huge treat and one I shall try to do with them again soon.  

After the performance we came back to Manly and Robert came over for a couple of rounds of Cluedo (another of Tess' favourite Christmas presents) and huge helpings of lasagne whilst a thunderstorm raged outside - it was a brilliant end to the weekend.