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Sunday, August 27, 2006

The Second First day at school

Although the first day of school was yesterday, Lucy was in class for the first time today. Saturday was just an orientation day and so her official first day in Kindergarten was today. Andre went to Yanbu this morning so it was big sister Aimee's job to walk her sister to her classroom for the first time. On the way up, of course it was lecture time .... "Now Lucy, once we drop off your backpack, you're going to come to the playground with me. You can play with ....." and on it went :)
Both girls had a great day at school - in Lucy's words.....
"it was FANTASTIC !"
Of course Lucy never loooks at the camera when you ask her to so thats the reason behind the multiple photos hehehehehe

Saturday, August 26, 2006

The long awaited update

Okay so its been an age but I have a seriously good excuse - "I've been really busy!".
The last few weeks of our holiday home were hectic. Tried to get the girls out to do and see some stuff and Andre and I were still busy tying up loose ends with finances and house etc.
So as far as home goes .... photos you're looking at show Super Lucy (can't really explain how this came about, just Lucy decided her underwear worn on the outside one night made her a superhero and she pranced around like this for half the night hehehe), Andre relaxing, us at Mitchell Park with the girls - meerkats were a huge hit so they get a photo all of their own :), our last night at home with family (Andre doing 'magic' for the kids) and lastly Alison and my Mom seeing us off at the airport.
Super Lucy
Andrè sitting on his behind :)
mmm does he have something to smile about hey !?
Aimee and Lucy saying hello to a VERY friendly meerkatWhere's Daddy ?
Oh, there you are ! wow do I have an odd look on my face :)Just hanging around !What you see is an ordinary dishcloth - do you agree ?
Now watch this ....
Alison (my sister) and Llewelyn (her husband)
enjoying "the show"
More magic, Andre tries to catch Keagan (Alison's youngest son)
while Aimee, Lucy and Jordyn (Kim & Malcolm's daughter) look on
Kim (my sister - the eldest) and Malcolm (her husband)
also watching "the show"
The day has come all too quickly, back to Saudi,
Alison and my mom come along with us to the airport.

Which brings us to getting back to Saudi. Left Durban at 2pm, arrived in Joburg to a temperature of 7C - down to 2C with windchill. Now you must realise going back to Saudi, I had dressed the girls in light clothing and taken along light jackets - Andre didn't even have a jacket. Needless to say we were a light shade of blue once we had walked from the arrivals terminal to the International departures one brrrr.
And then - arriving in Dubai at 5am (3am RSA time) the temperature was 38C shew ! By 10am in Saudi - its already 47C ! Who knows what it is physically with the humidity factored in, here we just say HOT, FLIPPING HOT ! If anyone knows where I can personally thank the creator/inventor of the AC, send his/her contact details along hehehehe Well with getting back and getting used to sleeping with AC on etc. we have all - except Lucy, had our turn at having a cough and cold but that seems to be sorted now thankfully. First week home we stayed in, me trying to get prepared for school.
Mira (Lucy's friend from school) came over for a playdate. Snowbell finally got her annual haircut - nobody better laugh at my sweetgirl !
Kiwi got neutered finally, so once again Andre is the only real boy in the house although theoretically he's also been 'neutered' so I guess we don't have any REAL boys in our house hehehe
Then it was back to school for the girls and I, trying to prepare before the teachers all came back in. Last week was their work week and it was hectic trying to get the new teachers, teachers that had moved rooms and schedules all sorted ! We have 11 new staff members and almost 100 new students. To give a better idea, 2 years ago we started the school year with less than 100 students because of so many companies pulling families out of Saudi with all the terrorist problems. This is for a school from Preschool to Grade Eight. Last year we celebrated when we finally hit 200 students ! We started today with just over 270 on the roll. I was at school this weekend (Thursday and Friday) still trying to finalise shedules etc. with Jana (my friend and VP). Andre has been an absolute darling putting up with all the hours afterschool I've been doing too, thankyou my sweetheart xxx
So the year started today, Aimee going into second grade and Lucy into Kindergarten.
This is us leaving for school this morning. The Second GraderThe KindergartenerMmmm those backpacks do look a little large - especially on Lucy hehehe
We had to leave the camera outside so it wouldn't mist up when we tried to take the photo like last year hehehe. Lucy only had orientation today so her official first day is tomorrow. It seemed to go off ok but I am sure you'll be hearing and seeing more about their year as it carries on.
Thats it for now, got work to do so we'll sign off and say enjoy your day - weekend for most of you :) Til the next post which will hopefully be Friday as usual again :)