Harriet goes to School!

Obviously this wasn't today, as Harry's birthday was in May (the 26th) but as I'm still in "catch up" mode with this blog (and probably will be for the rest of the year..) thought I'd back-track and cover this event. This is clearly a HUGE day in anyones life and certainly one that you'd like to remember (can't say I can remember anything about mine) but maybe this will spark Harriet's memory in years to come...

It was actually a Tuesdsay, as the Monday was a public holiday. Tracey is working Tue, Wed and Friday's (in her current job) so I got the privilege of taking Harry in. Harriet was very excited, without seeming nervous, and to say that she was "ready" for school was a big understatement. We walked, which takes about 10mins, and it was a cold but clear day. We arrived nice and early, about 8:40am, had a quick visit to the office and then headed off to her classroom to meet her teacher and classmates.

Harriet's teacher is Mrs Hand, and not only is Mrs Hand new to the school (only been perm for a couple of months) but Harriet's class is all new as well with only 7 including her! Harriet was straight into the swing of it, sitting on the mat and putting her hand up to answer questions. I must have stayed for about 15-20mins and Harriet hardly noticed I was still there! I decided to leave when the class was off to Assembly in the main hall.

A quick kiss and hug later (and with no sign of tears) I had left her on her first day (the last I saw of her was Harriet at the front of the line, holding hands with Mrs Hand and the kid behind her, leading the way to the hall). I was extremely proud of her, the way that she handled it with ease, and slightly emotional to see our little girl growing up... (aawwwhhh).

Tracey might have some more to add when she picked her up...

Day off... so off to the Zoo

The kids have been sick the last couple of days so I took a day off to look after them today, as Trace took yesterday off. The weather wasn't too bad (i.e. it stopped raining for at least an hour) and the kids seemed to be improving, so decided to take them to the Zoo (as we've got the "Friends of the Zoo" pass which comes in very handy and for 100 odd bucks a year is a bargain!).

Well the kids loved it, as usual, and it was an especially good day for viewing. It seemed like every animal was out and about and putting on a good show for us. The Tigers, Lions, Rhino's etc we're all really easy to spot and were actually moving for a change. But the best was the black monkey (I think he is a Gibbon) that we've seen plenty of times but I've never heard him/her like this. It was great stuff, yelling and swinging around, coming right up to the window and generally going ape sh*t. The kids we're glued to every move and followed the monkey up and down, there must have been 30 other people watching and we must have stayed for 20mins (and with the kids attention span, that's pretty impressive).

The other thing of note is that Finley could climb the rope bridge in the playground. Couldn't do that last time it took him to the Zoo so he was pretty pleased with himself and repeated the feat at least 10 times to show off his new skills.

NOTE: (to self) I WILL blog more often and attempt to backfill some of the last 5 years (at some stage)....