The Thompsons do Perth

Sunday bloody sunday

2011-06-19T04:08:00.000-07:00

Have I already called an entry this? It rings a bill somewhere in the back of my swiss cheese brain. There's a distinct possibility I have since when you've got 3 small children, most days include blood to some extent or another. Today's drama occured at King's Park - Grace and Ruben were playing the usual who can do the stupidest thing on the playground and today's challenge consisted or climbing the wrong way up the helter skelter slide, both at the same time. Ruben's knee connected with Grace's nose and voila, Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Despite this, it's a nice day out and the kids never seem to tire of going there. There's plenty of outdoor barbeques that you can make use of, and if you get there early, you could do yourself an nice full English in the great outdoors. What more can you ask for? Coffee you say? Of course there's a coffee shop! What self respecting WA park doesn't have a coffee shop...tsk.

In other news, we have a house inspection tomorrow - for that read "the Gestapo come round and check your skirting boards for dust". I hate HATE HATE them and it's just the worst part of renting a house over here. Even though our house is usually fairly clean and tidy I feel like I have to go over the place with a fine toothed comb.

Ruben is currently reading the girls a bedtime story. He's practising Julia Donaldson's Stickman for a "Lamplighter's Night" at school next week. The Year One children are reading stories to the kindy kids at 6pm after school. Cute, eh?

They do quite a lot of stuff like this at school. For example, next Friday at 5.30pm they're having a PJ & Movie night. The kids all arrive back at school with a pillow, togged up ready for bed and get given hot chocolate, marshmallows and watch "Up". Wish I could join them actually, but I'll be looking after the whirlwind, otherwise known as Agatha.

Gala Day for our little Auskicker!

2011-06-18T02:14:00.000-07:00

Today Ruben spent the morning playing "real" Auskick against some other teams at a Gala day at Kingsway Sports Stadium. Ruben and his fellow Magpies played incredibly well and were well rewarded with the obligatory Aussie tradition of a sausage sizzle (read "hot dog").

It was great to see the boys getting really stuck in and some great goals were scored, including one by Haydn, who was playing his first ever game.

Auskick, for those not in the know, nor in Australia, is Aussie Rules footie for little people. It's hugely well supported over here and for boys AND girls, which is great.

We then spent the rainy afternoon at The Beach House in Osborne Park, one of the better indoor soft play places in the Northern Suburbs. Unlike the ones in England, there appears to be no sick stains on the carpets, nor any overly large 12 year olds tearing the place up. Oh, and the coffee is significantly better too.

Have I ever mentioned the Aussies' obsession with coffee? OMG, nobody seems able to function without a coffee in hand or at least one on order. In fact, if you don't feel like you can finish your car journey without a caffeine hit, you can stop at a drive through coffee bar, such as Muzz Buzz or One for the Road.

I like my coffee, me, but don't find it necessary to balance a steaming grande skinny latte whilst driving (a manual I hasten to add), refereeing the kids in the back seat and doing a U-ey to go and pick up my gym bag that I left in the car park (true story). Maybe it's just me, or maybe Aussies have a special coffee cup holder in their cars that I know nothing of.....

Rain, rain go away

2011-06-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

Or not actually, as we're in desperate need of a bit of the wet stuff here in WA. But, despite that, it makes for a horrid day when you're stuck indoors with a 2 year old. So we decided to go to the playground, yes, in the rain, then did some puddle jumping in the garden. Aggie's boots were FULL of water by the time she'd finished!

I can't get you outta my head

2011-06-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone knows which song that line is from and also sings it whilst doing a very uncool robotics style dance. WE'RE OFF TO SEE KYLIE!!!!!!

She's currently taking her Aphrodite tour around Australia and gets to Perth on the 22nd June. My fabby friend Sam and I are going to go, looking hot, of course and ready for a boogie.

I'm very much liking the costumes on the show, though I think the "winged ears" are taking it a bit far, don't you?

The wanderer returns....

2011-06-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

Oh Em Gee.... I'm so, so sorry for leaving you all in the lurch, desperate to know what the Thompson family have been upto. What was that? You mean you didn't even notice that I hadn't posted for 6 months?? Charming, I'm sure.....

Well, I'm back and promise to update this on a much more regular basis. In the meantime, I'm going to do a few rush posts to bring you all back to speed on what's been "goin' dawwwwn".

I successfully ran the HBF run for a reason - a whole 14km of it! Proud of meself? You betcha. I followed a Hal Higdon training programme which transformed me from an ashmatic uphill wheezer to a 10km/hr runner (prob should call myself a jogger, but hate the legwarmer conotations of that word).

I ran the whole race and finished in 1hr 27min, a very respectable time for my first race, so well pleased with that.

That's me, looking a bit of a nobber, but feeling very pleased with myself.

My next stop is the City to Surf run which is in August. My only problem at the moment is that I can't decide whether to do the 12km or whether to tackle the 21km half marathon - any thoughts?

The other biggie that has happened of late....my best mate Rebecca has been over to visit with her lovely family.

Bek is the hottie on the left, I'm the wrinkly one on the right. We had such a lovely time whilst she was here, and I'm really hoping that she liked Perth as much as we do.

Here are a few gratutious shots of them and us enjoying our 7 precious days together.

Happy 2011!

2011-01-05T00:53:00.000-08:00

Firstly, big apologies for not updating this blogs for what seems like months. Actually, I think it has been months!

Secondly, welcome to 2011, our first full year to be enjoyed on the West Coast of Australia - very excited about this!

Not that much has happened over the last couple of months, though there have been a couple of events that are probably more interesting to tell you about.

Just before Christmas, Grace had a concert at Kindy, which all the mums attended. Very cute, with lots of triangle playing and the like.

On the way out, whilst carrying Aggie and holding Grace's hand, I walked straight into a swarm of bees - apparently they have a nest in one of the trees at the back of kindy.

Christ, it was terrifying. I screamed at the girls to run away and a couple of the parents grabbed them and looked after them. I could see Grace screaming and this mom was swatting bees off of her.

I, however, couldn't escape them. They were in my hair, inside my dress, just everywhere. :-( I was stung countless times, mostly on the face and scalp with a few on my chest and back.

I've never been so frightened in my entire life and still have no idea why they attacked me - thank god it wasn't one of the kindy children though.

On a lighter note, Paul and I (and recently arrived Pom, Kevin) went to see U2 at the Subiaco Oval. We saw the 360 degree tour in Glasgow last year, but it was so fabby that it was really no hardship to watch it again. Bono didn't disappoint and was his usual modest self - ahem......

To update you all on our weather, as I know that all the English readers like to be pissed off at our current enjoyment of sunshine, it's around 40 degrees most days and unbearably hot!

So happy new year to you all - wishing everyone a safe and happy 2011. (and I promise to update more!)

The day I met my idols

2010-10-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

Which might actually be phrasing it a bit strongly, but I was very excited to find out that fashion know-it-alls, Trinny and Susannah were coming to town as part of their Australia wide promo of their new show. They cam to Whiftords shopping centre, a pretty average Westfield place that hosting a pretty impressive extravaganza today!

I arrived an hour early (as people who know me is pretty standard stuff!) and had a wander down to the piazza....only to find that all the seats were already taken! Aussies must be in need of some serious wardrobe assistance, I figured (yep, actually that is quite true in lots of cases!). So little A and I went for a wander and came back just before kick off and stood in the sunshine waiting for the dynamic duo.

They didn't dissapoint - there was plenty of boob prodding, bra hoisting, saddlebag jiggling and the like. They both came into the crowd to find their victims and I was in stroking distance of Susannah! She was wearing a leopard print bodycon dress with shrug and amazing heels. She looked very slim, prob a smallish 10 I'd say, but was def wearing plenty of control undies to keep it all in place.

Trinny is apparently favouring tutu style underskirts whilst touring Oz - I'm sure that was fine on the east coast, but she forgot to allow for the Fremantle Doctor and she gave us all a flash of more than she meant to!!

As for other news, I've joined a nice gym, not sure whether I'd already mentioned that.

The kids went back to school today after their two week hols - we had a lovely time just hanging out.

Paul's dad arrives next week which we're all verrrry excited about! The kids can't wait to see their grandad.

Happy Days

2010-09-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the simplest of days are just the nicest, aren't they? When you don't plan to particularly do anything and the empty day lies ahead of you, full of promise. Today has been one of those days.

We started with Ruben and I walking the dogs in the park - glorious blue skies, no-one else around, just lovely. Then we spent the day just kinda hanging out. We braved the pool for a while, I was the only one brave (ie stupid) enough to actually swim in it, rather than just stand there going "oooh it's freeeezing!".

We sat in the sun whilst the kids played indoors and Aggie snoozed on the sofa, then we had a bbq for tea and packed the kids into bed by 7pm sharp. Great stuff!

The ballet yesterday was fantastic too - Sleeping Beauty performed by the Western Australia Ballet. The kids were really well behaved throughout it all too which was lovely. Even Agatha seemed to enjoy it - though that may have been that I was plying her with fruit pastilles for most of it!

Tomorrow is a public holiday then it's 2 weeks school hols - hope I'll be topping up my tan!

Love to everyone in Blighty - hope the Autumn is suiting you all nicely.x

Happy Birthday to you....your majesty!

2010-09-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

It's the Queen's birthday on Monday, which means it's a public holiday - woohoo! Actually, if I were being pedantic, I'd tell you it's not actually the Queen's birthday in September - it's in June. Which is when the rest of Australia celebrate it. Here, however in WA, it is decreed that we will celebrate the monarch's birthday based on when the kids break up from school and when the Perth Royal Show is. WA is indeed a law unto itself!

The rest of Australia apparently also has Daylight Saving Time, but WA decided it wasn't a great idea, so we don't. It makes me wonder if it was just to complicated a concept for them to implement.

It's been a fairly busy week in the Thompson household so far. At the weekend we ventured north, through Swan Valley, up to Walyunga national park. The kids had a great time climbing on rocks, finding sticks and the like. Apparently the river that runs through there is the best white water rafting to be found in Australia.

Pretty, isn't it?

Grace has a trail ballet lesson tomorrow which she's very excited about and I had my initial appraisal at the gym today. Agatha had a wonderful time in the creche at the gym and didn't want to come home.

It's Paul's birthday on Thursday (for all of those who haven't sent him a card yet!) and we're going to see Sleeping Beauty on Saturday, performed by Western Australia Ballet - apparently the set is so huge they had to move the show to a larger theatre.

We haven't told the kids about it - partly to avoid Grace getting too excited, and partly to stop Ruben from trying to get out of it!

Not sure if I've already mentioned this, but I've got an iPhone 4 on order - too exciting, eh? Apple have woefully underestimated the demand over here and hence the average waiting time is 5 weeks. Hopefully I won't have to wait that long!

So that's it - nothing more to report, folks!

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to those few people that follow my blog, either publicly (or privately - you stalkers, you!!)

Sunday, bloody Sunday

2010-09-12T04:40:00.000-07:00

Ups and downs today, ups and downs folks....

Ups
1. Grace's fave film is Mama mia, and she was watching it for the umpteenth time this morning. Aggie is pretty intrigued by it too, bless her. The bit where Julie Walters falls in the water Aggie jumped up and shouted "NANNY!!" at the tv.

<------- My gorgeous mom

My mom, gorgeous as she is, bears a striking resemblance to the British comedienne and always has done. Very funny that Agatha should notice it though!

2. Paul took the girls and the dogs to Scarborough dog beach this morning. He tells me it was really hard work and that the girls fought over the bucket and spade and that Aggie screamed none stop at the waves (mild Sea-phobia for some reason!) but actually I think they all had a pretty good time.

Funnily enough, I don't see that she's screaming here, do you?

3. Paul has finally had his hair cut, after 4 months of looking like a yeti we shaved it all off today. He officially looks ten years younger. I did it with our Wahl clippers and left an attractive Aussie mullet at the back. I did take pics for this blog but decided against publishing them - far too embarrassing!

4. Whilst shopping yesterday, I tried on a cute silver key pendant and have now decided that my life is incomplete without one. On searching the net for them this morning I discovered that the one I tried on was a Tiffany copy of a range of keys that came out last year.......

On discussing this discovery with Paul he naturally had no idea why I "needed" such an item but I think I've managed to negotiate a deal whereby I'll be a proud owner of the real deal before Xmas arrives. How, I here you cry - well, that's for me to know, and you to, well, you'll have to guess what the deal is I've struck! ;-)

Downs

1. Ruben was attacked in the park by a dog. A young Staffy cross who is exhuberant to say the least. The dog seemed to think that Ruben wanted to play, but his version of playing was to grab R's jumper in his teeth and scratch him pretty hard on his bottom. :-( R is ok, a bit shook up and has some pretty bad scratches but he'll live. Not a great end to a lovely weekend.

2. Top gear is on. Again. And the Grand Prix......nuff said.

Easy, Breezy Saturdays

2010-09-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that last weekend we took the stabilisers off Ruben's bike? He was indeed crapping himself about the idea of riding without them, but at the age of "almost 6", we deemed it was time.

He wibbled and he wobbled and got very pee'd off with cracking his shins on the pedals, but a week later, he has absolutely cracked it! He can now push off by himself, and ride in a pretty good straight line. BIG UP THE RUBE-STER!

Grace is quite keen to hang on to her stabilisers for the moment......but watch this space!

We've spent a pretty chilled out Saturday - took the kids to the park this morning with the dogs - kids on bikes etc. And this afternoon we took Paul to see the 'roos at Pinnaroo which was nice then off to Whitford Shopping Centre for some retail therapy.

Ruben spent all his pocket money on a Lego Hero somethingorother (note to Aunty Becky - can you send him one for his birthday? ;-)) and Grace got more teensy weensy Polly Pocket stuff. Agatha came away with a baby kangaroo which she has taken to bed with her - awwwwww.

Even though it's Paul birthday next week I was treated to a cool pair of clog sandals and some funky khaki extreme cuff sandals too, though need to experiment with these to avoid the dreaded "cankle scenario" - ideas gratefully received.

Tomorrow we are planning a picnic if the weather brightens up.

Love to mom , who's holidaying somewhere pretty with her main man.

Love to Bek, who may be ironing a strange man's pants as I type.....

Hi to the Caveens who will be joining us shortly. :-)

Happy Father's Day!

2010-09-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

Today has been Father's Day in Australia, and they make a pretty big thing of it over here. Ruben and Grace spent all week making gifts and cards and they were presented this morning with much excitement.

We spent the day with the Burfords, first visiting Fremantle Prison, which was pretty interesting.
The history of Fremantle Prison dates back to the early beginnings of Western Australia and its role in the development of this State is unparalleled. It is the largest convict built structure in Western Australia and the most intact convict establishment in the nation.

On 01 August 2010, Fremantle Prison became the first built environment in Western Australia to be included on the World Heritage list. It's inscription on the World Heritage list was part of a serial nomination with ten other Australian Convict Sites.

We saw lots of grim and depressing things, such as tiny prison cells and the hangman's noose, all of which was hugely fascinating to Ruben!

These pics were taken inside the prison chapel where you can now have your wedding, should you be that peverse.....

We all then trooped down into Freo which was incredibly busy. It was a lovely sunny day, so everyone had had the same idea as us! We had a wander round Freo market where they were having a Father's Day oyster shucking competition, then went down to the harbour.

All the restaurants were packed to the rafters so we did the sensible thing and bought fish and chips and sat in the park with our bottles of fizzy pop - bliss!

All in all, a great day in great company, and best of all the kids are all now fast asleep - hurrah!

Roo and 'roos

2010-09-01T21:50:00.001-07:00

So, although Ruben seems to be getting on pretty well at school, I thought I'd go have a quick chat with his Teacher yesterday, just to make sure.

It turns out that he's one of the more, erm, physical boys in the class. Apparently he's constantly having to be told "keep your hands on your own body" or "keep your hands to yourself" by the teachers. This isn't a huge worry for me, he's always been quite touchy-feely, but apparently he's getting quite aggressive if kids don't play his game or whatever.

So, out comes the reward chart, backed by teacher, and we'll see if it helps at all. Poor kid doesn't know which way is up right now.

On a lighter note, "Don the dog walker" who I meet occasionally in the park is always telling me to take the kids to see the kangaroos in Pinnaroo memorial park. So we did, yesterday after school.

It was amazing to see loads of roos just hanging out in the sun, the coolest part being those with little joeys snuggled in their pouches - too cute!

Sorry the vid gives you neck ache, I never get this right!

Normality has been restored!

2010-08-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

After a protracted absence from blogging, due to WA's inability to undertake the simplest of tasks i.e send a broadband modem to the right address, I'm back, fully interneted and ready to blog!

Things that have happened in the last couple of months over here:

1. We've moved into our new house in the suburb of Greenwood. The house is just perfect and backs onto the park. The dogs are having the best fun racing around with all their new Aussie buddies. We haven't used the pool in the garden yet, much to Grace's annoyance as it's still actually winter.

2.. Ruben has started pre-primary at a lovely local school and Grace has started at the related Kindy. They're both getting on really well, Ruben had a couple of wobbles when he didn't want me to leave him, but I think we're over that now. His new teacher is just lovely and all the kiddies are super cute too.

3. Grace is now officially Australian - instead of "no" she says "neeewww" and "computer" is now "compuha". It's astonishing how quickly she's become Aussifed to fit in with her new Kindy pals. It's very cute and never ceases to make me smile.

4. Agatha can now put two words together (at long last!) and can say hello mummy, hello daddy, hello Ono, etc, etc......

5. I have my car, an Aussie bank account, and I can shop - woohoo! Today I've been to Karrinyup shopping centre with Lizzie and experienced a little retail therapy.

It's a lovely centre with a couple of department stores, some little boutique-y shops and lots of nice free parking.

I got myself a gorge pair of tan leather glads for $39 reduced from $159 and some sunnies to replace the ones Grace broke this morning.

Lizzie got a gorge dress for a "do" she's off to next weekend and put some lovely stuff from FC on layby (will explain this to my English chums - you see stuff you love but don't have the wonga, you put 10% down and they hold it indefinitely for you!)

6. I managed to walk head first into a very hard metal column this morning at Warwick Centro shopping centre. I was watching the kids messing about on a bob the builder ride and smashed my cheekbone and temple into the fecking column. After making sure my head was still attached and stopping myself from vomiting in pain, I've managed to create an attractive egg shaped bump on my temple - nice.

I'm not sure how well you can see it in the pic, but believe me, it fecking hurts. A lot.

You can all stop laughing now!

So, that's it really, we're all settled, our container arrived a week or so ago which was just ace. We all have our beds now and the kids have their toys. WA finally feels like home.

Ruben says a big hello to all his chums at Claverley. Thanks to everyone for keeping in touch, we appreciate it a lot.x

Things we've acheived today

2010-07-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

1. We walked the dogs, on the beach, and Agatha actually stood on the sand. Usually she points at the sea, shouting "bye, bye!!!" very loudly and tries to drag me off the beach. I'm thinking she probably won't be a surfer chick.

2. We've been to the educational superstore, known as Wooldriges, to get Ruben (and Grace's) stuff they need to start next Tuesday. Unlike in the UK, where all school materials are free, over here in Oz you have to buy a fair bit. Ruben needed 2 text books, a couple of large display folders and a library book bag. Grace needed display folders and..... wait for it.....a towel. Answers on a postcard, please.

3. I'm not saying I'm great at packing suitcases, but thought I'd got everything covered when I packed 5 cases of stuff to see us through until our container arrived. However, I soon found out that I'd only packed summer dresses and HSM dressing up outfits for Grace, and no jeans, or trousers. So we had to go and get her some today. Kids' clothes are not exactly great over here, but did manage to get her some nice-ish skinny black jeans from Big W.

Not bad, eh? Oh, and bumped into Paul and Ian bunking off work like a couple of naughty school boys, going to get a latte...

Dominos ain't got nothing on us

2010-07-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so they don't look particularly tasty raw, but the kids had a great time making them. We spent yesterday afternoon making them for tea - the kids made the dough, watched it rise them topped them with homemade tomato sauce and cheese. There's no point putting anything more extravagant than this as they just pick it all off.

Agatha ate a startling amount of pizza, and even Grace ate quite a bit, so all in all, a big hit.

The Karate Kids

2010-07-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

Some days are better than others

2010-07-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

What a bloody nightmare of a day we've had today. The kids have been acting as if posessed by the spirit of Damien. No idea what has got into them, but they've all been bloody horrible.

Yesterday we had to sort out some stuff for our imminent house move. We managed to sort a nice big t.v and some kitchen-y stuff too. It was a very productive day and the kids were really well behaved.

Today, however, everyone seems to have got up on the wrong side of the bed - even the dogs. We tried to introduce Ono and Jess to our neighbours dog, Maverick, which resulted in a not very pretty dog fight. Not sure who started it, or who won really, but it was just not very nice.

We then walked the dogs down to dog-beach for a run around.

The weather at the moment is bloody awful, a mix of high winds and torrential rain - if anyone comments that you have great weather in the uk, I'll be forced to remind you that we only have bad weather in WA for 3 months - tops. The rest is blue skies all the way.

So, a very uneventful weekend, and only written up to keep those vaguely interested of our comings and goings!

Oh, and to top if off, I STILL haven't got my car - the loan company are asking for all kinds of nonsense, so it's back to the fremantle taxi for me for this week......

ETA - aww crap, just lost loads of text and photos - will try again.

Over here in Mcdonalds they have outdoor play areas - today Ruben managed to create this on his forehead in said play area....

A Thursday to remember

2010-07-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

Two very memorable things have occurred in the last couple of days.......

1. We collected our dogs from quarantine in Byford.

2. We collected Paul's new Mondeo Zetec from Mandurah

Hoo-bloody-rah! It feels like two mammoth hurdles have been, um, hurdled.

The dogs are fine, a bit nervous, and not sure of themselves, but apart from that, all is good.

I got to drive the new car back from Mandurah, I even had an hour in it without the kids - twas all lovely.

We just have to sort out my PT Cruiser now, which is proving a larger hurdle. The finance company want all kinds of bizarre information and it's taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R. It looks like I may be back in the Fremantle Taxi next week.....

Had a lovely day yesterday with Lizzie and her son, Ben, who our kids are seriously in awe of. He is all they've talked about today. Bless em. We went into Fremantle, had some lunch, mosied around the shops and generally had a nice, chilled out time. Looking forward to doing it again.

We'll be shopping for a few bits for the new pad at the weekend - need to get a washing machine desperatley. There will be a 3-4 week delay before we get our container delivered, so need to get some plates, cutlery and stuff.

Can't wait to move in - it'll feel like we're finally settled somewhere.

Lazy days.....

2010-07-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

I've done n.o.t.h.i.n.g today, not a jot really. Except for a big shop with 3 kids (no mean feat!), a load of washing and ironing and that's about it. The kids were feeling pretty laid back so didn't mind too much just playing at home and generally chilling out.

We sat and watched Alice in Wonderland after breakfast (again!) and then tackled the supermarket.....is it just me that struggles to control kids in the supermarket? R&G always end up running round like loonies whilst I try to shout quietly at them.

Things I've recently learnt about Perth:
1. There is no amazon.com.au - how on earth are you supposed to buy stuff if you can't get it from Amazon?
2. Potatoes are really no good foor roasting over here.
3. You never need to buy another lemon - they grow everywhere.

Things I'm missing about the uk:
1. Amazon.co.uk
2. Maris Piper potatoes
3. Decent dumbing down tv - far too many sitcoms over here.

The DNA Tower

2010-07-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

We went to Freo this morning to have a mosey around the market and generally soak up some atmosphere. We also came across the most beautiful shop called www.pickledfairy.com.au . It sold the most beautiful fairy dresses, wings, shoes and crowns you could ever imagine. It was a gorgeous quaint little shop, with 2 fairies running it, all dressed up and covered in glitter (Bek, I S.O thought of you!!!!!!), Grace was completely smitten with the place, bless her.

We also spent the afternoon at King's Park which the kids loved just so much! We went down to the Synergy Playground which had loads of stuff for the kids to climb on, swing on and generaly arse about with.

All in all, a lovely family day with lots of fun. I've actually had a fair bit of wine now so this may be a bit incoherent - hic! Love to everyone.x

Hands up who likes Inspector Frost?

2010-07-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

We don't have Foxtel (the Aussie equivalent of Sky television) at the moment, so our viewing is fairly limited. The kids have found a few things they like, but of an evening it's either Top Gear, or, well, Top Gear. Tonight we've been treated to Doc Martin and now we're enjoying a great episode of Inspector Frost. We did buy the Alice in Wonderland DVD today and the kids all watched it before bed - they totally love it! Ruben is a huge fan of th Bandersnatch and the Jabberwocky. Grace is an Alice just waiting to happen.

We've been to Mandurah today, which is south of Perth, about an hour away. It was a gloriously sunny day, with temps around 17 degrees. The harbour was ridiculously picturesque and we ate at a lovely seafront Asian cafe called D'lights. Ruben ate a stupidly large plate of special fried rice (which he shared a bit of with Agatha), Grace had her usual chips and ketchup (tips on how to expand her diet greatly appreciated) and Paul and I had lovely garlicky, chilli-y prawns and beef.

The kids finished off with huge lollies that we've not let them have before......check out Aggie's compared to R&Gs!!

A winter's day....

2010-06-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good, productive day! Me and the kids went to visit Glendale School this morning, and it's just perfect. R&G loved the place and seemed really confident being there. The principal was a really nice guy and really put the kids at ease.

The Preprimary was a lovely area. The max class size is 24 which is great, and the teacher was really nice too.

We went down to Kindergarten and Grace and Ruben ran off playing and just getting to know people.

All in all, a great place for the kids to start their education in Perth - am very pleased that's one more hurdle over.

The photos were taken today at Hillarys Boat Harbour today - glorious sunshine, lovely behaved kids and a picnic to boot. What more can a mom of 3 ask for? (a manicure and facial would be nice!)

And the award for the funniest dog goes to.....

2010-06-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

Hamish the westie. His owner, Lizzie, is the wife of my husband's boss (still with me?). We, i.e. me and the rabble, went over for coffee today, and Hamish kept us all very entertained.

In no particular order, he ran off with:

various small person socks
various small person shoes
a dummy
an empty catfood can

He knew exactly where to hide with his treasures too - just behind the sofa where no-one could quite reach him - very funny indeed. The children all thought he was hilarious. Agatha insisted on having him wrapped in a large furry blanket, which he didn't object to in the slightest.

The kids had a lovely time, were well and truly spoilt with lovely donuts and biccies, and a generally lovely time was had by all.

The afternoon was spent cooking chilli for tea and just arsing about with the kids. We played libraries, which was a new game, and just meant littering the house with books whilst Ruben ordered us all around, telling us our books were overdue.....

Have also found out that there is a supermarket which stocks lots of english products....will be checking this out in the near future. However, due to Paul not leaving me any cash and me not having a bank card yet, I didn't stock up on starbars and bisto gravy today.

Dogs, Koalas and the cost of food

2010-06-29T01:05:00.000-07:00

We visited the dogs in quarantine again this morning - I sorted it a bit better logistically and we all had a lovely time. The dogs are due out in just over a weeks' time - woohoo!

As you can see from these, pics they were pretty happy to see us.

We then visited the koala park that's right next door to the quarantine place. Lots of sleepy koala bears, looking unbelievably cute, and kangaroos that you could feed with popcorn - how cool is that?

Ruben was like a little zookeeper, feeding and stroking the kangaroos, very cute indeed.

There were also a couple of shetland ponies roaming loose and a donkey who followed us round hoping for a snack or two.

All in all, it was a lovely day, the kids were nicely behaved - apart from in the car when they attempted to kill each other as usual.

We've had some good news today, in that the people who own the house in Greenwood have accepted our application, and we will be moving into "the house with the pool right by the park" in the middle of July. Woohoo!

My blog has been all really positive, but I have one major gripe about like in Perth - the cost of food! It really is shockingly expensive. I haven't found one item that's cheaper than the UK. Supermarkets are limited to Woolworths and Coles, and it has become clear pretty quickly that they are certainly not the best way to do your shopping. For example, a sliced wholemeal loaf is around $4 which is about £3. At the local (lovely) bakers, an unsliced wholemeal, freshly cooked loaf is $3 - go figure? Chemists are cheaper for all toiletries and cleaning essentials, and there's a range of Wilkinson type shops that are cheaper still.

Nappies are eye wateringly expensive and baby wipes are the equivalent of £2.50 a packet, and that's the shops own brand.

So, it appears that the best and cheapest way to shop is to go back 30 years before we were all brainwashed by supermarkets and start shopping in the grocers, the butchers and the bakers.

I think I'm going to have my work cut out feeding a family of 5 for even a generous weekly budget - the kids go through fruit like it's going out of fashion. Today they've eaten 6 apples, 5 satsumas and 3 bananas between them. All good for their 5 a day, but probably around $10 in cost.

Any tips on shopping on a budget will be much appreciated!