School's Out

At 3pm this afternoon 550 children from Years K-5 formed an arch snaking through our playground to bid our 100 year 6 children farewell as they finished their primary schooling. And so ended the 2007 school year for those of us who "pay less, and get more" (school days that is). I found the leaving arch very emotional, I can only guess what sort of teary mess I'll be when KelpieBlossom runs through the same arch in 3 years time.

It's been an action packed last week of school starting with ArmyWife's farewell dinner at our local watering-hole.* We surprised her with this Pandora bracelet with four charms:

A suitcase... because she's leaving

A four-leafed clover ... for luck

A Snowman ... for Christmas (and because the place she's going has cold winters)

An Elephant ... so she doesn't forget us

ArmyWife has written an account of this on her own blog here.

Yesterday, we held our final P&C function for the year - the teacher's lunch. Each year the school P&C pays for an end-of-year lunch for the teachers held during lunch hour in the staff room. We clear out the room, set it up in a festive way and serve a smorgasbord of cold meats, quiches, prawns, smoked salmon, sushi and salads. This year we provided a sideboard of sweet treats and large platters of cheese and fruit as well. The teachers seem to really love this event and we get a kick out of putting it on for them. They deserve every bit.

Now that school's out the festive season begins in earnest. My parents arrive from The Far West tomorrow and we have Christmas functions coming out of our ears. I've also committed myself to hosting what seems like half the suburb for a family BBQ on NYE. Better get down to planning that. Should be fun.

*AuE translation from my trusty Macquarie: noun. 1. a waterhole where animals drink 2. colloquial a hotel or bar, especially one used frequently for drinking with friends

Happy Birthday ArmyWife (she's not even close to 40)

While it was a shame that ArmyHusband couldn't be here to celebrate her birthday he did well and truly make up for it with beautiful Tahitian Pearl and Diamond earrings.

And so started ArmyWife's last birthday in Sydney before the new posting next year.

After breakfast with her SIL(the Divine Ms M) and the kids ArmyWife had lunch with the EasternMax family, got her gift from us (see scarf above, do you remember an earlier post about this?) and then all the girls went off to the Diana Exhibition at the Powerhouse.

Fabulous. Oh the dresses, the WEDDING DRESS up close, the diamonds, the condolence books EN MASSE from around the world. Plus all the LITTLE DETAILS that speak of her life like her diaries, her school reports, the dining records from Althorp House. Some of it you've seen. Much of it you haven't. I could go on.

We had a lovely time then we went back to the EasternMax residence for a chicken roast dinner and Fairlie's blueberry cheesecake Tart.

Happy Birthday ArmyWife!

We can't believe you are leaving - at least you will be living at a convenient half-way point to our trips to the Snowy. Sniff.

A relatively quiet weekend

After the frantic pace of the last couple of weeks it was lovely to have a relatively quiet weekend.

On Saturday we just hung around the house. Not sure if I even left the house. Hmm, can't remember. Today we had baseball in the morning and then quiet activities throughout the day.

I made this scarf in Collinette Shimmer 5 (Sea Breeze). It's part of a gift for a friend's 40th birthday. Lucky girl is going to Paris, New York and Colorado as part of her birthday festivities. I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous.

I also finished off these scarves and put the fringes on. These ones are in Collinette Point 5 (Monet). One each for KB and her buddy Fashionista, because they like to dress the same, and one for my Perth-based goddaughter.

I took time to admire the Hydrangeas in our garden. Not sure how we managed to get such a good colour spread this year.

Got an early birthday surprise from ArmyWife. I have been coveting this book and can't wait to have a really good look through it.

And I've managed to make the mix for this year's Christmas pudding. I'm running a bit behind with the pudding this year but I've made it much later than this before. Tomorrow the pudding spends 5 hours simmering away....yum can't wait until Christmas when I can eat it with loads of ice-cream and custard.

Ski Instructors: It's Safe to Come Out Now

Domestic Goddess, Army Wife and I are such party animals. Our girls weekend away at Thredbo was marked with all night drinking binges and dancing to the wee hours. Not.

Seriously, we get four nights away from the kids and what do we do? Sleep. A lot. Firegazer had left a case of beer in the fridge at the lodge and I took down some really nice wine but we were happier with a cup of tea and a choccy bickie (AmE: Chocolate Cookie). Firegazer couldn't believe it. When I rang him one night he said "Oh, the poor wittle mummies are sitting around in their jammies and woolly socks". The sad thing was, we were.

However, it wasn't all tea and woolly socks.
















Two members of our ski party are pointing to the spot where we were caught in the worst weather I have ever experienced at Thredbo. We had just got off the Kosci Express and were heading down to the top of the Supertrail when WHAM! the worst combo ice storm/wind/white out hit us. Domestic Goddess managed to lie down in front of an overhang of snow but Army Wife and I took the full force of it.

When it was over we had a long recovery session involving schnapps at Black Sallees.

This is the same section of the Supertrail two days later looking all sweet and innocent.

After rough weather on the first day we had lovely sunny days for the rest of the trip. However, our ski instructor for days 2 & 3 may not have been having such a lovely time.

Domestic Goddess and I take private lessons on this w/e each year in the vain attempt to be able to keep up with our husbands, and now, our kids. Problem is I don't take to instruction too well. I really see the instructor as a paid tour guide and want him or her to take me to interesting bits of the mountain and show me how to ski them.

Poor Ales from the Czech Republic. He wouldn't take us anywhere interesting because he thought our short turns needed attention. They do, but I am an old dog and I hate new tricks. Ales was rewarded with much muttering under my breath and terse comments. So on day 3 I levelled with him and said I would be grumpy and surly if he continued to pick on my short turns. He said "excellent, bring it on". We saw eye to eye from that point on and I spent the rest of the morning attempting to listen to him. Grudgingly, I may have even learnt something.

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Things to love about Thedbo #1:
I love it that while most of the Alpine Responsibility Code signs are made of canvas and lashed to poles with rope, sign #9 is made of metal and bolted down.

9. Do not ski, snowboard, ride chairlift or undertake alpine activities if your ability is impaired by drugs or alcohol

This is the most coveted sign by uni students on scavenger hunts and many of these are known to decorate dorm rooms in Canberra.