Even more easter pics

Kids finding eggs on sunday....






Sleepy car ride home...

Pics from easter

Some pics of easter in Bendigo.......

Easter

This easter we decided to go to Bendigo. In Bendigo they have a huge easter fair and procession. there is something to do everyday over the 3 day weekend. When we got to Bendigo we went straight to bec and daves to settle down. Then we all headed inot town to check out the entertainment. the kids checked out the animal nursery, this was a big with Declan (and Dave lol). then we watched the very funny group tripod perform.
Sunday was ofcourse the day easter bunny came. The kids woke early and were delighted with what the big eared bunny had left. He also hid a few around the house and garden!! We then headed back inot town to have a go on some rides and see the awakening of the dragon. Bendigo has the longest chinese dragon outside of china (I think) , his name is sun loong and he is absolutly gorgous. He comes out only for the parade on monday but is awakened at a ceromony on sunday. They have lots of little dragons (known as lions) perform and then the big finarlly is the letting off of 10 000 crackers. It was a big day and declan was very knackered , as predicted he fell asleep in Dwaynes arms 5 mins before the loud crackers were to go off. i took him and just nestled him into my chest with one finger in his exposed ear lol. It worked as he slept through the noise!!! After that we visited Dwaynes mum and dad and then off to tea with Bec and Dave. After tea we went down to the lake for the torchlight procession and fireworks. Naturtally matilda needed to go to the loo at the start of the fireworks grrr, it ended up being o.k as the toilets were actually closer lol. Declan was having an absolute ball watching all the color and lights that we had seen all day. By the end of sunday the kids were sooo tired and went straight to bed when we got back to Bec and Daves.
Monday was the big procession. We had front row seats on the side of the road too which was good. I thknk Declan was most impressed with the floats and horses and ofcourse the dragon.
It was a very big w/e for all and the car trip home was very quiet as the kids slept most of the way. I cant wait to go again but maybe not for a few years. might try camping again next easter!!!

Matilda started dancing lessons 3 weeks ago and so far i think she is loving it. Parents arent allowed to watch the lessons so I cant wait for the concert at the end of the year to see what she has learnt. She looks so cute in all ballet clobber, right from the leotard to the tap shoes. I was lucky enough to pick up some great tap shoes off ebay for $16.50 but chose to buy he little ballet slipper things...$40!!! Oh well she is loving it and like I said the concert will be gorgous.

Not sure if declan wants to be a dancer to but I got this snap of him the other day in Matilda's dress up tu tu lol.

Harmony day

Every year Our kinder is invited to whats called Hramony day at one of the local schools. It where they do and learn lots of things about the indonesion culture. this year as Matilda was in 4 yr old she went along with her class. I decided to stay for the day too and was so glad I did. It was a great oppotunity to check ot another possible primary school lol. Anyway more about the day. they started off by having a lady in all her get up showing the kids a dance called the candle or plate dance. All the kids got to have a go too (with plates ofcourse , not candles.) then we moved onto puppets and cutting out and coloring in indonesion 'good' and 'evil' characters. Matilda chose a good lady and then went on to do a little puppet theatre. the kids were them treated to the grade 4's and 5's doing some traditional music with some very interseting musical instruments. The kids got to have a go at a few of the instruments and were shown by such nice students of the school. the finished with some story telling and acting out of the story. matilda loved the day.




I loved the school and the other day went back for a tour. I really think it is a goer for mtailda next year. It has 270 kids and is on such a nice big property. The prep classes are combined which is weird but they say it works. So whilst some of the time there may be 38 kids togtere they have more than enough teachers to cover it. They split up for art, music, p.e etc. The grades after prep all have about 20 kids which seems perfect. i have a few more schools to look at but think soo far this is the one to beat. We loved the private school Billinook but I am afraid of making such a financial commitment at this satge.