running into a reversing car

Last Thursday Willem and Frank were both running ahead of me on the footpath on the way to school and ran straight into a reversing car, actually denting it! Willem lost both his front teeth (wobbly milk ones.. pfew). Frank hurt his leg but after a thorough check at the Children's hospital there was nothing wrong with them..
Just a massive scare.

Great speech

Australia voted against gay marriage. Our Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave her party a conscience vote instead of choosing for equal rights for everyone as the Labour Party she is representing should.  Australia is incredibly backwards sometimes. There was a senator, Cory Benardi, who said "legalising same-sex marriage could lead to demands to legalise bestiality and polygamy". It makes me ashamed to be part of this country (even though I love living here). But last week something happened in politics that made me like JUlia Gillard again. Listen to this.. Pretty good, hey!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-17/misogyny-redefined-after-gillard-speech/4317468

Foto's of our weekend away to see the wild flowers


https://picasaweb.google.com/118153332706348543500/WildflowerWeekend

City to Surf

Finally I did it! The City to Surf. A huge event where you run 12k from the city to the beach. A great run for us as we actually run home. I tried training for it but didn't manage enough. Still finished the run without walking ( and it's quite hilly) only a bit slower than I wanted at 1.20 min.

Willem ran the 4k with Jamie in roughly 23 minutes and Frank walked with Corinne and her daughter Annika. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed it very much!

Art work with the Dutch Kindy

I really enjoy working with the 3/4 year old Dutch kids. I have 4 groups now. Work all day Monday, Tuesday morning and Friday morning. We've done some great projects. I also have started voluntary work with Meerilinga, a charity "promoting positive childhoods". I try and include this little boy with developmental delay in the group sessions of this playgroup. It's really nice work (officially called an special education assistant). Especially as I get to work with some really nice people. The playgroup works a lot like we used to work in Scotland.

I also had one day of relief teaching at an Australian school! Its was at Bold Park community school, a Reggio Emila school. Really good fun as well. Hope they'll call more often. Problem is of course that a lot of days I am not available..

 We're going on a bear hunt

 Songs about sheep

 Crocodiles

 Musical instruments

 Self portraits

Ladybugs

Holiday in Europe

The end of June I flew with the boys to the Netherlands. The flight was easy. I had a 4 hour stopover in Singapore between 9pm and 1 am and assumed it would be difficult with the boys at that time but they were brilliant. Fantastic travellers..
Toke and Wim collected us from Schiphol in the morning and it was soo good to be back! It had been a whole year! The 2 weeks were quickly filled with lots of lovely social events. A wedding, a weekend to Amsterdam, trip to Amersfoort and lots of nights out with friends.
The boys had the BEST time with opa and oma

After 2 weeks Jamie arrived and we had a weekend away in Aberdeen. It was great to be back and meet up with all our friends. Aberdeen hadn't changed at all and I could imagine us living back in Scotland again.

 The weather wasn't the best but it could've been a lot worse as well. We still managed to get out and about. Oranje Zon was frequently visited.

 The boys love the fair!

And a night out with Ozzie friends Evelien and Lilith!

 We also managed to squeeze in 4 days in England to see Jamie's family. Always good to see them and Willem and Frank had a great time with their cousins.

4 weeks fly past... Why is Perth so far away!

Matt Corby, Evelien is leaving and Art Gallery

Last week: A young Aussie singer/songwriter. Biggest influence, I would guess, is Jeff Buckley. His concerts are sold out all over the country. I managed to get 2 tickets of Gumtree and went with Katja to the Astor Theatre, the lovely Art Deco one. It was different this time and they removed the seats at the front so you could stand close to the stage. Always prefer that anyway, then seated concerts.
He was really good. Didn't know many of his songs (only "Brother"). Really enjoyed the concert. He has a great emotional voice.
Evelien has left Perth. I organised a wee farewell for her in a stylish tapas bar with her close friends. It was a lovely night. Luckily Eef lives in Middelburg so I will see her again!

This Friday was the opening of Picasso to Warhol at the art gallery. It's an exhibition of 14 masters and all the artworks come from New York. It's great as I've never been to NY and I know a lot of people from WA never have as well as they've never even made it to Europe. So it's a great opportunity for them to see these masterworks. I went with 4 girlfriends to the sold out opening night. There was a bar, a great band (Tippan Orange, from Melbourne) and it was great to be at the gallery at night.

 Beauty from Picasso: a green still life

Also loved all the works from Calder. There were also artists I didn't know like Louise Bourgeois and Brancusi.

What else... hm.. Willem won a golden medal with running at school!
He had his assembly about inventions. Frank received a certificate because he's kind and helpful. We've had a big storm with wind gusts of 100km per hour.
And 3 nights sleep and we're flying back to Europe! Yippie!