School bags and plant pots.

Ru went off to 'pre-kindy' today for the third time. He does 2 sessions a week and is loving it so far. We had to go and get him a 'school' bag, water bottle and hat. They aren't allowed out without hats and at this time of year I suspect that 90% of the session is spent outdoors. I'm actually rather envious of the bag, it's a lego brick and very cool. He looks so cute lugging it onto his back and being a "big man" as he tells me. The only minor blip last week was when I went to collect him(!!) He realised that the big banana he'd put in the bowl at the start of the session was no longer there - and he hadn't eaten it. They chop up and share out all the fruit and veg brought in between everyone, and at 3 sharing is a concept still rather alien to Ru.  "Where's my banana?" he wailed as I tried to make a fast exit.

Off to Pre-Kindy.

The coveted lego brick bag. In each stud he has a hot wheels car.

We planted out our herb seeds today after school. In this climate they should grow like mad I think and the herbs in the shops are very dear. Plus it's good to be growing something again- the boys can't wait for them to sprout. Ru was disgusted when there was no sign of green after the first 5 minutes.

Ru with his basil, Alfie and his thyme and my lonely looking oregano.

Spiders, Barbies and Bushfires.

So, here we are, Sunday evening and another week draws to a close. Saturday began disgustingly early when B decided he'd go and meet a cycling group he'd been put in touch who set off from Fremantle at 6.30 am. As usual we were all awake with him, which on this occasion was 5.45am!!! Words have been had and he's agreed that in future he'll go out the back way. As I was making breakfast for the boys, they were watching a bit of kids tv (porridge takes a while to stew and my lads haven't lost the habit despite the heat). Suddenly Alfie cried out "Mummy, there's a spider in here". "So what?" is the usual response but, this being Australia, I thought I'd better investigate. Thank heavens I did. Crawling across the sofa, not 12 inches from Ru, was a fine redback in all its black and red glory. I am now eternally grateful that my innate fear of spiders has rubbed off on the kids. They aren't very big, but their bite is potentially deadly, and very painful too I'm led to believe. I got the boys out of there and the big spray can of nasty poison was put to use, followed up with a size 5 sandal just for good measure. Waaay too close for comfort.
In the afternoon we went to some friends for a BBQ. A good Irish family who know how important it is to get the beers cold and the whiskey flowing as soon as the food is dispensed with! They're ex-neighbours of a friend from Cobh, who we never met when we lived there but were put in touch with as they migrated here about 3 months before us. We had a great evening even though we've only known them for a very short time. Brian especially as I was driving : 0/

Then on Sunday we had another BBQ "booked" at our own place. It was to be the Christening of our own ridiculously large grill that has been sitting doing nothing for a week because the electric ignition won't work. A match did a very fine job and Brians cousin, her partner and their son were great company. The boys all had a swim and we just sat and watched, ate and drank a few stubbies (as I'm discovering they're called here). Suddenly we could hear helicopters. Low helicopters. We thought it odd, but didn't really worry too much until they came across for the third time. B's cousin thought they might be fire drenchers and that was confirmed as we got a slight smell of smoke. By checking online we found out there was a bush fire not a mile down the road. After the recent devastation to the south of Perth when one of these got badly out of control and wiped out nearly 100 houses it sent shivers up our spine, but in truth we're really quite safe where we are as there isn't a huge amount of "bush" in this suburban area. They seemed to get it all under control fairly quickly and within an hour or so the choppers were stepped down and peace once again reigned on our leafy streets.

The pool.

One man and his barbie.

Fri 25th Mar. Something old, something new..

So Friday was to be a fairly normal day. B gets up around 6am to leave the house by half past, otherwise he can't get into the shower block at work for queueing cyclists. Back in the UK the office there was just the one shower and no queue even then. Here I think the foot/cycle path that runs alongside the freeway (and incidently has the river on the other side, so the views are good) is a danger zone for any unwary pedestrians during rush hour.
Anyway, like Bagpuss, once B gets up, we all seem to get up. And so it was that the call came from our departing man "there's a chicken in the front garden". A chicken? Hilarious! Just like old times, I thought. Alfie was delighted to see her, and said chook was perfectly happy to see us. The only problem was, we had no idea where she was from, and this was about 6.30am so I didn't feel inclined to knock on doors and start meeting our new neighbours for the first time in their PJs. As the road is quiet we left her be for a bit, making the most of our previously untapped borders and came back to her just after 7 to find someone from up the road who thought she came from the house opposite. He was happy to knock on their door and so I left him to it and the chicken was safely recovered before the road started to get "busy".

Alfie and the escapee (who's that mad cyclist in the background?!)

After school we went for our obligatory swim. The boys are getting so brave in the water it's great. Alfie doen't need any floaties any more but stays where he can touch ground when necessary. Ru is still wearing his, but jumps in continuously and is delighted when he jumps hard enough to touch the bottom. Alfie found a gecko on the back patio which he was very pleased with.

The evening was time for my treat. My first open air cinema. "Black Swan" with some of the mums from Alfie's class. We sat in the park drinking wine and eating pizza before going in to the movie in a stunning walled garden arranged with deckchairs. It was great! The stars above and the weather still very warm made the film really magical. And the pizza and wine bit took me back to my teenage years in Alexandra park with my oldest friends (a twinge of regret crept in that they are all so far away). A digital thermometer on the way home at 10.30 pm read 27*C. Truly another world.

Getting started on this blogging thing.

So, I decided it was about time I made it easier to share our news and general goings on with people, rather than the one line facebook comments which often tell a very incomplete story.
When B said last summer that he might apply for a job in Perth and what would I think of moving that far?? my reply was something along the lines of "Yeah, go for it if you like, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Not, you see, because I lacked faith in his ability to get the job, but just because it seemed a rather surreal proposition and hardly something that happened to folk like us. Then, after just a single telephone interview, they offered him the job. He protested that they would surely need to meet him or do a second interview or something but the reply came back " No, we're happy that you'll fit the bill nicely".
Now was the time to panic.
After panicking for quite a while and talking ourselves into it and back out again, it boiled down to 2 things. First, would it be good for us as a family?
Second, did the figures work out on Brians hastily-drawn-up excel spreadsheet?! (He is an engineer after all)
The answer to the first question was, to be honest, "Who Knows?", but we were both willing to give it a try. The job contract was for 2 years so there was a get-out clause if things didn't go well, and we'd never get another opportunity like this we felt.
The answer to the second was pretty good too, so all in all we decided to give it a try.
The company organised visas, shipping, and business class flights (suffice it to say I think we pulled it off although I was acutely aware that the kids could kick off at any time and disgrace us horribly!)
We spent weeks looking for the ideal house once we arrived. We wanted a pool in the hot climate, and the search wasn't helped by the fact we had no idea where we wanted to be. In the end we plumped for Applecross- a gorgeous, leafy, but wildly expensive, suburb on the south shores of the Swan river. A fab playground for the boys with amazing views and a great kiosk for coffees and ice cream swung the decision.

Just part of the Pirate ship playground in Applecross.