Emma and the kids are airborne on their way to Singapore and then on to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The last half of term 1 has just zipped by. The kids have actually finished school a week early so they can have more time in Sri Lanka. They will spend a couple days in Colombo and then go to Kandy to stay at Latha's house for a few days until I come in. Unfortunately, us teacher can't do the same thing. The last couple weeks have been busy with setting exams, marking exams and assignments, and now getting the reports done by Thursday. The kids at our school finish on Tuesday and then we have two teacher days to get reports done. On Good Friday I will follow Emma's route to Sri Lanka and then the next day we fly to the Maldives for a week with Latha too. From the airport in Male,(The capital of the Maldives) we go by boat to ASDU island, where Emma and I stayed when we were there almost exactly ten years ago.
The last few weeks have been a blur of school all week and then the kids activities all day Saturday. We have had several friends sleep over with the kids which they have really enjoyed. We had Kobe stay while his parents were at a family wedding in Brisbane and then many of the Nunn's who were up for the wedding all came over on Sunday for a BBQ brunch. The next weekend was Ellie's best friend Laura from school. We all watched E.T. which the kids thought was a bit scary, but really enjoyed. It was the first time the kids have seen it and we can report it is still a classic for a new generation. The rain on the weekends finally let up and Alex was able to have some good T-Ball sessions the last few Friday nights. Last Saturday they had a big BBQ and passed out awards to all the kids which Alex was very excited about. This past Friday was their last Aussie Rules session after school and Alex now wants to sign up for a club where they compete against other clubs. He also complained, for the first time, that he never gets to watch Aussie rules because I am always watching American football. (He was just upset that he had not won one of the two footballs they were raffling off. The seasons don't match up and we can watch all the Aussie Rules he wants!) Before Emma and the kids left today the kids had their swim lesson at 0700. Then we all went to Ellie's last dance lessons of the term. On the last day of term the parents are allowed to watch. (You quickly realize why the teacher doesn't let parents usually watch. The girls spent a lot of time waving, smiling, showing off and running over for a hug!) It was lots of fun to watch Ellie. She concentrates so hard when she is dancing. I am not sure how she does three 45 minute lessons after her swim lesson in the morning. She does ballet, then next door for modern jazz, and then back again to the main studio for tap. We then headed straight for the airport where we all had lunch before it was time for them to board their Singapore Airlines flight.
As usual, the kids are really excited to go flying again and to see Latha again after almost three years. That leaves me at home on a Saturday night to tidy up the house and catch up on my recorded NCAA basketball games. (There is a pool going in the staff room at school and I have Duke to go all the way.) Tomorrow will be more chores around the house and lots of marking.
