The Boys...

Our last trip to Perth was a quick one but Uncle Ra and Aunty Killarney met up with us at Scarborough beach for a play and the kids loooved it.

Wait up cuz.

 

What the heck Kaea, get off me.

Weeeeeeeee!

Mean ride there Kaea.

I'm loving it!



The long and winding road...

Erin was lucky to have a long weekend last week so we decided to take our first road trip to Perth.  Usually we catch the train but now that we have wheels we take every opportunity we get, (plus we just love cruising).

     

It's a 6 hour drive to Perth and the road was dead straight most of the way.  All you can see is a long straight road reaching to the end of the horizon and when you get to the horizon you see the same thing again..  Eddie and Josh were excited to catch up with their Perth crew, Aunty Killa, Kaea, Auggie Boogie and Uncle Kereti, (Uncle Ra was at work :(  Lucky for us (and Aunty Killarney) she was house sitting her brother Paddy's house while he and Sam were in New Zealand.  All the space in the world on our doorstep, plus a pool, tramp, bikes and a playground!  It was like Kiddie heaven.  Here's a few pics from our day with our whanau in Perth.

Eddie loves hanging with Aunty Killarney, especially when they do late night runs to Macca's. ;)

You wouldn't pick it from the serious face here but Kaea is one of the funniest kids I know, hands down.  He's an amazing little swimmer too, no fear at all.  Ra must be teaching him to dive for Kina's or something.

Can you pick it now?  Kaea entertaining Josh, (and me, I could barely hold my camera still).  You're so funny Kaea.

How gorgeous am I??  I come with bright blue eyes and squidgy hugs too.  This boy is just yummy!

Uncle Kereti and Eddie had some one on one time and she got spoiled as usual.  Her first time on the kids bungy jump, (the one I've never wanted to spend the money on..)  That's what uncles are for aye.  We also got to spend a little time driving around Uncle Kereti's hood in Clarkson, (the Far North of Perth) and saw his lovely home.  Whatta flash guy!

Uncle Paddy's cool bright yellow ute.  Way better than the swing.

The Whare crew in Perth. X

Happy Feet...

Before starting dance classes in Kal, I took Eden to sit in on a few classes so she could decide which style of dance she liked best.  She choose modern jazz which is a dance influenced by other dance styles such as acro, ballet, contemporary, lyrical and hip-hop.  So we  enrolled her, bought the outfit, the leather shoes and she was ready to go, except she had to wait a 'whole' week before her fist lesson.  Everyday after school for a week it was the same, "Is it dance class today?".  So eager!  The day finally arrived...

Little brother Josh wanted in on the action, he even gave up X-box with Uncle Terry after school to come and watch his big sister.  There are some very old buildings in Kal and the dance school is one of them.  It reminded me of the dance school I used to go to and watch my big sister Oriwa do ballet.  Very authentic!

Eddie sitting on the wooden bench outside the classroom putting on her jazz shoes.  After a while more girls arrive and start filling up the bench seat.  After a while Eden came over to me and whispered in my ear, "Mum, I've got butterflies in my tummy".  I comforted her by telling her that I get butterflies all the time when I do new things.  She smiled and took her spot back on the bench waiting for dance class to start.

Can you tell this girl is a Wharemate???  Eddie listens intently to the dance teacher giving instructions to the class.  Check out that intense sideways glance.    

Warming up...

Time to learn some moves Eddie!  I got them moves like Jagger, oooo oooh ooh oooh ooooo ooooh moves like Jagger.  I can't help but sing this song whenever I hear the word 'moves'...  Big bird in the front isn't the dance teacher she's just, very big!  At this point Joshua and I were politely asked to leave, as parents are not permitted to watch the dance classes.  "Just one more minute and then I'll leave, It's her first class", I told the dance teacher.  What a rebel..

 

 

My little Happy Feet.  

And happy she was when Erin picked her up from dance class and bought her home.  She said, "I"m never quitting dance class, ever!".

Little Surfer Boy..

 

Erin had a clinic down in Esperance this week and we all got to tag along for the ride which meant two days off school for the kids and a relaxing four day weekend for me.  The weather was miserable and cold the whole time we were there but we still managed to get out and enjoy what Esperance had to offer.

This is Lucky Bay on a miserable day.  It's a 60km drive from the township and you enter through the Le Grand National Park.  The sand here is incredible, like nothing I've ever seen or touched before.  It's so fine and powdery white.  The other awesome thing about Lucky Bay is that the Kangaroos from the National Park come down and hang out at the beach.  We were lucky enough to meet some of them!

 The Kangaroo Whisperer...

Hello baby joey. 

Australia's finest. :)

Eddie, Josh and Erin about carve up some waves.  The kids looked too cute in their wetsuits, not to mention all grown up!

Sussing it out.

Sooo much fun!

 

Born to Fly

Aunty Sof, working the, 'Í'm frezing' look.

The Jetty.  700m long wooden jetty in the background.  The last 200m of the Jetty has an artificial reef where people go diving and explore the diverse range of fish in the area.  This is where we met Sammy the resident Sea Lion.

He was very friendly and a bit cheeky too.  Sammy gets fed by tourists and locals every day so he's a bit of a fattie.

Eddie and Josh squeeled with delight as they ran along the Jetty chasing Sammy swim.  I thought they were going to scare the local fisherman away but they managed to make friends with one old man who warned Josh Sammy had teeth bigger than a dog when Josh thought it would be cool jump the Jetty and go hang with Sammy the Sea Lion on the sand.. 

Sammy's friend came along for a play too.

The next day we went prepared with some fish to feed Sammy.  We found him chilling out under the Jetty.  He must have been full from being fed all day because the fish we threw right under his nose was snapped up by loads of scabby seaguls.  It was nice seeing him again anyway, even if he wasted our fish.  There's something extra special about seeing animals in their own environment rather than in a cage at the zoo.  It was a real buzz. 

Sammy being super lazy.  Eat our fish!  please.

The Pink Lakes of Esperance.  The whole drive there the kids kept asking, ""Are we at the pink mud yet", "Are we at the pink pools yet".  When we got there they were bitterly disappointed.  "That's not Pink, dumb."  Hmmm, tough crowd!

Cool, look Josh a burnt out car.  Now the lakes are fun, who cares if it's not pink anyway.

  

This blog entry is taking up a bit more time than I intended to spend on it.  Love it though.  I'll leave you with my fav pics of the week...  My lil surfer boy.

And then there were six...

Yay, Uncle Terry and Aunty Sof arrived last night (Sunday night, hence the late blog entry).  The kids are so happy to have them stay with us for the year, especially Josh who now thinks he has a new X-box gaming partner, (Aunty Sof might have something to say about that...)  First day in Kal and straight into training for these two young bucks.  No mucking around here.

Josh thoughtfully set up uncle Terry's desk with his new Skylander toys and X-box game.  He came to me beforehand asking which side Uncle Terry was on, "left or right", I had no idea what he was up to but I chuckled when I saw his little set up.  Josh has a thing about decorating his bedside tables, even when we are on holiday.

THE SUPERPIT LOOKOUT

The top of the SuperPit in Kalgoorlie.  It is a whopping 3.5 kilometres long, 1.5 kilometres wide and 360 metres deep.  It was super  hot at the top of the lookout and apparently it's even hotter down in the hole hitting the 50 degree celcius mark.  Ouch.

Terry buzzing out that he will get to drive a Tonka Truck down this big hole.  Childhood dreams coming true...

My shaddow and me.

Happy Birthday to Papa Dave today 23 Jan 2012. 

Erin, Leonie, Eddie and Josh x