Haydee starts school

Ok So Haydee is 5 years and started school full time. She was attending Darlington Kindergarted last year and for location reason we decided to send her to Greenmount Primary School which is literally a 3 minute walk from home. She wasn't at all keen on the prospect of leaving Mum at home by herself and going to a new school with new everything. So in the week leading up to school I decided to take Haydee to her new school and orientate her around the school while there were no children around. Well, we found her new classroom, and lucky for us we were able to meet her new teacher. Whose name was Heidi, but her parents are German and cll her Haydee. Well, that just sealed the deal. She won Haydee over and answered our prayers. It has been a nice lil luxury walking her to school each day and watching her fit in very quickly. I think we were more anxious than her on her first day. Pick up time was 12.30pm...Hayden was there at 12pm. Gotta love an eager father huh? She continues to thrive and loves going to school. In fact after the second day she was saying goodbye and then she was off with her friends. Lucky us!!. I went to her first assembly today and unbeknown to her or I she recieved an award for great Art and Painting. Boy was she chuffed. So was I the proud parent!!! Anyway...thats our lil piece of news...

BEEN WAY SLACK...

ITS BEEN SOOO LONG, THAT WE JUST HAVEN'T HAD TIME TO BLOG ANYTHING.
WILL MAKE A CONCERTED EFFORT THIS MONTH...

The Airport Scene.

Throughout the whole visit...there was one person missing from this reunion. That was Alister, Haydens father and the Eldest of the Armitage family. He was driving a load back from the East Coast and unfortunately was going snail pace most of the way. Right up to the airport we were hoping that they would finally catch him and get to meet him for the first time. About 15 mins before boarding we had actually written him off and started our goodbyes and who should walk in at the 11th hour, but Big Brother. What a happy time for them and the family. Have you seen that movie Love Actually and at the very start you see happiness when people meet up with each other...Well this was one of those moments. It was sad to see the Armitages go, they had actually brought some life to the family here in Perth. They were like a breath of fresh air and we will really miss that. Just looking at the photos...theres alot of us aren't there....these are Good Times, with many more to come.

Armiguys downunder Pt 6

The ten pin bowling gang

What is it with Armitage blood running in the same room, that when theres a game to be won all males are on deck and ready to kick some candy butt. Competition was high and so were blood pressures and decibels. We were fortunate enough to have the last 3 lanes to ourselves, but that didn't stop the noise or the kids from running a muck. Had a great time ten pin bowling. We won't say who won cause thats just boasting...oh Hayden, it was you...hahaha, but people pulled a fair few strikes outta nowhere that most of our numbers were in the hundreds. Maybe we should have a ten pin bowling tourney at reunion. Now that would be interesting.

So here are some random shots for the blog...Enjoy.

Now this was funny, Uncle clint being the annoying younger brother bowled his ball down the same lane as Uncle Dave totally stuffing up his shot. All in the name of fun huh.

Armiguys downunder Pt 5

PERTH TEMPLE VISIT

A family holiday wouldn't be complete if we all didn't go to the temple together. This was a nice experience and we all thoroughly enjoyed the session.

FAMILY HOME EVENING AT THE THOMSONS.

Now this was crazy and fun. Imagine all the Armitages and Thomsons together in one room, Playing a game...boys vs girls and the competitive streak is so high that the noise level could be heard about 400m away. If you weren't deaf you are now. CKZ did this game where everyone had to write 5 names of famous people on seperate pieces of paper, put them in a bowl and the idea was that we had to get our team mates to guess who the names were without saying their names. Had to try and get through as many names as you could in 30 secs. So could you imagine Hayden and Steve....yeh crazy.

Ady and Maya did a lil number with Mac...I think they sang My Eternal Family

And Mackenzie didn't shy away from the spotlight when it was his turn to sing the Ben 10 song. You are sooo cute Mac...love you.

Clint and Hayden have this magnetic force between them. they were forever mocking and joking with each other. Hey Uncle Clint, you don't need the flash...the glare coming off haydens head should be light enough...hahaha

Armiguys downunder Pt 4

PERTH CITY

So today the family introduced CKZ to the sites of Perth City, starting off at Kings Park. This is Perths most visited site seeing venue and is a place that overlooks the city, the Swan River and strips going south. Was an overcast day...which is the best walking weather.

Now everyone has heard of Jacobs ladder, and its not for the faint hearted. If your scared of heights hold on tight to the rails. Its just a flight of stairs thats going up the side of a hill, but the flight goes on and on. Great for exercising and working out. And great for bringing on labour if your pregnant and overdue... up n down 3 times...thanks Hayden.

Perth City didn't disappoint and it was a great time for photo ops and for the family to hang out.

Clint and Kate outside of London Court. Now London court looks like a scene from harry potter and kinda reminds you of Daegon Alley. It is very English with its tudor style shops etc. We spent a bit of time here with the Canterbury Shop located here and other souvenirs shops.That was the whole reason for coming to the city. Cheap souvenirs.

Awwwww aren't they just sooo cute.

Nice Posing Kate....

Don't you just love this shot. Speechless is all you could say.

Now we came into the city a couple of times, one to do some souvenir shopping the other was to pick up Aunty kates diamond ring that Uncle clint brought her, apparently at his moment of weakness. So she was just anxious to see this ring. It was beautiful and a great score on the price. So there are some photos when we took them on another occassion and also with the family.

The group together on the QV1 sculpture. Don't ask me what it is...its just a big red twisted hunk of metal in the front of a building. Bit of an eye sore really.

Now, it usually takes Haydee a lil while to warm up to people she hasn't met before. But somehow, Uncle Clint has this uncanny affect on the kids...in fact on all of them. They all just loved jumping and wrestling with him and loved his shoulder rides. Not a day went by that he had someones kid on his shoulders and using their feet as a machine gun. Today was Haydee's turn. I think he's missing his police issue gun.

There was this Japanese Guy playing the Didgereedo on Hay Street and he was surprisingly pretty good.

You know how we went down Jacobs ladder. well when one goes down, you must come up. And this is the steep hill that goes up what seems like forever. Some still had the energy to run the rest of the way (you are called freaky people) Oh Deborah and Bailey thats you...hahaha

Perth is not without its quirks. have you ever seen a motorbike with a towball on the back. StrangeI know.

Armiguys downunder pt 2

Girls Craft Day

We got rid of the boys...which was probably a relief for them and they went of to chop wood with Uncle Dave... So they took off early in the morning like 6.45am early. And as for the ladies...well we were in crafting heaven. Kate has this vinyl machine that prints out all these vinyl letterings. So they went and brought some wood and we started making our boards.

The big decision for most was what colour they were gonna paint their boards.

Some did black, others used crackle medium...and lovely Sarah, did stripes. She was their for ages lining the masking tape up and measuring it. it was a long process. But she got through it and prevailed.

Pippa provided us with the necessary nutritional goodness that we all need when crafting, CHOCOLATE from the factory...yummo!! Thanks Pip.

Kate showing us how to lay the vinyl. We each got our names and the year we were established.

So these were some of the finished products. They were all different and all unique and we just loved them. I loved the fact that it was just so easy to do and something we could finish in time. It was sooo much fun and I think it was the first time we had all gotten together as girls and done something together for ourselves...So thanks kate for that.

So where were the boys...almost 7 hours later. Well, according to Hayden, they did go wood chopping, but then afterwards they thought it would be fun to take Uncle Clint 4WDriving. You should've seen the cars afterward...They were filthy. But hey, they enjoyed their cakes and sandwiches at the cafe in Mundaring...Apparently they had a great time.

THE ARMIGUYS HIT PERTH

Welcome Downunder to the Armiguys...this has been a long awaited event...thats because we ahve heard about the elusive Clint Armitage, but have never met the guy. So we finally got the meet him, Aunty Kate (the family Author) and their eldest son Zach... in the Flesh!!! They arrived in from LA the day after we got home. So seeing and meeting them felt to us like we were still on holiday. They stayed with Aunty Di and from then on their house was just inundated with family from the time we picked them up from the airport to the time they left....absolute troopers.

So we started their perth experience by going Supagolfing. Bigger golf clubs and tennis size golfballs. This was crazy...Could you imagine the chaos...balls flying here in there and kids just running around randomly....it was fun and hazardous...It was like speed golf happy gilmore style.

Somehow these photos just make it look like an orderly affair. But it wasn't...hahaha

This was the alternative to golfing.

Looking good ladies!!! Catch some sun while its not raining.

From here we went to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. A nice place to go and gorge yourself with free chocolate and hypo kids. Somehow... At one stage we couldn't find the boys...and where were they, out the back playing cricket on a kids size cricket set. Their fun turned from cricket, to frisbee throwing(that died quickly) to footy, rugby and then to wrestling!!! Sorry no photos left camera in car...but funny to behold.

Now Uncle Clint was just hanging out for fish n chips and where else but Armies for lunch. This was originally owned and operated by Uncle Dave and Ese...but they sold it. Poor old man didn't know what hit him when we all arrived. So this was a photo of the boys striking a pose for me.

Can't remember what happened later...all I could remember was Hayden and Steve's noise, the kids running a muck, and everybody just having a great time.

Home Sweet Home and Happy Birthday!!!

This felt a lil weird, because we moved into our home 3 days before we left to go on holiday, so we still felt a lil out of sorts. But that still didn't stop us from settling in. Mind you, we were still in holiday mode and we arrived back in Australia the 13th July. And guess what!! it was our birthday on the 14th. Mine and Aunty Ritas...yay...we share the same birthday only she's waaaay older than me. So Hayden shouted me to a 1 1/2 hour massage at the local shopping mall as a birthday pressie. Heaven...is all I can say. Best present from the best husband. Not only that....THE ARMITAGES...arrived from America tonight. Now that is another post.But a fun day and many more fun packed days while still in holiday mode.