What are you reading?

I am reading 'Swallows and Amazons' by Arthur Ransome - makes one want to be 10 again

- and living in the Lake District!! 

It happens to contain one of my favourite quotes too. When the children ask their absent navy commander Father if they might sail their boat and camp on a deserted island further down the lake he replies by telegram thus:

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN

Priceless!

Have also just finished 'Four Seasons in Rome' by Anthony Doerr. 

On the cover it says 'On twins, insomnia, and the biggest funeral in the history of the world'. 

A really good read that has certainly wet my appetite for my trip!

This afternoon we all went for a swim, 

tonight we are going to watch 'The King's Speech', 

tomorrow afternoon a hit of tennis ... 

and then on Monday it all begins again!!!! 

Hooray, school lunches!!!!

Hope you are all having a happy weekend!

xo Big Sister

Big Sister's musings

Bloom where you are planted... or in this case, just happen to pop up!!!

Two weeks of school holidays ahead of us ... hooray!

Mr Bookworm took me to a coffee shop for a Birthday afternoon tea! 

What a lucky Mum I am  :) 

We shared a chocolate brownie with walnuts! 

xo Big Sister

1 more sleep...

Tomorrow night the kids and I jump on the overnight train to go and visit Sister-in-between for a few days in the Big City. We are very excited!

We're looking forward to:

chatting over cups of tea

nerf fights

an amusement park

eating at McDonalds

playing with the cousins

chocolate

crochet

laughing

playing games

reading magazines

swimming

shopping

sleeping on the train (and hopefully waking up in time to disembark!)

just being together

Only 1 more sleep...and those darn suitcases to pack!

Little Sister

Yarning at Little Sister's

Coughs and colds have meant a couple of quiet days at home. The kids have been bitten by the 'yarn' bug - here's a look at what they have been creating...

Mr Energy has been working furiously on some french knitting. He toyed with the idea of trying to beat the world record for the longest piece of french knitting, but when he discovered that the record was 11km he settled for making one longer than his big brother's!

Mr Sport has been learning to knit. Unfortunately his mother is not as good as fixing mistakes as her mother is! He's been very persistent and has enjoyed knitting in front of the footy this afternoon.

Miss Creative is working on this lovely rainbow piece of knitting. It's going to be a bag for her drawing pencils.

I've been dabbling in dishcloths and little flowers and made my first ball of t-shirt yarn too (terrible photo!). I scoured the local markets for a large crochet hook to use with it but came away disappointed. Train tickets are booked to take the kids to visit Sister-in-between in a couple of weeks and I am dreaming of hook and yarn shopping - and so are the kids!

Sweet packages

The local people here are unfailingly hospitable and generous. Miss Creative and I popped into the local tailor this morning to pick up some tops we'd had made for her, and also came home with these little packages.

They are made from sticky rice, flavoured with banana and a kind of bean, and steamed in their banana leaf wrapping. Cute, sweet and tasty! They're disappearing fast.

Today is a festival where the local people honour the dead. They make these wrapped rice treats and visit the local temples and sites of their ancestors' remains. Every family seems to have their own special recipe for making these treats and the tailor was delighted to share some with us.

Little Sister

Little Brother on Safari

Little Bro has been on safari.... Here's a few photos to savor.

Every day started before sunrise

Somalisa means place of Elephant....Every day the elephants came to the plunge pool at the lodge to grab a cold drink and to say hello to the guests.

We saw LOTS of elephants.

Even baby elephants taking their first plunge....

The occasional Zebra

and lots of stunning scenery...

This is Shumba, King of the Jungle. We spotted a pride of 20 lions about 500 metres from our camp. 

In between game drives we rested in our luxury tents

Or did some reading in the library...

and finally, for middle sister, some toe-nail painting... Who said elephants didn't like red toe nails?? Special thanks to my red toe-nail modeling, photographing friend...

New office, new couch and new opportunities!

 A new office and a new couch to help celebrate the 1st anniversary of my new job! You're welcome to drop in for a chat on the couch and a cafe latte!

Little bro.