Friday, June 26, 2009

Schools Out....

Well school is out... we have reached the end of the second term of the year. So we are halfway thru the year and have a three week break before the third term begins. At the end of this term you receive a report card for each student. It is age appropriate and is actually very thorough, looking at not only whether they can count, know their colors, etc but how well they play with others and how they deal with different situations. I am actually very impressed. Then again at the end of the year they add on to that report for additional things.

I believe I have talked about the kids art work in anther post at the beginning of the year... but here it is very important. They put a high value on art work and outside play. They feel it is essential in all other aspects of their academic life.

I have attached some photos of the boys classrooms and some of their masterpieces. Enjoy.....


Aiden's Classroom .. He has about 20 kids in his class.



Evan's classroom.. He has about 10 kids in his class.




Aiden's Artwork...





Here is some of Evan's art work.





Now that we are off on break, we are going to have some visitors and have a great time! Grammy and Poppy Duncan will be in the air shortly to visit us for a couple of weeks!!! YEAH!! Look for posts of all our great adventures!

Rain, Rain go away.....

Well I don't complain much about the weather here but it has rained over 24 hours. And not just a sprinkle.. a steady rain and at times a down pour. We have also had gale force winds knocking down tree limbs, etc. That is winter in PE. Rainy, windy and chilly. It is around the 40's but with the rain and the wind chill seems colder. All day yesterday you could here little spits of hail come down on the windows, but last night a big gush of hail came down all at once and left pea sized hail all over. So here is the photo of the closest thing we will get to snow here..

Hope you all are having a good summer!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Blanco Guest Farm

A friend of Scott's from work recommended this place to us and asked if we would like to join them on the weekend of June 12th. They go every year and go as a group and have a great time. So of course we were in! We didn't know much about it other than it was a working farm, about 3 hours away and we could possibly get snow while we were there! It was great! It was very relaxing, kid friendly and fun. You stay in cottages around the main house. It is very rustic. There are lots of things to do... hiking, tennis, squash, there is a small golf course, swimming pool (although too cold to swim while we were there), horses rides, etc. We also took the kids bikes and lots of outdoor toys. Adults and Kids meals are separate. The kids have their own dining room and when they ring the bell for meals all the kids go running! I think I need to start ringing a bell at my house. All the food is homecooked and very yummy. With small kids you hire a nanny for the day. She takes them to their meals and watches them during your meals, in the afternon after lunch she take them on the tractor ride that goes out to a jungle gym and the kids play for about an hour, and then after dinner she puts them to bed and hangs out until we get back. There is a pub for the adults... you take your own drinks and there is storage for each cottage, so we would just head into the pub after dinner and have some drinks and fun while the kids were in bed and being watched! The best part was just being able to eat the meals with other adults and not be interupted! One day we took a hike around the mountain and saw some wildebeast, zebra, springbok, and babboons. It was a wonderful weekend! To any of my american friends here I would recommend going. It did get quite cold one day but no snow. All the kids did from morning til dark was play outside..tennis, cricket, golf, ride their bikes, etc,etc...No TV - wonderful! Here is the link to the website for more info on the place...www.blanco.co.za

Here is the farm from the main road coming in...




Here are some sites around the property...
This is our cottage

Here are some of the tennis courts and some of the grounds

Some of the mountain views

This is the main building with the dining room, pub, a lounge, etc

More mountain views

Checking out the cows... the kids can also milk the cows in the am.

Evan on the trampoline

Evan Golfing with daddy

Aiden's golf swing....

Here they are on the tractor with the nanny Liza.

Horse rides every morning after the kids breakfast...



Scott & I hiked around the mountain with some others one morning.....




Here are some of the wildlife we saw on our hike.. wildebeast, and zebra.. the springbok and baboons were too far away to get a good photo.


Some of the horses on the property.



Well it was a great weekend. We just might have to go back next year!!

Evan....

The biggest excitement we have had over the last couple of weeks is that Evan had his tonsils,and adenoids removed as well as tubes put in his ears! He did great and has recovered wonderfully. No more snoring at night and I can tell a difference in his hearing.. he still doesn't listen but at least I know he hears me!! :)

And I have to say that the medical care we have received here is great and very personable. I never feel rushed in and out of a doctors office and feel that they always listen and hear what you say.

look for more updates....