Toby's first day of Pre-Kindy

Dear Matthew, Toby and Josie,

I may have recently written to you about Toby starting daycare a few months back. While you didn't mind attending daycare Tobes, I didn't feel like it was extending you in any way given you were the oldest kid there and often you would just be playing in the sandpit for most of the day rather than having real early childhood education. So over the summer I looked into different options and found the most beautiful pre-kindy nearby. After attending the classrooms and chatting with the teachers I enrolled you on the spot and you started attending a few weeks ago. There are only between 8 and 10 kids in your class, your teacher is the most energetic, happy person on this earth and you are absolutely THRIVING. You keep asking me to go back and if we could afford for you to attend everyday like you want to, we would! 

The other day when I went to pick you up your teachers said you had dumped out all the 'hard' puzzles that they had been keeping aside for the kids who have been attending a while (you can commence in the year you turn three and continue on until you need to attend pre-primary), then you mixed them and quickly put them all back together perfectly. This doesn't surprise me in the slightest Tobes, given you've been incredibly switched on and determined to figure things out since you were a baby. However another day I went to pick you up and apparently you'd been gently disciplined for singing 'poo poo poo' over and over until the other kids started doing the same, so there's still plenty of learning to be had :)

Anyway, I'm so happy you're settled in the most beautiful community Tobes. Matt, I wish we'd known about the place so that you could have attended when you were little but we'll make sure Josie also attends as soon as she gets the chance. 

Love you all, 

Mum xxx

 

Holiday to Mandurah

 Dear Matthew, Toby and Josie,

One of our New Year's resolutions was to take you kids on more holidays, however given Josie doesn't love the car just yet, we knew it had to be somewhere close, so we decided to book a short stay in Mandurah. This meant Josie, Toby and I could take the train down to Mandurah station and meet you Matt, and daddy, with the car. It worked well, except unfortunately it was a windy day and your hat fell on the tracks Tobes! Amazingly a kind man jumped down to grab it for you. We hopped in the car at the other end and drove the five minutes to our hotel (we may have gotten a little lost along the way). Given it was still peak travel time, we struggled a little to check in as there wasn't much parking nearby but eventually parked under our apartment hotel and made our way up to the apartment. As you can see below, it was beautiful with a great view over the water (scroll from the bottom up again). Once we'd checked in we headed down along the water to the pirate ship that we'd booked. Boys you had a little play on the playground before boarding the pirate ship for a sail around the waterways. We had a very animated pirate leading our ship with a lot of 'arrrrr's' and cheeky comments. We had a perfect spot at the front of the ship and you both got to steer the ship many times. Unfortunately the heat was scorching so Josie you spent most of the trip hidden under a light blanket! It was a fun way to start our holiday. 

That night your nanna and Darryl met us back at the apartment for fish and chips as they had been staying at Darry's holiday house nearby. As we had been sick at Christmas they hadn't seen you yet so they gave you your Christmas presents and you were spoilt again! It was lovely to watch the sun set over the bridge and enjoy the view over the balcony.

The next day your dad took you boys to Peel Zoo for the day while Josie and I chilled in the apartment as the heat was still pretty intense. You boys loved feeding all the animals and walking around. In the afternoon you had a little swim at the man-made beach in front of our apartments and built sandcastles in the sand. For dinner we had a barbeque and enjoyed our lovely balcony again as a family.

The next day we headed our on a dolphin cruise around the canals. It was on the most beautiful ferry (so very well protected from the sun!) and was so relaxing, even meditative to just cruise around the waters, checking out the mansions on the canals and learning a bit of local history. We even saw a very low flying helicopter spraying for mozzies! At the end of the cruise we did spot a mother dolphin and a baby with her! They were playing in the water and so cute. It reminded me of my childhood weekends spent at my aunty's house in Yunderup, where dolphins would come to the front of our boat, even our kayak at one point! My cousins and I could be heard screaming blue murder up and down the river because we thought they were sharks!

After the cruise we went to the old carnival. As a kid I had driven past this carnival on hundreds of occasions but never gone in, so this was a treat for me too! You boys got to ride some rides and play some games, and Matt you went on the trampoline and managed to do some cool flips!

That evening we had another swim at the beach and had dinner at the restaurant below the apartment. It was a lovely way to finish the holiday. The next morning we headed home. 

Love you all, 

Mum xxx