Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

This year's school production was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Alexander was so excited when the auditions were approaching and only wanted to go for the role of Charlie. We tried to get him to audition for other parts, but he was adamant that he only wanted to play Charlie. We were worried that if he missed out, he would be disappointed about not being in the production at all. He was so confident that he would get the role, and sure enough he did. Rehearsals were every Tuesday afternoon straight after school until 5pm, and a few Sunday's as well.


The roles were cast perfectly by Miss Lauritzen and Miss Beves, and it was a terrific performance from all the kids.

Miss Lauritzen made all the kids in the cast "Wonka" Bars!
Alexander is now ready for next year's production..and wants to know what it is so he can start working on his auditions...let's have a Summer break first!

A new neighbor

Cameron and Bradley found a new 'neighbour' in our garden! With all of the tropical style rainstorms we have had, this little fella had taken up refuge in the garden.


The boys were fascinated. Cameron adapted one of the butterfly nets (removed the net from the handle) and managed to catch him. They then placed him in the 'insect viewer with a mini-habitat, and observed him for a while. After a while, the frog was released...and sadly we haven't seen him since!

Theatre Club

Every Saturday morning, we have breakfast and drive to Kreuzberg. Alexander has Theatre Club with some of his friends. It was a small group this semester (4 of them), so they managed to get a lot of time to work on their own scripts,as well as various theatre games. They did a great production this semester, and it is amazing to see how Alexander, Emily and Isaiah (The 3 Musketeers) have grown up since their first stage production of joke telling in the School Talent Quest 4 years ago.



While Alexander is at Theatre Club, Cameron gets to play in the playground for awhile, before we head into the coffee shop for a coffee and a cookie!

Frog hunting in the Gruenewald

Whilst Alexander was attending rehearsals for his upcoming "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" performance, Phil and Cameron headed off in to the Gruenewald to 'hunt frogs'.

Down behind the Sandy hill in the forest is a lake/swamp. With two butterfly nets, Cameron and Phil explored every inch of the shores.

They captured a small frog, which was observed, photographed and released. They also saw big frogs, toads, fish, lots of butterflies and dragonflies, waterbirds (with young) and a grass snake!


It was a great few hours. As we were riding home, Cameron had a flat tyre. It was no ordinary puncture, but a 3cm split in the weld on the tube. Phil pushed both bikes home (about 5km) at double pace - so he was home in time to go and get Alexander from his rehearsals!

A summer un-birthday party

Due to timing and indecision, Alexander's birthday party was significantly delayed...but when we had it, it was a summer 'un-birthday' garden party, and was worth the wait!

About 2 hours before the party was suppose to begin it began to rain, so we cleared the cellar incase we needed to herd the kids in there. Thankfully about 1/2 hour beforehand, the rain stopped and the sun came out...the grass was dry enough for the party to be held in the garden, with a few picnic blankets laid out.

We had 10 kids in the garden, each with their own canvas and copious amounts of paint, they spent the afternoon painting, running around the garden, or hopping into all of the party food.

The kids had such a great time, and for Phil and Nicole it was easy to run. By the end of the afternoon all the kids had a 'masterpiece' to take home. Even our little neighbor joined in (look in the front row). She had a wonderful time - mostly getting paint on her hands and her clothes (the nice white long sleeve tshirt she was wearing went stright in the bin after the party..after a lot of blue paint decorated it), and a little on the canvas.

With Alexander having his birthday in winter, such 'outside' party options are not possible. A great day.

Buga Park

We took the kids to Buga Park with Sonia, Alan and BJ. We had forgotten their bathers, but they just stripped down to their undies and off they went. The raft provides endless fun for all the kids!

These fish sculpture water fountains provide lots of water for your sand sculptures!