Sunday, May 28, 2006

Anna's School Photos - Year 1

This is Anna's school photo for Year 1 (first grade). Notice she's proudly wearing her Student Council pin!

A few weeks ago, Danny was ill, so I had to help her get ready for school and get her there. Her and Dad have their routine down, and I'm pretty much out of that loop. I was trying to get everything going that morning and Anna said to me, "Dad doesn't do things all mixed up. He does it in the proper order." Then she started to recite what the proper order was, but I had to interrupt her to say, "Let's just do the best we can. We're running late." Her response? "Dad and I never run late!"

This is Anna's class. She loves all her friends and teachers. They're all so cute, aren't they?

(Like any of the photos here, you can click on it to see a larger view.)

Chad on wheels!

Chad passed his driving test with a perfect score and was very excited to get his own car! It's a 1990 Ford Falcon. It's amazing that a 1990 is considered an *old* car. Where has the time gone?

By the way, you may notice he has dyed his hair black now. He would probably go for a bolder color if his school allowed it!

He's really on the go now! He gets up at 6:00 am to go to the gym, then to school, then to work most evenings, and to boxing class two evenings a week. When he gets home, he usually has homework and spends some time working on his music. Whew! (BTW, he works at Subway and Baskin & Robbins. They're owned by the same people, so he works at both places.)

He's really proud of his car and independence, and we're happy for him.

Western Australia - Perth Zoo

We had to go to the Perth zoo while we were in the neighborhood. It's a big, nice zoo that we highly recommend. They have all the usual animals that everyone has seen, so I'm only posting a few photos.

They have a very nice environment set up for the fairy penguins.

Aw, aren't they cute?

Anna's favorite animals are tigers, so we had to get this photo! (I'm thinking I should go into business creating these zoo photos. I could do a much better job, ha!)

This was the highlight of our visit to the zoo. We had been watching this mum and baby orangatan swinging around, way up high on the equipment they have in their area. Then the mum decided to bring the baby down right in front of us!

"Mum, that carrot sure looks tasty. Could I have a bite?"

"No, sorry. I don't think you're ready to handle this big carrot. I better eat it myself."

"OK, I'll just chew on this piece of straw." We were really glad we got such a good view of these two!

Western Australia - Adventure World

Adventure World is a little amusement park. This ride was real high and went all around the park. It has to be pedaled! Chad was a good sport to take Anna for a ride. She didn't help peddle much!

Here's a view from a castle overlooking the park. The kids rode on a lot of rides, but I didn't get very good photos of that. Oh well.

Water toys are always fun. Kids should never go anyplace in Australia without their bathers (swim suit)!

Yikes. Look at this big dragon! This was a nice pool for playing, not too deep with lots of slides and things to climb on.

Western Australia - Dolphin Watch

The old man and the sea! Looks like a natural, doesn't he?

Heading out for the dolphin watch. We were hoping to see some wild dolphins (not captive).

We all enjoyed the boat ride.

Ooh, look! There's one!

There's a mum and baby. Wait! Let me get a better photo!

There they go on the other side of the boat. I still can't get a good shot. Slow down!

This is fun!

There goes a couple more. I kept trying to catch a photo of them with their heads out of the water, but they wouldn't cooperate. It was cool to see them anyhow.

Hey, there's our condo! The houses on either side are huge, single family homes. Wouldn't it be nice to live in one of those?

Western Australia - Marapana Wildlife World

We can't go on a holiday without visiting at least one wildlife park. This was a small family-operated place that was really nice.

Everyone loves the koalas. This is their normal snoozing position. They always look like they're about to fall out of the trees.

Check out this laid-back guy! We've seen lots of koalas over the years, but we've never seen one laying in this position before.

"What'cha lookin' at? Can't a guy relax without people staring and pointing? Jeez!"

The animal handler lets Anna pet a koala. Notice the two thumbs (on the koala, not the employee)?

Of course, there are always plenty of roos to feed.

Isn't it cute the way they hold the human's hand? I've never seen one bite the hand that feeds it - they just hold on so you won't take it away until they're done.

OK, so this is a basic deer, not that exotic. Anna loves feeding them, though.

Chad thought the llamas were funny.

"Gangsta Geese", as Chad called them. They followed us around hoping to get fed.

A pretty little parrot minding his own business.


There were two groups of dingos. They can't put too many in one enclosure or they will fight. This is the top dog in his group.

There is a hole in the ground between these two. It's a dingo den and is fairly deep and wide. At one point, there were three dingos in there, apparently fitting comfortably. We expected to see/hear a big tussle when the 3rd one went in, but it never happened.

Chad has always loved dogs of every kind and they seem to "take" to him, too. He was glad the animal handler brought one of the dingos out for a visit.

Anna enjoyed petting the dingo, too. This one is the top dog and when he left the cage, the other two immediately got into a fight. Yikes!

"Sure, boy, you can taste my soda." I was afraid Chad might find this little wildlife park boring, but he enjoyed it. It was a nice day for the whole family.

Western Australia - Rockingham

We had a 2-week holiday in Western Australia in March-April, which was fantastic! We stayed in this condo in Rockingham, which is about 1 hour south of Perth. Lovely, eh?

We love these beveled windows across the front. We thoroughly enjoyed this view. It's a bit different from home where the view is our fence and the neighbors' roof!

This is the scene looking off our balcony. Notice the lovely little play area and gazebo. It was very peaceful there and never too crowded.

A beautiful place to take a stroll with the kids and dogs. I wish we could have taken Samson!

Like a lot of kids, Anna loves playing on the stairs. Easy entertainment!

Of course, we have to take the laptop wherever we go.

Chad is saying to me, "What?! Haven't you ever seen a guy using a microwave before? Do we really need a photo of this?" I think it's a good picture of him, though. So there you go.

A diverse area in Rockingham called Shoal Water Marine Park.


Interesting coast line here...


FYI, this is the INDIAN Ocean (for those who may not have pieced that together)!


Of course, they have all the necessities in Rockingham, including McDonald's. Anna is pretty low maintenance. She's quite happy with McDonald's Happy Meal toys!


Penguin Island. You can walk out to it or take a ferry. The penguins that live there are the little fairy penguins, about 1 foot tall. Those are sea gulls in this photo, though! (Remember the "mine mine" birds from Finding Nemo?)


"Natchel born" beach bum!