Show Time!

April at school brings Earth Week with it. This year grade 2 was going to do their show for Earth Week and it featured all the students in Irini's class. Irini came home delighted about her participation (we think she's starting to get the performance bug) and started working on her lines. But then, after a short while, she came in even happier!  She was going to have a larger role... being on the transition team!  

The transition team is the group of students (one per class) that does the introductions, the in-between conversations and the like. Irini delved into her lines even more, especially since the very first line of the show said "Mr. Myers wants to know is ISKL is being green". She worked on her lines and on her movements/choreography. She was happy as can be. 

The night before the show she came home and told us that her teacher, Mr. Shaw, had noted how happy he was with her enthusiasm. The was asked to be a role model for the rest of the group by sharing the enthusiasm she had. 

By the next day the audience filled with parents - and a contingent of her family members - including the entire brownie clan. Irini got up there and wowed us all with her excitement and moves. She really was a star and shared the stage very well with the other students. We were so proud of our little (well, no longer so little) girl!  She was impressive in every way!  When the show ended we all ran up for the requisite hugs and kisses. Her smile was as broad as the sun that day. We all took pictures and shared in the wonder of the moment. Irini, basking in the limelight for a bit, seemed a little brighter knowing she had done so well. Bravo Irinoula!

Little Explorer

Our little cutie is slowly turning into a star. Daddy had a chance to go with her class to the Lake Gardens, in downtown Kuala Lumpur, to visit the gardens and sketch what the children saw.  Much of the time was spent following leads that different kids saw... a spider web here, a duck swimming over there, perhaps a bird flying low over there. Daddy was able to help out with several educational stops to talk about bee colonies, squirrels, different types of plants and.... climbing trees!  

When the stop at the tree came up Amalia was thrilled. She led the charge to the tree and confidently started to climb up. Other kids did the same while others still took their time. We were even told that some kids were actually climbing a tree for the very first time. It was a wonderful half hour or so, with the kids climbing up and coming down, all under the supervision of a few parents who were guiding their children. 

When Amalia and her gang weren't climbing trees, though, they were drawing things. Amalia must have spent a good portion of the day drawing all sorts of things... from flowers to birds to a whole lot of insects, the swans and ibis in the pond, the elephant ears growing next to the small late, the lilly pads... she was drawing away!  

When the visit was done, lunch was eaten and the playground appropriately also attecked by the hoards of children, and a few group shots were taken, Amalia had amassed four A3 sized pages of drawings and, with every passing moment, kept asking Ms Allison (her teacher), "are we going to have enough time for more discoveries?". What can we say?  Our girl is pretty awesome! 

Marsupials Galore

But no family trip to Australia would be complete without the marsupial extravaganza of kangaroos, wallabys, wombats and koalas. The trip included a couple visits to parks - the Perth Zoo and the Caversham Wildlife Park - both of which were lovely. But the feeding of the kangaroos, cut short only due to the day ending and the closure of Caversham, what what stole the show. TTMouz decided that kangaroos were, from now onward, his favorite animals. Irini and Amalia made no such claims, but from their complete and total love for the animals they were feeding one would be hard pressed to come up with an animal they like better. 

Then there were the wild kangaroos. Lucky for us were would often travel as dusk found its way over the rural areas where we were. That time, it turns out, is the time kangaroos like to come out of their shadows - where the heat of the sun is minimized - to find food and forage a bit. We ddn't really see knagaroos until the second day at Margaret River (bout the middle of the tirp) but once we spotted them there was no stopping us. All in all we reckon (you like that word choice there?) we saw close to 150 wild kangaroos, on top of close to 50 or so in the parks. 

Oh, and we also saw three wild emus (which didn't inspire our girls as much as perhaps they should have). For the record, Amalia still claims the Australian sugar glider as her favorite animal.