Christmas is coming

Time to put up the Christmas Tree. I know it's a bit early, but since we are leaving on our holiday on the 15th, we really don't have long to admire it. We also had a little help from our friends - Alison and Peter.

My Young Women

Preparing for Christmas, I taught the Young Women how to make Gingerbread houses. The girls had lots of fun making them, especially the decorating part. However they all plan to make another one before Christmas because, sadly, the current ones didn't quite make it (way too tempting they said).

Halloween!!!

Here's a couple of pictures of Gus and Tilly dressed up for Halloween this year. Gus went for the pirate look and Tilly is "Jasmin" from Aladdin (in case you couldn't tell). We had a big Halloween party of about 80 kids - lots of fun activities and of course trick-a-treating.

Relaxing

Another part of our holiday included relaxing by our pool followed by a spa bath. Declan added a little humor to this spa. Of course the kids loved it!!

Idul Fitri Holidays

During our recent Idul Fitri Holiday (end of Muslim fasting) we took a day trip to one of Indonesia's active volcanoes - Krakatoa. We went with some friends from church - the Moore Family. It was a 3 hour drive, followed by a 2 hour boat trip. The boat trip was quite horrific with at least 2 metre swells and a number of our party becoming quite sick. However we did actually make it - alive!! - to the island. Climbing this volcanoe was like walking up steep sand dunes for one hour. It was quite difficult in the fine volcanic sand. Of course it was black and we were very black ourselves by the end of the hike. We all made it to the first summit and Tilly and I stayed here. Gus just had to get to the top and so lucky Declan opted to go with him. They climbed a very steep and narrow goat like track to the top. Declan said that there was steam coming out of the top and in some parts you literally couldn't go to because it was too hot to stand there. Krakatoa is active, it grows at a rate of 1 metre per year and recent earthquakes opened up large cracks through the mountain. Needless to say Declan and Gus stayed a mere couple of minutes at the top and quickly made their way back down. Going down the volcano was much easier and we ran straight into the ocean to cool off.

Finally!!

Yippeeeeee!! I can't believe I have finally put together the Page family blog. I am so excited about this. Thanks to Lisa, Toni and Simone!!! Whose sites are just fantastic. So it may take a while to be a "good looker" but hey, just to make a start is something.