Whew! The summer is over and already it feels like a distant memory. Still, we had a ball and really enjoyed everything that our new home had to offer. Gracie learnt to swim and is now confident to swim front crawl, breaststroke and is just beginning the backstroke. You may find this hard to believe but she also has some dive sticks and she enjoys going down to the bottom of the pool to collect them. She had 4 weeks of private lessons and it was worth every penny.

School has been back for almost a month and the routine is already well established. We are now back on Canada time as we have to leave the house at 7.45am to get Patrick to school for 8am. He has started a new preschool class and is doing really well. We are very pleased with the schools here and Patricks is no exception. He is working through a curriculum designed for 4 year olds and seems to be coping really well with his new schedule. He continues on with coach Jerry and has also added swimming to his list of activities. He has also unleashed a love of the computer. I say unleashed as he is like a monster when he gets on it. He is very independant and can navigate his way around the kids sites with no difficulties. I am quite torn as I would rather not promote computer time but on the other hand he is learning an enormous amount from the games he is playing and computers are a big part of school life so …

Grace is now a First Grader so school has really started for her (which is a joke considering what they achieved in Kindergaten!). Grade 1 is a very different proposition to K and she now has her own desk, pen box and homework. No one shies away from hard work here and the kids are no exception. 30 mins a night Monday through Thursday and then a timed test on a Friday. Thankfully Grace is a very good girl and will do her homework conscientiously every night. She likes nice pencils and erasers and it takes me back to how much I liked those sort of things too.

So for Diesel and I life has been hectic. Its typical, nothing happens all year and then everything is crammed into 5 weeks! September has been a month of travel, first Diesel to San Fran, Denver and then Vegas and now me to Chicago and then Vegas. All this craziness will culminate for us on the 2nd weekend in October when we go to Vegas together for Rachels 40th. My Mum and Dad are coming down to look after Grace and Diesel and I are beyond excited. Shouldn’t think there will be too many pictures posted of that weekend!