80's day

 Today was 80's dress up day in the Academy. Our boys didn't really understand what this meant and were horrified at the suggestion of wearing luminous colours and me making them bright pink (the only fabric I had) sweat bands. Josh really wanted to dress up as someone from Star Wars so that he could take his lightsaber, but given our lack of those kind of outfits he decided on being a knight. So he is from the 1080's or something like that, while the rest of the class are from the 1980's. The important thing is that this is fun for them right? :-)

Tom has successfully worn football kits for a multitude of dress up days - international day, what I want to be when I grow up day, twin day...and so surprise, surprise decided that he would be player number 80 and go as a footballer. He has varied it though, having worn England and Benin kits before, this one is the Arsenal knock off we bought on the streets here :-)

In case you don't recognize him this is in fact George Michael and his teenage fans. There is even a little silver cross ear-ring which is making it very hard for me to take him seriously when all I can see is that wiggling about.

Slennetts in Africa again :-)

Nanny and Auntie Amy came to visit us. Here are some photos so they can remember the fun we had :-)

 hiking to the waterfall

 having a party for everyones birthday that we missed sharing together, with home made sausage rolls :-)

 playing outside on deck 8...and deck 7...and in the pool...

we visited where Mummy works

 we got knocked over by the waves and had fun on the beach

 Thanks for coming! See you soon! Tom and Josh x

girl friends - more photos from my camera

 Story time, all pretending to be going to bed. This is when big brothers come in handy :-)

Tom, Elisha, Sabine, Josh, Sarah, Janice (you can see why the pre-school boys all want to marry them) on Sabine's birthday

Antenatal clinic

 The women sit outside - you can just about see them lined up on the ground floor of this photo, between about 30 and 65 women come each Tuesday when I am there. They also have antenatal clinic one other day and a couple of booking clinics each week.

 The women come inside and get weighed, their urine and blood pressure checked. They then get called back one at a time for their checks. There tends to be two midwives working here, there are two curtained off areas with a couch , although when ward or labour room midwives are not busy they also help out and use any free beds for antenatal checks.

This is one of the clinic rooms. Each has a couch, a trolley with some medicines laid out and basic equipment such as tape measures and fetal stethoscopes. One busy day I did end up delivering a baby in this small space here too :-)

topping up the blood bank

We've blogged before, that the crew on board are also a walking blood bank. Until recently I have regularly given samples and been on the list of potential donars but never been called (and quite happy about the fact if I'm honest). My friend Maggie was here working in the lab again this year and she kept saying that as soon as they needed my blood type she'd be sure to call me first. She never did need me, but as soon as she left the Ship they finally had someone with the right blood type and hunted me down on the childrens play deck (there is no hiding from the lab team apparantly). So the proof for Maggie that O Negative isn't totally useless after all...

 I might have smiled more if Maggie had still been here though, you can't help but smile when she is around, even when she is sticking you with a needle :-)

interactive maths

Josh and I happened to be cooking in the crew galley last week when Tommy AKA Mr Farrell the Math teacher brought his grade 6 class to do some practical maths. It involved talking about measuring rainwater -  how you can measure liquid accurately, units of measurement etc. We snapped a photo of them while they were all hard at work.

 Mr Farrell and one of his Maths classes (yep that's the whole class)

another pair bites the dust

In the tradition of our friends the Peets, somehow I now feel the need to photograph fallen apart crocs. Shoes get a lot of very heavy wear and tear living on board a ship. These are the latest of Joshua's to bite the dust, the trouble is he doesn't actually want to stop wearing them despite their condition, but I think they will need to go soon....

birthday wishes

My birthday wishes came in many forms this year (thank you!!). The boys and many of their friends drew pictures and cards to cover my walls, friends made cakes to share on different days, I got parcels from home...and a happy birthday in Tom's homework book of all places...

In case you can't read it, it says
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!
Happy birthday to you!!!!!
Happy birthday to Mum!!!!
Copy spelling
Happy birthday to you!!!
Memory verse

Academy open house time again

The open house is when the Academy opens its door for the crew to come and see what goes on. Usually the school on board is off-limits to the rest of the crew.

 This is the Grade 2 classroom, you can see crew members learning to write in shaving foam, pipe cleaners, play dough etc to practice spelling words. Miss Amy (Tom's teacher) is the lady at the back to the left of the picture.

 Josh trying the shaving foam writing.