In a Nutshell

February and March were extremely busy, but very enjoyable, months for us. To start with, Darrell headed off to Brussells, Belguim, with a group of school students to participate in the annual International Honour Strings Orchestra which is held at a different international school each year. Soon after his return we had the pleasure of hosting Jack Glatzer in our home. He is a fascinating, and very talented, violinist who lives in Portugal but travels the world sharing his passion for music and history with students and adults alike. While he was with us we also had the pleasure of hosting Josh Goodwin, an 18-year-old son of a friend of a friend (!) who was on the last leg of an around-the-world-trip and stopped in Singapore as his final destination before heading back home to Australia.

After Jack had left but Josh was still with us, Lachlan turned 11! This is supposedly our 'party year' - we have a family policy of only having birthday parties every second year - but Lachlan opted for a sleepover with a small group of friends rather than a full-on party.

He also had a sleepover last year and both Lachlan & Caleb have figured out that sleepover's are much better value for money than parties as they get to have their friends with them for many hours rather than just two or three - smart boys :-) Lachlan is still very much into Lego so the sleepover had a Lego theme - Lachlan decorated his own cake with Lego figurines, he organised Lego games, and he gave Lego toys as party favours to his friends. In return he received nothing but Lego as gifts - his friends know him very well!!

Two days after Lachlan's birthday Darrell headed off again to attend meetings in London. He was away for just over a week and loved every minute of his time in the UK. During his time away my Mum and Dad arrived for a 3-week visit - what fun to have them here! Of course, you can't come to visit the Townshend's without eating Indian at least once (!) so here they are, enjoying Indian food at our favorite restaurant!

We hadn't seen Mum and Dad since July last year so we were all looking forward to the visit. Fortunately their time here coincided with our week-long March break so, apart from spending lots of time together exploring Singapore, we were also able to head to Phuket, Thailand, for 5 days to explore that culture also. For me, the highlight of the Phuket trip was the 30-minute elephant trek we did through bushland. As an unexpected bonus, Lachlan and Caleb were given the opportunity to 'drive' the elephants while the trainers walked nearby :-)

On our return we took a ride on the world's largest ferris wheel, the Singapore Flyer (yes, it's apparently bigger then the London Eye) which only opened in Singapore at the beginning of March.

But even more daring than the ferris wheel was the 'fish doctor' spa we experienced afterwards. When our friends, Alison & Mark, were here in December, they tried a fish spa and we thought they were crazy but in March we figured that if the Borresen's could do it, so could we (!) so we all hung our feet in the water and let the tiny fish nibble away at our skin!!

To top it off, once the fish had finished nibbling we were treated to a 10-minute Chinese neck and shoulder massage. What a interesting experience the entire day was!

April and May brought some amusing activities for Caleb. As the culmination of a music unit on ballroom dance, five classes of 1st graders were encouraged to attend a 'Starlight Ball'. All students were expected to dress formally and were partnered with a fellow class-member with whom they'd been practicing their dance moves in class. For quite a few weeks beforehand Caleb was adamant he wasn't going to participate but his music teacher worked a miracle and convinced him it would be a good idea. His partner, Katherine, also encouraged him and, even with Caleb's initial lack of enthusiasm, together they burnt up the dance floor!

A month later, Caleb had Wacky Hair Day at school which was probably one of his favorite days of the year and one for which he planned very carefully! The pain of having to dance in public was forgotten through the opportunity to look ridiculous!!!

For the first time in many years I have taken up a craft hobby - scrapbooking - and have set up a designated space to call my own :-)

I am very much a novice but I have set myself the task of scrapbooking all the boys' school photos and reports - before they send their own children to school! I've so far managed to complete a double page spread for Caleb and 4 pages for Lachlan...it's SO much fun!

Darrell has been involved in all his usual music endeavours which, of course, include teaching and conducting his own string orchestras.

He is also enjoying working on his doctorate in his spare time although he tells me that what he really needs is 6 months off to completely immerse himself in his studies!

There's so much more that has happened in our lives but the year is getting away from me. And so onto June...and the looooooooooooooooooooong summer holiday...