Sebastian starts playgroup.

Daisy and Zach are in with a reassuring first day cuddle before they leave for school.

The big day arrives!

Our beautiful boy.

Yalla!

Bastie has his 'don't go to work and leave me Daddy' face on here.

This motorbike is a top fav.

Getting in to the pretend chocolate.

First day over, happy but tired.

Bastie started playgroup on 7 September. He is going two mornings a weeks for 3 hours a time.

He always used to scream when I made him leave when dropping off Zach last year so I was hoping he would continue to love it there. My hopes were answered as he absolutely loves it. He hasn't shed a single tear, can't wait to leave home in the mornings and runs in straight for his favourite toys when I drop him off. His teacher Lisa says he reminds her so much of Daisy in looks but Zach in temperament. He is one of the youngest in the class but seems to be getting on well with the other children.

I'm finding it very odd having two mornings a week being neither pregnant or with a small child in tow for the first time in over six years. I normally spend one morning out and about getting chores down and the other one meeting my friend Natalie for coffee and two hours of uninterrupted chat, bliss!

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Daisy starts Year One.

All smiles for Year One!

Daisy and Zach love that they now both go off with Andy to school.

Daisy and Hannah.

On 6 September Daisy made the the big jump from the cosy Early Years department to the Junior School. It's a huge jump, both in terms of size and what is expected of the children. The Junior School is massive, there are 11 classes of 20 children in Year One alone.

The classes are split up when they move up to Year One and after a nervous wait we were very happy to find that Daisy was staying with a core group of her closest six friends from her class last year. She is in 1CT, her teacher is Miss Tasker and the teacher's assistant is Mrs Massoud. Her days are much more structured now, she moves classes for specific subjects and her timetable looks a lot like my Waimea College timetable, with the addition of daily Arabic. She has spelling, reading and maths homework everyday. Personally, I think it is waaaaaaaay too much for a 5 year old but she is loving it, taking it all in her stride and is in top streams for reading/writing and maths. She does get very tired though.

We had our first proper talk to Miss Tasker at the parent/teacher meeting. I had a lot of concerns about how much is expected of the children so I was very relieved to discover that Miss Tasker feels the same and her main priority is that the children are happy and enjoying school, phew!

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Zach's first day of school.

Our newest Reptonian.

Bag, check. Hat, check. Good to go.

I'm very proud of Zach and excited for him as he embarks on his new adventure.

Looking little under the Repton arch.

Looking at pictures old Reptonians in the Junior School Reception.

Hello Tigerfish!

This wasn't Zach's first day but it was his first day of PE, all kitted out.

Zach started at Repton on 5 September. He's been so excited about starting school and luckily it seems to be living up to his expectations. We were thrilled to discover that he was going to be in the same class as a few of his friends, there is eight classes in his year group so it certainly wasn't a given.

He is in the Tigerfish class, his teacher is Mrs Blakely, the teacher's assistant is Mrs Youd and the classroom assistant is Miss Marieta. They are all lovely which is a relief. Mrs Blakely is a nice warm cuddly teacher which is great for Zach.

We had his first parent/teacher meeting recently and Mrs Blakely said he is doing really well. She said he is very caring, loves looking after the smaller class members (he calls them 'the little guys') and loves a good chat, we can vouch for that!

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Germany - Freiburg

A man in lederhosen! We must be in Germany.

Yep, it's those tongues again.

A rare family photo.

Bastie took full advantage of my relaxed holiday mood to snarf as much Starbucks as he could get his hands on. I was very impressed with German Starbucks, a fine showcase for efficiency.

One of the many little canals running through the streets. Top fun.

Super sized clock.

Our final day trip was to Freiburg, in Germany, about a 50 minute drive away. The town had a great lively feel to it with loads of nice looking restaurants and bars spilling on to the streets. There were little canals running all through the town which the kids had great fun with. They were excellent for jumping over and chasing leaves down, very surprisingly, no one fell in.

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France - Colmar

We saw a lot of the boy's tongues. Cheeky monkeys.

Daisy soon discovered that trying to keep order with four small boys was like herding cats.

Andy and Blake took the kids to a very cool toy museum. Adrianne and I went shopping. Round one to the girls.

We had a very nice lunch with a rather large side order of cheek from the juniors.

Some of the stunning buildings. I thought the whole town was amazing.

Pile up on the slide.

Walking through town. How cool is that?

Weaving through a lane.

Very cool building.

Andy manages a quick stop to the booze shop before we leave.

There are so many great places in easy reach of Blake and Adrianne's home. One of these is Colmar, in France which is about a 45 drive from their house. I was a bit gobsmacked by all the buildings. They are all so old and well preserved that they look like they can't possibly be the originals but they are. The town was beautiful and had a pretty good main street for shopping, bonus.

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Switzerland - Lake Lucerne

Blake and Flynn check out the swans. Look at all those hanging baskets on the walkway over the water! I love a good hanging basket.

Walkway from the other direction.

The day trippers. Castle in the background!

Looking over Lake Lucerne from our ferry. Beautiful.

Mountains, ahhhhh.

A very Cinderellesque castle.

Daisy and Zach check out the view from the boat whilst Bastie can't see a thing. I know the feeling.

A view from the walk to the restaurant.

Blake kicks back with a beer, lakeside.

Blake, Daisy and I swam out to this pontoon.

We head back over the hill with our convoy of buggies.

You can just see a big hotel on the top of the hill here.

Another beautiful view.

Bastie enjoys the last of the boat trip.

We did a fantastic day trip to Lake Lucerne. It took less than an hour to get to on the train with lots of lovely scenery on the way. We started off with a walk around the very pretty town and coffee in what had to be the Starbucks with one of the best views ever. We then took a boat along the lake followed by a walk to a great restaurant by the lake. We had a very nice time hanging out by the lake then it was a quick dash back to the ferry stop for the journey home.

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Bastie and Benjy

Hello there!

Benjy checks out Bastie for comfiness.

Bastie passes the test and Benjy takes a seat.

Half the future bobsled team get in an early practice.

So cute!

Bastie and Benjy were very cute to watch together. They are both used to not quite being able to keep up with the bigger kids so were thrilled to have another small person to hang out with.

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