Washday!

We have been busy making plans for our Big Move back to the UK. Less than 6 weeks!!
Katie is excited about returning to England. She thinks it's a big adventure and I guess it really is!
We have decided to take only personal belongings, clothes etc back with us and sell the furniture we have here in Cyprus. It is cheaper to sell here and buy new in England rather than ship home. So, we has been sorting through Katie's toys and books, deciding what she will take with her and what we can sell or leave to the charity shops.  She would like to have a "yard sale" like in ToyStory but in reality we will hire a table at one of the local markets in Paphos. Any money she makes she can spend on new toys later. Of course, if Katie had her way, she would be taking every single toy and book and game and jig-saw with her . Unfortunately, we would need a full shipping crate just for her things alone!

So, we sorted through the mountain of toys  and "classified"  the items and negotiated a while over what could stay and what should go (this took a good while!!) and then we washed the soft toys so they would be clean and fresh for the sale.


Here they are drying off indoors. Katie is checking them out, wondering if there night be room in her case_ for just one more??

Valentine's at Latchi Bay.

Today we headed off to Latchi Beach in Polis. The weather was warm and bright although a little overcast.
The harbour was very quiet apart from a handful of fisherman tending to their nets and boats. The beach was deserted, such a contrast to the summer months when the tourists and holiday makers crowd the streets and harbour cafes.


Katie was in seventh heaven playing on the sand with Dave. They searched for "special" pebbles, skimmed stones into the sea and made a Stone-Henge village out of pebbles on the beach.
Herbie wasn't allowed on the beach so we watched from the side-lines. He was none too happy! What he would have given to be let of the leash and chase the skimming stones into the water.


The coastline at Latchi  Bay is beautiful, despite the rather neglected buildings and restaurants skimming the beach.
As I sat watching Katie and Dave playing in the sand I looked out accross the perfect turqoise sea and I wondered, not for the first time, what we are thinking of_ going back to England. Will we miss all this? Probably. But I am hoping we will find new pleasures and new places where we can enjoy just being together. Just like today.

Katie and Dave discussing pebble skimming tactics!



Stone-Henge Village

And a Valentine's Heart from Dave to me!

Our new project...

Alpha and Omega

So far we have covered Grey Wolves, their characteristics, habitat and diet.


We have  read about wolves in Katie's books and researched on the internet. Katie has printed off pictures of real wolves, Carabou, Maps of Canada and N.America and Jasper National Park, where the film is set. Discussions have led us in a hundred directions. Topics include mammals, holidaying in Canada or even re-locating there in the future. I wish!

Strawberry Snowflakes and not so wild wolves!

More baking. Daddy's favourite cakes. Katie has named them Strawberry Snowflakes!

Not so wild Wolves!

Katie has  a keen interest in animals, especially the wild canine kind! She also loves Animation Movies, so this latest film "Alpha and Omega" has grabbed her attention.

The film is about two wolves who fall in love against the social rules of their pack. Humphrey is the Omega, fun-loving and fancy-free. Kate is the Alpha daughter of the pack's leader, hard working  and raised to be loyal and true to her pack. There's also a golf-playing-goose and his duck-caddy, amongst a host of other colourful characters!

 The film is due for release on DVD next week. Katie has pre-ordered it, for delivery to Cyprus, from Amazon and is she is so excited!  She's counting down the days until it arrives. Katie is getting quite adept at ordering from the internet, but bless her, she always insists on paying from her own pocket money.(This is where her mental calculations manifest themselves!) However her pocket money has increased healthily  these last few weeks mainly due to a succession of visits from the "Tooth Fairy" and Katie whizzing through her Carol Vorderman MathsFactor (completion of each level incurs a 20 Euro reward!) So....I guess she can afford it!

She has been eagerly looking at trailers of the film and researching real wolves on the internet and in her wildlife books at home. She has been so enthusiastic that we have decided to make a Lap-Book around the film and it's characters.

Katie has been working away virtually all day! It's amazing how much she can accomplish  when she is self-motivated and having fun.

Lap Books are a great! Previous lap books we have made include Sponge-Bob Square Pants and The Ginger-Bread Baby by Jan Brett, one of our favourite authors. It was amazing how much we covered and learned from doing our Lap-Books and it was so much fun!

Will post pictures tomorow of Katie's efforts so far.

Cupcakes

Cracking the eggs for our Cupcakes.

Mmmmm...tastes yummy!

Oh, and Katie just loves washing the dishes.....
Long may it last!

February already!

February already and we are still waiting for winter to start! The days are bright and sunny and very warm, the evenings are much cooler.  Fortunately, we have the luxury of central heating in our villa, which is unusual for homes in Cyprus, so perhaps that is why we have not felt the cold so much. It is hard to imagine on these sunny warm days, the biting cold of England, the snow storms and the torrential rain and flooding in parts of the UK.. Sometimes I wonder why we are going back, are we mad? I guess time will tell. But right now it's what we have to do. It's time.
Our little dog Herbie will  not be ready to fly until the beginning of May so we can't leave before then. However, we have started to plan the move and are looking at places to live. It's exciting and daunting and I can't wait. Patience was never my strong point!


Meanwhile here in Paphos we continue our lives. Days filled with playing, reading, talking, drawing, cooking, gardening and swimming. It's a hard life, I know....