Last supper

To celebrate our time on Gili Air and say goodbye to all the families leaving, we had a big dinner at the Organic restaurant on the beach – even though about half the families had already left, we still had to book a table for 19!

It was an awesome night

And I got a surprise… everyone chipped in to buy me a dress; the most gorgeous dress ever!

It was totally unexpected to get a properly wrapped present, and to feel the gratitude of all the families who came for the Unschooling Adventure. Of course, the dress is one I’d seen in a shop already, and I’d said that I thought it to be stunning, but they didn’t have it in green; only maroon, dark blue or grey.

But it turned out that the shopkeeper, a lovely woman named Annti, heard that I am a midwife, and she needed some advice about her newborn daughter, so I went to her place to help her out. Then somehow a bunch of the other unschooling mums conspired with Annti to have me a dress made specially in green. It’s the most stunning shade of turquoise, and I love it.

And it was great to spend some time with my friends

We’re so sad to be leaving Gili Air, but the buzz is already building for the 2014 Indonesian Unschool Advennture.

Hallowe’en Party

We left off right at the point of leaving for the most awesome home schoolers All Hallow’s Eve party with Littletree getting into her costume

The party was an incredible success, about 20 kids of ages ranging from about 4 to about 16. The hosting family had gone all out with decorations and spooky food, it was so much fun.

Littletree had a ball – the hosting family have an acre of land, with a massive trampoline and playground set-up, and one of the home school group mamas set up a disco in the carport, complete with laser lights and smoke machine.

Epic fun.

Here’s a few select photos, but you can see the whole album here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107660875906928406568/HomeSchoolingHalloweEnParty

Purim Sameach

It's Purim again! The classic example of every Jewish holiday which boils down to: They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat!  Remember all the fun from last year?

Since Purim fell mid-week, we didn't doing anything much on the day, but tonight night we're all going out dancing at Glo Dance, and then Saturday Littletree is going to a kids dress-up party down the street and there will be a Rocky-Horror party at my place - we'll all get dressed up as our fave characters, eat a feast, drink a lot of caipirinhas, and watch the movie :)

Meanwhile, here's a gorgeous photo of Littletree (then aged 3) and Butterfly, after a full day at the Tel Aviv Purim street party, 2006.

Yay for friends

I’ve been slowly coming out of my shell a bit more in the past week, getting out and seeing friends and doing fun stuff.

Last weekend was Rinka’s 40th birthday party, so I made myself get out of the house and go socialise. It was great to see friends and have a catch-up

Also great to see some old clients and see how their babies are growing

And how young love blooms in two of the babies I’ve caught.

And best of all, just awesome to be out in the bush, around a campfire and having a laugh :)

All in all, I’m feeling much better after the last weeks of gloom.

Irish Night

Our downstairs neighbours (who happen to be Irish), Pixie and Elf held an “Irish Pub” party, to celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday. Naturally lots of Guinness was consumed, and a yummy Irish stew was cooked, and lots of Irish people were invited. Elf even got an old beer keg from the tip and cut it open to make a fire to sit around outside – Littletree toasted marshmallows.

I wore green especially for the occasion

The Irish stew was super-delish

And it was great to hang out with good friends

I made up a batch of Chocolate-Guinness Cupcakes with a Kahlua Ganache icing for the birthday boy (recipe from Cream Until Fluffy)

They went down so well!

Seriously, the best cupcakes EVER

Twas a most fun night :)

Littletree’s Birthday Sleepover

Since Littletree will be in Israel for her birthday, she had a party with all her friends before she left. I think the pictures speak for themselves :)

Loads of fun!

The Village Dance

The little village we live in is very old and historic, and there’s still lots of quaint throwbacks to its former glory, like the post office with it’s 1908 sign, and the village dance.

I don’t go out dancing that often, but I do try to get to the village dance party every month (well, yeah, for some people going dancing once a month would  be a lot!)

I got all dressed up and ready to boogie

It’s so nice to see the local youngsters out on the dance floor

This month we grooved to the phat tribal beats of Ganga Giri, drum, bass and digeridoo.

It’s an alcohol-free event, but the local herb shop makes a herbal punch and chai, and there’s always a cake stand with a range of gluten-free organic cakes.

There’s always a few kids running around outside, people hanging about chatting, fire twirling.

Littletree was running about, playing with the other kids; we all had a great time.

It’s so nice to be a part of these old traditional village events ;)

Birthday Party

This weekend we had Littletree’s birthday party :) My sister, brother and niece came up for the week, which was wonderful.

Since there was no way I could even begin to match the extravaganza of last year’s birthday (here and here), I decided to go with the ultimate in low-key. We held the party at the local playground in our village, which was great, as the kids could just play and run around rather than needing any games.

I decided not to make the usual “party” food, and instead made a big selection of home made dips – Hummous, Labaneh, Baba Ganouj, Guacamole and Tahine, served with an array of carrot and celery sticks, and some crackers, with a big bowl of fruit on the side.

We did have Pass-The-Parcel with live music

Dress-ups

 

Loads of balloons

And a big chocolate birthday cake

 

Most of all, Littletree had a great day!