Season's Wishes -- Frencham Family

To all our Relatives, Friends and Bloggers,

May this festive period and the year ahead bring you the hope, joy, peace, health and happiness you are seeking.

We are all Down Under right now enjoying the summer weather and the our friends and family. Santa made it here last night and the Bear and Dragon must have been good in 2008 as they had a full stocking of goodies !

Boxing Day and it will be off to the MCG for the Tiger for the Australia v South Africa second cricket test. Ah, summer in Oz -- Cheers !

Dragon Tales -- Teacher for a Day

The following is a story that Dragon developed as a creative story telling exercise at his learning centre. It should be read tongue-in-cheek (unless you're a desk!). The theme for the story is "Teacher for a Day". Enjoy the mind of an 8 year old boy!

A week ago I was the teacher for a day. My teacher was sick so I was the teacher in the clasroom. I decided to teach the kids how to destroy their desks.

1. Dynamite: First, you can use dynamite to blow your desk to smithereens. First you find the dynamite and matches. Then you place the dynamite under your desk and throw a lit match and run and then KABOOM!
2. Termites & Steel Eating Termites: First, you buy termites from Dangerous Pets. You put the termites in your desk and step back slowly. Munch, munch, munch.
3. Electric Wires: First you rip the wires out of the walls. Second, you attach the wires to your desk. Next, turn the lights on. ZZZZzzzZZZZzzzzzz!!!
4. Firecrackers: Get some huge firecrackers and put them all in your desk. Use a match to light the fuse and RUN! PHOOSH!!
5. Lava: Go to a volcano that still erupts. Get 10 lava proof buckets and collect the lava. Next, bring the lava to school and dump it all over your desk and... bbbuuullleee. Watch it melt.
6. Medieval Weapons: Go to the museum and take all of the medieval weapons! Shoot your desk with a crossbow! Chop your desk with a battle axe! Smash it with a ball and chain! CCCrrraaaccckkkkk! Bye, bye desk!
7. Missile: First you find your nearest Army base. You go there and ask them to borrow a rocket launcher. When the say no, you leave and then sneak back that night to steal it. Take the rocket launcher to school and strap your desk to the missile and press start. LIFTOFF!!!!!

The kids loved the lessons but the school was eventually shut down. There was no school for a year because the government sued them for stealing missiles. THE END.

Dragon Tales -- Wetland Adventure

Today I went to the Hong Kong Wetland Park with the Tiger. To get there we had to catch a taxi, and then two trains and then a light rail (like a tram). It is in the northwest part of Hong Kong in the New Territories.

They had all sorts of animals that need water, like fish, birds, and even a crocodile. The wetlands has both a freshwater section and saltwater section. The saltwater section was the most interesting as it had lot's of mudskippers which are amphibious fish that scoot around in the mud under the mangroves.

There were also lot's of wetland birds such as ducks and egrets and so many I couldn't remember all their names. Some were migratory birds (that spend the winter in HK after flying down from Korea and other places in North Asia). We saw some of these birds hunting for fish and muskippers. There were supposed to also be crabs and frogs but we didn't see any.

There was a butterfly section which was cool because it was totally outdoors. We saw five different types, including large ones that looked like Monarch butterflies.

As we left I bought a souvenir to remember the day: a cuddly frog that I named Hopper. And of course he is green, which is my favourite colour!

Monkey Madness - What a Week

Well, it has been a big week. A birthday, a wedding anniversary, a party and a play. Last Monday I hit the big 4-0 and had a wonderful day. I received many wonderful presents, including a photo journal of my life from the Bear, and a monkey sculpture from the Dragon. Also, I have finally joined the electronic generation and, using my new iPhone, now have all of my calendar dates and contact information on it.

The party was great, we had it at a restaurant in Soho and only left when they were shutting down and the staff wanted to go home.

This Monday the Tiger and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary. Time flies and it is hard to believe that it was 18 years ago that all of our friends and family were together to celebrate our marriage.

This week will be a busy one, the play that Bear is in (see Bear’s blog below for details) has many performances and we are in the end-of-calendar-year phase for school scheduled events.

Two weeks left of school – ho ho ho!

[Editor's Note: The Monkey evidently does not like writing about herself. The photo was inserted by the Editor -- pretty good for 40 years young!]