Week 53: 17 to 23

Monday I took kids to Alex's party at Redbox karaoke, then met up with the Leech's at Pavillion food court. We had lunch then took them to Chinatown. I picked up kids and we all went to Suzi's for dinner.
Tuesday, did some last minute errands, lunch at Wendy's, met up with Belinda and the kids at Dua for a drink and a swim. For dinner we went to Jalan Alor and also showed them Changkat.
Wednesday was an early rise and Alex picked us up in the van to take us to the airport. We arrived at Blue Ocean Resort in Patong at about 10am and went for a walk around while our room was being made up. We found Sweets restaurant for brunch, it was somewhere Steve and I ate at a lot when we were in Phuket many years ago, so it was pretty cool that it's still there, and that we were able to find it! We went back to the hotel and waited in the meeting room until our room was ready. In the evening we went out to try to find Wai Thai for dinner, couldn't find it and ended up going to Burger King as we were all tired.
Thursday and Friday were spent relaxing by the pool or beach and a bit of walking around. We finally found Wai Thai restaurant and it was great cheap food. Lachlan also finally got his game of pool at the dolphin bar Friday afternoon.

Saturday got up early to get to the pier for our tour. We went to Maya Bay (where the movie The Beach was filmed), then we went past Loh Samah, Phileh lagoon and Viking cave. We stopped at Monkey Beach, then did some snorkeling in Ton Sai Bay. Lunch was on the beach at Phi Phi Don Island. We then went to Khai Nok Island and had a relax on the beach, some more snorkeling and swimming and a drink at the quaint bar, before heading back to the pier and back to the hotel. It was a great day.

I went to the shopping mall on Sunday morning and got a facial and had a wander around Robinsons. Then I met up with Steve and the kids and we went to a shabu and sushi place for lunch. We went back to the dolphin bar in the early evening, played pool, had dinner and got some DVDs from Jimmy, the persistent guy who thought it was hilarious that we were from Wagga Wagga. We had walked past him a few times and he had asked us if we were from Wagga Wagga and Steve had said yes, but he hadn't believed us. We got talking to him last time we were at the Dolphin bar, and told him we actually were from Wagga and had met and got married there and he cracked up. It was obviously his line to get people to talk to him, so he could try to sell them dvds and he hadn't met anyone who actually was from there.

Week 52: dec 10 to 16

Monday morning I went to school, to watch the middle and senior school awards assembly as we were told Lachlan was getting an award. When it was announced he got the award for art, I almost laughed out loud. He doesn't enjoy art at all, he is ok at it, but I was not expecting an award for art. He also got a highly commended for his class (which is like the good all round student). Steve had the car at work, so I went to the school with Yi. When I got back I went and had teppanyaki lunch with Cathy and we had a wander around the Pavillion looking for something to wear to Steve's graduation.
The kids had day off school on Tuesday for the Sultan of Selangor's birthday (Steve didn't as he works in KL and the kids school is actually in a different state) and went to the movies to see Rise of the Guardians with Miyo, Hanson and Ryan, Keira and Allysha. I stayed home to organise some stuff for the move.
Steve's graduation was Wednesday. We had the ceremony in the morning and the ball in the evening.
Thursday the packers came and we went to dinner at las Carretas with Cathy and kids after checking into our accomodation.
Friday was the kids last day at school, it was only a half day. Lakshmi and I cleaned the apartment. After the kids got home we had drinks by the pool with Cathy. It was supposed to be for a few hours but in true Bender/Wall style it ended up being all night and we got pizza, then the kids stayed overnight at the Benders.
We were able to do some last minute Christmas shopping Saturday morning before we picked up the kids at lunchtime. In the evening Laksmi came to the hotel to look after the kids, I went to a Christmas party at Louise's and Steve went down to the airport to pick up the Leech family, the new people who are taking over us. Steve was able to come to the party for a while after settling them in.
Sunday morning we met up with the Leech's and took them to Antipodean for breakfast, then Toni and I drove the new girls around and showed them a few places they might want to know, and the men went for a drive to the college in the afternoon. That night we went to the Uren's place for a farewell/welcome party.