May

May ushered in the end of soccer season which we welcomed whole heartedly. I am always pretty tired of 6 practices a week and 3 or 4 games each Saturday after 8 weeks. Little did we know Ethan would try out for and make a select team for the local club and be practicing all summer!! Luckily it's been pretty low key. He misses when we are gone and it's really not a big deal.

Nathanael

Kate

Ethan

We worked hard planting the garden and getting flowers in the front yard and had a marshmallow roast in our back yard to celebrate. It's always good to celebrate hard work with some unhealthy food isn't it?

Jason broke out the slip 'n slide for the first time this season.

Doesn't Kate almost look like a vampire with that hard-looking white skin??? Is she actually a Cullen??

Nathanael busting out his best can't-you-tell-I-am-starving-to-death-please-feed-me! pose

School should have ended near the end of May like it does in other places where we used to live. But here in WA someone in charge enjoys torturing us in the month of June. Our kids didn't get out until June 15th. I tried to stop complaining when I found out Joe and Samantha's kids (they live on the west side) didn't get out until later, like the 23rd or something. Ouch! So I put pictures of the kids with their teachers in this May post as a very small but personal protest to the school district scheduling committee. I know they will never see it, but it's making me feel better.

Nathanael and Mrs. McKay

Kate with Mrs. Mitchell

Ethan with Mrs. Brisbois. He loves that he's almost as tall as she is. He may be taller by now.

We had a few bumps in the road with school this year (like when Ethan was losing it at school and said to his teacher, "What do you know anyway? You haven't been to school in like 20 years!!" That wasn't fun. Luckily he got a handle on his little temper, apologized and his teacher laughed it off as one of her favorite disgruntled student quotes of all time. It helps that we know her and her family pretty well! Overall it was a great year!

Poison

Jason was in Fresno for a few days and got home late last night. He was feeling very ill when he got home and hasn't seen much improvement yet. This morning I was telling Ethan to be quiet, Dad is sleeping and not feeling well. I told him I think Jason probably has food poisoning.

Ethan's response, "Wow. Who would want to poison Dad?"

I may have a budding conspiracy theorist on my hands. . .

April 2009

This poor neglected blog needs a little TLC. . . .

A long time ago in a a galaxy far, far away we had some good times in the month called April in the year of our Lord, 2009.

OREGON

We went to Oregon for our freezing cold "spring" break. We had lots of rain and wind, a little bit of sun and a lot of fun.


The kids and I spent a day at the Portland Zoo in the rain while Jason worked. Despite the rain we had a great time.

They were SO tired and they all thought they would die when we left but by the time we got back to the hotel their energy mysteriously returned.

After the work part of the trip was taken care of we drove another hour to the coast for some freezing cold fun on the beach and other attractions. We spent time at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Hatfield Marine Science Center, Tillamook Cheese Factory and various other scenic spots along the coast.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Oswald West

Cannon Beach

EASTER SUNDAY

On Easter we again forced our kids to go outside and act happy as we snapped a few shots of them before church (Hurry! Stand here. Not there, HERE! Please don't bug Eli. If everyone would look at the camera and smile we can take the picture when Eli looks. Don't look at Eli! Look at the camera. Stand up straight. Please don't pick your nose! Can you scratch your face when we are done???) I really wanted to get the pictures before church because the by the time church is over everyone is tired, disheveled and Eli is less than cooperative. I know this little tradition of getting pictures when we are trying to get ready for church drives Jason nuts because I make him take all the pictures (he claims my pictures are always blurry; maybe I have a nervous twitch).

SOCCER

We spent nearly every Saturday in March and April on the soccer pitch watching Ethan, Kate and Nathanael chase a small, often multi colored ball. This picture of Kate just cracks me up. It's like she telling everyone, "Now hold on a second while I get ready to kick."

THE BAR

Kate's second grade recess obsession has been "flipping on the bar." Ethan's was wall ball. She loves to flip and she does it every chance she gets. I have to admit I was a big bar flipper back in the day. We would race out the doors to recess to secure a bar for the entire recess. In this day of fairness and political correctness the kids aren't allowed to stay on the bar for the whole recess. That would be unfair to others and we want everyone to feel happy thus more laws, I mean rules must be implemented to take care of this problem. So the duties (the authoritative adult figures who monitor the playground) decided that six flips is the limit and then you must relinquish the bar and get back in line if you want to go again. This leads to lots of controversy over who's counting and how they are counting. But that's beside the point. I am pretty sure my favorite tricks (the Cherry Drop and the Death Drop) are outlawed since someone might shoot their eye out. . . I mean break their arm. Six flips at a time must not be near enough brain spinning for Kate as her obsession has come home. When we moved in we had a trampoline- a weird trampoline. There were no springs, only elastic. The elastic was worn and old and within a few months the trampoline was beyond repair. Jason pulled the fabric off and has left the frame up until such time as he decides to take it down and haul away. Kate has made the trampoline frame her personal brain blender and she spends as much time as she can flipping outside on our bar (that isn't even round by the way- it's more rectangular with rounded corners- uncomfortable!). Here she is gleefully spinning to her heart's content on a sunny April afternoon.

More Australia

It's only been nearly a month since I posted a little bit about my trip so I figure it's time to get around to it again!

I had a fabulous time in Australia and I can't really capture it in a paragraph. . .or two. . .or fifty. But who wants a twenty page travelogue? So in about 150+ words (I wouldn't want to discriminate against anyone like me with a short attention span), here's a briefing of my trip. . .

Bondi Beach, Sea Cliff Bridge, Port Stephens, dolphins, surfers, kangaroos at a golf course (and lots of other really cool animals at various places- see previous post), Australian Reptile Park, The Magic Flute (at the Opera House!! Ok, this was super awesome!), Katoomba (mountains/rainforest), Manly Beach, sunburn, downtown Sydney, Sydney Tower, shopping at Paddys and the Rocks, QVB (Queen Victoria Building), the Harbor Bridge (walked it at night, it was beautiful), Koala Park, Darling Harbor, the Sydney Aquarium, going to church, the temple, the church offices, ferries, trains, busses, more ferries, and eating (The yogurt is unbelievable, like no yogurt I have had before, more like a creamy delicious dessert than a healthy breakfast- vanilla mixed with fresh mango was my favorite. Also, date pudding. . . oh it was divine, and did not taste like dates.)! I can't really say that this or that was a highlight, because it was all a highlight. It was fabulous and crazy busy the whole time. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are your 18,000 words (plus more words in the captions) for the day.

A few more koala pictures

Koalas are really very cool animals. Besides being a cute marsupial (they are extra cute in a real life and the whole marsupial--underdeveloped wormy fetus blindly crawling into mommy's pouch--thing is really amazing I think) they have really unique hands and feet. On their hands (forepaws) they have two thumbs (opposable digits), then a big gap and then three fingers. It makes climbing trees a lot easier. Then on their feet they techinically have five toes, though it looks like three. The first toe (digit) is clawless, the second and third are fused resulting in a double claw (works nicely for grooming I hear), then two more. Sorry if that's too boring (at least Pat thought it was interesting right Pat??). I found it rather fascinating.

Michelle and I at Circular Quay with the Harbor Bridge behind us

On the opposite side of Circular Quay with the Opera House behind us

The other side of the Opera House

It's actually two buildings, a smaller and a larger one. We saw The Magic Flute in the one on the left.

The Opera House at night from the Harbor Bridge

Michelle, Mom and I with downtown behind us.

On the ferry to Manly

Manly is a beach town right on the ocean, with access to the Pacific Ocean on the east side and Sydney Harbor on the west side. It takes about 30 minutes to ride the ferry out there. In the picture behind me you can see the Sydney Tower. It's the tall skinny tower on the far left.

Manly Beach

Since we were visiting our missionary parents there wasn't any swimming/sunbathing going on. The weather was so perfect the day we were at Manly.

About to get sunburned on the ferry back from Manly Beach

View from Sydney Tower (downtown) towards the Pacific Ocean

Dad stayed behind while we shopped like crazy
(frugal shopping of course)

Early morning hours

Mom, Michelle and I walked most mornings and this day we walked to a church that my grandfather built years ago when my mom was a teenager and their family was living in Australia (Grandpa was building churches). See the car in the background- early morning seminary!

A cool clock inside the Queen Victoria Building

Mom and I at Wharf 5 on Circular Quay
(where we got on and off the ferry)

Michelle and I with a dig player downtown.

This guy was pretty good. He did some talking, some playing, more talking, more playing. He had the whole circular breathing thing down. I have never seen anyone do it and he was awesome!

Michelle and I at the temple after church on Sunday

Mom and Dad at the entrance to the church office buildings (and temple)

Monday morning came too quickly and we were on our long 14 hour flight home. The jet lag was beastly. I cried when I saw my family. I had a wonderful time but I sure did miss them! The happiest moment was when Eli saw me and climbed into my arms with a smile. I was afraid he'd want nothing to do with me.

Sometime I will get around to posting pictures from Spring Break and Easter. But I'm not holding my breath.

Down Under Part One

News Flash: I went to Australia in March.

Ok, so that's way old news. But I am just now getting around to telling about it so that's kind of a blog-flash, right?

It seems like ages ago. It was the best Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day, whatever-else-you-can-think-of-day present for me.

If you read this and don't know. . . my parents are serving a mission in Sydney. I didn't just pick Australia for a random vacation; though it would be a good choice for a vacation. When my parents were serving in Germany, Jason and I wanted to go but couldn't. All my siblings/spouses went but us. We love Europe and my parents so that was a bummer. This time we talked about how much we would love to go but we still couldn't. Jason is so busy with work. He has a hard time being unreachable for more than a day or two, let alone a week or more. The airfare for two people is outrageous. Add to that paying for a babysitter and there was just no way. My sister and her husband wanted to go too. But they also couldn't make it work. Then brilliance kicked in and Michelle and I cooked up a way to go together. No husbands (though you know we really, really love you), no kids, no responsibility, great location=super fun trip!

When I asked my mom what she will miss the most about Sydney when they come home she said she will miss riding the ferry to Circular Quay. I would have to agree! It is a beautiful and relaxing ride from their suburb of Rydalmere on ferry to downtown Sydney. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I also loved going to an opera at the Sydney Opera House, seeing all kinds of animals at two zoos and the aquarium, sight seeing, and shopping! Ok, so everything was my favorite. I couldn't be luckier.

Be prepared for a bunch of boring pictures from here on out.

Sea Cliffs Bridge

The coastal road had a problem with falling rock, so this bridge was built well away from the rock face so the piers and bridge deck avoid rock fall hazards. There is a pedestrian sidewalk that we walked down before walking down onto the rocks near the ocean.

A Tide Pool, literally

This pool is near the Sea Cliff Bridge, and you can see it's right on the ocean. It's literally a tide pool, being filled when the tide comes in and available for swimming in when the tide goes out. There were three muscley Aussie teens swimming and throwing a football while we were there.

Michelle, Dad and me on a golf course out in the country where the kangaroos roam free. They eat the grass and occasionally get hit by a golf ball. We saw one whose pouch was a little bloated so we wondered if there was a joey inside, but we never found out for sure.

The kangaroo with a heavy looking pouch.

Sorry about the red eye, but for me to get this post done I am not editing any of the pictures I post.

A Kookaburra at the golf course (sitting in an old gum tree. . .)

Me with an aboriginal artist and friend of my parents.

Now a bunch of Aussie animals from the Reptile Park and the Koala Park. . .

Tasmanian Devil- these guys have a frightening set of jaws

Giant Galapagos Tortoise

This thing was the size of about five Nathanaels, maybe more. He was huge.

A Wallaby

Tree frogs having a tea party

Feeding the kangaroos something that looked remarkably like cereal.

Michelle was a little flipped out. In case you don't know, she's not exactly an animal enthusiast.

This little guy was getting rather friendly with Mom.

Dang Cute Koalas (great photo Michelle!)

We saw quite a few other animals including alligators, a huge salt water crocodile, lizards galore, cockatoos (talking ones too), lorikeets, dingos, snakes and lots more cool stuff at the aquarium (sea horses, Nemo and friends, all manner of other tropical fish, turtles, a couple of ginorm dugongs--don't ask about this one, just look it up--sharks, rays and blue fairy penguins to name a bunch).

Now I am tired and ready to retire but I'm not done. I mean, I did more than see a cool bridge and a bunch of animals. But until next time. . .

PS- A note about the song on the playlist. . . The second grade classes at our school did a whole unit on Australia (cool that I got to go right when they were in the middle of it). Their second grade performace included all Australian songs and little plays. It was so fun to see! One of the songs they sang is Waltzing Matilda; I would describe it as an old folk song. It's quite popular over there, we heard it on the radio several times.

The Mall (or not)

Nathanael: "Mom remember that store where they have statues that are dressed up in clothes? Do remember the name of that store?"

I answer, "No."

But I really mean, which one?

Clearly he doesn't frequent the mall nearly enough if he thinks only one store has those statues dressed up in clothes, aka mannequins.

Is my child deprived? Or sheltered? Or could it be that I avoid malls altogether unless I am shopping by myself?

The latter for sure. And I feel good about that.