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.

Please let me go OUT!

January 2009

This is Eli's pose several times a day, usually when I am making dinner and the kids are outside playing regardless of the freezing temperatures. He stands at the back door and screams and squeals as they play and he is trapped inside his little jail cell. Poor child. Your time will come.

When the Magic Ends

Nathanael lost his second tooth a week or so ago. He was pretty excited to put it under his pillow. This tooth fairy was feeling pretty good about remembering to bring him some cash since I have been known to forget. . . and for more than one night in a row. It was 9:30 pm and I was getting ready for bed. I checked all the kids and all were looking angelic, enjoying their respective blissful dreamlands. I grabbed the tooth, put money in the bag in exchange for the tooth and took it back to the boys' room, change jingling in the bag. After placing it carefully under Nathanael's pillow I stood up and was suddenly eye to eye with Ethan. His eyes were not sleepy. They were bugging out of his head. It seems he was not fast asleep afterall.

"I knew it was you!" he said.

I was speechless. At 10 he seems pretty old to still believe in these unexplainable events. A tooth disappearing but replaced by money. It seems obvious that an adult is behind this doesn't it? But the strong faith of a child can be powerful. Maybe it's not the best thing to mess with that power, but I prefer not to think of that since my kids have had many a magical morning as a result of it.

I'm glad I was there to witness the moment he gained his knowledge. We talked just a little bit about the tooth fairy. Then he looked me in the eye and said, "So then Santa. . ." I just smiled and then said, "Isn't it fun to be in on the secret?" I could see the ambivalence in his eyes. Like the moment you understand how the trick is done and suddenly the trick is not so cool anymore. Even though you really wanted to know how it's done, when you find out it's so anti climatic. This magical person (and all these childhood made up people, though Santa is clearly the biggest for us) he had hoped was real was just sent up in flames.

But at the same time he gets to be in on a fun secret. That could be fun couldn't it? We talked some more about how people had tried to tell him that Santa isn't real but he had refused to believe. He was a little embarrassed. In the end he did more smiling than frowning and I am glad it happened the way it did.

Today Kate lost a tooth. She left it in a baggie on the kitchen counter. Ethan brought it in while she was saying her prayers. When she was done he said, "The tooth fairy can't bring you money if your tooth isn't under your pillow." I noticed the smile he was trying to hold back and I can see he's really going to enjoy being in on the secret.

Nathanael is Six

December 30th, 2002

Nathanael turned six December 30th and I'm finally getting around to saying something about it. You know we're so organized and on the ball over here . . .

Here are six things about Nathanael

1. He LOVES Star Wars everything and Bakugan toys.
2. He thinks kindergarten is the most fun a kid can have (but a close second would be spending some quality time with PBS kids).
3. He gets mad if I pick him up from school; he would much, much rather ride the bus with his school friends.
4. He played his first season of soccer this fall and can't wait for it to start up again in the spring. He's constantly asking me when soccer will start again.
5. He loves macaroni and cheese, aka the yellow death
6. He has shark teeth. His bottom permanent teeth are in behind his bottom primary teeth. I don't think this is a good sign for his orthodontic future.

2003

2004
2005200620072008

Holiday Goings On

On Saturday, January 3rd this is the ONLY thing I wanted to see, minus the need to shovel a driveway full of snow of course. We were on the end of a week long road trip and we were ALL pretty darn sick of the close quarters of Jason's truck. But that's the end of the story. So here's the beginning. . .

Our holidays were filled with unexpected fun.

Before Christmas we got a bunch of snow that actually stuck around this town (unexpected in amount and duration). We get snow, but usually it warms up quick (like a few days ago the high was 61?!?) and the snow goes BYE BYE. This put a kink in my shopping plans because who wants to carry a baby in and out of stores in that kind of weather? Especially since I only had a few things to buy and I still had PLENTY of time left. Notice the lack of road behind our fence. Kennewick is not equipped to deal with lots of snow so we had about 18 inches that sat on our road and got packed into a sheet of ice for over a week. A snowplow did finally find our little side street, but by the time it came along it was more like nails scratching a chalk board than snow removal.

Then Nathanael missed his entire last week of school (definitely unexpected) due to two hour delays each day in our school district (snow and more snow). When there is a two hour delay, morning kindergarten gets canceled altogether. He vacillated between LOVING sleeping in and being bored/missing his teacher. I am clearly not as fun as her and I got a little grumpy. The last minute Christmas shopping I had put off would have worked tons better with an infant that can't yet speak than with a six year old coming along.

But in the end the stockings were hung and the
presents wrapped and we had a wonderful Christmas.

Two days later we hit the road for an Arizona wedding (unexpected because Jason was going to fly down alone but that didn't work out so we all piled in the truck and left). The roads were scary in Oregon and Idaho but once we were in Nevada the roads were good and the temperature kept rising! Gotta love that.

A fun pit stop along the way.

The Happy Couple. . .

The wedding was the highlight. It was so great to finally meet Patricia (Patricia you are fabulous!!) and see Pat snugged up with a chic! It's wonderful to have her in the family.

Family Fun (all pictures with all smiles is boring)

The next two days were spent basking in the AZ sun, swimming, setting up for the reception, taking pictures and, if you are a kid, living in bliss. Imagine an acre of land, plus the open area beyond with a canal, lots of dirt, sun and no adults telling you to keep yourself clean or not to eat dirt. What could bring greater childhood happiness?

Grandpa + his fifteen grands

The reception was beautiful, the weather was nice, the food was yummy,
the band was festive and there was some pretty sweet dancing going on.

Patricia's wonderful parents, Miguel and MarleneJason and Eli

Patricia and the girls
Twirly Girly

The family festivities were lots of fun and ended too soon, especially considering the six of us had to climb back into that little truck cab again. But it was good while it lasted. . .75 degrees when you're used to 10 degrees is swimming weather!

On the way home Ethan was throwing up or sleeping
(thank you to whoever invented ziplock bags),

Elijah was grumpy or sleepingWe hit snow sooner than expected,

and Kate took over Jason's iPod.

At 9:00 pm Saturday night our house was such a welcome sight!

Four eyes

Ethan and Kate in their new readers

When we moved here Ethan told me he couldn't see so well at school and wondered if he needed glasses. The school nurse gave him a simple eye exam and said his eyes are just fine. For the most part that was the end of it. When Jason and I had our eye exams this month we decided to get all the kids checked too since they are now on the vision insurance. Kate went first and her exam was going great. The doctor was almost done; just a quick check of the up close stuff. She really struggled and the exam took another twenty minutes. She needs reading glasses and it turns out Ethan does too. We aren't passing our kids good eye genes. Or maybe they don't eat enough carrots? I wonder if Nathanael or Eli have a chance. . .