The end of the school year - was as any other year - busy. The kids had performances after performances, exams and more exams. One unique occasion, was a talent show, where Carson juggled and rode a unicycle - it was great break up to all the piano solos and the parents loved it. The older kids performed with their instruments and had two major productions; Andrew Lloyd Weber Night with Perth City Band (performing for a paid audience), and a religious cantata (Sally Deford's music), orchestrated by their music teacher, who is only 20 years old, with over 500 in attendance each evening, held two separate evenings. It featured a handbell choir, harps, full orchestra (Mikaela on piccolo and flute and Nathan on Bflat and Eflat Clarinets)and full choir, it was simply an amazing production, and mastered minded by such a young person. Here is a picture of the Mikaela and Nathan performing with the Perth City Band at the Governor's House:
Elise was invited to a Gala to award her a 'young artist of the year award' for piano, the evening went so long that she fell asleep - I had to carry her asleep onto the stage to get her award - to the delight of the audience. She never woke up and never realized she received it until the next day.
At the close of the International School, award ceremonies were held. and amongst other awards Nathan and Mikaela both won the Principal's Choice Award. It is an award given out to top students in grades 7 and above and only a few are awarded each year. Well done Mikaela and Nathan.
After school got out for the older three, we pulled Elise out of school and headed to the east coast of Australia. This break was our first chance to explore the other side. Queensland is so beautiful! I had always said we got the best of Australia here in Perth - but to be completely honest - Queensland is very amazing. The mountainous forest end at the ocean. Gorgeous greenbelts come all the way to the water's edge. Here is a picture that doesn't do it justice - I took it on a foggy morning.
We spent most of our time there seeing the Great Barrier Reef. This is right up our families alley. We took boats out to snorkel and dive amongst the reefs. Elise was a delight as her enthusiasm for the life below sea was so great! At first she wasn't seeing the marine life at all - she would put her little face in the water and her mask would leek. We got the smallest mask available, but her little face was too petite. Finally, we just put goggles on her and put the snorkel through the goggle strap and when she looked under she started screaming - A FISH, I SEE FISH - CORAL - LOOK THERE IS CORAL!!!! EVERYONE LOOK HERE .......... She stayed swimming around in the ocean until she was purple then she finally got out and warmed up. Our pictures of the Great Barrier Reef were all taken with film - I will check into getting them digitized so we can post some of the pictures. The forest of Queensland are rainforest's. Crocodiles live there. Amongst other wonders we saw Strangler Fig trees, and duckbilled platypuses. We found out from locals were you might be able to see a platypus and we camped out by the river's edge until we saw some. All the kids were game to wait it out and we were rewarded with seeing several and even a baby one. Look closely at the following picture it is an adult platypus.
One of the best parts of Queensland was our rental car. We called around looking for a vehicle with six seats - after all we are, 'the six Woodfords', no less. We finally found a place with an available car, we booked it and Todd took a taxi to go pick it up. Turned out it was an old Ford Falcon station wagon with over 300,000 kilometers on it. The paint was peeled off the hood, the seat belts were moldy, and the car was still up for rental. The Australians really believe in use it up, wear it out, or do with out! That car started every time and went up all the mountain roads. Picture below is Todd modeling in front of the rental car.
After leaving Cairns, Todd flew back to Perth to work. The kids and I flew to Brisbane to tour there a little bit. The highlight of Brisbane was getting to cuddle a koala. You would not believe how wonderfully soft the koalas are. I honestly wanted to run away with it to keep it forever when it wrapped its little arms around me and laid its head on me. After the excitement of actually holding a koala wore off - reality set in and for the first time I realized how stinky they are and I willingly gave the koala back to the keeper. Here are photos of the kids holding the koala's.
At this same animal sanctuary wild birds have learnt that nectar is put out a couple times a day and the birds come flying in from all over to enjoy the food which patrons to the sanctuary can hold the bowls and let the birds eat. Here is a picture of the wild lorikeets, and one of Nathan and his new best friend.
I can't figure out our luck, but out of all the wild animal shows we have attended (between Australia, USA and Singapore), Elise or Carson has gotten chosen to be a participant at every show except for one. They want to be picked soooo bad - and somehow one of those two get to go on stage a lot. Carson was lucky one this time - he was picked to let a barn owl fly down to his arm, see below:
After our fun in Queensland and our new found respect for the area - we headed to Sydney to fly back home.
Once we arrived in Houston it was figure out Carson time. The morning after we arrived we had scheduled appointments for Carson. He was weighed on Dr. Bootin's scale a week before we moved to Australia. Almost exactly one year later and few inches taller he weighed in exactly 10 pounds less. He had three really bad 'episodes' with his digestive system while in Perth which would last about a week were he could not eat and for weeks following the episodes he would feel unwell. All this added together and the length of time that he felt unwell enough to eat - he lost at the lowest point 14 pounds. He missed a lot of school, and unfortunately during this time couldn't go surfing, scouts, and generally enjoy himself. He had a colonoscopy and endoscope done while in Houston and the doctors found signs of disturbance such as inflammation and dysmotility. But, they still don't exactly know why, guessing there could be inflammable bowel disease or severe reaction to an infection. We are emailing his doctor in Houston once a month to keep tabs and to see if there is some pattern that would help lead to a diagnosis or find out he is healing and this will all be over.
Outside of worrying about Carson we had a great time in the states. We saw our friends and family and loved every minute of it. Thank you to all who had us over - we miss you - and hope all is well with you.
Carson and Nathan got to go to camp whilst we were in Houston, and the girls spent their time catching up with their friends. It was so nice to be in warm water - I do miss the warm water in Houston. Carson and I had to stay in Houston for his biopsies so we were only in SLC for a day and half. Everyone else went on as scheduled to visit family there. We got to stay at the cabin and much to our delight we spotted a moose and her two twins. We also saw this beautiful deer not far from the cabin, he was turning to look at Elise when I got this photo:
After 11 flights in just a short amount time we found ourselves back in Perth. We had an unexpected layover in Sydney so we have now seen the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. They truly are spectacular buildings. But, we were dressed for summer in America and it was mid-winter in Sydney and raining so we froze outside therefore, we spent most of our 12 hour wait in the airport.
We are settled back into routine now, kids have been in school for several weeks.
The International School has literally doubled since we came a year ago - 71 kids to 144 kids now. Our ward (church) has also literally doubled, it must be us!!?
Spring is around the corner now and I can't wait - I don't prefer winter if there isn't a Christmas to go with it. Winter in the middle of the year just doesn't seem right. The parrots are back and often we get a beautiful day and the wildflowers are already blooming see below, I found these blooming in Kings Park right by Todd's work:
Well, this was long as I hadn't updated for a long, long time. So good to see everyone back home and we miss you and are looking forward to those who are coming to visit - You will love it here when you get here!!!
Love,
The 6 Woodfords,
~Pam, Todd, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson, and Elise
