 |
 |
| This newsletter design made with Smilebox |
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Australia Winter 2010
Ever wondered what a Kookaburra looked like?
Kookaburras sitting in the old gum tree: I love photographing these birds!
The end of the school year always mark a special day for Mikaela. She turned 15 on June 7. We arranged a surprise birthday party for her and we really pulled it off - she had no idea. The kids all made a cake whilst at our house see below:
Held at the same park with the Flame of Remembrance, Kings Park, is the annual Red Bull Air Race. This is a great race of airplanes over the river who compete to get the lowest time through the course. In the photo you can see an orange plane sideways going through the pylon.
At the end of the school year in June, we were so excited for the kids to be done with school!!! Nathan had 5 AP (advance placement) classes and Mikaela her first set of high school exams and the stress was intense as the kids strove to do their best. So when school ended the very next day we boarded a plane to Indonesia. We went to Bali to recoup. We stayed in a villa and had a marvelous time. We watched and learnt from the local people and toured the island from one end to the other. We hired a driver for the week and he came to get us each day and took us around in a mini-van. Nathan hired a scooter for five dollars a day and did some sightseeing on his own amongst the back roads and terraced rice fields. Click on the smilebox below to see lots of pictures of Bali:
A photo of the kids in Texas when we traveled home.
Spent all the time we could with family.
Then we headed up to Salt Lake City. We got to stay at our cabin and loved it. It is like being in another world up there in the canyon. We saw moose and deer and coyote and lots of little squirrels and potbellys.
Again we tried to see all the family we could and we got to go camping with Todd's family and had a blast. One day we all went on horse/mule ride through Bryce Canyon. Elise was so excited she was one day too young to ride, but the owners agreed to let her go as she was turning 7 years old the next day. Mikaela on the ride:
Here is a picture of Grandma Sue and all the cousins, only missing Timmy and Amy both living in Houston. Everyone met at our cabin and we had a fire, roasted marshmellows and played games.
Kookaburras sitting in the old gum tree: I love photographing these birds!
It's spring in Australia and I am only just now writing about winter. We have done so much, gone so many places, broken so many bones (another blog), taken so many tests and the list goes on and on that I don't know where the time has gone. I wish I could freeze it - but I can't so we are making the most of every moment. We are feeling the countdown as we are scheduled to return to the states in 2011, unless we will accept another assignment. We have loved this experience and would not have changed a thing.
The end of the school year is always full of events, performances and tests. One noteworthy event was Carson being asked to represent the American Boy Scouts at a ceremony honoring the American Memorial Day.
The ceremony was held at the Flame of Remembrance, which is a memorial for all fallen soldiers from Australia. The flame is always lit. He and one other scout were asked to carry a wreath and lay it at the flame to honor all the fallen US soldiers. President Obama and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sent messages for the service to be read aloud. And the Australia Military Representative thanked the Americans who helped keep Australia a free country. The stories of American assistance to aid the Australia military were very moving and I learned alot and we can be proud of what the Americans did for the Aussies.
The kids at the International School get lots of opportunities to learn about local activities and sailboarding is one of those. Any kid in the middle school could sign up and take lessons. Carson did this and enjoyed it so much that in his free time he goes with friends down to the river to sail.
The end of the school year always mark a special day for Mikaela. She turned 15 on June 7. We arranged a surprise birthday party for her and we really pulled it off - she had no idea. The kids all made a cake whilst at our house see below:
Held at the same park with the Flame of Remembrance, Kings Park, is the annual Red Bull Air Race. This is a great race of airplanes over the river who compete to get the lowest time through the course. In the photo you can see an orange plane sideways going through the pylon.
At the end of the school year in June, we were so excited for the kids to be done with school!!! Nathan had 5 AP (advance placement) classes and Mikaela her first set of high school exams and the stress was intense as the kids strove to do their best. So when school ended the very next day we boarded a plane to Indonesia. We went to Bali to recoup. We stayed in a villa and had a marvelous time. We watched and learnt from the local people and toured the island from one end to the other. We hired a driver for the week and he came to get us each day and took us around in a mini-van. Nathan hired a scooter for five dollars a day and did some sightseeing on his own amongst the back roads and terraced rice fields. Click on the smilebox below to see lots of pictures of Bali:
 |
|
| Make a digital slideshow |
We enjoyed being in Bali and seeing a different part of the world, we stayed away from the typical tourist destinations - and we went out and explored Bali and saw what life was like for the typical Indonesian in Bali. I think it was good for our kids to realized how blessed we are day to day with the clean water, safe food, education and medical services that we have. The best bits of Bali I believe are the sense of community, the daily attention to religious beliefs, and simple way of life. The worst bits of Bali, stomach aches, monkey bites and exit visas!!!! Elise's Bali braided hair.
After we left Bali, which we almost didn't leave Bali - because we couldn't pay for the exit visa - long story made short, I gave all the Balinese money to Todd as the kids and I were flying out first and went to the airport not knowing we would need an exit visa and the Balinese would not take my credit card or check and I had no money. No-one would help us and they wouldn't let us out of customs without the visa's, it was awful. After asking for supervisor after supervisor, I finally got someone who allowed us to use a credit card to pay for the visa and we were able to leave Bali.
We flew from Bali to Dubai. We got to see the world's tallest building, but more importantly we learnt that the people of the United Arab Emirates appreciates Cheetos just like we do in America see below: we miss Cheetos in Australia.
We got to go to Houston and visit family and enjoy seeing friends. One of the first things we did after arriving in Houston was to get Nathan the rabies vaccine after being bitten by a monkey in Bali. He had to have the complete series and the immunogoblin injected into the site of the bite - only done in post exposure to rabies. The doctor offered to put him under, but he did it without any pain meds or sedation, the vaccine series was a piece a cake after the immuno. Two doctors arranged to work in tandem to inject the immunogoblin so it wouldn't take so long, and after the procedure was over they said they were going to need to cancel patients for the rest of the day and go home and that Nathan owed me a margarita and that he could never get close to a monkey again. He has followed through with the second order.
My dad has turned his back yard into a vineyard and the kids got to pick the grapes while we were there and we made grape jelly.
We stayed in Houston for the 4th of July and Todd got to fly in from Australia to join us for a few days. See below the Texas cousin's:
Elise and Amy made up for lost time.
A photo of the kids in Texas when we traveled home.
Spent all the time we could with family.
Then we headed up to Salt Lake City. We got to stay at our cabin and loved it. It is like being in another world up there in the canyon. We saw moose and deer and coyote and lots of little squirrels and potbellys.
Again we tried to see all the family we could and we got to go camping with Todd's family and had a blast. One day we all went on horse/mule ride through Bryce Canyon. Elise was so excited she was one day too young to ride, but the owners agreed to let her go as she was turning 7 years old the next day. Mikaela on the ride:
Here is a picture of Grandma Sue and all the cousins, only missing Timmy and Amy both living in Houston. Everyone met at our cabin and we had a fire, roasted marshmellows and played games.
Nathan and cousin, Jordan, went fishing at the lake above the cabin and got some trout - yummy!
After a bit of time in SLC we headed back to Australia. The kids start school early as they are given 6 weeks off at Christmas time to go visit their home country, so school starts late July. We got to bring my mom back with us to see Australia. Those adventures will be in the next blog. We loved getting to see everyone at home and made us miss you all even more!
Lots of photos from America click on the smilebox below. --Good-bye!
 |
|
| Slideshow design generated with Smilebox |
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Easter, Hospitals, Triathlons, Caves and More
Easter in Australia is in autumn. Really confuses a person. Autumn leaves and cool days and Easter decorations of spring.? The above picture of some deviled eggs we made into little hatching chicks. Every fourth Sunday we have 'Soup Sunday' a potluck following church and we brought the little hatching chicks for the potluck.
We couldn't find Easter baskets when we moved here so I made the kids some. This picture shows their Easter baskets.
On the good side we have had some more adventures. During the kid's break from school, we got to go down south and tour a bunch of caves. We saw some amazing animal fossils and really nice cave formations. The fossils we saw were gigantic forms of current marsupials, very interesting.
We also got to go up a light house that guards over the seas where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. Look at this photograph, look closely and you will see waves coming from two different directions. This is the exact place where the two oceans meet.
On the good side we have had some more adventures. During the kid's break from school, we got to go down south and tour a bunch of caves. We saw some amazing animal fossils and really nice cave formations. The fossils we saw were gigantic forms of current marsupials, very interesting.
We also got to go up a light house that guards over the seas where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. Look at this photograph, look closely and you will see waves coming from two different directions. This is the exact place where the two oceans meet.
Nathan got to compete in a half iron-man competition. Due to being under-aged he was only allowed to compete in one leg of the triathlon. He joined with two other boys under 18 and they made a team. They were up against over 200 teams of all ages and their swimmer got out of the water in 6Th position passed off to Nathan and Nathan rode his bike for 90 kilometers and brought the team into 3rd position, their runner is new to the sport and lost their winning hold, but they did an amazing job and had a great race.
Hospital Story: I was in a city north of Perth, Joondalup, getting my hair cut when I realized that I was not well. So unwell, in fact, I was admitted to a hospital. Turns out I had a kidney infection and stone. Three days into it all, my kidney functions were shutting down and the infection was on the verge of becoming sepsis. Late one evening the doctor came in to tell me the bad news. He said, "Blood work is showing that your kidney is failing, this is not what we wanted, so I have booked you for theater as soon as possible, I'm hoping to get you into a theater as soon as tonight." I translated this to, "Your kidney is seriously ill so we are going to let you get some entertainment?" Of course, 'theater' in Australia means, operating room, that made a lot more sense.
Hospital Story: I was in a city north of Perth, Joondalup, getting my hair cut when I realized that I was not well. So unwell, in fact, I was admitted to a hospital. Turns out I had a kidney infection and stone. Three days into it all, my kidney functions were shutting down and the infection was on the verge of becoming sepsis. Late one evening the doctor came in to tell me the bad news. He said, "Blood work is showing that your kidney is failing, this is not what we wanted, so I have booked you for theater as soon as possible, I'm hoping to get you into a theater as soon as tonight." I translated this to, "Your kidney is seriously ill so we are going to let you get some entertainment?" Of course, 'theater' in Australia means, operating room, that made a lot more sense.
Two memories of being in the hospital: 1. True to the doctors word I was being taken to surgery just a hour later. We had to go down an elevator to the operating room and on the way the elevator broke down between floors. Ever been in a lot of pain, laying on a gurney, stuck in a tiny elevator with no pain killers available? Not the most pleasant scenario, I would have gladly traded it for a nice visit to a theater, perhaps a musical, Andrew Lloyd Weber!
2nd thing (funny): A couple of days later I was finally able to have visitors and Elise came to see me for the first time since I had been admitted. She sat beside me on the bed and looked curiously at me and said, "Mom you have been gone so long I forgot you had short hair." I had to laugh, for the first time days, of course she hadn't seen me since I had my hair cut.
We were blessed with caring people from church while this was going on. We haven't any family in Australia to call on, but the church members immediately filled in and took care of things while I was away. Its funny you can be so far away from home, but with the church you are home wherever you are.
Favorite Quote from the whole hospital thing: The hospital called me one day to update me on my schedule for the next surgery to remove the kidney stent and lazertrypsy a stone. While I was talking to the surgery coordinator she was letting me know how my 2nd surgery could be changed if an emergency came in, she said and I quote, "Unfortunately, your condition is not life threatening at the moment, so I can give you date for surgery, but it could change." I guess next time I'll make sure my condition is life threatening???
Carson turned a teenager!! 13 years old. We adults are outnumbered by teenagers now in our household. Carson likes rock climbing so we took his friends for a bit of climbing for his birthday. Here is a picture of Carson scaling two walls at once. The second picture obviously his birthday cake. The siblings got in on the action and enjoyed climbing also. Elise climbing below:
Mikaela is continuing in dance and really enjoying it. I was able to begin a dance company at the International School. The group was invited to perform at showcase and did fantastic. Their performance was so good in fact that the International School is allowing us to have the instructor come during the school day, during lunch time, not just after school hours. Here I caught Mikaela checking herself in the mirror before they went on stage. Below a group shot of the International Dance students.
Elise is growing up way too fast. I enjoy her being young but realize she is growing up. She is loosing teeth and has more gaps than teeth at the moment. There are only 9 total girls in her class at school and so we celebrated their growing up with a Gap Girls party - copied from my friend, Val, in Pearland from years ago when Mikaela was younger, highlighting all their gaps from missing teeth. All the girls came to our house and showed off their smiles for the photo below and played games like, Fun, Funky, Fingernails and just played and enjoyed being little girls.
Elise has been given a alphabetical list of words at school for vocabulary. The kids are to read the list and if they come to a word they don't know the meaning of they are to look it up in the dictionary and write out the meaning. Elise found a word on the list under the letter 'F' that she didn't know. She came home from school and told me the new word she learned that day. And the teacher instructed her to begin to use her vocabulary words in everyday speech. I can't decide to be upset or proud of her as she consistently refers to Nathan as 'feeble' Nathan, whenever she calls or speaks to him, but she definitely has master the new word!
2nd thing (funny): A couple of days later I was finally able to have visitors and Elise came to see me for the first time since I had been admitted. She sat beside me on the bed and looked curiously at me and said, "Mom you have been gone so long I forgot you had short hair." I had to laugh, for the first time days, of course she hadn't seen me since I had my hair cut.
We were blessed with caring people from church while this was going on. We haven't any family in Australia to call on, but the church members immediately filled in and took care of things while I was away. Its funny you can be so far away from home, but with the church you are home wherever you are.
Favorite Quote from the whole hospital thing: The hospital called me one day to update me on my schedule for the next surgery to remove the kidney stent and lazertrypsy a stone. While I was talking to the surgery coordinator she was letting me know how my 2nd surgery could be changed if an emergency came in, she said and I quote, "Unfortunately, your condition is not life threatening at the moment, so I can give you date for surgery, but it could change." I guess next time I'll make sure my condition is life threatening???
Carson turned a teenager!! 13 years old. We adults are outnumbered by teenagers now in our household. Carson likes rock climbing so we took his friends for a bit of climbing for his birthday. Here is a picture of Carson scaling two walls at once. The second picture obviously his birthday cake. The siblings got in on the action and enjoyed climbing also. Elise climbing below:
Mikaela is continuing in dance and really enjoying it. I was able to begin a dance company at the International School. The group was invited to perform at showcase and did fantastic. Their performance was so good in fact that the International School is allowing us to have the instructor come during the school day, during lunch time, not just after school hours. Here I caught Mikaela checking herself in the mirror before they went on stage. Below a group shot of the International Dance students.
Elise is growing up way too fast. I enjoy her being young but realize she is growing up. She is loosing teeth and has more gaps than teeth at the moment. There are only 9 total girls in her class at school and so we celebrated their growing up with a Gap Girls party - copied from my friend, Val, in Pearland from years ago when Mikaela was younger, highlighting all their gaps from missing teeth. All the girls came to our house and showed off their smiles for the photo below and played games like, Fun, Funky, Fingernails and just played and enjoyed being little girls.
Elise has been given a alphabetical list of words at school for vocabulary. The kids are to read the list and if they come to a word they don't know the meaning of they are to look it up in the dictionary and write out the meaning. Elise found a word on the list under the letter 'F' that she didn't know. She came home from school and told me the new word she learned that day. And the teacher instructed her to begin to use her vocabulary words in everyday speech. I can't decide to be upset or proud of her as she consistently refers to Nathan as 'feeble' Nathan, whenever she calls or speaks to him, but she definitely has master the new word!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
New School Year & Middle of School Year
Elise in school uniform: City Beach Primary School
It gets confusing having kids offset by six months in their start dates for school. Elise just began 'year 1' as the Aussie say it. Nathan, Mikaela and Carson are in the middle of their school years, 11, 9 and 7 respectively. With the big kids having just had 2 months off, I keep thinking they are starting a new school year also. Elise is settling into "big" school nicely. She has been with the same group of kids since we arrived in Australia - there is only one class of students per grade - so they have all moved along together.
The beach near where we camped had kangaroos all around look at the following picture of the naughty kangaroo that broke into the campsite and has the remains of a soup mix all over his nose.
This the end of this novel - Here are the kids and a neighbor kid playing in the backyard pool - have a good day - We miss you all and hope you are well!!!!
~The 6 Woodfords (Todd, Pam, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson and little Elise)
It gets confusing having kids offset by six months in their start dates for school. Elise just began 'year 1' as the Aussie say it. Nathan, Mikaela and Carson are in the middle of their school years, 11, 9 and 7 respectively. With the big kids having just had 2 months off, I keep thinking they are starting a new school year also. Elise is settling into "big" school nicely. She has been with the same group of kids since we arrived in Australia - there is only one class of students per grade - so they have all moved along together.
Being that it is summer, we are outdoors as much as possible. Australia Day, like the 4th of July, was Jan. 26th. We had a great time, we went with friends to watch fireworks over the Swan River and have a picnic. It was a great day - the only down side was that Todd was in France and not with us.
Nathan competed in the Australia Day Triathlon and won by a 23 second gap, the crowds couldn't contain themselves:)
Nathan has made a spot on the Western Australia State team. He will be traveling to Adelaide this year to compete in the National Championships in March. Last year he made the team we were still so new to the country that it was a bit overwhelming, this year we understand the process and are enjoying it all. Wish him luck for the big event.
During the Christmas break we drove down to Esperance. We have never seen water so clear anywhere else on earth. With the clear water and pure white sand it was interesting to note the type of fish swimming along the shallow bits of water. They were white, almost clear, fish - so you couldn't see them against the white sand bottom - you would see their shadow movement before you could see them. We really enjoyed snorkeling there. Starfish by the dozen and neat sea life in plenty.
Here is Elise holding a brightly colored starfish...
This is Sammy , a wild sea lion, he was always at the pier hoping to get a fisherman's discards.
We found one place that we enjoyed very much. It is voted Australia's most beautiful beach. There was a big rock island not too far from the beach that people swim out to and jump off and lay around on and have fun in general. I heard a man yelling in Korean, I couldn't understand a word, but couldn't mistake the tone, he was panicking and struggling to stay afloat. I alerted Todd who jumped off the rock and got to the man and swam him to the safety of the rock. The poor man was so frightened and exhausted from the experience that he couldn't move for about 30 minutes.
Nathan has made a spot on the Western Australia State team. He will be traveling to Adelaide this year to compete in the National Championships in March. Last year he made the team we were still so new to the country that it was a bit overwhelming, this year we understand the process and are enjoying it all. Wish him luck for the big event.
Carson just came home from a week touring the nation's capital, Canberra. He got to see Parliament in session. He went with the kids from middle school and learned all about Australian government and got to see the National Zoo - Carson continued on his lucky streak and got chosen to feed a white tiger some raw meat. Pictured below:Carson at Perth Domestic Airport and getting a good-bye hug from big sister - or death grip not sure...
During the Christmas break we drove down to Esperance. We have never seen water so clear anywhere else on earth. With the clear water and pure white sand it was interesting to note the type of fish swimming along the shallow bits of water. They were white, almost clear, fish - so you couldn't see them against the white sand bottom - you would see their shadow movement before you could see them. We really enjoyed snorkeling there. Starfish by the dozen and neat sea life in plenty.
Here is Elise holding a brightly colored starfish...
This is Sammy , a wild sea lion, he was always at the pier hoping to get a fisherman's discards.
We found one place that we enjoyed very much. It is voted Australia's most beautiful beach. There was a big rock island not too far from the beach that people swim out to and jump off and lay around on and have fun in general. I heard a man yelling in Korean, I couldn't understand a word, but couldn't mistake the tone, he was panicking and struggling to stay afloat. I alerted Todd who jumped off the rock and got to the man and swam him to the safety of the rock. The poor man was so frightened and exhausted from the experience that he couldn't move for about 30 minutes.
The beach near where we camped had kangaroos all around look at the following picture of the naughty kangaroo that broke into the campsite and has the remains of a soup mix all over his nose.
Wave Rock is a tourist attraction south of Perth and of course we had to take a route down to Esperance that allowed us to see Wave Rock. It is shaped, you guessed it, like a wave - a giant rock wave. Our whole family is in the picture we are the little colored bits on the bottom. I think it would be cool to take a surf board here and remove the bottom fins and stand on it, and take a photo...
With school back in, surfing has started again. The two oldest go to seminary at 6am till 6:50, I load up the rest of the family and get them from seminary and make it to Trigg beach for the 7am surfing group. See Mikaela just finishing riding a wave in...
With school back in, surfing has started again. The two oldest go to seminary at 6am till 6:50, I load up the rest of the family and get them from seminary and make it to Trigg beach for the 7am surfing group. See Mikaela just finishing riding a wave in...
Look closely we still don't know where the person is that was on the white surf board next to Carson?????
This the end of this novel - Here are the kids and a neighbor kid playing in the backyard pool - have a good day - We miss you all and hope you are well!!!!
~The 6 Woodfords (Todd, Pam, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson and little Elise)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
