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!
