Australia Adventures

Nathan's Farewell from Australia to Air Force Academy

2011-06-30T08:45:00.001-07:00

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2011-04-04T20:27:00.001-07:00

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Surfing Adventure with Dolphins

2011-02-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

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Christmas Newsletter 2010

2010-12-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

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Australia Winter 2010

2010-10-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what a Kookaburra looked like?
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:

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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!

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Easter, Hospitals, Triathlons, Caves and More

2010-05-09T03:43:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

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!

New School Year & Middle of School Year

2010-02-13T22:40:00.001-08:00

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.

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.

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...

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)

2009-12-25T22:36:00.000-08:00

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It Was Good to Be Home

2009-07-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

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

Singapore 2009

2009-04-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

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2009-04-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

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Autumn in Australia 2009

2009-04-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

This autumn has taken members of our family from Tasmania to Singapore to even a few remote places of Australia with no people. The end of March was an exciting time. Nathan worked hard and earned a spot on the Western Australia triathlon team. The top 6 boys earned a place to compete in the National competition to be held in Tasmania. Nathan and Todd headed off to Tasmania along with the team to attend the competition. Nathan had a great race, getting his personal best time, and getting a ranking of 23rd in Australia. Think about geography for a moment and give your condolences for the triathletes having to swim in the frigid waters off the Tasmania coast. It was an open water swim.

The picture below is of Nathan leaving to fly to Tasmania.

While they were off to Tasmania, Mikaela headed off to Boshack. It is a camp that teaches the kids life in Australia in the olden years. The week she was gone she learned a bit about astronomy, Aboriginal customs, and general farming. They were given the foods the earliest settlers would have eaten, including: crocodile, emu and kangaroo. The following is a picture of Boshack:

Todd left Tasmania to head straight to Singapore where he had a Technology Conference. Since, Mikaela was gone to camp and Nathan hadn't returned from Tasmania yet, the two youngest kids and I flew out to Singapore to join Todd. We had an amazingly good time. For those of you who know Carson has been ill, we were a little worried to take him. He has now lost 10 pounds and it has been a real concern and undiagnosed problem. But, he was able to make the trip and enjoy skipping school and seemed to have enjoyed himself. (We are learning the Australian medical system, felt very frustrated for awhile, but feel he is in good hands now as he is under the care of pediatric gastroenterologist.) The kids and I took to Singapore on our own, we basically never saw Todd, except when we arrived at the hotel in the late evenings. See the smile box to see the pictures. The definite highlight of the trip was when the kids had a fish sauna. You stick your feet in a tank of little fish and the fish stick to your feet and clean the skin, the fish just work their way all around your feet.

Tribal men breathing fire in Singapore: Carson has been juggling and begging for a non-toxic accelerant ever since Singapore.

Elise got chosen out the audience to let a hawk take meat from her at the Jurong Bird Park. She was so excited. She had to talk to the audience in a microphone and a hawk swooped down and took some meat off the sticks she was holding.

After we all got back home, it wasn't long before fall break was upon us. We loaded up the van with everything but the kitchen sink and headed up north. We had no idea how much of nothing we would find. Once you leave the metropolitan Perth area headed north you find very little. At times we worried about the ability to get gas to keep the van moving. We had two destinations in mind, we only made it to one, a favorite of the locals, a place called Monkey Mia. - the distance to the other too great we determined for a 5 day trip. Here dolphins come into shore every morning for a tasty fish treat given out by lucky on-lookers under the guidance of the wildlife department. There are 5 dolphins that are fed, the 5 females of the group. The other dolphins just swim around and look cute. If you are chosen you can go into the water and feed one of the dolphins one of 5 fish they get each morning. Carson and Elise were both lucky enough to be chosen.

We spent most of our time at Monkey Mia. We took a tour on a boat that took us out in open waters to see DUGONGS, 10 points for anyone who had heard of those before.
These are a mother and baby dugong

They are similar to manatees that live in the waters off N.America. We saw lots of other marine life, tiger sharks, dolphins, dugongs, and my personal favorite a sea turtle. Australia hasn't devolved yet into a liturgist society so we got to sit on a net behind the boat and get pulled through the water. That was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed that part. Once we came upon the group of tiger sharks we banned the kids from riding in it further.

The only down side of the trip was the flies, flies and more flies: The following picture of Mikaela says it all:

We all got fly nets and wore them outside so the flies wouldn't bother us. Emus are wild in north and meander all around the populated areas. Some have become tame and help themselves to your lunch others are still quite shy and avoid human contact. This picture shows an emu that wanted to join us for lunch or rather eat our whole lunch we eventually had to pack up - he was fairly persistent. (You can see two of the kids still with fly nets pulled up on their heads.)

Australia is huge and has a very low, relative to its size, population. Although we knew before headed out that large stretches of land contain no settlement, it was quite amazing to see for ourselves how quickly leaving the Perth metropolitan area to the north there becomes very little inhabited areas. Australia is beautiful, and we hope to keep exploring it and seeing all its beauty, even if these places are located in remote areas. Smileboxes containing pictures of Nathan's triathlon in Tasmania, the trip to Singapore, and our Northern Australia pictures are now posted on the blog.

2009-02-13T04:53:00.000-08:00

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Half Year Mark Reached

2009-02-13T02:26:00.000-08:00

In Jan. we reached our half year mark of being in Australia. It has gone quickly, but seems like forever since we have been home.
Australian's are mourning the loss of lives and property due to the fires in Victoria. The Australian's are pitching in and people all over the continent are giving to help the 7000 people left homeless. In all the bad of the fire one sweet animal rescue stands out as spectacular. A fireman spotted a koala walking raggedly along the burnt forest floor and stopped his truck as the poor koala gave up and sat. He quickly got a bottle of water for her and she eagerly drank the water. As she was easing her thirst she reached out and took the fireman's hand and continued to hold it until she finished drinking. She is now in a wildlife rehab clinic to recover from her burns. The national geographic website has put the rescue video on the web if you wish to see the fireman interact with the wild koala.

I wanted to include some photos of another island we went to, Rottnest. This place is facinating. It is a beautiful island with an unusual animal, a quoaka. It is a marsupial and looks like a big squirrel, beaver, kangaroo mix. The name of the island originated from the Germans who thought the quoakas were giant rats so they named the island "Rottnest" meaning 'rats nest'. The Aboriginals named the animals and the name remains.
Elise was facinated by the quoaka and spent most of her time watching and feeding them the leaves they eat. Mikaela also spent a fair bit of time watching the quoakas. See pictures below:

You can only access the island by boat(unless you are Nathan and are going to swim there, part of a four man team next Sat. more on that later.) There are no cars on the island. There is a store, theater, restaurants, hotels, campgrounds etc... but no cars or private dwellings. We brought our bikes on the boat and camped on the island. We snorkeled and saw some amazing sea creatures. There are reefs right by the island, causing many a ship to sink, but allowing for spectacular snorkeling right off the coast. Carson and Nathan made it on their bikes the entire circumference of the island and enjoyed fishing and biking.
It was nice not to worry about cars when we allowed them to take off. I will add a smilebox of the island pictures, it will probably appear before this set of text.
I can't believe we have been here for 6 months - we miss you all and hope you are well! (See below for a post about Penquin Island another island we visited.)

2009-02-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Summer Vacation 2008-2009

2009-02-04T02:20:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
We spent the kids holidays from school trying to do and see as much of Western Australia as we could. We found places we will never forget and got to spend time just enjoying everyday life in Australia.
On one adventure we went to Penguin Island, a small island off the coast, south of Perth. Here a population of Little Penguins (that's their actual name) live and breed. This is the only place they are found in Australia. You can walk to the island via a sandbar if you don't mind getting wet and having to swim a distance, otherwise you need to kayak there or take the ferry. The little penguins were molting when we were there, when you look at the pictures you can see the old feathers turned brown and fluffed out from the new black feathers. There are some native lizards to the island and they are large and harmless except to your picnic. Nathan had a fever the day we went and we left him with all our gear, picnic lunch etc... to rest under a tree while we went snorkeling and exploring. He covered himself with a towel and fell asleep. While we were away, and he was asleep, the lizards found our picnic lunch and began helping themselves to the food. When we got back one lizard was crawling over Nathan's face as he lay asleep guarding our belongings.

I have included a smilebox more pictures of Penquin Island - I dedicate all slideshow to Kyle, Carson's friend, from back home - who was an avid penguin enthusiast.

Australia Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Gone to the Birds - Smilebox

2008-11-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Birds, Triathlons, National Parks

2008-11-23T15:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Everbody,
We took this picture by Kings Park in Downtown Perth overlooking the Swan River. Last month the country of Australia came to a stand still for the Melbourne Cup. Carson's school celebrated by having all the kids come in fancy homemade hats. Carson made origami horses and put on his hat. All the ladies around here got all dressed up, got their nails and hair done, and donned a fancy hat to watch the cup. Elise's school had each child bring in a snail and they had snail races. Your never too young to indoctrinate in betting.

We found a nearby National Park, only 45 minutes from Perth. It is located in the Darling Range which runs to the east of us. The elevation was high enough to cause pressure in our ears. The only down side to the day was the weather, it rained. The up side, due to the weather the kangaroos were out in midday. We set up a picnic site with a covered shelter and the roos just came bouncing through our picnic area. We even saw a momma with twins in her pouch! Sorry no pictures as I didn't pull my camera out of the car due to the rain. Once the rain passed we were able to BBQ. In Australia, BBQ's are very popular, but due to the excessive dryness of the summer months lasting long stretches of time, lots of fires were being started with people BBQing. So now in almost every public area there are free gas grills. Some places you have to drop some money in them, but for the most part they are free. So we grilled out at the park and the kids climbed rocks, and amazingly made friends with a wild parrot. (I was able to retrieve the camera for this part of the visit. Note the Gone to the Birds smilebox I added.) This place was so beautiful, with waterfalls and forests we intend on visiting again when the weather is nicer and exploring as much of the park as we can.

I added a smilebox of Nathan's first triathlon. Out of all the competitors he came in 6Th place. The kids he raced against came from schools with a triathlon program or from clubs. He was invited to attend time trials for a local club and just completed the running trial. We will have to wait and see if he gets a spot this year for the state team. Unfortunately,the rest of the meets are on Sundays, so he will not be participating. But, if his time trials are good enough he may be able to get into a spot without qualifying in an actual triathlon, you must finish in the first 3 spots in a sanctioned triathlon to make the state team, and so far he has a 6Th place finish.
Elise just performed in a ballet recital. The production was of a famous Australian story - Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, these are gumdrop babies and it tells of their adventures. Elise was a kookaburra in the ballet. It was held at an outdoor amphitheater, called The Quarry. Set at the top of some tall hills not far from our home. It appears someone blasted through the rock to create the natural sloped seating area. The terraced seating is grass covered and you bring a blanket to sit on. It was a unique venue as you could look beyond the stage and see the city of Perth in the distance. Pictures of Elise in her kookaburra costume are in the smilebox, and to note I was able to get an actual kookaburra's picture at the park this weekend, I also added that picture. One last side note, I haven't used an alarm clock since we have been here, the kookaburra's loud laugh each morning at 5:30 is free and reliable and you definitely don't sleep through it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I wish I could be home to be with our friends and family. We are hosting a Thanksgiving at our home on Saturday. Several families wanted to take part in an American Thanksgiving so we are doing our best to prepare one. Here it's not as if you can go the store and buy canned pumpkin, Velveeta, Crisco, corn syrup, graham cracker crust (or graham crackers to make your own), pie crust, cranberry sauce, french fried onions, even a turkey is a hard thing to find. I have been having to find substitutes and make everything from scratch. I've been experimenting with their varieties of pumpkins to find one that will be able to replace our pie pumpkins that we use to make pumpkin pie. I took a picture of the pumpkin I like best for this purpose I will add it to the blog. I found a specialty store in a city south of here that imports corn syrup, the owner is friends with an American and that is why he imported the corn syrup, it is $8 for a tiny bottle, but now I can make my pecan pie.

Know that we miss you all and especially during this Holiday period. Take care, and we will update again soon. Please look below and see all the new smileboxes we added.
Luv,
~Todd, Pam, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson and Elise

2008-11-23T01:11:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Diwali @ the International School

2008-11-17T21:16:00.001-08:00

At the International School the headmaster got up and addressed us at the most recent school event, the Diwali Festival. He said, "Schools usually try to find the things all the kids have in common and celebrate that, but here at the International School we celebrate differences." So, hence the Diwali Festival this week the Halloween festival 2 weeks ago and so on... It really was a great experience and the effort by the teachers to get authentic costumes and choreograph the dances was impressive (luckily we have several teachers from India). The lower school kids participated by making lots and lots of candles. We had an Indian catered dinner to follow the festival. I have included a Smilebox that shows highlights of the festival and Mikaela dancing.

Diwali Festival @ International School

2008-11-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

First Road Trip

2008-10-19T18:39:00.001-07:00

We finally made it out in the car for some road tripping. We loaded up with food and camping gear and generally just headed south. We pulled in to any information centers along the way and gathered pamphlets and went to whatever looked interesting. We found some beautiful places and made it to the most southern point in Australia.

The landscape along the more remote areas is pristine. The water appears very powerful where it comes up along rock formation, too rough to get in. We took lots of photos so I can show you some of the beautiful areas. We found quiet beaches, forests, and general outback areas full of wild kangaroos.

Our first day we found an unique pier it is over a mile long, and once was used as railroad to load barges with wheat I believe. It is now only for tourists but it amazing to walk the length of the pier. At the end you can pay to go into a tunnel that allows you to go 8 meters under water to look at the coral reefs that are forming in the area and the underwater life. We took the tour and really enjoyed watching the various fish and the reef.

Along the pier people fish, mostly for squid, some people hearing our American accent asked us to join them to learn how to fish for squid. It was fascinating for Elise as the squid would squirt it's ink out once pulled out of the water. The water is so clear that the kids went snorkeling off the pier, just a few seconds after the kids got out of the water we saw three giant stingrays, I got a photo of a couple of them but they had moved away by the time I got my camera out. (I stand corrected -thanks Chelle - They are non-agressive).

We got to tour the Tingle Tree forest, which are the worlds third largest trees. The first two tallest trees are both found in California. There is a treetop walk where you get to gradually ascend to the upper level of the trees and walk around for quite a distance with a birds eye view of the forest. This I would recommend for anyone visiting here, it was really neat to be up that high on a secure bridge and look around for miles (kilometers). Look close at the picture below and you can see the bridge we are standing on, Todd took the picture from near the beginning.

We found factories where they make the local Western Australia chocolates, cheeses, nuts, and cereals. Samples are given out at all the factories, the factories are located in the wine country. Miles of grape farms dot the landscape all throughout this region. This area is called the Margaret River Valley.

Todd was in heaven as we stopped at each cheese factory for samples and to purchase some new cheese. The kids most enjoyed the lolly factory and chocolate factories. My favorite was the local nut factory where they sold chocolate covered nuts and varieties of muesli cereals.
The only complaint about the trip was that all the little kangaroos' mothers must have forgotten to teach them to look both ways before crossing the street. Hit kangaroos lay along the road side and whenever we were driving at dark, I was on duty to look for kangaroos crossing the street, more than once we had to slam on the breaks to avoid a roo who didn't look before crossing. Now I know why a high percentage of the cars here have roo bars on the front. From what we saw the roos are a lot worse than the deer that jump out at night. They seem to not notice at all, at least deer stop and stare at you. (The roos below had crossed a horse's fence and were eating his grass, the locals say the roos are very damaging to the farms.)

We made our first trip to an emergency room. Carson got hurt after doctor office hours and when we called the doctor's office they referred us to the local children's hospital. Carson got hit in the eye with a tennis ball at lessons. The eye puffed up and for awhile he just kept it closed and we iced it. Several hours later the swelling had got down but we noticed that his pupil didn't dilate. He had bruised the retina, and the eye doc is watching him for signs of a torn retina as he has a black spot in his vision and blurry vision. We have to go back to the doc to let them check his eye in four weeks to see if the retina will need to be reattached, or if it healed on its own. Leave it to us for a freak accident.

We miss you all and hope you are all well!
Love,
Todd, Pam, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson and little Elise

2008-09-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

Eviction, Birthday Disaster, and Whales

2008-09-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

I am writing again as we did a few things I wanted to share. First off we added to our family, two pet rats, for Mikaela. She had a pet rat before we left and had to leave it behind as immigration officials wouldn't let us bring it into Australia. No rabies are found anywhere on this continent and they are set on keeping it that way. (Cats and dogs brought in are quarantined for up to 6 months). Anyway, we have leased a house that stipulated no pets. Mikaela was finding herself missing her pet more and more as time went on and we began to consider asking the landlord to bend the rule and allow us the pet rat. After finding out about a lady who needed someone to take over her two pet rats we decided to get brave and make the call and see if we could have the rats. She was agreeable and allowed us the pets as long as we continued to keep the house clean, good smelling.... Well, a few days after we got the rats the landlady needed to come over to the house to check out some damage from a recent rain storm here. She is Chinese and had only made it into our entryway when Elise ran up to her with the rat in hand and practically stuck it in her face, various Chinese words emitted from the landlady and I grabbed Elise and scuttled her back to Mikaela's room and put the rat back in the cage, and went back out to the entry to receive my eviction notice. The landlady had recovered from her shock and thankfully, as far as we know at the moment, still have a place to live.
The day before was no better - It was Nathan's 16th birthday - a big occasion in one's life. I dropped all the kids off at school and proceeded to spend the rest of the morning chopping, cutting, baking and getting ready a big birthday dinner for Nathan. I had everything ready and at 5pm talked to Todd and found out I needed to pick him up from work - it was raining. I turned off all the food and left and went to pick up Todd. On the way back, I called the kids told them to turn on the dinner and get it warming back up. We hit traffic and needless to say the dinner got burnt! Oh well, it was only dinner that took 5 hours to make, we still had presents and birthday dessert! We had an elaborate plan for Nathan's birthday, we gave him a floor rug, a small rug, that just sits on the floor and pretended that was all he was getting for his birthday. Actually, he was to be getting a bass guitar. We had arranged to pick up the guitar that very evening to surprise Nathan, under the disguise that Todd needed help with visiting someone from church. Nathan willingly got in the car to assist his dad, on his birthday, with a burnt dinner and only a rug for a present. When they arrived at the place to pick up the guitar I had purchased they found out I ordered a 6 string electric instead of a bass guitar - who on earth knows the difference between an electric and bass? Apparently, everyone but me! That was disaster number two. Nathan was pleased, at least, that I had tried, so on to home without his guitar to have dessert. We had decided to try a local pudding dessert which is, a type of cake with sauce. We put in the candles - fortunately no fire - which would have been par for the evening - and sang and served the cake. We all took a taste and kinda of looked around at each other, no one wanting to really say anything until Elise broke out with "THIS IS YUCK!!!" - and that summed it up beautifully, it was so horrible the whole thing was put in the trash (rubbish bin). So that was Nathan's 16th birthday, burnt dinner, no present, and yucky cake. Believe it or not he is still smilin'.
Friday night Mikaela was invited by a friend from church to attend an end of term party with the girls from her class at school. These girls are all around 11 or 12 years of age. As they were gathered together after school several of the girls began to get nervous to meet an American. They approached Mikaela's friend's mother, who was hosting the event, and asked her if she thought Mikaela would like them. They wanted to know if Mikaela would like their hair up or down better and wanted to know what she would be like. The mom said the girls were beside themselves with worry over meeting a real American girl. Once Mikaela got there and was introduced, they began to inundate her with questions. The best so far was if she knew all the famous people from American TV and radio. Thanks to the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo she was able to say all the famous singers she has at least seen.
Saturday was the makeup day for all the bad previous moments, it was a dream come true day. I have always had an interest in animals, like my kids, and heading out Sat. to see the whales on their migration to Southern waters was a much anticipated event. We meet up with our friends that were joining us on the boat and set off for a glimpse of humpback whales and possible other marine animals. Typically, the tour gets to spot the whales and see possibly up to 6 whales. They use binoculars and watch as the whales go by. The captain using sonar stopped the boat without anyone spotting anything, and within a few moments all around the boat under the water we could see huge glowing white masses. These were the whales. The whales kept circling our boat. There were three, and they were very curious about us. We had a marine biologist on board with us and she was beside herself with pleasure as the whales decided to stay with us the entire two hours and put on a show. At first they scouted us out and then they begin to talk and at the end they actually flipped out of the water. We got amazing photos of the whales and it was a day I don't think any of us will soon forget. One whale seemed to like Elise and Carson and kept coming up out of the water right in front of them, this was great but when whales come up out of water they displace a lot of water and they blow water out of their blow holes, so Carson and Elise got lots of whale spray on them. Whales are amazing animals, their sounds are amazing and their shear size is amazing.
Well, that was a whale of a tale and my fingers are tired and I've written too much, so I'll end now.
Hope everyone is well, and know that we miss you all!
Love,
~Pam, Todd, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson and little Elise

Waves, flowers, and birds

2008-09-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Don't feed the animals

2008-09-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lions, Tigers and Marsupials!!!

2008-09-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,
It has been awhile since I updated, I apologize. The computer had to go to computer hospital, and lots of money later we are reconnected. We seriously considered euthanasia for the computer, but in the end we tried a miracle cure and it worked. The poor thing had an onslaught of more viruses than the Australian company had ever seen, some of the computers' functions will never be recovered, like our music library, but he is with us again and that is all that matters.
So, onto lions, tigers and marsupials. We have spent a lot of our free time finding the indigenous animals of Australia, eventually, we may get tired of seeing roos and wombats, but for the present we enjoy it. We ventured to a State park, Caversham, here you get the best of wild animal viewing and a zoo type experience. The park encompasses a wildlife refuge. Here you get to pet and feed the animals. These animals were once injured or sick and have been cared for and looked after by the refuge, now they are too dependant on humans and will never be let back into the wild. They are all tame and you can see in the pictures the animals snuggle up to the kids at times. We fell in love with a blind, white kangaroo, he would put his paws on us and snuggle his head close. A female kangaroo was very gentle to him and allowed him to nurse even though she is not his mother, so stated the staff. We saw wombats, wallabies, dingos, dragon lizards, parrots of all kinds, Tasmanian devils (the ugliest thing I think I have ever seen)and multiple more animals. All, but the parrots and Tasmanian devils, could be petted.
The children really love animals and aren't afraid around them, the older two are planning on volunteering at a nearby animal refuge that takes in mostly joeys that have lost their mothers. (usually from getting hit by a car) They need to be held in a pouch and feed by a bottle. The center doesn't require many hours from the volunteers and the kids can choose when they sign up for their shift. The only problem is if they will waive the age requirement for Mikaela, she is not old enough yet, but we are hoping they will allow her in anyway.
We have been thinking about and praying for all our family and friends in the Houston area. We felt so distant not being there to help with the clean up effort. Thanks dad for checking on my house and taking care of the damage. We hope you all have electricity again and are returning to life as before Ike.
I got to volunteer at Elise's school for the first time. Very interesting. If a student is showing something, like show-in-tell, when the child finishes he/she is instructed to say, "Thank you for letting me tell you about....", then all the children reply, "Our pleasure". The children are sent outdoors quite often and it is so funny to hear the teachers reminding the children that they must have their shoes and socks OFF before going outside. Once outside the children are given the garden hose to fill up a large bucket so they can dip smaller bowls, cups, pans in to mix the sand with water or just pour it out. This is the very thing our school at home would have kept the kids from for fear they would be all wet. Interestingly enough, only one child changed his pants afterward.
We found a place called Rockingham this Saturday. We explored around a bit and found the most unusual seashells we have ever seen. Here the beach is all limestone rock formations that jet out into the water. Unfortunately, I forgot my memory card for my camera. Just a ferry ride away from Rockingham is an island called, Penguin Island, so called for the little penguins that live on the island. The island is shut down during the breading season, to protect the babies. We plan on taking the short ferry ride out to the island, anyone who comes to visit we will take you also.
At the end of every school term the children get two weeks off. So, Carson and Elise get off school beginning next Monday. The kids at the international school happen to get a week off also that overlaps the second week for the younger kids. With this vacation time for the kids we decided to take our first overnight trip. We are planning on heading up north, where it will be hot in the summer, so we think it would be good to see it now.
Monday the 27th is a holiday the Queen's Birthday. Todd and all the kids get the day off.
Nathan turns 16 years old tomorrow! I have gone out and tried to find familiar foods for his birthday. American bacon is hard to find and costly, they serve the English bacon here, which is much more like ham. A Mexican dinner is what he choose, so that's what we are doing. When we visit home he will get his drivers' license, he finished and passed all the requirements before we left. Children may not drive until 17 and a half here.
Next time I write I will tell you about the whales, and the postmen. I have to run take all the older three to the orthodontist, who by the way, is a Texan, who was asked to come help out here 14 years ago for a 3 year contract. He said it's turned out to be a long three years but will never go home he loves it here. I'm lucky he is here, he was trained in Texas so he knows exactly the type of braces Mikaela is wearing and can work with them. Carson is going to see if he needs braces yet, and Nathan is getting a new retainer, as his retainer was a causality of the move.
Again our hearts go out to all the Houston folk, hope all is well and our prayers are with you.
~the 6 woodfords
Pam, Todd, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson and Elise

Evening at the beach

2008-09-02T06:20:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Toilets and Driving

2008-08-31T01:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
I lost the entire blog as my computer isn't feeling so well with the move and sometimes freezes up, so I may truncate this rewritten message.
I had promised to write about toilets and driving. Toilets first. The first thing you notice about the toilets here is that there isn't a handle to flush the toilet with. The second is it is a bit higher off the ground, much to Elise's displeasure. So how to flush? There are two little buttons to push on top of the toilet. You choose the the smaller if you only need a little flush for just a little business in the potty, or you can choose to push the larger button. This button unleashes the equivalent of the Hoover Dam (again much to Elise's displeasure). The Aussies are serious about their toilets, and I have yet and don't expect to hear anyone has a clogged toilet while I'm here.
Second, Driving: It's all so backward here. The steering wheel is on the right hand side of the car and you drive always keeping to the left. The worst part is that the controls are reversed in the car so I keep hitting the windshield wipers when I need to turn on my blinkers. This posses a problem when I'm signaling with my wipers as I go through the roundabouts, they just don't seem to understand what I'm intending when I use the wipers. The kids find this funny, and laugh each time I do it, I threatened to allow them to walk everywhere they need to go and they have since been keeping their laughing to minimum. Believe it or not, I have now have an Australian license as I am the main driver, Todd at this point will just continue to use his American license.
The kids are still doing well. Nathan just went for week long trip to Karinjara. They camped in the outback, walked through the gorges, went abseiling, hiking and even ran into a 5 meter long python. They were directed to wait until the snake crossed the road which took 10 minutes to allow its entire body to cross. The school had sent home a note letting us know the bus the students were to travel in was kangaroo safe. I guess the roos have a reputation for attacking kids in school buses. They made it without incident.
Mikaela's grade decided to add in an extra field trip while the upper school students were gone and they went to the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit. That's one thing I love about this school, it is so small that if the teacher thinks of a field trip that ties in with what they are learning in school, they will send a note home and the kids will be off using public trans within the next day or so to some interesting place. Last week it was a ballet.
Carson has made a team at his school which consists of 4 boys and they stand in a "Z" like shape and have to move and pass a ball. It is called pass-ball. His team competes next month wish them luck. Carson is also part of the boys choir and they just had two concerts last week. They did very well.
Elise is loving school. She became the 6th girl in her class and was asked to join in with the other 5 girls to take ballet lessons. All the little girls go together after school on Tuesday and luckily there was still space in the class for her to join. So every Tuesday all the girls go to ballet and all the moms go to one of the others mom's house to visit, then we all go pick up our little ballerina.
We have acquired some wet suits, Todd and Nathan are already hitting the surf. Now that winter is winding down here the other kids may be joining. I will include some pictures of Todd and Nathan boogie boarding at sunset. It is so unbelievably beautiful here. The pictures are all taken at City Beach, about 5 minutes from our house. The pictures don't do the sunset justice.
I hope all you with kids have got them settled back into school OK.
We miss everyone -
See Ya,
~Pam, Todd, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson, and Elise

first pictures

2008-08-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

We Arrived

2008-08-23T04:31:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody.
We made it safely to Australia. It was a long trip. We left on Monday at 7pm from Salt Lake City and arrived Perth at 1pm Thursday morning. We had plane trouble and had to land on the small, French island, of Numea, which caused us to miss our connecting flights in Brisbane. The airline put us up in a hotel for the half day so we could shower, sleep and eat. We traveled with 10 suitcases and 10 carry-ons, 4 kids and myself. I highly DON'T recommend that.
We had been without our belongings since the movers took them in mid May to ship them to Australia, so everything we needed we had in those suitcases and carryons. We managed to have bedding and clothing, computers, cameras , winter and summer clothing and even a scooter to last us the three months until we would be reunited with our belongings.
Good news our shipment arrived this week and we now are no longer sitting on the floor and sleeping on the floor. Elise was quite unsure about sitting at a table after 3 months of eating on the floor, but we have all readjusted and are again civilized.
Apon arrival we had a ton of work to be done. We had to move Todd out of his apartment by noon the day we arrived and move into our new home. That really wasn't too hard as Todd had only two suitcases to his name as well. We scrambled to make the house into a home. We needed appliances and without central heating we found we needed to borrow warmer bedding. We finally got the house in order enough to function and await our furniture.
The next big hurdle was getting the children enrolled in school. The two oldest were set to attend a public high school if they were accepted into the specialist music program offered there, kids are drawn from all over Western Australia to attend this school. The kids had practiced at home and auditioned just a few days after we arrived and they were given spots in the highly competitive music program. We were all pleased. But, after speaking with the deputy principal of the school we did not feel the kids educational needs would be met at the school and we ended up pulling them out of the school and placed them in an International School, International School of Western Australia (ISWA). Here their needs will be met academically, unfortunately its a small school and they do not have a band program. We researched the area and found a community band which travels and performs in areas around Western Australia. The two kids have been accepted to join and are currently members of this band, although much to Mikaela's dislike they are the only youth amoungst adults the average age is probably around 40. It is a band of about 50 members, they have a web site I will include a link so you can see the band.
Carson and Elise are attending public school. Carson's school, like most schools around here is small, only one class/grade. His teacher, Mr. Watt, has been exceptional in working with us. As Carson arrived half way through Australian school year he missed exactly half of 6th grade. The teacher tested Carson to find out about what level he is and put him in a year 7 books and is willing to allow Carson to work out of the American math book if we feel it would be better. Carson scored an almost perfect score on his math test - the only question he missed was: What season is October? - Carson answered Autumn. Of course in Australia the answer is spring. Elise is attending kindergarten which is equivilant to our preschool. She attends two days per week and loves it. She is picking up on the local lingo quite quickly as she asked me the other day, "Mummy (pronounced as spelled), where is the bin, so I can throw away this rubbish?" The schools are very relaxed here, it is wonderful. They do not have a cafeteria, parents volunteer and run a makeshift cafe two times/week. The kids are given lots and lots of outdoor play, at least three times per day they are outside and two of them are just for fun, unstructured play. We really like how the kids are treated like kids and not little adults. We are located on the coast and the kids actually get to swim at the beach as part of their exercise programs.
We are settling in and already beginning to be busy. The kids have a piano and instrument teacher and are active in church. Speaking of which, Mikaela is the only girl in the youth program at church and when they heard we were coming the Bishop, (the leader of our local church), called a lady to be the Young Womens President, and as of last week there is a full presidency - comprised of three adults to attend to Mikaela. Todd has been asked to be Ward Clerk, help with the administration of the church and I have been asked to be the youth Sunday School teacher.
Each week or two we will update the blog and cover a new topic to tell about life in Australia. We have already seen great things and are excited to show you all the things we have seen. The wildlife here is spectacular! The ocean is beautiful, I will include some photos. Outside of being way too far away from family and friends this is a wonderful place!!! We miss you all and hope this finds you well.

Next week - toilets, and driving on the wrong side of the road.

Todd, Pam, Nathan, Mikaela, Carson, and Elise