Wednesday’s pants on a Monday?
Well, we’re on the count down to Mum’s return now. Two sleeps to go and she’ll be at the airport waiting for her business class pampering (what do you mean, it’s the only rest she’ll have had in 3 months?).
The Australia Day celebrations were cool. We watched the fireworks from a suburb called Applecross, across the water from Perth. We arrived there early (probably WAY too early as it was a roasting hot day), packed up with our little sun tent, bbq stuff and cooked meats for later on.
Darcie glows in the evening on Australia Day.
The kids played on the park and entertained themselves quite well for the length of time we sat there waiting (o:} The fireworks were amazing and all set to music and commentary which was played over a local radio station. It was a fab day – very emotional to think that three years ago we were there at the same place and we hadn’t even applied for the visa. There was a massive thunderstorm at the same time as the fireworks, so the natural backdrop was beautiful too.
Sam sports his Aussie tattoos.The kids are now back at school. Sam was a little upset when he realised that he wasn’t in the same class as his ‘best mate’ last year, Chad, but perked up a little once he recognised a few names in his class. Darcie was happy just to be in Year One, and floated back into school like the little poppet that she is. Amy is in her class this year though, so I suppose that helps a little.
Adam celebrated his birthday and is now the ripe old age of 3!
The fastest opener in the West - Mr Cheese.
Thanks to everyone for his cards, it was lovely of you to think of him. He enjoyed a day playing in the garden with Nanny whilst Darcie and Sam went to school. In the evening, we went to the BBQ at the golf course and had a few bevvies to celebrate (didn’t we Mum???).
At the golf club. Can you remember this bit, Mum?
Mum got well and truly blotto and fell asleep on a chair overlooking the golf course. We had to pour her into the car at the end of the evening and stop abruptly twice one the way home……… OK – enough of embarrassing Mum (although Sam’s got a LOT of mileage out of that event!). The worst bit was she couldn’t remember any of it the next morning – but at least she didn’t have a stinking hang over.
We all had a bit of a laugh and let our hair down, so didn’t do much on the Saturday – just took the kids swimming for a couple of hours. Adam got very confident in his arm bands. He must have decided that 3 is going to be his year and he is going to conquer the water (and the sand – both his pet hates!). He got a lovely Percy ride on-train, some more trains for his track and a sleeping bag to keep him warm on the boat. He also got another present that Mum has subsequently reminded me that I’ve left in the garage. I completely forgot all about it (if you knew how hectic our life was at the moment, you’d understand why…..), so he has an un-wrapped gift that I’m left wondering what to do with. How long til Xmas?
We took the boat out again on Sunday and there were lots of bushfires blazing out of control around the area. In fact they are all centered around Dwellingup where we went on the train ride into the bush. This area was devastated by bush fires back in the 60’s, so it’s real shame that the area’s been struck again. As we pootled up stream, we were flagged over by a couple who wanted a lift to the other side of the river to a boat ramp further down. Apparently they had been left stranded by the fire and had no way of getting back to their car. Paul obliged and took them back – glad he was driving as it was really windy which makes it harder to steer the boat.
It’s been a real week for realising the power of mother nature. The bush fires are blazing all around Perth, knocking the power supply out and devastating communities and on Friday we heard that an ex-pat lost his life in Mandurah whilst swimming with his boys. One of his children got caught in a rip and he went in to save him, only the tide got the better of him and he drowned. The worst of it was, their Mum was overseas and they were at the beach with family friends. The family post on the ex pats site that I’m a member of and it’s left the whole site devastated. The tragedy of it just doesn’t bear thinking about. Moving your life to the other side of the world, knowing no-one, only to lose your husband after a family day out on the beach. God bless them – what a dark, dark time.
Oh and the opening title refers to Adam’s big boy pants of the day. They are yellow and have Wednesday on them even though it’s only Monday – god we like to live dangerously in this house! Sam however, could wear Wednesday’s for a week and it’s guaranteed that they’ll be correct for a whole 24 hours!
Ready for school and raring to go
The kids are now back at school and appear to be enjoying it now they have got back into the swing of things. Darcie is lucky enough to have her best friend Amy in her class again this year, although Sam was a little upset when he noticed that Chad is in a different class to him. Sam was quite upset about it for the first 24 hours, but has since bonded with a Pommie kid in his class called Robbie and they are the new ‘Sam and Chad’ – getting separated by the teacher for giggling and being disruptive…… same old, same old! Sam has swimming again this term for two weeks starting on Monday. Darcie escapes as it’s only Years 4 and above that swim in term 1. Just another thing to remember in the mornings. Now they both have homework and reading and library on different days, I’m having to rely on the name of the day on Adam’s pants to let me know what’s happening (that’s where I’m going wrong then!).
Last week, Mum did her souvenir shopping and bulk bought koalas, kangaroos and kangaroo scrotum (is that the plural) made into little purses which she is stuffing with badges and fridge magnets etc. Took us 2 hours on the floor in Mum’s bedroom to wrap it all in clingfilm so she know’s which koala is for who when she returns, so please don’t complement Mum on her wrapping – it’ll be me who needs plastic knees at the age of fifty as Mum only peeled off the pricetags (o: I hope you enjoy your souvenirs (if you were on the list (o;). I know it’s all crap – but it’s Australian crap (made in China!). I think it’s funny that a few of you asked for a Aussie koala brought back – they don’t actually live in Western Australia and the only place we see them are wildlife parks or zoos!! A typical ‘Aussie’ icon though I guess.
Last Sunday, we decided to take a trip to Penguin Island. As we ran out of time to go over to Rottnest (weather was against us a few times), we thought we’d try this place. It’s literally only half an hour from our house and is a small island (well – about 5 in fact) that can be reached by walking over a sand bar – although very dangerous! We chose to hop on the little boat that takes you over and then had a trip on a glass bottomed boat to see more wildlife around the island. How lucky were we? In the space of two hours we say seals, a dolphin, pelicans, penguins, terns…… loads!
Pelicans (or Stephen, as Sam calls them all - don't ask!).
Aaahhh - little Fairy penguins.
Seals having a rest on the beach - hard life, eh?
A close up dolphin shot....... or is it?
The island was beautiful and SO close – I can’t believe we’ve never ventured there before! You can’t moor your boats actually on the islands, but you can anchor slightly off-shore and swim in, so we’ll do that one day with our boat. I think you’ll agree, it was absolutely stunning!
Adam walks home along the bridge of poo.
The island is home to about 1500 penguins. They are ‘Fairy penguins’, one of the smallest breeds in the world. They were just shedding their feathers which meant they had 3 weeks where they couldn’t leave the island to eat or drink, so they were a little stressed. They can travel as far as 125km from the island in ONE day!!
It's gorgeous!
It was a lovely trip out and just affirms how beautiful this place is. Sometimes we feel very lucky to be living here………. And other times……well, we just don’t (o:
I'm feeling a little peckish - I know, I'll munch on an Adam!
Darcie is today celebrating her 6th birthday! Happy Birthday sweetheart! She’s had a fab day (I think) with some lovely pressies and a party at the Fun Fact’ry in Rockingham with 7 friends from school. It’s very similar to Castaway Kids, but they have ‘themed‘ party rooms.
Darcie and Adam ride the little train at the Fun Fac'try.
Darcie had hers in the fairy room; they also have a Bob The Builder room, Harry Potter room, Haunted House and Superheroes rooms. They are all painted with murals and fabric hung from the ceilings and look fab! Adam invited Oscar (Amy’s younger brother and Adam’s idol) and Sam invited Robbie. Darcie got a purple rechargeable motorbike/scooter that she now uses to terrorise the neighbourhood. She loves it and whizzes off.
She starts her job for Australia Post on Monday (o:
Unfortunately, the first time she tried it, we forgot to tell her to try the brakes and she went off at such a rate of knots, I was terrified she’d end up in a heap at the end of the street! Luckily she managed and is getting the hang of it really well. I’ve got her a job as holiday relief for our postman (who never leaves his bike on his round!). She also received a Barbie sleeping bag, Bratz dolls from Nanny D, a slush puppy maker from Uncle Michael and family and a basketball net from Nanny B. Very lucky girly!
So, on to other news. As from this Wednesday (an Australian Wednesday, so it might actually be the following Tuesday), we will be the proud owners of a new house. We have been so hounded by the real estate agents (they truly have treated us apaulingly!) and the builders seem to be taking forever to build the new one, that we’ve bit the bullet and bought somewhere that we can call home for the ‘interim’.
Our 'new' house.
We got a bit of a bargain in as much as the house has been on the market for ages and needs a little tlc. We’re due to ‘settle’ (Aussie form of completion) on Wednesday and we have the air con people geared up for Thursday, the carpets cleaned on Wed, new dishwasher (thanks, Mum (o: ), hob and oven being delivered on Thursday and an alarm installed on Monday! In the mean time, we will be painting it to make it more ‘ours’. I’m excited at the thought of being able to have something that’s ours after such a long time, although as soon as the new house is finished, the Aussie government are demanding that we sell it, rather than rent it out /o: If, however we got our permanent residency in the meantime – we can do what the devil we want with it. We are able to carry on living in it though and rent out our dream house - (makes no sense? Welcome to Australia!!!) ARGH! They reckon this will increase housing stock – what difference does it make which house we rent???
So, I think Mum is looking forward to returning home to get away from our stress! I think it’s made her realise just how stressful our little lives are – what with moving, the business and the kids (OK, I know, we don’t help ourselves with some of them (o:), our lives are just a whirlwind. The days just fly by and the weeks pass just as quickly. I don’t think Mum envies our lifestyle, but then, it was equally stressful in the UK. The only plus side was at least Paul had a few mates to go and sink a few beers with. It’s hard to make friends over here and when you do, they’re all in bed by 9.30pm! It’ll be sad to see her go though and I know the kids will miss her hugely. Never mind – we’ll have to plan her next visit and I’ve done her a nice photo album of her time here to cherish the memories.
So, consequently, as of 1st March 2007 we will have a new address. I will email as many people as I can think of with the new details, but if I forget you, or can’t get through, just email me and I’ll send you the details. I’m going to try to keep the ‘local’ call number from the UK the same, but it may go a bit Pete Tong whilst we get the new phone number sorted and transferred, so bear with us.
Here’s a little update on the build as well. They have done some work on it this week and the roof carpenters are due next week – but we’ll take that promise with a huge pinch of salt too!
Slow.........
Hopefully I’ll be able to update you once we’ve moved into our new house and before Paul’s operation, but don’t hold your breath…… there are boxes to be packed and then unpacked and I’m losing the will to live……. If you hear on the newsheadlines that a woman in WA goes mad with packing tape and binds her families gobs shut in a blind fury, that’ll be me!
Until next time…….. come and pack a box for me?
