A Simply Amazing Night

A couple of weeks ago, we found out that our kids' school was going to put on a movie "under the stars" on the evening of 12DEC. Parents were encouraged to come, bring a pizza and a bottle of wine and enjoy a Christmas movie just after sunset on the "oval"...the ball field next to the school. As the day drew closer, the weather forecast called for the hottest weather we've seen yet: 100 degrees. Unlike New England meteorologists, these guys seem to get it right most of the time, and they were spot-on yesterday...100 degrees on a cloudless, mostly windless Perth summer day. We spent most of the day at a birthday party for our neighbor Samantha (9), swimming and jumping off the jetty, and "fishing" for anemenmenemenemonies.

As evening approached, the faithful "Fremantle Doctor" (a refreshing sea breeze that blows in most afternoons) cooled things down to about 85 or so, and we packed up our "beach rug" (blanket) and "esky" (cooler) and headed to the oval.

We were the first ones to arrive (one of my many, annoying habits is a pathological need to arrive early for everything), followed shortly by our friends the Duncan's. So we got prime seating, right in front. As the guys were setting up the screen (a blow-up, bounce-housey type contraption) and sound system, they played an old Simon and Garfunkel concert from the 70's and we listened to "Me and Julio" and "The Boxer" float up into the warm evening air....and it occurred to me just how simple and sublime this all was.

Imagine: With "only 12 shopping days left", a couple hundred people, relaxing under a brilliant, starry night, eating pizza, watching a movie together....I must say, even at 85 degrees, yesterday really felt like Christmas.

It's almost Christmas!

Hello again. We have had such a great time over the past few weeks. They definitely flew by way too fast. On Saturday, November 20th, Rob's family arrived in Perth after spending a few incredible days in Sydney. They also fell in love with Sydney. Our first official visitors consisted of Mia (my mother-in-law), Papa (you figure it out:) ), Auntie Emily and Uncle John Ross. We wish that Jen, Bruce and kids could have come, but it just didn't work out...this time.

It was so wonderful, and so normal, to have them all here with us! Right away Ella whisked Mia off on a "world tour" on bikes. She took her to The Oval, Richmond Primary School, our church, the Swan River and everywhere in between. Next, it was Emily's turn. As you can imagine, Ella slept very well that night! The weather was gorgeous so everyone swam in the pool and we could have dinner out on the deck. I don't think I've ever seen John Ross look so happy!

On Sunday, we walked to church. There was a baptism service that was to be followed by a baptism down at the ocean. The 2 girls (mid 20s) who were baptised gave their testimonies which were pretty amazing. One of them, Kaori, is a girl from Japan who came to Australia for a year to help out at a school. She's been attending our church for almost the whole year and became a believer about a month ago. She shared her story about depression, suicide, and despair and now her new hope. It was really incredible. She's leaving to go back to Japan today where no-one that she knows is a Christian. We had a little send off for her last night back at the beach and she looked both happy and afraid. It would be great for people to pray for her adjustment back into Japan and her continued hope.

After church, we went into Fremantle and had a delicious lunch at Mia's new favorite place - The Fremantle Bakehouse - and we went to the Fremantle Markets, which is always a treat. A great place to buy good quality souvenirs.

During the week my in-laws would walk the girls to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. They (and I) loved it! I think that Mia and Papa would probably say that that was their favorite part of their trip here.

Pieter and I also took them to Caversham Wildlife Park (which I've mentioned before) to see all the native Australian wildlife and to pet koalas and kangaroos. We got to see a joey, the size of a cat, in his momma's pouch and then drop out. It was amazing. We couldn't believe that he could actually fit in their. At one point he tried to get back in but couldn't really find the opening. The momma just lay there all relaxed as she couldn't help because her arms were too long and don't bend that way. Hmmmm? Maybe kangaroos are onto something us human mommas aren't... Anyway, it wasn't hot at all (only like 93 degrees) and the flies definitely weren't annoying (right John Ross?)! There were also these hillarious emus that had their jaws hanging open and looked so excited to see us. That's what we believed anyway. We all agreed that it was very fun and totally wonderful time despite the heat and the flies.

One day, our friend Jenny Deeks took Mia and me to these amazing rose gardens. We had lunch there with a few of Jenny's friends. Jenny and a couple of her friends are also past and present submariner wives just like my mother-in-law. This was an incredible place with such beautiful and nice smelling flowers.

And, of course, we had Thanksgiving! We sent the girls to school anyway, but Rob took the day off. Ella had made a diorama of an American Thanksgiving feast to bring to school. She also wrote a little blurb along with it explaining what Thanksgiving was all about. It was really cool and all self initiated. We (mostly my mother-in-law) spent the day cooking and preparing for our Thanksgiving meal for 16 people. The day before Mia and Papa went to the grocery store to get the ingredients and discovered that there is no such thing as a unfrozen turkey. They decided to get a small turkey that would be sure to thaw out AND a leg of lamb (lamb is huge here). A great opportunity to let our two worlds/cultures collide. It was a very fun night with lots of food and our Aussie guests were excited to have experienced an "American Thanksgiving."

We rented a beautiful perfect house in Margaret River (3 hours south of here) for a weekend. We were told that there were resident kangaroos living there! That truly sealed the deal for us. Once we made our reservations on-line we were given the property manager's bank account # and asked to deposit a large amount of money into it! Being the cautious, slightly suspicious Americans that we are, we all hesitated and thought "Wait a minute! This could be a scam!" Well, we wanted it too much and decided to trust that this was all legit. and it truly was amazing! There were actually resident kangaroos which wassooooo cool and a frog pond. We spent the weekend playing Monopoly, Bananagrams, hunting for kangaroos (and frogs) on our long walk, going to The Mammoth Caves and seeing incredible stalactites and stalagmites, walking through a magical forest which really did have fairies (Amelie), going to a couple of vineyards, seeing tons of wild kangaroo along the roadside and spending an afternoon at the most beautiful beach with pristine water. The weekend could not have been nicer. Auntie Emily was the life saver by keeping Amelie entertained with hangman and "Miss Mary Mack" the whole way home!

We also went to The Shipwreck and Maritime Museums in Fremantle. I'm very excited to take my Dad to the Shipwreck Museum (if he ever makes his reservation :) ) as it's mostly about the Dutch settlers here and how Australia used to be called "New Holland"! Mia, Papa, John Ross, Pieter and I had the most peaceful and beautiful lunch at "The View" which is named that for the _ _ _ _ of the Indian Ocean. Wow! The next day we were going to go back to the Maritime Museum so that I could finally realize my dream of touring a submarine with my father-in-law, the submariner, AND because he/Papa had also never been on this type of submarine, but the museum was closed. It was a disappointment, but Papa told us all about the outside of the sub and another man came along and joined in on the conversation. This man's father had been on

some sort of surface ships (from Germany) during the time of Hitler. He said that at this time Hitler would not allow them to listen to certain types of music. So the ships would go out to sea and blare swing music and they would all dance!

We sadly had to say goodbye to our family on 12/3. They truly spoiled us with their love, generosity and service! They were off to New Zealand and we were back to being 5. It was so nice to finally have had the opportunity share our Australian life with family from home.

I'm going to try to do this last bit in a bit more summarized fashion or else I'll never get it done. The past 2 weeks have continued to be fun and busy preparing for the last day of school (12/18) and for Christmas. We've been to the East Fremantle Festival, made/decorated a gingerbread house at Jenny Deeks' house, been to parks with friends, heaps of swimming in the pool, birthday parties, swimming down by the River and jumping off the peir, and the outside movie that Rob already blogged about.

Some things to expand on were the Family Christmas Day at the Showgrounds. They opened it up to businesses who could then invite friends to come ride on the rides all day. We went with about 15 other friends from Rob's work. It was a super hot day, but the Fremantle Doctor saved us once more. Ella got to hold a gigantic boah, the kids road on ponies and camels, saw a circus and went on lots of bouncy houses. Ella and I went on a super spinning ride and I wound up extremely dizzy and extremely sick. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom and lying on our "rug" outside. Very pathetic :) Needless to say, we really did have a great time.

Pieter's class put on the most amazing Christmas Concert. Again, another beautiful day. We all brought picnic "tea" (dinner) and watched his class sing lots of songs, act out the Nativity Story, sing an Italian Song with sign language and do an aboriginal dance with didgeridoos. All 24 kids participated without tears and without shyness. It was so fun. This all happened outside on the lawn. The amazing thing about Western Australia is that you can totally depend on the weather. It just doesn't rain in the summer, especially if there is no forecast calling for it.

On the last day of school for the girls the entire school (400 kids) met out on the quadrangle to do the final countdown. Mr. Keady, the very cool music teacher, hooked up his acoustic guitar to an amplifier and the whole school sang the school song that he wrote: "We are Richmond Primary School. Where the teachers and the kids are oh so cool. Monday through to Friday we get out of bed. Can't wait to get there...yeah, yeah, yeah..." It was so neat. It got me all choked up, which of course isn't all that hard. Then at the end they rang the outdoor bell and summer vacation began!

Our huge news is that we are moving...again! Our current lease doesn't end until the end of February. The original plan was that Narelle and her family (our landlords) were coming back mid January so that their girls (6 and 8) could start up the school year here in February and they would just live with her parents until our lease was up. Well, our mutual friend, Kate, just moved into a new house and has had her house on the market for a while and it hasn't sold. She approached me a couple of weeks ago to propose us renting her house. Her house is in East Fremantle, is partly furnished and has a pool. It's a gorgeous house. This house is available now, so we decided we might as well move out so that Narelle and family could get back into their own house. We leave for NZ on Friday so we'll move a couple of days after we get back and then my mom, Allan, brother Nick and wife Ann will come visit a couple of days after that. It's not quite the peaceful week leading up to Christmas that I was so looking forward to as we have to pack up this house and get everything set for the new house, but we feel really and truly blessed that this has literally fallen into our laps. Our main sadness is that we will really miss the proximity to our neighbors, the Tongas. Ella hangs out with Sam and Natashia all the time riding bikes, catching tadpoles or swimming in our pool and we really enjoy hanging out with their parents.

Speaking of the Tongas, Joe Tonga, the dad, does a lot of research and work with bats and bat boxes. He also has a business that involves him taking people on night walks to see the nocturnal life here in Australia. A couple of nights ago we finally got to go with just our 2 families. He took us to this gated bush area where he has a lot of bat boxes. Unfortunately, a lot of the bats weren't around, but we saw lots of "eye shine" from wolf spiders and frogs. The kids got to hold lots of frogs, which they totally loved. Just before we got there Joe had seen a tiger snake, 2nd most poisonous in Australia. We never saw it. Part of us wanted to see it just to see it, but the other part of us was very happy to have missed it. We did see a few bats flying overhead using Joe's bat detector. Our kids were in their glory as they are such nature kids.

The last cool thing that I'll mention is on Sunday night about 300 people went down to the Fremantle Art Center lawn for Christmas caroling. We all arrived early and brought picnic dinner. They had a large stage set-up with a singing group. At 7:00 pm we all started singing lots of Christmas songs. It was a beautiful evening, with an incredible sunset and the moon right over the stage. When we sang "Silent Night" it sounded like angels singing. So beautiful.

We're off to see Mark and Erin in New Zealand in 2 days. Can't wait!! We'll be back in Australia January 16th.

Well, we wish you all a blessed and wonderful Christmas. We've been thinking and talking a lot about the wonder of Christmas. There is a lot to think about. The kids really have enjoyed this and gotten into it. I pray that you will each experience the wonder of Christmas this year. Much love! Merry Christmas and Happy 2010!!!

More pix

After a long and fun day!

Amelie, Jessica Duncan, and Pieter with painted faces at the Fete.

Rob and Andrew Duncan, our pastor, working the sausage sizzle at the Fete.

(Above) The things we do for love... (below) A nightly visitor on our window

Sticking close to "home"

Amelie, with John and Darla Barber (USA), lost another tooth!

Amelie, Ella and Angus with their blow fish at the Swan River

Halloween 2009 in our front yard

Halloween 2009

Wow, I can't believe how much time has gone by since the last post. Sorry about that!

So, what have we been doing for the last 3 1/2 weeks? We haven't gone anywhere exotic or gone on any excursions, we've just been enjoying day to day life in Western Australia. We've continued to get together with friends for tea, lunch, dinner, and play dates.

Halloween came and went without much hype. We actually weren't really sure if we were going to do anything at all because Australia, for the most part, does NOT do Halloween. It was impossible to find any decorations. On the morning of, my friend Amanda called and said "What are you doing tonight?" and I said "No plans, but feel we should do a little something". Next thing you know we had 25 people over for pizza and all went out trick or treating. I said "Amelie, you are going to be a cheetah (turned princess) and Pieter, you will be Batman". They were very compliant though somehow Amelie turned into a princess and we completely forgot that she was to be a cheetah. Ella was a phantom. At trick or treat time, we divided into 2 groups, older kids and younger kids, and went in 2 directions. We went from house to house. Most people had no idea it was Halloween and a lot of people weren't even home (or pretended not to be). Every 5th house we'd get someone who actually had some "lollies" (that's what they call candy here). I also carried around a bag of candy that I'd give the kids a piece of when they struck out too many houses in a row. The kids probably each got about 7 pieces of candy in total, but they didn't care (Rob and I were a bit disappointed, however :-) ). It was very fun.

The girls started "In Term swimming" on November 2. This is when for 2 weeks everyone in the school has a swimming lesson every day. Every primary school in the country does this. Each grade has a time slot when they go and a bus transports them. They wear their "bathers" to school and when it's time to go they strip down to their bathers, grab their towel and goggles and head to the bus. They change back into their clothes once they return to school. The first day of swimming the kids get assessed as to which swimming level they are in. Well, I always thought my girls were good, strong swimmers. Not according to Australian standards! Amelie was in level 2/9 and Ella was in level 4/9! The kids in Australia are fantastic swimmers with amazing swimming strokes. I cannot believe how much the girls improved in 2 weeks. I'm a bit annoyed at the YMCA back home and how disorganized they are. We've put a lot of time and money towards swimming lessons and I realize now that they never taught any technique. Here it is all very structures and well thought out how exactly to get the kids to eventually get it right.

Pieter is also loving his swimming lessons and swims like a fish. He's been working on his own form of freestyle which is pretty cool. Ella continues to LOVE her guitar lessons. She is picking it up very quickly and spends a lot of time practicing. Her guitar teacher is impressed with how well she is doing.

Tuesday, November 3rd, was Melbourne Cup Day which is basically when all of Australia stops for 3 minutes for a horse race in Melbourne. The girls were at school, but Amanda, her daughter Tara, Pieter and I watched it at our house and I rooted for "Newport". He got in 10th. Oh well.

I'm still running with Janelle once a week. I'm finally able to run up the hills at the end of our run, but it's tough. I don't know if I previously mentioned that I saw a dolphin in the river during one of our runs. Unfortunately, Pieter missed it and the dolphin dove down not to be seen again. There are also pelicans standing on wooden posts in the water. So cool!! I'm absolutely loving my tennis lessons! I've been going to play on Wednesday nights as well where you get put into doubles teams. Usually with all girls first and then mixed doubles. The first week I went I was horrendous! I spent my whole night apologizing. But, I noticed that I had improved when I went for my next lesson, so I humbled myself and gave it another shot and have done much better since. I can understand now why people get addicted to playing tennis.

We went down to the Swan River with our friends, the Grants, one afternoon to do a little fishing. The kids and dads stood out on the pier with rods and caught all these little blow fish (blowies). They had a blast! Then we hiked along a trail through the bush and came out to these lookouts that were overlooking 30 foot high limestone cliffs. It was amazing. Apparently there is really good snorkeling down below so Ella has made us promise that we will return with snorkeling gear next time.

Amelie has been losing teeth like crazy! She has lost 3 in the past month and has 3 more slightly wiggly ones. Now we're trying to gently encourage her to stop sucking her thumb. Hard to break those old habits. To make matters worse Pieter has picked up thumb sucking since we moved here! He'd never sucked his thumb before. Why not do it if his roommate Amelie is, right?

For the past few weeks at school all anyone could talk about or think about was "The Fete". This takes place every 4 years and is the huge fundraiser for the school. It's put on by the P&C (PTO) and takes place on The Oval (school yard). The moms and art teacher have been working non-stop creating things to sell at the fete. Almost all of the money earned the day of is profit as most everything is donated. I helped my friend Pia decorate fairy wands and provided our freezer to store all kinds of bottles of concentrated lemon cordial to make lemonade. The Fete was on Nov. 14th and it was a gorgeous sunny, warm day. Ella spent all her money and all her time on the pony rides. She was in her glory. Amelie and Pieter did some activities and got their faces painted. I worked at the Crazy Nail stall and painted nails with designs (I know, I never knew I could either) and Rob and I both worked at the Sausage Sizzle with Janelle and Andrew. The P&C earned $50,000! Unlike the USA (and rest of the world), Western Australia is having a bit of an economic boom. Just a little side note, sausage sizzles are huge here! Everyone has them for parties and fund raisers. It's just a sausage (and onion) in a roll. Not my thing, but I'm told they're good.

Andrew has been doing a series on the "I am" statements in the gospel of John. They have been blowing me away and really convicting me. "I am the vine" and his last "I am" were particularly amazing. You can down load his podcasts if you want to. Google "East Fremantle Baptist Church in East Fremantle" to get the website.

Sunday was the Fremantle Festival Parade. It was another beautiful day and held in downtown Fremantle. This was a very bohemian and eccentric parade with all kinds of people and funny things. For example, there was a man lying down in a motorized rolling bathtub and another man sitting in a motorized rolling big cushy chair. It was hilarious. We ran into a bunch of guys from Rob's work in the USA down there and hung out for a drink with them afterwards.

Monday Rob surprised the girls by picking them up from school and bringing them shopping. This wasn't typical "girls" shopping. Rob had been promising Ella a terrarium for collecting critters and he wanted to follow through with that. In the end, Amelie came home with a crazy crab named "Racer", I mean "Sparks", oh no it's "Stars" and for now it's "Fasty". I think the poor thing is going through an identity crisis. And, Ella came home with a little aquarium that is now housing 5 tiny tadpoles from her friend Samantha's pond. So much for the "No pets in Australia" rule. They are taking very good care of these beloved pets. Thankfully they don't stink (Daffy), yet, and we don't have to feed them crickets (Taco).

Last but not least, we had another BBQ last night with 16 GUYS from Rob's work. They were mostly US guys here to do a certification and a few Aussies from the East. We had a great night and Ella was a star and put Amelie and Pieter to bed. Hallelujah for our mature and willing 9 year old daughter!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my in-laws, Auntie Emily and Uncle John Ross! They landed in Sydney this morning and will arrive in Perth Saturday. They will be with us until 12/3. We can't wait!!

Well, that's it. We are continually blessed in this beautiful, amazing place. We also continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers! God bless!

Fitness in Australia Episode 4: "KiteSurfing"

Pastor Andrew: "Hey Rob, how ya going with the fitness?"
Captain Courage: "I'm a rock star...I can swim all the way to the end of the pool AND back, without crying and grabbing onto that slinky thingy between the lanes...oh ya!
Andrew: Fantastic, lets go for a kite!
CC: Sweet, tri and bicep workout! I'll stop at the toy store.
Andrew: Not kite-flying, Beave, kite-surfing.
CC: Uh, does this involve being in the actual ocean, with the sharks
Andrew: Not at first, we'll start in the river...
CC: Is it connected to the ocean?
Andrew: Meet me there at 3pm. We'll begin with "body-dragging"
CC: Perfect...

For those of you without a death wish (like El Capitan here) kite surfing is essentially connecting oneself via a very robust and uncomfortable harness (think chastity belt fabricated by Eastern Mountain Sports) to a 12 meter parafoil kite. The kite has an inflatable leading edge and four very powerful lines which virtually guarantee that if you don't have some rudimentary sailing experience you will end up in the Canary Islands before it decides to come down. Also, since the kite is designed for 30 knot winds and guys up to 250 lbs, you can imagine what it will do with a guy who weighs roughly as much as a 9th grade cheerleader.

So far, I have only mastered yanking my entire body around in very shallow water and scraping my knees...which really hurt and I needed neosporin. But I have to say that even that part was awesome...

I'm hoping that my next lesson will involve the board....you know, so I have something shiny to drag underwater and attract sharks.

More next time....and yes, my instructor really is the Pastor of our church...hopefully the shepherd will come after the lost sheep, especially if I wind up in Antarctica.

2 Months into our Australian adventure!

Pieter on boat to Rottnest Island with his teacher, Mrs. Harris, and friends Ryan and BJ.

Sunday School BBQ down in Wandi.

Enjoying the warm weather with dinner on the deck.

Ella with her friends Natashia, Olivia, and Samantha. Our house and fun yard in background.

Amelie with her friend Mia at our pool.

The sun is rising over the trees making them all orange. The tropical birds outside are having their usual morning pow-wow outside trying to wake us all up. It worked for me!

Well, life continues to be absolutely rich with blessings here with God truly providing for our every "need". I use the term "need" loosely because of course we could do without. Our pastor, Andrew, has hooked us up with a 2nd car for the year!! It's an old manual Subaru with sheep skin seats, but a car none the less...my car:) Here I thought that I'd never attempt parallel parking in this country and suddenly I find myself parallel parking a manual car using my left hand on the stick shift!! If you need to challenge your brain at all come to a country that drives on the opposite side of the road. There is NO time for day dreaming as you roll along. Ella has also started to take acoustic guitar lessons. She is loving it. In order for her to practice we "needed" a 3/4 size guitar for her. Liam, Andrew's son, has a guitar that he's not using at the moment and has lent it to Ella! Basically, I don't know what we would do without the Duncan family, not only have they become our incredible friends, but they have also let us borrow so many things!! Andrew also gave Rob his first kite surfing lesson last week, but I'm sure Rob will share that experience with you in his own blog post.

Another good reason to move to another country, is that it allows you to start new routines with your kids and for yourself! Now (almost) every morning we all have breakfast together at about 7:00 am. What a nice way to start the day. Then, the kids help to clear the table, get dressed, brush their teeth and make their beds. Morning used to be like running a restaurant back home. Everyone would eat something different at different times and I would stand at the island serving them. Then sometimes we'd be running for the bus and someone would say "But I haven't had my breakfast!" Woops! At night time everyone helps to set the table, we eat, and do our (simple) family devotions. The kids are now helping to clear the table, including their own plate, and helping to load the dishwasher. Maybe you all do this with your kids already, but we never did. The kids are happy to help and mommy is less stressed:) Rob has also gotten in a routine of doing some form of exercise everyday at lunch time. He is loving the variety of running, swimming, touch footie, etc... and I'm lovin' the results!!

Pieter started school a couple of weeks ago. He is going Monday and Wednesday all day. We walked into school the first day and met his teacher Mrs. Harris. She is amazing! She has this fantastic energy and is very animated. The kids just love her! The assistant, Mrs. Thompson, is just like her and they run this fun, well behaved class. I couldn't believe that when I picked Pieter up 6 hours later they were still as "on" as when I dropped him off. He loves school and has made several friends. Yesterday his class went to Rottnest Island which is a 45 minute boat ride away. Pieter (and his mommy and daddy) was a bit anxious about the whole trip until he saw his teachers and his face lit up! They had a great time and he even saw a dolphin on the way over(!) and 3 quokkas (little native-to-the-island fury animals) on the island.

The weather has turned beautiful and warm here. The kids have been having a fabulous time in the pool and it's been great fun inviting lots of people over to swim. It's also been nice walking to school without the fear of the sky opening up any minute.

We went whale watching a couple of weekends ago and saw 7 humpback whales. It was pretty incredible! We drove 10 minutes to the boat, hopped on and were on our way. It's so amazing to have everything right here. Two of the males were having a bit of a rivalry and one wound up "growling" loudly at the other one, bumping into him and twisting his body out of the water! It was a beautiful (85 degrees) calm day and the water was completely flat. Wow!

One of my personal goals for Australia was to start taking tennis lessons once Pieter started school. Last week I started my lessons with 7 other "beginner" women. We're not first time players, but we all have a lot to learn (or unlearn in my case). I can't believe how horrendous my technique has been all these years! I had no clue how to properly swing the racket for any of the strokes. I love my class and finally had the excuse to buy a new racket. I love my racket! Rob and I had bought $15 rackets from Walmart when we were first married and we still use them. Thankfully we left them is the US where they belong. After tennis we all go for tea and coffee together. I think my mom did the same thing when we were little. There is actually one American woman (from Texas) in my group and she has hooked me up with a place to do a little Halloween stuff this weekend for the kids. Personally, I'd be happy to skip Halloween, as they don't really do that here, but the kids would be very disappointed.

The Australians' incredible hospitality has continued. We've been invited to lunch and dinner at several people's houses and they always consist of some form of a "barbie" (BBQ). These have been a lot of fun and a good way to get to know people better. We went for a walk to the river with our friends, the Grants, following lunch. On the way back to their house they pointed out this house made out of tree, wood and lots of windows that had been used on a set for a movie. This man, Peter who lives in this house, came out of his house as we were looking up at it and invited us in! This house has been here for 8 years and had always peeked the Grant's curiousity and suddenly we were invited into his home. It was this wild home that I honestly can barely describe. It looked a bit like a tree house and was pretty. I think the guy invited us in because he wanted to share his philosophy on "what's wrong with this world" with us. He also said in order to change the world that kids need to think differently. Rob, in particular, had a great time talking and listening to this man.

This weekend we had a Sunday School 'barbie' following church at Cynthia's house. She is the coordinator for the little kids SS. She and her family live on this amazing piece of property 30 minutes south of here in the bush. They have 4 horses, chickens and a pool. Ella, of course, spent most of her time with the horses and chickens, and Amelie and Pieter, of course, spent most of their time in the pool. It was great fun.

Rob (men's) and I (women's) have both been participating in separate Bible studies (on different nights). It's really fun how we've been doing it. They happen once a month and are hosted at a different person's house each time. Each person coming is responsible for bringing part of the dinner whether it be appetizer, side dish, main, beverages, etc... The discussion happens while we are eating and then we pray during dessert. We've both been amazed at people's willingness to be open and candid with each other (both men and women).

We're looking forward to our first guests arriving here in just under 4 weeks. Rob's parents, his sister, Emily, and brother, John Ross, are all coming out for 12 days. Emily is actually in Iraq right now due to come home just before she leaves to come Down Under. We can't wait to see them all. We're afraid we won't have enough time to do everything!

Well, I think that is it for this entry. Lots of love to you all and we love hearing from you. Marileen

Fitness in Australia Episode 3: "Touch Footy"

Friendly Bernie (aka Pool Boy Bernie, the murderer): Hey guy, good news, the boys are playing "touch footy" today at lunch. Gotta hurry though, or we might miss it.

Gullirob: Touch whatty?

Bernie: Touch footy, champ...you know, Rugby, but for gentlemen (translated: small Americans with very little body mass)

Balsa Boy: (Skeptically) Will this be played anywhere near the pool?

Bernie: C'mon big boy (translated: little boy), just join right in, you'll pick it up.

Quick overview: Run in a straight line, at a slight angle, unless you can't run in a straight line and then just run in a crooked line. Advance down the field waiting for someone to throw the ball to you (yeah, right), and when (if) you get it, throw it behind you (huh?). If someone touches you while you (theoretically) have the ball, immediately stop, unless they were 5.37256 meters southwest of you at the time...in which case, run some more. Keep running until you get touched (translated: slammed deep into the earth by some guy called Dirk or Lachlan or Mick). At that point, stop (as if that were optional) and roll the ball (backward again) between your legs, (assuming they're not both broken) to Dirk or Lachlan or Mick. If you roll it to another American, you will be "touched" again. If (by some miracle) you happen to catch the ball that someone threw (backward) to you and there are no other players between you and the goal (3 and half kilometers downfield) run down there and touch the ball to the ground. Congratulations, you have just scored a "try"....(that's it?! Cheating death, and all I get is a "try").

After the game...

Bernie: So, how'd you go?

Little fella: I ran alot, but I never actually saw the ball...

Bernie: That's because it was behind you, mate!

some more pictures of up North and Pt. Peron

Term Break - part two

Early in the morning seems to be my most motivated time to blog. Pieter keeps waking up at 5:56 am ...why????? At least today he didn't wake up his side kick, Amelie. He seems to think that if he's up she should also be up.

Right now the sky looks like it's going to pour, but the sun is out. There are lots of rainbows around here. The first days we were here I think we saw a rainbow everyday. We've had amazing weather for our school holiday. The kids have been in the pool several times and have had friends over to swim as well. It is so fun to be able to share "our" pool with others. It's still a bit too cold for me :)

Ella and Pieter did Grasshopper Soccer the first week of break. Pieter walked around with the flyer for weeks talking about how he was going to do this. It made me realize that he REALLY wanted to play. It was 2 hours a day and the kids were broken up into 2 groups. Pieter was in the 4 and 5 year old group and just loved it! He actually let me leave him there a couple of days so Amelie and I could run off and do some errands. He also made lots of "friends". He has matured so much in the past couple of months and I feel like he's definitely ready to start Kindy next week. Ella also had a great time, though she missed having Anna, Sidney and Brynn with her. I got quite a few compliments on her soccer skills, which was fun. I also found out about a soccer club that she can join in the end of Summer (Feb) that has a lot more girls. There were only 2 other girls in her entire group at camp.

One day we went down to Rockingham (45 minutes south) to pick Rob up from work around noon. He met us at a playground right at the beach across the street from all the shops and restaurants downtown. Garden Island, where Rob works, is connected to Rockingham by a 3 km long causeway. We need to have a special pass to go onto the island as everything is top secret there :). The beaches and water surrounding this area were beautiful and crystal clear. We then drove 5 minutes to Point Peron which is just south of the causeway. The coast at Point Peron is made up of huge limestone rocks and cliffs and there are walking trails throughout. There are also a lot of little coves where you can go snorkeling and the beaches are filled with sea glass, shells and coral. We all had so much fun collecting as much as we could. We had plans to send some of our great finds to friends. When we got home we wrote lots of little notes and packaged up some shells and sea glass for people. We went to the post office all excited with the custom declaration forms filled out about our "priceless" items. Then the post office lady told us we couldn't send shells, etc... because of the agriculture laws as there might be spores on them. Ahhhhhh!!! We were so disappointed.

On the weekend we took the most amazing 3 hour trip up north to the town of Cervantes to see The Pinnacles. Our drive made us realize how vast this country really is. Everyone says that 80% of the Australians live in the cities (and suburbs), but you don't believe it until you see it for yourself. We drove for about an hour through suburbs, Perth and Swan Valley (the wine region) and suddenly we were on miles and miles of open road. The landscape was desert with low brush and rolling hills the entire way. We were probably about 5 miles in from the coast. This is wildflower season so there was this yellow, blue or pink hue for as far as you could see. We saw quite a few kangaroos who didn't quite make it across the road along the way.

We arrived in Cervantes around 2 pm and were told to head to the Pinnacles for 5:00/dusk. The sun was setting at 6:20. The kids swam for about 2 minutes in the ice cold pool and then played some soccer in the grass in front of our little apartment with some other kids. We then drove the 17 km into Namburg National Park to go to The Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are made up of 30,000 year old limestone peaks/spears sticking out of this amazing orange sand. There were thousands of them in all shapes and sizes. There was a 4 km unsurfaced loop to drive through them. The "road" was the same orange sand defined by some small limestone rocks. Right when we started on the loop we saw a wild emu walking through the pinnacles. It was absolutely amazing. The sky was bright blue and the sun had set enough that it was casting this orange hue on the already orange sand and pinnacles. We felt like we were in a different world. We opened the rear of the minivan and the kids sat there with their legs dangling over the edge, singing "I've been working on the railroad" and loving life. Every once in a while they'd yell "STOP" and run off into the pinnacles to check something out. As the sun was setting the incredible full moon popped up over the horizon. We had a great time trying to get the perfect picture and exploring.

At dinner we ran into some other Americans (from Illinois) with 3 boys who are living down in Rockingham for 3 years because the dad got a teaching job down there. The mom is also a physical therapist and is able to work here as a physical therapist assistant without being certified. She is working in Fremantle so we are hoping to get together for tea sometime.

The next day we went to Hanson Bay Lookout. There you climb up 70 steps to get a spectacular view of the ocean and Lake Thetis, which was where we were heading next. On our way down the steps we spotted a few wild kangaroos grazing in the brush. These were our first wild (live) kangaroos that we'd seen since we arrived! It was awesome. Ella, in here desire to get just that much closer, stepped into a nest of bull ant. Bull ants are about an inch long and are venomous, aggressive and give an awful bite! One went into Ella's croc (lesson #23: Don't wear crocs in the bush!) and somehow one got up her shirt and bit her on the tummy. She was terrified. Ella is never afraid of anything. Afterwards she said "I have never been afraid of an insect before, but I was scared!" I think it was actually a good experience in the end because now Ella "gets it" a little more and will be more cautious of where she steps. She wound up with a little painful welt on her skin which eventually turned itchy. Fortunately, we didn't need to inject her with the epipen:)

We then went to Lake Thetis which contains living Stromatolites and Thrombolites. They kind of look like giant (1 meter wide) cow patties in the water...hahaha. Apparently they are some of the oldest living organisms in the world. The lake was only 3 meters deep and is 1.5 times as salty as the ocean. Next we went to Kangaroo Point to see some more wild kangaroos, but we didn't see any. This brought us out to a beautiful, white, sandy deserted beach. Ella and Rob came across a Blue Tongue Lizard (Skink) on the beach. They are about a foot long and look completely prehistoric. She, of course, picked it up and thankfully it didn't bite her. On the way back to town for lunch we saw another emu walking on the crest of these incredible white sand dunes. Wow!

We had lunch at a Tavern and right away Amelie and Pieter found some other kids and they just sat in a circle telling stories to each other until our lunch came. It's amazing how open they've become (especially Pieter) and just make such quick friends. The drive back was pretty uneventful with the exception of the burned down camper that we saw being pulled on a car trailer (seems quite common around here) and the dead echidna on the side of the road. We stopped at Swan Valley on the way home and went to one of the vineyards called "Sittella" and bought a couple of nice bottles of wine. Then, for the kids, we had to stop at Margaret River Chocolate Factory and have free samples of chocolate and get ice cream. What a bummer :)

The second week of break was a little more low key. We met some people at a park, had people over for tea and swims, and had play dates. Amelie and Ella went to the Double Decker Chocolate Bus one day which is put on by our church. I think half their school was there. They went on this double decker bus for a few hours which took them to various parks and beaches, they had morning tea with scones and a Bible story and lots of chocolate! Pieter and I met up with them at a park for a BBQ. It was great fun for them. We also went into Fremantle one day where they have daily activities for kids during break. The kids went in a jumpy house and did some crafts and then we went to 2 Scitech shows. The shows were fabulous. One was about slime and Ella was one of the volunteers making slime hair for a skeleton. It was hilarious. The next show was about liquid nitrogen and that was great as well.

Yesterday Ella had her long awaited play with Olivia, who has become her favorite friend here. She had woken up with a bit of a tummy ache, which she claimed had resolved. 2 hours into her play at Olivia's I got a phone call from Olivia's mom that Ella had vomited all over her floor!!! Poor Ella and poor Lee, Olivia's mom. Fortunately Lee is a nurse and all "that" isn't foreign to her. Ella felt much better after that, but had to come home and was quite disappointed! She didn't eat much for the rest of the day, but woke up today feeling fine. Quite strange. Amelie had her friend, Maive, come over and they had a fantastic time. Amelie was thrilled.

Well, that's that. Sorry for the rambling, but we are also using this as a journal for ourselves. Lots of love! Marileen

3rd Term Break - part one

In Australia they do things a bit differently as far as school vacations are concerned. The Christmas/Summer break is only for 6 weeks. Instead, they spread out some of the breaks throughout the year. The school year is broken up into 4 terms and between each term they have a 2 week term break. So Ella and Amelie, having had just 3 1/2 quick weeks of school here, are now on a 2 1/2 week break (9/25-10/14)!

On the last day of school they had another amazing assembly with the theme of "Dancing with the Football Stars" as the following day was the Australian Rules Football Finals. It was performed by the 7th grade and they did an excellent job. There were all different dancing numbers performed by groups of either girls or boys. They had 3 judges: an Australian, a French and an American. The American judge was very loud and obnoxious (that's our reputation around the world - aren't we proud??!!). Even though it was absolutely hilarious, I couldn't believe how mature and coordinated these kids were (even the boys) and what a great job they did. I wish that I had video taped it. Ella got a Merit Award this time for "Promoting the children's interest and understanding regarding the life cycle of a garden snail". Totally sounds like Ella doesn't it? I was so glad she got one because Ella, who usually is the one to shine in the eyes of her teachers, was feeling a bit jealous of Amelie who had gotten 2 gold slips and 1 Merit Award. For those of you High School Musical 2 fans, Amelie and Ella got a great kick out of Amelie saying "I got a gold slip and a merit award and, golly Troy, I've only been here for 2 weeks...uhn, uhn!"

After school we went to a playground/park with a bunch of other families and celebrated the beginning of break. All the playgrounds here are amazing. I can't believe that my 9 year old daughter, and her younger siblings, can happily spend 2 hours at the playground playing on the equipment. Also, every playground here has tables, some sort of covering from the sun (usually sails suspended overhead) and BBQs. Every BBQ looks like a big rectangular block with a flat stainless grilling surface and is hooked up to propane. When you click it on it will stay on for 20 minutes and then shut off automatically. You can then restart it if you need more time. When you're done you clean the surface for the next people. It's amazing! This way people can get together all the time for BBQs and you don't have to clean your house to get ready... The US really has some things to learn from the Aussies.

Ella and Amelie were invited to a birthday party at the Dark Zone where they have laser tag. Amelie was a bit intimidated by the whole thing so she didn't do it, but Ella loved it!

We also went to the Perth Royal Show by train. This is an annual "show" which is a bit like an upscale county fair. "The Smoke Free Perth Royal Show is Perth's biggest community event attracting 400,000 visitors from the city and the country every year. With a rich history spanning 170 years, the Show is an iconic social and cultural event which showcases WA agriculture, small business and entertainment." It was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun. A big attraction at the show are the "show bags" which are either "lolly" (candy) bags or theme bags. Ella got a lolly bag, Amelie got a littlest pet shop bag and Pieter got a teenage mutant ninja turtle bag. There was a petting ring where Ella was in her glory. She was petting a calf who then relaxed so much that he lay down and proceeded to fall asleep with his head in Ella's lap. She just sat there for half hour. There was also a tent set up by the Australian Navy. Inside it was one of the MK 48 torpedo that Rob has been working on with the Australians! There happened to be a guy who just entered the tent when we did who started up a conversation with Rob and had all kind of questions for him. It was really cool for Rob to be able to answer all his questions (without giving away any classified info, of course...haha). At the end of the night there was a big show in the middle ring (where they'd had horse show jumping all day!) with BMX bikes and motorcycles. The motorcycles were going up these huge ramps and then jumping 50-70 feet to the next ramp. They did all kinds of tricks in the air like handstands, holding on with only one hand and the rest of their body flying off the bike and doing back flips with their motorcycles in the air!! Pieter got so excited over this that every time they did an amazing trick he had to hug both Rob and me. He didn't know what to do with himself. We missed our train stop on the way home because we didn't know we had to hit the "open" door button to get off. Fortunately the next stop wasn't far and the return train was on the next track, unfortunately, in my haste I slammed Pieter into a flower planter. He's fine now:)

We had a nice breakfast at Zephyr's on the Swan River with the Duncans. There is a great playground right next door, of course, so the kids ran off to play while the adults got to hang out and chat. I love the ages of our kids that they don't need us on top of them all the time anymore. We biked to the East Fremantle Oval where the Sharks play Aussie rules football. Rob's bike has a tandem hitch for Pieter. When we got there it turned out the Mushens were playing today. See attached photo. We won, by the way.

as time flies by...continued

Well, "later" became 3 days later.

More highlights:

• We took the bus into Perth last weekend. It's $8 unlimited travel for the whole family all day. We went to Kings Park which has beautiful gardens and great walking paths. Of course we met some interesting people (one guy who had lived in the US for a bit) and Rob got in a philosophical talk with this older man about raising children and about how he doesn't believe "in fairies or that there's anything out there". Then we went into the city and saw a really fun street performer and poked about a bit. Much different than the crass pirate performer, that we saw in Fremantle the previous weekend, who was telling the kids to "shut-up"!
• I took Pieter to his new kindy class yesterday. It is actually a kindy/pre-primary split class (4-6 year olds) which I think is a good fit for him. He was very welcomed there and got to play with playdough and do a couple of the academic activities. He loved it! He made some new friends and was very keen on going there again this morning. Unfortunately, he won't go back until the Wednesday (Oct. 14) after term break. Now I just need to work out the logistics of how to be in 2 places at one time on Monday and Wednesday mornings and afternoons. Did I say that this was all-day kindy??!!
• This morning there was a big fat kookaburra on our back lawn! I think he was the crazy loud bird that woke us up at 5:00 am doing some serious tropical bird sounds outside.
• It's when I am driving the car that it hits me most that we are in Australia. It is so strange to be driving on the opposite side of the road. When I drive down the street I realize that I really am in a completely different country. It's becoming more natural and I'm very rarely using the windshield wiper in place of the turn signal and for the most part I go to the correct side of the car to get in and drive. I don't believe that parallel parking will ever be in my future here:).
• Our prayer group skyped with us yesterday morning (their Tuesday night) at 7:00am. It was so good to see everyone and sing "Our God is an Awesome God" with them.
• I had to tell the kids that they could not have "a play" this afternoon because they have already accumulated way too many friends (yay!) and have begun to expect a play everyday after school.

Thanks to all of you for thinking of us, keeping in touch, sending the kids letters (Pieter is dying for a note in the mail), praying for us and skypeing us.

*pix in order: Rob and kids waiting at bus stop for Perth; the Mushens (and Little Truff) on top of the DNA tower at King's Park; a green and red kangaroo paw - the state flower; on a suspended bridge at the park with Swan River in background (we live south of the river); Ella and Amelie trying to act like a tree (?) with Boab Tree.

Lots of love, Marileen

As time flies by...

I just can't believe how fast time is flying and that we have already been away from RI for an entire month. Also, my plan to update the blog 1x per week is not working out too well.

Anyway, our time here continues to be amazing and we continue to be blessed by so many. The highlights from the past 10 days include:

• more tea with friends - you'd think that we are up to our eyeballs in tea, but if most of you remember, we Mushens love our tea! And yes, for the most part, it is actually tea that we're drinking :)
• we had 14 US people (from Rob's job in Newport/Seattle/D.C.) over for dinner! They all followed each other here and arrived at the same time. I made a huge chicken curry dish with Risotto and cucumber salad (thanks for the recipe Liz!). I actually made too much if you can imagine. I had some great help from Bob Sabelli cooking dinner and the girls made homemade apple crisp with "Uncle Ted". I think Amelie probably snuck a third of the apples saturated in sugar while (she thought) we weren't looking. We decided that Rob is the better entertainer and we are better at hiding out in the corner by the stove.(sound familiar UMASS roommates?) and cooking. It was a great night and the kids also enjoyed being around fellow US folks. Actually, Amelie and Pieter were out on the trampoline when John Barber came out to say "hello". He gave Ams a kiss and then she went back out on the trampoline - boingg boingg - and said "Now I'm not homesick anymore because Narragansett is here!" And honestly, she has not mentioned being homesick again.
• I had my own introduction to exercise in Australia. My friend Janelle invited me to go for a run with her while we both pushed the jogging "prams". She told me she had a spare. Well, I have not pushed a child while running since before Amelie was born (back with Kristin Riley and Jen Chabot)! Thankfully her jogger was very lightweight, but unfortunately East Fremantle is VERY hilly! I held my own for a while but then begged Janelle to walk for the last huge hill. She was gracious and took pity on me, but in the end it started to rain so we had to run home anyway. I was extremely sore in areas I forgot existed for the next several days.
• Ella and her friends at school have created a large snail habitat in a tree at school. There are a lot of snails here. They've named them and given them each their own royal status. Ella now has pet snails in a jar at home and has been researching them on the Internet. The anatomy of a snail is actually quite interesting. Yesterday Ella's friend Olivia came over and I overheard them reading about snail reproduction on the Internet: "Snails are either hermaphrodites or they can mate with another snail..." They continued to read on about conception. I wasn't sure if this was considered x-rated reading material or science. I had to let go of my overprotected mom nature and let it be science. Hopefully Olivia's mom would agree.
• The weather has continued to be very unpredictable. I have been very spoiled the last week because Rob has been using Bob Sabelli's car and I've gotten to use ours. Now, when it looks like rain we drive, much to Ella's dismay. We do continue to walk to school as much as we can.
• Pieter and I went to Ikea yesterday! Need I say more?
• I'm signing Pieter up for a kindi (preschool) program which will start after the term break. Term break begins Friday and goes until October 13th. We haven't made any definitive plans for this time, but they are in the making.
• We booked our Christmas Holiday to New Zealand!!!!! It is Dec. 25th until January 14th. We will meet my brother Mark and his girlfriend Erin up in Auckland and then see them off and on during our trip. Around the first of January we will stay with my cousin Jenny who lives in the South of the North Island for a couple of nights. We then go to the South Island for the rest of our trip! We are trying to decide whether we want to go the motorhome route or not. Hmmm? On the 14th we will fly to Melbourne to see my Uncle Sam (my dad's youngest brother) and his wife and then fly back to Perth on the 16th. We can't wait!
• Last week the girls had "Sports Day" at their school which is basically field day the way it was when I was a child. All day track and field activities. The parents come with lawn chairs and food and stay all day as well. It was a great day and the girls had so much fun. They divide the entire school into 3 factions and you are assigned to this at the very beginning of the school year: Red (Winsor), Green (Osborne) and Yellow (Fraser). Families are always in the same faction. The girls are in Winsor. All year long when you are caught being good you are given a faction point which gets added to your total team points. On Sports Day, the kids all wear their faction t-shirts and they are divided into the 3 teams for the day. Most of the events are done by age, but at the very end they had a huge relay race where they took the fastest girl and boy from each year (preprimary to year 7) and each faction and put them in their faction team. The relay went from youngest to oldest and it was just so great to see this "intergenerational" team working together. Everyone got lots of ribbons and they had their faction color slushies at lunchtime. I must tell you that Winsor lost and I guess they've been on a 19 year losing streak. Yellow/Fraser always wins. Why do they put the new kids in the losing faction :)?

*the pictures from top to bottom are: Amelie with her sugar coated apples; cooking for our 14 people in our kitchen - laughing because Ella is harrassing the one Yankees fan there; Ella with her good friend Olivia; Amelie with her friend Mia (obviously a fellow thumb sucker - check out the bite!); Ella with friends Tara and Jessica winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in running on sports day.

I have to get the girls from school and wake Pieter up. I'll do more later.

Fitness in Australia Episode 2: "A Bit of Sport"

(Nice Church Friend called "Phil"): Hey Rob, couple of blokes getting together for a "bit of sport" on Wednesday...pick you up at 0615?

(Flabby Boy): I'm sorry, did you say 0615...as in A.M.? Perhaps you meant 0615 in Rhode Island?

(Phil): No, c'mon mate, it'll be fun...we're all a little foggy that early.

(Rob): At that time, I will not even be conscious. By the way, will this involve swimming by any chance?

(Phil): No, just a little cardio...see you Wednesday.

...flash forward to the morning of Wednesday....and yes, 0615, A.M., in the morning, very early...

(Phil) Rob, meet Mac, he used to be a mountain bike instructor in Colorado, he's going to be in charge of warm up

(Rob) O Good Lord, pls let me see my family again

(Mac) Ok boys, we'll start off with a jog around the oval, then a quick circuit routine: 5 chin ups, 10 knee-ups, 20 push-ups, and 30 squats

(Rob) Once?

(Mac, laughing) No mate, until you can't do anymore (or you puke)

(Rob) Why do I keep signing up for this...

...flash forward to the end of 5 repetitions of the above....

(Mac) Nice work boys. Rob, how'd you go? Rob, Rob has anyone seen him?

(Phil) I think he's over there calling 000 (Australian version of 911)

(Mac) Oh boy.

(Mac) Ok Rob, ready for a little ultimate?

(Rob, gagging) Uh, ya, I actually love ultimate, buy I can't feel my fingers

Long story short, we then proceeded to play a version of ultimate with 5 players that's sort of like knock-out in basketball...except the winner just switches teams so the game never stops.

It was the longest hour of fitness I've done in a long time....but I'm realizing (slowly) that I may actually leave this place in pretty good shape. Because, no matter what the weather, time of day or fitness-level...these guys (and gals) love the outdoors and they love to play sports.

GAME ON!

week 2 in East Freo

Well, we had another incredible week here in Australia. Last weekend we drove up the coast and finally got to put our toes in the Indian Ocean. It was surprisingly warmer than I expected. Don't get me wrong, it was freezing, but kind of "late June in RI/MA" freezing. The water is a beautiful blue-green and the beach just goes on and on forever. Driving up the coast made me think of Highway 1 in California with the coast and vegetation. We wound up at this place on the coast called Hillary's Boat House. There are tons of shops, AQWA (western Australia's aquarium) and a big pay-as-you-play area that had 20 trampolines all together in one big area as well as all kinds of other equipment. You pay $8 to jump on your own trampoline for 12 minutes. The kids each had their own and practically touched the sky. They also had this funny blow up thing along the restaurants where 2 people each stand on their own perch and try to knock each other off with these big blown up columns...hilarious. Ella and Amelie did it and had a blast. First Ella knocked Amelie off and then Ella graciously got "knocked-off" by Amelie. We had tea with friends that afternoon and walked down to the Swan River. Ella and their son, Liam, wrestled and raced each other all afternoon. I don't know what that was all about, but they had a lot of fun doing it.

Sunday was Father's Day. So Rob got another well-deserved father's day celebration. He is an amazing father and has been such a support to his psychotic wife over the past months of preparations and meltdowns. I drove for the first time on the opposite side of the road to go get some baked goods for breakfast. It took ALOT of concentration. The blinkers and windshield wipers are switched so I spent a lot of time turning with the windshield wipers on (and it wasn't raining). We had a nice breakfast, got ready for church and still had a few minutes to jump on the trampoline before we walked to church. It was very refreshing to be leaving the house peacefully on a Sunday morning. Amelie and I went out to do some errands as a distraction. She has really been missing all her family and friends back home and needed a little one-on-one time with Mommy. She has decided that next time we go away for a year we should go to Newport so that we can still be close to home. We had a really nice time out until she fell in love with a "furr real" pet in K-Mart and was devastated for the next 1/2 hour that he couldn't come home to live with us. Maybe I should've just gotten it for her...???

School started up again on Monday. Did I already say that school uniforms rock?! We've had a lot of rain this past week and our wonderful, down the street neighbor, Lindy, offers to drive the girls or pick them up from school when it's raining. On Monday we walked down the street to pick up Ella's friend, Tia, to come to our house. We were invited in for a quick cup of tea and as we were getting ready to leave the sky opened up. So...we stayed for quite a bit longer. Fortunately Tia's little sister, Sienna, is in Amelie's class and Mia, also in her class, was there for a "play" so everyone had a great time. I had to call Rob to come pick us up after work. The trials of having just one car. Lesson: always bring your umbrella and raincoats this time of year in East Freo. The weather changes really fast.

Tuesday Amelie came home from school with a gold slip for being "courteous" and having "lovely manners". We are so proud of her. She definitely does have the loveliest manners of them all.

Very early Wednesday morning, before work, Rob went and did a boot camp work-out and played ultimate frisbee with some guys form church. Rob's planning to expand on that experience in his own blog entry. Pieter and I went to a play group at the church also on Wed morning. We had fun there singing lots of new songs, making a craft, running around and meeting some new people.

Thursday Ella and Amelie were each having a friend over after school and all day it poured and the wind was insane. Pieter and I had to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store, by foot of course. We got soaked and our umbrella wouldn't stay right side in. It was so funny hiding under trees and building overhangs. In the end, I had to call Rob to come home early so he could pick up all the kids from school! Lindy could not fit them all in her car. It was so cute listening to Jessica and Charlie (Charlotte) speaking in our house after school with their lovely Australian accents. They all had a great time despite the rain.

Friday morning was all school assembly and Amelie's class was responsible for putting on a skit. What are the chances of our destined-to-be-a-star child's class being honored right as Amelie arrives. They sang bits of many known (and unknown) songs that went through the sounds of the alphabet and some combo sounds (ch, th, sh, etc...). Amelie, of course, learned ALL the words in less than 2 weeks and was happy as a clam up there in front of 500 people. At the end of it all, each teacher gets to pick a child or 2 to award a Merit Award. Well, Amelie's teacher chose her because she has adjusted so well to her new classroom. She got called up to the front, along with the other honorees, received an award from the principal and stood on stage to be applauded. Amelie is off to a great start at school! It was really very special. These assemblies happens every fortnight.

Pieter and I went to the Toy Library with Janelle and Abby (2). At the toy library you can check out 3 toys for a few weeks and then return them. What a great idea! Then we went to Target. It's very different from our Target, but has the same bulls-eye logo. It's easy to leave this Target NOT spending $100.

Friday night we had Bob Cibelli, a colleague/friend of Rob's from RI, over for dinner. We had a great time and the kids had fun hanging out with a fellow American. 7 other US colleagues of Rob are coming over for dinner on Monday.

Today we finally had sunshine...yipeeee! Rob had to go to work for the morning, so the kids and I hung outside with the bikes and played. Pieter and Amelie nurtured Baby Alive (poor Pieter) while Ella played with Pet Shops. Once Rob got home we went to a different beach in Fremantle. It was very windy so we brought our 2 kites which we had fun letting way out. There were people down there kite surfing and windsurfing really fast. Amelie found a dead seahorse on the beach that was about 5 inches long! How amazing is that to find a seahorse at the local beach?? We were all so excited. On the way home we stopped at The Oval in East Fremantle where they were having the high school championships for Aussie rules Football. This is an amazing sport where there are 16 people on the field for each team at a time. They wore no equipment and they are constantly in motion. The field is oval and it is HUGE! It seems to be a combination of football, basket ball and soccer. Pretty much anything goes, as far as I can tell.

The kids continue to love jumping on the trampoline and we are enjoying where we live. Rob is loving his job and has been listening to a lot of 60 minutes and books on tape to and from work. I'm having a great time hanging out with Pieter and doing a little bit of exploring. We live a nice, simple life which is exactly what I was looking forward to.

I will post photos to go with these stories tomorrow. It's bedtime. Sorry I haven't emailed much. We've been arranging our Christmas/summer holiday vacation in New Zealand!

Lots of love and miss you all. Marileen