Rambling

I am just ramble about our life.

Sam: 
His behavior is off the charts. Bad, with a super capital B.  Holy moley!  He's stealing, hitting, throwing fits, breaking things, rude and grumpy.  Not my typical Sam.  I am hoping that he is growing or something and that this phase will be over quite quickly.  I don't like it and I am not real sure how to handle it. 

Tom: 
He is still hanging out in his sling.  We go to a specialist tomorrow, in order to find out if anything else needs to be done.  It is looking better now than what it did when he broke it two and a half weeks ago.  We did have an x-ray done, but the break looks worse than it did.  I have no idea what's going on, but we'll see what the specialist says. 
Tom's mid-year report was fairly good, with only minor problems in his social interaction.  I was quite pleased with it.  Then we had a sit down talk with his teacher, and she is much much more concerned about his social behavior.  I was quite surprised.  Tom can strike up a conversation and make friends with any kid on the playground.  He allows them to control the play and I have never seen a problem with other kids (not counting his brothers.)  His teacher paints a different story though.  Tom is too silly in class.  He bothers and disrupts the other kids to the point that they avoid him.  Many of Tom's behaviors are way over the top.  She has requested that the counselor come evaulate him.  Yea...

Joe:
Joe is doing quite a lot better at school lately.  We have set up a system with his teacher.  His teacher writes in a behavior book, 3 times a day, 5 days a week.  The days is split up into morning, mid-day and afternoon.  Joe's teacher writes about Joe's behavior for each session.  If Joe gets good notes every session for three days in a row, he earns a new chapter book.  This system works well and seems to be motivating him a lot.  Joe's mid-year report was pretty much what we expected.  Joe does great work, when he wants to do the work.   Joe listens to the teacher, if he feels like listening.  Joe is good at writing, if he's in the right mood.  His teacher is really happy with the progress that he has made, but his social skills are still at the bottom.  His teacher has worked quite a bit to stop a lot of the bullying, but it still happens.  Of course, part of the problem is that Joe reacts and gets really upset about minor things.  At soccer, all the boys were joking and joshing around and there was some name calling going on.  I don't know what names were being called, but Joe was getting and giving.  Then, a boy called him something that upset him (he won't say what) and pretty soon, he stalked off and was bawling.  This doesn't help at all.  Then the boys start calling him baby.  It's hard to watch your child go through that, and I try to give him strategies to cope.  It doesn't always work though. 

Weather
It rained hard for 6 days.  We were soaked, the ground was saturated, and we all missed the sun.  Now, a week later, it feels like late spring, though we have a whole month of winter left.  I think the hardest thing about moving back to the States will be the weather.  How can we go from a winter with days on the beach to a cold, gray, slushy mess? 
With nice sunny days comes bright clear nights.

Part of being out where we are is that we don't have a lot of light pollution.  It's awesome!  I love being able to see the Milky Way.

Me
Lacey and I have finished the first two stages of dog obedience training.  This Sunday starts stage three.  We will have to test out of stage three before moving on.  It will be more intense and will require more work.  Lacey is also starting to do basic "find" excerises.  We hide a toy and she seeks it out.  She does well at it.  Later this month, we will be skipping a day of dog training in order to go to a tracking trial.  We need to learn how to track and the easiest way to learn is to go watch a trial.  There is a trial on the 7th and the 21st.  Since the 7th is the first day of stage 3, we will have to wait until the 21st to go to the trial.  I wish that more of these things took place during the week, when the kids are at school and I have idle time on my hands. 
I am taking a photography class starting on the 15th.  It is supposed to be all about digital SLR cameras.  I am excited for the six weeks of this course, but a little bummed that it only takes place on Monday evenings.  It means that I will have something on Monday, Tuesday and Jay has something on Wednesday. 

Friends
I am still trying to find "my crowd", but I think that I am making progress.  One of the biggest problems is that I am done having children and many friends are just getting ready to have another.  It's two very different stages when your youngest is getting ready to start school full time and their youngest is a tiny baby.  I have managed to make a few friends who are at the same stage as myself, so we'll see how it goes.  I discovered on Saturday that a lady I know scrapbooks!  This is a big deal to me as I haven't found any locals that scrapbook.  I have met ladies in Sydney, but that's a ways away.  Anyway, this lady is the mom of one of Joe's soccer teammates and is also one of the teachers at Sam's preschool.  (Gotta love small towns!)  She is the mom of four boys (though her youngest is 7).  We are planning to scrapbook together soon.

My Noosa escape

Okay, first of all, I managed not to take a single picture.  The day that we went to a very picture worthy place, I didn't have my camera.  So, no pictures were taken on this trip...
Monday:  I drove to the airport first thing in the morning.  I had to be there 30 minutes prior to take off since I didn't have any checked bags.  I planned to be there 45 minutes early.  However, a few minutes before leaving the house, I check my email and Selena had sent me a message saying it was warm and t-shirts and 3/4 length pants were probably best.  Eek!  I had packed 3/4 length sleeve shirts and jeans.  I then was racing around a bit to swap shirts so that I wouldn't roast.  Between that and a few other things, I didn't get to the airport on time.  I got to the check in counter 26 minutes before my flight.  They had just called my flight to board.  However, JetStar said I was too late and wasn't going to be able to get on my flight.  That I had "missed" it.  Simply because I was 4 minutes late!!  Thankfully, there were 2 other people in line behind me that had the exact same problem.  They decided to bypass and check us all in.  If any of us would have had checked baggage, we wouldn't have gotten on.  So, I squeaked through after all.  Of course, there was no line at security and I went directly to my gate.  And there was a massive line!!  Somehow, I got in the middle of the line as most people still hadn't even lined up to board yet.  Now, I understand that JetStar has to make a policy and draw a line somewhere, but maybe they shouldn't do it at 30 minutes.  Yes, yes, I know...I should have just been earlier (and I won't ever cut it that close again).
The flight was short and uneventful.  To Brisbane, it is only about 70 minutes so we were there in no time.  I found my shuttle driver and off we went.  We pulled into Noosa Heads about 10 minutes ahead of schedule and Selena arrived at the same time. 
It was great to see her!  Selena is expecting baby number 3 at the end of July and looks great.  We grabbed a sandwich for lunch and sat on the wall at the beach.  We had a short little wonder around and then headed back to her house.  She has a nice 4 bedroom house in the same neighborhood that they lived in last time they were in Noosa.  Her house also includes a wonderful backyard area, complete with covered patio and pool. 
I got a call at 3:25 from Sam's preschool, wondering if I was going to pick him up!  The final pick-up time for school is 3:15 (and I am always there no later than 3:05).  I said that Jay was getting him and that I'd find him.  I called Jay's work to learn that he'd left at 3:10.  So I called the pre-school back and let them know he was on his way.  I then tried to call a few friends in order to have them grab the older two boys.  None of them responded, so I just called the office.  School lets out at 3:30 so there was no way that Jay was going to be there in time to grab them.  The office sent a note down and the boys waited with the bus riders.  No big deal and all the kids were picked up and finally home when I called them later. 
Tuesday, we took a drive up to Monteville.  We did a wonder around and morning tea.  Absolutely beautiful scenery and some wonderful hillsides fully covered in orangey yellow flowers.  Too bad I didn't have my camera. 
Wednesday, we headed to the Eumundi markets.  Eumundi is a sleepy little town that fills to the brim twice a week for the markets.  Wednesday is not quite as busy or awesome as Saturdays according to Selena, but it was still really neat to wonder through isles and isles of tents and stalls.  We scored a few really great things and it was an enjoyable day.  I topped off Wednesday by having some one-on-one time with the girls while Selena did a few catch-up chores and spent a little time with Dan (her hubby).  
Thursday was a easy day as Selena had a doctor's appointment in the morning.  We then had lunch and after school, I headed for home.  The trip home was very uneventful. 
I very much enjoyed my time away, but as usual I was pretty keen to get home. 

More picture challenges and a trip cometh...

So here are some more picture challenges.
Challenge 6: Sunset

This picture was taken from our front deck and is looking through some tree branches at the sunset.  I don't really have much to say about it.

Challenge 7: A flower
It is sorta the wrong time of year for growing many flowers, but we have a few.

Yes, I know that most consider this a weed and not a flower, but it is still a pretty spot of yellow.

Challenge 8: Someone taking a bite of their favorite food
So, I had a hard time with this challenge as food being shoveled into a mouth does not make a pretty picture. 

But I guess that pictures don't always have to be pretty.  Sometimes, they just have to be real.

Challenge 9: Messiest room
Geez.  Yet again, the messiest room in the house is my craft room.  It probably wouldn't take long to clean it, if only I could find some free time without the kids or the dog.

 

I've been pretty good about taking each picture on each day, but I have a hard time remembering to sit down and blog about it. 
Over the next few days, I won't have a chance to blog either.  I am going on a trip!  I am traveling by plane and shuttle bus to the Noosa area in Queensland to visit Selena.  I am very excited to go and am thankful to Jay for suggesting the trip and allowing me to go.  Jay will be in charge during the week, which will be the first time he's ever done this.  I'm sure that he'll do fine. 

A dinner and a lunch

So, on Saturday night, we met Selena, her hubby and their kids for dinner at Solider's Point Bowling Club for dinner.  This was my first trip to this bowling club, which is about 10 minutes away by car.  The dining room has large glass windows along one side that open into a large fenced area.  Inside the fenced area, there is a playground and a grassy area.  The bowling club also has a kids' club that is available to members so I joined for $7. 
We got there at 6 and let the kids play outside while we chatted and enjoyed some wine.  Then we ordered kids' food and let them eat.  After eating, we hustled them down to the kids' club where a lady babysits them for members for free.  It seemed a little dodgy as it is a room with a tv, some video games, craft supplies and some toys.  Selena and I decided to come back and check on the kiddos in about 15-20 minutes.  We ordered our food and then right before it showed up, we checked on the kids.  They were so busy that they didn't even notice we were there.  Okay, no problem, we'll go back to grown up time.  We got to eat dinner with NO kids with other grown ups!  Yea!  That is the one fantastic thing about many Aussie restaurants.  If they are family friendly, then they tend to have some sort of play area set aside.  This went a step further with the kids' room.  We stayed way late and finally collected the kids at 9!  Our boys raved about the kids' club and can't wait to go back.  Love it!  Best $7 I've spent all month!
This morning I had a doctor's appointment.  It was a 10:00 am appointment so I had time to walk the boys to school and then walk back home again.  I then got in the car and drove to the doctor.  The medical centre is right next to the school, but I had some errands so I wanted the car for after the doctor.  I didn't get done until after 11.  After the doctor, Selena wanted to head to Raymond Terrace to look for some school uniform pants.  Mondays are the only days were both she and I have no kids.  There is a chain of stores called Best & Less that sells uniform bottoms for much cheaper than the uniform shop.  So we went there.  It was her first trip to RT and there's not much in it.  She got what she wanted and I got what I needed.  Of course, then we had the rest of the afternoon.  How about lunch?  Okay, hmmmm, lets' go to hubby's place.  Okay.
You see, Selena's hubby is a chef and is the general manager of a trio of restaurants at a local resort.  The resort is a very nice place, very new and feels pretty posh.  The resort has one of the largest pools in the country.  If you look at their website here, you will see a picture of where we ate.  The picture of people eating outside by the giant pool...that's where we sat, right by the pool!
The only time that Selena has eaten there is with the hubby when he wasn't working.  He was working today, but wasn't busy at all.  We ordered our lunch.  I had the chicken, avacado and lettuce wrap and she had the smoked salmon, cream chesse and lettuce wrap.  Her hubby also brought out some fries and a seafood sample platter and some wine.  I've never been a big seafood eater as we just didn't have it growing up and I haven't been exposed to a lot of different stuff.  On the platter was prawns, fish, octopus, smoked salmon, mussels, and oysters.  Well, I've had prawns and fish before...  I was very proud of myself because I tried everything!  I even like most of it.  It was all very fresh and nicely cooked, nothing was battered and fried. Oysters were weird and a bit slimey.  Mussels were okay, but I really liked the smoked salmon and the octopus.  Lunch was so wonderful.  The weather was the best, the atmosphere was great and it was just two ladies having a good time.  No kids, no worries.  And at the end, we only paid for our wraps and that was even at a 20% discount.  We won't do it very often as I'm sure her hubby wouldn't like it, but it was good fun.  Next Monday, we plan to do some walking somewhere.  We just have to figure out where. 

Dorrigo National Park, the Big Banana and home again

So on Monday, we ventured out to Dorrigo National Park.  The rain was still pounding us so we prepared by packing along extra clothes, extra shoes, beach towels, and rain gear.  We had planned to spend two days at the park, doing one long hike/walk each day.  For Monday, we decided to take the 5.8 km walk that orginates from the visitor centre and goes down to Crystal Shower Falls and Tristania Falls.  We got to the visitor centre and piled on our rain gear.  First up, the Skywalk.  On clear days, you are up at the same level as the tops of the trees and you can see way out over the whole park.  Pictures online are really cool.  Monday was rainy and so much fog and mist that you couldn't see much at all. 

Tom and Sam were actually excited about taking a long walk in the rain.  Joe, on the other hand, had no interest in it.  He had been begging to go to the park since the day we drove into Coffs Harbour.  He just didn't want to do it in the rain.  Sorry, bud, nothing we can do about the weather. 

Joe complained and was miserable during the entire walk.  The rest of us were fine for the most part.  We were doing fine until after we got to the waterfalls. 
Crystal Falls:

The boys thought it was cool that we got to hike down behind it as well as see it from the bridge.  We told the boys over and over that if it hadn't been raining so hard, the falls wouldn't have looked as cool. 
Tristania Falls:

This picture makes the falls look kinda small, but it was huge!  There was so much water going over it.  We stood on the bridge in front of it and Jay proclaimed "Holy Moley, that's alotta water."  After we left the falls, Sam said "holy moley, that's alotta water" over and over to himself for the next 15 minutes or so.  It was so cute.
Here's the guys standing on the bridge in front of the falls.

The water goes down under the bridge and the over another falls on the left side of the picture.  Totally incredible and amazing! 
After we left the falls, the boys were starting to tire.  Even Jay and I were starting to tire.  We were all wet and a little cold and had a 2 km walk back to the car still.  Of course, there were also the leaches.  Tom thought the walk was fun until we had to take a couple of leaches off his legs.  Leaches are harmless, but they do drink your blood.  They don't carry any diseases like ticks do, but Tom was freaked out by them.  When they first climb up on you, they are tiny skinny little things.  If they attach on and drink for a bit, they start to swell up like a water balloon.  The ones that you see in movies are after they've been fed.  Once we got done with the walk and in to the bathrooms to change, we had to deleach as well.  Tom had gotten all of his off while still on the walk, Jay had one on his leg and one of his face (which I'd seen at the end of the walk and removed for him), Joe had seen them all before they got off his shoes and Sam and I... We weren't so good at not getting leaches.  Sam had two on his legs, one under his arm and one on his belly.  They'd all been on there a bit and were pretty big.  Eww.  I had three on my ankles that weren't big, one on my knee that was, and one on my stomach that was huge.  Ewww.  Leaches have both a pain killer and a anti-clotting agent in their saliva.  Sam bleed a bit (about 10 minutes) and the clotted.  The ones on my ankles were about 10 minutes, but the one of my knee was about 90 minutes (got blood all over my pants) and the one on my stomach was still bleeding 4 hours after I removed it.  At this point we were back at the cabin and I put a bandaid on it. 
We did a quick dinner that night and went to bed without to much fuss.  We were all tired from that day.
We had to be out of the cabin early the next morning as check out was 9 am. 
We drove over to the Big Banana.  The Big Banana totes itself as one of Australia's most famous icons.  Hmmm.  Never heard of it until we went to Coffs Harbour so it must not be that famous.  There is a banana plantation, a walk upto the top of a large hill for viewing Coffs Harbour, an Ice rink, a waterpark, and slide ride all at the Big Banana.  However, it was closed at 9 in the morning and not opening until 10:30.  We didn't want to wait around.  So we took a few pictures and left. 

We decided to give the kids a bit of fun and headed to an indoor family fun center.  It opended at 9:30 and we were the first ones there.  It had a big climbing structure, a ball pit, indoor mini golf and a nerf ball blasting zone.  It was good fun, though Jay was tired and wanted to leave shortly after getting there.

I think the kids were just happy to be doing something out of the rain for once. 
We stayed until about 11 and then headed out of town.  The weather was clearing so we had a picnic lunch on the banks of a swollen river.  We couldn't go back to Dorrigo National Park as the road was underwater.  My car is not set up for going through water.  (They don't close roads when there's water over them.  They just put up markers to show how deep it is.  If you get stuck, it's your fault.) 
We'd love to go back to that area at some point.  However, we have so much on our list, it's down at the bottom.
We spent a lazy day at home on Wednesday.  On Thursday, while Sam was back at his school, I took the big boys on an educational hike through the National Parks system.  The hike was called "Whose Poo is it?  The goal of the hike was to show everyone animal tracks and poo and identify them.   I found the first animal track.  A single paw print in some sand on the side of the trail.  Ranger Justin was stumped.  He didn't know what it was.  We didn't see much poo, just some rabbit and some dog.  But we did see some tracks: dog, rabbit, wallaby, mystery track, and crow.  It was an enjoyable two hours.  And the boys had fun.  (Oh, Selena and her two girls were with us, btw.)  After the walk, all of us met up with Aleeya (who didn't have her oldest with her) and ate lunch at Fingal Bay Beach Park.  After lunch, we all walked down to the beach for some sand and water play.  We left there at about 3:15 because some of the kids were cold and all headed back to Aleeya's house for ice cream and coffee.  It was a really fun day!

Shopping trip and friends

So the pasttime of most ladies here seems to be shopping.  I am having to learn to adjust.  Instead of my typical go out and get what I need, I wait until someone wants to go shopping.  Then I go along and get one or two things on my list.  I don't get everything I want because then I wouldn't really have a reason to go next time.  Plus, I am making friends at the same time. 
So, let me tell you about some friends so that when I talk about shopping, it will be easier to follow. 
Aleeya- Aleeya has three kids, a boy age 9, a girl age 5 and in Tom's class and a boy age 2.  Aleeya's husband is RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) and is actually on the Wedgetail project.  Jay and her hubby don't know each other though.  He's been on the project for a very long time and they actually lived in the States from about 2003-2006 in Seattle.  She's taken me under her wing and shown me the ropes of living here.  It's very helpful that she has lived in the States because she can tell me what things here are similar to the States and where to find stuff.  She has lived in this area for about 3 years so she knows her way around.  Aleeya is similar to me in that she married young (even younger than me) and had kids early.  Tom likes her daughter so that's a plus as well. 
Selena- Selena has two daughters, one in Tom's class who is 6 and one who is 4 and will start school next year.  Selena is a recent move to this area as well and her oldest started school about a week before our kids did.  She is a bit of a free spirit and apparently used to backpack all over the world before settling down and having kids, getting married, etc.  Aleeya is also showing her around as well.  Selena's hubby is the chef at a local high end resort. 
Rachel- I don't know much about Rachel as she's furthering her education and is just now getting done with stuff for a bit.  She has 3 or 4 kids of her own and babysits two kids as well.  She and Aleeya have been friends for a while.  Rachel also has a daughter in Tom's class and this daughter is the girl that Tom has a huge crush on.  He thinks she's the best! 
Nicole- She is another Northrup wife and lives down in Newcastle.  She is 26 with no kids, but she is the only person I know who scrapbooks.
Aimee- A Boeing wife.  She just moved here last week from Turkey.  She has two little girls, age 4 and age 2.  They will be living up near us, but are friends with Nicole and her husband.  I don't know much about her yet as we've just met. 
So, last week on Thursday, I rode to Newcastle with Selena, Aleeya and two of the kids.  Sam was in school so no problem.  I had invited Nicole to meet us for shopping because Ryan was out of town.  Nicole brought along Aimee to meet us since she'll be living up near us.  We had a good time and Aleeya decided she needed to go back to Newcastle on Monday to buy her hubby's birthday present.  She asked if anyone wanted to go and since Sam was in school, I went along too.  We never made it there.  Her little boy threw up in the car about 20 minutes down the road.  All over himself and the car seat.  I helped her clean everything up at a service station.  Then in true Aussie fashion, we had a cup of coffee before turning back around for home.  Though first, we went by the base to another car seat for her son.  Poor kid was not sick the reason of the day and acted just fine.  Maybe he just didn't want to go shopping. 
I have also joined a playgroup.  Aleeya invited me to hers and that's where I've stayed.  Nice moms and good kids.  Sam really enjoys going, though he hasn't really made friends with anyone yet. 
We're going to Rachel's after school tomorrow for afternoon tea and then to a park on Thursday for Aleeya's birthday.  We also have a birthday party for a girl in Joe's class on Saturday.  I'm very excited about it all because I miss all my friends and family in the States. 

Prepping for Father's Day

So, in Australia, Father's Day takes place in September while Mother's Day is the same as the US.  Since we celebrated the US Father's Day, I had decided not to do anything for this Father's Day.  However, the schools actually celebrate these holidays by having gifts the kids can purchase and making cards.  So, the kids have spent the last week making things for Jay for Father's Day.  All the other moms that I've met are asking about our plans for Sunday.  I just shrug.  None.  We've done this once already this year.  Oh well, I'm sure we'll do a little something.  I need to make Tom's birthday cake that day.  His birthday is on Tuesday, but I will probably be on a field trip with Joe on Monday. 
Tom's field trip for today was postponed due to rain.  He'll try again in two weeks.  They need nice weather since they plan to spend the entire day outside. 
Due to the rain, Sam and I really didn't do anything today.  Yesterday, while Sam was at school, I had coffee with a new friend and then after school, she invited us over for afternoon tea.  Tom is in the same class as her daughter.  Aleigh also has a 2 year old boy and a 9 year old boy.  My kids loved their house because it had a huge, fenced backyard.  The backyard was a perfect kid paradise with a trampoline, a playset, and a large brick patio and path.  The patio and path were perfect for riding scooters around on.  We had a good afternoon there and it makes me wish that we had a better back yard.