passing through

Rob and Malcolm

 We had the great pleasure of spending a few hours with our good friend, Malcolm Scott, last night at Perth International airport.  Sadly he was heading back to South Africa from Adelaide to say goodbye to his dad who has been terminally ill for some time.  It's a tough trip to make and a difficult week lies ahead for Malcolm.  Last night we tried to brush that aside for a short while and enjoy the blessing of being together after almost three years when Malcolm and Karleen left Cape Town.  It was fantastic to catch up and reminisce.  We all have a few more laugh lines, but the essence of our friendship and who we are will always be there.

Malcolm and Amanda

At 11pm Malcolm boarded his flight to Jhb and we said our goodbyes.  We hope to catch up again on his way back to Adelaide.  For now we hold him in our prayers.  Good friendships last the distance.

home sweet home

At last, some photos of our home.  It is still very much a work-in-progress but we are feeling at home and comfortable.  It helped to have Rob off work for two weeks to tick off the long DIY list and now it's a matter of waiting for dry days to paint the last window frames and external walls.  There are still pictures to hang and small detail to work on.

Yesterday the foundations for the garage were cemented in and the laundry walls were bricked up so there is progress.  I hope to have a workable laundry and new en suite bathroom by the end of July. 

Front of the house from the TV lounge.
  The entrance is off to the left and the kitchen is on the right

The back of the house from the front windows

Our kitchen and dining area - all very open plan

Separate TV lounge and playroom for messing and quiet!

We installed a beautiful wood burning freestanding fireplace to warm the whole open plan living area and it is just divine.  I am still not an expert at building a fire but the boys are improving so soon I won't have to be involved at all.  The space works well for entertaining and the TV lounge has frosted glass sliding doors to close it off from the rest of the house.  It's a warm and friendly home and we are proud of how it has all turned out.

So when are you coming to visit us?

Lego party time

Russell's party was a real hit!  We moved the furniture and set up four teams in Lego colours, each around a small table.  There were 5 children in each team and they were entertained with various Lego building challenges and games.  It was loud and wild and lots of fun.  Russell is the very last year 4 to turn 9 and he is in a split 4/5 class so most of his friends are a bit older than him.  This is a wonderful age for great challenges.  They really are excited about everything without being too cool and try hard to win.  One of the games was duplicating a Lego construction that was built in the room next door by sending one team player at a time to take a look and report back.  Their communication and team management skills were tested and it took them a while to get it together.  I also had them going into the garden with a torch in search of Duplo blocks in their team's colour - only one team member at a time for 2 minutes!  "Who can build the tallest tower in 2 minutes" was also fun and then there was sucking M&M's through a straw into a bowl, ice cream cake and hamburgers to round it all off.

Ice cream cake and smiles



20 children building and creating


Rob and I worked hard but it was a great opportunity to get to know some of the children better.  Our home really worked well for the games and everyone had a super time.  All three birthdays are behind us for another year - yay!

masterchef

You know your family has it bad when your four year old sobs himself to sleep over the person that was voted out of the Masterchef kitchen.  Series 3 of Australian Masterchef has us all riveted to the screen four times a week!  Our bedtime routine has been turned upside down and we rush the boys to brush teeth and fill water bottles during the advert breaks.  We have grown to love some of the contestants and have seen enough of others to be really irritated.  Last night we celebrated the demise of Danielle but Hugo really cried after Craig was sent home.

Who would have thought a family of boys could be so into this cooking program?   Every meal I cook is rated in a Masterchef format.  Russell dips his chin and raises his eyebrows after his first mouthful in a perfect rendition of Matt Preston.  We guess the ingredients in our dinner and use terminology like "plate up" freely in our conversations.  We have all learned so much and loved the dynamic between the players.  I am a bit of a sucker for reality TV so I guess they followed my lead but these little chaps and their dad are placing bets on the final three, cheering on the chefs in immunity challenges and salivating at the finish line.

We have not gone to bed on time most nights but the family bonding and fun has been worth it.  We are down to the final 10 and I can't wait to see who goes home tonight!

new beginnings

Yesterday was the first day of Rob's new career.  He was so excited to begin a new challenge and open a new chapter.  So far, it all seems really great.  He has a beautiful private office with a view of the river, great colleagues and an exciting agenda.  There is lots of work to do and Atlas has great projects in the pipeline.  He is rearing to go and we are really hoping that this is going to be a culmination of all his years of hard work.

His new office is in the city on the Esplanade and is a short walk from the train if he wants to avoid the traffic.  It's off to a really good start and my man has a wide smile and a spring in his step.

This is awesome! 

Russell is 9

Russell celebrated his 9th birthday on Tuesday.  His face is changing and he is getting the handsome look of his dad!  I was quite nervous of our boys reaching this awkward age between small boy and teenager.  It is difficult to know when you can hang around the adults and when you should be playing with the small children.  It's a time of knowing quite a lot and yet still clinging to some make-believe.  It's a time of asking difficult questions and being able to share a private joke.  Russell is growing up and it's gorgeous.  He is resilient and strong.  He tries hard and is so responsible.  He is popular and fun.  His faith in God is admirable and his love for his dad is very special.  He still wants to be hugged and kissed a lot by mom but he is big enough to ride his bike across town alone.  He has taken us on a great adventure for the past 9 years and we are enjoying the trip, every step of the way.

This week we celebrate our big boy and are so thankful for his health and life. 

Russell's bicycle was upgraded to a real mountain bike with all the gears and shocks.  He is really pleased.  I am crazy enough to be hosting a LEGO party at home for twenty children on Saturday night.  That will definitely be worth a blog.

Q & A

We are recovering from the Mount Pleasant Primary School Quiz night.  Adam's class has been give the  responsibility of hosting social events for the school this year and the core group of parents from his class who are running with this portfolio decided to put together a fun quiz night for parents of the school.  When I heard about this I felt that I couldn't really sit on my complete Power Point Quiz presentations from last year without at least offering to hand them over.  Well, as it happens, my offer snowballed into my revamping a past quiz to suit this area and culture, getting involved in organising the event, setting up on the night and then co-hosting as quiz master with one of the teachers, Mr Clee. 

The event was great fun with 100 parents in attendance and great prizes donated from local retailers.  We held the quiz in the local bowling club and made good use of the bar facilities for a great evening of questions, answers, drinking and fun.  As always, it was a big task keeping the evening flowing smoothly, drawing raffle prizes, playing bar games and mingling.  Rob was the very efficient score keeper and the whole evening was a great success.

It was a good way for us to meet more of the parents and get involved in the working cogs of the school.  I did feel very tired today but relieved that it had all been such a success.

the unbloggable

It's easier to write about your life as it is playing out, that's why journaling is so brilliant and accurate and a real record of your thoughts and feelings.  Hindsight is 20/20 vision and perspectives change.  There have been some parts of our journey that have been difficult to blog in an open forum and we have had to weather some storms alone this year.

One of the great challenges of this move is the enormous career move that Rob has made.  Joining a small consulting firm with a view to having a stake in the business was a huge leap of faith.  A small business can hide behind numbers and elevator speeches.  The people only become real with all their strengths and quirks once they are in full view.  The business that essentially was the reason for us to move across the globe has not really turned out to be what Rob had hoped and expected.  He has realised that there are far greater opportunities for his skills here and has not been using his experience and abilities to their full potential.  He has been functioning well below where he wants to be and for a long time has felt very dissatisfied and disappointed in his work.

The fantastic up side of all this is that we have had him home for a year.  He hasn't traveled at all.  He is looking healthier and happier than I have seen him in years.  He is fit and slim and he has developed a gorgeous bond with our boys.  Our relationship has grown as we have supported each other and spent wonderful time together.  We have had many family dinners and breakfasts and both our perspectives on family life have changed.  The only real stress he has had is worrying about why he doesn't have stress!  We both know that he needs more.

Fortunately this journey has brought us to a city that we love and a lifestyle we have truly adopted.  There are great opportunities here and a shortage of good skills.
So here we are with Permanent Resident visas in our pockets and Rob has resigned.

He is home on "garden leave" which seems to be the Australian way.  They are not big on anyone working out their notice period.  When he resigned on Friday he had a few possibilities lined up but no concrete way forward so this has been quite a big week for us.  I have handed over the DIY list and started cracking my domestic whip.  It didn't take long for the offers to come in and thankfully, his brush with unemployment was brief and he has chosen to join Atlas Iron Ore as their General Manager Development Strategy.  He is thrilled and so excited about the new challenges that await him in a couple of weeks.  We are feeling very blessed and are ready to enter this new chapter in our lives.

But for now, I still have doors that a GM can paint.

more bashing and building

This is a very exciting place for three little boys to live.  When they say they want action, boy do we bring it on!  On Tuesday a Bobcat arrived to push over our front wall and lift the driveway pavers.  It took one man and a mean vehicle about four hours to totally destroy our front yard.  So this is what our house looks like.  The left window is our lounge, then there is the front door.  The main bedroom and our study are on the right.  This great act of demolishing was followed by our first winter downpour so you can only imagine the the thick mud on what used to be our driveway.  I have sent out a warning to all our friends:  only come over if you have gumboots in your car.  Ours are lined up in the entrance hall and are getting a good workout.


Today the cement path was laid and tomorrow we may get a driveway.  After that the garage will go up and our house will be transformed.  The new laundry finally has a floor and we are waiting for the brickies to return and give it walls then our en suite bathroom can stop doubling as a laundry, storeroom and entrance hall!


Meanwhile, inside we have wall papered the entrance hall in a decadent print, manufactured shelves out of internal doors and installed a fabulous free standing fireplace.  With all this going on, the house work has been a bit lacking.  I need to get organised, clean up and take some photos to post.


It's a bit busy around here.

brass monkeys

Back in the hot summer days, Rob and two friends began a Sunday morning ritual.  They leave their beds after sunrise and meet on Leightons Beach for an early morning dip in the waves.  I am sure there is a bit of "solving the problems of the world" (or their lives) as they stare out to sea, but mostly it's the invigorating exercise and taste of salt and surf that makes them go back for more.  The three guys compare notes later at morning church and marvel at how great their day started.  They try to solicit new members with little success but mostly they pat each other on the back.

I honestly thought that this was a passing phase that would be cut short by the late sun rises and cold dark mornings.  But no.  Winter has set in and still they head out.  Rob is out from under the cozy down feathers when the alarm sounds like a fireman on call.  He slips into his baggies and is out the door before I can murmur goodbye.  These three grown men have taken male bonding to new heights.

Today he returned blue and cold but grinning.  The wind was biting and the waves angry, but still they dove in.  My father always used the expression "cold as a brass monkey's ....".  Looking at Rob, I now know what he meant.

Eliza

She's larger than life, she's beautiful and she is waiting perpetually for that perfect moment to dive into the Swan River.  Her name is Eliza and she is a bronze statue of a bathing girl who looks up at the University of Western Australia from the water at Crawley Bay.  The website Public Art around the World has this to say about her: 

It didn't take long for Eliza to become legendary. The sculptor behind the Eliza statue Tony Jones was quoted as saying "If people don't like it, the birds probably will." Well let me tell you, Eliza has become quite a little icon in her short life in the river. Yes, the birds are having a ball with her, but some people are too. Between the birds and a few pranksters, motorists along Mounts Bay Road are being entertained by the ever changing look of Eliza. At last Perth has a dressable piece of public art, just as Sydney has Il Porcellino and Brussels has Mannekin Pis, we can now boast having one too. Lets face it, this statue would have otherwise gone unnoticed had it not been for the clowns (or most likely undergrads from UWA) who took the time to dress her up for Melbourne Cup, Christmas, New Years Eve and the rowing regatta. AND whatsmore Perth has embraced the idea of dressing Eliza up, her last dressing saw her bearing the Scotch College uniform, prior to a rowing event on the river. You go girl, its about time Perth embraced its public art and motorists had a good laugh. Moral of the story never place a statue anywhere near a University.

Eliza has only been around since October 2007 and the history behind this interesting piece is that she commemorates the Crawley baths which were a popular place to swim between 1915 - 1960's. The baths were opened in 1914 and became a place where hundreds of children learnt to swim.  I love driving past and catching a glimpse of her in a ball gown or Western Force jersey.  She really has accumulated quite a wardrobe in the last few years.  It's quite a long swim out to her and I always wonder how the students keep her clothes dry and get the outfits over her outstretched arms.  We caught her "naked" except for the shag (large bird poop) that covers her shoulders and I couldn't resist a photo.



permanent residents

Today we became permanent residents of Australia!  This is very exciting news because:

• Our visas are not controlled by our sponsored employer
• We can now be covered by the National Health Scheme
• We don't HAVE to be employed to stay
• We have flexibility to change jobs
• We cannot be deported

And, the process took a few short weeks instead of months (as expected).

Today, we celebrate!

toothless tiger

He can be quite fierce when defending his territory.  But generally he is the gentlest one in the pack.  He loves to have his back tickled and still spends a lot of time lying on the floor playing imaginary games.  He is a dreamer, alright.  Most other animals like him and he has a wonderful way with older animals.  He is a deep thinker who can solve number problems with ease.  Those missing front teeth are playing havoc with his speech but his reading is coming on in the great leaps and bounds of a true tiger.  Our tiger has the most beautiful fur on his head.  He survives mostly on love and fresh air, except when tacos with mince, cheese and sour cream are on the menu.  Then he fights off the rest of the pack and devours more than his fair share.  He is good for a cuddle, our tiger.  Squashed between those other two wild animals, he really is quite special.