Rob's birthday

Rob, Amanda, Ondine and Chris

Saturday the 13th was Rob's birthday, our first family birthday in Australia!  I think he had a really fun day as so many people remembered and sent him messages from all around the world.  We spent the morning at a huge outdoor and camping expo checking out tents and camper trailers.  Everyone here is into camping and we have a couple of weekends booked during the summer but need to replace our tent.  We were totally blown away by the choice in tents and gear and couldn't quite get our heads around what to buy.  We left the show empty handed but well informed!

The afternoon was spent at the river at a four year old's party that Hugo cracked the nod for.  We drank champagne and networked with the parents we will probably be seeing for the next 10 years at school.  From there we rushed home to quickly dress up in cocktail attire for our new Aussie friend's 40th birthday party in the city.  Lisa had hired out a restaurant and invited 70 friends to join her for dancing and cocktails.  We started out drinking champagne at another party-goer's house before boarding a bus with 25 others to the city.  We danced all night and caught the bus home in the early hours.

What more could a man want than a full-on city party for his birthday after only living her for four months?

The photo is of us with Ondine and Chris Komnick who have become our great friends.  The children all play happily together and Ondine and I are growing a gorgeous friendship.  Our men kite surf together so it is all really good.  The Komnicks are South Africans from Newlands who have been living here for 9 years.  We live one street apart so the children (and often the adults) run between our houses!

Rob's birthday gift is a kite surfer so stand by for some action shots.

Jacaranda streets

This is the view looking up and down our street.  While waiting for the boys to come home from school today, I thought I must capture this awesome sight before all the flowers fall to the ground.  Most of the streets around here are lined with Jacaranda trees and it makes a picture perfect frame for my morning run.

In the distance you can see the boys' school and all the cars lined up waiting for the children to pour out.  What a treat to live right here while Hugo is still little and fast asleep.

interdental "S"

Adam continues to "lithp" quite badly on "s" and "t".  He still misses "d" and "r" and interchanges "f" for "th".  The bottom line is we need to get cracking with speech therapy before Year 1.  The problem is that all the good pathologists are fully booked to the end of February 2011!  I found a South African therapist, Bev Lister, in our neighbourhood who took pity on us new migrants and phoned me with a cancellation.  She is marvelous and thoroughly assessed Adam for language concepts and speech.  The great news is that he is way ahead of his piers in understanding sounds, blends and syllables.  His grasp of reading and writing is great.  The not so good news is his annunciation which needs work.  She gave us great games to play and exercises to do.

Adam and I will now be spending 20 minutes a day playing games with words beginning with S.  Bev will try to see him weekly whenever she gets a cancellation and we hope to correct his lisp by the start of Year 1.  The other sounds may follow on their own or we will tackle them in the second term of 2011.  Adam is such a star and is so committed to correcting his speech.  He really tries hard and I am sure that we will get him talking like an Aussie in no time!  Adam, is after all, the first person in our family to regularly say "yea".

nanny state

Ok, so I wasn't ready to talk about it:  I failed my driving test!  After twenty years of successfully navigating my way through the hazards of South African streets and the rush hour of London as a rep, I failed my driving test.  I was mortified.  This small failure and hurdle suddenly seemed so big and overpowering as it brought out all my "new migrant" emotions.  I questioned whether I was really doing ok.  Am I really fitting into the system?  Am I up for this challenge?  I cried a bit, well actually a lot, and then took small steps forward.  The great success of my failure was that three beautiful girlfriends cheered me up with gifts, sms'es and calls which proves that I am actually doing ok.  It was then back in the little Noddy car for lots of practice looking over my shoulder at the blindspots, not crossing my arms over on the steering wheel and not coasting with my foot on the clutch - all a build up of years of relaxed driving.

The tricky part was getting another appointment because the driving centres are all full to the end of the year.  I managed to get an opening in Mandurah which is an hour's drive from here at 7.50am yesterday morning.  I headed off at 6.30am and made my way down the freeway in time.  This time the tester was a dear old grandad who kindly took me through my paces for 30 minutes.  This time all the boxes were ticked and I was given the green light to drive.  I smiled broadly into the camera for my driver's card before making the trip home.

My South African license expires today.  And now, at last, I can talk about it.

maths puzzles

These are the kind of maths problems that Russell (year 3) brings home regularly for homework:


"Five Students are sitting in a row of chairs along one side of the room.  Jennifer sits beside Alison but not beside Peta.  Steven sits in the second seat on the left.  Alison sits between (but not necessarily next to) David and Peta.  Steven sits beside David.  Who sits in the middle seat?"


Or try this one:

"At the water tap there are only three litre and five litre containers.  The children must pour exactly seven litres of water into a tub.  How can they measure exactly seven litres?"


I love it!  They make me think a bit too and I am constantly amazed that Russell can get to the answers after some thought and scribbling.

the blues

Russell graded up to blue belt last week.  He is really into his karate and chooses karate training over every other sport if there is a clash.  He really has a passion for it coupled with a natural skill.  A few weeks ago we had the unbelievable privilege of watching an 18 year old boy in Russell's dojo grade for his black belt.  It took 3 1/2 hours of absolute mental and physical strength to complete the tasks put to him.  The last hour consisted of 40 rounds of sparring with 7 black belts who took turns to try and knock him out!  I have new respect for a black belt now.  Obtaining this status does not only mean you have put in many hours of training and are at your physical peak, but it also shows you are able to concentrate and focus at an exceptional level.  I would fully support Russell going to this level if he chooses to keep it up.

summer sports

The mercury is rising and we are making the most of the summer days before it gets too hot to be outdoors.  This is how Hugo and I get out and about on our mornings together...

Hugo is growing up quickly.  He is full of love and affection and is very entertaining to be around.  He has been accepted into the Mount Pleasant Kindy programme for next year so will be at school from 9am - 3pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday next year.  He has made some friends and has play dates already.  His swimming lessons are going really well and he is swimming without arm bands this summer.  We really are out of the baby stage and have three big boys now.  If I was a true Aussie I would now be planning the fourth baby as three boys is an underachievement here!  Sanity prevails and I am not going there.

We are so blessed with our gorgeous boys.