Happy Birthday Holly!

Hope you have a lovely day Holly, lots of love from Daile and Chris, Matilda and Phoebe...

'Sk-orts'

Well today Matilda has gone to school for the first day. We thought she might play up a bit, and she did…but not too bad. She was worried that she would get ‘picked on’ by all the other kids, and that she’d be no good at anything. Its funny that she should be worried about that, since she didn’t have those kinds of problems at all at Hobbayne, and was really happy there. The other thing that seemed to be worrying her quite a bit, was the idea that she’d have to wear a dress or a skirt. I got the impression that she’d have made a big big stand on that, so it was a relief when we found that they have the option of culottes…which they call ‘sk-orts’! Can’t think why they don’t call them ‘sh-irts’…Oh…yeah…NOW I can. They also have rucksacks that are nearly as big as she is….and can carry laptops and all sorts. The bags are equipped with insulated compartments that you can keep your food cool in, key tags, pencil cases that Velcro out… and are a really unpleasant maroon colour. Without the colour, and the school badge, I’d have been thinking of getting one for me…! Anyway, here’s a picture of the girl….looking awkward, like she does so well. The shoes are old, from UK and STILL too big for her….even though she’s been wearing them for 6 months.


On the way back from dropping her off, I felt compelled to take pictures of the ‘leaves’ that are falling off the trees here….

….and for the last couple of nights the moon has been quite visible, but with the reveal starting from the bottom rather than the side as we’re used to. I wondered if this was something to do with us being in the Southern Hemisphere, but I’m assured that it isn’t and that its normal for it to start to reveal from the side. So if you know what this is about, let me know.

Digger

We had hoped this week, to take the kids to see the wild Dolphins at Tangalooma which is a resort on Morton Island National Park, about 20 miles out from Brisbane.. You can feed them too and its supposed to be a good craick. http://www.tangalooma.com/dolphins/dolphin_feeding.asp If you go a few weeks earlier than this, you can see the whales beginning their migrate to the South, and cold water. However, to get to feed the Dolphins, you have to book in advance, and that means being organised. If you’re REALLY organised, and RICH, you can get taken out to the island by float plane (see the pic)… http://www.akunaseaplanes.com.au/

....but it costs a fair bit more than we’ve got. Its not particularly cheap by boat, which is the conventional way out, but the plane sounds really good don’t-cha-rek? Anyway, the girls went to Lone Pine Koala sanctuary today, with Daile, whilst I went out to Andrew and Lee’s at Jimboomba, to help move some rocks and lay soil etc at the front of their house. The girls both got to hold a Koala, and as Phoebe was keen to point out later when I talked to them about their day, the Koala has big claws that dig into your neck….(see pic) (Molly and Josh, this is the same place that you went to, with the Roos and the Bats and the snakes etc) http://www.koala.net/lonepine/index.htm

When I arrived in Jimboomba, it was already down tools, cos the little digger (Kanga) hadn’t pitched up yet….so you know…. we had a beer, and a natter, and a beer and a natter…you get the picture. When the machine came we, or more accurately, ‘I’ was a little less focused than earlier. Luckily, it chose that point to rain….see pics.

Its been raining everyday at about the same time for the last 4 or 5 days, and it usually does what you see here….namely come blowing in all unannounced, drops LOADS of rain in a few minutes, and then the sun comes out again. Its fascinating to watch, and you definitely feel

moved by it every time it happens. Another thing is that the vegetation is really reactive to rain….this picture shows the garden behind their house…which last week was very largely soil coloured….and now is green….after 5 days of water. Suddenly everything seems lush instead of dry.

Needless to say, we were still hard at it by dusk, and had to knock it on the head. Tomorrow we're all going to be here for Andrew's birthday party.....

I’m loving it… er so far anyway!

I don't even care about this normally but.....

Ah yes....they now have to ROO the day! Ha ha. (I know this is old news, but I couldn't let it go unmentioned!) Let me know if I start sounding like an Aussie wont you?

Kids...schmids...ay.

Well we had Phoebe’s birthday party today, (a day early) and decided that it was easier to have all the presents today too. I’ve a feeling that she’ll want to have some more tomorrow, but we’re bracing ourselves for it. There were more adults than children, as seems to be the way with the Thomas family, which was just as well since some of the kids had a bit too much….whatever…. that makes kids behave like complete tossers. When they were off somewhere feeling sorry for themselves because they didn’t get the same as the others got, or some other nonsense, Judy and I were talking about the way that kids are so disconnected from the learning that is only really acquired through failure or through tough and difficult emotional stuff. Children seem to be molly-coddled by our social and school systems…and I do wonder whether its really the best thing for them. Not wanting to spoil this flow, I’ve added a thing that I found on the internet about this very subject, at the end of this posting.

The following are a few pictures of the day, this first one is Phoebe in her new ballet dress with her mat and her balance beam…watching the DVD that came with them. Bless! The next one is Sophie hitting the winning blow to the Pinata doll.

This is the cake that we made, and the last picture is Phoebe, with the remnants of her face paint, drawing pictures of the day (wearing her new dress from Gill...thanks Gill) … Bless!

Ha ha. Anyway, here’s the very true thingy from the web:

What You Should Know

A short list of what every kid should know
about what life is REALLY like . . .

1. Life is NOT fair, get used to it.
2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
3. You will NOT make $50,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a fancy car until you earn both.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger-flipping; they called it opportunity.
6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try "delousing" the closet in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
11. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
12. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.