A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

The IPhone can be a great accessory.  I always have my phone; therefore I am able to capture anything on camera that interests me.  The downside to having my camera with me at all times over the last several months is having 1,482 pictures to either download or delete.  We have had a few rainy days here, so I took the opportunity to sift through some of these pictures. I found a few that don’t fall into the “photo album” category, but I thought they were worth sharing with you.

Doesn't every beach have wild turkeys?

 

 

How do they know?

A little pricey for Maybelline, if you ask me!

 

No comment

 

I wonder if they sell a whopper.

 

Do you see the guy in yellow on a scooter? That is our mailman.

 

Hotel? There is not a hotel in sight.

 

?????

Let's just say my front door is a bit breezy. The fliers fit right through the side!

You would think our consumption of beer would have decreased with these "sale"  prices!

Another sale on beer: 2 cases for $90. Where's the Natty Light?

Yep, $11 for a box of Poptarts. I am quite pleased. Now Tony won't buy them!

I don't walk by this house anymore!

This sign is on lots of  mailboxes. I wish this would work in the states!

 

A dog washing station just off of the main street.

Thankfully, you can find much cheaper wine!

Chinchilla Watermelon Festival

Just a few years back (wink, wink) my best friend, Krista, was named Watermelon Queen at a festival in South Carolina.  You would think, then, that I had been to many watermelon festivals in my day.  Believe it or not, though, I had to travel to the other side of the world to attend my first festival.  The family and I loaded up the car this weekend with two other families to Chinchilla, Australia…the home of my first watermelon festival.

I know you are all going to be shocked to the core when I confess that camping does not excite me.  It is fair to say that I really don’t have an adventurous bone in my body. So, when Amy told me that our accommodation for the weekend was a camper, I cringed a little bit.  Chinchilla is in the country, bordering the outback. In my mind, Chinchilla was also the home of hundreds of snakes just waiting for my midnight walk to the bathroom. Amy mentioned that the temperatures would be just dreadful, so take comfortable clothing. She also told me that, because of the recent floods, we would need tons of “mozzie” (mosquito) spray and mosquito nets to put over our head. As if camping didn’t frighten me enough, I was going to look quite hideous in my mosquito net as I dodged all of those snakes! Amy wasn’t exactly convincing me that this trip to Chinchilla was going to be heaps of fun. Thankfully, our time in Chinchilla was nothing like what I had imagined. Amy’s in-laws lived on a beautiful farm that covered over 500 acres. The land was just beautiful. Her mother-in-law was quite the gardener, too! To add to the beauty, the temperature was just perfect, with a pleasant breeze. It was even quite chilly at night.  I still dreaded those midnight bathroom runs, though! My children loved it so much that they want to know when we can do it again. As much fun as we had, I am not sure that buying a camper is in my future!

The watermelon festival itself was a hoot! Although I never made it to one back home, I imagine the scene would be quite similar. There was a parade, street markets, concerts, games for the children, and of course the competitions. They had watermelon tossing, seed spitting, even watermelon skiing. Some of the outfits in the crowd were, ummm, entertaining. To me, the most exciting part of the day was finding a stand with BOILED PEANUTS!   They were not as good as my Aunt Carolyne’s, but they were very tasty and reminded me of home. I may just have to make a trip back to South Carolina for my next watermelon festival. We will see how it compares!

 

Our campsite

 

Original Farmhouse

 

In 2011, the flood waters reached above the lightpost on the tree.

Notice Hannah Grace's mozzie net!

 

A friendly game of badminton

 

Gathering by the campfire for roasted marshmallows

 

 

 

WATERMELON!

 

Do you see the fella skiing?

 

This Watermelon Queen has nothing on Krista!

 

At the parade: Notice the outfit in the background

 

A little wine tasting and boiled peanuts! Woohoo!

 

First day of school: 2013

After being on holiday (doesn’t that sound better than vacation?) for six weeks, I guess it’s time to get back to reality and the joy of writing my blog. We had a lovely time in the states, visiting with dear friends and family. Our time there seemed too short, but we cherished every moment. We were greeted back in Australia by ex-cyclone Oswald. The torrential rain and heavy wind made me want to click my ruby red slippers and head back to South Carolina! We survived, though, despite losing our power and feeling like we were melting in the humidity. The power came back on and the sun showed it’s face just in time for the children to begin their first day of school. For those of you that may not know, the Australian school year coincides with the calendar year. So, Ellis entered Year 4 with Ms. Keates. Lucky for us, she was Hannah Grace’s teacher in Year 7. It was nice to begin the year with a familiar face. Hannah Grace started fresh, however, as she entered Year 8 AT THE HIGH SCHOOL! I’ll just tell you that this mama is not ready for her child to be in high school!

I will blame a busy trip to the states and jet lag on our lack of preparation for the first day of school. Because I was familiar with Bulimba State School, I knew to order Ellis’s supplies on-line. Too bad, I did not know that for Hannah Grace. She will be receiving her books a bit late. OOPS! I also didn’t consider transportation issues soon enough in advance. The night before school started, we determined that Hannah Grace needed to ride the bus to school. Now when I say bus, I don’t mean school bus. We are talking public transportation. It would have been nice to think of this before so that we could practice, but here we were, the night before the first day of school. OOPS, again! 

The kids were up and ready to go early, so we had no problem getting out the door. That was about the only thing that went right on Tuesday morning.  Ellis and I waited with Hannah Grace at the bus stop, for the bus that was to arrive at 8:24. Yeah, that didn’t happen. By 8:35, Ellis was itching to go, so I sent him on to walk the rest of the way to school on his own.  The bus finally arrived at 8:46 (over twenty minutes late)! I sent Hannah Grace on her way with no time to be sad that she was off to high school, on public transportation ALL BY HERSELF! I ran up to school to make sure Ellis made it to class, only to realize I had no idea where his class was located. Luckily, I ran into Jen Fisher. Jen’s son, Tom, is in class with Ellis. She was already looking for me because when she ran into Ellis earlier and asked if he needed help finding the class, he told her no, but that I might need some help. Ahhh, sweet boy looking after his mama! 

It was a crazy start to the first day of school, but also a wonderful start to the year. They both gained a bit of independence and I learned that it is okay to let them go (just a little bit, anyway).

 

Waiting at the bus stop. Yippee!

 

I love this picture with the sweet little lady boarding the bus before her!

 

She taps her "Go" card and she is off!

Do you think she was embarrassed that I was taking all of these pictures?

 

 

swim carnival

December marks the end of the school year in Australia. There are so many fun activities during this month when you combine Christmas parties along with end of the year celebrations! One of the end of the year activities is the Swim Carnival. I compared it to Field Day back home.

Before I tell the details of the carnival, let me share a little background information. For PE in Term 4, the children participated in swimming. Now, before we moved to Bulimba, my children’s idea of swimming was playing Marco/Polo in their grandparent’s pool.  They were thrown for a bit of a loop when they actually had to swim in a lane, doing a particular stroke.  

Another tidbit is that the children were placed into “houses” when they arrived at the school in August.  There are three houses: Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury.  These “houses” compete throughout the year in different activities. For the swim carnival, the children were separated into their particular houses to swim and watch the races. The children made signs, painted their faces, and cheered loudly for their team members. It sounds like it could get nasty, but while the students are all very competitive, they also show great sportsmanship!

At the carnival, the students competed in different races (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle). When they weren’t competing, they were cheering on their teammates. Towards the end of the day, the staff competed against some of the Year 7 students. I loved watching my children compete, but the staff/student race was very entertaining! One of the staff members dressed in complete Darth Vader mode. Watching him attempt to swim with that mask and the suit weighing him down was a hoot! I also noticed two “staff” members that seemed to be extremely fit. Ends up they were two members of the Australian Olympic team that participated in the London Olympics. I thought that was very cool!  With an unfair advantage, the staff won that race. At the end of the swim carnival, Team Jupiter (Hannah Grace’s team) ended up taking the trophy home. I was impressed when the team captain gave the speech after receiving the trophy. She congratulated her team members, but also congratulated the members of the two other teams by having the entire school shout “hip hip hooray” for each team. At the days end, my two little marco/polo swimmers brought home: 2 gold ribbons, 2 silver ribbons, and 2 bronze ribbons.   HIP HIP HOORAY!