Catching Up....

Sophie, Anna, Milly and Georgie on the beach on Sunday. Georgie, Milly and Sophie are all sisters and live across the road.




The far end of the lagoon, nearest the beach.




Anna on the sandbank in the lagoon after school (and Gravity Youth) this afternoon. The sun sets at about 5pm - it is winter after all!




Anna again this afternoon.




Georgie kayaking out to Anna on the sandbank this afternoon.


It's been a busy time and I've got lots to tell you!

First things first - the Athletics Carnival went ahead on Friday, despite the fact that it was drizzling with rain. All the children compete in the 100m and 200m, and George and Anna did their best. George did in fact come fourth in his 100m race, which meant that he earnt points for his house (Chisholm), but as he pointed out - there were only 5 people in the heat! Anna really pushed herself by doing the non compulsory 800m and then competed in the Jumbo Javelin and the Shot Putt. George also did the long jump and although neither of them won their events, I was very pleased with them for taking part and having fun. I know I said I was going to take photos and put them on here and I did take the camera, but the usual story - no memory card. Oops.

Then it was off home to make myself beautiful for my trip into the city to meet up with my good friend from home, Caroline. Caroline works for BA and was in town for the evening. Obviously I was very excited to be seeing her, and to get all the news from home!

As George was at a sleepover, I took Anna into the city with me so she could see Caroline too. It took less than an hour to get from my house to Caroline's hotel by Circular Quay which has inspired me to think that I should venture over there more often. We went on the Jetcat, which gets you from Manly to the city in 15mins. It's rather an exciting ride too, if you can ignore all of Anna's predictions of doom! Certainly the city scape as you turn in through the Heads and see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge lit up in front of you is spectacular. Andrew came over after work and then took Anna out for dinner in China Town (Anna lurves chinese food), whilst Caroline and I had a few drinks and then went to a Japanese restaurant on Circular Quay. Unfortunately, Caroline was not able to furnish me with much in the way of gossip (well not anything I'm putting on here anyway - hehehehehehe) - she said there is no gossip in Milford anymore now Andrew and I don't live there. Now, we do know that Andrew and I were a rich vein of gasp inducing chit chat but really - you'd have thought someone else would have taken up the mantle in our absence!

I didn't get home until just before 1am, which is the latest I've been out since I got here. This meant that on Saturday I felt rather jaded and got up late - which was a pity as it was a glorious day. Anna spent most of the weekend in the lagoon, swimming, kayaking and screaming with her friends from across the road. We went to the beach as well, and the good weather has continued today with temperatures reaching 27 degrees. This is the equivalent month to February in the UK. Good eh? After school this evening Anna was in there again, playing on the sandbank. Haven't been able to persuade George in there as yet, but I'm working on it!

And so much to look forward to this week - my dad arrives on Friday!!

Man of the Match!

Well, it's been a while since I updated this, so there is plenty to say! Sorry about that folks!

So, more on the duck situation. Since our white duck has been bereaved, she/he has been frequenting our garden - and our house. She comes up to the sitting room doors at least a couple of times a day and quacks at us through the window until we go out and say hello. Then once when I went back in to get some bread, she came in too. Now she thinks she lives here and hops in whenever she gets the chance. Yesterday she even stole a sandwich off my plate from right under my nose! It's rather sweet, but I think that she has told all the other ducks on the lake what a soft touch we are, and now they are all congregating in the garden. It could get a bit spooky - we'll have to see how it goes...

You're probably wondering where the photos are of the Athletic's Carnival. Well it was cancelled. Because of the rain. Yes yes. I know you are chuckling...

They are trying again on Friday. I'll report back then.

We are now a proper sporting Aussie family. Anna has started netball (which means that I have to get George and Anna to two different places 10km apart at the same time - so no change there then!) and tonight George had his second ever basketball match. And he played a blinder! So much more confident than last week, really getting into the game, had possession a number of times, played some good passes, made a shot and had me standing up shouting encouragement on a number of occasions. The St Luke's Hotrods won 17 -8 and George was Man of the Match! How fabulous is that?

Although I haven't mentioned it on here, I've just come out of a period of terror. About a month ago, I think it finally occurred to me deep in my consciousness that I had indeed emigrated, and that everything I could be sure about (or at least that is how it felt) was thousands of miles away. I became almost literally paralysed with fears - largely irrational - torturing myself with 'what if' scenarios. I couldn't understand what had happened to me - all I knew was that I was really, really scared. Of everything. It was horrible. However....I've been to talk to someone and this is apparently a not uncommon response to moving continents and also to having major life change (like being ridiculously busy and then not really having very much to do). Even while it was going on, I knew that I didn't want to come home (sorry everyone!) but I did want to stop being afraid. And now, almost as insidiously as it arrived, it has gone away. The clouds have lifted and I'm loving it all again. I'm going to learn to enjoy today - which is something I've never been very good at. I'm going to stop having a plan, making goals, pushing myself forward and to the limit (at least for a while!). I'm going to stop looking backwards and feeling fearful. I'm going to sit back and enjoy my wonderful life, my wonderful children and my wonderful husband, and I'm not going to feel bad about it. So there...

St Luke's Hotrods

The big excitement this week has been George playing in his first ever basketball match - which was against the Manly West Tigers. It was a nerve-wracking event for both George and I. It was nerve wracking for George for the obvious reasons and nerve wracking for me because I so wanted him to do well and feel good about it. In the end, despite the fact that they didn't win (apparently this team thrashes everyone), George thoroughly enjoyed himself and was clearly feelin' good when the match was over. He now has games every Tuesday evening. It was also a good social event for me - lots of supporting mums to talk to and make coffee arrangements!

George has also signed up for junior cricket with the Collaroy Plateau Cricket Club. He's got the t shirt and the cap and everything. Andrew is going to play for the seniors. Interestingy, the team have a tour in the UK in 2009 - they wanted to know if Andrew could use his contacts to find them a game in the New Forest! Perhaps they could play against Milford!

So lots of sport going on, which is wonderful. I'm so pleased to have George involved in things. Speaking of which, we have the St Luke's Grammar Athletics Carnival on Monday. Sports Day to you and me. As the Australians are so obsessed with sport, Sports Day is really that - in that it lasts all day. And it takes place at the Sydney Academy of Sport on a proper athletics ground with a grandstand and everything. Obviously I will take photos and post them next week.

Fun, fun, fun...

It was a lovely weekend. The weather was glorious and we finally got out in the kayak. Well, when I say 'we', I mainly mean Anna, while the rest of us watched or fished, but it was fun anyway. Anna had her friend Keana over and they went out in it together, managed to tip it over and get very hysterical. Anna swam to shore, and Keana floated about on the upturned kayak until someone came past in a tinnie and helped her back. Most of the lagoon is very shallow, so they were never in any danger, but I suppose it was a bit of a shock.

There has been lots of fishing too, although not a lot of fish have been caught. We finally put my beautiful daybed out on the balcony, and spent a lot of the weekend sitting in the sun reading my book. Very relaxing, I must say.

There was a little bit of a tragedy though. I'm sure you will remember the pair of white ducks who come into the garden to be fed and occasionally make an ill considered foray into the Woollies car park? Well, they had become a permanent fixture on the lagoon at the back of the house, likely to come when called, and keen to get into the house. They were clearly a breeding pair and we were looking forward to having some fluffy ducklings in September. Until we came back from the shops on Sunday and found one of them floating dead in the shallow water. I felt so sad, and didn't want Anna to be upset, so I picked him (or her...not really sure...) up and moved him along the beach. The other duck kept going to look at him and quacking. Very sad. So I told Anna about it yesterday. She cried a little bit and asked me to show her where I had put him, which I did. Before I knew it, all the local children were knocking on the door, asking if I would take them to see the dead duck. I could have sold tickets. Children are...odd.





Recently Andrew and I have become a little fed up with the behaviour of our offspring (one of our offspring in particular...) and so we have just adopted a draconian set of rules to try to reinstate some order in our lives. We now have behaviour charts which can either reward or punish. As a result, the children are our slaves. They are literally arguing over who will do the next extravagantly helpful thing.

I give it till the end of the week....

Routine Beauty..

It's been a pretty routine week, except that the weather has been wonderful. This takes a little getting used to - as I was discussing with Maria the other day, as English people, every time the sun comes out there is a tendency to drop everything and 'make the most of it'. Whilst in the UK this is an acceptable reason for not having done any housework, it has occurred to us that here this may lead to us living in rather squallid conditions. We need to get out of that mindset, and feel secure that if we spend today catching up with the washing and dashing about with the hoover, the sun will still be there tomorrow. Although, we are told with some authority that in the summer any sort of housework is pretty much out of the question due to the heat. Unless you are prepared to get up in the very wee hours of the morning and do it. Which of course I'm not.



But enough of this talk! On Wednesday the weather was beautiful - in fact so hot I had to move my chair on Maria's deck into the shade - and so we decided we needed to make the most of it and go for a walk. We took the round trip walk past Fishermans Beach (where I have seen fisherman with enormous fish fighting off the pelicans, and kite surfers performing near fatal tricks on the waves), around the headland of Long Reef, along the edge of Dee Why beach, and back to Maria's. From the headland you have fabulous views both up and down the coast, all the way along Collaroy and Narrabeen beaches on one side and looking the other way, all the way along Dee Why beach to the North Curl Curl headland. I took the photos above and below, but I particularly like the one of Maria - she was trying to stop me taking a picture by covering her head with that green scarf, but in doing so, didn't see that a wave was coming in and had drenched her feet. Made me giggle anyway.





We are nearly in the middle of August and I have so much exciting stuff coming up - our friends Hugh and Sue will be out here in a couple of weeks and we are hoping to catch up with them, and then my friend Caroline is here for a night (she works for BA) and then, most excitingly of all, my dad is coming for nine days on the 31st August. I can't wait to show him where we live and the life we have here - and also to be there when he fulfills his ambition to see the opera house and the harbour bridge!

And today it is Andrew's dad's birthday, so all together now....Happy Birthday to You......!

Early mornings

The usual morning routine is that the alarm goes off just before 6.25am. I put it on snooze and drag myself out of bed at 6.30am. I have a shower and do my beauty routine (hahahahahahaha) and am all ready by 7am. I then wake up the children and spend the next hour gently coaxing them (...shouting...) through the apparently totally unexpected requests of getting dressed, eating breakfast, cleaning their teeth, putting their shoes on etc. If any tasks are not completed, it is because I have not asked them to do it. It would seem that it is of no consequence that the same things happen EVERY SINGLE DAY...

And yet.....today, all of this was achieved between 6.30am and 7.15am, with a minimum of shouting from me. Miraculous. Admittedly, I had made the packed lunches last night, and Anna didn't have any breakfast, but all the same. I think we can quite reasonably feel rather proud. And George really enjoyed the basketball, so we will be doing it on a regular basis.

So by 7.35am, Anna and I were at the Lime and Latte on Dee Why seafront, ordering hot chocolates and toasted banana bread. We ate it watching the surfers (and even the small children already on the swings in the park) and chatting about life and all Anna's friendships.

Not a bad start to the day.

Bank Holiday?

Today is a Bank Holiday. Andrew and I were really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, in this country, Bank Holiday is exactly what it says on the box. A holiday for banks. And no one else. I had plans. They did not include doing the school run and lots of ironing. Devastated of Narrabeen.

However, the day was not a complete waste. The sun shone, a man came and fixed my internet connection (hurrah) and I rearranged the furniture in George's bedroom. What an exciting life I lead.

So - George said he wanted to do basketball, but then failed to fill in the application form at school. I went to see the head of the junior school, and told him how much George wanted to do it, and how keen Andrew and I were for him to be involved. Mr Staples said he would do what he could. Today he caught me at the school gate and said that they had managed to make a space for George in one of the teams and could I take him to practise tomorrow. Hurray! At 7.30am. Oh. Shit. I know I've said it before but I am utterly mystified by this early morning stuff. Not only because I don't like early mornings, but I mean really - I can't be the only mum wondering now what I am going to do with my other child between 7.30am and 8.45am when school starts. Andrew gets the bus just after 7am. And I am already getting up at 6.30am to get them to school at 8.30am. Does this mean that I have to get up at 5.30am??

Gutted...