We are NOT from the outback! .... ?

Yesterday a group of us were laughing because people in the cities consider where we live the "outback" and in reality we just live in a small town. It is always interesting, and often funny how other people's perception is so incredibly different than our own; even within a single household, views can vary dramatically. Anywho...

As usual, I have been meaning to stay "on top" of this blogging business, however I am finding time limited even though I have been starting my days at 5:30am just to cover the daily basics of household chores, homeschooling, dog walking and baking needs for our family scheduling. I will admit that I am turning in a wee bit earlier than I used to but I am liking not feeling so rushed through out our day. (How is it though that it still seems as though I am not getting enough done?)
This week has been our "activity week" for school, so we have been spending our week completing activities we had started but had not totally finished yet. We had fun completing our brain caps and lap booking pages for science, painting and setting up our caveman diorama and drawing our cavemen comic strips. For fun we made some homemade kites and took them out and flew them. Yesterday was an ALL day horse day in Capella, so we packed up heaps of food and toys, and spent the day washing, brushing and then saddling and riding the horses. We actually left the arena yesterday and took the horses for group rides around the grounds. We arrived at 9am and left at 6pm. Most everybody brought loads of food to share with everyone, and the kids that weren't riding were running around playing together. It was a great day. Pastor Allan and his crew are so fantastic! The kids (and myself) just LOVE Thursdays!!!
So that is the current news... let's do a rewind and recap some of the pictures that are on here. The kids attending a homeschooling "conference" in Clermont some time ago; and while there they participated in group activities where they made and shot off water rockets, hot air balloons, classified and organized different groups such as animals, plants, rocks etc. They played games and listened to stories and just had a good time with other homeschooling children. On the way home we saw and held a wild echidna, saw large flocks of giant wild turkeys (my mother in-law was so right and I was so wrong) that looked just like baby emu's... accept for the fact that these birds can fly - that was a shocker to see a baby emu fly - FACT: Emu's can NOT fly at age. It was a fun, interesting day all around.
Before Judy and Paul (Nana and Papa) went back home to Sask. Canada, we took them to the best beach we knew, Emu Park Beach 4 hours away, and spent the day there. We collected shells and had a small birthday party for Judy and the two boys got their 'new' bikes early. Alex can finally say the Spiderman bike is HIS and Jonathan received his very own big boy bike with training wheels. Despite the high winds it was a beautiful day. There was para-sailing lessons going on that day so it was fun to watch that, and there were birds hovering in the wind, so that was neat to watch too. I got some great shots of a bald eagle above some rocks and the water. We also found a neat (dead) fish too... of course we had to 'examine' such an interesting specimen! (wish I had taken a picture) :(
What else....? we finally gave in and purchased new cloth diapers. They are sure fancy looking but I am not so sure they compare to the oldie version. I am still undecided, however our other ones we've been using for the last 8 years are definitely done; considering the elasticity around the legs had completely given out and wrapping a tea towel instead would have produced the same results... at least these new ones look cute. No, they do work, just not as well as I had expected. Due to all they hype and how popular they are, I'd expected them to work better than they are. These nappies were a very big item in Canada before we left, and are becoming very popular in Australia as well. After purchasing our first bundle from a local distributor we smartened up and found a wholesaler online with the same nappies for a quarter of the cost. Yippee!
Another new item is our trampoline. Wade has been wanting a tramp since HE moved out here. He watched the prices and his waiting paid off. The trampoline he wanted went on for more than 50% on sale AND it was delivered to our door. It is set up and used everyday.  Another yippee.
I had mentioned before about planting our first garden and I am very pleased to announce that EVERYTHING in the main garden is growing in their perfectly in their perfect little rows. It has been doing very well and the boys love helping with it. Alex and Zed water it regularly and Jonathan will sit and help me pull all the little weeds. He'll go on and on about the bad plants trying to take away all the food and space for the good plants. Last week he and I discussed photosynthesis - what he refers to as a "daddy word" because it is 'such a big word', but he can say it and boy does it sure sound so cute; a big daddy word coming out of a little Jonboy mouth! I am sad to report that our strawberry patch has been under constant attack by Maileigh & our dog; put that together with spiking temperatures and I am afraid that we have lost the battle. Next time we go to the city we will be picking up little strawberry plants and some proper fencing to keep those two pests ;) from wreaking havoc
Well, the children are calling....
again.

Lovin' Thee Adventures!

Well, after arriving just two and a half short weeks ago, Paul and Judy (Nana and Papa - Wade's Folks) left yesterday to make their way back to their Saskatchewan home. I hope they enjoyed their visit because we certainly enjoyed having them visit. With their awesome help, we certainly did manage to finish off a bit of that "to do" list too! (Thanks so much!!)

Look at that grass fly!! Go Zed Go!

During their stay we managed to get Wade's tool shed unpacked and on the road to being organized on shelves, we bought a lawn mower that Zed helped Papa assemble then use on both the front and back paddocks.  Even the neighbour kids enjoyed having a go with this mower; who knew a simple machine could rally together the neighbourhood children to doing their chores?
Anyway, we also got the garden plots dug up, weeded and YES, Judy retaught me how to plant a garden.We planted corn, onions, carrots, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, rockmelon (cantaloupe), peas and strawberries; potatoes and tomatoes will be added but at a later date as we don't have all that we need to do them just yet. I am very excited to announce that our family garden is seeded and we are eagerly expecting to see those first signs of success on it's way... I will surely keep you posted on how that is going as well.It was certainly a joint, or rather family, effort to prepare the garden as well all worked very hard. Besides Paul's and Wade's strong-arm tactics to overturn the rock hard garden, the kids, Paul and myself had to use strong back tactics to haul back several loads of garden bricks I had discovered a ways up in the bush. Someone and just dumped a fair lot way up yonder and being a... resourceful sort, I gathered up the troops, provided them carrying sacks (backpacks) and led them into the bush. We ventured across sections of sticky mud, through hip thigh high grass, over ponds, up hills and the pounding sun and back again. I admit that it may seem over the top just to have some bricks that were purely for esthetics reasons, but I'll tell you - my garden sure looks nice! And hey, we got to see some kangaroos hop across our path along the way....
In truth the whole lot of us have been seeing those animals, and several others on a more regular basis. I was beginning to get worried that Judy wouldn't have her chance to see them before she left because it seemed that every time we went out without her, the group of us would seem them up close and personal. It became my mission to have her at least see one closer than across a farmers field, even if she didn't capture it on camera. So one morning, a couple days before she was to be leaving, I drove her to the spot we'd seen the kangaroos just about every morning that I take the kids and the dog on their bike ride. We arrived and... you guessed it, no kangaroos sitting around. So we headed off in the direction we usually see them head off in, and wouldn't you know it, not only did we see a kangaroo but she sat their with her joey in her pouch as though she were posing for the cameras! YES!!! 

After a time she finally hopped off into the nearby brush and we turned around and headed in the other direction. Since we hadn't been out all that long we made our way down toward the other end of the path and there we saw three more kangaroos just through the trees.

 On the way back to the van, down another path we saw yet another group of three kangaroos lounging around under some trees.
It didn't stop their though, the next morning while we were having breakfast, Judy looked up and across the street there were two more kangaroos sitting in the horse fields eating their breakfast too. *smiles*
What a great way to end a trip! (I guess prayer really does work.)

He's sitting just under the log - pic by Judy

 
Besides kangaroos we also saw platypus when we ventured to the rainforest one weekend. We went on an short road trip and ventured into the Enguella rainforest where we saw platypus, turtles, water snakes,  different sorts of birds and some amazing trees.

We followed a path and enjoyed a walk through the trees after we had shared a picnic lunch we'd brought along.

It was a beautiful day because it wasn't overly hot and it was very foggy outside so there was a feeling of reverence and peacefulness there.


We did go other places and saw other animals over the last couple weeks, but that will have to be a later entry as the children are all awake now and breakfast needs to be served. Until next time...