Little Boy Blue when "kissed" by a blue bottle?

Nobby's Beach in Newcastle - about 45 minutes from where we live - this is the main beach we go to

What do you know about the dangers of the oceans around Australia? Most people would say watch out for sharks... and jellyfish! Since moving to Australia, just over 2 years ago, we have yet to see any sharks or live jellyfish, except in aquariums.... until last week.

Before I begin to tell this story lets get some facts straight... shall we?

-> some jellyfish are bigger than a human and others are as small as a pinhead

-> people in some countries eat jellyfish

-> it is believed that jellyfish have been on Earth for

 millions of years, even before dinosaurs

-> jellyfish have no brains, but some kinds have eyes

-> jellyfish are mainly made up of water and protein

-> a group of jellyfish is called a smack, and a sudden appearance of a large group of jellyfish is call a 'bloom'

Now that you have a 'little' more information on jellyfish, lets talk about the one you see at the very top left of the image above... it is known around these parts as "the bluebottle jellyfish."

Also refered to as "Portuguese Man o War"
because it is said to look like a Portuguese
battleship with a sail.

Last week (most of) the kids had the opportunity to see a whole bunch of blue bottles at Nobby's Beach (a beach we frequent majority of the year). While Maileigh managed to hold one whilst walking on the beach, without being stung; Alex had the pleasure of shaking 'hands' with the tenticles of a young bluebottle whilst in the water.

Alex said that the bluebottle in this
 picture is an almost exact match. 

The float or body of the blue bottle measures
between 3 to 15 cm. The tentacles can
range in length from 15 cm up to 10 metres!

10 metres = approx. 32 feet by the way!!!

The Bluebottle or Portuguese Man-of-War is not a single animal but a colony of four kinds of highly modified individuals (polyps). The polyps are dependent on one another for survival. Bluebottles do differ from true jellyfish in several ways; the gas-filled float supports a number of specialised tentacles, which are actually members of a complicated colony. The individual members, or 'zooids', cooperate to form (what looks to us) lika one animal: a jellyfish. (Some zooids are specialised for stinging and capturing fishes and other marine animals whilst others are specialised for eating prey, and some are the "reproductive" members of the colony.)

Neat Fact: All bluebottle 'jellyfish' are hermaphrodites! (That's right folks no need to be looking for love for these guys/girls!!)

The blue bottles colour can range from a blue
to a pink hue, with a translucent body.

 It was explained to Wade, and the children, that the deepness of color indicates how toxic the venom is... apparently the one that 'kissed' Alexs' hand was very light colored indeed. 
Alex says that he put his hand in the water and he felt a sharp stinging. He pulled his hand up and began squeezing his fingers with his other hand. He wrapped his hand in his shirt as he looked down to see what had bite him. He saw the bluebottle in the water next to him. Wade immediately took him to the lifeguard who explained that the best thing they could do was put Alexs' hand in really hot water. (This is the one sort of sting that requires the venom to be heated to neutralize it; instead of vinegar like most other sorts of jellyfish stings.) The lifeguard warned them to keep an eye of Alexs' breathing and to go to the hospital if he had any trouble breathing or pain in his abdomen. 

A picture taken by Wade of one of the bluebottles that was at the beach

This is one of the few times I did not go with everyone to the beach. I was shocked and upset to find out this had happened, but very relieved to know that everyone was just fine. 

Note to everyone: If there are jellyfish about, stay OUT!!

The kids are so lucky that none of them recieved any serious attacks/stings like many other people have!!

Another pic taken by Wade that day at the beach

The day wasn't all pain and tears though...

 They did have the opportunity to go walking along in some of the more shallow parts where they found some neat starfish, snails, crabs and pretty rocks.

 

 

Life Changes and That's Okay!!

A lot has happened in our time here in Australia. We have experienced in your face wildlife, hot weather, raging storms, massive bush fires (that turned the sun blood red), been living with deadly spiders literally hanging in our doorways, moved states (from QLD to NSW), had another (unexpected) baby, celebrated birthdays, holidays, battled rare cancer (and won!!) and watched our kids grow and excel regardless of what obstacles confront our family or them directly.

Yes, you read all that correctly; birthdays, birth, braving cancer and beating odds.

In my last submission I mentioned the birth of our 5th child (and last daughter), Lilliah. Since that entry she has had her first birthday. She is walking, signing & talking (just a little); she says "Lilliah" when she wants something for herself.

Lilly-Billy on the day of her 1rst birthday anniversary. Awwww!

Lilly-Billy had a GIANT apple pie for her birthday... LOVE Costco!!
The other photo wouldn't load to show but it was so big that Lilliah could have sat in the middle and I still could have served pieces of the pie!!

She has a mind of her own and she doesn't have any issue letting you know if she doesn't approve with your decision on something... like nap time

She is growing so quickly! She knows she is the baby and uses her utter cuteness to her advantage!!







A few of the other kids have also had their birth-anniversary's:

Maileigh turned 3 this year. We had a very small gathering, and our friends brought the cake made especially for her.

She recieved a beautiful (giant) wood castle complete with little wooden people.
Maileigh loves her dresses but loves dinosaurs more.
She adores dinosaurs and mud, and oh, right... dinosaurs! It isn't uncommon for her pretty castle to be crowded with dinosaurs hanging from every turret and hiding in every room!

On another note Maileigh has begun reading simle words like am, sat, see. It is very exciting and very fun to watch her progress!!





Alexander is now 8 years old folks!!
He is doing great in his studies, attends hiphop dance classes on Mondays and has become really good on his bodyboard in the waves at the beach.

 He is still into airplanes, tanks and skateboards but his growing mind is starting to lean towards sports with a little more speed....
No he doesn't own that bike in the picture but he sure wishes he does!!

This year instead of a cake Alex went to a shop that specializes in donuts; he hand picked each donut with particular care for whom he was choosing for. The following day he and some friends (and siblings) attended a donut decorating workshop put on by the same place we went to get these donuts.

Jonboy is 5 and really starting to get some length to his smallish frame. Jonboy has begun to show a real interest in maps... but still LOVES dinosaurs!!

Jonboy has a really cool red bike that matches this brand new helmet he picked out and ordered off the internet. It worked out perfectly that his helmet arrived on the morning of his actual birthday!!












Jonboy is reading simple sentences now; he is VERY good at it. He also LOVES maths... he is adding and subtracting single digits now. One of his FAVOURITE things to do is mazes... he loves, loves, loves mazes.

mmmm... CAKE!!

RECENTLY....

The family recently attended an anniversary festival for Wades work/company.

 There were all sorts of rides, jumpy castles,

 

 climbing walls, face painting, free food and treats; 

as well the eldest two won rides on a giant mine truck! 

We noticed this guy during a bush ride just a week or so ago... he's loving the sun!! (so are we!)

Currently we are studying...

Jonboy's

Maileigh's

Alex's

Zedikiah's

One of the activities we did was creating our own paintings which had to include the basic plant system: leaves, stem and roots. Maileigh created a dolphin tree, Zed's is featured above, Jonboy created a mini forest and 

Alex created a tree he remembers seeing some where in Australia.

Lilliah... just wanted to taste them all! 

We are also working on expanding our experience in the cullinary world... we are trying out lots of new ideas, recipes and foods. 

Zed's apple-raspberry crumble

Zed's mini brownies

Alex made Vanilla cupcakes filled with his own
home-made raspberry filling

Bacon wrapped risole-hamburgers

Mini-risole meatballs that went into a very spicy rice dish (opps- little too spicy!!)

Over the past little while we have been trying to make an effort to make more memories with the kids.

The three boys have been able to attend many fun things such as...

 Going to Sydney with Wade and attending The Monster Jam show.

The boys attended an aborist camp with me; that I'd been invited to by some of my friends. The camp was held at Port Maquarie; about 3 hours away.

We saw a lot of neat and interesting things!! One of which was one of our camp mates sleeping in a tree!! There were a few others who did that as well.

There was this awesome swing set up that was about 7m high... that is close to about 23 feet!!

It was a great weekend; it will be something we'll have to make sure to do more of!!

Now for some seriousness...

Many of you already know that on Maileigh's birthday, June 5th, Wade was admitted to the Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle, NSW. Wade had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. As a family, and with wonderful support of (mainly) the homeschooling community in our area we were able to come through it. Wade continues to be closely monitored even though he is in remission. He has however, already returned to work part time; he is glad to be getting back into the swing of things. 
I want to say a special thankyou to all of you who spent so much of your time and energy praying and encouraging us through that time. It was a very humbling experience in so many ways. 

I also want to mention that this experience allowed opportunity for every one to reflect, realize some things and grow to adjust for these realizations (which often requires changes). In time that statement may make more sense; so I wanted to remind everyone that change isn't always bad, though it may seem so at the time. Many will not understand why or how such 'drastic' changes can happen, so please remember that there is always more than what meets the eye (or ear). 

Again, thank-you for your support, in any way you gave it. It was an experience I don't think any of us EVER want to endure again, but one that has certainly changed the course of our future forever.