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| First time playing in the [wet] Todd River - the destruction of "Beaux Island" |
Already December?! Wow. It's hard to believe we've been here for the whole of three months already! Our family has been keeping pretty busy lately gearing up for Christmas, so we haven't been up to our usual explorations.
School is still going strong. We will probably just keep up our schedule until the week of Christmas and take a few days off when Papa will be home for some vacation. An adventure may be in store if the weather cooperates...
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| This picture doesn't do it justice - this was practically a monsoon! |
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| This would be even better if it was in focus! |
It has been hot here still, but with some exciting thunderstorms every so often. Yesterday evening was quite a show with the lightening blinding us in great staggering bolts and the thunder shaking the windows and almost bursting your eardrums!! The boys tried their best to ride bikes while holding umbrellas, but eventually gave up on riding and just ran around in their wellies with Beaux. The rain accumulates to several inches under the carport (yes, you'd think the carport would keep things DRY...but not the case) so that was the fun place to splash. Somehow, the object became "how much water will our boots hold" which of course negates the idea of wearing them, but they all had a great time! It did rain enough that the usually dry Todd River was flowing today for the first time since we moved here, so after church we drove over there and had a look. There were several roads closed and under water and lots of people frolicking in the muddy river. The kids instantly decided they needed to go play in the Todd River after lunch, so that was a pretty fun afternoon! The cicadas have hatched and lots of trees are humming with them for the past few days. They are really quite big, about 3 inches and fat! They look like the size of hummingbirds, but the shape of a bumblebee, with the lovely addition of claws. I hope their life expectancies are not terribly long, because I must say I am not really a fan. Speaking of bugs, we have been seeing way too many in our house/yard and found out last week that we are due for a spray, so hopefully we get that done this week and get the population whittled down a bit. (KYLA, skip this sentence:) Trent had a spider crawl down out of the collar of his shirt he put on to go to work one day last week (a hang-up shirt in the closet even)...It's just not right!
A week ago we had a "Nomad Dinner" to solidify Beaux's lessons in Social Studies about wandering tribes, how they get food, what they eat, etc. The curriculum ties it in with the Hebrews being led out of Egypt and wandering the Sinai Peninsula. It was very fun and we tried to do as much as we could to make it "authentic". Beaux really got into the idea and went grocery shopping with me and helped outfit the whole family in scarves, robes, blankets, and pashminas so we looked like a regular nomadic family! We ate on the floor which we had spread with goat skins (actually mattress protectors). The feast consisted of honey cakes (manna), milk, flat bread to scoop food, a bigger loaf of bread to tear chunks from, butter, leban (cottage cheese), strips of meat in olive oil, figs, dates, and pomegranates. The decision was made that when nomads make it to an oasis and find some of this awesome food, they eat like kings! We were all stuffed by the end. Beaux loved scooping up cottage cheese with her flat bread and the boys really loved eating while laying down...oh, I mean "reclining" on the floor!
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| Nomad Dinner |
I had a very nice birthday on Friday, thanks for all the wishes! Trent came home a bit early, we had pizza night, presents, and brownie cupcakes with m&ms on top for the goodie. And I still get to look forward to my birthday dinner on Tuesday evening! We love to extend birthdays and holidays to at least a week each...
Family Day at Trent's work was a fun experience recently as well! The kids got to see the area a bit and there were fun stations set up all around: a bounce house, bomb robot, fire trucks, slip n slide, the pool, police horses...The policeman who was showing the two horses was pretty friendly and let us come pet the horses. They got kinda antsy when I came near with my umbrella (I was using it for shade instead of wearing a hat...people are hat crazy over here), so I put it down and they seemed to do much better. One of the horses was cuddling Trent a bit while he was petting the side of its neck and bit him on the love handle! Trent said he thinks the horse was just trying to chew his shirt, but the teeth caught a bit of flesh as well. Didn't break the skin, but a bit startling! We got to eat in the dining room with Papa and some of his work buddies. The corn dogs were a bit disturbing, in that they were hot pink, but the ice cream bars were of excellent quality and made up for any earlier disappointment. There was a lollie toss where buckets full of candy are strewn across the grass and the children all ran and picked up as much as their little hands could hold, so mine were happy little ones by the time we started for home.
Now, it is December and we are trying to get in the Christmas mood in Australia! Hoping that getting the house decorated will help. Keep us all updated on your lives when you can through email or notes on this blog; we love hearing from home!
Love,
Hilary
Did we tell you that charcoal briquettes are "heat beads" here? "Lollies" are candy, of course. They don't have regular newspaper subscriptions, if you want a newspaper, you have to go to the "News Agent" and buy one. Little newspaper stores in the shopping centres. You do not tip at restaurants here or for services like getting your hair cut...I think it may even be taken as an insult if you try. This may be repeat information as well, but the tap water is warm. You can run the water all day trying to let it get colder, but the coldest it gets is warmer than you'd like to drink. We fill up a big jug of water and leave it out on counter to fill water bottles from because the air conditioning in the house cools it down much more than the tap!
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| The ride before the storm. |
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| Ready to roll |
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| One of our talented your riders. By the way, the umbrella is for looks - he's soaked! |
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| A leisurely stroll in the monsoon. |
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| A big storm means a lot of water... |
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| Time to play in the water! |
