February Already!

Look at all of the wonderful stuff we made!!

February already!  Summer continues in Alice, but there have been many recent days with some cloud cover or rain to help alleviate the directness of the sun.  The kids all love to run outside in a warm summer rain, or have a chance to bushwalk without a hat!  Well, me too.
It's been a bit of a strange month for us.   The land rover battery keeps dying and when your only car doesn't start in the morning...what's Plan B??  It's new battery is on order (has been for weeks) and Trent has replaced several gaskets and whatnot so that we can get the thing in order before we re-register it.  Trent found out on Monday that the battery never shipped... all this time.  So now we finally have confirmation that the new battery will be here Friday or Monday... we'll see. We hear that a car may have NO drips in order to pass muster here.  Fairly tired of car work, but glad to have one and it's a blessing Trent knows how to do the work on it, as mechanic work in Alice is very spendy - probably about 4 times the cost to do the same thing in the States.  The boys did get tool sets for Christmas that have been put to good use helping Papa under the car, so maybe this is all in the way of "necessary experience" in a little boys' life.  Beaux and I are happy to just watch.  Sometimes.
In some ways, it is wonderful when the kids get bored enough to imagine something to do.  Today's games have been some chemistry outside (they made a concoction to kill ants made of weeds and seeds they've been drying...it's also an experiment to see if it kills the plants it is poured on) and they had quite the game of "Professor" going on inside at their desks with stuffed animals.  Beaux had her white veterinary lab jacket on and a pair of blue horn-rimmed glasses.  Jax was wearing his muscley Wolverine costume with a black suit jacket.  Jones was wearing his tattered brown cloak from his Halloween costume and kept sweeping into and out of the room.  I believe he was the principal of the institution, because at one point I heard him say, "Beaux, I am giving your callepitter (caterpillar) the LOOK..(pause)..Detention."  And of course, they all had clipboards, so there was lots of note taking and meaningful scribbles going on.
So, we've been home quite a bit recently.  Riding our bikes or walking when we need to go anywhere.  The kids are doing well with their homeschooling.  They are just about done with half the year (since we didn't start until October) and we've learned lots already!  The kids are sometimes surprising me now and I'll find them all sitting down reading a book...on their own...without being instructed to!  Shocking.
We did get out a few times in January and early Feb.  Recently, just a quick day trip down to Redbank Gorge and a morning hike at the Telegraph Station with some friends from work.
Redbank Gorge was a fun 4-wheel track through a historic area through a rock canyon with painted aborigine markings and the remains of an old station (ranch) from long ago.  Some of the people who came with us camped at the dry riverbed, but we played all day, ate our s'mores, and headed for home!
The hike at the Telegraph Station was lovely as usual.  The kids climbed on the large rock that sits above the "Alice Springs" (dry at the moment).  Strange how ripping the backs out of your shorts by repeatedly sliding down a rough rock surface seems like a good idea!  Three kids, three sets of worn out shorts.  It was very funny watching them though, so I suppose we all got our entertainment out of the deal!  We climbed rocks, saw kangaroos, took pictures.  Very nice morning.
Sunday was a different story.  The whole family was ready to head out to church, but when Trent tried to start the car...no dice.  OK.  No problem.  Beaux and I changed into shorts and we all rode bikes to church, figuring we would be a bit late, but that we could ask someone to come by later in the day to maybe jump the car.  Well, Jax got a flat tire before we reached the church, so we ended up walking his bike several blocks.  Beaux told us that her bike also had a flat, and by the time church ended Jones' bike was flat (by the way, Aussies would say that the bikes got "punctured tyres.").  We did find a family to jump the car, so Trent rode his (mercifully unflat) bike home to meet them and start the car.  He came back to the church and loaded all of us and our bikes into and onto the Disco.  Unfortunately, we all forgot that my bike was strapped down on top in the roof basket and we pulled straight into the carport, ripping the entire roof basket off the car and flinging it unceremoniously onto the driveway.  Of course, all the supports (except 1!) that were bolted to the basket were thrashed and hanging off the vehicle in varying states of chaos.  Sigh.  Seems like maybe a couple other things happened on Sunday which I can't remember, which obviously means I am repressing them...which is fine!
Now, it is a new week with endless possibilities ahead.  Trent rode his bike to the car store when he got home from work tonight and purchased a gorgeous item that will jumpstart our battery without having to call the varied and sundry public in for assistance every other day...which he says I must learn to use tonight, so that when we go return overdue library items tomorrow and the Disco dies, I'll know what to do.  "The Day the Disco Died..." sounds like a song...it keeps rising again, though, so we are hanging in there.
Did you know:  kitchen counters in OZ are "benches", the Australian cup measurement is different than the American cup measurement, and the nursery at church is called "creche"?  Also, hot cross buns and crumpets are delicious!

Hilary

We don't approve of that dead Kangaroo!