James' news

woot i passed my L's test today with a pass of 100% in the multiple choice test. now i can legally drive on the road so stay off the footpath. oh and thats a natural smile by the way cos there was a person there who made me laugh as they took it. he told me to look the way i wanted the police to see me when they pull me over.

Ishbel got an award today

In her own words . . .

I am proud of myself because I had a different teacher today and it takes alot of hard work to impress someone new.

Ishbel

Keeping you updated . . .

Not much to add, just to let you know we are still about really.
Jamie had exams last week at school and is getting his results back. He's done pretty well. He also entered a Science competition a while back and did that test today. He's happy with how he went, he thinks.
Robbie is having his exams this week.
Ishbel's school had an open day yesterday but, unfortunately, with having been off sick and with having had to take time to take her to the dentist AND with a colleague off on leave, I didn't make it to school. Today she was at a play - The Happy Prince - which she was very excited about going to see and which she thoroughly enjoyed.
We spent last weekend doing a light on sport runaround - Robbie and Ishbel both had bye's so that gave us time to help our friends, Bec and Steve, move house.

24 Hour Teacher's Strike

Tomorrow there is a 24 hour teacher's strike so I will be home with the children.
I told the boys they would not be allowed to XBox or play computer games or anything else unless they were all up-to-date on their homework. They are planning now to "sleep in until midnight."

Clever Boy

I shall let the certificates speak for themselves.

5 Days of Birthday Party

I've had a great birthday, all five days of it!

The celebrations began at book group. We usually meet on the first Friday of each month but had to postpone by a week this time. At the end of the book chat we had a little party. The girls had clubbed together and bought me a book voucher and TWO of them had made cakes.

Saturday looked like it was going to be a regular Saturday running around fitting in the washing, taking kids to sport and shopping. About 4pm Steve and Bec rang to ask if we were doing anything that evening. We ended up with them, Marie and her two boys plus Leigh's girlfriend Jess and the boy's pal Harley, Hugh and us five for a BBQ dinner. Bec put together a chocolate cake and we had a birthday party going.

We are still eating coleslaw - I asked Steve and Bec to get some then promptly forgot and sent Ian out for some too. When he came back with only a smallish tub I went out and got more!!!

Sunday was Mother's Day here as well as my birthday but I was up early to go to RFS training. We were doing fire behaviour and weather conditions. We went for a walk to a lookout with breathtaking views and had an outdoor tutorial on bush fire behaviour before going to the grounds of a local high school where we chased the PC which had a hose running from the back - we were mimicking grass fires.

Then, as a Special Mother's Day Treat, Steve let me drive the BIG RED TRUCK!!! I couldn't begin to tell you how exciting that was!

Meanwhile, at home, Ian had donned his pinny and was baking scones and mince tarts and almond tarts, jellies, fruit salad and cake for an afternoon Birthday tea to which Karen, Dan and Ben, Sharon, Janet, Steven and Kate and Joanne came. The others also brought along sandwiches and slices, etc. The table was fairly groaning. We had to go for a walk in the middle of the afternoon to make room for more. The fridge was still chokkas from the BBQ the night before so I'd told them no one was leaving before the food was all gone.

See the Birthday party photos. I'm just sad there's not one of me driving the truck.

Monday I thought I was back to normal at work but no, the girls bought a cake and we had a birthday morning tea.

I was feeling a bit poorly yesterday morning (sore throat, dry cough, bones aching) and nearly didn't go in to work but one of the volunteers has been promising a lemon cake for my birthday for ages so I felt obliged to be there. Good job I made the effort - Jeanette had been up at 5:30am to bake it - and it was delicious. But I did go home immediately after morning tea.

Parent-Teacher Night at Springwood High School

It was parent-teacher night at Springwood High School last night - Rob's school - and off I trotted to find out what he's been up to.

1. First teacher was Mr. Svegli who teaches Science. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum his face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, share chats about music, etc, etc."


2. At the next table was Ms Martin who teaches Robbie History. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum her face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, etc, etc." Her partner had taught Robbie last year and put Rob in her class because he thought she would enjoy teaching Robbie.


3. Next stop was Ms Green, Robbie's Mathematics teacher. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum her face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, etc, etc." The only glitch was that he had only handed in 1 out of 5 homework sheets this term. We are still in negotiations about that one, Robbie and I . . .


4. So the last teacher I could find was Mr Secombe who teaches Geography. When I introduced myself as Robert Colquhoun's Mum his face lit up. "A lovely boy, always interested, broad knowledge base, etc, etc." He asked if I knew what the score was in Rob's Way or My Way - apparently he's not taught Geography for a while and is a bit rusty so Robbie keeps him straight and lets him know when he's going wrong. I believe the score is 6 - 2 to Rob!

Knitting

Ishbel has been learning how to knit today.

It's a bit fiddly . . .

and takes a lot of concentration . . .









but she's not doing badly at all.
Bella, however, found it all a bit boring.

Queensland Holiday - Day 6 - Return Home - Tuesday 29 April 08

Back home today. Went for a last walk and the kids did some last activities before we packed and tidied up. The courtesy bus was arranged to collect us about 11:30am and took us to the airport. A quick 1 and 1/2 hr flight home and another 1 and 1/2 hrs or so on the train and we were home.
Catherine has been looking after Bella and Abigail and staying at our place while we've been away and when we opened the door it was to The Clash belting out on the CD player and the yummy smell of Osso Busco in the oven. It was lovely!

Queensland Holiday - Day 5 - Monday 28 April 08

Our last full day of holiday has been spent mostly on the lagoon.

Ian and I went out on a catamaran, but not for long, I found it utterly boring and got Ian to take me back in for a kayak after about three minutes. I tried to persuade Ishbel to join me on the kayak but she was terrified of falling in the water, despite having a life-jacket on, and begged me to let her off after a very short ride. So I went off across the lagoon on a kayak with Ian instead which was much better because, sitting in the back, I could get him to do most of the paddling!
While Ishbel hugged the beach, the other kids were playing on a big inflatable, jumping and pushing each other off it and having a great time.

Queensland Holiday - Day 4 - Sunday 27 April 08

Cooked breakfast arranged for between 8 and 8:30am, so I set the alarm for 7:30am. Woke a little after 6 and went through to read (reading Searching for Schindler, Tom Keneally's book about how he came to write Schindler's Ark/List - very good). The alarm didn't go off when I had set it for so it was a good job I did wake early and we all made it to breakfast in too time for bacon, eggs, beans, toast, etc.
We then had a bit of a wait until Jono and Narelle arrived. Ian had booked him, Jono and our boys in for a half round of golf and it wasn't long before they had to head off so we drove them over then I got Nelly to take me to the supermarket (what fun!)
Back at the resort we went down to the lagoon to see Ishbel and hung about there a bit with Janet before going back for a HUGE BBQ lunch.
Before Jono and Nelly disappeared we commandeered their car to pay a SECOND supermarket visit - Janet was terrified we'd starve before Tuesday. If we were staying any longer that this long weekend, we'd end up ENORMOUS, even Jamie and Ishbel.
After dinner, Jamie and I came downstairs to see the last in the current series of Robin Hood, Maid Marion getting killed off. We'd had a heads-up about that at some stage so no surprise there. I've decided to stay downstairs in peace and see what Tom and Poldek are doing (in my book).

Queensland Holiday - Day 3 - Saturday 26 April 08

Another lazy start to the day. Again the others were way ahead of us and we caught up with them at the other side of the lagoon. The boys had gone upstairs for breakfast this morning - there's more exciting stuff than Allbran and Weetabix available up there. By the time we got to the lagoon the older kids had had a go on the catamarans and were down at the beach with Joanne. Ian went to join them while I joined Janet supervising the younger kids and Clare.
The youngsters were busy for hours, first burying Alex in the sand then building a BIG hole and running up and down to the water to keep it filled. They were able to borrow buckets and spades, etc and use them to carry the water - except Bill who was using a spade to transport the water then gave up on that and got a mouth full and spat it into their pond. Not surprisingly, after a few turns of this he was feeling somewhat nauseated!
Back to the apartment for lunch provided again by Janet. She seems to be enjoying doing the bulk of the catering and is always thinkiing about the next meal.
After a bit of quiet time (snoozes for Joanne and I), Joanne and I took Alex and Ishbel back to the lagoon beach. Adam was at a PS2 competition at the Kids Club and we had him to pick up at 4pm. The kids picked up where they left off this morning and played happily together until it was time to go back and get ready for dinner.
We all watched Top Gear together upstairs, then, thinking we'd give Joanne and Janet a break from always having everyone in their apartment, we took our lot downstairs. Then, finding I had only 1/2 a load of washing, I went back upstairs to see if they had anything they'd like to add and invited the kids to come down, Harry Potter 4 was on TV.
Currently everyone except Joanne and Adam are down here, fighting over the space on our sofa!
We're looking forward to Jono and Nelly coming tomorrow.

Queensland Holiday - Day 2 - Friday 25 April 08 - ANZAC Day

Here is the slideshow of our holiday.

Today we had a lazy start. By the time we five were all up and breakfasted, the others were all out and about.
We went for a walk to, and then along, the beach, down a couple of kms to the mouth of the river. We left the four older children bodysurfing and took Ishbel, under much protest initially, with us. Back at the apartments, Janet had created a massive pile of sandwiches which were polished off with great gusto.
The older kids went off to do some archery with Ian going along too while I played games like Junior Scrabble and Celebrity Head with the younger ones and Janet and Joanne played big people Scrabble.
Later Joanne, Claire, Ian and I went for a walk to the beach again and went in the other direction this time. When we arrived back it was dinner time. After dinner Ian, Jamie and Chris went downstairs to our apartment to watch Friday Night Footy while I taught Claire, Janet and Joanne how to play Carcassonne.

Queensland Holiday - Day 1 - Thursday 24 April 08

Up early (for me before 5am) and got ourselves out of the door just after 7am. The train, which I thought was the 7:36am, came about 7:20am. I thought they were half-hourly from the Mountains but perhaps they are a bit more frequent during the morning rush hours? Either that or a whole lot of people would have missed their train.
Arrived safely at the airport and checked in. Jamie, despite having packed half a dozen books in his bag, bought another at the airport, plus a monster block of Rocky Road - a hideous marshmallow, chocolate and nougat concoction which I caught him devouring solo later!
We were met at Maroochydore airport by the courtesy bus driver and a five minute drive had us at the Grand Mercure North Shore Twin Waters Resort. As we checked in Ian discovered he'd lost his wallet. He thought he may have left it at the counter of a little newsagent stall at Sydney airport just before we got on our flight. All we could do was book in and try and get on to Sydney airport and the banks ASAP.
When we got to our apartment, Ishbel took one look at the foldaway bed standing near the doorway, tried unsuccessfully to stake a claim to one of the beds in the twin bedroom, and started a 15 minute tantrum. Meanwhile, we are trying to call the airport and the banks.
I got on to Lost Property at Sydney - they had the wallet, bank cards, etc. but (not surprisingly) not the cash in it. That was a relief because Ian had called St George and they couldn't cancel his credit card without also cancelling mine which would have left us without access to any money all long weekend. As it is, unless I can find internet access and transfer some money, we have no cash because the money in the savings account will cover only the mortgage.
The apartment is very nice. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a large central living/dining/kitchen.
The two bedrooms and the living room all open with large sliding doors on to a large patio.
The apartment is for sale - for a mere $529K - no way!!
Joanne and her four children and Janet and her son are just upstairs in a very nice three bedroomed apartment. They have been here since Tuesday.
There are several pools at this resort and it lies on one side of a lagoon on the other side of which is another resort with another pool and bikes, canoes and catamarans. It also has a Kids Club that we can use. We had initially tried to book in there but that resort is a more conventional hotel and Joanne and Janet would have had to book three rooms to get everyone in. Taking a walk round there earlier, I think we got the better deal. Joanne took Ian, Ishbel and I round the lagoon to show us around while Jamie went off with Chris to sail on the lagoon and Rob hung out with Claire - those two go around joined by one ear piece of an MP3 player each! During the afternoon, Janet and I went to get food while Ian and Ishbel went to the pool - freezing by all accounts - I may not need to get out of my jeans at this rate! The kids eat constantly and Janet and I filled two trolleys for just a couple of days. Eeek! After a chaotic dinner of spag bol and salad (I thought we'd over-catered but they polished almost all of it), Ishbel and I retired. Ian wasn't too long in joining us and the boys were back about 10pm, crashing and banging the doors.

We are here on holiday with our friend, Joanne and her four children - Claire, Chris, Alex and Bill and Joanne's friend, Janet and her son, Adam.