A Bit of This; A Bit of That

Last week kind of got away from me! The kids have been on winter holiday for the past two weeks, so we haven't had much of a routine. Today they are back in school, beginning the 3rd of 4 terms in the school year. Today I think I'll just ramble...pardon my lack of focus, in advance.

Back in the States during winter everyone heads to Hawaii, Florida, Mexico. Here it is mid-winter and people are vacationing in Bali, one of many resort islands that make up Indonesia, and all sorts of exotic points North. (remember it's opposite day, every day!)Lots of newly tanned people walking around. Makes us look forward to summer that much more.

Amazing storm last week in Perth. Very high winds and rain. We went to the beach to watch the inevitable show that Mother Nature provides during such a storm by the sea. Spectacular. I took pictures, but they don't do justice.



We finally saw kangaroos! We went out to a nearby cemetary at dusk recently, and as promised by locals, there were lots and lots of kangaroos eating grass and having a 'roo party. We were all completely enchanted. They are quite tame and it's not hard to get close. Of course, they could decide to box you in the face should you get too close, so we kept a respectable distance. I would say there were at least 30 of them in the area where we were, with pockets of many more all over the cemetary. Wow. I must say, they are kind of cute and have an inquisitive look on their faces and freeze just like deer in the headlights of an automobile.



We are all having fun trying to imitate the Australian accent and use their odd vocabulary. Here are a few more we've giggled about; "the lot"; meaning "the whole thing"; "reckon"; they reckon everything here. It sounds like a bad John Wayne movie all the time. Here they don't go to the pharmacy, they go see the "chemist". That one conjurs up bad memories of school classes from long ago.

Christmas in July. Some folks do that here. There is no chance for snow on Christmas Day here, or for temperatures much below 90 degrees either, so Christmas in July is the alternative. It's the coldest time of the year, so they figure it's more like
Christmas is for the rest of the world now than in December here. Alrighttty then!

The kids wanted to spend most of their winter holiday playing video games, watching TV and sleeping late. Too much fun. But, Lucas went to a Christian camp for a few days, the kids went to and hosted sleepovers, and there was a trip to a local indoor swimming facility and a hands-on science exhibition. We managed to keep busy but still have lots of "down" time. Sam is still taking guitar lessons, and is beginning to see some fruits of his labor. It's getting better and more fun for him all the time. Cami has a birthday coming up soon, August 1st. Her first birthday she will ever celebrate during the winter. Ha! Cami will be eleven years old. Happy Birthday Cami!
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