I have never lived anywhere with such a penchant for rain! This is truly amazing. Granted, they say this is a really wet summer, but really! Enough is really enough. The humidity was 97% yesterday. Glad it was only 82 degrees or we would have felt much worse. I've been told the walls start to sprout mold in these days, so if the walls or the couch starts to look a bit fuzzy or off color to wash down with 3 parts vinegar 2 parts water. Good to know! Wondering how the boxes of stuff out in the garage are doing with all this humidity. We may be getting rid of a bunch of it after the rainy season!! I also have to point out that not ONCE in the last 2 weeks has my mail been fully shoved into the mailbox to keep it dry. I have to either wait several hours to let it dry or risk tearing it to pieces. Thinking I will have to borrow Alex's hairdryer to speed this process up, or put in the oven along with dinner?
Alright, as promised, the recap for the week of adventures.
Alex returned from camp on Friday afternoon tired, sore, bruised, muddy, and quite pleased with herself. She had to write a letter home to us. Here are some excerpts. I was laughing so hard at her responses! Alex is a very tongue in cheek sense of humor girl and her snarky attitude gets called out once in awhile when she goes to far. She has also discovered Patrick McManus books-so the tall tale type of humor is right up her alley for her to appreciate. Here goes:
I'm sending this to you because of all the people in my life you. . . "are the only ones I think they would let me deliver to in Australia without using too many stamps" alluding to the fact any other family members would need 3x the postage to get the letter. Cheeky!
When I think about how I have gone in the past. . . "Wow, I was so awesome then and look. I am still so awesome! My goal was to stay awesome forever and I am still awesome." Yeah, you are kid. I don't think she really liked this particular activity at camp.
So when it comes to changing, I think. . . "I already have everything figured out and I just needed something to write about or they get a bit grumpy and some of the teachers get angry very easily. (Me here, but I think is has something to do with having to stay up until after the kids get to sleep around midnight, and up before them at 6 every day of camp!) I now know how to be awesome and awesome I will stay! I also think I need a new pair of shoes as these are ruined I think. ( Yeah, 3 days of pouring rain and being outside in the red mud of Australia. Her suitcase came home with plenty of muddy, wet clothes and bedding. Glad it was her and NOT me!)
So, camp according to Alex, was a blast! Mud fights, lots of ropes courses and climbing activities, 25 girls in one cabin. Fun for any 12 year old! Some of her pics turned out pretty good. Lyle has the laptop this week so I will try and do a photo post next weekend.
Annika had Girl Guides Thinking Day Celebration at Southbank on Saturday. It was one of the few days these last couple of weeks that it DID NOT RAIN, at least much. So the sun was out, 86 degrees and crazy high humidity. We caught the bus in and met the rest of the troop by the main playground for opening ceremonies. They were nicely done, but I wish the sound system was not so spotty. Over 2000 people were there! The girls were really excited, but that waned fast as you could hardly hear anything. Good thing for distractions like Asian tourists coming in the fire doors to see what was going on! Provided plenty of entertainment as they broke out the video cameras and phones to document their trip. The ushers trying to get them to leave were really nice at least. We enjoyed our picnic lunch by the river, then went to the activity stations. We learned how to make bubble chains with milk caps, washcloths, hair elastics and straws. Also made a friendship bracelet and tissue paper flowers. Lots of tissue paper flowers. Did I mention the flowers? Thelma, the troop leader treated to icy poles (Popsicle to us Americans) and we bussed it home. Exhausted! I enjoyed a nice bottle of chilled white wine once home and the family watched Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the lost Unicorn. Highly recommend it! The power went out 10 minutes before it was done, but Annika was lights out a good hour before that.
Ian LOVES his Tae Kwan Do classes. He and one other boy were the only ones there this week and the extra attention was good for him. He is also doing his homework without as much fuss. I think his teacher sat down and told him he had to do it! He knows 4 of his sight words on his first list now and loves that I have put the words in an app on my phone for flash cards, so we can practice his words anywhere! He recorded himself saying the words so if he gets stuck he can hear himself say it. He is a much different learner than the girls. They were really letter/phonics aware and he is more shape of word aware. He will learn-but at his own pace and much differently than the girls. His favorite book right now is The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, and any of the Lego Kingdoms or Hot Wheels readers. I'll buy him comics if he wants them! As long as he learns to read I really don't care what the medium is to teach him!
Lyle is out traveling again the next 2 weeks. Thank goodness he is home weekends! This makes 5 or 6 weeks in a row. He had scheduled last week to be in the office to get expense reports and other paperwork that was critical done. He ended up in Newcastle for 2 days and up in Gladstone for a day trip. It was a looonnngggg week for him. We hope to know this week if the job offer will be workable or not. Once that is settled, time to buy tickets to go home! Targeting July after the week of the 4th. The main criteria is that we need to be home by Aug 31 to cash in our Costco bonus check! We'll have to pull the kids from school for a couple of weeks, but that is just the way it goes. I am so glad my kids like to travel and are good at it! Gone are the days of wiggly toddlers in my lap who scream and cry when they want to run! My sympathies to the parents who have to do this, and I will promise to always offer to help out as I remember those days. But boy, I do NOT miss them!
I also submitted the worksheets to the accountant firm for our taxes. What a pain in the arse! I really have to get grouchy with our government because we have to ante up our income for US government perusal and if we DONT pay equivalent taxes to our host country we HAVE to pay the difference to ours! They don't take into account the cost of living difference either, so the salary Lyle pulls in here looks amazing on paper-until you see that gas is over $6 per gallon, groceries are 30% higher and rent is over $2000 per month. We were also notified by the electric providers that costs are going up 21% this year across the board and insurance premiums are going up 10% out of pocket. I know, bitch and moan, or whinge as they say here! It is a good place to live, but an expensive one!
Love you all! Hope to have travel plans next week!
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