Activities

I’ve been saving a few photos in my favourites folder that all deal with the kid’s activities – both in and outside of school – and realised that I hadn’t covered them in the blog yet.

We just finished up a season of miniroos soccer. Both older kids played. It was a fairly laid-back affair with weekly practices involving every kid from age 4 to 10 at the soccer pitch of the Myrtleford Savoys – our town’s semi-professional soccer team. Before it got too dark and cold Maren even enjoyed attending practices to get a sausage from the canteen. Once or twice a month gala days were held in nearby towns with miniroo participants coming in from all over the area to spend the day playing games. Parents help coach the gala day games and Eric has helped out with the older (U10) team. Gala day in Bright (what a setting!):

Last weekend Cady took part in an all-girl gala day here in Myrtleford and even got her picture in the local paper!

Asher has been learning a new sport: Australian Rules Football, otherwise known as “footy.” He has been part of the AusKick program, learning the rules and practicing skills every Saturday morning. Tonight they had their last meeting – under the lights at the local footy field with a parents vs. kids game followed by sausage sizzle. Asher in action:

As part of the enrollment in AusKick, we received 4 tickets to a professional footy match at the MCG in Melbourne. We figured it would not be a great event for a 2-yr old and so we gave 2 tickets to friends and Eric and Asher had a long (7 hours of car travel, 3 hours of game time) footy Saturday. Asher thought it was worth it.

Both older kids have continued with weekly swim lessons (indoor!) in Bright. We have really come to love their coach. They have also continued with horseback riding lessons about once a month. During the school holidays (Easter and now winter) they have done a day camp at the same equestrian park. Boy we have been busy!

Sport of all kind is really emphasized in the schools here. Probably one of the reasons Australia is always in the lists of top 10 healthiest countries. At the start of term 1 years 1 through 6 participated in a swim carnival – racing others in their age year for points for their house. Term 2 began with a field sports day where they competed in running, throwing, jumping and 3-person potato sack (the most serious of) events. Asher and Cady are both in “Barwidgee” house and they were able to cheer each other on. Cady and mates in a sack race:

Cady has had the opportunity to play in a regional netball tournament (another new to us sport!) for the school. On Thursdays for three weeks she got to leave school and play netball all day!

She also took part in a cross-country run day where all upper grades ran a long distance according to their age. They ran through the golf course across the street from our house and so I was able to watch them out our window (and sneak over to cheer Cady on).

The school has been great to us in other ways. I’ve ben involved in the parent’s club (like PTO/PTA) and helped out with some of the fundraisers and the fun activities they sponsor. They provide fresh fruit to all the classrooms every Friday and once a term have a special treat. Today I helped serve hot chocolate and “bikkies” (biscuits/cookies).

Last term we hosted a hot breakfast and got the principal to flip the bacon. One of the other fundraisers was a raffle with the top prize of a trailer full of wood and we won it! Which was great because we are going through about that much every fortnight trying to keep our house warm with our wood stove. Our prize:

The preps (kindergarteners) have been matched up all year with a student from year 6. They meet once a week and read together or work on words. Asher’s buddy is Harrison and whenever we see him in town he has a hug and hello for Asher. Getting that kind of attention from a 12-year old is about as “ripper” as it gets.

I know we are going home to a great school but I think we are all going to miss Myrtleford P-12 College! Even the unis (uniforms)! 

Echuca

We took a trip back in time this past weekend and landed in Echuca (to prounce: sneeze ACHOO! and add a “ca”) on the Murray River circa 1870. View of the old train station at the historic wharf on the Murray:

We stayed in an apartment above a bakery on the main street in town. The building was built in 1874 and had lots of character and peculiarities (and 5:00am deliveries to the bakery every morning). Front room with extremely tall ceilings and view down to the bustling main street:

In the mid to late 1800’s Echuca was a thriving port town along the Murray River – servicing paddle steamers that were used as the main mode of transportation in the area. The paddle steamers quickly lost out to the train and by the 1900’s they had nearly all been abandoned or burned. Echuca has restored many of its historical sites and now has a thriving tourist economy. The highlight of our weekend was a boat ride on the Murray aboard the Canberra, a restored paddle steamer:

We all had a go at steering her and the kids received honorary skipper certificates:

While we were cruising we passed many houseboats and other paddle steamers including the beautiful Emmylou, named after the folk singer (E. Harris):

We took a horse-drawn carriage ride around town with Ollie and Dolly:

View down “Echuca Port” - the heart of the historic area from the top of the carriage:

It wasn’t all history all weekend, however. On our way to Echuca we stopped at a large outdoor play area in Shepparton called Kidstown. It was a chilly Friday morning (our kids did not have school due to end of term reporting) and we had the place to ourselves. Eric got in on the digging action:

The city of Shepparton has cow statues all over the place – something to do with the thriving cattle industry – painted in the most peculiar fashion. Maren would yell out “MOO!” whenever she saw one and needed pictures of all of the different cows at Kidstown:

We also checked out a children’s science center in Echuca called TwistED. It was small but we still managed to spend over 3 hours there – everything was really hand’s on and engaging. Friday being a school day for kids in the area we again had the entire place to ourselves. Maren trying out a flying thing on the air table:

Asher held a very large and spiny stick insect for about a millisecond until it started to move and then he vigorously tried to get it OFF. Luckily the bug had sticky feet and dig not get tossed across the room. The approach of the stick insect:

As we are finding in small towns in Australia, everyone we met and interacted with was generous and friendly. We went to church on Sunday and the members of the congregation fed us lunch and offered us a free place to stay the next time we passed through - or more permanent housing if we wanted to move there anytime soon. I don't think it was my organ playing skills that got us the offer- they were really just that kind. My overall review of Echuca: really neat historic town but a long weekend is just about the perfect amount of time needed to visit.

Birthdays

Maren is 2 years old! This is a bittersweet milestone as I want her to continue to be my baby but at the same time I am excited about seeing her sweet personality develop. She became interested in using the toilet in March and her birthday gift to us has been freeing our lives of nappies (diapers)! We celebrated with a weekend of fun.

After soccer games on Saturday we stopped by the red stag and emu farm to feed the animals and pet baby goats and a fawn. Then we had friends from church over for dinner and cake.

Which large animal will try to take the bucket of food first? My money is on the ostrich:

Maren has everyone eating out of her hands:

Baby goats! The kids all wanted to take one home until the goats started nibbling their fingers:

Maren opened a few presents Sunday morning (June 4) and was really excited to have her very own backpack like her older siblings:

On Sunday we went straight from church to our good friend Jackie’s house. We met Jackie our first few days in town and she has been so generous to us. She threw a Care Bear party for Maren complete with rainbow fruit, Care Bear games and prizes, and adorable decorations.

Maren was asleep in the car when we arrived and so we started the party without her. The party crew minus the birthday girl:

She’s awake! Birthday cake #2:

Birthday blocks:

This past weekend we celebrated the Queen’s birthday the way Australians do – with food and footy. We attended a local footy (Australian Rules Football) match with the hometown Alpine Saints playing the Wangaratta Magpies. This is an intense game with 36 players on an oval field. There are no set plays or positions – play continues until the ball goes out of bounds. It is much of a free-for-all with kicking, punching (not throwing!), running with and dribbling the rugby-shaped ball down the field to try to get it through the other teams posts. Middle post scores earn 6 points while side posts get 1. Tackling is allowed and there can be fouls (although I’m not sure what differentiates a foul from normal play).

The female Saints and Pies were playing netball at the same time and place (stadium park area). This is another new-to-us game that is fascinating. It is much like basketball except there is no dribbling and the players have to stay in their zones on the court – some can only stay on the back half, or some the front ¾ of the court. Contact is not allowed and “goal” positions get a 3-foot buffer when shooting the ball. Cady has been learning this sport in school and she tried to explain it to us.

Monday we had a day off of school and work and met friends at Botanical gardens in Albury for a picnic and then to a playground to tire the children. Jackie made apple crumble cake fit for high tea with the queen.

Botanical gardens with Jackie and Jane in the background:

It is winter here and mornings are usually foggy but the mist lifts by late morning and we have had sunny and fresh (in the low 60s) afternoons. Our nights get down to the 30s and we can see snow at the top of Mount Hotham!

Great Barrier Reef

Prior to our trip to Keppel Islands, our experience with the Great Barrier Reef included 1 to 2 hour boat rides from the mainland to the outer reef where Eric and I would be dropped into what felt like the middle of the ocean to snorkel or scuba dive. We realized this would not work well for kids but still wanted them to be able to experience the Great Barrier Reef while we are living here. The Keppel Islands are located on the south end of the Great Barrier Reef and not far from the mainland so the coral has experienced many bleaching events (from weather events and pollutant runoff from the mainland). This means the coral was not as healthy,  vibrant or diverse as in other areas of the reef but it was accessible by beach – we could walk out to the reef in protected coves with calm waters.  Even still, swimming with their heads in the water was too scary for Asher and uncomfortable for Cady at first. Our first two attempts at snorkeling with kids did not produce much.

The kids had a great time with the funny fins on when they were on land!  Cady and Asher at shelving beach preparing for the first snorkel attempt:

We learned that our visit to Great Keppel coincided with the lowest tides of the year and that the reef at Monkey Beach would be almost completely exposed. So we hiked over and got there just before low tide. This ended up being a huge blessing. The reef was transformed into the best ever tide pool that we could all walk around and explore. The kids realized how close the reef was to the beach, how easy it was to stand near, and how many amazing creatures were hanging out there. We stayed for four hours until the reef was completely covered again and we needed to get back for dinner.

The exposed coral protects itself from the sun’s rays with a slimy brown goop:

View of the receding tide and the exposed reef on Monkey Beach:

Boxfish (a type of puffer fish):

There were crabs everywhere! But most were climbing in the coral, scraping it (I’m not sure what they were eating but it was loud) and very camouflage. This one was about 4 inches long and under ankle-deep water just hanging out:

Can you spot the giant clam in this coral island? When we would toss water on the clams they would close tighter and squirt water back:

The sea cucumbers were huge! We even watched one (slowly) move:

We had stingrays swim in the shallow water right by our feet. Can you spot the spotted ray in this picture?

We don’t have pictures of any of the colorful small fish that would dart out from around the coral – they were too fast – but there were heaps of them and so many different kinds. The only fish I managed to capture in this photo was a small boxfish (right in middle of photo) but he had just pushed out a group of brightly striped orange fish from underneath one coral to another:

Probably the biggest success of the low-tide reef exploration occurred when Asher was splashing water on a giant clam and stirred up the water enough that a small (18 inch) Wobbegong shark came out from the coral right at his feet. He quickly picked up an empty shell and followed the shark around trying to feed it to him. Not the best plan. Luckily Asher still has all of his fingers. Wobbegongs are a type of carpet shark and very camouflage:

Asher trying to feed his fingers to the shark:

The afternoon at the low-tide reef was so successful that we decided to go to the same reef the next day but earlier in the morning so that we could get in a proper snorkel before the tide was completely out. The adults took turns going out first and this was probably one of my all-time favorite snorkel experiences. The diversity of fish was astounding. We saw many large sting rays, cod, turtles, and pretty much had the reef to ourselves to explore. The kids took turns going out with Eric. He would hold onto them and tell them when to put their heads in the water. At one point Asher spotted a large ray just in front of them and alerted Eric who was still walking. We had our underwater camera (GoPro) but with the excitement and kid wrangling we didn’t get many pictures.

Asher and Eric in the water:

Stingray (about 4 feet long) hiding in the sand:

Staghorn coral – probably a million fish just darted inside it:

I don’t know if this video will work but you can see a cod on the sand between coral:

 Happy snorkeler:

Although Maren wasn’t too interested in the fish, she was happy as a clam playing on the beach, in the water, and chasing birds: