On the road again!

Little brother is soon to hit the road again... Today I started to pack. I am off to hot, sticky and wet climes for 4-5 weeks depending on visas and red-tape. I had to get 30 passport photos for all the paperwork!

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should take?

Coming up for air . . . .

Some weeks are just like that . . . .busy! 

Infact so super busy that you start to wonder how much more

can one fit into the space of a day.

So far this week our family has attended 6 gymnastics training sessions plus an all day competition, 4 swimming training sessions plus a 4 hour competition, horseriding,volleyball, football, teeball, running, wake boarding, sailing, drama practise, flute lesson, clarinet lesson, piano lesson and of course the trumpet lesson, countless management meetings, and lets also not forget school, music practises and that dreaded homework!  

I love my kids and I love that they choose to be so involved in all that life offers, they have such fabulous opportunities on their doorstep . . .

I am just wondering though, when can I come up for a breath?

x x x

Sister-in-between

Rain, rain...

After some very hot and humid days and nights the rain is coming down. What a relief!

It began whilst the kids and I were doing school this morning. So, during our morning tea break the kids played soccer and did 'happy dances' (in imitation of their cousin Bookworm!) in the rain. Such fun!

After a change of clothes it was time to get back into school. The rain storm had caused a power outtage and our school room was very dark due to the heavy cloud cover. Resourceful Mr Sport found a solution - head lamps!

School at home is never boring :)

Little Sister

Sister-in-between: 3 things that made me laugh today!

Three things gave me the giggles today . . .

1. Today is Easter Sunday and in our house that means we head off for Sunday church. It made me laugh when we arrived, entered the church, and the minister announced the last song . . . .hmm perhaps next time we should check out what time the service starts! Oh well at least we didn't have to contend with 4 wriggling kids for an hour and a half!

2. No. 2 son desperately needed a hair cut and so on Easter Sunday, we headed off to the hairdresser  . . . as you do here! Once at the salon I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have my hair cut too. Using  my very basic, local language skills I tried to communicate that I didn't need a second hair wash and  that a quick hair dry rather than full on style and set would suffice. To no avail, I had to laugh when I  left the Salon looking likeI had just stepped out of a televison commercial, being accompanied by a 'Justin Bieber'look alike.

3. No.1 son had promised to help me re-pot the palm trees that were root bound in their tiny, tiny pots. So there I was with my beautifully salon styled hair, wearing shorts and an old tank top, in 35 degree heat gardening! After two hours, with sweaty tangled locks, I had to laugh! I wish my hair dresser could have seen why I really didn't need all that extra attention after all!

Tee hee  . . . . it is a good thing to have a giggle!
xxx
Sister-in-between

Autumn!

It was a beautiful sunny morning in Big sister's part of the world - perfect weather for hot cross buns and coffee after church this morning. Mr A, G'tar man and I all played today which was fun!

This afternoon turned quite cool and cloudy - changeable Autumn.

Today I am loving wearing my red socks ...

 the beautiful leaves ...

a solitary bush iris in bloom ...

and pumpkin soup (thank you neighbour for the pumpkin!) in the making for dinner.

A game of 'Dominion' is on the cards this evening - we are all hooked!

Holiday happenings at Little Sister's...

After some post-visitor blues, we have had a lovely week of 'at-home' holidays this week. We've been out and about a bit: swimming, eating ice-cream and bowling. But we've also spent many happy hours at home. I haven't caught up on as many things as I'd hoped...but have enjoyed doing some crafting with the kids.

We ventured into the world of papier-mache this week! I have great memories of messy making-days as a child, smearing wall-paper glue on balloons and lumps of newspaper; it's still wonderful as an adult! After cooking up some flour-based glue we ripped oodles of newspaper strips and got messy. The humid weather made the drying a little slow and I was required to undertake one balloon transplant (successful!). After 3 days the 'eggs' were sufficiently thick and ready to paint. Miss Creative decorated some little 'eggs' beautifully and then put together an Easter basket for our table. The giant 'eggs' are being painted as I write - Miss Creative (10yrs) is using a lovely combination of pastels; Mr Energy (7yrs) is using bold black and orange. Mr Sport (9yrs) is outside on his ripstick...

This afternoon we have some friends coming over to help us colour some boiled eggs with some shiny, metallic paints that Sister-In-Between sent us a few years ago! Last year over Easter, Dengue fever struck down 3 of us and it was a less than joyful season with no crafting. We're making up for it this year and revelling in good health :)

I've particularly enjoyed baking a few batches of hot-cross buns this week in preparation for Good Friday and a couple of expat gatherings we're attending over the weekend. With no supermarkets decorated in Easter-trimmings here we need to make the effort to remember special times and make our own traditions. I find the lack of comercialisation makes the celebration much more special and home-made buns are much tastier than mass-produced ones, as well as filling the house with a wonderful smell! My biggest challenge has been keeping the buns out of the reach of the ants that have invaded my kitchen, achieved by balancing them precariously over water traps as they rise and cool. We enjoyed warm hot-cross buns for breakfast this morning with a pot of tea and the Good Friday story. I have to admit the kids and I had done a little taste-testing when the buns came out of the oven yesterday - who could resist!?!?

I enjoyed reading my siblings' stories of changing seasons! Hot season has sprung here and we are sweltering in high temperatures and humidity. Last night it was 32 degrees celcius in my bedroom and had only dropped to 30 when I woke this morning. Everyone is a bit grumpy this morning after a restless night. Althought there's no snuggling under blankets or stomping in colourful leaves here at the moment, we do have 4 mango trees brimming with ripening fruit and it's lovely weather for swimming :)

Searching for Spring!

Today Sister-in-between went on a search for ‘Spring’

 . . . not an easy thing to do in a hot tropical city!

 I found a tiny patch of evidence which lifted my spirits immensely.

 I think back to the few years when our family lived in Central Europe,

and the joy felt on discovering bulbs poking through the earth

and the sun peeping from behind the grey sky.

It is oh so different here!

The children have returned to school and I am back at work, sadly no holidays here for Easter.

Infact, no Easter celebrations here at all!

No chocolate eggs in the shops, no daffodil posies on the corner to buy . . . 

so being a touch creative and with the help of ‘Lucy from Attic 24’,

we have tried to make our own little Easter decorations! 

  

Happy Easter to you!

I wonder if Big Sister and Little Brother are seeing ‘Spring’ blooming in their part of the world, and wonder what Little sister will do to celebrate too? 

How NOT to see Tasmania!

Following in the footsteps of intrepid dutch explorers, british convicts and a well known, rotund, beer guzzling cricketer, 'Little Brother' decided to cross Bass Strait and pay a brief visit to the Apple Isle.

In the good company of the Hawker,"Little Bro' spent a splendid Saturday soaking up the sunshine and the hospitality of good folk of Launceston. After a quick breakfast on Brisbane Street, we made our annual pilgrimage to Aurora Stadium via the monkey enclosure.

The main purpose of our visit was the clash of the big birds, the might of the West Coast Eagles versus the Hawthorn Hawks. After four quarters of absorbing football, Little Bro was left ruing some interesting selections from the coaches' box that saw his side run out of legs in the last quarter and narrowly lose by 7 points. 

Thinking we had plenty of time before our return flight to the mainland, the Hawker and I returned to the Grand Chancellor Hotel for a well-earned drink. If only we had known that at that very moment our plane was taxiing up the runway for the return journey home!

Mistake #1 Never assume that your travel buddy has everything under control! Having printed out the wrong itinerary, the Hawker had mistaken the departure time of our flight. Needless to say when we turned up at the airport, we were told that we had missed our flight. The gentlemen was more concerned about his Saturday evening plans than helping us getting home. Like the convicts who came before us, we had very little chance of escaping Van Diemen's Land.

Mistake #2 Never try and fly out of Tasmania at the start of school holidays! All the airlines were booked until Monday or Tuesday. Using the Hawker's 2nd generation phone, we soon realised that our only option of escape was via the City of Hobart, some 194km to the South and a $495 ticket on Qantas...

Keen to get home and clean his flat (My inspection was on Monday) Little Bro swung the credit card into action, purchased two tickets from Hobart to Melbourne and hired a Toyota Carolla for the trip to Hobart. After 194km of winding our way through the  early winter fog we arrived in the beautiful city of Hobart at 1:00am in the morning. The view of top of the Derwent Bridge was truly spectacular. We spent 4 very uncomfortable hours pretending to sleep in the hire-car before making our final escape to the mainland on QF1010 at 6:05am. For $495 we got a mandarin, a bowl of muesli and a cup of coffee. Not exactly my idea of a gourmet breakfast.

The Hawker and I are very relieved to be back on the mainland and have vowed not to let the experience deter us from a return journey next year. Be sure that we will check and double check our itinerary! 

Holidays!

Big Sister is on school holidays!
Ten things she loves about the Easter school holidays:

1. No school lunches to make every morning.
2. Picnics in the park.
3. Long walks with the K9.
4. Making interesting dinners (I have this yummy recipe for mussels with chorizo sausage that I plan to try these hols).
5. Watching videos on cool, wet afternoons.
6. Curling up with a book.
7. Catching up on some knitting, crocheting and sewing.
8. Cleaning up piles of paper and other debris strewn around the house.
9. Catching up with friends for coffee
10. Most of all, spending time with Mr A, G'tar Man, Bloss and Bookworm - we all need to let go of routine for a couple of weeks every now and then!

I wonder what my family enjoy most about their holidays??

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! 

Sister-in-between has been visiting Little Sister with 3 out of 4 kids in tow. They've had oodles of fun joining in with the local water-throwing celebrations in their groovy and colourful new year outfits. The sisters  squeezed in a bit of sewing amongst visits to the pool, touring the local sites, eating out at mouth-watering cafes and refereeing Nerf wars. Family get-togethers are always memorable, but we always wonder where and when we'll meet next...