ANZAC Remebrance

Summer is still hanging around, just when you think it might be cooling down we get hit with another 30 degree day. 30 isn't bad but it's nearly May!
MONDAY:  I have no recollection of anything that happened on this day. It must have been pretty mundane.

TUESDAY: Home school group. We met up at a park and had a professional photographer come to take "class photos" Hopefully we get them this week, I am really excited to see how they turned out. We didn't stay long as Ammon was tired and a little sick. We went to Subway for lunch because we had no food in the house that was quick to make, and I was feeling lazy. We also visited the supermarket to stock up on some fruit,bread and milk. This was followed by a quick trip to the library where Lili and Auron enjoyed the story time that happened to be running. Lili insisted on getting a chapter book written in Thai...because she can read Thai apparently. We are learning about volcanoes this coming week so we found plenty of books to use. We quickly rushed over to pick Daddy up from work. He was late so we just sat in the car for 30mins complaining about how hot it was and how we should have stopped to get a slurpee on the way.

WEDNESDAY: Lili now joins Ammon in being a little sicko. She lost her voice and went around all day saying "my sounds are gone! listen everyone my sounds are gone!"She thought it was hilarious and was quite upset when her voice went back to normal. After Aarahi got home I escaped to go over to Sarah's house and put a load of washing on and then we escaped to do groceries kid free. It's the little things that matter like this. For the past month I have been budgeting our grocery budget like crazy. It has been between $65-$85 each week with no extra supermarket runs during the week. This week I splurged a little and it was $130 but our fridge and freezer and still bursting at capacity and I am shoving fruit and veges at the kids every moment I get before they go rotten.

THURSDAY: Three sickos now. My life consists of snot and spluttering coughing kids. It is so gross.

FRIDAY: We get up at 330am to take Aarahi to work. We come home and go back to sleep. The kids woke up before me and Auron gives everyone Icy Poles for breakfast. Ammon is sitting in his bed covered in a orange sticky mess. It's only 7am. I am not even sure if Auron went back to sleep. We went to watch Bronte play netball, her team lost by 3 points. It is now 1:45pm and we still haven't had lunch in our rush to get out the door so we stop and Mc Donalds on our way to get Aarahi from work. After quickly picking Daddy up we rush over to gymnastics. Aarahi got to be Lili's helper today and I sneakily watched Auron. So cute. We took our kids home then I rushed back to pick my friend Zainab up and take her and her kids home too. On my way back from dropping her off I stopped in and picked up Izayah to come for an impromptu sleepover.

SATURDAY:  Since Monday is ANZAC day Aarahi and I thought it was important that we try to explain to the kids why we have a special day. We took the train into the city to visit the Shrine of Remembrance. Now we have lived in Melbourne for 5 1/2 years and knew this place existed but actually had now idea what it really was. My impression was that it was just a big building/monument to represent all the wars that Australia has fought in. I was SO wrong. It turns out it is an amazing building with a huge underground museum type thing. The kids were in love. It looks like a big castle underground made of stone. We met up with a tour guide and he took us all on a special tour and explained some of the really neat things they have and had some funny stories for the kids. We participated and ceremony of remembrance, I was quite surprised that the kids understood the importance of being quiet. The final part of the tour was going to lay poppies. There is a special area where the wall are a big world map made up of little holes in Morse code that read "we will remember them"or "lest we forget"....one of those. It was really really fantastic.

The Eternal Flame...kids love fire

Bronte takes this being the big cousin thing seriously, we are so lucky to have her especially these kiddos

The Shrine of Remembrance

Bronte Auron and Izayah

I love this monument. 

This is Melbourne. The white and net thing to the left is the Art's centre. That's where we go see all our performances, Thre street down the middle is St Kilda Road. The yellow building with the green roof is Flinders Street Station its the city centre station. When we say we are going to the city...this is where we are. I also have no idea who what person on the building is. 

Our family with our tour guide Alan. The tour lasted about an hour and the kids were engaged the whole time.

This Weeks Round Up

Finally the end of the week! We have been out and about almost every day this week.

MONDAY: This was a fairly boring day. We did school work in the morning. Auron did his reading test and scored 17/20 and got to move up a level. He then did a Maths quiz for counting backwards and got 90%. We ended our school work with some writing practice and art. Sotarah came over for lunch and brought chocolate milk which is always a hit around here. When Daddy came home from work they all went outside to play soccer for a good 2 hours while I cleaned the house, including scrubbing all the floors. Mums always get the fun jobs.

TUESDAY:  We went into the city with our home school group to watch a performance of the 52 Story Treehouse. The kids really enjoyed it, especially Auron. Ammon sat through it pretty well for the most part. There were a group of 10 year old girls seated in front of us who thought he was cute and kept him entertained making faces at him. All three kids fell asleep on the train, so that was lots of fun trying to wake them up to get off. The carpark was so full at the station that we had to park a good 10 min walk away....lots of fun with half asleep kids.

WEDNESDAY: A quiet day at home. The kids made science experiments. These consisted of mixing up all sorts of ingredients and then putting the container in the freezer to see what would happen. This days ingredients included toothpaste, fabric softener, washing powder, and soap (can you tell which room they found all their ingredients?) They do this on a daily basis almost.

THURSDAY: Back into the city again. This time we went to the Botanic Gardens to an event the had on. The kids were able to make little boats to float down a stream there and then we made cubby houses (Auron calls them Tubby houses, it reminded me of Teletubbies and then reminded me of Zion when she was little and watched Teletubbies). After we finished the activities we walked slowly back to the train stopping to see the Shrine of Remembrance and talk about Anzac Day. I'm not sure how it came up but we got to talking about the Priesthood and how Daddy has "special powers" I don't know how else you describe it to a 5 and 3 year old. But they well super impressed that Daddy could have the same powers as Jesus. I loved that little talk.

FRIDAY: Today the kids started gymnastics classes. Auron has been asking for a few months now if he could go to somewhere like school where parents drop you off then pick you up later. I love that he wants that kind of independence so we have been thinking of something he could do that would satisfy he desire. Gymnastics it was. Auron went over to the big kids room with another class and I stayed with Lili and Aarahi looked after Ammon and watched us. Auron was so excited when he came back. Later that night I dropped all the kids with Sarah and Aarahi and I went out to dinner with some friends. We got home at 1am. I am not a young person any more, I am still recovering.

SATURDAY: We went and did laundry at the laundry mat because our washing machine broke last week and I can't touch any money in our savings to buy a new one and I don't have a spare $800 laying around in our everyday account. So it is the laundry mat until this stupid mortgage is out of the way. Hopefully the next couple of weeks.

SUNDAY: I serve in Primary, it is hard work.

Te Arai and Emily's Wedding

So just to back track a little bit. A week before we left on holiday Ammon and I made a quick dash back to New Zealand for Te Arai and Emily's wedding. And by quick I mean quick. Aarahi dropped us off at the Airport at 4am Friday on his way to work and we got home Sunday night. I wish we could have all come but A) we aren't that rich and B) I'm really not that crazy to want to take all the kids on trip that short with so much travelling involved.

Travelling with one kid is ridiculously easy, once you have been used to travelling with 2 or more by yourself. We sat and had breakfast at the airport and I managed to catch up on some good movies on the plane. Wonderful.

Once we arrived into Auckland the airport had lost my pram and it took them a good hour to find it. That was kind of annoying but I secretly hoped that they had lost it and they would buy me a replacement. The same pram got damaged on our flight from LA to Melbourne and I got a replacement then so I thought I might have a chance.

We got back to my sisters house and relaxed until my parents arrived from Palmy and then enjoyed a bbq dinner for Kevin's birthday.

The next morning we set out for the next leg of the trip driving up to Kerikeri. I've never been much further north than the Waiwera hot pools so it was pretty neat to see some more of the country. The trip took about 4 hours. We dumped our bags at the motel and got changed before driving another hour or so to the wedding venue....in the middle of nowhere. By now it was pouring with rain.

Can I just say that the last 5 weddings I have been to it has rained, including my own. What's with that? I hope it's good luck.

It was so nice to see everyone again! You really don't realise how much you miss people until you see them again. I wish it could have been so much longer. Everyone is growing up. My little Mei has gone off to uni in a different city! This is the kid who would follow me around like a little puppy and slept in my bed until she was almost 11 and too big to fit...and then she slept on the floor in my room. When did she grow up!

I digress. The wind knocked down the arch thing they had made to get married under. The boys tried to fix it before giving up and throwing to the side. Te Arai bawled his eyes out during his vows...fairly predictable. The food was good. The company wonderful and it was a beautiful night finished off with fireworks. I am really blessed to be a part of such a wonderful mixed up family that no one understands.

After a few teary goodbyes, we drove back to the motel and promptly fell into bed at about 1am. Up again at 8am to head back to Auckland. We stopped along the way and Orewa (I think that's where it was anyway) For fish n chips. BEST FISH I HAVE EVER HAD. Fish n chip in Australia are gross. Ammon had a paddle in the water. We spent a couple of hours at Ellies again before heading back to the airport at 4pm. It was so busy at the airport that the line for immigration was right out the doors and into the departure hall. It took close to 2 hours to get through, we only waited 5 mins before boarding though.

I got on the plane with no spare nappies because I couldnt justify spending more money on a pack of nappies when I had some at home. I figured I changed Ammon just before we boarded, the flight is only 4 hours and he had already pooped for the day so I should be right. Of course he thought it was a good time to poo mid flight. So what do you do? Empty the contents of the nappy into the toilet and try wash the nappy out as best you can. Put a paper hand-towel down as a liner in the nappy and put it back on. Then to disguise any smell that may be left liberally apply hand soap to the outside of the nappy before putting pants back on. He was fine we all survived.

We arrived home eventually at midnight, It was worth every minute.

I forgot my camera and my phone was flat so my photos are somewhat lacking.

Kevin may be almost 30 (well 26) but he is still a sooky golden boy who can get his mother to massage his feet. 

Ellie me and Mum 

Wedding cake made by Teri. She's made all our wedding cakes so pretty much an expert.

Alex and Arpege, it rained at their wedding too

Ammon's taken to flying just as good as his siblings

Breakfast with my cousins

Ammon and Nanny Teri

Nanny Mary and Ammon 

I told Pop not to let him get wet....

New Caledonia 2016

Right where were we? I have so much to catch up on and the more I leave it the more impossible it seems but I will try.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel then walked down to the train station. We must have looked a sight with all our bags. The kids liked the trains in Sydney because they are 2 levels. As we pulled into Circular Quay the kids began to get giddy with excitement as they saw the ship docked. It was just like the one they had been looking at on the computer for the past few months they could hardly believe their eyes!

I was smart and had preprinted bag labels and attached them to our bags so we were able to drop our luggage off early. We then headed over to Mc Donalds to fill out our forms and wait awhile. Soon enough it was time to board.

The lines were a little long and it took about 40mins to make it through immigration and get photos etc taken and our ship cards printed. Once on board we were able to enjoy the first of MANY good meals and explore the ship a little.

We left Sydney right on 6pm. The next two days were spent on board. There were plenty of activities going all day and night. The kids enjoyed going to the kids club for a couple of hours each day and we all had daily naps. We had two interconnecting rooms with balconies so often in the afternoon we would just sit out there to read or talk.

The food was always fantastic. Every night we ate in the restaurant which was just below our rooms. It was really flash, think a million different knives and forks and people who put napkins in your lap. The kids got a little too used to all this service. I must admit they were some of the most well behaved children there. Half way through dinner they would call out "It's show time!"and all the staff would put on a show and everyone would get up and dance it was lots of fun.

By the time we had finished dinner and got back to our room our room steward had been in and tidied up and made some cute towel animal. We often would try guess at dinner which animal it would be that night and were always surprised when we got it right. I think our favourite was the monkey hanging off the wall.

Finally after 2 days of sailing we woke up to see land as we were pulling in to Noumea. We had booked a tour to do here so we were up early and ready to go. We got off the ship around 9am and headed to the market where we bought a couple of souveniers and the kids bought "zip bags" We then quickly headed back to catch our little open air train to have a tour around the city. Noumea probably wasn't our favourite city to stop and would probably do it a bit differently next time but we really enjoyed seeing a different culture. We got back on the ship a little after 2pm went and got some lunch then went swimming onboard.

The next day we woke up to RAIN! but that didn't stop us. We left the boat again this time on little tender boats (the call them tender boats when it't not an emergency...otherwise they are just life boats) to go to a small island called Mare. Once there we boarded an old bus with a CRAZY driver who took us to a beautiful pristine, clear blue beach which had the most amazing snorkelling ever. The water we beautifully warm and we stayed there until about 3pm. Auron and Lili finally got the hang of using their masks and snorkels and were mesmerised by the fish they could see. My favourite was the zebra fish. By the time we got back to the ship we were cold wet and miserable but nothing a hot shower couldn't fix.

It was still raining the next day....But we got off the boat again to go to the island of Isle of Pines. This was another beautiful blue beach with the softest sand I have ever felt. When we got off the little tender boats the locals had woven flax headbands with flowers to give to us. Lili was so excited to have a crown. We stayed and had lunch here which was a traditional Bougna which is like Hangi or Umu. It tasted just the same,

Now that we had visited all our ports it was time to head back to Sydney which took another two days. Once we arrived it was all rather sad and we really really didn't want to leave. They had the whole ship emptied by 9am ready to have the new lot of people boarding at 11am. Lili wasn't feeling well and slept in the pram the rest of the day, We dropped our bags at the hotel and went to the movies to wait for check in time. Lili slept the whole way through Star wars then once we got back to the hotel she slept until the next morning.

The following day we walked to the Museum and saw the Wiggles exhibition and the DC comics Lego Exhibit which was AMAZING. We then quickly picked up our bags and headed to the airport arriving home just in time for dinner...which was toast.

It was once of the most wonderful trips we have ever been on and we will be going on a cruise again with out a doubt. As soon as we got home we were looking for which ones we would go on next.