After taping my response from the teachers, the boys jumped in the shot to say a few words to their friends and to show off their Aussie things. This picture is taken in our back yard on May 21...10 days left of Autumn.
Time has a way of getting away from us, especially when we're having fun and that is exactly what's happened this month! Oh my, where did May go? I can't believe that I last updated the blog on May 5! Our social calendar literally exploded this month and, add in a little working and well, you get the idea!
The boys have been playing Aussie rules every weekend and are LOVING it! The game was made for guys like Kent....fast, agressive, agile. They all love the fact that you HAVE to tackle the other players! The four boys have their own little field out behind the house and will play every chance they get. There is no mercy for the little ones and no crying allowed!
Mother's Day was celebrated with beautiful crafts brought from school. Khye painted a flower garden, Colt made a heart shaped fabric craft, Kent painted and decoupaged a flower pot and Cody....wished me a happy Mother's Day at bedtime after his Dad made him. xxoo
The boys continue to be invited to a gazillion birthday parties (this is currently Colt and Khye's favorite number!). In one weekend alone, there were 5 parties for 6 different friends and 2 of those were sleepovers! Going broke on birthday parties!!!
I was invited to speak at the Clandonald School prom on May 25. I gave the reply after the students toasted the teachers. Howard videoed my reply and we loaded it onto Facebook for the Clandonald staff to download (Thanks, Sean, Anita and Ryan!) I heard it was a fun night and it was great to be included!
At GEPS, we have participated in school and zone cross country running, a theatre production of James and the Giant Peach, a circus show, and crazy day. I am also in the middle of completing my first set of report cards (which are no harder and only a bit different from home) but that takes me away from the family and leaves Howard to tend the troops.
The end of May marks the end of Autumn. June 1 will be the 1st day of winter. March and April, the 1st two months of Autumn, were still very warm/hot and, in Canada, would be a very respectable summer! The trees all remained green too which led us to wonder if any of them would turn colour at all. And then finally it happened.....Autumn really unfolded all at once in the month of May. The days are now shorter, the days and nights are cooler and a few of the trees have leaves that have changed to brilliant shades of red, yellow and purple. In Canada, almost all of our trees change colour but the majority of those are yellow. It has been an interesting contrast. With the shortest day of the year only 3 weeks away, we find in is dark outside shortly after 5:00 pm. The daytime temperatures are in the mid to high teens and the evenings are down to 3C. We are using the wood stove every evening and have an electric heater to warm the boys' bedrooms. We have closed off the doors to any rooms we don't need to use and are heating only the central rooms of the house. That is working great so far, but does make for a quick (cool) trip to the toilet!
My favorite weekend in Griffith has to be May 18-20. I was kind of dreading that weekend because, in Canada, it's the May long weekend and we all pull out the campers or head to the lake to open our cabins. And you all know how much we LOVE our cabin! Anyway, the weekend included the 5 birthday parties, 2 meetings, footy training on Friday and practices/games on Sunday, but that's not even the fun part!
After Friday's footy training, 5 of us went for supper to the Gilberts' home. (I teach with Alex and we went to the Tullibigeal horse races with her and her family.) It was an inviting, relaxing, entertaining evening that, sadly, ended with a yabby (crayfish) swimming in Khye's ice cream bowl! He was so over tired that poor Khye just couldn't see the humour in that!
Saturday night was a blast! Kent's two good friends in Australia are Dean Bennett and Jesse Paten. Jesse's dad arranged for our three families to go for supper at Romeo and Guillietta. Between us, we have 9 boys and 1 girl so this was going to be an adventure! We started at the restaurant with pasta, pizza and wine and ended the evening at the Bennett's with a lot more wine! The kids were content to watch a movie and play in the play room which was good because the men were on a role! It was a late night (early morning?!) and Howard's 1st words on Sunday morning involved "Advil"! :)
Sunday was meant to be another day of footy and a birthday party with a few hours of report cards to top it all off but, luckily, more fun broke out! Vince's brother, Peter Conlan, invited us out to their farm for a fire, tea and footy. After footy and the birthday party, we drove the 40 minutes (into the middle of nowhere!) and arrived there at 2:30pm, just in time to meet Peter at the house. The 6 of us unpacked the van and squished in the ute with Peter to head out into the paddock and meet the others. The drive to the paddock was one of my favorite parts! The trail was rocky, washed out, had fallen trees, and went on forever! (Well, like 20+ minutes.....) At the end of the trail, friends and a campfire were waiting!
The boys have been playing Aussie rules every weekend and are LOVING it! The game was made for guys like Kent....fast, agressive, agile. They all love the fact that you HAVE to tackle the other players! The four boys have their own little field out behind the house and will play every chance they get. There is no mercy for the little ones and no crying allowed!
Mother's Day was celebrated with beautiful crafts brought from school. Khye painted a flower garden, Colt made a heart shaped fabric craft, Kent painted and decoupaged a flower pot and Cody....wished me a happy Mother's Day at bedtime after his Dad made him. xxoo
The boys continue to be invited to a gazillion birthday parties (this is currently Colt and Khye's favorite number!). In one weekend alone, there were 5 parties for 6 different friends and 2 of those were sleepovers! Going broke on birthday parties!!!
I was invited to speak at the Clandonald School prom on May 25. I gave the reply after the students toasted the teachers. Howard videoed my reply and we loaded it onto Facebook for the Clandonald staff to download (Thanks, Sean, Anita and Ryan!) I heard it was a fun night and it was great to be included!
At GEPS, we have participated in school and zone cross country running, a theatre production of James and the Giant Peach, a circus show, and crazy day. I am also in the middle of completing my first set of report cards (which are no harder and only a bit different from home) but that takes me away from the family and leaves Howard to tend the troops.
The end of May marks the end of Autumn. June 1 will be the 1st day of winter. March and April, the 1st two months of Autumn, were still very warm/hot and, in Canada, would be a very respectable summer! The trees all remained green too which led us to wonder if any of them would turn colour at all. And then finally it happened.....Autumn really unfolded all at once in the month of May. The days are now shorter, the days and nights are cooler and a few of the trees have leaves that have changed to brilliant shades of red, yellow and purple. In Canada, almost all of our trees change colour but the majority of those are yellow. It has been an interesting contrast. With the shortest day of the year only 3 weeks away, we find in is dark outside shortly after 5:00 pm. The daytime temperatures are in the mid to high teens and the evenings are down to 3C. We are using the wood stove every evening and have an electric heater to warm the boys' bedrooms. We have closed off the doors to any rooms we don't need to use and are heating only the central rooms of the house. That is working great so far, but does make for a quick (cool) trip to the toilet!
My favorite weekend in Griffith has to be May 18-20. I was kind of dreading that weekend because, in Canada, it's the May long weekend and we all pull out the campers or head to the lake to open our cabins. And you all know how much we LOVE our cabin! Anyway, the weekend included the 5 birthday parties, 2 meetings, footy training on Friday and practices/games on Sunday, but that's not even the fun part!
After Friday's footy training, 5 of us went for supper to the Gilberts' home. (I teach with Alex and we went to the Tullibigeal horse races with her and her family.) It was an inviting, relaxing, entertaining evening that, sadly, ended with a yabby (crayfish) swimming in Khye's ice cream bowl! He was so over tired that poor Khye just couldn't see the humour in that!
Saturday night was a blast! Kent's two good friends in Australia are Dean Bennett and Jesse Paten. Jesse's dad arranged for our three families to go for supper at Romeo and Guillietta. Between us, we have 9 boys and 1 girl so this was going to be an adventure! We started at the restaurant with pasta, pizza and wine and ended the evening at the Bennett's with a lot more wine! The kids were content to watch a movie and play in the play room which was good because the men were on a role! It was a late night (early morning?!) and Howard's 1st words on Sunday morning involved "Advil"! :)
Sunday was meant to be another day of footy and a birthday party with a few hours of report cards to top it all off but, luckily, more fun broke out! Vince's brother, Peter Conlan, invited us out to their farm for a fire, tea and footy. After footy and the birthday party, we drove the 40 minutes (into the middle of nowhere!) and arrived there at 2:30pm, just in time to meet Peter at the house. The 6 of us unpacked the van and squished in the ute with Peter to head out into the paddock and meet the others. The drive to the paddock was one of my favorite parts! The trail was rocky, washed out, had fallen trees, and went on forever! (Well, like 20+ minutes.....) At the end of the trail, friends and a campfire were waiting!
Josh Paton, Colt, Dean Bennett, Khye, Kent, Jesse Paton, Mark and Kyle Bennett. Front: a friend and Mia Paton. Missing: Cody who had left to go to a sleep over.
More Conlans: Paul, Bernard, Sheryl & Peter, Matt Dando and their families.
It was the most excellent day of visiting, footy playing, relaxing, and outdoor cooking. As the sun set, I tried to explain to Sheryl, all the Australian things I loved about the afternoon....the 4 utes parked at the fire and then parading throught the dark, Peter's hat (enough said!), all our sporty boys playing footy together, trying to find kangaroos at dusk.....probably all things Australians wouldn't even notice. And to top it all off........the Conlan boys have a pet snake?!?!? Would that be like a Canadian having a pet beaver?!?
It was an exhausting weekend but, oh what a great time!! Just like in Canada, I find we are needing a weekend in order to recover from the weekend! In any case, all this action certainly took our minds off the cabin at home and the May long weekend!
And so, I apologize for not updating the blog sooner. I know some of you check here everyday (or more, sorry Ma...). You can be sure, if the blog is not being updated, it is because we are too busy having fun to even tell you about it! I'll try to update more regularly.......I don't want the blog to get too far behind for fear that it'll never get caught up!
I have added more pictures under almost every heading....enjoy!
JJ
It was an exhausting weekend but, oh what a great time!! Just like in Canada, I find we are needing a weekend in order to recover from the weekend! In any case, all this action certainly took our minds off the cabin at home and the May long weekend!
And so, I apologize for not updating the blog sooner. I know some of you check here everyday (or more, sorry Ma...). You can be sure, if the blog is not being updated, it is because we are too busy having fun to even tell you about it! I'll try to update more regularly.......I don't want the blog to get too far behind for fear that it'll never get caught up!
I have added more pictures under almost every heading....enjoy!
JJ
RSS Feed