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2008
A busy, normal year
Well, life is becoming more
predictable and life is returning to a more even keel as the
family continues to grow and develop with the changes of school,
experiences and friends that inevitably happen with the passing
of time.
Last year's newsletter was a little foreshortened as we went
over to the UK to experience the novelty of a cold Christmas...
why on earth would anybody want to do that?? Click here to see the
story of this trip.
Sam
started
Lyneham High school in February, having been offered a much
sought after place in the LEAP program (Lyneham enriched
academic program). The LEAP students work through the same
curriculum as other students, but they move through it very
rapidly and then move on to more interesting things. They are
usually working about 2 year levels ahead of their peers. Sam is
revelling in the extra challenges and coping well. He has a
particular flair for Science, gaining high distinctions in both
the University of New South Wales International Science
Competition and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute
Australian National Chemistry Quiz, he also got an Award of
Excellence in the Australian
National Chemistry Quiz for coming in the top 0.5%. At the
parent teacher night we were amused that the main complaint his
teachers made was that the reads too much- even his English
teacher was grumbling about it- apparently he completes his work
and then gets out his book while he's waiting for everyone else
to finish- drives the teacher's potty.
Abi has just completed her last year at Weetangera Primary
and worked amazingly hard, deservadly gaining an excellent
end of year report, she is now 'between schools' as she likes to
put it and is looking forward to going to Lyneham High in
February. She is joining their fabulous Band program and will be
playing the trombone.
Abi's
early efforts on her trombone
This year has also been unusual because Sam and Abi have been at
different schools: a novel experience for them both. Another
issue was that there were no other Weetangera primary school
students living in our vicinity who could share lifts to school
with us. As a solution, Abi did over half her journeys to school
on the back of a tandem with dad in front. This has kept both of
us quite fit, particularly on Thursdays when a trombone was also
crammed on the back of the tandem!
As Abi was in Europe at the time of her birthday, she missed the
opportuinty fora birthday party with her friends in Canberra. A
couple of weeks after her return in Mid February, we therefore
set up a party on Springbank Island in the middle of Lake Burley
Griffin.
Fun
time at Springbank Island
The Island itself is about 500m long, and about 1Km from the
nearest launch point on the shore. Now the island is well
equipped with grass, trees, a fresh water tap, toilets
even, a barbequeue and picnic tables; however you are not
allowed to camp there. Fortunately, the trees mean that you can
hide boats and tents out of sight, and play midnight hide and
seek before going to bed, and have pancakes for breakfast the
next morning without being caught. What could be more fun??
The
party group from Springbank
Our two venerable diesel vans eventually reached the state of
being beyond economical repair at more or less the same time,
and were relegted to the great car park in the sky.We rapidly
sought a replacement van, which is ten years younger and runs on
LPG, a big change for us, but it now runs well following some
fairly major maintenance. We collected it from Sydney when we
went down for some unicycle hockey practice, and Rico our German
neighbour drove it back for us as Mike is still off driving.
We are now a one car family but because we live where we do-
Mike and I can both ride our bikes to work and the kids will
also both be riding to school now- so we will need the car for
only weekend shopping and holiday use most of the time- it's
nice to be able to reduce our reliance on cars.
Our veggie patch is going grat guns this year helped by decent
rainfall for a change. We have finally managed to guinea-pig
proof it and are trying to be as self sufficient as possible, at
the moment we are picking raspberries, blackberries, snow peas,
lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, courgettes, potatoes, rhubarb
and apricots and the tomatoes, celery, grapes and
nectarines should be ready soon. Following the great rain
this spring after a number of years of drought and are
discovering plants that we didn't know we had.
Jean
fighting her way through the raspberry patch
We were lucky enough to be invited to Broulee by the
Skinner-Brown family for a weekend mid year. Broulee is an area
that is being developed, and is endowed with one of the best
surf beaches for a long way. It has a strong rip at one end
which can be used for getting out through the surf if you know
what you're doing, and the surf was big enough for my canoe
paddle to be snapped in half by the strength of a wave: I've
never had that happen before! It was a happy, wet weekend but
clouded a bit by the drowning of some people shortly after we
left the beach- we has seen them in the water and apparently
they were caught in the rip a few minutes after we left.
Abi at
the end of a good surf run
The ACT Scouts had a camp in mid-winter at the end of May, where
they have a range of competitive scouting type activities. Some
activities were more serious like first aid,
or pioneering, and some
were more fun, like 3D mazes. Amazingly, there were around 500
Scouts involved in this 'Camp Cottermouth' weekend; Sam and Abi
participated, whileMike and Cathy provided support to the
competing teams. Our troop had 2 teams out of a total of 60, and
they were very proud to gain 2nd and 5th positions.
Sam
giving just the right answer at a Camp Cottermouth Scout
competition.
In June our neighbours and special friends Rico and Katja returned
to Germany, having finished their studies here after 18 months.
They are sorely missed, however they left with a truly memorable
party!
Abi
pracising her
attitude
Farewell
to Rico
We actually went skiing for second time this year in July. We
stayed in the highest town in Australia, Cabramurra. We went with
a group of around 30 scouts to try cross country skiing: a very different
prospect from downhill skiing! No longer should Mike lean forward
(as he had never done properly anyway), as the ski boots are only
connected to the skis at the toes. It is much harder work and
involved a lot more falling over for the less-young.
Sam and
Blake
Abi
The skiing was much harder work, primarily because of the need to
flail frantically as you attempt to stay vertical when your feet
slide out from under you, attached to unpredictably slippery skis.
The good side was that we had excellent, warm quarters with an
industrial-sized kitchen, sufficient for Cathy to organise the
food for many people with her usual efficiency.
Industrial
strength
catering, organised by Cathy and performed by Scouts
It was great fun, with huge enthusiasm from all participants, and
the kids successfully outperformed Cathy and Mike by far when out
skiing. There was a little snow when we arived, however it snowed
regularly on most nights and some days, so by the time that
we left, the snow was over a foot deep, and we really needed those
snow chains to get out; we used them for over 40Km as we left the
mountains.
Early in October, a special treat was the arrival of Abi's
godmother Mandy, partner Jon and their lovely baby daughter Riley
because Mandy was spending a week working in Canberra. Abi's other
godmother Helen, who now lives with her family in Higgins also
came over, for a nearly-intergenerational reunion.
All the
children together
Those who used to look after our kids now had their kids looked
after by our kids! The whole group had a number of get-togethers,
including a barbeque at Corin, where one of the main problems was
feral emus that would swipe any food that they could.
Thieving
emus
Abi
with Riley
This year is scary as it has been
my 50th birthday- I just don't know where the last decade slipped
by! We held off on a birthday party as Fossil had threatened to
come out to visit in December, which would be too good an
opportunity to miss. Despite this, my family had been quite barmy
in getting me a birthday present that I love, but I would never
have bought it for myself in a pink fit. They got the bigest
unicycle they could find, with a 36" wheel, which is very
comfortable for going distances, but takes a big jump to get up!
Abi will be moving to a new school in 2009, and will not need
taking to school on the tandem, so I'm planning to use the 'Coker'
(the make of the unicycle type) to get to work sometimes for
my dose of exercise. Who said insanity is dead??
I took the coker to the next unicycle club meeting, and within a
week two other club members had also got their own Cokers
identical to mine! There are now 3 Cranberry-coloured,
spider-framed Cokers, as well as a number of other different types
in the area.
Those
who struggle...
and those who can!
Another major scout camp happened mid-November about an hour
north-west of Canberra in the hills bya village called Wee Jasper,
where there were some nice caves to go potholing in. The numbers
of scouts who went to this camp kept on growing until we
eventually had around 50 participants. Cathy organised the
catering, so everybody was happy and well-fed. Getting into the
cave in the first place is fun; there is a hole in the ground, and
a 100ft free-fall drop to the cave floor.
Abi,
quite unconcerned
Sam had done potholing before, and is now blase about it. It was
hot, and on the Sunday everyone was happier to play in the stream
nearby using a rope swing suspended from a tree to jump in the
water.
Cathy on
her way down into a big
hole in the ground.
Mike's mum Jean, a.k.a. Fossil, was good as her word, and turned
up in early December to the delight of the whole family, and
stayed until the weekend before Christmas. I had been away on a
job, but got back with a few hours to spare in time to meet her
when she arrived in Canberra. Mum was happy to go with the flow
with the family, while I took some leave depending on
circumstance, working about half time while Mum was here. My big
50th birthday party happened while Mum was here, with friends from
all ages and backgrounds invited.
Mum's last full day in Canberra was also Abi's last day at primary
school, and there was a significant farewell celebration, in which
Abi had been selected by her peers to make a speech on their
behalf to the whole school. She judged her audience perfectly
leaving the junior students roaring in laughter as well as giving
a gentle dig to the teachers and saying thank you to those who
deserved it. It was a great ending for both Abi and Fossil.
Jean with Abi at her school
farewell celebration
This year, we almost got this newsletter out on time for a change!
May we wish you all the very best for the new year, with fond
thoughts from
Cathy and Sam,
.Abi,
and Mike.
May you have
happiness and good fortune in 2009.
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