Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Emilia: Age 9

Happy Easter!! Emilia turned 9 today. She's in Year 4 and had a birthday slumber party last weekend.
1. What is your favorite color? red and aqua
2. What is your favorite toy? Max (dog from The Little Mermaid) and the Stingray (from the Auckland aquarium)
3. What is your favorite fruit? watermelon and oranges
4. What is your favorite tv show? Austin and Ally
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? spaghettios or sausage roll
6. What is your favorite outfit? Dress from NZ that's pink with cherries (also wearing it as her Easter dress)
7. What is your favorite game? Perth Monopoly and Pictionary
8. What is your favorite snack? crackers and cheese
9. What is your favorite animal? hammerhead shark
10. What is your favorite song? Blank Space by Taylor Swift
11. What is your favorite book? Australia's Most Dangerous Sharks by Kathy Riley
12. Who is your best friend? Sophie and Isaac
13. What is your favorite cereal? Rice Crispies (aka Rice Bubbles in Australia)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Bounce on the trampoline
15. What is your favorite drink? Creaming soda and Fanta
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween and my birthday
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Max and stingray
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? toast and eggs
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Big noodle pasta
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a (pediatric) dentist cause I want to help kids take care of their teeth

PS: Age 8 here, Age 7 here and Age 6 here

Sunday, February 15, 2015

City of Rockingham Triathlon

This morning Emilia participated in her 2nd Tadpoles triathlon. This one was in Rockingham about 45 minutes south of our house. So we were up a little after 4am, left the house by 5am and arrived to check-in by 6am. The Tadpoles started around 7am and we had the wrap-up at 8am where Emilia won a bike helmet! She entered into 3 more in the new few months.

So quick update. We went to New Zealand for 18 days after Christmas. I have a ton of pictures and I haven't edited them yet. Plus its summer so the wiring in our old house gets warm and the internet connection is super slow... (right now it's 117 kb/min so it's a small miracle that I even got these pictures uploaded!) NZ was beautiful! We saw a ton, learned a ton, walked and climbed a lot and covered the North and South islands.

We went to Les Miserables which finally came to Australia after 17 years! So now I've seen it on 3 continents (3 shows on 3 continents now - Cats and Phantom round out the classic theatre). We also watched 2 days of swimming at Challenge Stadium - Australia, USA, China and Japan plus watched men's Australia vs. USA water polo. We also went to the movies and saw "Big Hero 6" and "Paper Planes" and recommend that to anyone with kids. Plus it was filmed around Perth so that was cool (the pool is Challenge Stadium where the kids swim).

The kids started school 2 weeks ago. Emilia is in Year 4 and Beau started Kindy (4 year Pre-K. The cut off is June 30th here so he's one of the oldest ones in his grade). Both kids are in split classes which is pretty common at their school. Beau is in a Kindy/Pre-Primary (Kindergarten) class but attends 5 days over 2 weeks (Monday, Thursday and every other Wednesday). Emilia is in a 3/4 class. Beau's teacher this year is the same one Emilia had for Year 2 when we moved here so it's nice to already have a rapport with her. And if you ask, I'll tell you Emilia's teacher's name but needless to say it's very smart!

Beau and Emilia have swimming on Tuesdays and tennis on Thursdays. Emilia has violin on Thursday and golf on Saturday; Beau has gym class on Friday. So we're back in the routine of our life in Perth. Emilia's class also started the 1st 2 weeks with daily class swimming at the end of their school day and 2 days a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) she trains for the swimming carnival before school. So last Tuesday she was swimming 3 times. We figured that was one way for her to work on endurance but she said she wasn't too tired.

So onto the pictures from this morning.

Transition Area - We were the 1st ones in the Tadpoles area

Nice sunrise this morning. Beau loved following the seagulls footprints.

"Building a campfire"

Climbing a tree

Lining up for the swim

Hands on the shoulders in front of you so they stay in their lines

The swim. 100m between the 2 green buoys.

And she's off.

Emilia's head is by the lifeguard (I think)

And out of the water

Running to transition

Now to start the 3km bike ride

Beau waiting on the side of the road and playing with sticks.

She's finally back!

Almost to the end of the 500m run!

Finished medal! (They don't time the kids and everyone gets a medal so they love doing it!!)

Another successful triathlon finish for Emilia

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Australian Nature

Australia has some huge trees here. It never freezes so things never die back! Eucalyptus trees shed their bark in the summer so the ground is littered with bark and the trees look disheveled. Then we also have the magnificent birds here. They are so colorful and loud! Magpies, cockatoos and parrots are just a few of the birds that live in Perth. And insects that I thought were big in Texas (like the roach) are gigantic here! See the picture of the grasshopper below that I took in the backyard.

Shedding eucalyptus

Yards everywhere!!

Red-tailed black cockatoo

Grasshopper as big as my foot width

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Chris's 40th Birthday

Christmas Eve was Chris's 40th birthday! The kids had tennis camp in the morning and then we met the Cook's at the Naked Fig for a late lunch and onto the beach for a little while. After some fun in the waves and sand, they came back to our house for an Almond Joy cheesecake (that Chris made for himself). Just another day in paradise.

Beau wrapped this newspaper page (with Emilia's help) for Chris's birthday. He thought his daddy would love this picture.

New wallet (how exciting!)

What's in the big box??

A backpack to take to NZ! No more diaper bag as a travel bag.

Cheesecake.

Hip, hip, hurray!

Happy Birthday and many more!

Friday, December 26, 2014

Christmas Cookies

An annual Chapman tradition is decorating cookies. This year we made sugar and gingerbread cookies. We had Aussie ones (crocodile, koala, kangaroo, Australia), Ikea animals (moose, squirrel, echina, wolf, bear, snail), stars, candy cane, gingerbread men in all sizes, & Christmas trees but no snowman or Santa! We also didn't have the red and green sprinkles but we had fun!