Tour Down Under

We opened a new chapter in Australia this week. Besides it being Australia Day and blazing hot (yes – Kevin, Stacy, Madi, Coop and Rylee – you guys brought and then took away the nice, comfortable weather from Sydney!), we went out for a stage in the 10^th Tour Down Under

(similar to the Tour de France … except here in our lovely backyard of Adelaide and the surrounding countryside. I’ve never been one to watch cycling events on TV, but like most sporting events, this one took on a whole flavor of its own while ‘on site’. It’s been going for 10 years, but this is the first year that they have ‘pro’ status.

So, many of the pro teams from Europe are here albeit not with some of their best riders (a pro cycling team will have 30 riders and yet only 7 will ride in a particular event – and a team will cost on the order of $20M a year to run!). Anyway, the atmosphere was just awesome! The police with their sirens going in front of the pack to make sure the streets are clear (that was Hunter’s favorite part). Then there are sponsor vehicles which have huge model cyclists on top of the vehicle and they throw out all

sorts of free stuff (the kids collected bags, bracelets, insulated mug holders, flags, banners, etc.) This particular course had the cyclists coming around 4 times over 3.5 hours. At the first of the race we were positioned just after the ‘neutral start’ position (they ride for 2 km before the race actually starts – we were after the 2 km and they were really moving.) I was standing not on the road, but on the shoulder trying to catch a picture of them coming by. I looked down at my camera and then looked up only to see this cyclist coming straight at me. Needless to say I moved faster than I think I ever would be able to otherwise off the road entirely – I’m sure the

rider wasn’t too crazy about my position on the road :) Anyway, you’d watch them come whizzing by and then go about the local activities like a bazaar, bands, a loud speaker announcer giving updates on the racers and where they were at. As they came by the start/finish line, we would all bang on the signs which were posted to the barricades. They would also collect food and water at this location and freely discard their old water bottles (Collin managed to collect one of these prize items). It was just a riot being there and in the atmosphere of it all. I think the Tour de France will have a new viewer this year … and for years to come. The kids really enjoyed themselves and a good time was had by all. We went with our friends, the MacAllisters, who are avid race friends and showed us the ins and outs of the sport. (They went into the city afterwards and got autographs of Cadel Evans and Robbie McKewen after the race … for you race fanatics out there!) A quick aside from the MacCallisters -- they brought the orange banner that Savannah is holding to church today. Kelli was giving a talk in sacrament and during her talk they held it up from the back row and instead of 'feel the rush' they put 'feel the spirit' with the 'rush' replaced by 'spirit' on notebook paper -- which fell off according to Kelli.

We ended our Australia day by letting the kids snooze in the back of the car on the way home and then getting in their wading pool and finally doing sparklers in the evening. We took them out to a high vantage point to see the fireworks, but believe it or not Adelaide didn’t even do any fireworks! Go figure … but we still had a great day and it was one we’ll remember for a long, long time!

These last pictures are of my trip up to the Murray River with the youth from church. We had a great time. I’d also like to throw in a “feel good” moment from church, if I may. I was just sitting down to write this blog and a grandma of one our deacons from church called me up. This particular boy lives in a home with a single mother and his younger sister. His dad, I believe, left them at an early age. His mom isn’t active, but every other week he comes to stay with his grandma who takes him to church on those weekends. He was ordained a deacon last September or so and today was set apart as a counselor in the quorum presidency. During the blessing, it was a neat feeling to feel of the Spirit and the thoughts and words just flowed smoothly. The grandma was calling up to thank me for giving him a blessing for the start of school this week. She was hoping that someone could give him a father’s type blessing for the start of school, but he didn’t feel particularly comfortable with anyone coming over to do it. During his setting apart today he was blessed that he would do well in his school work, relations and education. When his grandma asked him if he’d at least be willing to say a prayer for school before he left her house this afternoon, he said that he’d already received the blessing that he needed during his setting apart. It was a testimony to me of how we can be an instrument in the Lord’s hands … and how taking a few moments to make a phone call of gratitude can mean a lot. Just wanted to close on that happy note … happy Australia day everyone!! Australia Day and 4^th of July in the same year!! Wahoo – and we hope to get fireworks in America!

Kangaroo Island

So unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our good friends the Hutchinsons yesterday. They arrived in Adelaide from Sydney on 15 Jan. We picked them up from the airport and headed directly south to Cape JervisKangaroo Island. The road down winds a lot and poor Madi (their 6-year old) got sick and puked all over the back of the minivan. She then proceeded to carry a ‘comfort’ plastic bag around with her for the next little bit and happily she didn’t get sick again J Kevin, myself and the two older boys (poor Hunter had to hang out in the puke mobile with all the other girls) were in ‘old betsy’; the beauty of a small little 4-door Hyundai about the size of a Geo Storm back home. More to come from old betsy later … which is where we picked up the ferry to head over to Kangaroo Island.

After taking the 45-minute ferry over to Kangaroo Island (you can see the island pretty well from Cape Jervis) we headed over to the Honey Farm. Kangaroo Island is supposedly renowned for its pure honey because the bees here are of one variety and they don’t allow any honey imports or bees for that matter. We partook of the tasty varieties of honey (not sure how they can make pure honey of a particular tree flower, but whatever), then visited the bee honeycomb site which allows you to see the bees dancing and making honey … and then bought some honey ice cream. All the kids just took a bit of honey ice cream and then Kevin and I ended up eating about a quart by ourselves because we just couldn’t let it go to waste. Let’s just say I’ve had my fill of honey ice cream for the next decade!

This is where the vacation took a slight turn for the worst. Most the roads out on Kangaroo Island are of the ‘washboard’ variety. In other words, they are dirt and have seen just enough water to make them nasty to drive on. Well, my poor little betsy didn’t handle the roads very well. We were being bounced all over the place – and in the process we started losing power from the engine (not like betsy has a whole lot of get up and go to begin with from those 4 poor little gerbils inside.) In any case, we limped into our accommodation at Kingscote (a nice little house all to ourselves :)) We called a car repair place but looked under the hood before taking it in and noticed that one of the spark plug connectors had completely come out of its spot and was lying on the engine – so only 3 gerbils were getting the kick in the rear. Well, we put the connector back in and whallah … we had the car back in action! That evening we watched the pelicans get fed and flip fish all over the people in the front row and then did a local fish and chips shop (scrumptuous!) We then played games till the wee hours of the morning. (The Hutchinsons love to play games and they brought some pretty good ones with them.)

The next day we did a lot of traveling. In the morning Kevin and I took the kids down to the pier for some fishing. We got some local cockle (squid) and didn’t have much luck except that Kevin and Madison caught a crab that was more hairy than Hunter’s, uh, we’ll leave it at that. We then started our journey around the island. We drove through some of the burnt out areas of the national forests. They had a huge wildfire outbreak there recently and left a lot of areas pretty charred. Of course, the terrain and geography weren’t too different from place to place. It was a fairly mundane drive with a lot of gum trees and that’s about it. We visited two places on the southwest end of the island – one called the Remarkable Rocks which is basically some very out-of-place fancy rocks on the end of a jutted piece of land on the beach. The other was a place where the New Zealand seals hang out and has a cool cave from which you can look out over the ocean. The seals stink the place up, but it’s entertaining the watch them in their natural habitat. Stacy mentioned how cool it would be to see the Great Whites coming up for a ‘bite’ --- since it is supposedly one of the most populated locations for Great Whites. We then stopped at some sand dunes on the way back to our home and rented some sleds and a ‘sandboard’ which we used to slide down the dunes. It was as close as we are going to come to a wintery, white sledding adventure this January :)

On Thursday we relaxed and went to a hidden beach which required one to walk through some rock formations. The other side had an awesome natural enclosure for the kids to play in (only the size of maybe a couple tennis courts.) I took my goggles and went swimming down around the rocks and there were just tons of fish varieties – and none could get out to the ocean until the tide came back in. The other side of the ‘lake’ was open to the ocean and was about waste deep for a good 100 meters and there were a few waves. Savannah wasn’t too crazy about them, but I forced her to go out for a minute anyway. The water on Kangaroo Island was so nice and clean. It went from the deep dark blue out in the far ocean to the light turquoise and green closer to shore. Later that evening we went to an aquarium and took a tour to see some fairy penguins (it was a rough, windy day and so most of them hadn’t returned from there hunting expeditions in the ocean.) We did see a couple which was good for the kids.

The last day on the island we drove back to the ferry and took a rough trip over the water. Both Kevin and Stacy got a little queezy, but luckily it wasn’t too far and we all survived without any problems. We ventured over to Victor Harbor for a bit and let the kids do some rides and play games at a carnival and play at the Thomas park. They had a good time just getting out of the car! We finished with some chili chocolate and throwing some coins in the whale tail fountain.

Saturday we relaxed a bit and tried to recover a bit from the Kangaroo Island trip. We went up to the strawberry farm at Handorf and then visited our favorite ice cream shop and the helicopter park – after which we all literally crashed that evening and through Sunday. Monday was good times at the ever-popular Big Rocking Horse and the Gorge wildlife park – especially the part where the baby emus were chasing Stacy and the kids and all Kevin and I could do was laugh and take pictures.

We were sad to see them go Tuesday morning. They are great friends and their kids were very good friends for our little ones. Hopefully sometime in the not-so-distant future we’ll be able to spend ‘heaps’ more time together. Check out their blog on the right for more details and pictures of a super, awesome vacation.

Hilarious Hunter!!!

Hunter has had some pretty funny moments of late ... the one with the car seat is seriously his pose on the way home from church. He only got half way through his apple and fell asleep with it halfway hanging out of his mouth.

Here are the pictures that Kelli promised from a few blogs ago on the packages that we received for the '2nd' Christmas ... enjoy!

Some Comical Quips

It’s nearly 10:30 and we should be sleeping, but I’ve got a few good stories that we need to get out before heading into the coming week (not to mention catching up on the NFL playoffs :). Kevin and Stacy Hutchinson are coming tomorrow morning with their kids Madi, Cooper and Rylee for a vacation! We are heading over to Kangaroo Island for a couple days and then back here to Adelaide to do some things around the city. Savannah and Collin are SO excited for them to come we can hardly get them to sleep. It’s like Christmas again, again!

So here are some fun stories and happenings from the past little bit. Hunter has been talking up a storm. It’s been so fun to just watch him listen to words, process them in his little nogger and then put them into sounds – well, at least sort of into the correct sounds. Of course, his favorite phrase right now is ‘no’ and he does that pretty good. He’s also picked up ‘meanie!’ which he uses whenever he doesn’t get something he wants. He and Collin fight over pretty much whatever the other one has and ‘meanie’ comes out quite often. I got it today while trying to get him back into the house from the garage. Later this evening our fire alarm went off because the battery is getting low and it scared Hunter pretty good. After settling down he told Kelli, “I kared!” -- scared. He proceeded to repeat at least 100x before finally taking some milk and falling asleep.

Collin is the usual goof. He and Savannah have had some pretty random thoughts of late. I don’t know where it came from, but Collin has a very keen memory. The other day out of nowhere he just told me, “Dad, that gun was loud that you and Grandpa were shooting” – in connection with our trip to the mountains up by Logan where we shot a ‘22’ at some pumpkins and cans with Nathan and Jacob. He was a trooper even though it was pretty loud. He also had a random thought back to the Hill AFB airshow we went to before coming over to Australia. He and Kelli were looking at some pictures of the Blue Angels and he commented on how he liked the Thunderbirds at Hill. He also got a compliment from a lady at the store. Kelli said the lady came up to her and said she’d never heard such a small boy talk so much. He was going on and on about what kind of ice cream to get and what fruits and bananas we just HAD to have, etc etc. On to his goofy side, the other morning we were having breakfast. We just got a shipment in from the Japan commissary and so we had some of the treats like genuine Canadian maple syrup --- in addition, we broke into our food storage and found the Tang. That combined with his favorite pancake breakfast made for a little happy camper. So we’re eating and then from the other side of the table we see Collin with his hands behind his head as he’s leaning back in his chair --- and then he says, “Ahhh, refreshing!”

As mentioned, Savannah has had her random moment as well. We were talking to her about going on the ferry with the Hutchinsons and she said, “Remember when we went on the ferry and you wouldn’t let me have dessert if I slept on the top bunk?” I didn’t even remember that, but last year when we went to Tasmania and slept on the ferry we didn’t want her to sleep on the top bunk afraid she would fall off. She was more than just a little upset, to which we responded that if she didn’t settle down then she wouldn’t get dessert. Collin’s little memories focus on guns and airplanes … while Savannah’s focus on dessert. She also had a comment about how the Tang looked similar to the sand color at Uluru. Not a bad observation for a little munchkin. She’s also ganging up on her Dad. Kelli put a rule in force recently that any burps at the table results in going to your room, to which Savannah has already been subjected on several occasions. Well, Dad let one fly the other day and oh boy did Savannah jump on that one. So, like an obedient ‘child’ I went to my room. Apparently after I’d been up there a little bit Kelli asked Savannah if I should come down, to which she responded “No, not now, he needs a little longer.” Nice ---

So things are going well and we are excited for the next week. We need a break from the anxiety of looking for a job. We’ve got a lot of feelers out there and it should be interesting to see what comes of it. One quick note on the trip to the Murray River. It was a blast with the youth and water sports (minus of course the loss of my wedding ring – thanks for all the stories of sympathy from other poor husbands in my same shoes ---.) If you’ve ever been to the Green River in eastern Utah, it reminded me a lot of that. The water is very murky and brown, but it has a beauty all its own. I didn’t have my camera, but a lot of pictures were taken that I’m trying to get a hold of. One morning I we slept outside under the stars and they were amazing! I woke up early the next morning while the other youth were sleeping and went down to the river. It was as still as glass (the width of the river was probably around 100 yards) and fish were surfacing after flies everywhere. There were birds making their voices heard. While I was sitting there a huge flock of cockatoos came swooping from up river flying just about 10 feet above it. It was awesome to hear the flapping of all their wings and their familiar ‘kaw’ as they flew past. Then there were the pelicans who came lazily swimming by and I could have sworn that I actually saw one of them yawn as he ‘strolled’ up the river. One of them was in the air and just flying high enough that with his massive wingspan the ‘wingtips’ would just touch the surface of the water as he glided along. When he had to flap his wings he would move up just a little bit above the water and then flap … and gradually descend back towards the surface. So it was a nice, relaxing time for everyone. We all came back with plenty of sun and quite tired, but good memories of Australian nature.

Introducing...Savannah!

Well, I never posted pictures of our haul, but I will. Maybe tomorrow. This post is to say that Savannah's blog is up and running. She will be busy taking pictures tomorrow of the projects she has made lately. Then Jessy will help her get them uploaded and she can post. Her link is in the right sidebar.

Merry Christmas, again!

Since our last post it's cooled down, warmed up, and cooled down a bit again. Should be hot again starting tomorrow and lasting the rest of the week. That's why I decided to enroll the kids in holiday swimming lessons, conveniently happening this week. It's just so lame to sit around the house all day, every day!!

We just (I mean just, as in after I typed that last paragraph), had to evacuate the house. It seems our favorite little mischief-maker, aka Hunter, decided to turn one of the knobs on the gas stove as he was getting a sucker off the counter. I could smell something and went to investigate. The smell was overpowering toward the kitchen, and there were my three most precious possessions in the living room (only separated from the kitchen by a bar), happily eating suckers and cinnamon rolls like they couldn't smell anything. I freaked out, rushed them outside, opened all the windows and called Jessy because I was shaking. We no longer are keeping the knobs on the stove, but I don't know how to keep up with this kid!

Back to our week, Jessy went with the youth to a camp on the Murray River (or the Mighty Murray, as it is known around here. I think it's the only big river in all of Australia...I know it's the water that everyone is fighting over!) Right after he got home, he informed me that we're getting a boat at some unspecified future date. I guess it was THAT fun. And then he sheepishly told me that his wedding ring was at the bottom of the Mighty Murray. Now he is wearing the "spare" I had and it closely resembles Kevin Hutchinson's (it cost $5 and I bought it from a co-worker at American Express who made them as a hobby). I'm still hoping that something like this will happen http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319986,00.html.

Our church meeting times are now at the pleasant time of 9:00 am, and I am in no way being sarcastic! It sure beats the 1:00 time we had last year! It was actually quiet during the sacrament. Amazing. Unfortunately, the earlier time has had no effect on Hunter wanting to go to nursery.

Collin and Savannah are biding their time during these summer holidays. Collin was very happy to receive a letter in the mail (actually addressed to Mr and Mrs, but since it's about him, he has claimed it), describing his move from occasional care to pre-entry. It's a once-a-week pre-pre-school. Basically, they want to wean the kids from their occasional care teacher, whom they adore. It's getting them ready for 4-day-a-week kindy in April, and at $20 for the term, it's the best bargain of anything we've found in Australia!!! Savannah is starting to wonder about what her new teacher will be like and is planning her first show and tell of the term. She also wants her own blog. She helped me change our color scheme last week and was really wanting this flourescent green/purple color pallet, so I told her maybe she could make her own someday. Well, then she saw that her friend Madison has one, so I'm not hearing the end of it!

And, last but not least, Jessy just told me that we got a bunch of packages so I think I'll add pictures and more info this evening. YEA for packages!!!