Another week in paradise...

This week has been full of new experiences for everyone in the Bradford family.

Hannah and Kiernan had a great first week of school. Hannah was happy and eager to go each day, and Kiernan was doing pretty well by the end of the week. He was pretty nervous the first few days of school, but he got comfortable with a couple friends and seems to be settling in well. We are able to walk to and from school, and Lydia is certainly happy to see them at the end of the day! I am too!

Walking home from school, February 20, 2015

The school does a weekly newsletter (Wednesdays), which you can find here (it's called the Grove Gazette and you can find it in the bottom right-hand corner of the homepage to download): Ocean Grove Primary School website

Hannah's name appears twice under the 7Cs for Learning Awards on the first page of the Feb. 18th issue of the newsletter. She received two awards for Confidence during her first week! One was from her Indonesian teacher for "confidently having a go at a new language on your first day at school in Australia!" The other was from her homeroom teacher for "great confidence in beginning year 4 in a new school!" The school holds assemblies each Friday and she received her awards during the assembly. We are so proud of both of them for embracing so much change! While at school, Hannah has been writing a story about her trip to Australia, playing basketball with the 5th graders, playing tiggy scarecrow (tag) during P.E., eating lunch outside (she loves this), running laps, and enjoying books from the school library. Kiernan has been learning about mealworms, enjoying books from the library, practicing Indonesian words he's learned, and playing on the playground with his new friends.

Hannah with her 1st week school awards

The school is hosting their annual Apple Fair fundraiser in a few weeks, so we are anxious to see what that is all about! In preparation for the Apple Fair, students were allowed to wear casual dress rather than uniforms on Friday if they brought in a Lucky Jar. The Lucky Jar was just a plastic cup/jar filled with something kids would like to have, and they will be sold for $2 each at the Apple Fair. We filled ours with Chocolate Frogs and Caramel Koalas (2 of our favorite lollies). The kids enjoyed wearing whatever they wanted and Kiernan chose to represent K-State!

Kiernan representing K-State

Barry was in Perth, Australia from Wednesday through late Friday night. He attended the Australian-American Fulbright Commission 2015 Scholar Showcase & Presentation Dinner, where he received his official award. We are so proud of him! We wouldn't be here without the opportunity Fulbright and K-State has given him (and us). It was a great opportunity for him to meet many other Fulbright awardees. It sounds like he met a lot of amazing people. Unfortunately, we could not attend, as it just wasn't a good trip to take the kids on and we don't have anyone we know well enough to watch the kids for 2-3 days. He was able to bump elbows with a few K-Staters. Barry receiving award (better picture later-stole this one from Twitter); and picture with K-State President Schulz Selfie with KSU Prez

We missed Barry a lot this week, but it went fast and that's the only trip he's taking without us (I think). The Huntsman spiders must have known he was gone, as they came back to haunt me this week. Actually, we had some rainy/dreary weather and I heard someone say that brings them out. No idea if that is true, but it happened that way this week. I found the beauty in the picture below wrapping up a smaller Huntsman in what I assume is a meal for later. Totally gross yet interesting at the same time. He was between the screen and window in our bathroom, so I just opened the window and he scurried out, but he came back many times! UGH! I also found one on my car when I was leaving with Lydia one day. I was so proud of myself for brushing it off with a broom. I told Barry over the phone that I was getting used to them and planning to keep one as a pet. Not really! He had a good laugh at that one.

No caption necessary...

Surfing lessons were on Wednesday, but I was busy playing/chasing/corralling Lydia so I don't have any photos to share this week. It was low tide, so we had plenty of beach to play on while the kids had their lesson. Lydia loves playing in the sand and surprisingly did it for an hour and a half. Both kids are making progress with their surf skills. Kiernan even briefly stood up on his board while riding a wave in! I know, it's only the second lesson! They can both name all the main parts of the board, recognize some surf conditions and know how to maneuver their boards in the surf.

Lydia and I went to Toddler Time at the library on Wednesday morning. She has been a bit nervous at the number of parents and kids at this storytime, but did so much better than the previous time. She enjoyed it, so we'll try to make it a regular thing for her. After storytime we went to coffee with a mom I met at the school, along with her husband and her aunt. They just moved back to Australia after 5 years in California. Her husband is American, but she is an Australian. I've met a number of moms before/after school.

On Friday, Lydia and I went to Ocean Grove Playgroup, held at one of the local churches. There were about 20-30 kids 0-5 years old along with their parents. It's held for 2 hours each Friday morning. There were a ton of toys and a scheduled snack time in the middle, along with coffee/tea for parents. It's really well organized and a great way to meet a lot of new people. Lydia and I both had a great time, so we'll be doing this weekly as well!

On Saturday we decided to shop for a second car. We've gone back and forth a lot about whether this is necessary, but when you move your family halfway around the world for six months and then can't get very far (when Barry's at work anyway) because of this limitation it seems a bit silly. We knew it would be handy to have 2 and both sets of parents are planning on visiting, so this also eliminates the need for a rental car. We stopped at a dealership in Geelong and I asked them if I bought a car whether they would buy it back from me in four months or so. They agreed and wrote it up in the contract. We can still sell it privately if we want to as well (they even offered to help with that as they think we may be able to get close to what we paid). So, introducing our cute Peugeot 307. Isn't it tiny looking?

The new car

We spent Saturday afternoon at the beach. It was super hot for the first time since we've been here, so it was about the only comfortable thing to do outside that day. There were great waves for boogie boarding, so even Barry and I were doing it.

Today (Sunday) we went to Mass in Queenscliff and then spent some time at the market and walking one of the piers.

Queenscliff market, February 22, 2015

Queenscliff Pier

It was another hot one today, so we went back to the beach for the afternoon. Another great day on the water. Sure wish we could take the ocean home with us to share with everyone!!

We are off to Melbourne for 3 days this week to explore the city. Next blog should have a lot of pictures!!

Sarah

Surfing, Kiernan is SEVEN, Scienceworks and School

Lydia keeping it real (she has a thing for using markers as lipstick)

On Wednesday, February 11th, Hannah and Kiernan began their six weeks (1.5 hrs/lesson) of surfing lessons. It's through a program called Vegemite Surf Groms. They cater to young children, especially those who haven't surfed before. The coaches spend a lot of time teaching kids about what the parts of the surfboard are called, water safety, etc. It was a pretty rough day on the water (ie, perfect day for true surfers). Hannah and Kiernan had so much fun! They are very excited to go back this week. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the kids did get a package in the mail with some surf products and we were so excited to receive tubes of vegemite. Lydia hasn't tried it yet, but the rest of us think it's gross. Sorry Australia....you can keep your vegemite.

Vegemite Surf Groms Week 1

Surf Groms, stacking the boards

Learning the parts of the board

TEAMWORK-2 boards

Board skills

Lydia would have joined if she could

Thursday, February 12th, Kiernan turned seven years old. It was a great day of celebrating!

Seven Years Old!! Can't believe it!

Declared "best birthday ever because we are in Australia"

On Friday Barry went on a farm tour trip with a couple of Australian nutritionists, so that meant we had a car. The kids and I packed a picnic lunch and went to the park across the bridge in Barwon Heads. It's one of our favorite parks because of all the play equipment.

Picnic at park in Barwon Heads

Fun on the cool swing

Lydia showing me her monkey skills

On Saturday we went to Melbourne to the Scienceworks Museum. There was lots of interactive displays and we spent many hours there. The kids enjoyed designing futuristic cars, making angler fish masks, and testing their physical fitness in the sports portion. 

Girls, Scienceworks, February 14, 2015

KJ, Scienceworks, February 14, 2015

Angler fish masks, Scienceworks

We went to a nearby park and shopping district for ice cream after the museum and caught some music in the park. We also captured some pictures of the city. We are headed back to Melbourne next week, so we'll post better/more pictures then.

Melbourne city view

Saturday evening we went to Frank and Tracy's place in Werribee (mentioned them in an earlier post). Frank was hosting a party to celebrate his new homebrew pub, The Foaming Jug. Barry knew a few people there, so it was nice to meet people he's met around the world over the last 10 years.  

On Sunday we hosted a cupcake party and invited many of the neighbors we've met. We had about 15 kids here. Kiernan put together a few games for the kids to play-a treasure hunt and pin the banana on the monkey. There are so many nice families on our street! Our kids had such a great time hanging out with some local kids. Sunday evening we took a short hike on the Barwon Heads Bluff that is close to Ocean Grove. We enjoyed beautiful views before sunset.

View from Barwon Heads Bluff, February 15, 2015

Barwon Heads Bluff

Shipwreck memorial at Barwon Heads Bluff

Today, Monday, February 16th, Hannah and Kiernan started school at Ocean Grove Primary School. We had intended to homeschool during this trip since we brought our school books with us, but once the school year started here (end of January) we decided it might be more fun for our kids to have the opportunity to experience school here in Australia. It is a public school with 600 kids (kinder-Year 6). Term 1 is until March 27th and Term 2 is April 13-June 28th, so the kids will experience about a term and a half of Australian school. They wear navy uniforms, and are required to wear large broad-brimmed hats when they are outside during Term 1 (didn't get a picture of those). Kiernan is in Year 2, and Hannah is in Year 4. They enjoyed their first day and talked my ear off the whole walk home and then some! I had them do some comparing/contrasting to our school in the U.S. Here is what they had to say:

Hannah
Same: Has to use a planner in U.S. and uses one here too (called diary here); most of the same "specials" (ie, p.e., music, library)
Different: 2nd language taught (Indonesian); many teachers come into her classroom to teach; many buildings and free roam of school grounds during recess (the school grounds are fenced in though)

Kiernan
Same: same subjects in school; similar library
Different: 2nd language (Indonesian); there's a pool on school grounds; morning tea/snack in addition to lunch; don't use workbooks, just write answers in a notebook; classrooms are open (wall between 2nd grade rooms slides open and is open most of the time)

Hannah and Kiernan, 1st day at Ocean Grove Primary School

The kids have school from 9:00-3:20pm. While they were at school today Lydia and I enjoyed some one-on-one time playing at the park and walking around the shops. I got information about a local book club that has their next meeting in March, so I'm planning to give it a try.

Lydia at Ocean Grove Park, February 16, 2015

Lydia and her teacup cookie (yes, she's excited)

After school cuddles

It's been a busy week. Having fun!

Lydia reading with Daddy, February 2015

Sarah

February already!

We can't believe it's already been five weeks in this beautiful country! We spent some time on the beach during low tide (which I love) last week. There's a few hang gliders and paragliders around the beach on nice days. They are fun to watch.

Ocean Grove Beach, low tide, February 5, 2015

Ocean Grove Beach, low tide, February 5, 2015

Hang glider, Ocean Grove Beach, February 5, 2015

On Wednesday, the kids and I ventured to Geelong's Eastern Beach to meet up with the Geelong Home Educators. Hannah made a quick friend (who happened to not be a part of the group) and Kiernan spent quality time with Lydia. They were on the younger side of the age group in attendance. I met a few moms (one from Detroit, Michigan) and it was fun! We took a picnic lunch and the day had started out rainy, but it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Lydia, Eastern Beach Park, February 4, 2015

Hannah, Eastern Beach Park, February 4, 2015

Geelong, February 2015

On Saturday we went up to the business district of Ocean Grove and had a nice brekkie at Driftwood Cafe. We ventured to a couple opp shops (thrift stores) to look for scooters for Hannah and Kiernan. Success! We bought 2 decent used scooters for a grand total of $8 AUD. We had to get new helmets at Big W (like Wal-Mart), but they weren't much either. Saturday afternoon we went to the beach. The water was calmer than I've ever seen it! The waves did pick up, so it was a good day for boogie boarding for the kids. Lydia loves playing in the sand and catching water in her buckets. We would have stayed longer, but the rain really picked up and we had to leave!

As Hannah mentioned in her blog post, on Sunday we went to a local strawberry farm and we all picked berries. The kids thought this was great. Lydia just wanted to eat them all!

Garden mantis maybe?

Strawberry picking, February 8, 2015

After that we went to Amaze N Games and had fun making our way through a huge maze and then playing a round of miniature golf. Lydia didn't make it through the 18 holes, but the place had a playground right next to the golf, so she was entertained by that!

Amaze N Games playground

Hannah and Kiernan's surf lessons start on Wednesday here in Ocean Grove. They go for six weeks. Hopefully it will be a great experience for both.

Sarah

Australian slang, etc by Hannah

Hi, Hannah here! We’ve been in Australia for about 5 weeks now and we have learned lots of different words they use here. Here’s a list of a few words (and phrases) we hear most often:

Lolly-candy

Rubbish-trash

Trolley-cart

Pram-stroller

Capsicum-bell pepper

Barrack-cheer on

No worries – no problem; forget about it

Ripper – great; fantastic

Bathers – swimsuit

Thongs – flip flops

Kindie - Kindergarten

Tomato sauce – ketchup

Biscuits – cookies

Letterbox – mailbox

Post – mail

Wee – pee

Jelly – Jell-O

Mozzie – mosquitoes

Op shop – thrift store

Brekkie – breakfast

Chook – chicken

Fairy floss – cotton candy

Grog – beer; liquor

Heaps – a lot

Icy pole – popsicle

Sausage – hotdog

Roo – kangaroo

Tea - supper

Phrases:

“How are you going?”

“Good onya!” – good for you

“G’day mate!”

Yesterday we went to a strawberry farm and picked lots of yummy strawberries!

strawberry picking, February 8, 2015

We also went to a fun place where we went through a maze and played mini-golf. The maze was really hard. We had to find 4 different flags. When we found a flag we put a stamp on a card as proof that it was found.

Australia's Largest 3D Timber Maze, February 8, 2015

For one of my homeschool projects, I’m working on a report about Sydney, Australia. Once my report is complete I will share it with all of you. I also did a poster and paragraph about Ocean Grove. Here is my paragraph.

Ocean Grove is located in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Bass Strait on the Southern Ocean. It was founded in 1887. Currently, there are 12,555 people in Ocean Grove. I chose this place (to write about) because it’s an interesting place and there is so much to see and do. There are all kinds of jobs in Ocean Grove, such as: teachers, city government, tourist, and toy store staff. There are also some really fun places to visit. Five of these places are: Ocean Grove Beach, Ocean Grove Library, Blue Waters Lake, Ocean Grove Supertoys, and Rolling Pin Cakes and Pies. Ocean Grove is awesome!

Hannah's Ocean Grove project

This week I’m excited because Kiernan and I start surfing lessons and it’s also Kiernan’s 7^th birthday on Thursday! My mom will be sure to update on how our first lesson goes.

That’s all for now! We miss you all!

Hannah 

House/yard tour and other fine stories

Well, we've been at the new house in Ocean Grove almost two weeks now and are feeling very settled in now. I've done a house and yard tour of our place via video, so you can check those out on YouTube here:

House tour
Yard tour

The weekend of January 24th was a 3-day weekend here in Australia (as in Barry didn't have to work), as Monday, January 26th was Australia Day. We spent the weekend exploring Ocean Grove and the surrounding area in our little loaner ("clown") car.

On Saturday we went to Barwon Heads, which is a town 3 km from Ocean Grove. There is a great playground right on the beach there and the beach is at the mouth of the Barwon River, so the water is beautiful and very calm. It was a pretty chilly day (for us), so we didn't swim, but we did walk along the water to get our feet wet. The playground is a great one, with many unique things, so we'll be heading to that one often!

On Sunday, we went to Mass in Geelong at St. Mary of the Angels Basilica and then went to morning tea after Mass. We met a nice gentleman that has lived in the area all of his life (at least 70 years if I had to guess). After that we went down to the waterfront as Geelong was celebrating their annual Festival of Sails. They were offering free sailing, so we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately it was for 7+ (yes, Kiernan is 6, but only for a couple more weeks), so Lydia couldn't go. Barry, Hannah and Kiernan filled out the paperwork and got their life jackets on. Lydia and I stood on the boardwalk to watch and got the camera (with telephoto lens) prepared. They were waiting on the beach for quite a while and the wind was picking up.

Geelong Festival of Sails, January 25, 2015

Sadly, when the sailboat came to shore to pick them up the staff decided it was time to cancel for the day as the winds were too strong. They were afraid that the sailboat would flip over. Wouldn't that have been an exciting/scary story to tell?! We'll just have to try sailing on a less windy day.

Sunday afternoon/evening we went to a BBQ at Tim and Leah's house. Barry works at CSIRO with Tim. They have three children. Their youngest is just a year older than Hannah, so they had a lot of fun hanging out. The most popular thing to do was jumping on the trampoline. All three of our kids left there worn out! Tim and Leah's children are very musically talented, so there was some piano playing by their oldest, while all of the other kids sang. He could play anything I requested from memory. Amazing!! A few other colleagues of Barry's were also at that BBQ, so it was nice to meet them. Tim and Leah prepared an amazing amount of food and the desserts were amazing. Leah made pavlova, which was perfect. She also served frogs in the pond for the kids (Jell-O with chocolate frogs), mini cupcakes, lamingtons, and Tim Tams. The lamingtons were complete with Australian flags in honor of Australia Day. Such a fun evening!

Tuesday evening Hannah and I went to the Ocean Grove Toy Library. It's a toy lending library and is perfect for people like us who didn't bring many toys with us. There's a small membership fee and then we can check out three toys at a time. We came home with a Little People Princess Castle (huge hit), a Duplo train and track, and some kind of building gadgets. It's been great to have some "big" toys around here.

Wednesday morning the kids and I went to the Ocean Grove Library for Toddler Time. It was definitely a happening place. They do about 10-12 little rhyming songs and a couple of fast paced stories, so that the toddlers never get bored. Lydia was a bit off about the whole thing (too many new people I think) and then she threw a huge tantrum when we left, but we'll try again soon. I did meet another mom there who had a 3 year old and a 6 month old. She gave me information about a playgroup that we plan to check out on Friday. That evening we had reservations at The Dunes Cafe here in Ocean Grove. It's a great place on the beach for dinner. The waves were about 5 feet that evening, so we watched surfers while we dined. Food was excellent!

The kids and I enjoy going on walks up to the business district, as there are a number of shops to explore, etc. We also love the park that's on our walk. It has a small walking trail and plenty of good equipment. We've had a few knocks on the door from neighbors saying hello and the kids have met lots of kids on our street. We live on a dead-end street, so all of the kids play in the street (it's very common here). The neighbor kids have been really great about sharing their scooters with our kids.

Ocean Grove Park

Lydia climbing at Ocean Grove Park

Rainbow lorakeets in our backyard

Rainbow lorakeet holding a leaf

Point Lonsdale (near Ocean Grove)

Thursday morning we woke up to more Huntsman spider excitement. I went down to start laundry and noticed there was a spider between the screen and glass again. Thankfully some gentle banging on the screen and that one headed off, but much to my horror I went upstairs to the family room and noticed one on the wall. Yes, inside the house! I had seen a video about vacuuming them up, so that's what I suggested Barry try to do. That way you don't have to kill it and you can release it from the canister outside. It worked!! Sorry, no video or photos....I was just too freaked out! And fortunately I've now met a neighbor who doesn't mind getting rid of them. We think that one was already in here and now that we are monitoring windows/screens more we won't find anymore. Wishful thinking? Maybe.

This weekend the weather was similar to last weekend. It's been about 65 degrees for a high, so it's pretty cool in the morning and doesn't warm up enough to go swimming in the ocean. We've been told that February is much warmer, so we'll see! We've been loving the cool temps. Friday I made one of our favorite Friday meals...quiche and fruit salad. It's nice to have some meals that feel like home.

Quiche and fruit salad...feels like HOME

We spent Saturday in the business district of Ocean Grove, with a walk to the beach to see the surfing competition for kids that was being held there.

Our view during our Saturday walk

On Sunday we went to Mass at the local Catholic Church. It was quite rainy so we weren't sure if we were going to be able to do anything outside, but after Lydia's nap it cleared up and we went to the Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary, in nearby Barwon Heads. Jirrahlinga is a non-profit organization that provides a place for animals that are rescued and need rehabilitation. They then release many of the animals back to the wild. It was a gorgeous little place with so many amazing Australian animals! We saw koalas, birds, wombats, reptiles, kangaroos, bats, quolls, and so much more. Everything was clean and we could get very close to many of the animals. My favorite was the koalas. I could watch them all day. Amazing creatures! Can't wait to spot these guys in the wild. There are many places not too far from here that are promising places to spot them.

Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary

Echidna, Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary

Kangaroo mum and joey, Jirrahlinga

Hannah and Kiernan, making friends with some local kangaroos

Lydia studying the kangaroos 

Koala eating eucalyptus

Wow! This post was long, but I don't want to forget anything we've done, so I've got to document it all here.Watch for a blog post from Hannah later this week with all the new Australian words we've learned.

Sarah