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