From Oz to Oz: 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.