Two weeks ago the girls participated in a school event, House Cross Country. Everyone in the school is divided into one of four Houses. Red is Warren, Green is Gaze, Blue is Mitchell, and Yellow is Dunlop. Normally the kids wear uniforms to school, but for this event they were encouraged to dress in house colors.
That morning we were at school early, as Alanna had Drum Corp practice. Drum Corps is an amazing opportunity available to the Year 5's and 6's at here school, and I will be posting more about this later. The pic below is kind of fun as they are all in colorful clothes, marching around the field at 8 in the morning. Alanna says-The guy in the black suit, Mr.Hood, is the drill sergeant leader of the corps. Dad thinks he's great. Mr.Hood yells at us, calls us pathetic when we don't do well, and he calls me California Girl, California Dreaming, or sometimes just California. Heh heh heh. Apparently some previous Drum Corps have received offers to play at many special events-even in Scotland!! Mr. Hood is funny though. He calls himself gorgeous, and has all sorts of funny stories like when some Drum Corps were marching and the dye on their shirts ran and they looked like Smurfs! So even though everyone dreads being late and getting yelled at, it's all good fun!!
Two sets of sisters, getting ready to race
Friends!
For the event, students raced against kids of their own age and gender. The 11- and 12-year olds each ran 3 k, while the 8, 9, and 10 year olds ran 2k.
Alanna lining up with the 11 year olds
And she's off
The home stretch
Checking out the competition
Last few feet, er, meters, still smiling
Finish line
Eighth Place! Friend named Nattali on right.
The top eight finishers automatically qualify for Districts, so she was very excited. She doesn't do running per se, but I think her basketball training and swim squad gave her good conditioning. Aliya's group was much larger, because it was for all girls turning 9 and 10 anytime this year.
8, 9 and 10 year olds
Aliya was stuck at the back, but eventually broke free
Second lap, still smiling
Running hard, not so happy!
Home stretch
Her teacher hands her her place card
5th place!
Her good friend came in 4th
Aliya qualified for Districts as well. She was so determined to do well, and she did. I have no idea of her time, but given that she doesn't run, I think she did amazingly well to place 5th. Like Alanna, she has built up her conditioning and endurance from swimming and basketball. I think we need to do a 5K fun run. Speaking of sports, now seems like as good a time as any to fill you in on basketball, especially since the season has come to an end. Last Sunday Aliya's team played in the reserve Grand Final, and came away with a win!
It was a tough season, with three girls having never played before. We had a 6th player, but she moved in January, which meant that the girls got a lot of playing time and the coach never had to worry about substituting! Later that night, we attended Presentation Night, where the girls get participation medals and various awards, and coaches get their presents, etc.
Aliya and coach Sally
Alanna's team just made it to 4th spot on the ladder, earning a playoff spot. Unfortunately, they lost to a team who just happened to be coached by the coach of AFL's Richmond Tigers. You can see why Alanna does a lot of the rebounding for her team!
We were excited when Alanna was given the Coach's Award by her coach.
A great end to a great season. We've already signed up the girls for their third (Alanna) and fourth (Aliya) seasons, which start in two weeks.
Term 1 of school ended on Thursday, because Friday was Good Friday. Did you know that Australia pretty much closes up for the day on Good Friday? Post Offices, banks, malls, shops, business, all closed. As a sign of how sacred the day is, they don't even play footy! Which is unusual because I think--in Melbourne at least--people are more interested in football than organized religion. Saturday was multi-cultural day in our house. The girls dyed Easter eggs at our house while eating matzah with their friends, one of whom was Jewish and one who was Greek Orthodox.
Matzah with lots of Mexican cheese on top
If you look carefully at the pics below, you might notice that there are a few brown eggs. Most of the eggs in Australia are brown, not white. Which is no big deal when you just want them scrambled (as Alanna does every morning!) but not so good when you want to make Easter Eggs. So I was thrilled last month when I found some white eggs at a local fruit & veg shop. I also had several egg coloring kits in our Easter box-o-stuff from the US. This was fortuitous, as they don't sell them here in Oz. I boiled some eggs, set out the colors, and the kids went to work. They had so much fun Andy had to go back out for more white eggs.
We did dye some of the brown eggs. If you let them sit long enough, especially in a dark color, they turned out quite nicely. But we still preferred the white eggs as you had a lot more coloring options. Here are the results.
Aliya's friend arrived bearing a chcolate egg as a present. Aliya was worried about someone taking it, so she insisted that Andy lock it up to the kitchen table....
Saturday night we went to a friend's house for dinner. Their daughter is a friend of Aliya's, and her dad grew up in the house we are now renting. Also at dinner was the mom's sister and her family, because one of her daughters is a friend of Alanna. Got all that? The funny thing was I had no idea these two women were sisters, until Alanna and Aliya figured out that their friends were cousins. Small world! We had a lovely time at dinner, and it was what we now consider to be a traditional Aussie bbq: lots and lots of meat (no prawns, aka shrimp.) Aussies also traditionally serve a large platter of fruit for dessert, to which we added Andy's lemon tart. Yum! Sunday started off really early for the A-team, as Andy dragged took us all to Sunrise Service at church at 6 am. I dragged myself out of bed at 5:15, and wondered how I left for Temecula at 5:30 am for so many years...The girls knew they'd have to get out of bed promptly if they wanted to find their Easter baskets. Aliya had announced the previous night that she hoped the Easter bunny wouldn't put her basket anywhere obvious like the cubby under the stairs. Still, that was the first place she checked:
No luck though. Alanna found hers pretty quickly behind the TV and surfboards. With a little help from Andy, Aliya finally found hers in the laundry room in a basket hidden under a dirty shirt. They eagerly examined all the goodies, which included a few dvds, chocolates, fairy floss (cotton candy) and marbles, the latest fad at school.
We got to church right at 6, collected our candles, and joined the group in the dark outside the church for a little ceremony. Then we headed inside and listed to some readings, mostly in the dark. We were a bit startled when, after almost 40 minutes of stories from the Old Testament, the priest announced, "And now we begin the regular mass..." After the service, Andy dropped us off and went in search of hot cross buns. He returned with the choc chip version, and the girls insisted on eating them this way:
Later, our just-returned-from-Bali friends came over for dinner. It was wonderful to hear their stories, and now we are eager to go to Bali ourselves.
Today is Easter Monday, another public holiday. Andy got up at 6 am to finish off our US taxes. Yes, the U.S. is one of the few countries that requires citizens to file taxes regardless of where they reside or where they earn their money. Meanwhile the girls and I slept in! After lunch, Andy took the girls into the city to explore. The last text from Alanna said they were eating Krispy Kremes donuts. Andy and the girls definitely miss their traditional Sundays back home where they'd bike to Vons for donuts and get smoothies. The donuts here don't seem to compare. Andy also hinted he was taking them to the Eureka tower, another activity I am happy to miss out on! This just in...they did go to the Skydeck!
...in third place in three years! Today Alanna competed against several other schools at the District swimming event. This year, she was in the freestyle medley, and her favorite event, the breaststroke. The medley came in 5th I think, and in the breaststroke, she got third place. Yep, the same thing happened last year and the year before. Here it is in pictures:
On your mark
Get set
Go!
Seriously? Third place again??
It was slightly disappointing as she's been doing swim squad weekly for the past year, so we thought maybe she'd place second? Perhaps all the other girls started doing squad as well! Who knows. As you can see from the pics, it was a gloriously sunny and warm day. It was a definite plus that she got to spend the entire morning at the pool rather than in an overly warm learning center. That would be the brand-new building in which some geniuses decided not to put in air conditioning...but don't get me started on that topic. Congrats Alanna, so proud of you, and so glad I was able to be there to watch you compete.
An observant friend noted that my last blog was posted in a not-so-timely manner (Christmas blog in Feb.) Let's see if I can do better today. 11 years ago, Andy and I got the best Valentine's Day present ev-ah:
Best part is, February 14 is not longer a Hallmark holiday for us, it's Alanna's birthday. Lucky for her, the teacher's union here in Victoria went on strike today, so she got the day off of school. At her request, Aliya and I served her heart-shaped pancakes in bed.
Later in the day I took the girls, and a friend each, to Bounce, an indoor trampoline place. She wants you to see the backflip at the end of this video.
Dinner was Alanna's favorites: spaghetti, rolls, and her own creation: Sunburst Salad, a fruit salad she made herself (pineapple, oranges, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe and strawberries.) We dressed up, lit candles, and the girls drank their water out of wine glasses. A very nice evening indeed.
Alanna just came in and said it was her best birthday ever. She's really been having a great year so far, and she's determined to make the most of her last year at her school, and possibly our last year in Oz. All of the Year Six students (the highest grade at her school) get an opportunity to be student leaders for a term. Alanna is a leader this term, and she got to recite the Student Declaration at the weekly student assembly.
She also participated in the Swim Carnival for her school. Just like the last two years, she came first in breaststroke. She found out on Wednesday that she'll get to compete in Districts in the breaststroke, and also the freestyle relay.
Finally, she was elected to the school's Junior School council, after giving a very motivating speech about helping others, especially children who are less fortunate. Alanna's enthusiasm and happiness is contagious. We're excited to see what this year brings! And now I need to get to bed. Alanna has her first drum corp practice at 7:50 tomorrow morning!
For the A-team, the best day of 2012 was the day this happened:
The kids gladly missed their end-of-year class parties to go to the airport and pick up Pap and Gram. Despite traveling almost 40 hours (door to door,) they said it was worth it just to get hugs from the girls Those that know my parents know they wouldn't come empty-handed. One whole suitcase was devoted to books:
And though Christmas was still a few days away, Gram gave the girls these two beautiful dresses that she made:
There was no rest for the weary travellers. The very next day, after dropping the girls off at school, we did a three-hour bike tour of the city.
The electric bikes were fabulous, as you could pedal as much or as little as you desired. Although we didn't go in the CBD (central business district) we covered over 20 kilometers, and rode around the Docklands, by the Yarra river, around two footy stadiums, by the Royal Botanical Gardens, over to Fed Square, and more (and not necessarily in that order.) They provided headsets, so we could listen to the tour guide as we rode. For my parents, it was a highlight of their visit, and a great way to learn more about Melbourne.
And the pace didn't let up. The next day, Friday, was the last day of school for the girls. We celebrated with lots of their classmates and mums at the nearby park after school. On Sunday, we drove east into the country to ride Puffing Billy, a century-old steam train. The best part of the ride is that you're allowed to sit on the sides and hang your arms and legs out over the edge.
A popular holiday event in Melbourne is Carols by Candelight, held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, which was modeled after the Hollywood Bowl. The outdoor concert, held on Christmas Eve, sold out long ago, but Andy discovered that for just a few bucks you could attend the rehearsal the night before. So we walked to the end of our street, hopped on the tram, and went into the city to listen to the singers rehearse.
It was such a hot day, it didn't feel very Christmas-sy, but it got a bit more festive as it got darker and the lights came on.
Some of the singers were contestants from the Aussie version of X Factor, which the girls have been watching on TV, and as we left Delta Goodrem (one of the more famous Aussie singers) performed. Before going home, we walked over to the Melbourne Town Hall, where there is an amazing sound and light show projected onto the building.
The picture doesn't do it justice, you really should check out the video. Stick with it, because the second half is really amazing.
Christmas, well, it just didn't feel like Christmas. It wasn't the weather, since we're used to warm Christmas days. I think it was mainly missing the usual holiday activities we did with family and friends back home. We definitely missed our traditional brunch and volleyball at the beach on Christmas Eve morning. We still went to church on Christmas eve, but it's just not the same. Very few houses have Christmas lights. The streets and malls have a lot less decorations. And it stays daylight until after 9:00 pm. Nevertheless, we had a lot to celebrate and were so happy Pap and Gram were there to share our first Christmas in Oz.
Gram gave me these super-soft, aloe-infused socks...but I didn't get to keep them for long.
The girls wore footy jammies when they were little, those all-in-one outfits that covered up their feet. Now their footy jammies are for Aussie-rules football teams.
Our American friends invited us for a Christmas Day BBQ, an offer we eagerly accepted. Lisa's truffle was amazing!
Proudly wearing the hats that were in the Christmas crackers:
The next day we headed to Apollo Bay...to be continued!
