Month: May 2013

I have two to share with you.

An oldie (but a goodie).

At some time in the past Jos has been informed that he’s not allowed to drink beer, because if he does it will stop him from growing.

He now believes that Brett drinks beer so that he will not grow to be a giant.

A newie (and another goodie).

Brett put a few games on the iPad for the kids, and a great one is Scribblenauts.  The player has to guide Maxwell through a map by giving him items and getting him to use them… you can think up almost anything for him to use.  Great for imagination and lateral thinking.

Jos was playing a level where you need to create a disaster to make the dinosaurs extinct.  No bombs or meteors allowed (I think that was the restrictions).

So I explained to Jos what he had to do – make the dinsoaurs extinct; wipe them out – as best I was able.

His plan of attack?  To drop a stink bug in there.

He was disappointed when it didn’t have the desired result.

“I thought it would stink them out!” he cried.

Yes, we all laughed.

We love you Jossy.

Denham

A day of no travelling.  How novel.  And just what we all needed.

We had a very relaxed day today.  Walked every where too.  So nice to not need the car at all for the whole day.

The kids had done some work on their diaries, and are really enjoying it.  I hope they stay this enthusiastic for the entire six months. After this little bit of school work in the morning we walked into town, over to the local IGA to get some eats for lunch and some bits and pieces.

Took the said lunch over to the park, ate, tried not to get blown away by the wind, and had a quick play at the playground.

Then we walked over pretty much to the other side of town and went to the mini golf course we’d noticed yesterday during our reconnoissance drive.  It was advertised as Australia’s cheapest mini golf, and it is quite possible that it was.  $5 each for Elisha and Cayley, and Jos was free.  For 18 holes.

We had a mix of game play.  Excited, enthused, not wanting to learn, upset, co-operating, competing, crying, laughing, smiling, frowning, starting over, even a hole in one (we didn’t tell Jos that it doesn’t count when you start half way down the green.)  The gamut of emotions displayed was trying at the time. But when I sit back and think about it now, I can learn a lesson from the children – they do not hold onto their grudges.  I want to be like that!

Ice creams were purchased and eaten, and we started our homeward journey.  Jos was still eating his ice cream, but we couldn’t wait any longer to head off.

I think we did a bit more school work somewhere in the rest of the afternoon.  Kicked the footy round for a while.  Had some dinner and watched a short cartoon about Eric Liddell.  In the evenings we’ve been reading through some of the Lightkeepers books about boys… yesterday we read about him, and it was great to be able to see how differently the book and the video focused on his life.

Denham

We went and played an 18 hole mini golf and my brother sometimes cheated a tiny weeny bit.  I went okay and Cayley was really good.  I enjoy doing mini golf.  We had an ice cream at mini golf.  It was a chocolate Billabong.

I had a shower and Jos was next door.  I had to help him fix his temperature.

We played football before we went in the shower. I taught Cayley a bit of footy, to bring your leg back and swing it through hard.

We watched a movie from Ten Boys Who Changed History.  It was about Eric Liddell. He’s a good man.

I hope tomorrow is a really good day.

Denham

We played minigolf. It was fun. I beat Elisha only on one of them. We had an ice-cream there. Some of the minigolf holes to get the ball in had water in it. And we walked to the minigolf instead of driving, because daddy is really good at directions. We played football and I found some tickly clicking bugs and also a bit like a cockroach but very small. Me and Jos did exercise together because it was very very cold. And I had a lot of energy and I learned a bit more of football from Elisha. It was to swing my leg backwards. The ice-cream we had chocolate. And I have had a different type of the ice-creams–it was rainbow. But when Elisha had it, he thought he threw up. I had a lot of fun. And I played nicely with Jossy. It was a game about saber toothed tigers and tigers and puppies and dogs. And we watched a movie about God’s love.

Denham

We had an ice cream and we played minigolf, and then, umm, we played at the park and we played minigolf.

Nerren Nerren – Denham

I don’t know what happened today, but I took a total of 1 photo and it doesn’t even make sense to me, so I’ve no idea what it will mean to you!

I guess that is what we saw a lot of.

Being in a free camp site means no need to be out by ten o’clock in the morning, which made for a fairly leisurely start to the day.  And then all of a sudden we were the only caravan, bar one other, left in the camp site.  And that person had run out of petrol! (They had gas, but needed some petrol to actually start the engine.)

We were all set to help them out and syphon off a bit of our fuel for them, when someone else pulled in for a rest – and they had a jerry can of petrol.  Rescued!

Pretty soon we were the only caravan left.

We drove all morning and stopped at Overlander roadhouse for lunch in the caravan.  They had a large aviary.  The kids spent a good amount of time looking at the birds.  Mostly budgies and weiros.

Then we drove to Denham.  Stopped in at the Visitor centre there, grabbed some information and worked out where we would try and get a site. Afternoon tea.  And off to the caravan park.

I think all the kids mentioned the cannon – which was a decorative piece in the caravan park.  They were all fascinated by it.  And I didn’t even take a picture.

Nerren Nerren – Denham

I saw a cannon at the front of the Shark Bay Caravan Park. We saw a bird cage near the front but it didn’t have anything in it.  But we did see a lot of birds in another cage. I liked all of them. I had a very fun and nice time, and I read a bit of a story to Daddy.

Nerren Nerren – Denham

I love Jesus. I love playing with Elisha. Sleeping in the caravan. I loved playing in the sand.

Nerren Nerren – Denham

We saw a thin cannon at the caravan park.  We went to a park at the edge of Denham or Shark Bay.  I watched Despicable Me in the evening.  I read a book called ‘Gotcha!’ which is a prank book.

Wagoe Chalets – Nerren Nerren

During the night the wind picked up quite a bit and the flapping of the awning was worrying, so Brett and I put it down.  Brett managed to take a bit of a chunk out of his finger.

This morning I discovered that the camp ground we were staying at had a washing machine available to use at no cost.   So I gathered our washing and went for it.  I’ve never used a twin tub machine before, but I got the hang of it okay.

While packing up and getting ready to move on I set Elisha the task of catching the local finches on his camera.  This gave him an interesting challenge to attend to, though he was not successful in capturing one, it kept him busy.  Maybe next time.

We headed off to Kalbarri proper.  Wow.  What amazing scenery.

Climbed Red Bluff.

Brett remembers visiting Red Bluff on Year 7 camp… and apparently climbing up and down the side of it.  Would never be allowed now. This is roughly where he thinks they may have climbed.

We stopped at a playground in Kalbarri for a good long play and lunch.

As the Adamses often do, we found a book shop.

We checked out the free camping location at the Murchison River, but decided to push on to the next one.

The kids built some rock piles while they waited for the billy to boil.

Tonight we are free camping between Kalbarri and Denham, but no phone access, so no post until tomorrow.

This camp spot is gorgeous, all red dirt and Australian flora.  The kids have had an absolute blast making a camp fire this afternoon.  I think Brett might have enjoyed himself a bit too.

Found a huge moth in the toilet.  Speaking of toilets, we’ve come across long drops before today, but today is our first experience of a composting toilet… let’s just say it’s aroma is… different.

Brett cooked up dinner on the Baby Q, on the box that Uncle Ian made for it.  Perfect.

I still haven’t managed to get things sorted out enough to do any directed school work, but we’ve been throwing random questions and problems at the children as we’re travelling, and they’re enjoying that.

Today has seen pretty much everyone throw a hissy fit, of various size and length, and yet, we still love each other.  Family is precious.  This is what the trip is about for us in large part – getting away from the many pulls of daily life and getting into each others’ hair and learning how to love each other in a way that glorifies the one who made us.  Not to mention seeing so much of his awesome creating, wondering at it and getting to know him better through it.