More Summer Fun

While the weather was still nice we made the most of the beach yet again. Will definitely have to spend more time here next summer. The older the kids get the more I am enjoying the beach !!! Even though I have lived at the beach my whole life I am not a fan of getting in the water, but I LOVE watching the kids have a great time and now that they are getting older I stress a little less about them in the water !!! Hence enjoy myself that little bit more each season.

This is a CLASSIC Aussie photo !!

Easter 2014

Our first Easter in our new home, lots of places now for the Easter Bunny to hide eggs !! The girls had a great time combing the house for eggs and tried out their new pj's.

I love these crazy kids

First stop of the day was Grandma's.

Then we had some selfie fun or usies as E calls them as there is more than yourself in the pictures !!

To finish off the day we headed to Nanny's to say hello and also wish her a Happy Birthday. Lucky Nan got to celebrate Easter and her birthday on the same day.

Crazy Cook

The title says it all and so do the pictures !!!

I love cooking with this kid xxxx

Cool Shades

Just love these pictures of the kids mucking around with a pair of sunglasses.

The picture underneath is of C showing off her circus skills at a circus workshop held in the local area. 3 hoops at once all spinning. Pretty cool trick !! Her and some others ended up in the local paper !!

So We Bid Farewell

Wow how time flies but also amazed at what can be packed into a small time frame !! After a very quick 5 days we had to say farewell to our new family member. It is amazing how quickly relationships can form. We were so sad to have to say goodbye as we were just starting to get comfortable with the language barrier and customs and we had really fallen in love with this beautiful young lady. She became my third daughter.

My 3 beautiful daughters all ready for school.

 On the last day we were all invited to a "graduation ceremony" for our exchange students, where they were given certificates and small gifts to remember their time with us all.

Jennifer allowed C to present gifts to the exchange teachers

Yummy graduation cake

Of course E found the blue tongue lizards in the school garden !!

After the ceremony the students sang Waltzing Matilda which was fantastic. They had been practicing for months and then they performed some traditional Japanese dances. All very entertaining.

Our last family photo.

The hardest part of the whole trip, saying goodbye.

A funny note, Jennifer who was the organiser of the trip and home stays advised the school to have plenty of tissues on hand for when the students left as she knew that there would be a lot a tears. The teacher really didn't believe that there would be a real need for many tissues. Boy was she wrong !!! The parents were crying, the teachers were crying, grown men were crying, the kids were crying !! There weren't many dry eyes and she was very surprised at how strong these relationships became in such a short period of time. Next time she will be well prepared !!!

A MASSIVE thank you to everyone involved in this event. I never thought in a million years that our family would ever take on an exchange student and we can't wait until the next one arrives. We loved the experience, learning new things and teaching them new things. We hope that next time the time will be longer. We also thank Kyokas family for allowing her to become a large part of our family and allowing us the opportunity to take great care of her. She will be part of our family forever.

Hangtime and Beachtime Fun

My kids love jumping on trampoline's and have been doing it their whole lives thanks to Nan having one in her back yard so the kids asked if we could take Kyoka to the local indoor jumping park where there are dozens of trampolines to use. Little did we know at the time that Kyoka had NEVER been on one !!! It was so funny and cute at the same time to watch a 16 year old try them out for the first time. It took some time and some coaching but she got the idea and was having a great time. C and E were trying to teach her to jump, land on her bottom and stand up again. She tried and tried and tried. I started filming a little while in so as to give her some time to try and get it.

It took a few hit and misses but I had that camera filming when she DID it !!! I was a very proud mumma bear while yelling hooray and welling up with tears !! My new daughter had learned a new trick. She amazed me with her determination just like my other daughters do every day and the smile and triumph that came from her beautiful face said it all. She was having the time of her life.

Pizza to refuel after all that jumping !!

Another item to tick of her bucket list was a trip to the beach. Although the weather was not so nice we still had a great time. Of course my two were fully in the water, they don't care how cold it is !!

Kyoka loved the beach, walking though the water and collecting shells and she couldn't believe how clean and clear the water was. Her other favorite thing about being here and being at the beach was how clear the sky was !! Even though there were clouds about there were still patches of sun that came through, she told us that it is very rare to see the sky so clear at home due to the smog.