Dad & Daughter

Last weekend Bethany and I (Daniel) went down to Magnetic Island for our 'Dad & Daughter' adventure. Regular readers will remember I did something similar with Joshua - and this was Bethany's turn.

This will finally fulfil a promise to take her on a trip, 5 years after Joshua went on a bus trip with me from Dodoma to Dar back in the day.

It was even more exhausting than last time - I had a rough night before we left on the Friday (Ruben woke in the early hours and then I couldn't get back to sleep). The four-hour drive wasn't so bad, but on arrival it is a ferry ride, then straight to dinner, into a session and  then a movie night. We actually skipped the move (we have it at home) and got to bed about 10. I slept fine until about 3am, and then woke up with an allergic reaction to something (probably a mouldy mattress) and then spent the rest of the night sneezing and 'streaming'. Not a great start,,,

Anyway, it was uphill from there.

We played a bit of tennis and table tennis in the morning and then got a lift to the beach and had a nice morning building sandcastles on the beach. After a picnic lunch we went sea-kayaking. I didn't expect Bethany to contribute greatly to the rowing effort - but I did her a disservice, as she went great guns :)

After dinner it another session and then another movie night, I made the mistake of telling Bethany she could eat as many sweets as she wanted while we watched - bad plan...she ended up being sick just before going to be, and feeling sick for most of the following morning.

She managed to hold on until we got the the ferry terminal for the return trip - and then was fairly violently sick in a well-placed bush. After which she perked up no end, and was well-ready to chow down on her McDonalds on the trip back :) We had a pleasant drive back to Cairns, and got home just before dinner on Sunday afternoon - happy but extremely tired!

Here are a few photos.

Tank museum

Daniel went away with Bethany this weekend, so we had a 'boys' weekend. I took the boys to the Cairns tank museum. I'm glad I didn't take Bethany, there was absolutely nothing there she would have liked, not even a cafe! To be honest, for me too, it was very boring, but the boys loved it. Caleb gave it 10/10 in his ratings. Their favourite thing was playing with the toy tanks and soldiers and dressing up. Ruben was so excited he wet himself whilst wearing his battle gear. Fortunately the concrete floor was quite forgiving to the odd puddle.The lady at the front desk said it was OK for them to get into one of the tanks. Unfortunately Ruben managed to start it and nearly drove it down a ramp!!  Clearly this was not supposed to happen but did make the experience more exciting! I left a suggestion that they get a fake tank for children to climb in and out of and not a real one that could be started by a 2 year old!!

The 'bug' boys

Bit weary of motherhood this week. Last week we had more problems with Ruben and his breathing so he was back on the steroids. This week he is all better but the potty training battle is on going! Skip a few lines now if your're squeamish!! He was very quick to latch on to the idea of weeing on the toilet, not so much with the idea of pooing on the toilet. Why bother when you can do it in your underwear. Saves the hassle of sitting on the toilet. It would be gross if I had to clean this up once a day but 2, 3, 4 times a day is tough to take. On the up side at least he's not constipated!! It reminds me of another little boy we used to call 'lumpy' for the same reason.

So with that ongoing problem, on Tuesday I discovered Caleb and possibly Ruben had head lice. They are the first kids to get it in our family, so on that score we are quite lucky. So I have spent the last few evenings combing out lice and nits out of hair. 

Will my hands ever be clean again!!!

Just for the record, Josh, as far as I know, is perfectly clean. He is keeping a wise distance between himself and the other two.

Mothers' Day

It was Mothers' day here on Sunday. As we are here for now we have abandoned English Mothers day and just celebrate it when Australia celebrates.

As it was my day it was my choice of what to do, so after church we headed north on the coast road to 4 mile beach at Port Douglas. The nets are still out in the sea as it is still stinger season and the  risk of stingers on Sunday was moderate.I would much rather it was low or nil, but what can you do!  I recently watched ' the Deadly 60' which mentioned that the box jellyfish is the most venomous marine animal known to mankind. Not very reassuring when the waters here are full of them. It's the first time we have swum in the nets and in my opinion they should just leave them out all year. Apart from protecting your children from the lethal box jelly fish, fairly useful, it makes it much easier to spot your children in a contained area and it stops them drifting down the coast or out to sea. I wasn't totally reassured by the nets as the waves came crashing over the back. Can the jelly fish wash over in a wave, I'm not sure? Some of the locals won't even swim in the nets.

We had such a nice day on Sunday, Ruben was a bit sad when we dropped everybody off at school on Monday. "Mummy, I love my everybodies", he said in a sad voice. " I love my Josh, I love my Boo, I love my Calebi, me not hit them anymore" We will see!

Joshua's camp

Joshua went on camp with school last week. He said it was the best camp he'd ever been on! I was helping him pack before he left and reminding him to wear his hat, drink water and put on sun screen, when he said to me, "mum you've forgotten something on the list". I replied in earnest, "what" (Of course being the over protective, neurotic mum I am, I wouldn't want my dear son to go to camp without something vital). "The bubble wrap", he said with a smile! However, I did feel smug when he came back, the only kid not to have got sunburnt!

Easter pictures

Swimming at the rocks

 A vintage car show

Eating 'fairy floss' (the Australian term)

Swimming at the lagoon 

With friends

Sugar

On Easter Monday we went with friends to a  water park called Sugar world.

Even for me, it's history is quite interesting. Sugar world is in a suburb of Cairns called Edmonton which is an old sugar milling town. The area where the park is, is called Hambledon  after the nearby Hambledon sugar plantation and mill. (I am getting to the interesting bit.) The area was identified by a biscuit manufacturer, Thomas Swallow, in 1880 as a suitable place to produce sugar. Thomas Swallow was born in Reading, England, near Hambledon. (for those of you who don't know, that's where I grew up).

Thomas Swallow

 The Hambledon plantation

Ruben next to the old cane train at the park