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

Cairns

Not sure if I've put many pictures of Cairns on the blog before. It's a very hilly place, and from almost any point you can see hills.

'Downtown' Cairns is by the sea. (The Coral sea)

The airport is also parallel to the sea.

Many of the suburbs are separated by hills. The above picture shows the drive to school, roughly from the top right of the picture to the middle right. 

This photo shows our suburb. Our house is just behind the bush on the left.

Post Cyclone

Well, the cyclone made landfall further north of us in a fairly unpopulated area. However it has continued its rampage across Australia north-westwards and hit Arnhem land. That's the second cyclone to hit Arnhem land in a matter of weeks. We have only a month to go before cyclone season ends, so that might be it for now, at least until November!!

I was back at the doctors this week with Caleb and Ruben. All was going well until Thursday when I picked Caleb up from school and found he could hardly breathe. Took him straight to the doctors and left armed with antibiotics and inhalers and then Friday Ruben went down with the same thing. The doctors weren't sure what it was, probably a virus, probably not asthma. Ruben saw a different doctor and ended up with steroids and inhalers. A few days and lots of puffs later, they seem fine again. I am getting to know the doctors and the pharmacists here quite well. The healthcare service here in Australia is quite complicated but it seems to work quite well. You can register with any doctor you like or more than one. Healthcare is free for all  children under 16, but adults have to pay. Well sometimes you pay and sometimes you don't, I haven't really worked it out. Anyway what counts is that it is easy to see a doctor. Good job really as Joshua has just come in to show me he has been bitten by the neighbours dog!!-sigh!

Here are a few photos take in the last week. Two pictures of our gardener (he needs to work on the weeding) and one of Bethany in the front garden.  The spider and frog were at the park and the rainbow at school.