Fridays are our new homeschool group day and were meeting practically around the corner in a nearby park. We were first to arrive but there was another car parked nearby, thinking it was a new family arriving, i parked nearby to let them know we were homeschoolers too (we were a bit late) We got out and started unloading the truck, when another family turned up, meanwhile the person in the original car got out of his car - zipped up his fly !?!?!?! - and next thing 1/2 dozen people and a big dog were about??? CRAZY?? both ourselves and the other HS family,were a little "Huh??" all the other people quickly disappeared into the flats/quadplex/units along with the big dog, and the bloke in the car hopped back in and drove off?? weird?
Anyway, So we had a quick chat and decided to move our cars to a shadier position, and also after concerns from the father of other family, had a scout around the park for 'yuckies' and broken glass etc. after the previously mentioned 'weirdness' it was a concern, but an unfounded one. So happily playing in, i must admit, a pretty neat playground. drawing all over the softfall with the new chalk we'd just bought. Kaytie had been 'off colour' that day - more whingey then usual. Now I was sitting comfortably chatting to the other mums, when next thing Kaytie runs towards me and "BLEUURGHHH" throws up all over the edge of the softfall !! Thankfully away from anyone or their belongings!! Now i didn't see where she came from but when i think back about it, i just have to have a giggle about it - imagining she was on the slide....... Can you imagine it LOL wheeeeee BLERUGHH!! LOL Sorry for anyone with weak constitutions LOL From reports to me though i believe she was upside down on the monkey bars... That'll do it! So then clean up time :/ I had to throw our bottle of drinking water all over the target area' to try wash it all away - easier said then done! I then had to take Kaytie 100m or so to our truck in it's "shady" (not!) spot. Luckily i had bought Claire a new shirt that day and we also have a water tank on the truck, so she was cleaned up with fresh clothes. :) Drama over for THAT day !
The other ongoing drama at the time was whether Jamie would even get home or not!! TC Carlos had decided he did not like Darwin and headed 'around the corner' to Jamie's place
There was concern that the airport would be shut by Monday and he would be stuck onsite for an extra week. Thankfully again, commonsense prevailed and the site was evacuated down to skeletal staff and I was able to pick him up Saturday morning :) less than minor predicament meant we were now 1 seat short in the truck to pick up Robyn that night! Problem 'solver-ed' As Robyn's flight was late - 9:30pm - Jamie stayed at home with the children and i picked up Robyn alone. a nice surprise for her since she was not expecting to see Jamie so soon - or at all :) So things went smoothly for a day or so, Sunday was a quiet day at home, Monday saw Jamie and i duck into Perth to pick up a hire car for the week - a KIA "Grand Carnival" very nice if i do say so myself!!
Tuesday saw us going to Fremantle A nice day i thought - We spent WAY too much money and only really had sunburn to show for it! We took the sights of city via the "hop on- hop off tram tour" not sure if it was value for the price tag, but was very good and informative - i suppose it was, we were able to catch it at various times through out the day. And the drivers commentary varied by their styles, so even though we saw some things a few times, each time we learnt something a little different.
The whole tour, without hopping off takes about an hour and half. and takes in most of the city, not in order but this is what i remembered.
The Docks oh really! you don't say! a major working port city and they take you to the docks - Brilliant!! never would have guessed!! :P
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| I still struggle to get over how blue and clear the water is after living in Cairns all my life! |
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| This clever little spot was inside the ferry terminal, next to where we had lunch. The children saw a crab on a jetty post and are convinced they saw a jellyfish? It took me a few good minutes to spot the crab so I'll have to take their word for it. :) |
As you might know, Fremantle is a very cultural/arty type city, so there were great sculptures all over the City. along the docks were these below, apparently each has a story behind it, but our driver only told us about the one on the left - with the diver.
Apparently some port tax was levied and this sculpture represents a dock businessman hiding his tax receipts in the bay?? the driver telling us was a bit of a larrikin, so not sure what to believe??
There was also a monument to fishermen whom had lost their lives at sea, each of the pylons have the names of those lost engraved on them. Over 1500 i think he said?? There are a lot of brass sculptures going on in Fremantle? must be the medium of choice?
(not my photo)
The War Memorial
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| Haha look! there i am - i was there ;P |
Most of the hedges surrounding the monuments were rosemary (for remembrance) the council were there trimming them at the time so you can imagine the beautiful smell in the air. It was really interesting as so many different squadrons (??) were immortalised (??) /tributed???
We didn't go in as it would have been another added cost to the day, besides that we just wouldn't have had time!!! but as you can imagine it was big and imposing! So definitely another excursion to explore all of that!
Oh yes we also stopped by The Shipwreck Museum AWESOME!! unfortunately no photos allowed... Sorry :( oh we picked up an awesome 'living' book - put together by WA primary schools, with a 'script' at the back for a play, if we do so desire - Can you believe it 50 cents!!!! that's right $0.50!!! how could i pass it up!!
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| the one on the left was pretty good too - contains all the photos we weren't allowed to take but at $7 doesn't compare to $0.50 !! lol :) |
So after a busy hot day, wanting to avoid the peak hour traffic (again!) we decided to stay for dinner. We went to Cicerello's which is apparently WA's #1 fish and chip shop? To be honest, WA must have very low standards or we were there on a bad day? For the price of the meals and quality of the meals, i definitely don't rate it as my #1 - for example if you claim to be #1 and are situated in the port of an extremely busy fishing harbour, with trawler boats on your doorstep - why Oh WHY would your children's meals contain processed frozen boxed fish???????? at $12 a pop ( x 5!) you would think it might just even resemble fish???, but anyway the biggest excitement of the meal - besides the price and beautiful aquariums inside.......... Not long after the meal was ordered and everyone had settled down. Claire, the lovely little poppet she is, decided her lunch hadn't agreed with her after all and brought it up..... all over herself and the stroller!! EErrkk!! thank goodness the sea gulls hadn't spotted her!!!! !!
So i had to do a dash to the car gratefully spotting a public bathroom on the way, where i tried to clean her up as best as possible :( - pity i didn't have the truck and it's handy dandy water tank!
So it seems Claire had caught Kaytie's 'bug' from Friday :(
I had a change of clothes for her in the car luckily.
Claire then spent the next 5 days laying listlessly on the floor either throwing up or sleeping - poor little mite. Halfway through the week when i thought she was recovering i weighed her - she was down to 12.4kgs finishing the week up at 12.1kgs! now don't forget that Claire will be 4 in April so you can imagine how scrawny and small she is at the moment! - Sophie who is nearly 2 years younger - weighs in at 14kgs. the average weight of a 4yo girl is 16-20kgs.
Unfortunately for Grandma Robyn - we seemed to have passed on our head cold from the previous week, we thought we had gotten over it - i guess some bugs were still lingering on :(
So some more quiet days in store, to recuperate for Friday when we headed back into Perth for a visit to The W.A.C.A. Both Jamie and Robyn are avid cricket fans - so is Samuel too i guess. We toured the small but in depth museum (and BEAUTIFUL aircon!) and then went for a drive to find some where for lunch, i'm not sure how many circles we drove around in, but we ended up only 6.5 kms away - I SWEAR it felt like 30+ km's away!! we had a 'quick' lunch - took much longer than expected! and dashed back to the WACA for the 1pm grounds tour
There was also a walk out onto the grounds - i chose to leave that part out - I don't DO sun! - I stayed behind with Claire and Sophie.
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| There's my team heading out to the wicket.. YAY!! GO TEAM!!! woo woo! |
That's all the photos i took, but after that... or was it before? we toured the home and away teams dressing rooms and 'boxes' You know (if you watch cricket) the players rooms when they zoom in on them - on the exercise bikes or the massage table??
So that was basically our week, dropped Robyn back to the airport Saturday night, Sunday we planned to do the BIG grocery shop before Jamie headed back to work, but Sophie spent the day throwing up - Strike 3! - She's a bit tougher then Claire it seems as Monday while very sleepy and sooky she managed to keep almost everything down (so we did the groceries - on high alert LOL!) And by Monday night she was fine..... for a 3:30am wake up call this morning!! I'll never get used to that - Jamie does it EVERYDAY while on shift - so he can get himself breakfast at the 'mess' without all the noise and bustle of a zillion other workers - now his hours have been cut back, he then goes back to bed for a half hour or so nap before starting at 6 am - i think he's planning on swimming now also Brrrrrrr! i hope he means after work!? - but then again, it'll be just as cold! double Brrrrrr!
I'll leave it here as i originally got online to prepare for school tomorrow - MON/TUES are our 'weekend' we do school on Sat/Sun to make up for it. But Alas i am STILL waiting on another parcel - i got so excited when i received the smaller one on Friday - i would have expected the rest by now :( it always has the bits i want most - the ones that come late! D'oh!
OH well stop Procrastinating woman!!
OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs
