More Travel

We went to Mackay today. Well, we are still here actually. We came down because it is Rosie's birthday and Sharlene and family are going out for a dinner. Happy Birthday Rosie! It is also exactly one year since we moved into our house in Bowen, so it is a bit ironic that we aren't there. Tomorrow we're back, but not before we go to Townsville. Zemiel is starting up his speech pathology again and it will be one of the rare times for Sharlene to go as well.

Today we went to see how Janice and Gerard are coping at our Mackay school and it seems like they will have their hands full sorting out useful stuff from junk and writing programs. Janice has already made a lot of headway though. Zem and Az had a great time exploring and rearranging the toys and furniture of the room. Zemiel even got his train 'fix' for the day with the room's train set.

Sharlene has made some apricot slice for the today's and tomorrow's trip but honestly I don't know how many will remain for tomorrow. They have been pretty well received (and eaten) by everyone (especially me) since we left.

Summer Day

What a great day we had yesterday!

The day began at 4:30 with Azariah waking up and asking for an ice block.

We began watering the plants early. We've developed a system where I fill up a larger bucket with water and Zem gets a smaller bucket and pours water onto the pots  and plants. Azariah also gets a bucket and pours water onto himself.

We got our windscreen replaced yesterday. The crack in it was getting bigger every day. (It started when a truck threw a rock at us on our trip from Brisbane in late December). The boys and I decided to spend some time down at the beach while we waited for the work to be done. The shop wasn't far from Front Beach, so that was a natural choice and we got to see other parts of the beach that we hadn't really been to yet.

There was a small shelter dedicated to the 'Catalina' floating planes which apparently had 11 squadron and 20 squadron stationed in Bowen during the 2nd world war. The whole place was quite nicely done. The tide was out and we could see many different birds out sifting through the sand looking for crustaceans and worms. Further on and we went to the playground where we usually spend our time. The boys spent most of the time wanting to play on the wheelchair swing. Which I'm not sure I understand entirely because it couldn't move without a key. Anyway, they played quite happily on/around it for about 20 minutes - until I got bored and decided to try something else.

Next, we went and had a water drinking party on one of the tables there. Bowen water is notoriously unreliable and potentially health threatening but I decided to chance it. The boys were definitely thirsty and we also enjoyed watching the black cockatoos in the she-oaks above. Following our drinks, I tried to get Zem interested in tree climbing by putting him up in a tree fork (about my head height). He wasn't too fussed at first, but got more interested when he could see the ants that were crawling up the tree. Even so, he was keen for me to try it. So down he came and up I went. It wasn't the easiest tree to get a hold of and up, but eventually I made it and Zem loved it. Azariah was watching from a safe distance in the pram. Now Zem wanted up as well. I couldn't reach him so we exchanged places. This time he liked it more and signed for me to go up, up, up (to the count of 10). (Which, for the uninitiated, means that he wants me to go up the tree as high as humanly possible). I decided that it was time to go try something else.

Next stop was the rocks. These rocks were used by the original surveyors to lay out the town. I released Azariah and both he and Zem had a lot of fun climbing up the rocks to get me. The only problem was that these rocks were out in the sun and so the boys got a little pink from this activity.

From there, we still had a few minutes to wait, so we went to the IGA nearby, besides being air conditioned, it still had a few low quality peaches remaining. (Because of the floods down south, all our fresh food up north has not gotten through. So we have a lot of empty shelves at the moment.) I got a peach each for the boys and we sat down outside to eat them. That done, it was time to go and get our car and drive home.

We had only been home for a few minutes (long enough to each a sandwich each and hop into bed) when Sharlene came in through the door - early home from work. The boys had a short sleep and then what to do? Why what else but go outside and chase and catch grass hoppers. And that kept everyone entertained until it was time for tea, baths and bed.

Thanks for a good day boys.

2 Years of Hearing

Today is a special day. It has now been two years since Zem was 'switched on'. I don't know exactly how we are going to celebrate, but perhaps we'll leave that up to him. At the moment he is interested in the beach, whales and trains. Azariah is interested in anything that Zem is doing.

New Software

Zemi's last Map wasn't a very successful one in terms of his hearing ability. The program worked great for individual frequencies but when they were all turned on at once, his face just twitched all the time with the amount of information that was being sent. His next Map was supposed to be scheduled for March 2011, but because some new software was made available last month, we decided that we wouldn't wait and instead get it loaded sooner rather than later.

So we all went to Brisbane last Monday to see if we could get a better deal for him, and we are glad we did. The volume that he can now cope with is about 50% higher than it was last time, which means he can hear quieter noises better. Also, his ability to hear background low frequencies has changed. We hope it will be an improvement.

The trip itself was quite eventful, with stops at Aunty Bon and Lindon's property, Great Aunt Suzie's address, Pop Cole and Marilynn's house, Grandma Mac and Malcolm's home, and Poppy Brian and Nana's place. On the way we played with cousins Aleena and Brayden, tyson and Ella, Luke and Eli.

With God's blessing we managed to navigate our way down to Brisbane in some of the heaviest periods of rain that can be remembered. The highway was being cut and cars stopped from passing through behind us. The deepest washout that we went through was about 40cm on the flood markers. It made for a very slow trip though. On the way back, we had to take the highway from Bundaberg instead of going past Rosedale to Miriam Vale, due to water still covering roads. We had fears about Rockhampton, as the flood waters came through from Emerald, and the river was definitely high.

Now, with Christmas coming up quickly, it is time to get our presents wrapped and put near our nativity scene at home.

New Processor

Zemiel's replacement parts came in the mail today. Now perhaps we can finally get his right side hearing again. The new processor seems to be working well. His behaviour was better during the tele conference today. Skype is generally working well, but the sound sometimes fades out.

Eight Laps Around the Sun

Eight years.
Ninety-six months.
Four hundred and seventeen weeks.
Two thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two days.
Seventy thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight hours.
Four million, two hundred and seven thousand, six hundred and eighty minutes.

Life with Azariah

Well, here are a few things that may interest you about Azariah.

He is now walking, running and generally loving it.
He is very strong-willed and will often do something he knows is wrong (and will possibly get a smack for) just because he wants to.
He loves the utensils draw. His favourite being the whisk, followed by the potato masher and then the egg flip.
He says daddy and mummy clearly and often interchangeably.
He is still having three sleeps a day (on a good day) but reducing now down to two.
He adores flowers or anything that looks like flowers.
He will frequently hop into our little wading pool with no thought of taking off clothes or nappy.
He loves playing (throwing leaves and rocks) in the dog's water.
He is now capable of climbing both up and down our 15 step flight of stairs.
He loves things that are soft. Pillows and doonas will immediately be pounced upon.
He eats almost anything (including rotting mangoes that have fallen off the tree).
His favourite food right now is mango.
He is usually the last one to finish his meal, firstly because of quantity and secondly because he is generally a neat eater with small bites.
He likes savoury foods best.
He is approximately 12 kilograms.
He has a (bad) habit of "exploding" with "number 3's".
He loves being chased.
He hates being alone.
He goes (most happily) to men with light coloured (greying usually) hair.
If there is action, usually he is part of it.

Trevor is Married...Finally

Last Wednesday, Rhonda finally got her man.  The wedding was held down on the creek at the Kenilworth Homestead. The ceremony was quite beautiful, and the backdrop too, even though the creek had recently flooded. It was fantastic that great nanna and so many of our family attended.
Our two good looking boys.

Az keeping it cool.

All the family.

Trev with his great smile.

Here comes the bride.

Trevor and Rhonda enjoying the moment.

Ronda was happy.

Very happy.

"I surely do!"

A symbolic gesture.

Murray Hunter was the man in charge.

Our immediate family with Roni.

First ever pic of Shar and Roni.

Bon and Shar together.

Three generations.

All in! (And Zem wanting out...) I wonder why?

Happy Birthday Sharlene

Shari's birthday has been a happy one. Thank you to all who remembered. (Shame on the people who did not). ;)
I'd been getting Sharlene's presents ready for the last three months. Unfortunately, Sharlene would find the hiding place for my gift before I was able to wrap it. So she ended up with a few early presents. We also went out to dinner on Thursday night and got someone to babysit the boys. Finally, Shar tried to cook her own birthday chocolate mudcake on Friday morning and asked me to take it out later and bring it to school to share. I forgot. So I hurriedly cooked another and brought it along.

September Holidays?

Well, the holidays went by quickly. Sharlene attended a Rock and Water inservice down in New South Wales. On the way we stopped at Moonee Beach and stayed the night in a cabin and went up on the headland in the morning. It was windy but we saw some dolphins surfing the waves just before we left.
Sunrise from the headland.

Dolphins surfing the waves.

We moved on to Newcastle then, and stopped at the Formule 1 Hotel. The rooms were small but we didn't spend long in there. I looked after the boys during those days by taking them to the Morisset Hospital and other parks. Zem loved feeding the kangaroos. The boys and I tried to catch up with a number of people that we knew. We also spent the nights visiting our friends.

We checked in on the old house to see how things were going and also visited CCAS to surprise some of the students and teachers. On Thursday we went down to Sydney to see Zemiel's teleconference teacher. Then we drove back to Morisset for Sabbath and especially for Sharnaye's baptism. We left for home early Monday morning and got into Bundaberg in the early evening.

The boys enjoyed seeing the cousins, although the weather kept everyone in the house. We finally got a nicer day and saw Grandma Mac and Malcolm at park. We finally headed back home hoping for a holiday.
Kangaroos...