Family visitor and swimming carnival

There are many good things about living in Sydney, Australia....but a major 'bad' thing is that we are thousands of miles from everywhere and in particular 24 hours away from our families.

While I occasionaly joke that it's a good thing....it's not. Really. Honestly.

For James and Olivia - family is a bizarre concept.  Because family are so distant and seen once or twice a year (at best) they get incredibly excited when "family" arrives.  This week the big excitement was the arrival of Amie - James & Olivia's cousin (my niece) from Scotland.

Amie arrived on Wednesday night, around 11pm.  I new I had the flight from Glasgow's arrivals as people started to come through security wearing jumpers and scarves.  Even though it was 11pm, it was still 25 degrees and humid....

After 4 days Amie is now aclimatised.  She is as red as a lobster, is sleeping fairly well and can now find her way to the local shops and back without getting lost (she did have to look at her map once or twice she said).  The kids are loving having a cousin to stay and enjoyed showing her around Manly and Sydney already this weekend.

Amie is with us for at least 4 weeks....lots more to come on her stay I am sure.

Swimming Carnival Update

On Tuesday, James and Olivia woke early, had a big breakfast and set off for the swimming pool. After a long morning I am glad to report that that the Reid family performed very well.

Olivia:  Finished 3rd in her 50 metre freestyle heat and qualified for the final.  She did not do so well in the final but we are very proud of her for swimming her heart out and making the final.  She was delighted and it's great to see the competitive streak coming out in her.

James: As the defending school swimming champion, the pressure was on.  Well, his results were:

• 50m freestyle - won heats and won final - winning time 38.5 seconds (faster than I can do)
• 100m freestyle - won his heat (this was an all age event)
• 50m backstroke - came second (Dad I bumped into the side rails)
• 50m butterfly - won his heat
• 50m breast stroke - won his heat

We hear tomorrow which events he will now represent the school at in the District Finals.  It's based on the best times, so even though he won his heats, he may not always have the best time.  BUT we were incredibly proud and pleased for him.  He was delighted needless to say.

As a reward for their efforts I gave James and Olivia $50 each.  Emma is concerned I've set a precedent.

A few snaps from this week.

 James and Olivia enjoying a Baskin & Robbins ice cream in Sydney yesterday.

 Emma and Jack on the ferry home.

As I keep telling Amie - it's not a bad place to live.  The view from the ferry on the way home last night kinda supports that opinion.

 Last week Olivia was 'invested' into Cub Scouts.  After getting her swimming badge for 50m swim in the ocean, the ceremony took place on the beach.

 She was very, very pleased.

 James and his mates spent a lot of time chilling out at the beach last week watching the wolds best surfers and skaters do their thing.  They could get used to the sofa on the beach.

 James and Olivia getting ready for the swimming carnival.

 Olivia in her 50m heat.

 James checking the score board to see his 38.5 seconds time!!

Olivia, James and Tommy Peach.

James, Olivia and Amie at the Opera House.

Yet another hectic week. On Tuesday David and Ruth arrive...the house is going to seem very full!

Ken

A little late this week

It's Monday night - not my normal blogging time.  My excuse is that I worked all day Saturday, flew to Melbourne at 7am on Sunday, worked all day there and only got back from Melbourne on Monday evening at 8:30pm.

Don't feel sorry for me - I am a little unusual - I really enjoy my work, most days and the project I am working on is really intersting and challenging.

Because I was away there are not many photos or stories to tell this week - I am sure Emma and the kids got up to lots when I was away - but I've not had a chance to get a full download....so instead I'll provide a brief update on the kids (based on my knowledge of what they are up to,  which is at least 3 days out-of-date).

James

If James had his way there is only one thing he would be doing, all day, every day.  He would be out on his skateboard.  Yes, skateboarding is THE current craze in Balgowlah Heights.  It's insane - every kid is out on their board, dodging cars and building their collection of cuts and bruises.

When he is not skateboarding (usually when it's raining), James will:

• Watch lots of TV
• Play on the Wii
• Occasionally practice his euphonium
• Sometimes play pool with his dad
• Often fight with his sister
• Read a little.

His current sporting activities are Cricket, Tennis, Soccer and Swimming.  Cricket season ends in a few weeks and trials for the Winter Soccer season were tonight - James is hoping to make the A team again....fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is the School Swimming Carnival.  Last year James won every race....I'll update you on how he goes this year at the weekend.

James is almost 10.  He is fast approaching grumpy/moody teenage years......very fast approaching.

Olivia

Olivia continues to sing and dance her way through life.....in between fighting with her older brother.

Olivia is most happy when the iPod is blasting out a song (Goldfrap - A&E is her favourite) and she is dancing around the living room.  She still does ballet every week and just got picked for the school dance class - which she missed out on last year as we were in the USA.  She LOVES to dance as much as James loves to skateboard.

If she is not dancing, Olivia will generally want to play a game - card games and board games are popular and she passes many hours playing games with Emma.

Olivia also still does Swimming and is about to restart Tennis.  She is also now fully invested into the local Cub Scout group - which she attends with James on Tuesday nights.

Olivia has been practising for the school swimming carnival and decided today that she swims faster without her goggles as they keep leaking.  Fingers crossed she has a good dive start tomorrow and does well.

Olivia, at 8, has already entered the grumpy/moody teenage years.  I am worried what the the next 8-10 years have in store for us.

Jack

At 16 months, Jack is developing fast.  He runs around, gets up and down stairs and climbs on anything he can.

His favourite toys are cars - he LOVES cars. When I get home he is often running out towards me shouting Daddy! Car! - he is sadly more excited by the car I think.

His language is great.  He knows more words than James and Olivia did at the same age.  He also achieved a first this week - he put together three words....which were "Bye bye willy".....this was as Emma was putting his nappy on.  Certainly something to remember for future 18th birthday party speeches.

I took these two photos on my iPhone this week.  I think they capture Jack perfectly.

More next week - including Swimming Carnival results.

Ken

Finally a bit of sunshine

I know you won't believe it....but the weather has been terrible in Sydney this summer.

Due to El Nina we are having a very, very, very, very, very wet summer.  The current forecast is that there is a 75% chance of rain (and we are not talking about a bit of Scottish drizzle) every day from now until the end of April.  We have lots of visitors coming soon...expecting the normal summer fest of BBQ's on the balcony, lazy days by the pool and visits to the beach....we are hoping the forecasters have got it wrong.

The rain did stop for a while this weekend.  In between the flash floods I have managed to play golf twice, James played cricket, we got to the beach for a swim/body board and managed to pull apart and re-build our trampoline.

Golf: Friday morning 6:10am.....me, Nigel and Matt teed off for a quick nine holes.  By 9am we had finished, I'd had breakfast and was sitting at my desk - a great way to start the day.  Roll forward 30 hours, Saturday 5pm, me, James, Nigel and Tommy....now playing golf with two 9 year olds is not quite as relaxing - was still fun though.  James had a few memorable moments - a 150m drive on the first, a great second shot to 8 feet on the 5th and missed a 40 foot put on the last by an inch.  He played well.

Today we headed to the beach to see what was happening at the Australian Open surf competition.  This is part of the World Surfing Tour and the greatest surfers in the globe have desended on Manly for the next week to fight it out for the title.  Today was the Junior Ladies.  The sun shone, the waves were a clean 4-5 feet and the winds were light.  Perfect - these girls could surf and we had a great time watching them.

As part of the surf event they have imported a Skate Bowl for the first time into Australia.  This will host the Australian Skateboard Championships and JAMES is VERY excited.  Today they did a quick demo which we enjoyed watchnig in a brief few hours of sunshine.  The highlight was an 8 year old boy (who has one of these bowls in his back garden)....he was kinda good, for eight.

Emma is already planning her week to maximise time at the beach - this is a huge event with live bands playing each night as well as the surfing/skateboarding going on.  James and Olivia took advantage of a free photo opportunity....not sure what it's advertising.

Another weekend is over.  The kids are shattered.  We all look a little sun burnt - which is odd as there has been HUGE amounts of rain all weekend.

Ken

Blink and you missed it - this weekend flew by

So, what have we done this weekend?
 - Emma sailed (came second)
 - We signed up James for his new Soccer season
 - I signed up for another O35 Soccer season
 - James signed up for Ruby Union - for the first time
 - Olivia signed up for her second netball season
 - We bought James new soccer boots
 - Olivia went to a Birthday Party
 - James went to the skate park
 - Olivia had a sleep over at Tess McPherson's
 - Emma & I had dinner with the McPhersons
 - We went to Freshwater beach for a swim and a surf
 - James played in a tennis tournament (The Australian Open)
 - I played soccer with 10 of my teammates
 - James played touch-Ruby with his new team
 - We had a BBQ in the park where I played soccer

Phew.  Tired just writing it all down.  Knackered from doing it all!

It's now 9pm on Sunday.  The kids are in bed and Jack went straight to sleep.  It's a great time of the week...not even started thinking about work yet....Doh!

A highlight for me this weekend was taking James to the skatepark.  We got there to find about 20 boys - ageing from 7 to 14 - already on scooters having a great time.  They were doing some amazing tricks - leaping up to 6 feet in the air and doing various spins with the scooter.  We sat and watched for a while as James was a little intimated.

There was one little kid, I think he was 7, James thinks he was 12 but just small.  Who knows...but it was clear he was quite good on the scooter.  His jumps were always a little higher and his landings always perfect.

Well after 10 minutes of some impressive stuff, he took our breath away.  Across the skate park, up the steep ramp and....a perfect, slow, graceful, back-flip...with a smooth landing.  Every kid in the skatepark was open mouthed.

As a Parent my first thought was "He could have broken his

neck doing that...".  When he then did it again, and again, and again, I started to enjoy it.  He was amazing.  A future star of the Scootering world. I took a photo...and a video..

The take off.

 Great shape in mid air - look at his eyes.

If he misses, it's an 8 foot plus drop down the wall.

But he lands it.

James did not try this move....but he enjoyed his tennis competition (even though he did not play his best and it was very, very hot.)

More adventures in a week.

Ken