June / July 2009

Wow…nearly two months have gone by since my last update and so much has gone on that I don’t even know where to begin. So I guess I will begin after we returned from Bali. We had just a few days before my sisters came. We received an email from the school that if any student has had contact with an American that they would need to be in “quarantine” for 7 days due to the swine flu pandemic. Fortunately, the girls’ school ended up asking us to keep them out one day since it was their last week of school but the boys’ school required the full 7 days. I picked up my sisters and Cassidy (A.K.A. “THE DIRTY AMERICANS”!!!) from the airport, dropped them off at the house to shower and rest and took Kennedy straight to the hospital to begin the rabies shots from the monkey bite in Bali. That afternoon we enjoyed seeing all the goodies they brought to us from home. I am pretty sure that we had queso and chips within the first 24 hours of their arrival! The next day we went to Caversham Wildlife Park, one of the first places we went when we arrived in Perth. The last day of school was the awards assembly and Mackenzie won the “Read around Australia” contest for 3rd grade and 4th place for the entire school. The school year ended with a “sausage sizzle on the oval” in typical Aussie style. That weekend Clint and I celebrated Steve and Stephanie’s birthdays at a restaurant called “Alure” in the Burswood casino here in Perth. It was a fabulous time (met new friends Jacqui and Cam) and it was the first and LAST time I will ever eat sushi! No thanks! Not for me. The Caesar salad was so yummy that I plan on going there for lunch next week. Oh…now I remember what you might find of interest about that story. You know me - it was a birthday so it was a great excuse to find an INCREDIBLE cake! So I sent out an email to the moms of Reid’s class. I got a lot of responses back so I started calling all of these places and asking them so pretty detailed questions about their cakes. I am SURE they thought I was crazy. I even explained that I am a CAKE SNOB and that I like a really moist, fluffy cake…but that was a bad thing to say because then they thought I wanted a sponge cake. I went into the texture of icing I was looking for and the described the taste of butter cream (my mouth is literally watering as I type this) and on and on I went. I really liked the sound of the cakes at this one place but was quoted $150 so I moved on. Finally, I made the decision. Saturday came and Clint went to pick up the cake for me…I had cash in hand to give him since of course, they don’t take cards! Not the way we are accustomed to living! Funny how organized and “on the ball” I can be when it has to do with cake!...anyway, I was so excited all day about getting to eat this cake. It looked good…it smelled good. After dinner they brought it out. We sang, we took pictures and then the moment came…the cutting of the cake. Oh no…this can NOT be happening. It doesn’t look right…it’s not fluffy…it‘s soooo dense. It was AWFUL! Five months without cake and THIS is what I picked! I wanted to cry…seriously!! Later Clint said, “Honey, I felt so bad for you!” He totally gets me!...at least most of the time! The next day we went to Serpentine Falls and did some hiking. We saw lots of kangaroos in the wild, which is so much cooler than in a park. Steve and Stephanie went with us as well. We stopped in Mandurah on the way home to try a Mexican restaurant...oh well, we tried!

The following week I went to Angie Junker’s house to learn how to make an authentic Venezuelan meal for Clint for Father’s Day. This was a meal we had a few months ago at Tom and Angie’s and we thoroughly enjoyed it. So after an afternoon of cooking I was carrying everything to the car. It was pouring down rain and as I was going down the stairs outside I slipped and ATE IT!!!! It was one of those pains that nearly caused me to pass out. I guess the reason why I ended up getting hurt so bad is that I somehow broke the fall with various parts of my body in efforts to save the meal I had just spent hours learning to make. It is really amazing that I did not break my arm AND leg! The next day I was so black and blue down one side of my body. I did not want to tell Clint where I was and what happened so that I did not ruin the surprise “Fathers Day” meal so he was very confused as to how in the world I hurt myself so badly. Father’s Day weekend was one Clint will never forget, or any of us for that matter. We drove to Lancelin, which is about 1 ½ hours from Perth, to go sand boarding. TOO MUCH FUN!!!! It was extremely exhilarating. I am not sure the pictures do it justice! At times it really felt like the Prado was going to flip over. We were all screaming like we were on a roller coaster. Apparently this crazy adventure has left its’ mark on our car…there will always be a layer of sand on the dash board! Clint enjoyed his surprise Father’s Day meal and his gift, which was “barbeque school” with the “Urban Griller”! Clint is lucky that he will actually get to celebrate Father’s Day twice this year since Australians celebrate it in September.

Cassidy turned 20 on June 25th so we had a birthday party at McDonalds! I felt I had to explain as you might be shocked to find pictures of my family eating at McDonalds. I am sure you knew there had to be some explanation for the madness. Well, honestly…in a way, I was glad to have an excuse to eat there…but shhhh don’t tell anyone! We gave Cassidy Dr. Pepper for her birthday…a real treat here in Perth!

The next weekend we drove north hoping to escape the rain. We have learned that Perth winters are very wet! We stopped at a place called the Pinnacles on our way to Kalbarri, which is about 3 hours north of Perth. It's believed the Pinnacles were created millions of years ago as seashells were broken down into sand and then eroded by water and wind. It was a beautiful site!! We continued on our journey four more hours to Kalbarri. We arrived at our “resort”…maybe what Western Australians call a “resort” but let’s just say it was NOT the Westin. You will not find 4 and 5 star resorts that I am embarrassed to say we have become accustomed to staying at on vacation. Sure, they call it a resort…even luxurious; they even call some places a “chalet”…sounds glorious doesn’t it??!! Our luxurious 4 star resort was straight out of a Chevy Chase vacation movie. Notice the picture of the pool in the slide show and you will get an idea of what I am talking about. However, after the initial shock we made it “home” for the next three days. Kalbarri was definitely what I pictured Australia to look like before we actually made this country our “home”. We did a lot of hiking with Kennedy leading the pack most of the way! For the most part, the rain cooperated with us and when it didn’t, we simply got wet! I loved watching the kids roll up their britches, build waterfalls out of rocks and simply enjoy nature! No TV, no computer, no IPODS…very nice! There had been so much rain that the roads leading to one of the best hikes in Kalbarri National Park was closed. We also found many things closed due to strong winds. We were thankful that we were able to do the “Canoe Safari”. It was a great time. We canoed for about 45 minutes and then stopped for “brekkie” on the bank of the river. We had cereal eggs, toast, baked beans and vegemite!!! Okay, so not ALL of us had vegemite! This is where the $10 buck dare began. A couple of years ago and when I was in Colorado visiting my friends, the Klaus family, they introduced me to this simple but funny, daring game. So we “$10 bucked” anyone to eat a piece of toast with vegemite! So Rachel, Cassidy and Mackenzie took on the dare. Cassidy gave up after smelling it, Rachel took one bite and spit it out but Mackenzie was so determined to do it since she is saving for a Kindle, that she got half of a piece of bread down but started gagging as if she was about to vomit and called it quits. It only made sense to her that she earned $5 since she ate half of the toast! After breakfast the girls asked where the restrooms were. HA! So the girls and I had a lovely Mother Daughter moment. We snuck off, stood in a circle, dropped our pants and squatted! Lovely! The girls thought it was hilarious! I guess in our case, you can take the girl out of the Westin AND you CAN take the Westin out of the girl! We loaded back in our canoe, with Clint reminding me along the way that he did take canoeing in college! We also reminisced about our first canoe experience when we were in college. I moved to Hawaii for the summer and he saved his money to come visit. I surprised him with a short trip to Kauai. We canoed to this place called “Fern Grotto”. After that excursion it is a wonder that we ever even got married!!! I think that was the summer right after he took canoeing so he WAS the expert!

We got up fairly early the next day, which is necessary for 10 people sharing one bathroom, to go see the Pelican feeding. I guess only one Pelican was hungry that day as that was all that showed up. We packed up all of our wet clothes and shoes and started the seven hour journey home. I was looking forward to our king size, therapeutic mattress! We had a great time in Kalbarri, saw some incredible sites and did some great hiking. I found it humorous that when we walked in the door of the house in Perth we all went our separate ways until morning. Unfortunately, Rachel and Samantha’s birthday fell that day but we decided to celebrate it on the 29th in the U.S.! I made one of their favorite meals, Kristine and Cassidy baked a cake (it was far better than the one I bought!) and Rachel and Samantha received their very own Camelbacks (for those of you who don’t know…it is a “BPA free” water bottle and all 6 of us are proud owners). I actually have two different sizes! It is my déjà blue water bottle replacement!



The following Friday was Mackenzie’s birthday. We carried on with the “ice cream for breakfast” tradition and then headed to Margaret River. You couldn’t miss us!! We were decked out in the most USA wear you’ve ever seen. My mom had sent us a box full of 4th of July stuff…shirts, hats, beads, shoe clips, tiaras, Uncle Sam hat, sun glasses and the list goes on and on. We had planned on attending the American Women of Perth 4th of July picnic (actually held on June 28th) but decided to head North to Kalbarri instead to escape the rain. I am sure we would have won the “costume contest”. So we wore all of the USA stuff to celebrate Mackenzie’s birthday…kinda her 9th bday theme! We decided to stay at the same place we did last time (in March). It is a really cute place and very comfortable for the 10 of us! We stayed in Margaret River for 2 nights and visited wineries, cheese factory, chocolate factory and did a lot of site seeing. One of my favorite things we did was “THE MAZE”. It was straight out of a “SURVIVOR” episode. We divided up into teams and tried to make our way through the maze. There were four platforms at each corner of the maze that you had to reach. Talk about a cardio workout!!! Unfortunately, Clint and I came in last! Bummer, huh??? Doesn’t sit well for two people that like to think they are still in their 20’s! I guess we just THINK we can still hang! Oh well, there is always next time! On July 4th we drove to Augusta and supposedly went to the place that is said to be the farthest point from Washington DC. Not sure if this is true but it is what we’ve been told and we are going with it since we drove 1 ½ hours just to get there! It is where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet (who knew there was a Southern ocean??!!)! We stood proudly on top of this rock overlooking the ocean in our USA T-shirts, said the pledge of allegiance and sang the National Anthem. The next morning we left for Pemberton to go to the “TREE TOP WALK”. This was one of my favorite things we did. It was so beautiful…the trees were MASSIVE! Plus the drive to this area was INCREDIBLE! Much different than the previous weekend as far as the colors…this drive was very lush and green and last weekend we saw low brush and lots of brown. After the Tree Top walk we came across “Green’s Pool”…AMAZING! I can’t wait to go back there during the summer to swim. Who am I kidding??...I don’t swim in the ocean!!! It is way too cold for me!...I can’t wait to go lay out on the beach and watch the kids swim in the ocean! We were the only ones there and had fun doing relay races and handstands on the beach. I can still walk on my hands!!! That night we stayed at a very “interesting” place. It looked like a double-wide to me. It was funny to read the comments of previous guests in the “guest book” and quite concerning as well. Sooo many entries spoke of not having hot water. We were cold, wet and sandy…HOT water would be nice. Fortunately, we did not experience any problems at our “4 star luxurious chalet”. We played our last round of spades, a continuous tournament from the previous weekend. Samantha and I came out on top! The next day it was WINDY, COLD and RAINY! We had stopped to see a site called “The Natural Bridge” and it started POURING…so hard that my pants were SOAKED. We had to pull over and get dry clothes! One of Albany’s main attractions during this time of year is whale watching tours. Needless to say the whale watching tours were cancelled. However, we saw some amazing scenery in Albany but since the weather was really terrible we called it a day and headed back to Perth. We will definitely return to this area of the country and if we have any more visitors this would be a “MUST DO”!



We knew the next week would fly by as my sisters and Cassidy would be leaving in just over a week. We had a couple of things left on the list of things to do – one being “fish and chips” at Cottesloe Beach. So we had a wonderful afternoon in Cottesloe and then that night sisters and Cassidy offered to babysit. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed myself. We had an incredible meal at a place called the “Witches Cauldron”. Not sure I care for the name since I really don’t like the idea of witches and halloween…kinda creeps me out…but I pass this place every day on my way home from the gym and I have always wondered about it. It was INCREDIBLE! Then we went to see a movie, our first one since being in Perth! We shared the evening with our friends Steve and Stephanie…a very nice night indeed!

We finished up rabies shots for Kennedy and were very glad to have that behind us. We had "girls night out" and went to a gymnastics meet, with some of the Australian women's olympic team competing. I was in my "element". I just love the sport and really hoping it becomes Kennedy's passion. Wednesday came all too quickly and we said our good-byes to “The Aunts”, that is what the kids call them. I guess it is too much to say “Aunt Rachel, Aunt Samantha, Aunt Kristine and now Aunt Cassidy” so they just lump them all in one! It cracked me up on the canoe safari in Kalbarri when the director of the tour asked Kristine her name. Kennedy quickly answered for her and said, “It’s Aunt Kristine”. We are so thankful they came and that we got to be a part of their adventure.

We can cross going to a “footy” game off the list! You can actually see the stadium from our house. We had planned on walking since it is a pretty short walk. We got down the street and it started pouring so we turned around and got the car! Fortunately, we were able to find a parking spot. Have I explained how parking works here??....well, first of all they really don’t have parking lots. Most of the time we have to find places to park on the side of the road, which makes for quite a game of “Frogger” when driving around Perth. It is my goal to make it through our stay in Perth without getting a parking ticket. The other day I almost blew it. I was at “Farmer Jacks” (grocery store) and when you park in their tiny lot you have to park, walk to a ticket machine, go back to your car and place the ticket on the dashboard. I simply forgot! When I returned, this grumpy man told me he was in the process of writing me a ticket! Thankfully, he gave me a stern warning and let me go. Whew…that was a close one. So back to “footy”! First of all we were under the impression that we had box seats. (We later found out that the box seats were for rugby…bummer!) Also with our “box” seats we thought we would be getting free food, which we totally sold the kids on! Well, they weren’t box seats, it was pouring…I wish you could know what I meant by pouring!....and upon sitting down in our seats the man behind us screamed out the worst foul word you could possibly say in front of a woman. I turned around and simply said, “Wow…Kennedy cover your ears!!!!” The man got the hint and really did a great job of calling the players “girlies” instead for the rest of the evening. I thanked him upon leaving. He was super nice about it and I appreciated that! “Footy” – Australian Rules Football- is interesting and without knowing a thing about it you really can’t follow it. The ball looks like a funny shaped football…longer maybe and not quite as round. They do not wear any protective padding and it appears as if players can grab, punch, slap, shove, tackle and hit without getting penalized. It also looks like a cross between basketball, football and soccer. They have a goal post but it has 4 poles that go straight up that the players had to kick the ball between. They also “punch” the ball rather than pass it. Anyway, the kids were hungry, it was pouring, the language around us was terrible and we didn’t “get it” so we left! It was one of those things we felt we had to do while we were here and now that we have, don’t see a need to do it again…unless of course box seats and free food is involved!

Monday was a very cold and rainy day so I took the kids to see “Ice Age 3”…very fitting because that day it actually hailed so much that it looked like snow. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera. This doesn’t happen that often in WA so everyone was really excited about it. Mackenzie pointed out that she felt like we should be getting ready for Christmas!

The boys started back to school the following week which left the girls and me some time to do girlie things before they started back. Can’t think of anything girlier than going to see Hannah Montana! So that is what we did and we had the best time. We were the ONLY ones in the theatre so we sang…and we sang LOUD…we danced…we laughed! It wasn’t until the end of the movie that we realized that we actually had “company”. OOPS! The girls enjoyed getting pretty much anything they wanted that day and I had fun saying “yes” to everything…almost everything! They also wanted a repeat of “get everything we want for a day” on their last day of “winter” vacation. So we ate lunch at The Blue Duck on Cottesloe Beach and then went searching for seashells along the beach.

We experienced sadness this week as we had to say “good-bye” to our friend Karis. Tyson has to return for 6-8 more weeks but since Karis is a teacher she did not want to miss out on teaching this upcoming school year so she had to leave a bit earlier. I met Karis my first week here in a “body pump” class at the gym. We quickly figured out that we had both actually heard of one another through our friends Jen and Amanda and that we had a lot in common – our faith, fitness, friends and Texas A&M…couldn’t come up with another “F”…oh…just thought of one – Fightin’ Texas Aggies!!! Saying good-bye brought me to tears but the great thing is that I know I will see her again. Karis gave me a hug and said “I’ll pray for God to send you a new friend right away”. So the same day Karis left I went to the gym and saw a girl wearing an A&M t-shirt and I thought “Oh GOD…you really are going to provide me another friend RIGHT AWAY!!!!” I thought WOW!!! Here she is! …so I went over and talked to her and found out she is STILL AT A&M!!!! She was here visiting her parents! OH MY!!! HOW FUNNY that I thought so highly of myself that a 19 year old would want to be my friend! HAHAHA! Seriously, I knew she was young but did not expect her to be THAT young! So I’m still looking!!! But it hit me today while I was praying for Mackenzie. When I took her to school this morning I found out that there are only 2 other girls in her class and I was just so sad for her. Then I thought about telling her this speech: You know Mackenzie there are times in your life when God is going to ask you to make sacrifices in order to complete His work in and through you. God teaches us to put others before ourselves. While I think it is certainly okay to pray for a good friend - perhaps we should first pray that God uses you to touch someone else’s life in a big way!” …HEEEELLLLLLLOOOOOOO!!!! Right back at me!!!! So THAT is now my prayer…Lord, show me someone that I need to serve!

Aussie vocabulary:

We were at Bible study with our small group and the man leading it was about to call on a woman to answer a question and said, “Oh…the baby is on the T_T!” My mouth dropped and I am sure the expression on my face said it all. Can you even fathom Pastor Graham or any of the ministers at Prestonwood saying that??!!! Unbelievable!

I am not sure I have mentioned this before or not but here you don’t ask for a restroom or a bathroom. You have to ask, “Where are your toilets?” For whatever reason I can’t do it. I think it sounds so “un-lady like”. I have also asked my children not to conform to the “aussie way” but when they ask for a bathroom or restroom, people don’t seem to know what they are saying. I just imagine my kids coming back home and asking for the “toilet” and people thinking what rude children we have!

The other day the girls and I we were waiting to be seated at the Blue Duck and the lady says, “It won’t be but a tick”. Hmmm…took me a second to process but I got it.

The other day Kennedy got in the car and asked, “How are you going?” Slowly but surely they are becoming “aussie-fied”.

Precious times with the boys:

I am so blessed to have had such amazing times with kids since being here. One great thing about life here is that it is at a much slower pace. Therefore, I don’t miss these precious moments because I am going 90 miles an hour! I also love that we can’t use cell phones in the car because otherwise I would miss some really funny yet wise conversations that go on in the backseat. The other day Reid told Luke, “God is sooo rich!” and Luke’s response was “Yeah…and he shares it all with us!” What wisdom from a 4 and 5 year old!

I have to tell you about an incredible moment with sweet Luke. I know I am biased but he is so stinkin cute…so sweet…so precious!!! It was late one night and he stumbled into our bedroom with “ball ball” blanket in hand. I am pretty sure he was sleepwalking. He asked if I could come lay down beside him. I have to admit in a much faster paced life I would have been too tired to find the joy in that moment. So I said sure and then he asked if I could rub his back. Of course I would rub his back. So we walked to his bedroom and I met all his sweet little requests and then he says, “Now mommy, will you sing to me? Will you sing “Lullaby?” I was so moved I started to cry…but I was laughing at the same time because he was so out of it. He had the biggest grin on his face as I sang and then he said “I love you mommy!” I could cry again just thinking about it!!!

One morning Reid got up earlier than the rest of the kids and found me coloring my roots. Lovely!!! So he started asking me a lot of questions like “Why are you coloring your hair?”, which led to a discussion of what genes are vs. the jeans you wear. This went on for about 5 minutes or so and then there was total silence for a good 30 seconds. Then Reid said, “I guess, then, GOD wanted you to have grey hair!” and walked off! I wanted to say “But (something)!”…but I was taken back for a minute. What do you say to that? I got over it real quick and went on with my coloring job and concluded that God really wants me to use the color that HE gave someone out there the wisdom to make! But it was such a fitting comment that really goes along with what God has been teaching me lately. We have just gone through our first winter in Perth and let me tell you - we were NOT prepared for how much it would RAIN! It was a bit challenging since the girls were out of school for their “summer/winter” vacation during this time and we found ourselves stuck inside a lot! We would talk to people back home and hear the problem was quite the opposite…temperatures over 100 degrees day after day causing everyone at home to be stuck inside as well. SO while we were here wishing for warmer weather and sunny skies, people back home were hoping for some relief from the heat. In Philippians 4:11 Paul said he had learned to be content, whatever the circumstances – whether in need or to have plenty, whether well fed or hungry. I just want to be satisfied in the moment. I think back over the last 7 weeks and realize I really did enjoy waking up to the sound of rain. Knowing we really had nowhere to be at any specific time (a blessing within itself) I would just lie in my bed, pray and read. One morning I actually laid in bed until I finished the second book in the series “Mark of the Lion” by Francine Rivers! I have NEVER done that! The kids slept in later because it was dark outside and the cold temperature kept them all snug in their beds! So while I am not ready to embrace grey hair, I AM going to be content that there is the option of coloring and thankful that I have hair to color! I am ALSO going to be content with the winter weather we have left in Perth knowing that it needs to rain so we have enough water during the 9 months it doesn’t rain! We have also caught ourselves dreaming of our return back to the US, wondering where we are going to live (what restaurants will be nearby…ha-ha) and sadly enough I have dreamed of the house I will live in when we return (especially the kitchen!!!). I have expressed my feeling about this house to many of you and while it is not my favorite house, it is “home” for now. Clint and I have often (jokingly) said we sure hope this isn’t God preparing us for a mud hut in Africa, which was home to my sister Shauna and her husband Peter for 2 years!!!! I really have a new respect for them and the sacrifices they made while serving the Sudanese people, although I bet they wouldn’t even call it a sacrifice. 39A Connolly is not a mud hut by any stretch of the imagination but for now it is my “mud hut” and God is teaching me to be content in all circumstances. Thank you God for this house…thank you that sweet Mrs. Angela lives next door and that my kids bring her so much joy since her own husband doesn’t even know who she is most days!...thank you that we have not had to buy a second car because Clint can take the bus to work…thank you that we did not have to buy a refrigerator, washer/dryer and televisions because this house came with them! Thank you that had we not moved into this particular house I would not have had a gym membership at the Fitness First in Subiaco where I met my precious friend, Karis! There are so many reasons to be thankful for 39A Connolly!!!! SO hold me accountable sweet friends. And come December when it is 40 degrees Celsius, stop me from complaining about the heat! Yes, Candi Smith is going to be content in any and all circumstances! (Oh Lord, here’s where the devil comes in…keep me strong!)