TUESDAY

By J12 and J11 (self-editted without any Mother-Help)

In the pouring rain we dashed across MOTAT to the Robot Exhibition. There were some remote controlled robots, which we were allowed to have some fun with. J11's favourite was a dinosaur that could run quite quickly and move its tail and head. K9 directed one of the dinosaurs *almost* under one of the cars that was parked there. There was a robot robot (do you know what we mean by that? it looked like what you expect a robot to look like) - it could bend down, roll over and say Hello, as well as move anywhere you sent it.

Do you have any idea what this is?
It looks like a piece of cardboard with straws and string, doesn't it?
What you can't see are the rubber bands attached to the back.

They work all together as a robotic hand.
When you pull a certain string, it will move a finger, stretching out the rubber band (just like a tendon). Of course, when you let go of the string the rubber band pulls the finger back straight again.

When we got home Grandpa used this to explain to us about his Carpal Tunnel surgery.
It was also easy to see why the end of Mama's finger hung lifelessly when she snapped one of her tendons.

Very Interesting.

MONDAY

By K9 (and without Mama's help) - that's me in the photo!
On Monday Daddy said that we would go for a walk on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day. We packed our new packs with raincoats just in case it rained and lunch and one with lots of clothes just to make it heavy.

At the beach Dadda took photos of us all by the car and on the beach too.

We walked along a track to the beach where there were lots of big sand dunes that we walked along. We came to a fresh water lake sort of thing. Daddy said that he would take us to a track that would take us back to the car, but he never found it. So we stopped at a hill for some lunch after walking for an hour or so. We made slides out of grasses and played on the slides for an hour.

plodding on

Do you know how far we walked the other day?
a l....o....o....o...n....g way!

We had spent all day walking round the Science Fair and had spent an especially long time at the physical education activity jumping over hurdles and side-stepping cones, kicking soccer goals and shooting baskets.

We were feeling a little tired, but there was over an hour to fill in before Dadda would finish work and so we started walking from the city towards his work. We must have looked quite a sight with our board games and balloons and bags and stroller and other paraphernalia! After about 2km M4 got tired....grizzly tired. Just at that moment Mama spied a sparkling coin on the ground and she told him he could keep it if he could carry it without complaining! After that he managed to go another 4km.

Yes, we walked 6km before Dadda came and picked us up.

Mama said it made her more hopeful that we'll manage to travel round the world without having complete meltdowns every day! It was a good day...and a good walk.

an autumnal stroll

We just completed our first Walk With Real Packs. We crunched through fallen leaves and picked flowers and noticed new fences and talked about China.

We had walked a fair distance the other day with all our gear to the backpack shop in order to try out different packs, but that was harder, because our bags didn't have decent harnesses, and it's simply More Fun with these ones!


Today we did the 3.5km block and even M4 managed to go the whole way with his pack full and without complaint. His self-encouragements ("I'm doing so well") spurred him on to the end where he sprawled on the ground!

CHOP CHOP

"Chop chop, hurry up, into the car" Mama called out to us.
We had to go out for the day, because we were bombing the house to try to get rid of the fleas L6 brought back from the hospital last week! We had one of those days Mama calls "productive"....revised memeory verses in the car, looked at a section, picked up some card for the games we are making, popped into Kathmandu and snapped up a bargain (they had made some gloves too small so were getting rid of them for $2 and our little girls need extra-extra-small!!!), did grocery shopping, visited some more sections, had lunch in the car, drove into town to pick up packs for the Big Trip (now it seems like it's really happening), played in Albert Park, watched the flower clock, listened to the university clock in the clock tower, zipped home, emptied the car, tidied the house, read some stories, watched some Gladys Aylward movie, cooked dinner...oops chop chop again. J11 chopped the end of one of his fingers. Not a little chop - a chop that required visiting the neighbour-nurse who advised getting it seen by Someone Who Knew What They Were Doing. Good ol' Grandpa dropped his going-out-dinner-plans and came over to watch the rest of us kiddos (coz of course today was the day Dadda was working til 7pm!)....we raced down to the doc and got it patched up nicely. His verdict wasn't the most encouraging: "I can't promise you won't lose the end of the finger, but we'll have a better idea in a few days. Come back tomorrow and we'll have a look and change the dressing." Hopefully it will be fine...and in the meantime, J11 is sporting an impressive-looking bandage!

catch up

There's so much to write about.
We had four days without Mama and L6 who went to hospital. It was really nice to have Dadda round more and to spend time with our friends and with Grandpa.
We've been doing things like visiting open homes (Dadda looks like he wants to build another house!), gardening, working on our science competitions, shooting baskets, making glasses and weather recording equipment, tidying the house for when Mama came home, riding bikes, playing cricket and lots of board games....
Last week we learnt the whole National Anthem. AllFiveVerses.

spotty dotty

There's a reason you look subdued in this photo

...you were about to come down with measles. You've been thoroughly miserable all week....but we have snuggled you and loved you lots and lots. Everyone has taken turns at holding you and carrying you round. You have just wanted to lie on someone's shoulder and whimper.
Yesterday you slept for four hours in the afternoon and today you seem to be feeling much better.

a new ambulance....

.....with a new stretcher complete with attached oxygen machine


T3 got more hurt when she fell off the stretcher than before she was picked up by the medic team!!!! But she came outside after her nap for more rides.


ER loves rides in the ambulance too. Mama said she was a speed demon and then decided that wasn't a very pleasant thing to say!

What A Country We Live In!

Yesterday we had one of our favourite-est adventures....hiking in the bush.



We climbed this cliff - it doesn't look very big in the photo but when we got to the top of it we looked down and saw our van and it looked like an ant, so it must have been quite high.
Halfway up M4 found a birds' nest, which he carried, because he didn't want to miss it on the way back down.
Some of the trees were so low to the ground that we had to crawl under them - even Mama got down on her hands and knees with ER(10mo) tied to her front!
From the top we could see a waterfall - and we could even hear it. We could hear the sea too as we sat there eating Easter eggs!!!!!

Mama and Dadda helped the two little ones and J12 and J11 helped M4 and L6....coming down was really slippery in places and we skidded down the hill.

T2 walked all the way by herself. Usually Dadda ends up carrying her for the end of our hikes, but this time she walked and didn't even ask to be carried.

Then we went to the Angoves....they have a huge garden and they had hidden eggs in it for us to find. We put the wrappers in M4's nest.

It was a wonderful day.

Sir Edmund, here we come!

When we did the Try-athlon we were given vouchers to go rock-climbing.

THAT promised to be a real ADVENTURE.

On Saturday Dadda took us. And it was every bit as good as we had imagined.

Now we're ready to climb Everest!

HOSPITALS

L6 broke his arm.
K9 broke his leg.
M4 broke his finger.
K8 had a baby.
T2 didn't break anything - she just lay in bed.

All in all, we needed a hospital!
J12 and J11 were the nurses and doctors and turned the boys' room into a hospital. There were beds enough for everybody. Even ER(9mo) crawled up to the beds, pulled herself up and "said" HELLO to everyone. She was a kind visitor.

And yesterday K9 made a wheelchair. Here he is using it with his broken leg:



PS from Mama....while the kids go to race round on the wheelchair outside!
On Thursday M4 gets to have another real hospital visit. He's having an ultrasound to see why some lymph nodes in his neck are enlarged. Actually, he's been really well this year - he's just had one fever bout and a couple of times when he looked like he was about to ail....but he came right before going downhill. So we are hopeful that whatever *it* is that's been knocking him down for the past couple of years, is working its way out of his system. But we'll still keep the appointment and hopefully rule out a few more nasties.

Team Racer

Bikes play an interal part in many of our outdoor adventures...actually it's an adventure just to find your own bike in the assortment!
Apart from the fun of biking, we like to be like our Grandpa too. He's in his late seventies and he still gets out on his bike a few times a week. This summer he did a cycle tour with some other mates round the East Cape - 450km in three days. And he always does the 160km Lake Taupo cycle challenge. He's a legend.

L6 felt the need to identify his bike with a number plate - Mama thought it said COPS TEA, but in fact it's 78PST34....and that's just the first line! Numbers are routinely written backwards - seems to be a feature unique to our left-handers.



When Mama is particularly dreamy, she would like to get a bike and one of these for the littlest kiddos. Then we could all bike to the local shops instead of walking (which takes a couple of hours there and back) or instead of taking the car (which pollutes the atmosphere)

splash...pedal...pound

Before the sun rose we were up, preparing to race.
breakfast * drink bottles out of freezer * bags in the car * securing bikes * bursting with excitement *

200m swim....8km bike ride....1.5km run (for J12 & J11...half the swimming and biking distances for K9, although we all trained together, so he really could have done the longer one!)



waiting to start * 2697 other competitors * warm sea water * in the mouth * kicks in the face * transition area * trouble finding the bike * overtaking * riding on the road * little wee nose-to-tail * cold breeze in your face * sweltering sun * puffed out * receiving a medal * ALMOST winning a bike




PS Thanks Mama for giving us a snazzy title!