In Pieces

I apologize ahead of time for the weirdness of this post! 

McKinley and I were going through last year's Christmas cards.  We were recycling them by cutting the fronts off and using them to make cards for all the kids in her class.  (By the way, they exchange Christmas cards at school here much like Valentine's Day cards in U.S.A.)

Here's where it gets weird....

My creative, brilliant, art driven daughter found a stack of our photo cards we sent out last year.  She cut the features (eyes, lips, hair, noses) of her and her brothers' pictures and created new little people.  It was crazy how much these new little people looked like they could be members of our family.  So, if Mark and I ever created more little people, here is what they might look like:

The last one looks so much like one of my nephews, it freaks me out!  

The moral of this story...

Have fun while making your Christmas cards this year, and remember to recycle!

By: Alisha

"I miss my friends and family more than Disneyland!'

"I miss my friends and family more than Disneyland!'

Hi it's McKinley with the scoop of what I think of life in Australia so far. 

School is going good I've made  some new friends, but i miss all my old friends.  my new friends don't seem to laugh at my jokes, I don't think they "get" them. 

My teacher Mrs.Stilitano is kind of strict, but once you get to know her she is nice.  I don't blame her for being strict because the kids in my class are a bit rowdy.  Not to mention there are 32 of us for her to look after!

We have to wear uniforms to school everyday.  It is a white shirt with an emblem with navy blue bottoms. They are quite boring, but it's easier to pick out what to wear.  I definitely miss wearing all my funky socks and hats. All the kids here at school were so amazed we had "free wear".  

In our new home,we are doing good! We've unpacked almost everything and my room is great. I still have my peace daybed, my white desk, and all my Justin Bieber stuff. 

Everest is still super annoying, with all his odd noises but what would I do without him?  Hagen wakes up at the crack of dawn but think i know why. It's practically sunrise at 5:40 a.m! That's what wakes me up!

Our house is 2 story and has a huge backyard. The backyard has a garden that mom is trying to grow, tons of grass to play on, and a trampoline!  Hagen, Everest, and I love to play outside!  Well life is going good so far. Next time I'll write about fun games and Aussie slang! Bye for now!!!

By: McKinley

Everest's First Impressions

I have been trying to keep the kid’s minds working since school would have been in session for them if we had stayed in the states.  I have them reading, writing, and practicing math every day.  Not to mention the cultural lessons we encounter just from being here!  Here is what Everest has written about:

September 9, 2011

There are many fun parks in Perth.  My favorite park so far was Synergy Park because it had a pond, two slides, ducks with ducklings, and 10 poles.  Another park I liked was Kings Park.  It was special because it had realistik things like a fire truck that had a bell, a hose, a steering wheel and a wheel that unraveled the hose.  Most of the parks have information signs that teach things about nature.  I learned that some bugs live underground and the female song bug sings a song to call the male. 

My First Post

Hello,

My name is McKinley, and I am starting a blog about my adventures in Australia.  You see, I just moved here from California, and things can be a bit different here.  I thought it might be fun to write about my adventures!

I'll start with some footage from our very long over the ocean flight.  We flew on a huge plane called an Airbus 380. 

Here was a rainbow we saw while looking for houses one day.

When we first arrived we were so tired all of the time. Every night I was ready for bed by 5:30 pm.  For me, it felt like 2:30 in the morning!

by: McKinley

Pumpkin Squash Pie

Today is Thanksgiving...
There is no canned pumpkin here, so I was forced to learn to make my pie from scratch.  Not only is there no canned pumpkin, but the orange pumpkins we are used to seeing in stores in America are not around either.  What we do have is pumpkin squash a.k.a butternut squash.  That is what I made my pies out of for our Thanksgiving Feast, and they turned out fabulous!  Here is a link to the recipe I used.  I challenge you to give it a try!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/better-than-pumpkin-pie/detail.aspx

by: Alisha

Finding Christmas Down Under

It is our first Christmas Season away from the USA.  I am wondering what the differences in culture might be.  The first obvious difference in this Christmas Season will be the weather.  We are just coming into summer here in Australia, and it is starting to get HOT!  Today it will be nearly 40 degrees (Celsius) which translates to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit.  Did you know that Fahrenheit is only used by the US, Cayman Islands, and Belize? 

Here is some interesting trivia on the subject:
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the Dutch-German-Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736).^[1] Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees. The temperature scale was replaced by the Celsius scale in most countries during the mid to late 20th century,^[2] but it remains the official scale of the United States, Cayman Islands and Belize.^[3]

I am so thankful to be exposed to all of this new information, and for my kids to experience it too.  We are learing the metric system, we are learning about degrees Celsius, and how to travel on the opposite side of the road. 

Getting back to Christmas, I wanted to share a photo I took at the shopping center yesterday.  There was a nativity right in the center of the mall!  I realized that this Christmas Season in Australia just may be about Jesus... I will wait for more clues as the Season continues.  I sure hope that is the case.

by: Alisha