Caitie's First Day at School

No Hat, No Play!

Miss Caitlin was eager to start school so the very next day after our arrival, we walked up to Chatswood Primary School and began the enrollment process.

Today, looking very smart in her new uniform, Caitlin joined Mrs Baker’s Year 5 class where she spent the morning in Mandarin class followed by Sport, Math and Spelling. Caitie met some lovely new friends and was very happy about her first day.

Some things we learnt about Chatswood Primary – It is over 100 years old. Kevin attended the very same school in 1971 and Brandon in 2001. It is a large school with 780 students and is ranked 4^th in the country for academics probably due to the large Asian population (86% of the students are Chinese, Korean or other of the total 28 languages spoken at the school) Music is also very big. There are 10 bands, a music house with 7 music studios where students may have private music lessons during school hours. Sport is played after lunch on Friday’s for the remainder of the day and includes cricket, netball, soccer and many more.

How to Pack Up A Life In 10 Easy Steps!

As the Market of Choice checkout attendant mindlessly swiped my Moonstruck chocolates, put them into a paper bag, and routinely asked for $26.50, i thought how mundane this all seemed. I am moving to a different country today....Oh my, I AM LEAVING OREGON FOR GOOD! I am packing up my life and saying goodbye after nine wonderful years. Delayed reaction, true but with all the finite details involved in packing up a life, I guess I was a little distracted.

I am excited but also anxious for the challenge of restarting our lives. There is more at stake this time. Hong Kong was a transient place. You said goodbye all the time and truely good friends will always be there...this I know. But this is 9 years in which not only my life has been affected but those of my three children. This is what they know. Caitie was a mere 17 months when we stepped off the plane May 28, 2002.

Well, Sydney bound we are. Look out, here come The Beilby's!

We could have used two of these!

My Beloved Acura....what a magnificent car!

Bye Portland....Bye Mt Hood...Bye my friends!

Caitie Turns 10!

 

Caitlin's fun began at swim team the night before where Coach Matt organized her team mates to line up on either side of the lane and make waves for Caitie to swim through. 

This was followed by birthday cupcakes.

Caitie had been feeling a little down. Her dad was out of town, she wasn't having a party and she was having a little emotional time so I was really pleased to see a smile on her face. 

At Toys R Us, the girls got matching Polar Bears, SnowStorm and SnowFlake.

The next morning, I collected Caitie and Kayla (her best friend) from Kayla's house where they had spent the night and we headed to the Mall for some Girlie time. Caitie got herself a new bedazzled iTouch cover with some of her birthday money.

 My worst nightmare but a place that the girls just loved, Big Al's, a gaming, bowling, sports bar place half the size of Texas! They had a blast playing all sorts of games where they filled two baskets with almost 5,000 winning tickets.

Caitie hit the jackpot twice...

Prize laden leaving Big Al's

 

 Back home Caitlin enjoyed unwrapping her parcels and eating pizza with her brothers, Brandon and Patrick as well as Kayla and Sean (Brandon's friend). This was followed by a game of Uno Attack which her brother's had been eagerly awaiting her arrival home to unwrap to play with her.

Just Dance for Wii from Nana

Pizaa and Uno Attack!

Christmas Day 2010

 The weather was a lovely 23 (73F) degrees so we were able to sit outside and drink our champagne with our smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.

We opened a few gifts together with Kevin's Mum, Dad and Uncle John, our niece Tatum, Brandon, Patrick and Caitlin. Then Kevin collected my mum from my sister's and we opened a few gifts with her.

Back to my sister, Christine's for lunch with her family including her mother-in-law Marian, the kids had a blast just being with their cousins but also enjoyed the water slide, totem tennis and nerf gun wars!

After a feast of Lamb and Chicken kebabs, tabbouleh, hummus and bread, we rested on the coach and watched a bit of basketball and motor cross in 3D, amazing!

Back at Kevin's Mum and Dad's, we cooled off in the pool for a while before getting ready for the sumptuous feast that our Niece was preparing for our Christmas dinner.Tatum is studying at The Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts which meant we were in for a treat.

Salmon Mousse wrapped in cucumber topped with salmon roe.

Glazed ham.

Roasted Vegetables.

Turkey

King Fish stuffed with Green Mango, Spanish Onion and Mint Served with a mango salsa.

What a feast! Thank you to our wonderful, hard working niece who did such an amazing job...Happy Christmas!

Brandon Joins SOPAC

Brandon was worried about missing swim practice with the State Championships being so close so thanks to the coaches at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, he is able to continue training.

The first training session was 5am on the morning after we arrived so we were slightly jet lagged. In addition, Brandon was worried about being able to keep up as this is a pretty elite team. Out of the 35 swimmers on the Silver team, there are 20 State swimmers. (State is the step down from Nationals here) and even a couple of National Champions. These kids are fast.

Brandon had one mishap. It turns out that Australians swim on the same side of the pool lane as they drive. Unaware of this, Brandon crashed head first into another swimmer coming down the left side of the lane...oops!

There were two coaches, Coach Dennis (who works on drills) and Coach Sam (who works on technique). The team did a little walk around the pool, some crunches and stretches then straight into warm ups which was (a set of 600's, 200 swim, 100IM) repeated four times followed by 4 x 100's, 50 Kick, 50 Swim with flippers four times in IM Order.  Then I had went off to speak to one of the mum's and off for a coffee so not sure what was next. 

As it was Christmas eve, the team had a bit of fun with relays in the short course pool. Girls against the boys.

Relays in the short course pool.

Unfortunately the boys lost but it was extremely close. Brandon survived although he was tired. He can't wait until the next session. Coach Sam thought that Brandon has a lovely backstroke.

The girls give the boys the thumbs down.

The Park Facilities

The facilities are wonderful with the gym and cafe etc. It will make spending hours here each week a pleasure.

A lot to live up to as you enter the pool. The Hall of Fame.

Lap Pool and Play pools

Competition and Squad Training 50m

The cafe.

The 50m and 25m Competition Pools

The Beilby's Have Left The Country!

Thinking we had plenty of time, we enjoyed some dinner, slouched around only to hear the Alaska desk calling "The Beilby Family" to the gate as the doors were about to close. We manage to do it every time!

Full flight!

 LAX was a nightmare as usual. The most unattractive and unorganized airport that I have ever been to, we couldn't wait to get out of there. Qantas was a welcome relief. Such a wonderful airline with their attentive staff, excellent menu and myriad forms of entertainment, the 14 hours went by without much frustration.

It's hard to believe that we will actually be landing!

 What better way to relax after a grueling 24 hours of travel, cool off with a swim and a glass of wine!

Caitie and Patrick play

Pat relaxes with Grandad

 Ah...we are home.

Crater Lake - Mosquito Heaven

A swarm of mosquitoes closed in for the kill the minute we stepped out of our car at the Mazama Village Campground. Whilst swatting and waving, we desperately sought what was to become our best friend over the next few days, DEET! Only with this deep woods, long lasting protection insect repellent sprayed from head to toe (and more - I actually got bitten on the butt) we were able to set up camp.

The next thing we were not expecting but thankfully were prepared for, was the cold. It got down to the freezing mark overnight...brrr! Mid summer too. The days were glorious., high 70's, clear skies.


We indulged in the campfire delicacies, burgers and much to the kids delight, smores!

The next morning afforded us hot tea, porridge, toast and more smores before we set off on our adventure. After an informative movie about the creation of the lake at the Rim Village visitor center, we set off on our 33 mile Crater Rim drive. The first stop was Sun Notch Trail where we hiked for .4 mile to the cliff peak which overlooked Chaski Bay.

View at the end of the Sun Notch Trail

A little west of this point, we were able to get a great view back to Wizard Island.

Wizard Island

We hiked a little further up the hill where an opening between trees gave us the most perfect view of the Phantom Ship. It looks like a small pirate ship but is made up of erosion-resistant rock and is as tall as a 16 storey building!

Phantom Ship

A slight detour down a 7 mile spur road took us to the Pinnacles. 100 foot tall spires that are being eroded from the canyon wall. The spires are "fossil fumaroles" which mark the individual places volcanic gas had risen up through the hot ash, cementing them into solid rock.

The Pinnacles

 Our final destination before heading back was to see the Pumice Castle, a colorful layer of orange pumice rock that over the space of time has eroded into a castle or a four humped camel which ever you prefer. Curious!

Pumice Castle

Although bear are living near our campsite, we were not lucky enough to spot any, much to Caitlin's dismay. She was eager to spot wildlife and we went on a couple of wildlife walks but the only creature that we came across was this inquisitive bird. If you happen to know it's name, let us know.

Time to head back to civilization for The Beilby's.

Athey/Rosemont Seattle Trip

On this trip to Seattle, the band started a clinic at the University of Washington followed by lunch at Pike Place Market. Then they met up with the choir to spend a fun and informative afternoon at the Experience Music Project, a great museum which houses many iconic items from music history. After this action packed day, we all relaxed for a traditional Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo. We crashed into our beds at The Red Lion Hotel then arose bright and early for our performance at the Music in the Park Festival. Our band took second place with an excellent rating! To celebrate all the hard work, we spent the remainder of the day riding the roller coasters and water slides at Wild Waves before heading back to Portland.

Christmas 2009

Given that it is the new year I thought I'd post photo's from Christmas before it's Christmas again!

Taryn's 9th Birthday

Caitlin was very excited to attend her friend Taryn's 9th birthday party yesterday. After getting decked out in feather boa's and sun glasses, a limousine cruised into town whilst Taryn and her 7 girlfriends sipped apple cider from champagne flutes.

First stop was the Portland Sky Tram for a death defying ride to the bottom where the limousine collected everyone for a trip to an ice cream shop in The Pearl District which they proceeded to run off by playing tag in Jamison Square.

After driving around for a while and much sparkling cider, each of the girls was driven to their homes!

Dorothy's Ruby Slipper's - Wizard of Oz!

One of the most asked about exhibits in the Smithsonian, and one I was excited about seeing were the Ruby Slippers worn by Judy Garland for the film "Wizard of Oz". The movie was based on L. Frank Baum's novel from 1900 where the original slippers were silver. They were changed to ruby red in line with MGM's Technicolor production.