Unlearning in Antarctica

We've been in our new house for nearly three weeks now and there has been no shortage of unlearning. We've done renovating, acquired chooks, explored the town and surrounds and had a ball reconnecting as a family without time pressing down on us.

Stylish took to ripping up carpet and pulling out nails like she'd been doing it all her life. Then once we'd varnished and moved our stuff into the house she went faster than greased lightening to where she'd been hearing frog calls. She was well versed on the Arctic legalities pertaining to her favourite amphibians, and spent a good chunk of her pocket money buying a tank to house four Southern Smooth Froglets. She confidently informs me that the name is deceptive because they are actually bumpy and their scientific name is ..... I forget. Today we had a plumbing emergency which required the rose bush out the front be ripped up, it was then that we discovered two nests in it. One with tiny silver eye babies getting ready to fledge and the other with nearly ready to hatch blue / grey speckled eggs that are jumping about. We waited and waited but their mothers didn't come home so we seem to have acquired some new albeit temporary family members. Who knows if the eggs will hatch, I'm doubtful, but apparently they're black birds and they're a real pain so we are trying not to feel too bad.

Spikee has developed quite an interest in reading and is starting to recognise some words by sight and remember others when they're in an early reader book I found at the tip ship. He's also cemented counting to ten and is getting more confident reading the numbers. He's really taking to life in Antarctica and for some unexplained reason is starting to try a couple of new foods and on the whole eat better. Must be all the fresh air! The training wheels are off his bike now (one got lost) so that's another new thing, he's a little nervous but he'll be fine soon enough. His geography fascination continues and we have been playing cricket with a small rubber globe ball. He's just a happy chappy at the moment!

Angus is very chatty and can roll over (but he's not sure how). Soon enough he'll be up and crawling and we'll be baby proofing again!

Pics from The Journey South

The Guillotine

The Mechanic

life size full grown salt water crocodile

Corroboree frog breeding program at Taronga

In the cable cars

Natural Learning our way to Antarctica

In the last three days we've travelled 1000 km from Sydney to Melbourne with three kids and a placenta. Quite an ambitious feat! We've driven through snow, crazy wind, pouring rain and narrowly avoided getting stranded by flood water and road blockages in Albury.

After leaving our house in Sydney we spent a further week staying with my father before finally leaving Sydney. We were like tourists in our own home town, we visited the museum and the Taronga Zoo and ate at our favourite restaurants. At the museum Spikee enjoyed the Search and Discover room which is more for older kids, he's obviously growing up! Lately we've noticed that he's fascinated by geography and he found a globe at the museum and happily pointed out South America, Sydney, and even Antarctica .... I mean Tasmania.

They had a blast at Taronga, saw too many exhibits to list them all and probably learnt something along the way. Stylish enjoyed seeing the Corroboree frog breeding programme and Spikee liked the lions and tigers. Personally I enjoyed seeing the crocodiles because they're my favourite animal (such cute and cuddly things!) and A enjoyed the Civet cats and regaling us with tales of how they eat coffee beans, shit them out, and are responsible for producing the world's most expensive coffee.

We had a farewell dinner at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant and Spikee actually ate something. He had a whole bowl of boiled rice, a vegetarian spring roll, tasted a bit of tofu VOLUNTARILY and then polished off the orange slices that were brought to share between all of us. We also had dinner at my best friend fro highschool's house, made sure to eat as much real Indian food as two people could possibly manage, and just enjyed being in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney for a week. It's a lovely part of Sydney. Incidentally, my father told me that the park I used to play at when I was growing up has now been named (by him) Ethel Turner Playground because she was a notable woman from Paddington and apparently all the other parks are named after men.

So after our final days of civilisation we left Sydney at stupid o'clock and drove to Canberra where we spent all day at Questacon while the rain poured down like I haven't seen in years. The kids certainly absorbed lots there. They loved the roller coaster ride, Stylish loved the Free Fall where you free fall down a slide, and Spikee loved the Mini Q area where the pretend bakery is, but this time he git absorbed in the mechanic area fixing a car wearing little denim overalls. We heard a fascinating dinosaur talk by Questacon's resident paleontologist who told us some really interesting things including a recent theory which states that all dinosaurs had feathers at one stage of their lives, and ripping the guts out of Jurassic Park movies telling us that the movie used deinonychus and not velociraptors. Velociraptors were only small but the creative license over rode truth because deinonychus is hardly a terrifying name even if they were a terrifying dinosaur. He also said that most of the dinosaurs were from the cretaceous period, not the the Jurassic period. He had a box filled with real dinosaur relics including a tooth from a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a claw from a velociraptor (which was actually about a foot long despite the size of the whole dinosaur).

Tomorrow we're heading to Melbourne Museum. We were planning to go to the zoo but it's too balmy and cold. Melbourne is in the grip of one of its' coldest Octobers ever and there was even heavy snow fall a few days ago. The last time I went to the museum here I was 19 weeks pregnant with Spikee. Then tomorrow night we'll be on the boat heading for Antarctica!

General Update From a Slack Blogger

The great migration is nearly beginning! Our world is in boxes now, and everyone except me is packing like mad. I'm sitting underneath a baby with my boobs out. The kids are a bit unsettled by it and the sooner we're on the road the better. The week after next will be nice though, we'll be free to just faff about in Sydney enjoying ourselves. We're taking the kids to the zoo and the museum and pretty much just slacking off after all the hard yakka of packing everything up, organising this enormous logistical adventure, and stressing constantly for a month.

This is going to be one hell of an adventure. We're not only over hauling our lifestyle, we're taking a really exciting road trip. We'll leave Sydney on about the 14th of October and travel to Canberra to take the kids to Questacon and the National Gallery. We'll stay the night there or maybe press on until Gundagai for the night. Then the next day we'll go the rest of the way to Melbourne and spend a couple of days enjoying the sights before catching the boat over night to Tasmania. Once there we plan on spending a night or two with A's parents before making the final stint to OUR HOUSE!

There's been plenty of natural learning here over the last little while, from a birth and a new sibling to maths, and tennis. Stylish has really enjoyed tennis over the last few months and she's made some nice friends there so it's a shame we're moving now.

She visited a friend of her Grandma's and found a tadpole last week. Spikee has been very interested in that. We have to let it go next week because we can't take it over state lines. Stylish tells me that there are only 14 species of frog in Tasmania which is very disappointing, moving to Queensland would have been a far wiser decision because they have 43 species there. Unfortunately the real estate there is pricier, possibly due to the greater number of frogs residing there!

I'll be without internet for a week or two during the great migration, but I'll have plenty to update when we finally have access again, so stay tuned!

What's been going on?

Well, there's still no sign of a baby at 42w and 4 days. But there's been no shortage of things happening so I figured an update was probably in order. the last week has been the week from hell! I've had a really nasty cold which has landed me with bad asthma and aches and pains from head to foot, and A has slipped a disk in his back so he wasn't able to look after me! We kind of struggled through, each of us doing what we could and everything else going by the way side. If it weren't for Stylish we would have been a lot worse, she really stepped up and helped out when we down!

The great migration is well under way, and we should own the house by early next week. I'm really excited about the move, and so is the family. It's going to be a huge change, leaving a city of several million, and going to a town with 800 people but in time I'm sure we'll adjust. The kids are very excited about getting chickens and a dog. There's a shed in the garden at the new house which we'll convert to a chicken coop. Some little nesting boxes and some insulation and a door will probably cut it, we want them to be free range of a day, and we'll keep them safe and warm of a night in their little hen house.

Yesterday was the first day in a week that we felt well enough to actually take the kids to the park. They had a lovely time running laps of various play equipment areas and trees and using the stop watch on my phone to try and beat their last time, then Stylish climbed trees and Spikee played at the base of them with his toy dinosaurs. A and I sat in the sun for as long as our varying ailments would allow, then we trudged home in time to collapse into bed with hot water bottles and rest up before forcing ourselves to organise food for dinner.

Stay tuned, there are bound to be more interesting developments in the coming days and weeks!

Finally, an update with pics!

Lately Stylish has been feeling very creative, she drew this dragon, I love it!

Spikee has just taught himself to skip with a skipping rope, I must take some video of that with the new camera. But this is a photo of the jigsaw he is in love with - minus two pieces.

On a side note, we have decided to go ahead and take the lunge, the great migration will happen some time after the baby is born, probably in mid october. To celebrate and keep track of the journey I have started a new blog, hope to see you there some time!

Us In Antarctica

General happenings

We have a new camera, I should really work out how to upload some pics coz we have quite a few!

As I hit 8 months pregnant I flew down to inspect a house. I spent a relaxing 3 days without children! I really like the area we're looking at moving to. There is a small village within walking distance of the house, lots of parks, bush, and it's all within reasonable driving distance of Hobart. It'll be a massive change, but it'll all be worth it once I adjust. I suspect everyone else will adjust more easily than me.

So the move to Antarctica is all looking very promising, we have put in an offer on the house and been accepted, and are now waiting on finance but I don't see any problems arising there as we have a substantial deposit. The kids are very excited and have been choosing different colours almost daily, that they might be able to paint their rooms. Spikee wants a lilac room with turquoise trimmings today and Stylish wants similar but darker colours. I think we'll let her paint her own room, she's old enough (in fact she will be 12 on Saturday!).

Stylish has taken to drawing dragons, they look amazing! She's also getting quite good at computer drawings lately, I must work out how to upload them onto the blog. The rat has had 13 babies, she had 14 but one died. I got an excited phone call on my first day in Tassie, telling me of the delightful event.

Spikee is fast approaching 4, and still happily breastfeeding and anticipating the arrival of his new sibling any time in the next 6 weeks. He is really enjoying his duplo and building tall towers and arches and whatnot. He's enjoying lots of books at the moment, from hide and seek ones, to adventure ones where you have to work out puzzles to finish the story.

Mr.Men land

Spikee is seriously obsessed with Mr.Men stories atm. I read them all day long until my voice is hoarse and I can say the lines without reading the book. Fortunately I discovered the animated version of the stories on youtube, being read by Roger Hargreaves, so Roger and A and I are taking it in shifts now. Tonight's dinner was inspired by Mr.Funny and Mr.Nonsense. Mr.Funny east daisy sandwiches .... and so did we! A daisy sandwich is an English muffin cut in half, topped with ham, a slice of cherry tomato for the centre of the daisy, and pineapple for the petals, all covered in cheese, and baked. Spikee made his own, and ate two of them! Then for dessert we're having custard when I can drag my pregnant self off the bed and cook it. Mr.Nonsense thought there was custard everywhere, but it was snow. Snow is yellow in Nonsenseland apparently. I wish our camera was working!

The belly babe is busy as busy can be, and that's really no surprise at 7 months! It's going to be a busy few months coming up, with baby planning and house buying, and organising the move, and buying a dog (which is apparently a real emergency item according to the kids), and a new car. Plus we have all the birthdays in one hit, starting with mother's day, then my birthday three days later, then Stylish's in June, Spikee's in July and a baby due at the end of July - aiming for August. I'm planning to fly to Tassie to look at the house we're interested in in the next month, we're praying it's still available! There are a few in the area but I particularly like one of them and it's right in our price range with plenty of yard, and room to renovate exactly how we want. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

The Bird Leaves The Nest

It looks as though the noisy mynah has finally taken leave and gone back to nature - in the middle of a major city. Although we always knew this day would come, Stylish is upset about it and constantly checking the garden for signs of Bird Brain, and micro managing the cat - poor long suffering cat he is. I've explained to her that the fact the bird isn't coming to her calls is a GOOD sign, not a sign that it has been torn to shreds by the cat (or her pet rat who gave it a good whirl!)

Owing to some boredom lately I've given her a small list of things to do. They include learning the provinces of China on the geography game, learning about eh one child policy and the effect it has on women and girls, finding out about the Chinese government, learning about some frogs from China and some other animals. She's sunken her teeth into the list with a vengeance I wasn't expecting! I also gave her some sums - which she always loves since leaving the institution - and a few other odds and sods that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Spikee has suddenly taken his love of dinosaurs to a whole new level, and we're reading dinosaur books every day. He's also really interested in ancient Egypt, and cave people, so we read books about them too most days. I must read Mr.Funny about five times a day, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff just as many times. It's good that he likes reading stories so much because running around after him is challenging at this stage of pregnancy when it's still hot and my blood pressure is stupidly low. The other thing he is loving is his uno moo game, which is just uno, but for little people so it's got coloured animal figures instead of cards with coloured numbers, and you put them all in a barn.

It looks more and more as though the Great Migration to Antarctica will be happening, and probably in October! We've found a number of houses that really tickle our fancy and I'll be going to look at some in the coming months - leaving the children at home! I won't know myself!

Rats, Birds, and Tennis

Today we went to Stylish's first tennis lesson with a bunch of home schooled kids, mostly about her age. Apparently it was BORING ... but isn't everything meant to be boring when you're nearly a teenager? I told her that she can do a few more lessons before she decided that she doesn't like it, then if she doesn't she can stop going. I thought if she REALLY hated it she'd kick up a stink but she barely managed a moan, so it can't be THAT bad.

The rat is almost back to full health! She still turns her nose up at rat food, but she eats so little that it's not really a big issue. After her ordeal recently we're just happy to have her, so if she wants boiled eggs and strawberries, I suppose she can just have it. She was well enough to go for a walk around the block on Stylish's shoulder this afternoon, and her coat looks so shiny and her eyes are so bright and sparkly!

The bird is sprouting feathers and starting to flap them enthusiastically. It's also formed quite a bond with Stylish, and this evening when it was tired it called and called until she went and got it, brought it into the room where she was watching tv, and sat it in her lap. The baby bird fell asleep straight away - birds are big on attachment parenting apparently! It's such a loud little thing, it has her up, feeding it nice and early every morning, she even tried to reunite it with it's family (unsuccessfully) because of it's early morning antics *I will not laugh*.

Our move to Tasmania is starting to look like a very real part of the future! In the next couple of months I will leave the kids here with A and fly down to look at a few places, then if we find one we're perfectly happy with we'll buy it. We plan on having the baby while we're here with a fantastic support group, everyone from our wonderful doula, to our midwife and my counselor! Then in October - or there abouts - we'll head on down to Antarctica! Spikee is very excited because one of the houses we looked at had snow on the front lawn, and Stylish wants a ferret (which we will not get, but she insists we will).

General happenings

Spikee has started to take a real interest in reading. We spent a whole bus ride today discussing B is for Bus and D is for Dinosaur and so on and so forth, and I had to read all the signs to him. Tonight I'm thinking of showing him the Reading Eggs website and seeing if he's interested.

It's fascinating watching a child start to develop an interest in reading and writing, and not feeling like they need to go to school to learn. Knowing they will simply absorb it by immersing them self in daily life is such an amazing thing!

Stylish's latest obsession is birds and bird nests. She's become a regular bird watcher and can identify different types of birds and their nests. She's learning about which birds are native and which have been introduced, can tell you how long a baby bird stays in its' nest and when it learn to fly, what they eat (pigeons feed their young MILK!?!?!?!), the different names for the birds, depending on what they eat and so on and so forth. She even floated the idea of becoming an ornithologist ... but I'm confident we'll be back to frogs soon.

The maths obsession continues, and her quest to learn all her times tables (up to 12) is going unbelievably well. nearly seven years in a school failed to teach her what she's self taught herself in a matter of weeks. Her confidence in her mathematical ability has sky rocketed and it's really lovely to see the change from "I'm hopeless at maths" to "I can do this now, I just had to WANT to do it!".

We are thinking of moving to Tasmania towards the end of the year and buying a house there. There are several reasons to move to Antarctica ... I mean Tasmania. Firstly it means we can buy a house and have a very tiny mortgage on it, whereas if we stay here we would need a huge mortgage and be unable to afford holidays and other little joys like dining out. Also, the weekly repayments on a tiny mortgage are quite literally only 10% of the cost of our current rental property! Secondly it means we will be able to afford a solar panel! I want a solar panel because a) they're environmentally sustainable and b) it will cut our power bills dramatically - making living even more affordable! I also want a water tank for the same reasons. Thirdly and, possibly one of my greatest motivators, we will have the room for chickens and maybe even a couple of ducks! Plus a big veggie garden and a green house, and a dog! The lifestyle change will be dramatic, from living in a major city to living in a glorified country town (we're looking at places just outside Hobart), and I expect it will do us all the world of good! A move towards a more sustainable lifestyle is the greatest gift you can give your children in my opinion.