Greyson's 5th Birthday

The birthday that lasted a week...

Greyson's birthday fell on a Thursday this year so he was able to share it with his class.  He brought in chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting!  That night we had cheesecake after dinner with a really cool Star Wars candle in it.  Then he got to open all of his pressies and cards.  What a lucky boy.  He got some really cool games from Dad and Loren, new pirate sheets for his bed and a pirate costume from Granny and Grandad (just in time too and they didn't even know about pirate day at school), Twistable crayons from Sarah and Amanda, a rugby ball from Braden and Avery, things to build in the sand from Edward, American money from Aunt Melinda and Uncle Mike (which is even more in Australian Dollars!) and a really cool lego set from Andrew and I to name a few.  He was very excited about turning 5!  Edward (Andrew's Brother) celebrates his birthday the day before Greyson so when he came home for the weekend from the Army we had yet another party.  Saturday we went to the Carrara Markets and Sunday to the Carrumbin Sanctuary.  Those posts will come next.

Pressies!!!

I love Spongey Bob...Avery "I play winner"

What's a hubbbabballoo??

I like money

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

This is my third cake (Avery and Sarah)

Edwards is nice he lets me spit on his half of the cake to blow out the candles (Edward and Grandad)

The Birthday Boys!!!

Morning Tea

So here in Australia, Morning Tea is something that is incorporated into everyday, everywhere.  Even the kids have morning tea at school.  It is really lovely actually!  Andrew and I went to a place called Burliegh Heads for morning tea after dropping the kids off to school.  The view is spectacular.  Pretty much everywhere you go the view is spectacular.  So for those of you needing a morning tea break I hope you enjoy these:

Pirates!!!

Greyson's class was visited by Pirates last week, they all got to dress up and go to a show.  See Pirate Greyson below with his most adorable teacher Mrs. Buhner and friends in his classroom.

Greyson and Mrs. Buhner

Greyson and Alyssandra

In line to do one of his jobs in the morning

Greyson and Jake the pet Gallah

A day of pirating and he came home with a five o'clock shadow (or what's left of it)

First Day of School

Uniforms in school...brilliant.  The kids are loving them, but I am sure, not as much as Anders and I are, no arguments before they walk out the door!

Braden is in Year 8 at Benowa State High School.  He takes all the core subjects including Maths (yes it is with an “s” here, English, Study of Society and Enviroment, Sciene, Health, P.E. as well as Drama, Japanese and Business Information Technology.  They don’t take every class every day, which is nice for Braden as he has days to do his homework instead of one night.  He has made some friends there, one in particular that he has already been with on an excursion to the movies. He wears the uniform you see in this picture every day except Wednesdays when he wears his Sports uniform which is a white shirt with Black shorts and sneakers.

Avery is in year 3 at Ashmore State Primary School.  After the first week of educating the class about Peanut Butter & Jelly and the fact that all Americansdo not have Cowboy accents, she has fit in extremely well.  No surprise that she has already been to her first sleep over and planning the next one.  She likes her teacher and is now over the fact that she had to relearn how to spell COLOUR.  This is her sports uniform, she wears it on Tuesdays.  There are four different houses, like in Harry Potter, she and Greyson are in Cotlew and their symbol is a Kangaroo and they wear Blue on their sports days.

Greyson is in Prep which is like Kindergarten in the states.  His teacher is wonderful  He is loving all his new friends and activities.  Last Friday his class was visited by PIRATES and they all got to dress as pirates and saw a whole pirate show.  He is wearing the daily uniform, his sports day is Wednesdays.  They wear their hats to stay out of the sun.

All their teachers are great.  Braden has already earned Merits for effort and attitude, Avery has been Student of the Week for behavior and Greyson was worker of the week and was the line leader, took stuff to different offices and was the example to the class on how to be in and out of the classroom.

We are very proud.

 

What a Trip...

Some more pics from the journey across the big pond...


Braden & Rory in LAX

Uncle Shaun with the Monkeys!

Avery's first lesson in Motorcycle safety...

I make this look good!

I am now done

I got my tunes and my blanket, I'm good

VIDEO GAMES!!!!  Thank Goodness

My very own TV!

Sunset on a very long day or was it two???

Stay tuned for more...

Snow or sand we will have a blast..

From Breckenridge to the Gold Coast...

Colorado To Queensland

Before we left Colorado we had a few adventures.  We got to stay at our friend Joanie’s beautiful house in Breckenridge, CO.  The snow was humbling, the house warm and the laughs many.  It was just what we needed to start our new journey.  We went there for the first few days of Spring Break which started on Braden’s birthday.  We finished Spring Break at Tonya’s up in Johnstown, CO.  It was terrific to spend the time.  Life has gotten pretty busy for everyone these days.   After our stay with The Olson’s, we checked into a hotel.  While our stay there got a little long for us, it was quite pleasant and we were very well taken care of.

We finally got the word we were approved to leave and life became a whirlwind.  We stayed with Tonya’s family for our last night in Colorado, then off we flew. 

The trip itself was a blast, long, but we made a good time of it all.  We went from Denver to Los Angeles, Auckland, New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia.  We were visited in LA by my Brother Shaun and Braden’s Dad Rory.  It was really cool of them to come say good bye.

No real jetlag to complain about.  The kids were so excited we had to see the beach almost as soon as we got there.  There are some photos of the journey in the next pages.  We hope you enjoy the newsletter, we intend to keep them coming every month.  There may have to be a few to catch up since there are photos to share.

We are getting settled nicely and love it here, but do miss you all.  Hope you will keep in touch and send lots of pictures too.

Love,

Andrew, Jen, Braden, Avery and Greyson