Madyson participated in a special program at the school called Night of the Notables. It was optional program where students were to choose a person of interest to him/her. The students had to research his/her chosen person in order to take on that person's persona for an evening. Mady chose to be Emily Dickinson. Throughout the evening parents, students, and faculty circulated to ask questions and interact with the different notables. It was a really fun evening for all of us. Kyndal and Dawson enjoyed learning about the other people of interest as well as seeing Mady all dressed up!

Dawson received a special award at his school. There was one boy and one girl from each class chosen to receive an award which recognizes Christ-like attitudes and behavior. Dawson was the boy chosen from his class. He received a special pin that he gets to wear on his sweater in recognition of his achievement. The award applauds students for being receptive to the teaching of scripture in addition to demonstrating kindness and helpfulness in all situations.

Kyndal will be starting Kinder (their version of preschool) at the first of the year. She had a chance to visit the classroom and teacher as well as meeting with the principal. The kinder program is part of the school where Mady and Dawson go to school. Now every day when we arrive at school she says "There's my kinder class." The program is for four hours three days a week. And she's already talking about how she will see Mady and Dawson at her school.

Our first visitors in Australia

Mom and Dad came to stay with us over the Easter holiday. The kids were out of school for two weeks so it was the perfect time to spend time with family. As soon as they arrived we whisked them into the city for the day. We all visited the Melbourne Aquarium, which had a newly opened penguin exhibit that was fabulous! While we were there we also did a glass-bottom boat ride to get a closer view of the sharks, rays, and turtles.











Next on our list of activities was a stop at the open-range zoo. The main attraction there are the African animals and a safari-like tour through their habitat.

The next stop on our list was Sovereign Hill. It is an old-fashioned kind of theme park similar to Silver Dollar City. Sovereign Hill is located in Ballarat, which is an old gold mining town. During the day we got to take a tour of the underground mine, ride a stagecoach, pan for gold, watch candy making, and take in a lot of dust.

Dawson and Mady were both excited to show Grandpa and Grandma their newly-acquired surfing skills. It didn't take Kyndal and Grammy long to make friends with the gulls because they shared their pumpkin seeds with the birds. But look at Mady riding the waves! Woohoo! Dawson would be content with only the sand.

Ballarat is also home to a fabulous animal park where we were able to get up close and personal with all the native animals. Our crew got to feed the roos and snuggle the koalas. Dawson and Kyndal even enjoyed the snake show. Kyndal now takes every opportunity to tell me how much she likes snakes.

We also made a few trips in to the Queen Victoria Market in the city. The market is an open-air market with a little bit of everything from food and flowers to toys and souvenirs. Mark and I were surprised at how much the kids enjoyed it! Mom and Dad purchased the most amazing painting of Sydney harbor for Mark and me.

It was so hard for our family to say goodbye again. After Mom and Dad went home, the Hazens spent three days in pajamas doing NOTHING. We were exhausted after all the excitement of their visit.

March 2009

March was a busy month for Dawson as he celebrated his first birthday in Australia. He had a party with his classmates at a local playcenter complete with a Star Wars cake. It was a fun day for the whole family!

This and That

Mady and Dawson messing around on the first day back to school.




Dawson and Kyndal working on the latest Lego Star Wars ship









Kyndal in her new surfer girl outfit.










Dawson just lost his two front teeth.

Torquay and the Great Ocean Road

We took advantage of the long Labour Day weekend to see a little more of Australia. This time we were off to visit Torquay and do some traveling along the Great Ocean Road. Torquay is one of the best surf beaches anywhere. In fact the major surf brands like Billabong and RipCurl originated in this very town. Surfing had been at the top of Mady's list of things she wanted to experience during this adventure. So we took our boogie board, rented some wet suits and a board and took off for the waves. Mady and Dawson are ready to go surfing again tomorrow. Mark took the older two surfing again Monday morning before we headed home. Dawson was able to perfect his boogie board skills and Mady and Mark both got to standing on the surf board. Mady got up on the first try! Kyndal and I missed out on the wet outside activities because Kyndal was so sick.

After a busy day of surfing on Saturday we took off for a little bit of driving on Sunday. The Great Ocean Road is like the Pacific Coast Highway in California. It runs right along the coast of Australia. There are so many different things to stop and see along the way that it was hard to choose. We decided to hike through one of the national parks and do a tree-top walk way out in the bush. Dawson and Mady were convinced it was going to be a horribly boring day, but in the end we all had an amazing time. We stopped along the way to see a lighthouse up close. There were tours to go inside but Kyndal wasn't old enough to go and we would have had to wait a while for the next tour so we just looked from the outside.

After a brief stop for lunch we were off to the Cape Otway National Park. Our family took off for a walk through the rainforest environment to get an up close look at one of the many waterfalls in the park. After seeing the waterfall we just climbed around a bit. All the kids had a great time climbing from rock to rock trying not to fall in the shallow water. Dawson pretended to be rock surfing while the girls were striking modeling poses.

From the national park it was on down the road to Otway Fly Tree Top Walk. The Otway Fly is a 600 metre long 25 metre high elevated tree top walk. During the walk we were in the tree tops of an amazing forest. The trees are like the California Redwoods. There was a tower that was 45 meters up that was at the very top of the trees. The pictures don't begin to show how high it was. Kyndal was so excited when she found out she was big enough to go. She must be used to hear that she isn't big enough to do a LOT of things. Throughout the walk there was a section dedicated to different types of dinosaurs and the two younger kids thought it was fabulous to see them along the way. Their big sister was right behind them letting them know that they weren't supposed to touch or sit on those dinosaurs. That's why you won't see a pic of her with them. Mark and I weren't sure how the kids would react to all the nature activities during this trip, but it turned out to be a blast for all of us.

These times when we are able to take off and see the country it makes us more appreciative of all this experience has to offer. Simply looking back at all the different landscapes we were able to see this weekend is amazing. The beach is always beautiful, but we also got to see green rolling hills, rainforest, and wild untamed bush. Although we still miss the familiar things and people from back home, this is truly a life-changing experience for our entire family. Until next time....

Australia Day---Just Another Day at the Beach

We took advantage of the Australia Day holiday and the beautiful weather. After mulling over some other ideas the beach seemed to be the most popular choice. So we packed a few things and headed off to the beach. It was definitely worth the 15 minute drive! The kids (including Mark) had a great time riding the waves in to the shore. I think our next purchase will be a boogie board!

The crew went back and forth between the water and the sand. They dug holes big enough to climb inside. Kyndal decided that she was cold so she laid down on one towel and covered up with another one. Then she proceeded to tell us all her woes---for a long time. "I'm cold. I want to go home. I have sand in my eyes. I'm cold." Thank goodness for Mady though. She convinced Kyndal to rejoin the sand festivities and put an end to the whining.

After enjoying the afternoon we packed up our stuff and headed home. We took a relaxing soak in the hot tub. Dawson and Mady spread out all their new shells they found.