New School

The kids love their new school! St Stephen's is a private Lutheran school that goes from Prep all the way up to grade 12 with a total of 240 students. A far cry from Ascot State School with its 800 plus students from Prep to year 6. 

Here are the kids after school one day in the undercover eating area. One of Evelyn's Kindy friends decided to join in. Ha! I do love their uniforms. Comfy polo shirts and shorts. Too easy!

I ran into Isaac and his teacher one morning and asked if I could get a picture. She laughed and said "what is it with the Americans wanting to take pictures?"

The school isn't far. A short drive or a twenty minute walk. We've done the walk a couple times. The way to school is "cooler" in the morning, but is uphill. The walk home is hot, but downhill. The spritz bottle is a welcome companion. Here are the kids on the walk home. It's a nice wide sidewalk next to a highway, but not a busy one. This is Gladstone, people. 

On Fridays the kids wear their formal uniform. I've seen worse. They dress up for weekly chapel, which is a whole school assembly/devotional. They also wear their formal uniform for excursions. Lydia has already been to the city waterworks and dam with her class. Last week Isaac's class went to the convention center for a poetry recitation competition (which he got to sit in the audience and watch).


As if one field trip wasn't enough for Lydia, this last week she went on the year 4/5 school camp to the Capricorn Caves. For 3 days! It was harder for mommy than for her. Here she is waiting to get on the bus.

But she (and mommy) survived. She got home Friday at school pick up time, thoroughly exhausted, but in one piece. She had a good time and had fun telling us all about her adventures. 

Evelyn enjoys her Kindy which is separate from the school, but on the same grounds. I think the preschool is a bit of chaos, but what have you? Happy we only have one term left and she'll be going to Prep (Kindergarten) next year.  Here is their ice castle! Ooh!

"Helping" Bridget put things away at clean up time.

Evelyn sitting so nicely on a "wait for your turn on the swings" mushroom seat. The first two windows behind Evelyn are Isaac's year 1 classroom.

So there you have it. The kids love school! These next two weeks, however, are spring break. We're looking forward to spending some time in the Tondoon Botanical Gardens and finding other neat things to do here in Gladstone. Even if that means hanging out at home in our pajamas!

Gladstone House

It's a miracle! After our third week of being in this house we finally have some internet! I have felt a bit disconnected, but honestly it hasn't been awful.
We are here! In our Gladstone house and enjoying the modern style and the newness of it (new being 8 yrs old as opposed to 30 yrs). And it's a little bit funky. 

Boy, we love having a garage! One that fits both our cars! Especially since the hot sun is a scorcher here. And I don't have the luxury of walking to school everyday like we did in Brisbane. "Stop talking, Elizabeth! Show us the house!" Okay okay!
My favorite part of this house is the back! We have this amazing glassed in patio that can open wayyy up! We like to eat out there. Here are a couple shots. Us eating our very first meal in the new house. Indian take out, yum!

All those glass doors can open and be pushed all the way to one side. And yes, Opa, that is a piece of weather stripping hanging from the top that needs to be fixed. On my list. (The set of glass doors on the right on what looks like another building is actually our master bedroom. The house is sort of a U shape.)

There's a little rock filled courtyard between the master wall and the patio.  The window behind the bench looks into the living room.  So many glorious windows in this house!  (Hmm... and rocks.)

A view from the back yard looking into the patio. Door on the left goes into the dining room. Door on the right goes into the kitchen.

By the way, this was the view into the dining room from that back door for the first week. Our brand new (new to us, thank you Gumtree) square table covered in stuff. That's probably also why we ate outside so much.  Living room on the left.

A great back yard too!  With a gigantic outbuilding. Just in case we wanted to buy a boat. Or two. This is also why we can park two cars in the garage! 

Here is my "pretty room" or parlor. It's nice to have somewhere away from the clutter of everyday. In other words "no toys in this room!" We have family home evening there every Monday and family prayer and scripture every night. It's situated right outside the kids' bedrooms so it's a natural flow at bedtime. One thing that is funny about the house, because it's a rental we're not about to put nails in the walls. But they left tons of huge picture hooks all over. Of course,
they don't match up with our decor. So instead we have offset pictures and random empty hooks. Oh well.

On the other extreme, here is the playroom. It's just little, but I am grateful to have it because the kids' rooms are rather tiny as well.

Here is Bridget walking into the kitchen, which isn't big, but it works. She's walking all over now! What a big girl! And, yes, white tile all over this floor! Bah! It's impossible to keep clean! So happy all the bedrooms are carpeted.

Another view into the kitchen, sort of.

Bridget hiding behind the master toilet. As one does.

And did I mention modern?  I swear all the drawer pulls and faucets are going to kill us with their sharp edges.

There are only two bathrooms.  The kids have a separate toilet from the sink, which is nice because someone can be bathing or brushing teeth and the potty is still available.

And a cute picture of Bridget and a gnawed on apple. What a cutie!

Anyway, more to come later! I'm just so happy to have been able to update!! Hooray for internet!