Hy's Belgium Adventure August 28-Sept 15 2010

I am visiting my sister's family in Belgium. Mark has some workshops he needs to attend to complete his online course requirements so I am assisting in caring for their daughter, Hannah. Hai's Mark not to be confused with Hy's Mark. A couple of days after landing, Hannah started school. This is a big thing for her as she is not yet 3 (turns 3 on the 15th Sept). Not only that but she is going to the local school where they speak Flemish. Flemish is a dialect of Dutch. We (mother, father and I) are all nervous for her. Her first 2 days were great. She doesn't cry and goes off to play with the dolls each morning. This is so easy says Auntie Hy.

4am Friday morning. I am jerked out of sleep by this shrieking and screaming. I think Hai is being attacked. I run out of my bedroom (downstairs) and promptly slip and fall against the wall. I don't see anyone or hear anything at this point. I go back and grab my glasses and go upstairs. I see little Hannah and go pick her up. Now I hear sound from downstairs and go down and see Hai in the kitchen. She tells me we just got robbed. She calls the police. Here is what I think happened:

Hannah wanted milk. Hai said no go back to sleep. Hannah insists on milk, Hai offers her water which she already has next to her bedside. Hannah demands milk. Hai gets up to go to the bathroom to wash out sippy cup before refilling it with more milk. Hai sees a light moving around under the door of Mark's office (room next to her bedroom). A strange man then comes out of the office. Don't know why but Hai's first thought is 'Hy invited some guy over, maybe to fix something'so shes like "Who are you?" Then her brain wakes up a bit more and realizes that Hy wouldn't do that especially not at 4am. She then demands "WHO ARE YOU?" He puts his finger to his lips and goes "Shhhh". Hai starts yelling at him, he quickly moves down the stairs, Hai throws Hannah's sippy cup at him. (Hannah is very upset her mom did this) This is where I come in as Hai is yelling and screaming at this point. What happens next is robber jumps out living room window, Hai jumps out after him. She is in her t shirt and underwear running down the street. She follows him to his getaway car where his partner is waiting. They jump in and take off. The few seconds this takes, Hai is memorizing their plate number.

The robbers had drilled a hole (will try to get picture from Hai) under the latch and released the lock. The locksmith says they were professionals as they were talented enough to only have to drill 1 hole in the exact spot.

So this is the reason why I am missing some pictures. They stole my camera which was in my purse which was sitting at the kitchen table. They almost got my purse which ended up on the ground outside the window. This would have been very bad as my passport was in it. They did rifle through everything and only took money and the camera. Hai has replaced the camera with a spare she had so I'm good for pictures now. Unfortunately they got away with some jewelry though not expensive in value meant a lot to Hai as mom gave them to her. I think Mark is still sorting out what is missing as he was still away at his workshops for a whole week after the incident.

Needless to say I contributed not a lot to this incident. I only have a pretty sore back, neck and knee to show for it. It would have been great to see Hai hurdle the window though. She is also sporting some aches and pains. Overall an experience I don't recommend to anyone.

August 20, 2010

Oops this one is out of order.

As before, Erika and Aimee both won their classroom speech competitions. Today they competed against all the yr 5 and 6 students. Last semester they both got to this level but not to the next level of representing the school. This time Aimee apparently does an amazing job delivering and wins first place. Her topic was "Most Important Invention" and she decided on the toilet. During her speech, Erika burst out laughing and the other students were like "why are you laughing, haven't you heard this so many times already?" Erika shakes her head no. Aimee had kept her speech a secret as she suddenly developed this shyness in practicing her speech at home in front of her family. Erika's speech was on one of her favourite topics; chocolate. She found the subject too daunting until she narrowed it down to a specific topic; Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Hmmm, do you think passing them out to her classmates help her win? They are not sold here so they are a bit of a novelty.

August 22, 2010

Sorry, I won't have any pictures for the next months worth of news. You will find out later why. :)

Today the girls had their Grand final soccer game. They played the Ravens who we have never won against, only lost and tied. It was a very energized match with the other team hungry for the win. They had the advantage most of the time but our defense (led by our own, Erika) worked extra hard and fended them off. There were some very close moments when they had great shots at our goals but our goalie was also on fire (it was her birthday so she had something to prove) and blocked all attempts.

Our mids and strikers had a bit of a tough game finding it hard to push the ball up the field. With the persistance of our shortest player (Aimee), who worked around 2 of their defenders then with a perfect pass to her teammate who power kicked it straight into the goal. We won 1-0. The girls were ecstatic.

What next Tim?

Tim got stung by a bee this past Monday. I shoulda taken a picture to show everyone but it is not as impressive anymore. It was pretty big, so big we took him to see the doctor. I was fine to let nature take its' course but Tim was worried his finger was going to burst, his words. Anyhow I have since learned I am supposed to SCRAPE the stinger not pull it out.

So last month concussion, this month bee sting. Do you think it has something to do with middle child syndrome, seeking his parents attention? This is what happens when you have 3 children: Meagan, Tim and the Girls.

August 12, 2010

What would Uni life be without at least 1 TOGA party?!? That would be my Uni life, I don't remember ever being invited to one. But, no matter, it only took us less than an hour to work out how to make a toga out of a bedsheet. Yep, UTube baby. As you can see, Meagan and her boyfriend, Demetris, are excellently draped with no pins showing. They are ready to party on this windy, winter night whilst I am at home, tucked into my little corner all warm and cozy.

Wednesday 11, 2010

Today the girls got to wear mufti for their excursion to Eastern Creek - TechnoPush. TechnoPush is the Aussie version of a Soap Box Derby. The kids in years 5 & 6 have been busy designing, gathering materials from council cleanup (curbside garbage) and building a pushcar. Erika's design was voted the best in her class, which they then used to build the car. In 1 race, Aimee's team was coming in first, then they had troubles with wheels getting tangled with an oppositions car which then made then end up last in the race. Erika's team came first against Aimee's team when they were put in the same heat in the Endurance catagory. They had a great day out of school. Hmmm, they seem to have a lot of those.

August 3, 2010

On the same day of the Knockout Basketball game, the girls also performed their school dance for Open Day. Open Day is the day parents, friends and relatives can visit the school to see band, choir and dance performances. The classrooms are also open to visit and check on your child's progress. The local paper, The Hornsby Advocate, also stopped by to take a picture and it turns out it's of our dance group. Erika and Aimee are in the front left side next to each other.

August 3, 2010

The girls made the School Knockout Basketball Team. Unfortunately they got knocked out their first game. Erika fouled out of the game and Aimee played with a sprained ankle which I didn't know about so I am yelling from the side "Come on girls, you can rest later!"

Whoops :)

Oak Hill 41

Thornleigh 33

July 26, 2010

This is the Area Athletics Carnival held at Sydney Olympic Park. This year Tim is represented his Area in 100m hurdles, 100m, long jump, 200m hurdles, and 4 x 100m relay. He didn't perform as well as in previous years, we think the Taco Bell tacos he had in Phoenix didn't help any. The only event he will continue on in is the 4 x 100m relay. Their team came in 2nd which qualifies them to compete in the State Competition later on this year.

July 20, 2010

Here is Erika heading off to Canberra for 3 days, 2 nights with all the year 6 students for the Year 6 Educational Excursion. We just landed the day before from our trip to the States and she's off again. She is very tired but you can't tell as I've taken out her red eyes through the use of modern technology. The first day in Canberra, the students visited the National Capital Exhibition, the National Museum, and Old Parliament House, Electoral Education Centre, and the Australian Institute of Sport. The 2nd day they were off to tour the following: Government House, Australian War Memorial, House of Representatives, Senate, Telstra Tower, and CSIRO Discovery. Their final day was spent visiting the National Film & Sound Archives with a fun stop at Questacon for the rest of the day. Looking back at the all places they visited, I wondered if it was just a drive by, point at the building, take a quick picture and quickly move along to the next place on list.

July 10. 2010

Thuan (Anna) Thi Foulk
Born May 13, 1942
Died July 10, 2010

July 7, 2010

All of mom's kids visiting her in Hospice. This Hospice facility was researched and found by Hai. It is the newest Hospice of the Valley so everything is clean and sparkly. The room has a nice setup with a built-in bed and a very comfy leather recliner. It also happens to be very close to mom's house so convenient to get to as well. Once mom was settled and that took a few days to work out, she was comfortable and entertained with visits from her numerous family members.

July 5, 2010

Flying first class,
up in the sky.
Drinking champagne,
living the life.

Here we are on our way to visit Grandma Thuan. The only available tickets we could get with Marks Frequent Flyer Points are First Class tickets. OMG First Class. I was very nervous but soon got over it. Here you can see us enjoying the First Class Lounge. We had breakfast: Aimee - pancakes, Erika - scrambled eggs and hash browns and I had the full breakfast; eggs, bacon, toast and pancakes. After breakfast we went to check in at the spa but unfortunately they were all booked out. No worries, we hung around with the girls playing games on the computer and helping themselves to the kid sized sodas. I had a capuccino and texted the kids. We were getting our oven fixed that morning. When it was time to board the plane, the receptionist came over with our boarding passes to let us know it was time to go. How good is that? On the plane there are only 14 seats and on this day only 7 flew First Class. We had a dedicated flight attendant for the 3 of us. He was very nice and saw to our every comfort. Aimee had 3 hot chocolates and was the only one of us to change into the First Class PJ's we were given. For dinner, Aimee had polenta lasagne, Erika had sirloin and mashed potatoes, and I had some fancy duck. This was after our starters: canapes and a pureed tartlet. We had our choices of dessert. The girls had ice cream and I had a sampler of everything. After that we stretched out on our flat bed and got some shut eye. The 14 hour flight was too short!

July 3, 2010

Here is my son on his way to the hospital. Things are never quiet when you have 4 children involved in so many activities. On this day the girls are performing at the Sydney Opera House for a dance competition. Mark and I decide to go to Tim's soccer game as we had attended the Glen Street Dance Festival the week prior. Same dance. Anyways we are at the soccer oval, one of the farthest away we have been at and I am enjoying my breakfast: a bacon and egg sandwich. The boys have been warming up. I get up to get my book from the car and as I come back to the oval I notice 1 of the boys is laying down. I then notice Mark kneeling beside this boy. I look around at all the boys and realized that is MY boy lying down, not moving on the ground. I think to myself, yeah he is mucking around, faking it. But then he doesn't move and doesn't move. I still don't think it is anything serious as Mark is helping him off the oval. I start to worry when he is set down and he still hasn't moved much. We were lucky to be on this far away oval as there is a fire brigade next to us. In fact it is them who is serving the food and drinks as they do every Saturday to raise money for their brigade. We were so lucky that on this day an Inspector and Captain happened to be visiting this brigade ( I think brigades are made up of volunteers so they are not the same as a fire station). These 2 very nice men performed first aid on Tim. They kept him warm and placed him in some laying down position (forgot the name). They talked to us and kept us calm even though Tim was not moving and couldn't really talk much. As you can see things turned out ok. He did not injure his neck or spine and we only had to stay in hospital for a few hours for observation. Coincidentally the ambulance guy in the picture is the brother of the Inspector. We overheard them talking and squaring out costs the alcohol for a party they had the other night. :) Only in Australia!!

July 1, 2010

These are some of the photos taken at the Glen Street Theatre Performance. Glen Street is a dance festival held at the end of 2nd semester every year. It is not strictly a competition but there are judges who will pick some of the best dances to compete in a state competition later on in the year. Aimee's costume is pink which you can't see since she is wearing her jumper. Erika looks like a model posing in her green costume. Jamie is a very good friend of theirs and she is wearing the orangy yellow dress next to Erika. They perform a bollywood style dance to the music of Jai Ho. Aimee and Jaime were chosen to be dance captains this year, the first year to have dance captains. They had the highest marks during the auditions. This is a school dance group not to be confused with Action Dance where they also go for dance lessons.

June 29, 2010 Joeys vs. Thunderbirds Grand Finals

Aimees' Thunderbirds (yellow jersey) played Erikas' Joeys (blue jersey) in the Grand Final match on June 29th. These 2 teams are arch nemesis of each other. The Joeys have the advantage of height. They are all in year 6 whereas the T-birds are all in year 5. They are a well matched team and from my unbiased view; Erika and Aimee are the best players on their teams. Ok so maybe I am a bit biased. Aimee played the whole game, the only 1 on her team to do so. Erika was sick and we warned coach she wasn't feeling well. Anyways for the time she played she made 5 or 6 of the shots. Joeys won again 16-10. Just realized I forgot to mention this is their basketball game. They play basketball through the Thornleigh Basketball Club. Each semester is a season so the Joeys vs. the Thunderbirds have met each other in the grand finals a few times now with the Joeys walking away with the trophy.

June 10, 2010 School Knockout Soccer

On this day, our girls school knockout soccer team smashed the opposition 4-nil. Aimee plays striker and made 2 of the goals. See center picture Aimee getting high 5. Erika dominates as sweeper and keeps all the balls away from our goal. This is the first time our girls school soccer team will advance to round 5. If they win they advance to Area Knockout Competition.

June 4th 2010

This year Erika and Aimee were picked to be in the speech competition. Each class in years 5 and 6 pick 2 boys and 2 girls. Erikas' speech topic was 'When Does a Migrant Become a Citizen' and Aimees' was 'Religions and Beliefs'. They both did a wonderful job delivering their speeches but in the end did not get picked to advance to Zone (District).

20th Feb 2010

Happy Birthday Tim. Tim turned 15 on the 6th of Feb; however, the party was postponed that weekend due to wet weather. He partied at the park with a bunch of his mates (girls too). There were water balloon fights, pie eating contests, and guess who games.

Bird Lady Meagan

Meagan feeding the birds, Tuppence a bag.

Murder Under the Microscope

Inspector Aimee prepares for her investigation to uncover "who dunnit". In Cluedo style they will have to figure out who was the victim (prey), the murderer (predator) and the weapon used in an under the sea setting. Just came back from having Morning Tea with her and Eri at their school and all the kids that dressed up got a lollipop. They got to eat them in class too.

Class of 2010 Year 6

Erika modeling her year 6 Class of 2010 shirt. Year 6 are lucky enough to get to wear these shirts as part of their "uniform". As you can see, all the year 6 students have their names printed on the back in case they forget who they are and how to spell their name.

1st Day of School 2010

Another picture out of order but as the saying goes, better late than never. Here are the 3 littlies ready for their first day of school. Tim is enthusiastic as always looking forward to conquering the academic world.

4 May 2020 Joeys vs Thunderbirds

In this picture it is hard to see Aimee, but if you look closely you can see a ball about to be thrown in from the end line. That is Aimee throwing in the ball. Erika is all the way of the right hand side looking to intercept the throw in. Yes, they are on opposing basketball teams. Erika is a Joey and Aimee is a Tbird.

In club basketball, teams are sorted into competitions according to the year they are in school. Erika is year 6 and Aimee year 5 and they play in the 5/6 comp every Tuesday night. Joeys are currently ranked 1st and Tbirds 2nd. Last nights game ended with Joeys 24- Tbirds 15. Very close game. Erika's team has a bit of advantage (height) as they are all year 6 kids and have played together since year 2 (1 more year playing than Aimee's team). Aimee's team also formed and played together since year 2.

Both teams have to work very hard when they meet each other and the Tbirds have actually won once against the Joeys last year.

23 March 2010

Sorry this one is a bit out of order.

Erika tried out and made the school knockout softball team. This one had a sad ending. We were in the bottom of the 4th inning, our team batting, 2 outs and the score was 12 - 13 their way when the umpire called game. Official rule is 1 1/2 hour length game. The other coach pushed for the game to continue as to end the game now would cause the score to revert back to the previous full inning where the score was 12-6 our way. She had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I felt sympathy for our coach (a male teacher) as he tried to say rules are rules but she was so insistent the umpire agreed. At this point our girls were thinking they had won, as ump had called game, and were confused as to what was going on. The other team were fired up and it ended with our player getting thrown out at first to get 3 outs and end the game with the OTHER team winning.

Erika takes after dad and played shortstop. She had a fantastic catch and would have been involved with more outs if our first base knew how to play the game. :) There were only a handful who had any experience with softball.

2 May 2010

Thunders 4 Panthers 1.

Aimee plays striker and attempted 5 shots at goals today. Unfortunately none of them went in. They all seem to just miss.

Erika plays back and uses her fast legs to sweep the ball away from our goals. During her turn off, we see the other team breaking through our defense and scoring a point. Bummer!


*At Tim's game yesterday, we won 4-nil. He had 1 attempt which didn't go in. The play was brilliant. The ball was passed to him and he took off dribbling the ball down the field with the defender pushing on his back the whole way which is probably why the shot just missed. Sorry I was on BBQ duty and hence no picture of Tim's game. This is not to be confused with his school soccer team that was just knocked out on Friday. He plays club soccer for the winter season and the girls play on Sundays.

1 May 2020

Here comes Mark Love sliding into 3rd. He's playing with a new team this winter as most of his regular winter teammates decided to take a break and have a bit of a life. :)

The game was a bit close with both teams taking the lead at different points in the game. Our team hung on through 2 injuries and won by 2 runs. 14-12.

Mark is shortstop where all the action usually is but this time it was an outfielders game. Both teams kept hitting it to left, right and center. The opposition even had a homerun with 1 runner on but in the end, that didn't matter. He did have a great catch apparently. That was went I took 2 seconds to run to the bathroom so I don't have any proof to show you all. Haha

Uni Cruises 2009 & 2010

Last year was the first time Meagan went on a Uni sponsered cruise. Her friend who attends UTS (University of Technology Sydney) invited her. The theme was Heroes vs. Villians. Meagan went as Zena. She had such a fabulous time she went again this year. This years' theme was Welcome to the Jungle: Predator vs. Prey. Meagan and her friend Alicia went as Amazon Warriors. Again they had a great night, the best part for Meagan was when they docked to pick up their dinner, Pizza Hut Pizzas. Meagan loves her food and isn't afraid to eat in front of people. Comments were thrown around comparing Meagan's eating style to those of a pig; however, it turns out pigs chew so they didn't have much in common after all! :)

30 April 2010 Bill Turner U15 Knockout

Tim was excited to make the school soccer team after 2 intense rounds of tryouts. In his own words, he didn't think he was good enough to make the team, however he underestimated himself. Yesterday was the first (and last) game for them as they lost 3 - nil. Here in Australia, the school team sports tend to all be knockout games. No best out of 3 or anything so you always have to play your best all the time.