Good Old MinneSNOWta

I know this will be hard for everyone to believe, but we DO miss the snow. I'm told Mahtomedi got about 12 inches from the first snow storm and 20 or so inches from the last snow storm. WOW! In the meantime it seems to have cooled off here in Melbourne. Lately the highs have been down from the 90-100's to the 80's!

Riley's Classroom Pictures for Mrs. Haugh!

Riley is holding an Australian series of early reader books called "Aussie Chomps". Notice the "bite" out of the corner of the book. All the books in the series have a bite out of the corner like this one.



Riley is sitting where her teacher, Ms Tirtilas sits when she reads to the class. You can see that the room is very well decorated with displays and artwork done by the kids. There are 20 kids in Riley's class.

More decorations....

This a table of books that they can choose from for independent reading. They call it SQUIRT (Super Quiet Independent Reading Time).

The lighting was not very good, but this is the teacher's desk....

There are 4 computers in Riley's classroom. They also have a computer lab in the school.

Right now Riley's class is doing a unit on the beach. They had an "incursion" where someone came and talked about rock pools and sea creatures, etc., and next week they have an "excursion" where they are going to the Melbourne Aquarium. Riley has been there twice already, and her Grandpa will be visiting us down under, so she is not going.

Riley was the "leader of the week", so she got a special desk!

Riley's "specialists" are art, computer, library, phy ed, music, and French.

Riley's schedule is something like this:

School starts at 9:00

Morning tea/recess 11:00-11:20

Lunch 12:50-1:00 at her desk

Recess 1:00-2:00

School ends at 3:30

There are no school buses here, so we walk or drive to school every day. They go outside for gym and recess even when it is 100 degrees!

Shrove Tuesday

In Australia, Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday. It is known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday, because it is customary here to feast on pancakes before Lent. As a reminder, they teach religion in the public schools here. So I helped Riley's class as they made pancakes in the after-care room of her school. Since Pat is the one who makes pancakes with the kids, he probably would have been better suited for this.

The Great Ocean Road

Apparently, The Great Ocean Road is one of the world's most scenic drives. There are tiny towns all along the curvy roads. Of course the views are beautiful. There are cliffs and "monoliths" all along the drive. It goes on for hundreds of miles.

It has been so hot here that today we decided to get in the air-conditioned car and drive part of the road. We stayed in a very cute little resort town called Lorne. However, with 3 kids in a minivan, we didn't go as far as we would have without kids, but we still saw lots of amazing landscape.

This is the lap pool that was in our hotel.

Riley is starting to enjoy taking her own pictures.

Here is a monolith.

There are 12 of these further up the road. They are called the Twelve Apostles. Unfortunately that was another 2 1/2 hours along the road, so we decided that the single ones we saw were going to have to be good enough!

Valentine's Day

Unfortunately, Valentine's Day is not celebrated down under. The kids do not bring valentines and/or treats to their classes. I went to the store to get the kids a little something, and could not find one valentine stuffed animal or candy heart or anything. Thanks to all who sent cards to the kids!!

Brody's Turn

Brody missed out on catching what Taylor and Riley had a month ago, but now it's his turn. He had a fever of 104, so we took him to the doctor. He has strep throat and his ears are infected. He started some antibiotics, and should feel better soon. He had to miss speech today, and will miss school tomorrow. He is watching movies all day!

What's a Clothesline?

Just ask Riley! Here she is out on our deck.
One of our favorite things to say is "things are different here". This is true of the laundry too. Believe it or not, the dryers are not vented outside. That means that if you're running the dryer, all the hot air is just blowing into the house. If we were in MN right now, that would be great. But down here, when it's 90-100 degrees this definitely is not a good thing!
People who know me well would laugh at the thought of me hanging up clothes outside to dry. It's more time-consuming that you would think, and I really don't like to do it. Luckily, Riley has turned into quite the little helper, and she likes doing this! As soon as I can get someone to fold it all, I'll be all set!

Weather

We have been informed by everyone back home that it has been well below zero there lateley - bummer. The funny thing is that it has been over 100 degrees warmer here! Hard to believe, isn't it. However, just like home, the weather in Melbourne can change drastically at any given time. For instance, yesterday it was 38 degrees Celsius (100), and today it was 17 degrees Celsius (63).

More Lost Teeth!

Riley has lost 2 more teeth in the last 2 days. One was yesterday at a carnival we went to, and the other one was today at school. The tooth fairy continues to leave Riley lots of money. I know a lot of you are hoping that she saves the money to buy Grandpa a NEW front tooth. She definitely is saving her money, but I'm not sure it's for Grandpa!