This is one of my favourite photos of Al and Kaitlin - the good thing is that now Al is frameless !!! (And he lost 4 kgs in one afternoon)
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Saturday, 21 April 2007
Kaitlin at the cross country
For those of you who only remember the little 7 year old that left SA in 2000 - she is turning 15 in a couple of weeks time - where has the time gone to and where is my baby ?????
Update April 07
I couldn't believe that the last update was in January - how quickly time goes !!!!
So much has happened since then I don't know where to begin but will try to take things one at a time.
Al finally has the frame off his leg - they took it off the week after Easter. In January the dr indicated that he thought it would be ready to come off at the end of February but when Al had those x-rays done, the dr said to leave it for another month and then have a look. So that is what we did and didn't expect it to come off when it did as the radiologist said that the fracture was still very evident. Well the specialist was happy with the leg and so took the frame off - they did not stitch the holes for the pin sites but just put Betadine plugs in and dressed them. The problem was that there was actually quite a lot of bleeding so 4 pressure bandages later they let him go home. We did that for a couple of days and he has now been dressing and bandageless for the past 4 or 5 days and it all seems good. I think he will probably put something on the holes (which are slowly closing) if he is working in the garden or when he goes into the roof to finish the downlights which we are having in the entertainment area.
We finally got the pavers delivered for our entertainment area - the only problem was that 1/2 of them were the incorrect pavers !!!! We are having the outside paved in sandstone and they had sent the wrong colour pavers so we have been waiting since about the middle of March for another delivery. They are supposed to be delivered tomorrow morning but it really will be a case of seeing is believing. The area which has been done looks really good and I'm sure that once it is all finished we will be very happy with the result - it is just the waiting which is a pain in the neck. Al has his pub built and we were looking at some wood for the bar counter on Saturday morning. We did buy some wood from someone moving to Townsville but the piece he wanted to use is quite badly warped and I don't think is going to be suitable to use for the counter top. We haven't decided how we are going to finish the front of the bar yet - tossing up between the sandstone pavers and some mini corrugated iron for the real rustic look. I have been sanding down our outdoor setting but it is taking me so long as the wax has penetrated so far into the wood - never again will I listen to the salesman who tells me we only need to wax the wood to keep it looking lovely !!!!!
We had a very quiet Easter - the weather was lovely and we spent most of the time relaxing at home and catching up with the family. As usual we ate too many Easter eggs and hot-x buns and sat around anticipating Al's frame coming off the next week !!! My folks are doing well - Dad is getting steady hours from Coles and that together with their Australia Post round, the delivery of the weekly Sun newspaper and their markets is keeping them out of trouble. Dad had to have a melanoma thing cut out of his face before Easter but the skin specialist who performed the operation said that he got the whole melanoma and to just keep an eye on it in the future and to go back to him if it starts to grow again (it is the same one that he had cut out before he left SA). They have applied for citizenship and are now waiting to hear which ceremony they can attend to receive their certificates, flags, native trees and morning / afternoon tea with lamingtons, meat pies and veggiemite sandwiches !!!!
In March Kaitlin went to Cairns to play in the U16 softball tournament for South Coast Region. Al and I went up for three days to watch her and they did a lot better than what any of us expected. They came 2nd in their pool and then 5th in the play-offs. She has now changed from playing for Gold Coast to playing at Redlands Bay as the competition is much stronger. The only problem is that it is about 1 hr 15mins from home and she has training on Wednesday and games on a Sunday morning. The good thing is that I now have some company at the games after all the years of sitting watching Al he now has a chance to sit and watch Kaitlin !!!! We went to watch China play Australia last weekend and it was lovely to sit and listen to the two of them talking about the game - long may it last !!!!!
Kaitlin is sitting two scholarship exams - one for the school that she is currently going to Saint Stephen's and then another for Queensland Academies which is a Qld Government innitiative for a new campus they are opening at Griffith University for students in year 11 and 12 who are interested in studying Health Sciences at university when they finish school. I don't know how much chance she has at either of them but am very proud that she was interested in applying in the first place. She has also been selected for a Peer Helper programme - this is a programme run by the school for nominated students to teach them how to help other students who may have problems but who feel they can't talk to an adult. During June / July Al and I are going to get a taste of what it is like to play Derby and Joan as K is going on the school sports tour to NSW and ACT and then is back for one night before leaving on another Outward Bound programme. This is when they take 12 students, 1 teacher and an instructor out into the bush and they students have to navigate their way around for 10 days - do their own cooking, organise their camps each night etc. She went last year and came back so appreciative of both Al and I and our home but, that did fade after a while so hopefully this will be a good reminder to her of just how good she has it at home !!!!! All in all she is a busy little bee - between school, work, sport and her extra curricular she doens't have too much time to get up to mischief although she sure can turn on the attitude sometimes !!!!!
Work is going well for me - I am busy with a huge government return at the moment and then it is the fringe benefits return which has to be completed and then it will settle back down to normal month to month stuff until the audit at the end of the year. Coles is still there and keeping us out of touble in the evenings - we have had a quiet few weeks what with taking time off for Al's leg and then Easter and on Wednesday it is ANZAC day so another holiday for us - what a pity they are all so close together at the beginning of the year and then we have to wait until August for Gold Coast show day and then the next holiday is Christmas !!!!!!
We haven't seen much of the World Cup Cricket due to the time that it is on over here - we started watching a little when we got home from work at 1am but found that we were getting caught up in the games and not getting to be before 2.30 or 3am and then it was too difficult to get up for work at 6.30 so we put a stop to that.
In September / October we are going to Spain on holiday for just under 4 weeks. We are all really looking forward to that with lots of planning and research happening. Kaitlin is learning Spanish at school and so we will be relying on her to make sure we will at least be able to eat some 'normal' food when we are there - I am sure if the worst comes to the worst there will be a McDonalds although would hate to think of the size we will come home if we spend 4 weeks eating that !!!!!! She can read it pretty well so I am sure that between a phrase book, what she can read and what she can say we will be fine - if nothing else it will certainly be an experience for all of us that we won't forget in a hurry !!!!!
Well that is about all the news from the Morris' in Australia. I hope that whoever is reading this is well. Go safely and take care !
With love from Australia
Me
So much has happened since then I don't know where to begin but will try to take things one at a time.
Al finally has the frame off his leg - they took it off the week after Easter. In January the dr indicated that he thought it would be ready to come off at the end of February but when Al had those x-rays done, the dr said to leave it for another month and then have a look. So that is what we did and didn't expect it to come off when it did as the radiologist said that the fracture was still very evident. Well the specialist was happy with the leg and so took the frame off - they did not stitch the holes for the pin sites but just put Betadine plugs in and dressed them. The problem was that there was actually quite a lot of bleeding so 4 pressure bandages later they let him go home. We did that for a couple of days and he has now been dressing and bandageless for the past 4 or 5 days and it all seems good. I think he will probably put something on the holes (which are slowly closing) if he is working in the garden or when he goes into the roof to finish the downlights which we are having in the entertainment area.
We finally got the pavers delivered for our entertainment area - the only problem was that 1/2 of them were the incorrect pavers !!!! We are having the outside paved in sandstone and they had sent the wrong colour pavers so we have been waiting since about the middle of March for another delivery. They are supposed to be delivered tomorrow morning but it really will be a case of seeing is believing. The area which has been done looks really good and I'm sure that once it is all finished we will be very happy with the result - it is just the waiting which is a pain in the neck. Al has his pub built and we were looking at some wood for the bar counter on Saturday morning. We did buy some wood from someone moving to Townsville but the piece he wanted to use is quite badly warped and I don't think is going to be suitable to use for the counter top. We haven't decided how we are going to finish the front of the bar yet - tossing up between the sandstone pavers and some mini corrugated iron for the real rustic look. I have been sanding down our outdoor setting but it is taking me so long as the wax has penetrated so far into the wood - never again will I listen to the salesman who tells me we only need to wax the wood to keep it looking lovely !!!!!
We had a very quiet Easter - the weather was lovely and we spent most of the time relaxing at home and catching up with the family. As usual we ate too many Easter eggs and hot-x buns and sat around anticipating Al's frame coming off the next week !!! My folks are doing well - Dad is getting steady hours from Coles and that together with their Australia Post round, the delivery of the weekly Sun newspaper and their markets is keeping them out of trouble. Dad had to have a melanoma thing cut out of his face before Easter but the skin specialist who performed the operation said that he got the whole melanoma and to just keep an eye on it in the future and to go back to him if it starts to grow again (it is the same one that he had cut out before he left SA). They have applied for citizenship and are now waiting to hear which ceremony they can attend to receive their certificates, flags, native trees and morning / afternoon tea with lamingtons, meat pies and veggiemite sandwiches !!!!
In March Kaitlin went to Cairns to play in the U16 softball tournament for South Coast Region. Al and I went up for three days to watch her and they did a lot better than what any of us expected. They came 2nd in their pool and then 5th in the play-offs. She has now changed from playing for Gold Coast to playing at Redlands Bay as the competition is much stronger. The only problem is that it is about 1 hr 15mins from home and she has training on Wednesday and games on a Sunday morning. The good thing is that I now have some company at the games after all the years of sitting watching Al he now has a chance to sit and watch Kaitlin !!!! We went to watch China play Australia last weekend and it was lovely to sit and listen to the two of them talking about the game - long may it last !!!!!
Kaitlin is sitting two scholarship exams - one for the school that she is currently going to Saint Stephen's and then another for Queensland Academies which is a Qld Government innitiative for a new campus they are opening at Griffith University for students in year 11 and 12 who are interested in studying Health Sciences at university when they finish school. I don't know how much chance she has at either of them but am very proud that she was interested in applying in the first place. She has also been selected for a Peer Helper programme - this is a programme run by the school for nominated students to teach them how to help other students who may have problems but who feel they can't talk to an adult. During June / July Al and I are going to get a taste of what it is like to play Derby and Joan as K is going on the school sports tour to NSW and ACT and then is back for one night before leaving on another Outward Bound programme. This is when they take 12 students, 1 teacher and an instructor out into the bush and they students have to navigate their way around for 10 days - do their own cooking, organise their camps each night etc. She went last year and came back so appreciative of both Al and I and our home but, that did fade after a while so hopefully this will be a good reminder to her of just how good she has it at home !!!!! All in all she is a busy little bee - between school, work, sport and her extra curricular she doens't have too much time to get up to mischief although she sure can turn on the attitude sometimes !!!!!
Work is going well for me - I am busy with a huge government return at the moment and then it is the fringe benefits return which has to be completed and then it will settle back down to normal month to month stuff until the audit at the end of the year. Coles is still there and keeping us out of touble in the evenings - we have had a quiet few weeks what with taking time off for Al's leg and then Easter and on Wednesday it is ANZAC day so another holiday for us - what a pity they are all so close together at the beginning of the year and then we have to wait until August for Gold Coast show day and then the next holiday is Christmas !!!!!!
We haven't seen much of the World Cup Cricket due to the time that it is on over here - we started watching a little when we got home from work at 1am but found that we were getting caught up in the games and not getting to be before 2.30 or 3am and then it was too difficult to get up for work at 6.30 so we put a stop to that.
In September / October we are going to Spain on holiday for just under 4 weeks. We are all really looking forward to that with lots of planning and research happening. Kaitlin is learning Spanish at school and so we will be relying on her to make sure we will at least be able to eat some 'normal' food when we are there - I am sure if the worst comes to the worst there will be a McDonalds although would hate to think of the size we will come home if we spend 4 weeks eating that !!!!!! She can read it pretty well so I am sure that between a phrase book, what she can read and what she can say we will be fine - if nothing else it will certainly be an experience for all of us that we won't forget in a hurry !!!!!
Well that is about all the news from the Morris' in Australia. I hope that whoever is reading this is well. Go safely and take care !
With love from Australia
Me
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