MWNews 20

Yesterday was fathers day here in Australia. We were supposed to go for a picnic but it was raining. It hasn't rained here in about two months but it was raining yesterday when we wanted to go out. We went to the mall instead and let the kids play on the indoor playground. Maeghan loves the playground there, although there are sometimes a lot of kids playing. She is getting better about playing with them and around them. She used to just stand at the side and wait for them to move or get out of her way. Now, she will climb up there with them and just let them pass when they push through.

There is this big climbing, crawling thing she likes to go through. When she is in there, we can't get inside to reach her but it is all mesh around the sides, so we can stick our fingers through and help her get through the rough spots. There are a couple of places where they have to climb a little hill that is made of mesh webbing. She has to wear her shoes, because of her braces, and it is hard for her to get a foothold to climb with. The other kids just stick their foot and toes in the holes and climb that way. She has to hold on to the sides and pull herself up. Then swing her leg over the top and slide down the other side. She always wants me to help her at first, so I put my fingers through so she can stand on them and get a grip to climb. After a while, she can do it by herself and just goes through all the time. The other kids are always faster than she is so they push on by her. She will patiently wait until they pass and then continue on.

At the end of the tunnel thing, there is a slide. She has goatee really brave at slides. She doesn't want any help and will sit at the top and say Ready, Set, and Go and slide down. It doesn't really matter how tall the slide is, if she can get to the top of it, she will slide down by herself. She loves the slide.

At another mall, they have outdoor play areas. Most of them have the same type of setup, in that they have this little tower that the kids have to climb a ladder or climb some rope steps to get to the top. She can't do either of those, although she will try, so I have to pick her up and put her on top of the tower. She then goes over to the slide and slides down. When she gets to the bottom, she says again and runs over to the ladder to climb back up. We spend 15 or twenty minutes just doing that over and over again.

When is gets time to leave, we tell her we are going and she says just a minute, and tries to climb up again. If I try to pick her up, she says one more time or just once more and we give her another go. She is usually satisfied with this and only goes one more time. Sometimes, she says she is not finished yet and if she is really tired, she will cry and carry on like other kids but most of the time, she is happy with one more time.

Whenever we get to the shopping mall, when I get her out of the car, the first thing she says is she doesn't want to ride in the trolley, she wants to walk. It makes it slow going, as she likes to stop and play and investigate things as she is walking. If she is tired, she will ask me to pick her up and carry her. If I get too tired, she will eventually ride in the trolley, but she doesn't like it. She used to like riding but I guess the novelty has worn off. When she is with Mommy, she always rides in the trolley. I guess it is just Daddy being there when she knows she can get away with walking.

Saturday, we went for a drive. We haven't been for a while, so despite the price of petrol, we decided to go somewhere. We ended up not driving anywhere impressive, although, for a long stretch, we were driving on a narrow dirt road with about a hundred foot drop on one side and the side of a mountain on the other. We ended up there by accident. I wanted to reach a road where we could go someplace nice and I knew the road we were on eventually reached it. We just did not count on it turning into a mountain trail. There were a lot of pretty farms out there, in the valleys and on the sides of the hills, and some of them were for sale. Not that we could afford them, but it was pretty nice. We are still in the market for a house and maybe some land but we were still too close to Sydney and you can't get anything out there for less than half a million dollars, most of them for much, much more than that. Maybe someday, but for now, we will keep waiting for the house prices to fall.

When we eventually got to the road I was looking for, we had to drive about 30 miles to get to anything. We did pass the road I wanted to go down someday. If Momma remembers, we went for a drive one time to a ferry crossing with Juanita's parents. We went along this narrow dirt road to a little town where we had lunch. We then drove back a different way, along the river and eventually came back home, after crossing a couple of other ferries. That first ferry was Wiseman's ferry and the town we went to was St. Albans.

Not that anyone else has any idea what I am talking about, but the gist of the story is, if we had kept going through St. Albans, we would have continued along the river and eventually ended up on the road that we went on this past Saturday. We passed where the road to St. Albans comes out and I wanted to go back down it to have lunch there again, but I didn't know how far it was and they don't have a lot of signs telling you how far away things are, so we kept on going towards another town called Cessnock. On the way, you go through two historic towns that have little shops and tourist type things where you can buy locally made stuff. There are a lot of little towns like that over here. They are usually in the middle of nowhere and are not on the way to anything. I have no idea how these places stay in business or ever sell anything. There cannot be enough traffic on these roads to support them but everytime we go through one of these towns, it is full of people, so I guess that is something people do over here.

I love going to these places and finding new things. Juanita likes it too but not as much as I do. The problem is getting there. You have to drive for such a long time, that everyone is asleep by the time you get there and they are not as happy to be there when they wake up. It is fun for me probably because I have something to do along the way, drive, but everyone else just has to sit there.

Anyway, by the time we got to the first town, it was lunch time and the kids, we had Maeghan and Anna with us, were hungry but of course, they wanted McDonald's. Since we had driven so far with nothing for them to do, I decided not to stop and look at the shops and continue on to Cessnock, where they have a McDonald's. We never made it to the second town but maybe someday, we will take the trip again and stop and see the sites. I did see a couple of little cafe's and a couple of shops that sold homemade things. It is also in the wine country, so everywhere you went they had wine tasting. Not that Juanita could stop and have wine. Not only does she not like wine but she is pregnant and couldn't have any anyway.

So we ended up in Cessnock. It is a typical small town. A row of shops down the main street. A little shopping mall with a grocery store and a Target and other little shops nearby. We stopped at the McDonald's and let the kids play and eat lunch. I hate McDonald's but there wasn't anything else nearby, so we had to settle for it. The kids had fun and spent some time playing. Maeghan was naughty when we left and started crying because she didn't want to leave. We hadn't been gone for very long, the whole trip only took about four hours, but Juanita gets tired easily, with the pregnancy, so we decided to just drive home. We found some new ways to get home, we have made the drive to Cessnock before, so that made it interesting. We never got to see the water as we had headed inland. Everyone likes the water and we usually stay along the coast but this time, decided to go the other way.

Our next trip will be north, past Port Macquarie. I don't know what is up along that way. We do go that way when we go to Brisbane, but at that point, the trip is usually just started and we are not ready to do any site-seeing, so we bypass the roads closer to the water and just stay on the highway. Next time, we will get off the main road and drive to the coast on the other side of the Port. It is up near Taree for those following along on the map. We have been there once when we took a boat ride on Port Macquarie. We only visited one little town where the boat stopped for lunch but I am sure there are other things there to visit. This all depends on the price of petrol not going up again and our ability to save up for these drives. Petrol is at $1.30 now, but I have talked about that enough.

So, yesterday being Father's day, I got some presents. I got a tea set from Maeghan and Michael. I had been asking about one because we stop at some Tea houses sometimes and they serve tea the old fashioned way. Not tea bags but actually tea leaves in a pot. I think it is neat and Juanita decided to get me one for myself. Now, I can have real tea anytime I want. I don't know what occasion I will have to drink it or who I will drink it with, but I am ready when the time comes.

Angela and the kids got me a beard trimmer. I know you are not aware of it, but I have had a mustache and goatee for about six months now. Maybe not that long, but it has been a while. I don't know how much longer I will have it and there are no pictures of me with it, except on Juanita's phone, so I don't know if anyone will ever get to see it. I might make it until after Christmas, and get pictures then, but maybe not. Juanita's parents haven't seen it either and if I wait that long, then I might as wait until Christmas.

Maeghan used to play with it when I first grew it. She would rub my chin and look at me strange. I am worried that when I shave it off, she won't recognize me. I am also worried that William, if I have it when he is born, will not recognize me if I shave it off. That means I will have to keep it for a long time or shave it off before he is born. I haven't decided yet, but I will at least keep it until I get a decent picture.

I have tried to remember to take our camera with us when we go places lately. I keep forgetting and we do not have any new pictures of Maeghan or anyone else. Juanita wants me to take a picture of her belly so you can see what William looks like. I am not sure that is such a good idea but I will probably do that sometime.

William is still scheduled to be born on Nov. 25, Juanita's birthday. I think we go to the doctor again this week and as we get closer, they will tell us for sure when it is supposed to happen. Juanita's parents will not make it over in time. They have to stay and do some kind of church work with Karen, Juanita's sister. They will be here on Dec. 17, the day of Maeghan's dance recital. They get here at 08:30 in the morning and the recital is not until 6 pm, so we should make it back in time. I don't know how long they are staying, but the ticket prices do not go down until February, so they will be here at least that long. That is, if ticket prices go back down. They might keep them up because of the fuel price but for now, they start to drop in February. If they stay that long, they might as well stay for Maeghan's birthday. That is Feb. 21. Maeghan will like it, I am sure.

We are planning on getting her this big play house she always plays with at Toys R Us. We already have her Christmas presents, so we will get that for her birthday. It has a little make believe kitchen in it and windows and doors she can open and close. It is a really nice one. Most of the cheaper ones we see are very flimsy and with all the grandkids, we don't think they would hold up very well, so we plan on getting the good one. Maeghan always hates it when we have to leave the store. It is the one thing she always cries about when we leave. She likes to go in there and make us dinner. She mostly makes lollies, but sometimes she makes noodles or sausage. She has started doing that at home and feeding them to us. We got her this big wooden kitchen for Christmas. It has everything you need like a stove and cabinets and a refridgerator and other things. I have to put it together at Christmas and it weighs a ton. I think it will be too big for anywhere in the house and we will have to get rid of some things but we should probably get rid of some of her toys anyway. She plays with them all but one room of the house is dedicated to her toys and it is not her bedroom. It is the rumpus room and that is where all the kids play. The big kitchen is supposed to go in there but I don't know where it is going to fit. It can't go outside because it is made of wood and I don't like the kids playing in the garage because there is too much chance of them getting into something they are not supposed to get into.

Well, Maeghan goes to ballet today. I am sure I will have more to write about tomorrow. For now, I think it is time to go. I have lots of work to do. We will talk to you later.

Bye.