Real Life

My good friend, Moko found my blog by doing a search on the Internet about a year or so ago for Jumping Monkeys (go figure!) Anyway, she suggested I blog about the pen marks I recently found on our front room couches. These things become so commonplace at my home, I forget that they can be a source of inspiration for my Blog.

So, Wyatt has been a bit of a terror lately (can we say Terrific Twos?). The following pictures will pretty much sum it up. Love this kid!

My mom has a similar picture of my youngest brother and sister's work .

This is after we had cleaned up most of it. There were marks in every panel down the hallway as well.
I love Magic Erasers!

This is also after I had cleaned up the pen marks on the rest of the couch. I started out using hairspray (which works), but ended up using Exit. I got a free sample from the Rugby club. It works wonders! (I think it's the same stuff as Fels-Naptha)

My good friend, Lauren happened to call me while I was attacking the Sharpie walls. I was not quite composed yet. She was giddy with excitement wondering what an experienced mother would do in such a situation. I am ashamed to say that I had to tell her that I spanked his little bottom! Shocking! Why am I admitting this to all you people? In retrospect, no, this was not the right thing to do, and no, it didn't accomplish anything (although he hasn't since attempted writing on anything besides paper.) I will have to add that I was not at all out of control as I spanked him, I felt I was getting his attention and this would certainly have been devastating to some of my other children who wouldn't need more than a warning. After the initial crying, I sat down with him and hugged him and gave him a piece of paper with a crayon and told him. "You can color on paper, not on the walls or the floor or the couches." I guess I'm still learning, even after 6 kids.

A Child Who Sings is a Happy Child
So, in other news. One of the best talks, in my opinion, during the LDS April 2013 General Conference was the talk given by Elder Falabella on Sunday Afternoon, The Home: The School of Life. In one section, he said one of his wife's mottos was "A child who sings is a happy child". (This may be one of the next mottos to find it's way onto my wall) We have a very musical family. Whistling is huge around here and Ammon is constantly singing. I used to get a little, not annoyed, but a little exhausted with all the singing and whistling. Now, I will never complain again. Every time I hear Ammon singing, I think. Oh... he's happy! Thanks for that!

Getting 7-year-olds to do chores: 
Here's an idea... Ammon loves to play games. If it is not a game, it is drudgery. For this purpose, I have re-instituted a game I invented to get my younger brothers and sisters to clean up. Monster! I pretend to be asleep while they do some task for me, (practice the piano, do a chore, clean their room, leave me alone so I can write a blog...) Then, I wake up snarling and chase them all around the house until I "catch" them and pretend to eat them. They love this game and they get the work done. It didn't work for Ethan, Ashlee or Kyle, but Ammon, Aaron and Wyatt love it! Isn't it great with more kids, I can really try out everything until it works! And, I get to play Monster again (I love being this kind of Monster Mommy!)

Super Mum

I've been thinking lately about what it means to be a "Super Mum". You see, perfectionism is a tricky balance. There is no way we can be perfect at everything, but everyone is good at something. Figure out what your one or two things are and maximize them, and you too can be a Super Mum.

I think my first meeting conversations are hilarious. They follow a similar pattern. "6 kids?!! You're amazing!" "Barb, did you hear she has 6 kids?!" "You must be a super mum!" As if having the ability to procreate makes me a super mum.

My mum told me once that she would have similar conversations with people about her 12 children. She similarly would get annoyed by people assuming she must be amazing because she had so many children. She told me that she felt she hadn't necessarily chosen to have so many children, but as they came, she chose to do a good job raising them. I feel the same. I'm doing the best job I can raising my children and no, I don't always get it right and I'm not perfect at everything. I'll give you an example.

This is a bit embarrassing so bear with me. Last week, Monkey #6 got the croup. I've had the croup in my house. I have 5 boys. They all get croup when they get sick. Monkey #6 gets it pretty bad, so I'm used to it. Sometimes I'll take him outside. Sometimes I'll take him into the shower, or put a humidifier on him. That night, I was too tired to think straight, so I just put him in bed with me and Robert went off to sleep on the couch. In the morning, he was still crying and uncomfortable. He just wanted me to cuddle him. Robert suggested I take him into the doctor. Now, I am the least perceptive person when it comes to the health and safety of my children. I'm lucky to have a husband that makes up for my lack. So, I took him into the doctor who gave me medicine and told me to put him in the shower. He said if Monkey wasn't improving in a couple of hours to take him immediately to the Emergency Room.

It sounded pretty serious, and I did just what he said. It didn't take me long to realize things were not improving, so I took him to the emergency room where the doctors informed me he was at critically low oxygen absorption levels. He remained in the hospital for 2 days. I was glad that he had help when he needed it, but it worried me that I couldn't even take care of my own children and I still don't know how sick is sick enough for the hospital.

The point of this story is that; ok, I'll admit it. I am not a "Super Mum Doctor". Some women are so good at knowing what to do for their children to keep them safe and healthy. This is really important and I really am trying to do better. I am really good at teaching my children to be resilient and to take risks. There is benefit from both ways of parenting.

You can be a Super Mum at whatever you are good at. Teach your children to bake bread or pick stocks or do crafts or put together a fabulous outfit, or find deals at the op shop or clean a toilet really well. We are all Super Mums, but it is a choice. Being Super means sacrificing for another person. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you are doing something to make someone else's life better. You are super!

New Paradigms

My children will start a new school year tomorrow. The beginning of the year coinciding with the beginning of a school year gives me an opportunity to think about new beginnings. I always loved the first day of school. I can remember most of them vividly; the anticipation and anxiety, laying out the new clothes, getting the bag packed and thinking about the new friends I would be meeting. I still get a little excited for my kid's first day of school and wonder what they will do this year.

I also like the first day of school because it marks an opportunity to implement "again" some of the great programs, practices and schedules that I have tried before. There is no shame in starting a goal that eventually fizzles. You can always revisit it later and try again. There are a few goals that I generally go back to; living a more healthy life, writing more in my journal (or on a blog), being more consistent in parenting, educating myself. For some reason it still gets me excited to make these goals, even if they do fizzle after a little while or the implementation is a little unrealistic.

Everyone should have an opportunity to feel successful, so when I'm re-establishing my new goals, I start over. All the mistakes I've made in the past don't matter anymore. I am a new person and will start from this point and will be successful in whatever I decide to do. I try to manage my expectations so if I don't quite get everything done that I'd like to do, I can be happy with what I do accomplish. Just because you make a goal and don't quite reach what you're trying to attain doesn't make you a failure. It gets you that much closer to your goal, then you can start over again another time.

So, here's my new paradigm. I was reading an article that my niece, Rachel posted on facebook about a mother's conversation with her 3-year-old daughter who noticed her mother's fat thighs compared to her skinny legs. The mother, at first a bit hurt, tells her daughter that when she was young she had long skinny legs like her daughter and how she felt so pretty and when she got bigger she got beautiful big curves. She told her daughter that someday she would have big, beautiful curves and how wonderful it was that our bodies change over time. What a wonderful message to share with a young girl about how beautiful bodies can be in all their shapes, sizes and ages.

Another paradigm shift is about joy. I've always known that happiness is a choice. So, I always felt guilty when I wasn't happy because I knew it was my own fault. The new me recognizes that there has to be some sadness to experience joy, otherwise you wouldn't know the difference. I've done a few things to help me through the down times though. The best one by far is my "Happy Thoughts" list. Some people call it a Gratitude Journal. Basically, I just keep a list of good things that happen in my life. They are generally one-liners. I don't even date them anymore and I repeat things often like "Seeing my children sleeping peacefully". It's amazing how just looking over these things helps me to focus on the positive in my life.

This year I hope to keep things really positive in our home. I want a home where the Spirit can be felt and where our children want to be and are happy. There is definitely a balance that we are constantly trying to find to keep our home a happy place and according to my new paradigm on joy, we won't always be happy, but if we can maintain the discipline with love, I think we'll find the balance. For the most part, I will be able to have a place where my kids will want to be. I have confidence that I will be successful in all the goals I'm setting for myself this year not because I'll achieve all of them, but because I'm trying to be better. Sometimes just having the desire to change can work miracles.

Animal Encounters

I was thinking yesterday that I should share some of my animal encounters is Australia. I was taking groceries out of the car last night in the dark and remembered the time a gecko had gotten into the car and was running around our feet. Poor gecko, but it freaked me out. I couldn't put my feet down until I knew it was gone. I remember stopping with the family somewhere to try to find it and shoo it out. We couldn't find it and finally had to just drive around with it in the car for a few days before it found its way out.

The next one I remember is a cockroach. There are many cockroaches here. I often wake up in the middle of the night and open a drawer in the kitchen only to find a disgusting little creature staring back at me. They used to really scare me, but now I just get out a shoe (my weapon). It seems to help if we keep things really clean and remember to take the trash out at night. One of my first encounters with these pests, it actually flew into my hair. I had never and never since have seen one fly, but I assure you they do fly and one got stuck in my hair. Frightening experience.

The next was a magpie. Magpies can be frightening during the spring when they are nesting. They swoop on unsuspecting victims seemingly for no cause at all. Ethan got swooped by the same bird every time he passed its tree riding to Aviation High on his bike. The bird would eye him as he approached and they would have a bit if a showdown. Ethan would ride as quickly as he could past. Once he had passed, the bird would swoop down on him, hitting his helmet violently. He gave up riding shortly after that. I got swooped once walking home with the boys from the car service centre. I had on a hat so it didn't get a chunk from my head, but still frightening.

One of my favorite animals are the kookaburras. I love hearing their laugh. Sometimes they get going in the morning. It's such a pleasant sound to wake up to. Much better than the crows, who we hear frequently too, outside the window. I've been known to throw things at them when they get up with the sun around 4 am in the summer.

The bush turkeys are funny. When we first got here there were two that lived in our backyard. I named them Verne and Shirley. They messed up all the wiring for the lights on the pool by building their nests. They push all the scrub up into big piles to nest. They had a bunch of baby turkeys that were fun to watch. At one point, we had left the door open and then left the house for the day, closing the door and locking it. Apparently, one of the turkeys had come in when the door was open and had enjoyed a day in our house. We found him in Ashlee's closet. Ethan and I cornered him and put a basket over him and took him outside with his brothers. We haven't seen the turkeys in a while.

After the turkeys disappeared, we started seeing tails disappearing underneath the house. At first, I thought we had a huge snake, but one time when I was out in the garden, I spied two huge lizards. They were actually blue-tongued skinks. They didn't bother us too much so we decided they could be our new pets. They disappeared once it got cold. I wonder if they'll be back this summer?

We also have several bats. They are fruit bats with maybe 3 ft wing spans. They hang in the palm trees and talk all night. They sound something like children chattering. It's not an annoying sound at all. They are sort of funny, although they make a huge mess and their droppings are extremely sticky.

Possums are creatures of the night. I'm pretty sure they are the ones that always got to my vegetable garden and took anything that might have grown. Sometimes, they'll run on top of the roof and they are quite noisy. It sounds like a large dog.

We also found a python once in our tree. The kids were playing in the front yard when I heard Ashlee say. "Hey guys, look at the snake." She was pretty unconcerned, but I rushed out knowing what kinds of snakes might be lurking. It was a green python and we looked up all sorts of information about them. It was just a baby and they are relatively safe at that size.

Robert once found a Huntsman spider in a suitcase as he was opening it to prepare for a trip. The bag had been under the house and he had brought it upstairs to pack. He was so startled, he fell over. It was pretty funny actually.

I was doing some laps in our pool last summer, when the crows started making an awful ruckus. I looked up on our pool fence and there were two tawny frog-mouthed owls. They were the ugliest creatures I had ever seen and I was quite frightened until the crows started picking on them. They didn't really fight back and I suddenly felt very sorry for them. Those poor birds were so ugly, nobody wanted them around. What a way to live.

Robert's uncle Roy lives in Wacol, out by Ipswich, a little way out of town. He is opposite a large forest. Last year, when we were over visiting, we saw a huge kangaroo just opposite his house. He just stood and stared at us.

Another bird I really like are the rainbow lorikeets. They are beautiful and they are very chatty. They like to hang out in the big trees next to Chermside shopping Centro. Especially at twilight, they all are chatting in the trees. I always imagine the conversations they are having and make up words for them. They are really funny.

The most recent animal encounter was with a duck. I was sitting in the front room with a couple of friends and could hear noises coming from the fireplace. When I looked in, there was a sooty duck staring back at me. My brave friend tried to pull him out to no avail. I gave him a little water and called the Animal Rescue Unit. They finally showed up several hours later and rescued the poor thing.

The Value of Work

So, I've tried many schemes in the past to help my children appreciate work and money. I think it's important to teach children the value of work along with how to handle finances. Here is a list of some of my past schemes. Some have been more successful than others:

1. Money for chores - As the kids did their chores, I would give them some money. We tried it at one point to have them finish their chores by a certain time. This got really confusing though when I didn't have the money handy, couldn't figure out if they really earned it, and tried to help them break out tithing and savings from it. Also, I found that some days they would just decide they didn't need the money so they just wouldn't do their chores.

2. Money for extra chores - Same as above. I like this a little better, however, because there are certain chores that should be completed as an expectation for living in a family. The extra chores are for when a child has completed all the required chores and would like something extra to do for money. I still have "Money Chores" anytime one of the kids would like to take me up on it. The only problem I have had with this is that most of the time the kids aren't willing to do the extra chores until the hour they need the money. I keep thinking they will learn to do the extra chores when they don't have money when they need it. Not yet. Drat!

3. Allowance - I stopped this when the kids started coming and demanding money from me. I didn't like the idea of them having an allowance without strings attached. They were also starting to act a little spoiled.

4. Contract - This was a great idea for my older kids. I have one that is in a very demanding school. He is not able to work because of the required homework, so we worked out a contract for him of things he needed to do around the home to earn a certain amount of money each week. The idea was that he was going to start paying for his own haircuts, gifts for others, school activities, social activities and other things that would come up. We paid all school fees for him, but he was to give us a set amount each month to cover those expenses as well. It was a great idea but totally failed as he just decided some days to not do some of his chores. Thus, it was difficult to decide if we should still give him a portion of the allowance, and how much to give him.

5. Fraction payments linked to chores - This is the newest scheme I have come up with. I put together a chart. I know you can buy charts that are already squared up, but I just took a posterboard and a yardstick and made my own boxes. Basically, there are certain required things that the children must do, non-negotiable. I've included them on my chart because if they do them with a cheerful attitude they get a point. For each of the assignments, I have decided how many points can be accumulated per week. I add up all the points at the end of the week, divide it by the total amount of points available, then multiply that by the amount the child would earn if they have all the points for the week. This way, I am able to pay a fair price for the chores they do cheerfully. I also keep it up next to the kitchen, where I can monitor it. In the past, we've tried putting charts up on kid's doors, and they tend to get forgotten. (I can't be bothered to walk from room to room with stickers.) This is much more efficient as they just tick off the box if they accomplish it in the day. For my children over 12, they are required to tick their own boxes for the day. That way, there is some responsibility. When the day is over, I lock in their points, so we don't have kids coming back at the end of the week saying, "Well, on Tuesday, I finished my piano." The only issue I have found with this system is that the kids might think I'm paying them to do their regular chores, practicing and homework. I have tried to make it clear that it is a packaged deal. There are certain things that are expected in the family, and if they complete those things, they receive an allowance. If they don't, they get docked. In addition, they are expected to pay a tithe on their earnings, put some into savings and pay for gifts for friends and family and any social activities.

So, this is how the math works. Ethan has the potential to earn $30 per week and has 42 points possible. If he completes 30 points, I divide 30/42 = .71. So he earns 71% of the $30. The equation here is .71*30 = $21.43. I told them I will always round down to the nearest dollar. So, he earns $21 for that week. I hope that makes sense.

Here is a picture of my amazing chart!

Let me know if any of this is helpful and other ideas you have for teaching kids the value of work and money. I think it's important to change things up frequently with chore charts and allowance schemes. Kids generally get a little excited if there is a new program started at home. So, have fun with it. I have found that even though kids complain about doing chores around the home, they are generally cheerful once the chores are completed. Service also tends to breed love, because service is love. When my kids are helping out, they aren't always loving and happy, but I always find it interesting that on the days I have been the most critical about their assignments are the days they come back and shower me with hugs and kisses and "I love you's". Is that weird?

Time

Ethan calculated the other day there are 8,760 hours in a year. We call him the human calculator.
I've been thinking about time lately and what we do with our time. Often, I seem to run out of time and I wonder if I'm using every hour I have effectively. This is a constant struggle. The best use of our time changes constantly. Here are a few rules, I've learned along the way (or am currently learning).
1. When you have children at home, don't schedule anything for at least 2 hours after lunch. Be at home. Have your kids read if they are older and the younger ones should nap. Quiet time is prime time.
2. Be there when your kids get home from school. Tell them how glad you are that they are home and listen to everything they want to tell you with interest. This is not a waste of time. It can actually save time in the long run. Kids that are listened to generally are better listeners.
3. Don't over schedule yourself or your children. This is a tough one to balance. Kids need to be busy and productive, but there is a limit. I've learned this lesson recently and have started cutting back on our activities. I had a friend who's rule was one sport and one instrument and one club or church group. I thought that was a really good rule, but had to add "everyone in our family plays the piano".
4. Involve your children in setting a schedule. Even really young children like to be a part of setting their schedule. It's fun for everyone to tick something off a list. I have a whiteboard subdivided into 4 parts. Each section is for one of the kids. Ethan and I keep his calendar on Google calendars and we both update it as we need to. Nearly every day, I or they write each child's schedule on the board. I put everything in; their chores, their study time, their activities, bedtime. Here is an example of my 6-year-old's schedule for today:
7:00 - Morning chores (say prayers/make bed/put away pajamas/get dressed/eat breakfast/brush teeth)-they follow a chart for morning and evening chores I made 5 years ago.
7:30 - Practice piano
8:30 - Shoes/hat and bag on and off to school
3:15 - Homework/snack/reading with Mom
4:00 - Put laundry away
4:15 - First Grade Core with Mom (Just supplementing some American stuff for him)
4:30 - Journal (just a few sentences to practice writing)
4:45 - Make lunch/pack bag/clean room/clean zone
5:30 - Reading Eggs (A great internet site to teach reading) - we ended up in the backyard today though playing "Mother May I" instead
6:00 - Evening Chores (Dinner/Scriptures/Prayers/Pajamas/Teeth/Clothes away)
7:00 - Read
8:00 - Bed
Sometimes he'll make his own list and tick things off as he goes. We are flexible of course, but this gives us somewhere to go and we can make sure that we are filling our time with the most important things.
5. Set your priorities for time (don't let anything get in the way of these!)
-Family and Personal Prayers (morning and night) Ethan goes to Seminary at 5:50, so we get the older children up at 5:45 for morning prayers and pray a second time with the rest of them at 7:30. At night, we try to clean up dinner and say prayers and read scriptures while everyone is together.
-Family Home Evening. Every Monday night we spend together having a lesson, game, treat, talents and singing. These are great times for us to have lessons on things we need to work on in our family. We also discuss family business at these meetings.
-Family and Personal Scripture Study
-Family Dinner - Whatever we are having we always try to have everyone there for dinner. I had a friend who's husband didn't get home til 8:00 most nights, so she had dinner when the kids got home from school with them, and when Dad got home, they would have a night snack with Dad before going to bed.
6. Keep on top of the housework - determine how long it takes you to get your house under control and do it every day. Believe me you will function much better in a clean home. I spend about an hour in the morning getting the house back in order after the monkeys are off to school. This is my method: First, I throw a load of laundry in the washer. Ashlee's chore is to separate all the laundry every night for me so it's easy for me to throw a load in. Next, I clean the kitchen. I race myself to see how fast I can get it in order. Then, I take a laundry hamper from room to room, putting things in their home as I go. If I find something that doesn't belong in the room, I throw it in the laundry hamper, then move to the next room (Thanks Andrea for this great tip!) Once everything is picked up, I plug in the vacuum with a long extension cord (where the extension cord meets the vacuum plug, tie a knot, so they don't come apart). The extension cord allows me to vacuum the entire house without having to unplug the vacuum and plug it in somewhere else (thus saving TIME). Then, I spend another half hour cleaning something specific space, i.e. the bathrooms, mopping the floors, dusting baseboards, kitchen cabinets, etc. I am generally ready to go after an hour and a half in my house. Everybody's house is different. I have 6 kids that keep me on my toes and 2 little ones including one in the midst of potty-training at home that follow me around and mess up what I've just cleaned or have emergencies. Most people probably wouldn't need this much time. I definitely feel more at ease when my house is in order though.
7. Serve someone every day. I admit, that I often use my family as my source for service, but I feel much better if I do something nice for someone else, even if it's just sending an e-mail, text, fb or thank you card.
8. Do something for yourself for at least 30 minutes daily - lately that has been exercise for me, but I also like to play the piano and blog and write poetry.
This is a constantly evolving list but I think this summarizes what I feel is the best use of my time. It's all about balance. There is simply not enough time to do all the good things you could be doing. Somedays I have to throw out getting my house clean because of an appointment or shopping or a friend or kids who needs me. Sometimes I have to spend half a day cleaning because it didn't get done the day before. Adding time for one activity necessarily takes the place of another activity and that is fine. I just try to keep the balance.
I think that a home is always more harmonious when mother sings the melody. I find if I keep things in balance and use my time effectively, I can much more easily keep peace at home.

The Whitsunday Adventure

One night, nearly a year ago, Robert whispered "For my 40th birthday, I think it would be really great to sail the Whitsundays". Thus began the adventure that ended not a bit as we thought it would. What could be more romantic then spending a whole week alone with your best friend and husband. We prepared well by taking a class, organizing a sail guide for a day, reading 3 different books, practicing tying knots and avoiding any movies or books involving death or storms at sea. I bought the cute new swim togs, sunglasses, organized the food and had everything perfect.

The night we were leaving was deceptively calm. We knew the forecast called for a little wind, but you can't sail without wind, right? We also saw that a few showers were forecast as well. No big deal, you sail to another side of the island and it will be clear, right?

The next morning was a little brisk, but we boldly sailed forth with our sail guide, Kate, and our skipper, Robert, at the helm. We hoisted the main sail, learned to tie reefs in the line and felt comfortable with the wind and the waves. We dropped Kate at Daydream Island and headed for Nara Inlet. 

You can't imagine what it is like to be so involved in the lives of 6 children and a husband, and suddenly to not have that responsibility. Robert's sister had flown over from the states to stay with the monkeys. The isolation was wonderful. Robert would tell you that the food was one of the best parts of the vacation. I had planned some great meals and as I'm used to cooking for 8, we had a great deal of food. 

After the visit to the Aboriginal Caves at Nara Inlet by the Ngaro people, we tried to tie off at another, rockier shore. We had bought beautiful reef shoes to explore the shores, which we forgot on the boat. I learned first-hand why people wear reef shoes on the rocks and spent the remainder of the trip with the bottom's of my feet in band-aids. 

It started to rain shortly after that and rained that night although our night was relatively calm in this inlet. The next morning dawned overcast and we made our way out of the inlet and up the western coast of Hook Island. We hoisted sail around the point and had a good time riding the wind on a beam reach. Just a little rocky as the wind had picked up some. We went a little farther out to sea to pull in the sails as we planned to moor and do a little snorkeling. The ropes wrapped a little around the headsail, but we felt we had everything tied up, so headed into shore. Suddenly a large gust of wind ripped the headsail out with ropes flinging everywhere. The ropes got more tangled and neither of us knew what to do. The wind was blowing at 25 knots and we were having all sorts of trouble keeping the boat headed into the wind. I haven't prayed so hard in a very long time. I am certain the Lord answered my prayers when the sails suddenly caught wind in the right direction and untangled the ropes from the sail. We were able to pull the headsail in and that was the end of our sailing.

We made it to shore and did some snorkeling. It was very cold! Luckily we had wetsuits on. The coral was every brilliant blue, orange, green, yellow, pink you could imagine. The fish were amazing colors and designs. My favorite was the Emperor, a large, bright, red fish with white mouth. After motoring back to Stonehaven, we spent a very rocky night on board Fizzle-gig. But, the food was good! The next morning we attempted to go back to Nara Inlet where we might at least get a better night sleep. Robert, as skipper, bravely took us out in 30 knot winds around the point. The waves were pounding our ship with force and we came crashing over 3-4 meter waves. We finally made the decision to head back to our moor at Stonehaven and radio for a rescue. We spent that day moored at Stonehaven and explored the shore. There were definitely breaks in the clouds and when we could get out of the wind, the sun was quite pleasant. We found a sanctuary for beautiful butterflies and saw prints from a wallaby.

After another rocky night, I was determined to get home, so took the helm and held on tight through the point where the waves were most rocky. I didn't want to let Robert take the wheel as I knew he would most likely turn back and I wanted to get back. All I could do was to sing. I sang every hymn I could think of. Finally, I got us around the point and to a place I felt Robert wouldn't turn back and let him at it. I sat at the top of the stairs and just tried to keep from getting sick. The wind picked up more than 30 knots and the swells were up to 4 meters high. We would get rocked nearly on one side only to be picked up on the other, then come crashing down on top of the waves. We were now going wind over tide which means we were against the wind and the tide was going against the wind. This made for a very rocky ride. At one point, one of the cupboard latches came loose and all the plates and dishes came crashing down and shattered on the floor. As I tried to salvage the dishes that hadn't completely been destroyed, I had to come above board where I efficaciously lost my breakfast.

We made it back to the marina in one piece. The best part of the adventure was that evening after we had gone on a walk and had dinner. We talked about the kinds of things going through our minds as we were fearing for our lives. We laughed for a good half hour and continued to giggle all evening long.

We came home to a house full of sick kids, grey skies and the coldest June Brisbane has seen since 1973. As Kyle (9-year-old) put it to Ingrid when she got back from taking us to the airport to find milk and cereal all over the floor "And you thought you were coming on vacation..."

Sometimes life doesn't go exactly as planned, but in the end all you can do is laugh! I'm glad I have my best friend to laugh with.

Coming soon....All the incredible anecdotes and analogies Robert and I thought up as a result of this adventure. It should keep us with plenty of material for talks and lessons for a very long time.

Oh, and maybe you're asking, boy...will they ever sail again? The morning of our departure we woke up to clear skies and waters and were both thinking, "Maybe we ought to take her out."