First of all, is my math right? I know that we started on June 23rd but that was in the United States. Today is January 8th but that's in Australia. It's only January 7th in the US. Does that mean the trip is longer or shorter? Can anybody explain daylight savings time to me?
Second, we've been having a really good week. Elise took the day off on Monday and regained some energy. We found a daycamp here that is effectively drop-in during their school holidays. For friends in Portland: this is like Campfire mixed with Trackers. In other words, it's awesome. We showed the kids the "menu" if activities on each day and the result was that Henry and Lily went on Tuesday, Ali and Cate on Wednesday and all four on Thursday.
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| Arriving at St Kilda Park Primary School for TeamKids Camp |
We feel really satisfied and proud that our kids show up at a new venue with unfamiliar kids and adults and plunge right in. Henry made a friend, which led to a playdate and possible plans for more. Ali and Cate made art/craft projects as well as friends and came home happy (and tired).
On Tuesday night, we brought back the babysitter from last week and had dinner with a fellow traveler who has moved permanently to Australia. It was doubly nice: to have dinner with a fellow adult and to have an in depth conversation about world travel, home schooling, Australia, educational philosophy, and more.
We've been in Melbourne a week now and we have mastered our neighborhood, I feel. It's so easy to get around St Kilda by foot but also by tram (and bus). The kids know their way to and from the school where camp is held. We have made friends with a woman who works in a barber shop where Henry had his hair cut last week and which we walk past several times a day.
On the day that Lily and Henry went to camp, Elise and I had school with the twins and then took them to lunch. It was amazing how much easier it was to cope with their mania when it was just four of us! The next, when Ali and Cate were at camp, we did school with Lily and Henry and then took a tram downtown to eat at a sushi restaurant (Lily's favorite) along the river. Aside from Henry's still-uncontrollable energy and volume, we had a nice meal and actually completed a few (not many) conversations.
But the highlight of the day was that Lily got her hair cut. One of the comments on our Instagram praises her courage for taking this step, which I think is lovely and true. Lily has clear and strong opinions about fashion and style. One of the interesting perks of this trip is that she is subject to a very limited amount of peer pressure, which is very unusual for a girl in middle school. It's necessary to avoid a certain amount of detail, given that this is a public blog, but this limited upside of our social isolation is a solidification of her sense of self and confidence. I just hope it lasts.
Now let's talk about 200 days.
100 days ago we were in Memphis, Tennessee, about halfway through our RV trip around the United States. We were at the end of our civil rights tour of the American South and pretty much recovered from all of the mechanical issues that plagued the start of our drive. We were coping with high temperatures. We were still pretty new at homeschooling and coping with the wait for our curriculum materials.
Since then, we drove across the south, through Texas, the Southwest, visited several national parks, including the Grand Canyon, celebrated my grandfather's 99th birthday and returned for a week in Portland that included Halloween. Since we left the United States on November 1st, approximately 70 days ago, we have been to seven new countries, through 17 different airports, and flown about 30,000 miles.
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| 30,000 miles so far (*oops, we didn't jump up to the Caribbean) |
When pressed, Elise says her favorite day since leaving the states was December 25th in Perth. Yes, it was Christmas. Yes, it was her birthday. But it was also a super fun, mellow day: after gift time we played at Cottesloe Beach, went to dinner at a local, no-frills Chinese restaurant and then watched sunset from the DNA Tower in Kings Park. Our family was very cohesive and we really got the most out of our host community.
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| All smiles on her birthday |
My choice would be one of our days in Iguazu. I think that the smiles and giggles on the day that we took the boat up the river and into the falls were the biggest and best I can remember. A national park is pretty much our optimal environment, I believe.
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| In our happy place, Iguazu National Park |
I think Lily will forever say that Costa Rica and surf camp was her highlight. I don't mind that the trip peaked early for her. I think that to find something you really love and to have that sensation that an activity (or person or place) just feels RIGHT is a North Star moment that can help you navigate other episodes in your life.
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| Thanks to my cousin Sam for this extraordinary portraits |
It's like that Henry would say the snorkeling on Hamilton Island. That boy loves being close to nature so all of the alternatives I can think of - such as being (too) close to the Quokka on Rottnest Island - involve nature and being very, very close to it. He might remember his moments of awe at Iguazu, also.
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| Henry's smile after snorkeling, hanging with a new friend AND playing computer games |
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| Henry and the Quokka (while they were still friends) |
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| Happy Henry at Iguazu |
Ali tends to scream "best day ever!" on a regular basis so it's hard to tell one from the other. I think she really liked the library in Perth. She was so delighted to find books she loved, to have freedom to roam around and then to make friends and play with them on the playground. The snorkeling in Hamilton would make a close second, though. Once she was allowed to swim without a life vest, she was unstoppable.
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| Ali loves finding fairy books at any library |
Cate, on the other hand, is rarely so emotive so it's harder for me to guess what her highlight has been. Recently, I think it might be getting to bike in Perth. That girl misses her bike at home so much and was so very excited about getting on two wheels in Australia.
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| Cate was so happy to be on a bike (in Perth) |
What's interesting is that I don't know where we'll be in 100 days, in late April. Eons ago I knew we'd be in Melbourne on this day and I could have pegged us within a few hundred miles of Memphis on Day 100 even before the RV trip started. It's scary and exciting to have uncertainty in our future. We could be in Asia, Africa or Europe. That's a big spread. We could be done with school or still working in the homestretch. We might be alone (six) or accompanied by friends or family.
We're about to start a stretch with company: four weeks with Elise parents in New Zealand and then three weeks with friends in Vietnam. I can't wait to find out how it's gone. Stay tuned!
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