Twelve Feet, Six Continents, One Year

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. 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 possibl...

Things didn’t go badly today but they did go wrong. First, school went quite well. Lily is struggling with her latest essay, a report on Treasure Island, but she’s making good progress. Elise has advanced her technique for teaching phonics to the twins and that seems to be helping. I don’t know if I’ve written it down anywhere else so I’ll say it here: Henry’s biggest problem with school is reading directions. Heaven help this boy if he every has to assemble IKEA furniture.  Second, we returned to the amazing playground at Kings Park to have lunch at the cafe. A meal goes quite well when the kids have that amazing facility to enjoy while the food is being prepared. They also ate quickly and without fuss so that they could get back to their play. We even had some fun kicking around a soccer ball together (all six of us doing one thing, mostly happily). We snuck in a picture of our twelve feet just to memorialize the place. Third, we headed downtown to rent bi...

“Whats On” is the Down Under vernacular for current events. On Monday, after school, “Whats On” for us was spectacular.  First, we headed up the coast about half an hour to the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA). This is a very regional aquarium with a unique and fascinating underwater tunnel. I can’t do better than let the pictures speak for themselves. Henry, especially, loved every second of it. The aquarium has other great exhibits, including a “danger zone” with tanks showcasing Australia’s infamously deadly species, such as the “bluey,” which happen to be about the size of a baseball, hard to photograph and quite lethal. I didn’t know “continuous recuscitation” was a thing but apparently its necessary to perform on a victim until the professionals arrive.  Finally, AQWA has a “relaxation room” with IKEA chairs and wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling windows for viewing a coral reef environment. Henry said that he would stay forever if he could....

To Plan or Not To Plan. This is my existential struggle. It is my tendency, which I attribute to genetics (“Hi dad! Hi mom!”), to want to have a daytrip planned to the hour if not the minute. This approach doesn’t suit my wife, though she might tolerate it, but it definitely doesn’t work with kids. It’s a life lesson that adults can be the skeleton but the skin is going to hang however the children decide it will. Rottnest Island is a 30-minute ferry ride from Fremantle, a coastal suburb of Perth 30 minutes from our house. From the guides and blogs and podcasts, I have known for months that this would be on our itinerary. I received a lot of advice that we should spend a night on the island in order to enjoy its tranquility in the evening after all the daytrippers departed.  In retrospect, I wish I had pulled the trigger on that plan because obviously it’s impossible to book a room for six on the island with little notice, especially on a holiday weekend. So that decis...

We had a school day that we had skipped in order to go to Penguin Island on Friday. We went back to the Town of Cambridge Library that we had enjoyed so much earlier in the week. Today I can’t imagine that I’ll be able to forget these details. On the other hand, this is a 400-day trip so here are two details I don’t want to forget.  Floreat Forum. Home to the Town of Cambridge Library and a sailcloth-protected play area. I taught 1st Grade math on a Dewey Decimal System Rug. Other library guests stopped by to decide where they should search for a new book. Awesome! After the library (and lunch) we went to the Botanic Garden in Kings Park. It was extremely popular on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. It’s easy to imagine that this scene is exactly what the landscape architects had in mind when they designed this place. We strolled down a wide lawn, past a garden dedicated to the Banksia, which is a plant that has been traced to Pangea and still found in Western Australi...