He wears a lot of hats.

Matt had to be the umpire at the Stealers Game on Friday night. It is funny to see him playing as the ump in addition to being the coach and Jonah's dad. He had to wear a lot of hats at that baseball game (and they won! no thanks to Matt :)
(When I showed Matt the photo he said to mention on the blog that he called that a strike HA! and yes, it is Jonah hitting/jumping out of the way)

Back in Australia

We had a whirlwind 3 weeks visiting our families in Cottage Grove & Kenosha WI & Chicago,IL. We also managed a very quick 2 day visit to St. Louis where we got to visit with some of our friends there. We only wish we could have stayed longer and had the opportunity to see everyone :(

The 28 hour travel day was well, LONG! We are almost done unpacking and getting everything put away(Thanks Grandma Judie for doing all that laundry for us! I hope your dryer is better now!) Tomorrow morning Matt heads back to work and Jonah goes back to school. On Tuesday Isabella and Elijah are back to school too. It is beginning to feel like our holiday is over.

I will try to post some of my favorite photos from our trip as soon as I get a few minutes. Enjoy the rest of your American summer - we are back to an Australian winter and it is chilly and wet!

xo ellie

Rugby in the rain anyone?

oh, and the mud :)

Rugby.

Rugby. what a cool sport. Jonah made a try on Saturday and the team lost miserably. Jonah was still happy. what with his try and all.
photo by Matt. (great work huh?!)

Poor Bella :(

After our trip two weeks ago where we made the grueling one hour climb to the top of Uluru (the world's largest monolith and an Aboriginal sacred site and Australia's most famous natural landmark). I had to take Isabella to the Dr.

Isabella complained quite a bit about her ankles and knee hurting during the climb (and had been complaining previous to this trip) but she made it to the top! When we got home she was really complaining so I took her to the Dr. and now she is not allowed to do gymnastics for 3 weeks! She has achilles injuries in both legs and a hurt knee on one side. This photo was taken right after the climb and I guess you can tell by the look on her face that she was unhappy - poor Bella :(
>

Uluru. the red center.

Jonah, Isabella & I (ellie) spent the weekend at Uluru, also called Ayers Rock. This is in about the center of the country and is known for being the huge red rock. here is a photo of Uluru at sunset.


here we are in front of it. we climbed to the top of it. it was challenging.
(we rock!).

Does she look 11 to you??

nah, me neither. but she is. bummer huh?

Final Score: 6-2

They won!




Next they head to the Gold Coast June 4-7 for the Australian Little League Championship. The flights, accomodations and ground transportation are already booked through Little League Australia!!!! Soooooo exciting!!!!!

Fraser Island

We had a fun 5 day trip to Fraser Island, 3 hours north of Brisbane (about 15 hours north of Sydney on the Eastern coast of Australia). This sand island is a Unesco World Heritage site and is known for having the purest strain of dingos in Australia.

Here is a photo of the kids near a famous ship wreck. I will try to post more photos soon but tonight we're headed to what could be the State Championship Baseball game for Jonah & Matt's team! We're excited about that!

A Day at the Beach

Tuesday morning we woke up to what was basically the first normal day of the Easter Break. The kids have 2.5 weeks off and they were looking forward to some R&R. I told them they could watch TV until 9 am and then it would be switched off until the evening. From 9-10 they played with each other and then they started asking to go to the beach. Jelly Blubber Beach as they named the beach we had been to on Saturday for the Easter Egg Hunt. They had caught some blubbery jelly fish there and were antsy to catch some more. By 11 we were in the car with lunch packed, towels, shovels, pails, sunscreen . . . all the necessities for a day that would be spent in the sun, water and sand. We had a wonderful 4 hours - one of those days that makes us wonder if and how we will ever acclimate to a lifestyle that doesn't include spontaneous trips to the beach.

Happy Easter!

from the half Witt's :)