Shrimps on the barbie

Knowing that the Australian national dish is the "Barbie" (BBQ), the father cooked a variety of lovely things on the BBQ - hamburgers, hot dog sausages, salmon, mega kebabs, and (of course) shrimp. It was extremely tasty, but we had to admit that not too many Australians actually eat shrimp on the barbie (but we'll have to try it now - it was nice). We mostly have steak, chops, hamburgers, sausages (similar to Brats rather than hot dogs), chicken, kebabs and onions.
The workers completing their kitchen had just left the house the evening before we arrived. We had a chance to compare Lana's new kitchen in our Australian house with theirs. Our host's kitchen was great.

Day 1 - First stop

We had planned on visiting the Vietnam War Memorial in Charlotte, but missed the turnoff. The children preferred to play with the children at our first stop so we continued on.
We visited our first family in North Carolina. We had a great time, the boys all played outside with their 11 year old son and the girls played a variety of games. Another homeschooling family was invited over and the ladies all chatted whilst nursing and fussing with babies, whilst the guys chatted about a wide range if subjects - politics, religion and whatever else I used to be told should be avoided in all polite conversations.
Lana really enjoyed getting to have a chat with other homeschooling mums, who, as they also had four or more children, had very similar interests and concerns.
It was a long first day (367 miles) but the GPS thingy worked great.
The boys had planned on camping overnight, but came in shortly after they started. "The pond is alive!" There was so much noise from the nearby pond that the boys just couldn't get any sleep.

Stiff Upper Lip

A stiff upper lip

There are times when sticky foods just make life difficult for little children. On our first day out, Rose enjoyed something stricky and smeared it all over her lips and nose. Unfortunately it remained sticky and her upper lip stuck to her nose.
This should make a great photo for her 21st.

Day 1 Let's Go

Day 1 Let's Go

This is the view from the back of the Suburban. Quite an efficient packing for a two week trek across the 15 states for 8 people in one car. Basically it is two bags for the clothes, sleeping bags and my computer stuff.

Learning by experience

Our hosts in NC had an electric fence to discourage the goats from roaming. About 10 seconds after the father arrived at home and had left the car, one of the goats was standing on the cab roof surveying his domain!
Whilst playing, Peter happened to run into the fence. He commented to the father, "That electric fence feels like barbed wire!" Of course, this was said in a six year old Australian accent which tickled the dad. Obviously Peter has had experience with barbed wire fences before!

Preparing for a road trip

When we mention that we are about to travel over 3,000 miles with six children across 15 states, the frequent reply is "You're mad!", followed by "How do you do it?"
There are a number of factors we try to take into account. The children don't care too much about museums or historical rocks, unless there is an interesting story attached.
We try to ensure we see at least one interesting thing per day somewhere around lunch time.
Also, we try to find interesting parks or - even better - other homeschooling families to visit. Last time, on our trip to Colorado - we saw many things and places, but the children's highlights were the families we visited.
Whilst in the car we listen to a variety of audiobooks - great stories read by actors who are able to make a book come alive. We have listened to The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings, The Narnia Series, Around the world in Eighty Days and more. Many of these come from Audible.com and others on CD from Amazon.
We all participate in Travel Spotter which involves getting points for spotting various things on the way - 1 point for a new VW bug, 3 points for a Mini, 1 point for a flashing light, 2 points for a license plate (tag) we haven't counted yet and so on. We keep daily tallies.
The food we eat whilst driving are normally healthy snacks with minimal food colouring. Plenty of water is available and every time we stop everyone goes to the rest rooms.
Each of the children can have two or three toys only - no noise toys of course! They have some card games to play such as Uno, Boomo and so on. The older children have pens and paper. Books aren't encouraged whilst we are on the go because it tends to increase the chance of being car sick.
Other than that, the children have learnt that if they co-operate and treat the trip as an adventure we get to see and do lots of interesting things and meet all sorts of people.

We will be updating Bruggie Tales throughout the trip.

A matter of perspective

Daddy by Clare

Clare (4) has decided to provide me with regular portraits of me. Here is today's. I am told that the writing (in the top left corner) says "From Clare". Note the fine proportions of head (that little thing up top), arms and hands ("wif two fingers and a fum") and legs. I reckon the body is a *little* large, but from Clare's view perhaps it's a matter of perspective?

Bruggie Trek 2005 is coming

We are currently getting ready for Bruggie Trek 2005. In the space of 17 days we shall be crossing 15 States and visiting at least a dozen homeschooling families.

Eight in a Suburban going on a roadtrip.

We'll be updating Bruggie Tales as we go along with photos and commentary about our adventures.

This food's mine, I tell you!

This food's mine!

When we were chatting on the back porch at the Southern BBQ mentioned below, Rose discovered the dog food container. We moved her and removed the sucked pellets. Yuk!

Next thing we knew, she had climbed into the container and decided this was an easier way to get at the dog food!

Welcome to the South 1

Welcome to the South

Colette and Tim ended their overseas trip with a quick visit to visit us. We picked them up from Atlanta and drove the two and a half hours home. It was a tricky dilemma for us. What could we show Colette and Tim in the short time we had together which they would never get the opportunity as normal tourists? We had it! Experience some true (fair dinkum) Southern hospitality.

Friends owned a property where they ran a small farm with a cow, some goats, chickens, dogs and other bits and pieces. They had six children too and they figured it would be fun showing my city slicker family a fun time with a Southern BBQ and we could shoot some guns.

Whilst we were chatting, Colette heard that the cow was going to be milked. "Can I have a go?" she asked. "Why sure." replied Angela, interested and slightly unsure what she would experience.

This photo is Colette showing some fresh cow's milk on her hand. "Proof" she was really in the country. Colette did quite well at milking, persevering until she had it right. And she fed the calf from a bottle, even when the calf was pushing and pulling, not making it easy at all.

Welcome to the South 2

Welcome to the South

Next it was the guns. Donald does a great job to ensure gun safety with hearing protection, carefully explaining what needs to be done and ensuring that no-one is anywhere near the front of the shooters. Colette did very well shooting, but here she is showing off for the camera.

We each were able to fire a variety of guns, starting with a pistol or two, followed by an Assault rifle and a shotgun.

Welcome to the South 3

Welcome to the South

Tim surprised the locals with his prowess. Targeting a hapless bit of wood, Tim hit the target three out of three. Some of the children ran inside yelling, "Mr Tim hit the target all three times!"
I think Tim was pretty pleased with himself too.

Donald was impressed that Tim and Colette, although having no experience with guns, did quite well.

Afterwards they had me fire a new pistol he had - more power than the Magnum 44 I had trouble with last time. "OK," I said, "Just tell me what to do." Following instructions I was told the first shot was a lower charged cartridge, but the second one would have a bigger kick. He was right. The first one had a mild kick, but the second one kicked a lot. But I saw the muzzle flash, which meant I didn't flinch. Phew, I passed.

Actually, Donald invited his oldest son, father and friend along to see if I would be as humourous as last time. I was under pressure to perform. My commentary last time had obviously made the rounds. After I had fired Donald's guns, the others asked me to have a go with theirs!

After a beautiful BBQ, and a Pavlova (the Australian contribution to this Southern BBQ) we went home. I think this is one experience that Tim and Colette would NEVER have had as a normal tourist!

Homeschool Graduation 2005

Homeschool Graduation 2005

We attended the graduation ceremony last night for a group of students that have completed their high school studies. Rather than stick with the boring old black hat and gown, they picked their own colours.

This is the first graduation ceremony we have attended. It was held at a local Christian Church and began with a challenge address by the Youth pastor, then had a commendation by someone for a student, followed by a student response and then presentation of a certificate or diploma.

It was a very enjoyable ceremony and we were privileged to be there to witness the end results of home schooling for these six young people. They all spoke well and were a little embarrassed at being in the spotlight.

In Australia there is not so much ceremony surrounding the end of high school. We had some bits and pieces, but no cap and gown thing. When I finished my Bachelor of Business Accounting after six and a half years, I just said to the university "Send me the diploma - I don't care about the ceremony." After studying part time I was just glad it was over.

But this was very interesting and I could see some merit in the students being made special for this time of transition. One of the mother's was crying during her speech and so was her daughter. Clare was on my lap and looking at the girl and looking extremely concerned. I had a most difficult time explaining that these were happy tears, and the girl was really overwhelmed with appreciation of the love her parents had for her. I'm not sure Clare could understand happy tears, though.

Cricket for the uninformed

Today we had an end of year picnic for all those involved in Sunday School/CCD. Parents, teachers and children all had a "pot luck" lunch (*) and then the children played various sports. Some played baseball, there was a group skipping rope, throwing footballs around (**) and so on. Eric had brought our cricket set in the car and asked if we could play. Being the excellent sportsman that I am I agreed.
We just played a form of backyard cricket but I had to explain the basics. We used a rubbish bin (trash can) for a wicket. I showed the local lads how to hold a cricket bat and how to bowl - no chucking (pitching) allowed. Naturally enough, the standard batting pose was a baseball one and bowling tended towards pitching. I had a go later and all the tips my brother Philip taught me over the years (between laughs at my lack of prowess) came back. At one point, one lad said in astonishment, "You can pick where you want the ball to go?". "Sure" I said and flicked one across to him. Woo hoo! Philip would have been proud!
We did get quite a few peculiar looks. One doesn't often see cricket being played in a park in the mountains of country Georgia.

(*) A Pot Luck supper is one where everyone brings something for all to share. All the meals are placed on a table and everyone gets a variety to eat.

(**) I don't know why it is called football. All they seem to do is throw it and then run with it.

This idea sucks

Lana catches up with news about Cross stitch on the internet and occasionally gets some great tips. We were able to try out one tonight. Rose was playing with a bag full of very tiny sead beads (used for making bracelets) when the zip lock bag opened and out flew 1000's of beads all over the carpet. After providing Rose with a plastic jar containing a handful of rice - a much better noise toy - Ariel put a stocking over the end of the vacuum cleaner hose and sucked up the beads. Once the opening was covered, she placed the bag over the end and turned off the vacuum cleaner. Voila! Beads in the bag.

This was a lot easier than picking them up one by one.

Introduction

We have been sending a monthly(ish) newsletter since arriving in the US in July 2003. Bruggie Tales has been our method of:
- letting friends and family know what's happening with us,
- providing us with a means of recording our time here,
- allowing us to compare Australian and US ways of living their lives, and
- sharing our lives with those we care for.

It is now time to join the Blogging revolution and put Bruggie Tales in a more accessible format. This should allow us to update as events happen, rather than gather them up until the job becomes a BIG job. As I inform my clients, it is better to do the tasks during the month, so that month end is not that large hurdle.

All of our original articles are now in this blog - just check out the archives sections on the left. I am just now getting some of this years adventures into the blog before we go on our 2005 American Vacation!

Spring cometh 1

April 15

This is the view on April 15. Winter is over and Spring is poking out. Last year we mentioned the powerful changes that occur in Spring, so this time we took a series of photos to show the change. Especially note the change in our view. We are now completely hidden from any surrounding houses.

Spring Cometh 2

Spring Cometh 2

April 18 - Bits of green poking out. The drab landscape is starting to gain colour.

Spring Cometh 3

Spring Cometh 3

April 22 - Whilst the other trees are ready, the oak is slowly showing some of it's leaves.

Spring Cometh 4

Spring Cometh 4

April 29 - The red brown oak leaves are out showing a little green.