Life Goes On

When the wheels fell off a month ago what most people expected, including my husband, was that I would want to get on the first plane with the kids and get the hell out of here. Get as fast as I could back to the comfort and support of family and friends. And that was certainly an option I seriously considered for a while. At last count I think I had 6 people who offered to fly out here to help me pack up and bring the kids home.

But, of course, it’s never that simple and my rational side told me that bundling up the kids to make a rushed and dramatic exit wasn’t going to make for an easy transition for them. I kept thinking about all the change they have ahead of them - an international move, a new house, new school and now new living arrangements. To change all the plans we had made for the next few months just seemed too much. How could I tell Guerita that not only was the whole foundation of her life about the drastically change but also she would miss out on all the end of school year parties, her big ballet concert and our trip to Disneyland on the way home? These things might sound trivial but they are important to a five year old and I didn’t want to make this any more traumatic than it has to be.

So I made the decision to stay and my husband agreed with me that the best thing for the kids was to keep to the original plan for our return to Perth. It makes for a pretty strained existence, but we’ve held it together pretty well for the kids I think.

Which brings me to the point of this post (yes, it has one!) - it was supposed to be a bit more upbeat than the last few with photos of some of these activities…got a bit sidetracked there for a minute…sorry about that.

The school that Guerita goes to is a small pre-school/kindergarten that only takes kids up to age 6. Most kids move to primary school before that so in Guerita’s class there are quite a few kids leaving. Last Friday one of the mother’s organised a party for the class after school, which was held on her family’s property in a small town about 30 minutes out of the city. It was a great afternoon with a small pool for the kids to swim in, an inflatable water slide, carne asada (Mexican BBQ) and even pony rides! Guerita and Chiq had a fantastic time and were thoroughly exhausted by the end of it!

And of course I took photos. (Click for bigger versions)

Oh, and as far as my birthday went - pretty crappy as expected but I did get some lovely pressies (new charms for my Pandora bracelet) and flowers and phone calls from family and friends so I felt loved.

Not to mention a beautiful card from Guerita…

That’s me and her and Chiq (with no hair) in the picture. That made me smile.