Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage

Tuesday 22 April we set out early for a day trip.

We enjoyed walking the older two to their classes that rainy morning and had wonderful sitters arranged at home for the younger two.
Starting the morning early we drove down to the Peninsula area.
A large breakfast at the Red Cafe in Rye (Banana Bread French Toast was delicious!!) and then we watched a kite boarder. What an incredible talent that must be, all we could think about is how sore we would be afterwards.

 Checking in for our horse ride we found ourselves a bit nervous and questioning why we had decided to do this. It turned out being the highlight of our day. What an incredible and beautiful experience. The horses were amazing and scenery breathtaking. 
We were so fortunate enough that the rain held off our entire 2 hour trip and the sun even came out once we arrived at the beach. 

The famous Peninsula Hot Springs was our next stop. We were excited to relax after all the trotting we did on the horses. It was quite busy but still a beautiful relaxing and fun experience.

Our last stop was at the Spice Indian Restaurant in Dingley Village.  The owners treated us with free drinks and dessert for our anniversary. We were filled with amazing food, I wish I could have eaten more of the cheesy naan bread, we were stuffed. Yumm

The day was amazing, the first time we've had a real 'date' since moving to Australia. We found ourselves reflecting back on our past 10 years and how far we have come. We laughed, cried and pondered experiences we have had together. We asked ourselves the question "if we could start again would we have done anything differently?" well of course we would, but we soon realized that we have to have the 10 years of experience to celebrate a 10 year anniversary. We only know and learn through experience.

We would not change our 10 years together for anything, it has been challenging at times but extremely rewarding. We love our little family and look forward to eternity together!

Lunar Eclipse

15 April 2014

I was aware of the upcoming Lunar Eclipse that the whole of the USA was supposed to see. I did a bit of research and found that parts of Australia would be able to see it as well after the sunset.

I made the decision that we would enjoy dinner in the park while we watched for the amazing phenomenon. We picked up Maccas and met Aaron at the Bicentennial Park in Chelsea Heights.

The kids played as we anxiously waited for the sun to set. It was fun to see others doing the same thing.

The sun set and the moon was no where to be seen. We started walking towards some hills in the park and through some trees ho


ping to catch a glimpse of the moon. It was quite cloudy towards the East.

As it was getting darker and quite chilly we nearly turned back to go home when all of a sudden the moon appeared from behind the clouds. It was amazingly beautiful. Joseph continued to exclaim that the moon was red. Mommy, look look, the moon is red.

Capturing this experience on my camera was by far the highlight for me. What an experience.

Nut allergies can be scary

My advice: Educate, prepare and plan yourselves...

When Rachael was very young she came in contact with Pistachio nuts. A simple touch to her lips and her face swelled. We knew there was a problem.

After further skin test we found that she was severely allergic to Pistachio and Cashew nuts. Cashews being even worse for her. With advice to avoid all Tree Nuts and a prescribed Epi Pen in hand I knew it would only be a matter of time before we had an attack. I didn't know what to expect but knew what I needed to do if it were to happen just hoping that it happened when I was present.

We did our best to educate Rachael in screening food from others and such. But it's such a hard process and something you have to ALWAYS be thinking about when eating outside of your own home.

Moving to Australia has proven more difficult. With the high popularity of Asian, Indian, Thai and other oriental foods nuts are used everywhere. We've had some nice dishes ordered in only to then find out that they were cooked with Cashews or Pistachio. Rachael never complains and if anything has become more cautious towards all new foods.

Wednesday afternoon we began eating some banana bread a friend brought over. It was a flour less, sugar less delight. I made the mistake of forgetting to ask if there were nuts. Rachael ate half a slice and not long after stopped saying that her mouth and tummy felt really full and that she ate too much. She then quickly went into another room and brought back her inhalers. I immediately knew something was wrong.

She then began to cry and pointed to her mouth, she opened and I began to panic quietly. I knew exactly what was going on. Everything happened so quickly, I sent a text to Aaron (he was stuck on a train trying to get home), Josh was at a friends house (I was due to pick him up in 30 minutes), Joseph was running around a massive line of his toys streamed across the floor and Rebecca was now crying on the floor. I rushed Rachael into the kitchen where I tried my best to calm her down.

I said a pleading prayer in my heart and asked Rachael to slowly and calmly open her mouth. I gave her some Benadryl and could see her throat quickly closing up. I felt strongly I needed to administer the Epi Pen. I was terrified. I read the label over a few times and prayed again in my heart for guidance and strength. Rachael was scared but had pleading eyes right on me. She was scared, so was I. My heart rate climbed and was racing, I was shaking and sweating all at once.  Here went nothing...

Not even a minute had passed after administering the medicine and Rachael's eyes widened in astonishment. She opened her mouth and the swelling was completely gone. I had no idea that this medicine worked like this, it was miracle medicine. Knowing the protocol and because Rach has never been given an Epi Pen I called (000) equivalent of (911 in the USA). She became very lethargic and pale in the face. The paramedics arrived at the same time my friend arrived. I left with Rachael in the Ambulance and my friend stayed with the others and picked Josh up for me.

Once at the hospital it was busy and completely different from what I was used to in the USA. Because we are foreign and on a work visa they had to take some different protocols. Rachael was feeling very sick and continued to ask for water, a doctor brought her apple juice. One sip and she started throwing up. It was everywhere :(  Because she threw up they had to admit us to monitor her for 4 hours. Throwing up is a sign of anaphylactic shock and they needed to make sure she wasn't going to have another outbreak.  It was a long and tiring afternoon but all went well and we were released at 8:30pm.

I am grateful for modern medicine and to the knowledge we have of allergies and how to prevent and save lives. I am grateful for the promptings Aaron and my friend had to do what they did. Everything fell into place and went as smoothly as I could have asked for. I knew this would happen some day and I am grateful it happened as it did. We are now all better educated, prepared and can hopefully prevent many future encounters from happening.

The next day Aaron took off from work and we planned for Rachael to stay at home from school. When I asked Josh to get ready for school that morning Rachael got upset with me and said "Mom, but why didn't you ask me to get ready for school, I want to go too". She insisted to attend school.  

When we step back and take a bigger look we can learn so much from our children. Rachael is a great example to me in the ability she has to bounce back. She has incredible resilience and hasn't let this experience stop her. 

I feel incredibly loved, blessed and very grateful!

Dropping Josh and Rach off at school the next morning

 Afternoon break and lunch at Costco

Quick stop at the temple to partake of it's beauty.

The colors were so vibrant!

Last Day in Perth - Cottesloe Beach Art

Our flight out of Perth didn't go until 5pm our last day. So to kill some time we headed down to the famous Cottesloe Beach to look at all the amazing art up for auction.

It was spectacular.

This random half arch seen below was made with hundreds of naked barbies. 

From Cottesloe Beach we drove to the airport. Saying goodbye was hard, especially for Josh and Alfie.  

Rachael and Josh have become phenomenal fliers. They both requested to sit together in the window seats and traveled the 4 hours home like champs. 

We arrived back in Melbourne around 1:30am, collected our luggage and made our way to our car. The picture in the car below was taken just before we left the car park. They were all fast asleep before we pulled out.