Volunteering

With the end of her formal schooling approaching fast, JT has been contemplating the question that everyone is asking "what are you going to do when you leave school?".What a hard question, and maybe unfair one, to ask a 18year old. How many of us know what we want to do when we are that age? How many of us at 40 are still searching for a career that makes us happy and fulfilled? One thing she seems certain about at this stage is that she wants ( or maybe needs) a gap year from study, to recharge and discover the real world before getting back onto study. 13years of schooling is a hard slog that can take its toll.

I want my children to have a life and career that is filled with everything they love while following their interests / passions. JT has been interested in animals since she was young and  for her 16th Birthday I took her to Taronga Park Zoo to participate in their Roar and Snore program.This sparked her interest in volunteering there. With this in mind we left home at 5.30 on a freezing, miserable day and headed down on the train for an information session on how to become a volunteer. After a long journey that took three and half hours and involved two trains and a ferry we arrived, not sure if it was going to be worth it. But it was!

The session not only answered all our questions on volunteering but also on the courses they offer to become a zoo keeper. JT left excited to complete the courses in the future. The only disappointment on the day was that we didn't go into the zoo and that I forgot to take a photo at the front entrance because we were talking so much!

Exhausted from a long day of travel we arrived home enthused for the future!

Mumma Bear

{this moment}

                   {this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. 

                         A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

To see more from others check out Soulemama

Remembering

Passing through Canberra gives us the opportunity to visit the different attractions that the city has to offer. It is 100 years since the beginning of the First World War, so we thought that we would drop into the Australian War Memorial

Down stairs there is a great interactive kids area  including a helicopter, trenches and a replica submarine which gives the children an idea of the different experiences our diggers would had gone through. It is quiet loud and dark inside and JB found it quiet overwhelming but IB enjoyed all aspects of the exhibition including dressing up in the sailor hats.

The school tours hadn't began for the morning and this gave us the opportunity to explore the area without any crowds. Both JB and AT worked together on an engineering task to build a bridge which, when completed, allowed projected army trucks to cross over to the other side. It was pretty cool!

Next we ventured outside to the memorial wall. The voices of children listing the deceased and their ages over the sound system made this area quiet emotional for me. Whenever I heard of a soldier that had died at the same age as one of the older girls a tear came to my eye, some of them were so young. 

We stayed at the tomb of the unknown soldier for the longest. The room is big and before we entered we explained to the little ones that they needed to show respect by talking in quiet voices and walking slowly. While we were there a staff member of the memorial called Margaret gave us a poppy each to lay on the grave, and asked JB what the significance of the flower was. I was so proud to hear him say: "It is to remember the people who have died for us in the wars." Margaret also pointed out the small tiles that lined the walls, completely covering them to the roof and included some beautiful mosaics of servicemen. IB enjoyed the textural feel of the walls and put her face on them to feel their cool temperature. We contemplated the significance of the four pillars that are at the rear of the room and with the help of Google (thanks to AT!) and some info from Margaret we discovered that they represent the elements of life.

It was really nice to have someone who was obviously passionate about her job help the kids understand more about the memorial and it's significance and it helped make our quick stop over interesting as well as informative.

see you later

Mumma Bear

{this moment}

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple,  special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

To see more from others check out Soulemama

The lake

It's funny how often we travel past a important feature year after year and not stop to investigate further. Lake Jindabyne forms part of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme and has an important role in our Australian history but the last time I stopped to appreciate it was 30 years ago on a school camp.

This year I took the turn off to the Pumping station on the way back down the mountain. IB was more interested in taking photos of me then learning about what it was, but JB read the plaque dedicated to the people who sacrificed their lives in constructing the scheme he wanted to know more.

                                                                       

                                                     

The lake is a sight that can be seen from most of the town and is within walking distance from where we stay, so one afternoon we headed down to explore. The wind was swirling up the water into the ski like cyclones but I wasn't quick enough to catch it with the camera. Close to us were a couple who were fishing and IB wanted to see if they had caught anything. After having a chat with them she went down to her own space and began to fish with a stick. Needless to say we didn't have fish for dinner! ( The last photo is IB aka Spiderman climbing up her web)

On our way out of town we walked along to the dam. I remember stopping on it while on my camp to get photos in front of the bus, but nowadays you have to park then follow the path. JB was amazed at the difference the dam made in the water levels and asked me how it helps to generate energy. Obviously I found my school trip more social then educational because I wasn't quiet sure how to answer. Maybe next time we should stop at the Snowy Hydro discovery centre in Cooma instead of driving by to find out.

See you

Mumma Bear

{this moment}

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple,                              special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

To see more from others check out Soulemama

The white stuff

It is that time of the year. The time where we load up the car with all our warm stuff and travel for hours to the snow. This trip included me, IB and JB. This is the first time I have been to the snow without any older children to help out, but these kids of mine are great travellers and always help out when it's needed so everything went smoothly.

 I sometimes joke that to be part of our family you must like the snow and skiing ( actually this is no joke it is very serious!) and after a rough year last season for IB, I really wanted this year to be the one where she began to love it. With a lot of encouragement and praise (and maybe a small bribe!) she had a great trip and really enjoyed the experience. She was so excited to get to ski school that she would wake me up early each morning with her clothes in her hand, yelling "Are we going skiing!?!

JB had a great trip and had the best first day EVER! He is really beginning to know the mountain and each trail, challenging himself on blues with no fear. Every time we head down to the snow I am reminded how tall he is growing, this year he didn't require any help from the liftys to get on the chairs! He likes to take control and lead the way down the trail and although he doesn't want to venture too far away from me, he continues to gain confidence each year.

For some reason eating snow was a fun thing to do this year! I try to keep my hands out of the stuff but the kids loved spending time breaking up the snow, before scooping it up (sometimes with bear hands) and throwing it into their mouths. I was much happier with my hot chocolates. 

Thanks for the memories.

love Mumma Bear.

xxx

This moment

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

To see more from others check out Soulemama