Pool Party

 This is the Capella Aquatic Centre.  It has a 50m 8-lane pool, a 25m pool, a pool with a slide, a calf-high paddle pool with a mushroom and a little heated spa, where they do lessons for the little people.  Not bad for a little country town?!

And here's Natalie in her swimming lesson, with her fabulous teacher Kellee.  

Story and Craft fun

Here's our gorgeous little library!  It's small but what it lacks in size it makes up for in personality.  It has a fairly good range of books and Diana buys whatever we want!  I do admit to restricting the number of books we borrow each week because we are going to be here for 3 years....    

 Natalie and I go every Thursday for storytime where Diana the Librarian always provides a fabulous craft.  Here's what we made last week - a beautiful bird.  The library is situated on the main road so we do the mail, newsagents, and hardware store too, if we need anything.  There's also a general store where you can pay exorbatant prices for butter, bread and other groceries.  I don't like going there for the principal but I'm also torn between providing jobs, and keeping the store open, because it is handy.  I've needed it a few times when I failed with my shopping list in Emerald....

The Full Story - Another fall, another scar...

Hayden is wild.  Much as I've tried to tame him, I have as yet been rather unsuccessful.  He's full of energy and not a hint of fear of injury is present in his body.  Generally, he is like a cat and lands on his feet, hardly ever hurting himself more than a few scratches.  He's also a bit of a melodramatic child and at times a small graze brings full hysterics.  So when I heard some screaming and saw Hayden riding his bike slowly back from the other end of our street with a fair bit of drama, I wasn't particularly worried.  Looked like fairly normal behaviour for a fight with Lachlan or a small fall.  It wasn't until he got across the road closer to me that I saw all the blood!  

The story goes that he was going "really really fast - about 40km/hr and I got the wobbles and my wheel slipped off the path and I fell onto the grass", in Hayden's own words....  

"Where's your helmet?" I asked

"I couldn't find it", said Hayden.

Hayden had a fairly deep cut above his top lip and his mouth was bleeding from the inside and there were several scrapes on his forehead, nose and cheeks.  He looked a mess.  But nothing too serious.  No protruding bones or large cuts anywhere else.  

Elliot decided it was Ambulance worthy.  Which it wasn't.  But when you live in a town with the closest Dr 35mins away and a friend who is the Ambo, whom you know is not particularly busy, I guess you think it's ok.  I was mortified that he was ringing 000 for a bit of a grazed face....  Nevertheless, lovely Kerri arrived and gave Hayden a good going over and some advice about his injuries.  Here's Hayden being treated by Kerri.

She gave him the full treatment.  (Which I guess she was obliged to do, attending a 000 call...)  Kerri and her husband, share a full-time Ambulance officer job here in Capella.  They came here for a 3-year contract and that was 5 years ago!  They are really really cool people and super friendly.  She was so kind and Hayden really loved the attention and was immediately calm for her!  We decided against going to the Emerald hospital.  He probably would have had 1-2 stitches in the cut above his lip but we're confident it will heal pretty well on its own.  And everyone needs one scar story, right?  Though something tells me this is not going to his last....

He was very brave considering and was in a fair bit of pain.  His lip was swollen for about 4-5 days and made eating and drinking a little tricky.  But the grazes on his nose and forehead scabbed over quickly and it's all healing really well.  

Mud-slinging In The Outback

Apparently to my kids rain = a mud fight.  

Shortly after we moved in it rained a lot and our front yard flooded.  Of course, the kids were drawn to the mud patch instead.  And this is what ensued....

Unfortunately, I missed the really really muddy shot.  They had a LOT of fun!  

A Glorious Graduation

The day after Elliot's birthday we attended his graduation ceremony.  It was a very proud day for us all.  

For Elliot, it was never about finishing and graduating, he constantly said it was about getting the job that would provide better opportunities for our family.  The day was certainly made sweeter knowing that he had secured that job.  It was a glorious feeling that day!  I was so so proud of Elliot.  He sure worked hard for four long years and we all did it tough.  But it was worth it.
In mid November we were out doing Christmas shopping and were in the surf shop when Elliot received a phone call.  He never answers so when he did I had a brief thought.  When I was still standing talking to the owner discussing the qualities of surfboards 10minutes later and there was no sign of Elliot I had this feeling he got a job offer.  He finally came back looking a little stunned and pale.  He'd just accepted a job at St George! We were thrilled but it was remote, high risk of flooding and no church.  The next evening while at work Elliot got another call and a message left on his voicemail offering him a job in Capella.  So an agonising weekend of research of waiting ensued.  We decided that while St George was a point higher, Capella had a branch 35mins away and was a better opportunity.  Elliot called the principal first thing on Monday morning and accepted.  It was lucky he did so so early because as it panned out, he shouldn't have been able to receive 2 offers.  But we are incredibly glad that the Capella offer came through and that we could get out of the other, even if we did feel a little bad!
Looking back, those uni years went in the blink of an eye!

Checking The Mail Is A Big Event

So here in the country there is no postie.  Instead, we are now the owners of a PO Box and go to the post office to get our mail.  

Here's the Capella Post Office.  It's such a gorgeous little building.  It's the best looking building in town too.  And Eileen, the post office owner is just the nicest lady.  She remembered my name the first time and has made me so welcome.  She's always up for a chat and a wealth of information about the local area.  

Usually Natalie and I check the mail on one of our daily walks - from school, or to the library or the pool. I don't go everyday.  It's a bit of a letdown when there's nothing there so we generally just go every few days.  And if there's a parcel (from all our recent internet shopping it's a bonus!) This was the boys' first time at the post office and they thought it was just wonderful!