Jump rope for Heart

Each year Missy's school gets behind the Heart Foundation fundraising by getting sponsorship for skipping and holding a Skipathon. Some kids form small groups to enter the Talent Quest and each Year have a Jump Off or jump to you drop competition.
All the kids are so into skipping and their combined display is great to watch. Of course Missy wouldn't me left out of anything and with her mates they entered the Talent Quest(see photos). She also went in the "jump until you drop" for Year 4 , her excitement about competing is evident by her face that lights up and the extension of her arms and legs as she tries to move fast to drive her chair to be transferred.
Her efforts in the Talent Quest with her mates is cheered on by the whole school with great enthusiasm and it wouldn't be possible without Miss H getting in and having a go with her. As each year passes, Missy is getting taller which is helpful for jumping but also heavier, not so helpful.
Some photos show Missy skipping so hard she threw a shoe off and Miss H going the extra mile as she always does.

Little Sis - H-Ho turns 6

H-Ho is growing up so fast and got a pony for her birthday. It was her last Christmas wish but Santa had trouble finding one suitable.
So "Sonny" has come to us from Taragla and is 11h gelding about 12 years old. We are guessing he is a Welsh x Shetland pony and is very quiet. The kids are really enjoying him riding each weekend. We are still very much learning about horses again as we were kids when we last had anything to do with horses.
H-Ho has started riding lessons and we will see how she goes.
At least Sonny has come from a similar climate as we have had a substantial snowfall since his arrival, while he has a great winter coat we have made him a stable.
H-Ho had small family gathering as we have the every second year rule for parties in our house.

Missy's Starlight Wish

Our family was extremely lucky to have Missy's wish come true in May with a trip to the Theme Parks on the Gold Coast QLD.
Our Starlight Volunteer Laxman has been conversing with us for a number of months organising the trip to ensure everything was in order.
This made a real nice change for me, having someone else organise the many considerations our family has for transport/accommodation and attractions.
Our trip started with a Rex Airflight and the Rex staff were fantastic, then onto a JetStar trip to the Gold Coast. We were meet by our friendly hire van representative and shown the ropes for our hire van Kia Carnival which we drove to our accommodation at Miami Beach.
Each day we went to a Theme Park, starting with MovieWorld, we picked up Missy's good friend who left her school last year on the way and this was a real highlight for Missy to spend all day with her, share rides and laughs. Missy went on the Rollercoaster seven times and went on a scary log ride.
The next day we went to SeaWorld, which was lovely, although it rained most of the day, the kids enjoyed the animal displays and dolphin show.
The next day Laxman had organised a special treat for Missy, wetting her appetite for speed and the wind in her hair. Jet Boat Extreme were waiting for her, Michael the owner of the business came in to give our family our very own personal ride. It was fantastic, loads of 360's, fish tails and water sprays and Missy didn't want it to stop.
Our last day was spent at DreamWorld, with more rides and lots of fun. The crowds were really good and many rides we were able to just stay on and go again. Our last night was spent with relatives and the kids caught up with their cousin and enjoyed a lovely dinner.
The night was short as we had to wake the kids at 4am to get to the airport and catch the 6am flight. The kids were devastated when they woke up and realised that they really had to go home, both of them started crying. A problem free plane flight home finished a fantastic holiday.
Missy had the most wonderful time, she has loads of photos and memories.She took a powerpoint presentation to school and shared her wonderful times with the class.
We could never thank Starlight enough for this wonderful wish for Missy.
Starlight is such a wonderful organisation, so giving in generosity and compassion. If you ever have the opportunity to support this organisation I would really encourage you to, not only do they provide wishes for serious ill kids but also kids with disabilities.

Lots of catching up..

I have been without a computer for a number of weeks now and I'm sorry for not keeping my blog up todate. I now have a new hard drive in my computer and hope no more problems come my way. So much has happened in the last month and over the next few days I plan to catch up.