Face to Face With My First Bushfire

Last night things in town got a little bit hairy.

I was faced with my very first bush fire.

Karijini National Park had been alight for a few days but with no problems.
Yesterday the weather changed and the fire came straight for the town.

We were put on Amber Alert. The town filled up with smoke and I got a bit nervous.

We live right on the edge of town so if the fire came over the hill and down the side of town it would be 2houses away from us. I'm at home alone with the three kids as hubby is in Perth for a training course.
I spoke to the lady across the road who was also home alone with two kids. The three houses closest to the edge of town were all empty. It was just her, me and our 5 kids down our end of the street.

The main road out of town was closest to the fire and they were contemplating closing it at different times.

While I was standing out the front talking to the lady across the road the fire came over the hill. We stood there in shock and watched the fire come closer to town.

And then all at once we took all the kids inside and started packing.

I admit I MAY have gone a little overboard with packing. I wanted to make sure I could keep all our memories. I packed clothes and shoes for everyone, 2 boxes of photos, Kaitlyn and Bradley's "my box of firsts" (1st clothes, first shoes, first artwork etc) wedding dress, kids wedding outfits, the paperwork drawer in our filing cabinet, the box of wedding stuff (shoes, photo album, bouquet etc), a suitcase with the cards and gifts the kids have made for us with all the cameras and chargers in there. I also grabbed a carton of water and towels.

Once I had everything packed I made sure sprinklers were hooked up and got the kids seated for dinner.
Unfortunately from our kitchen table you could see the fire coming down the hill and poor Kaitlyn started having a panic attack. She kept saying things like "that's so dangerous" "they need to make it stop" and was breathing quite heavily. So we did some breathing exercises and I hoped like hell that she would sleep.

Come 7pm I was exhausted, everything was packed and ready to go at a moments notice and the kids were put to bed. By some pure miracle they actually went to sleep straight away.

I kept all the blinds up so I could monitor the fire. And let me tell you standing in your baby's bedroom and seeing nothing but orange glow and flames coming closer and closer isn't the nicest feeling in the world.
Thankfully you couldn't see anything from Kaitlyn and Bradley's room so they slept peacefully.

After Isla's 9:30pm feed I decided I needed sleep so after spending an hour checking every Facebook post and DFES update I closed my eyes.

Midnight I was up again and checking out all the windows and reading through Facebook and DFES updates. The fire was REALLY close. The entire hill looked like it was covered in flames and I admit I panicked a bit. All the updates were saying things were still ok so back to bed I went.

2:30am Bradley came in dripping blood everywhere. He had a massive blood nose. So up I got again and sat with him for half an hour until the bleeding stopped and the mess was cleaned up.

6:30 I was up and ready to start the day. I looked out Isla's window and could only see smoke. The flames were gone and we were looking safe :-)

Today I was rostered on to be parent helper for Bradley so bleary eyed I wandered into school. After a quick feed for Isla I was then off to play group for my 5 minutes of peace. However I left early to do food shopping as we had run out of  everything including bread, milk, vegemite, lunch meat and fruit. It was pretty tragic. Arrived home in time to feed Isla and then rush off to get the kids from school. Home to unpack the shopping, make the dogs food and then homework time with Kaitlyn.


Dinner tonight was a very tragic chicken and beet root sandwich. Thankfully my kids are awesome and didn't mind at all.

Last night scared me, more than I like to admit. I didn't like being here alone. I didn't like that the main road out of town was blocked and I didn't like the idea of possibly leaving our house and losing it all.

This evening the fire has done a loop around town and is now in North Tom Price. Although there is a fire burning over the hills at the end of our street. The fire fighters have been patrolling the area for two days to make sure it's all under control. The town is still on a watch and act alert and we aren't out of danger yet. But I'm feeling much safer. And now I have a messy house and a like of return to unpack before mum arrives for her two week visit tomorrow. . . Although that visit probably won't include a trip into Karijini national park now!!

Part of the glow visible from Isla's room (iPhone photos of the flames sucked)

Be prepared!! Kids first teddies, filing drawer, photo boxes were ready to go

So were wedding outfits, clothes and some electronics (cameras chargers etc) 

Caught Red Handed!

I had a major mummy moment on the weekend.

I've been craving peanut M and M's really badly lately (no I'm not pregnant again!) and had been scoffing down a packet while watching tv. I was almost finished when it was time to bath Isla so I left  the packet and went off to bath the baby.

While bathing Isla, Kaitlyn came in with a completely empty packet

"Mum the packet is empty" way to state the obvious Kaitlyn.

"What? Well who ate them? You guys know better than to start eating something without asking"

"Bradley did it!" Of course, it's never her fault.

I called out to Bradley and when he came in his mouth was full. He was STILL CHEWING the evidence! The blue and red dribbling down his chin and the chocolate covered teeth were a dead giveaway.
I tried to tell them off but all the while I was giggling at the red dribbling down Bradley's chin while he tried to blame Kaitlyn for the empty packet.


"But Kaitlyn was eating them as well" was the only defence he had.

It Wouldn't Be A True Currie Trip Without A Little Drama

"Mum, we don't even have to pack our shower or our bath or even our tv because Grandma already has them" Bradley was pretty excited about our trip to Perth to see Grandma.

Our clothes were packed two days early and Bradley was looking forward to seeing Grandma-going on a plane scared the crap out of him though.

Monday morning I was up at 4:50am to get the car packed and kids ready to drive the hour long trip to the nearest airport. Driving along the open road all I could think was 'when was the last time I was awake early enough to see the sun rise?'
It was early and I was tired.

We were making a very quick trip to Perth so that Bradley could have his checkup with his cardiologist.

We arrived at the airport with time to check-in, feed and dress Isla and then board the plane. Kaitlyn had done the plane trip before but this was Bradley's first time.
During takeoff the two giggled like little crazy kids.

"Mum! They even give you food!" I've never seen someone so excited to see aeroplane food. But Bradley scoffed down the two fruits in juice, muesli, muffin and drank the milk.

The flight down was so easy, everyone was on their best behaviour and was excited. Isla slept and Kaitlyn stared out the window.

"Mum we're speeding, we're speeding!!" Bradley shouted as the plane touched down. I had to giggle at that, my little law abiding kids do not like speeding :-)

Mum was waiting for us just inside the door and the kids were about to burst. Bradley caught a glimpse and shot off racing through the airport and flew straight into Grandma's arms. It was one of those moments that brings a tear to your eyes-or in the case of mum it brought a rushing river of tears to her eyes. Kaitlyn strolled along nicely and waited her turn for a cuddle.

We paid our parking ticket and then tried to bail everyone into mums car. 3car seats across the back seat of a hatchback. Squishy doesn't even begin to describe it. It took us so long to get the kids all clipped in and sorted out I started getting worried
"mum our paid ticket will expire we need to get out of the gate!!" Mum just laughed at me.

We made it out the gate in enough time and on our away we went.

Bradley's cardiology appointment was that afternoon and with a quick stop at Macca's (our first takeaway in over 2 months!) off we went to PMH.

It was a long appointment with a height and weight check, an ultrasound of his heart and then a chat with the junior Dr before a chat with the actual cardiologist. My little man is doing so well. The cardiologist has said we don't even need to mention his heart surgery on any school medical forms etc. Everyone needs to forget he's even had the surgery and he should be treated completely normal. Yippee!!!!!! This time we don't have to go back for 3 years :-) while in the waiting room though another little girl decided she liked Isla. Perhaps a bit too much as she kept kissing her and touching her and trying to blow raspberries on her-all while Isla was feeding. My attempts to ask her to move away were completely ignored and the girls mum was just sitting and watching. When Bradley and I went in the girl continued to hassle Isla and mum was getting ready to leave the room to escape the random girl and her lips when Bradley and I came out all done. Yuck! Why do people think that letting their children kiss random babies is fine! Yuck!! Get your germ infested kid away from me!!

On the way home we stopped at a playground for a quick run around.
But by the time we got home Bradley was complaining of a sore tummy. We had noticed that each place we went that day he had been in the toilet. We got home, I sat down to feed Isla and Bradley came right up to me, he had gone pale.
"mum, I don't feel well" he said before projectile vomiting everywhere. He missed Isla by half a centimetre. I grabbed Isla jumped up and ran out of the way. My brother grabbed Bradley and tried to race him down to the bathroom before the second wave came, the second wave came too soon and the entire hallway was covered. I can honestly say I have NEVER seen that much vomit come from such a tiny little person.

It took forever to clean up and as I was feeding Isla that job was for mum and Uncle Sam. I kinda felt bad, but not too bad because I hate vomit.

I knew gastro had been going around town but I thought we had escaped it. Clearly not.

Dinner time came and Bradley ate a small plate of spaghetti and was looking a bit better.
Until midnight when I woke up hearing him sniffing and whinging in his bed.

"Mum! Bradley's spewed everywhere, can you help me" grandma to the rescue again. While I picked spewed up spaghetti out of his hair and changed his clothes mum cleaned up the spaghetti on the pillow and bed. Bradley had thrown it all up and was still fast asleep!! Yuck, yuck, yuck!!

The next morning was pretty quiet. Bradley was laid out on the couch and Kaitlyn was dying to go to the shops. Bradley's first spew filled her shoes with so much vomit they were thrown straight into the bin. We packed up and went for a quick visit to Kmart for shoes. A quick lunch in the food hall (I felt sooo bad eating while Bradley sat there with a Hydralite icy pole and fruit). After a couple mouthfuls of fruit Bradley turned pale and it looked bad. Mum rushed him to the toilet but thankfully all was well-false alarm.

We made it to the airport where the lady that checked us in was in absolute shock that I had taken two kids and a baby to Perth for an overnight trip with only one tiny suitcase between the 4 of us! I giggled as I remembered how I sat on the suitcase to close it because it was so full-if only she knew how much I had squeezed into that tiny case.

Onto the plane we went. We managed to make the hour and a half flight with no spew or toilet trips. The hour long drive home was slightly worse with Bradley complaining of a sore tummy, until he fell asleep.

Finally at 4:30pm we made it home.

The craziest 36 hours of my life. I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch before 7:30pm.
Bradley's home from school today still unwell.

I've got my fingers and toes crossed he doesn't pass it on to Kaitlyn, or worse, to Isla.

Exhausted and finally heading home 

Goodbye Grandma!!! 

Happy Birthday Zac

Today is the first day of Spring. I love spring time it's so pretty.

Today is also our dog Zac's birthday. He's 9 today so I thought a funny post with a few of the more 'interesting' moments of his life would make a few people laugh.

The story of how we got Zac: I was 15 at the time, my brother 17. We were both at private schools and mum was a single mum. We thought she would struggle financially so we agreed to save all of our own money to help her out. My brother lasted 5 seconds. I lasted a lot longer and saved up a few hundred dollars. When I gave it to mum she cried (she does that a lot) and told me I could get a dog. So I went totally off cuteness factor and decided I wanted a Labrador. Pure breeds are expensive but when I found one for 'sale' for $400 I called up about it.
Mum was convinced we had brought a stolen dog. We agreed to meet the seller at a train station. We stood there and watched this orange ute fly out sideways around the corner and pull up next to us, we were totally shocked to know he had the puppy in the ute tray!! The poor puppy was covered in vomit and poo from his terrifying car ride. I had to take that dog. So we handed over an envelope full of cash and took off with my new buddy. Mum reckons if the cops were watching the surveillance cameras we would have been arrested!!

We did find out later that it was all legit. The bloke was down and out on his luck (I think from too many drugs). His mum was a proper dog breeder living in the country, so she gave him a pup to sell to make some quick cash. And we had a new family member.

It didn't take long for us to realise that although Labradors are supposed to be super intelligent they can also be super dumb. And we got the dumb one.

He had allergies (like doggy hay fever) and he was allergic to dog food!! He used to eat kangaroo meat and veggies and instead of dog biscuits he had apples. It cost a fortune, I started to feel bad for mum, we had this cute new puppy but he was costing us a bloody fortune. He also hated all normal 'dog behaviours' he hated the car, he didn't play fetch, he didn't play with toys. But he also didn't dig holes, used to hide in a corner to poop-so no dodging dog poop in the backyard-he was super easy to house train, didn't bark for 7.5 years and has NEVER pooped on a walk. So he was weird. But some of his weirdness was good, he also has never walked nicely on a lead. For the first year I took him walking every bloody day and did the whole 'heel' 'walk' etc and he never did it, just would rather choke himself than walk nicely.

When I got pregnant and moved out of home Zac came with us. In our first house he was chasing birds and ran straight through our front window, cut his foot, Phil had a day off work, mum got her first ever speeding fine racing to the house to take him to the vet and he ended up with about 5 staples in his leg from the cut. He also used to chase the neighbours bunny that kept digging under our fence.

Our second house had a verandah with wooden 'planks' I guess you would call them. And while laying down his choker chain collar got caught and when he pulled he nearly killed himself-that chain went into the bin. He also tried to run away from home, although we had a mattress on our frlmt verandah so when we arrived home to find the back gate open we were scared, until we saw him relaxing on that big mattress!!

Our third house he started making friends with lizards, as we were living in the country. Except he would love them with his teeth and then we had to put the lizards out of their misery.

Our 4th house he used to chase the lizards UNDER the house but then couldn't figure out how to get out again so one of us had to get under there and drag him out. This was probably his favourite house though as we had a big gate around the side that he could sit and watch the world go by.

Our 5th house he was scared of the floor boards which was difficult since our entire house was floor boards. He used to skid and slide and reverse his way around the house, peeking around corners before leaving a room. It was crazy. He also nearly chewed a hole through his tail due to allergies. He got that bandaged up. He also learnt to bark!! Although he never barked at people coming over or people walking past. He used to sit at the back door and bark at us to come inside.
He let a couple of thieves come into our house and steal our car without making a sound-although in all fairness I think the thieves kicked him or hurt him because he hid in a corner for ages afterwards. He also had surgery while here. He had a lump, thankfully non cancerous but was still a bit scary.
He chewed through a few leads, so we had to buy metal chain leads. He made friends with the neighbours dogs and ran away from home-we found him around the corner. He also became scared of heights. As in jumping on the he bed was fine but getting down again-well he would shit himself. A couple times he got stuck and we had to lift him down.

And now we are in house number 6. He still hates fetch, dog toys, car rides, floorboards, still eating roo meat, veg and apples, he still only poops in the corner of the yard. He's crazy. But we love him.

When Kaitlyn was born he was in love. He used to walk from her to me and back again every time she had a dirty nappy and wouldn't leave me alone until I changed her. He would sleep near her, always want to be with her. It was beautiful.

When Bradley was born Zac pretty much ignored him.

And now with Isla he's gone back to being loving and caring. He will lay right near her feet so that when she kicks she's kicking him. He will go and sleep on the floor in her bedroom and he's so gentle with her. Sniffs her but never licks her and always gives her her own space.

So Happy 9th Birthday to the craziest member of our family.

Old age is catching up to him now. He's got arthritis in his back legs, was gaining weight (now he's on a diet) and can't run around for as long. He also doesn't cope with extreme weather conditions-hot or cold-so it's probably going to be an interesting summer. And with us being in a high risk snake environment I'm planning on keeping him inside, a lot. Knowing Zac he would try to play with the snake and end up dead. We have heard the anti venom costs $4000 so that's not an option. I hope we survive the summer here. He's my best buddy,  always loves us and although he's completely crazy and at times has almost sent us broke I wouldn't change anything about him.

Happy Birthday old boy!