Somme snow at the Olympics

Dear Pop,

Thank you for your blog posts. You have asked a lot of questions about the Olympics!

1.  Find Rio de Janeiro on a map.

2. What is the name of the country where we find Rio?
Brazil

3. Ask Mum or Dad if they know where Olympia is.  Where is it?
Greece


4. Search "ancient olympic games" on the web and find which games were played when it all began.
Foot race, chariot race, discus, jumping, running with armour (called the 'hoplite'!)

5. Do they play rugby in the 2016 Olympics?  How many players in each team?
Yes, and they play with 7 players on each team.

6. If you go to the Olympic Games one day, what sport do you think you would like to play?
Football and running. I would like to be a swimmer too.

7. Ian Thorpe.
Swimmer. At the Olympics he won 5 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal.

8. Dawn Fraser.
Swimmer. 4 gold and 4 silver Olympic medals.

9. Shane Gould.
Swimmer. 3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze Olympic medals, all at the same Olympics (Munich)!


10. Murray Rose.
Swimmer. 4 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze Olympic medals.

We read your other blog post about the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme. The Somme is very squigly, and it is very long, and it is in France. We don't know yet why there were Australians fighting in France. France is a long, long way away, even with a plane it would take a long time to get there.

We are going to the snow on Sunday afternoon the 14th of August. We are going to snowboard there; it's a birthday present for me. I'm having lots of fun, or I had lots of fun. Rugby season is now over.

Evie does ballet now. She loses her ballet slippers every week. Luckily she also finds them most weeks. She is very good at ballet.

The Olympic Games 2016

Hi Tully.
The Olympic Games are held every four years and this year the Olympic Games are in Rio de Janeiro.
1.  Find Rio de Janeiro on a map.
2. What is the name of the country where we find Rio?
The name of these games comes to us from a place called Olympia.
3. Ask Mum or Dad if they know where Olympia is.  Where is it?
4. Search "ancient olympic games" on the web and find which games were played when it all began.
5. Do they play rugby in the 2016 Olympics?  How many players in each team?
6. If you go to the Olympic Games one day, what sport do you think you would like to play?
The following Australian athletes won one or more Gold Medals in their sport.  What sport did they play?  Can you find out the year in which they won a medal?
7. Ian Thorpe.
8. Dawn Fraser.
9. Shane Gould.
10. Murray Rose.
You can find most of the answers on the internet or you can ask Mum or Dad.

There will be some exciting sports to watch and some amazing performances by people from all over the world.  I hope you enjoy watching the Games in Rio over the next two weeks.

Love from Pop

Hi Tully.
Tomorrow is 1st July.  Exactly 100 years ago a huge battle began in France called the Battle of the Somme.  The Somme River is in France.  It was part of a war called World War One, although sometimes called "The Great War", that lasted for fours years.
You have some distant relatives who were soldiers in that war and some of them fought in the Battle of the Somme.
Your task (should you decide to accept it) is to find the Somme River on a map and to ask your Mum and Dad why Australian soldiers went all the way to the other side of the world to fight in a war.
In Canberra there is a building called The Australian War Memorial.  It was built after WW1. Perhaps you can go there sometime.
Bye for now.
Love from Pop

Dear Pop

Dear Pop,

I'm 8 on the 13th June.
I finished my reading book after years of working through it. I can read all of the Hungry Bear books, which are fun books about a bear meeting a polar bear and meeting a flea, and wanting to sleep.
We're going to Wellington Caves on Saturday.
We're going to do a play of Peter Pan in my Drama class. We go to Drama on Mondays.
I'm now playing rugby union. I scored one try in my fourth game! I really like my team, and tackling.
We moved the rooms around and I have my own room now. Now, Eve is in the top bunk, and Finny is in her cot with the wall taken off. They are sharing a room now. When visitors come, they have to sleep in my room because there's no guest room now. Mum and Dad are starting a new business and they are using the extra rooms for work. I will sleep in bottom bunk in the girls room when visitors come. You should come visit us soon. Tell Mama G to come too.
See ya!

Experiment of Bread

This is the dough after we mixed it.

Me and William made bread with Dad. The first thing we did was make a flour. We did lots of careful measurements with the scales. Me and my teaspoon made each measurement exactly right. Once the flour was made we cracked eggs and put them in our measuring jug, and we topped up the jug with water. We added the eggs and water to the four, along with raw sugar, salt, and yeast. Then we mixed and mixed until Dad said, "that is enough mixing." After we mixed the dough it was stick, and would stick onto your fingers. A little while later however, the dough had a smooth wet-ish top but was still a little sticky below.

Then Dad offered, "do you want to make cake or go and play?" Me and my cousin chose 'go and play'. We played a made up game that we made on Wednesday. I put some cuts in the top of the loaf, and Dad cooked it.

This is the dough a little while later.

It tasted tasty, maybe a little bit too floury. It looked like a big bun, not a loaf.

Hello again Tully.

I can see that you are not in the habit yet of looking at your blog to see if there is a new post.  Never mind.  We can work towards that.  Another thing that we can work towards is you learning to type. Then you can write or type your own posts and we can talk via this blog a bit more often.

So, how about you tell me what you would like to discuss and I will post something that fits with your interest.  What do you think about that idea?  Do you think you could type your suggestions for our discussion?

Pop

Hi Tully.

I like all those maps you posted.  Perhaps you can teach me how to do that.  I am a bit slow when it comes to computer skills.

Tomorrow is Australia Day.  On 26th January we remember the first Europeans who came to settle in Australia.  They came to Sydney in 1788.  That's 228 years ago.  You will see many people waving the Australian flag to celebrate.  Here is my challenge to you.  Can you draw the Australian flag?Can you see that there is another flag in the top left corner of the Australian flag?  What is the name of that other flag and where does it come from?

Love from Pop