April 26, 2009

March and April have been full of fires, festivities, fishing, and flying. The dry season is upon us again so there are regular scheduled burns again for Matt and the rest of the NTFRS. We've seen plenty along the roads as well.  Since Jordan's birthday, we've celebrated 3 more--our friend Shelby's 1st, Matt's 36th, and, today, Jordan's classmates Will's 6th was celebrated in superhero style.  Over Easter, I took the kids camping to Kakadu with some friends --4 days at Gunlom Falls.  I thought we might have bit off more than I could chew by myself--Matt having to stay behind to work, but the kids were terrific.  The weather was perfect, and the falls were spectacular.  We swam each day and our amazing kids even managed to climb to the top of the falls with me on a rather rough trail--about 100 feet at the top--well worth the climb with a spectacular view and refreshing rock pools to swim in during the afternoon.  When we got back from the trip we had a belated Easter egg hunt--thanks for all the goodies Grandma Quinn.   As to fishing, after seven unsuccessful trips, Matt has caught his first Baramundi 71 cm and delicious. This week he managed to catch a thread finned salmon--nothing like the salmon back in AK, but tasty none-the-less.  I managed to have a try a net casting and brought in a few bait fish.  Now as to flying. Matt took a day trip to the Tiwi islands to watch a 

"footy" game--rugby that is, but his friend Sean got sick pretty much on arrival. They spent most of the day at the airport and the clinic, and are happy to report that Sean is back on his feet again after some major rehydrating.  In between shifts over Easter, Matt was able to fly along with his friend Drew and they took in some beautiful sights around the Darwin area. They even managed to respond to an EPERB and helped coordinate a rescue.  Our last flight experience was yesterday--Anzac Day (Australia's Memorial Day) Matt and I went skydiving!   We went along with our friends Kristen and Ben...and Drew, of course,  who carried us down the whole way.  We took turns with the girls jumping together then the boys while we traded off watching the kids at the beach and  watching each other land. Franky and Gurty and gang were there for Matt's landing as well--thanks for the support guys.  It's hard to sum up the experience because I think I went through the gamut of emotions, but ultimately it was exhilarating and yet much more serene than I ever anticipated.  We'll see what next month hold!