February 2012 Updates:

Settling in to our new home

Hahgoot next to “the biggest Christmas tree ever”

(at the end of our street)

Our street, Forbes street, on a sunny day

The birds are many and stunning (and quite loud) and the air is really clean, it is so nice to breath in Emu Plains!

We are 5 minutes walk from the busy Lennox shopping centre.

We have a company that takes care of the strata’s maintenance

(bottom left).

It is starting slowly to feel like home... Will take some time.

The weather this summer was remarkably wet, it was raining nearly non-stop, except

for the day of our move.

Nearby Penrith and Windsor got hit with some flooding – and so was our

strata! Half the neighbours got “cut off” and became an island...

This was a result of hail and 5 minutes of flash storm in the afternoon – very

dramatic!

The power was gone immediately, and Barak couldn’t get into the garage. He tried to

open the door manually and the chain got off its hold. Two neighbours helped him put

it back on track. There was no damage (except for one lost dog that roamed the

grounds for a while), and the flooding subsided in 30 minutes. It was a good

opportunity to meet all the neighbours

The heavy rain resulted in a lot of mushrooms.

Below: a giant dead praying mantis

Alma has named this burned tree stump “The Crocodile”, and we greet it every day before and after school, sometimes feed it leaves

(it is a couple of meters from our home)

When Hahgoot started school and Barak went back to work I was left with the

painstaking task of finishing the unpacking business. Alma helped me as much as she could... Top right: the last box downstairs!

Alma was very happy with the kids’ corner I organized in the living room (bottom).

The living room looking like a home at last!

The girls were so happy to play in their new organized space.

It wasn’t easy to keep unpacking while tending to the house’s regular chores.

The dinning area became fully functioning and child friendly

The girls love their shared room

And Misty has her own corner, having her litter box in the guest

bathroom!

Misty was also starting to get used to the new house and her new status as a widow, but the stress of the changes has left her itching quite badly, and also the

new environment has aggravated her allergies.

After some treatment she improved a lot.

In our next presentation: The girls having fun together!