The Fabulous Fresh Family

Rippling Brook Drive, Sewickley (the Fresh's house is the one with our Rv in the drive!)

We have just spent 6 days living with our friends Jim & Stephanie, Aaron & Jeremy Fresh in Sewickley, Pittsburgh, PA. They lived in Shellharbour for 5 years (from 2004 til 2009) while Jim worked at Bluescope in Wollongong. Steph, Aaron and Jeremy came along to Toddler Time at our church and that’s where we met. When I told Steph of our travel plans (back in 2009), she invited us to come and visit them.

Michael had a conference in DC at Capitol Hill Baptist Church from Thursday 17th March to Monday 21st March. We drove to Pittsburgh on Wednesday 16th then Mike flew to DC on Thursday while the boys and I stayed with the Fresh’s.

They welcomed us with open arms! They were so generous to us. Luke, Max, Ethan and Aidan loved having some other boys (and Bertie the weimaraner puppy) to play with.

Some highlights of the things we did while staying with them:

- when we arrived they had a birthday cake and gift for Ethan

all the boys and the awesome icecream cake

- lots of homework (much to our boys’ disgust!)

- a day at the Carnegie Science Centre – a fun, interactive place. Our faves were the robotics floor and the real submarine in the river that we went in

Max playing air hockey against a robot


in the submarine

- we went to their church with them – an amazing experience – 2000 people attend each week, the facilities are amazing (including a rock climbing wall in the kid’s church room!), a fully robed choir sang at the service we went to – and the bible was taught well – engaging and challenging

- dinner out at a restaurant with an amazing view down over Pittsburgh to where 3 rivers meet

dinner, high above Pittsburgh

- walked Bertie, played with Bertie, fell in love with Bertie

- Steph took me shopping to the most amazing craft shop I have ever seen – in 3 hours there I only saw 1/3 of the shop!

- the boys all had a movie night and sleepover in the toyroom

- Max, Ethan and Aidan went to a lego club Steph runs at the local community centre

- a cub scout hike and baseball game

- played basketball, bikes, cricket, rollerblades and scooters outside each afternoon with all the neighbourhood kids

l > r Aidan, Bertie, Jeremy, Aaron, Ethan, Max, Luke

- played Wii

- heaps of eating! Stephanie is a fantastic cook!

- Steph and I did heaps of chatting, remembering, crying, encouraging and catching up – a very special time.

Also, Max and Ethan went to school one day with the Fresh boys… but I’ll let Max tell you all about that.

And, when Michael finally returned on Monday night (after his plane was delayed many times), Jim and Steph looked after our boys so we could go out to dinner – an early birthday dinner for Mike – and possibly (probably!) our only child free time in 14 weeks! We went to The Cheesecake Factory and tried to eat typical American foods – deep fried mac and cheese balls, bbq’d salmon with corn succotash, Salisbury steak and banana cream cheesecake with hot fudge. A great night.

We are so thankful to God for the respite and normality we had for those 6 days. Feeling recharged and ready for the next stage of this odyssey!

Karen

Pittsburgh, PA, 12.35pm, Tuesday 22nd March. By Max.

Yesterday Ethan and I went to Aaron and Jeremy's school to see what it was like. We got up at about 7.00 in the morning and got dressed and had breakfast. Then we put on our shoes and walked out the door to the bus stop. It was pretty exciting going to school on the yellow bus.

When we got there I followed Aaron to his grade 2 class. The entire school was indoors and it had a cafeteria. When we got to his class we went in after putting Aaron's backpack in his locker.

I sat at a desk next to Aaron's. I was introduced to Aaron's teacher, Mrs Parreaguirre. I started off by showing all of the kids where I was from and what it was like there. Then I sat down at my desk and did some of my homework. Next I sat down on the floor in a group and learned about mapping and North and South America. After that I went to the library and looked at a book with Aaron.

Then we all went outside to lunch and I spent my playing time with Aaron running away from my 'fan club'. Next I went into the cafeteria and ate my vegemite sandwich for lunch.

When I came back to class the kids asked me questions about Australia like: 'What do you do in your spare time?' or 'What sports are in Australia?' or 'What are some Aussie foods?' or'Do you have Nintendo DS in Australia?' and much more. Then we did a matching sheet (which mum and Mrs Fresh had made up), where you had to match the Aussie words with their American words for the same thing. Their favourite one was 'Sloppy Joe' which for us is a jumper and for them is a loose meat and onion food thing. Once I had told them all the answers I did some more of my Australian homework. Next we went to computer class and leaned about Cyber safety, who to talk to and who not to talk to. Then we went back to class, got our bags and went out the door to join the bus lines so we could catch a bus back home. When the bus arrived we got on and went to our stop where we got off and walked back to the Fresh's house.

Once there we unpacked our bags and went outside to play a fun game of cricket with Aaron, Jeremy and the neighbours who we taught how to play. It was so much fun. Once we had finished cricket we went inside and had dinner. After dinner we went back outside and played Zombie Tag which is exactly the same as tip but if you get tipped you're a zombie too. We played that for about an hour till we stopped and played basketball with the Fresh's and Andy (one of the neighbours). When it started to get dark we went back inside and got into our P.Js, read a book together and went to bed.

Max

me getting on the bus (in black)

Ethan on the bus

the front of their school, they have 700 kids there from K to year 5

Anzac Blondies

So, I had to come to the USA to taste these! Steph Fresh made Anzac Blondies to make us feel at home. Apparently it's a Donna Hay recipe. They're good. Have a go!


150g white chocolate chopped
125g butter chopped
1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup (90g) golden syrup
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour sifted
1/4 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup (120g) rolled oats
1/2 cup (40g) desiccated coconut
rolled oats extra for sprinkling

preheat oven – 160C

Place chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Place in a bowl with the sugar, vanilla, golden syrup and eggs and whisk to combine. Add the flour, baking powder, oats and coconut and whisk until well combined. Pour into a lightly greased 22cm square cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Sprinke with extra oats and bake for 1 hr or until just set. Cool in the tin. Slice to serve. Makes 12.

Karen