More of Wm's September

After meeting Prime Minister Harper, William's September continued to be busy. One of his classmates and friends, Harrison Wright, celebrated his eighth birthday at a great park at Cotter. As you can tell by their costumes, the party had a "scary" theme. They ate green meringues, blue and black cake, etc. Here is the whole gang...
















That's Riley Harding (left) and Sheldon Kidner (right), more of William's classmates...




















On September 16, we participated in the Canberra Times Fun Run/Walk. We opted to walk the 5k, and were joined by Abigail Wylie, the daughter of one of Ian's classmates. Her mum, Julie, entered the 10k race and achieved her personal best time that day! Way to go Julie! That's William with the Maple Leafs hat on (looking at his feet!). We estimate that Abigail and William actually ran at least 3 out of the 5k that day.
















On September 21, Duffy Primary School hosted a "Learning Journey" for families of students in the earlier years. Ian and I joined William in his class for an hour that day and he got to take us on the journey of what he has been learning over the last term. It was a great experience and we really enjoyed seeing what William has been up to in his class. Here he is sitting at his desk.
















Once each week, William and his classmates have to do a presentation to the class. They select from a menu of topics such as "general news", "sports", "book review", "poem", "instructions", "picture talk", etc. William's teacher, Ms. Duncan, recorded the childrens' presentations so that parents could hear them. We got to hear William present to his class about meeting the Canadian Prime Minister. Here I am listening...















.....William with Ms. Duncan.




















Later that same day, William and Ian attended the Canberra Ice Hockey Association awards/medal ceremony. Here is William with his trophies (one is the Coach's Award for enthusiasm and sportsmanship!).




















This is William with his coach, Don MacDonald, whom some of you know. Don and his wife Sue Douglas moved from Halifax to Canberra about a year and a half ago. Sue teaches Medicine here. Don has given William lots of special goalie coaching. Thanks Don!

PM Harper in Oz.....

Well! Finally, we can say that we have met a Canadian Prime Minister. The best part though is that we had to come all the way to Australia to do so! As you know, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been in Sydney attending the 2007 APEC Summit. APEC is now over and today Mr. Harper became the first Canadian Prime Minister to address the Australian Parliament. Word has it that the speech was very well received, although he did suggest to Australia's Prime Minister John Howard that if he saw a game of ice hockey, he wouldn't bother with cricket any more! Apparently this got a good laugh.

We were invited to attend the tree planting ceremony at the Canadian High Commission. Here are Mr. and Mrs. Harper with the High Commissioner Mr. Michael Leir. The tree being planted is a Canadian Maple, named "October Fire". Mr. Harper is now the 5th Canadian Prime Minister to plant a tree in Australia.















I didn't have the best vantage point for this picture, sorry!




















We strategically stationed William in the front row behind the rope barrier in his Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, knowing that the Prime Minister is a staunch Calgary Flames fan. Mr. Harper noticed him immediately when he arrived. He pointed to William and said "Hey, are you a Leafs fan? Can you even follow hockey down here? Well, let me assure you that the Leafs are still losing!". He proceeded with the ceremony and during the reception afterward, the PM's photographer singled William out for the following photo-op...




priceless....











Here are the Harper's with the various Canadian defense personnel. From the left is Major Christian Lalande, Colonel Ken O'Brien, LCdr Ian Anderson (handsome chap!), Capt(N) Rick Town (Cdn Defense Advisor), the Harpers, and a few others I don't know...















Here is the PM with representatives of Ice Hockey Australia. Mr. Harper was presented with an official jersey of the Australian national ice hockey team (yes, there is one!).















Mr. Harper noted that he has made ten international trips in his 19 months in office, which goes to show that in this day and age there are no purely domestic issues....

Oh Canada! (we miss you)...