As I reflect on the 2018 year, I sit watching ‘Carols in the Domain’….by myself! The Big Bash League is on in the background of a card game in one room, a race on Playstation in another room, and no-one is interested in seeing Santa arrive at the Domain for the first year since 1999 – the Jones household has entered a new season of life….
Our theme for this year was “Celebrate”, which it seemed everyone did many times! Tim and Abi had their year 12 and year 10 formals, respectively (and Nik discovered that getting a daughter ready for a formal is very different to organising a son!). Sam celebrated finishing primary school, arriving in style to his year 6 farewell celebration in a hot rod car. And all of us celebrated the grand opening of Kings Point Retreat at Ulladulla where Ross and others had worked many hours for the last two years developing the site and getting it ready to open.
The other event that has dominated our life this year has been home renovations. We cleared our backyard to redesign and include a pool and granny flat. The pool was completed just in time for summer, and the flat is at a lock-up stage and will keep Ross busy as he paints and fits it out in 2019. As renovations were the priority, our only holidays were to Ulladulla on the south coast. Nik also sent Ross, Jarrod and Tim to Hamilton Island for a post-HSC trip for a few days, which became almost a week-long trip when the stormy weather of November saw their flight cancelled!
Ross’ work shifts and stellar efforts at Ulladulla and home have not left him much downtime , and has also ensured Nik has been the chief taxi-driver for kids, fitting her work around their extra-curricular activities. Nik also discovered free online educational courses, and completed a six-week Yale University course called “The Science of Well-Being”, partly because of her interest and research into Happiness and Well-Being, and partly to be able to say she has studied at Yale ☺
Belle returned to dancing lessons this year, did some cheerleading and acting classes, and successfully tried out for the Sutherland Shire Football Association (SSFA) development squad. She also did singing lessons and was in the chorus for a local production of the Elf Jr musical. As she has just finished year 4, she has mixed feelings about being the only Jones at Oyster Bay Public School next year (a minimum of two children have been there every year since 2007).
Sam also made it into the SSFA development squad, but was slightly miffed that Belle made it on her first attempt while this is the third year he has tried out. Acting lessons, soccer, summer soccer, being a Minister in the school Parliament, and a year 6 class that seemed to have far more fun activities than serious lessons soon distracted him though (and this child is easily distracted….). Sam also spent most of January filming a short film called ‘Henry’ where he played the role of Henry and learnt a lot about film production.
Isaac navigated his first year of high school by friending many girls and possibly spending more time on his hair than his school work…. He and Abi both had roles in the school production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ which allowed him to make many new friends in other year groups as well. He did a couple of holiday Photography workshops which gave him an interest other than his hair or Playstation, and he gave up soccer to focus more on tennis comps and baseball.
Abi’s role in the school musical was that of one of the ‘Silly Girls’ who follow Gaston around adoringly, hence proving her acting ability! She also had some success in public speaking and really enjoyed year 10. This was not an easy year for her though, with it being dominated by lockjaw and constant pain that made playing the flute extremely difficult and has us still searching for a cure eight months on. She did manage to appear every time Nik was booking concerts etc though, and scored herself a ticket to see Pink, Katy Perry, and Macbeth at the Pop-Up Globe.
Tim had a quiet year, focusing on his HSC and finishing formal schooling. He is looking forward to returning to soccer and more socialising and serving next year. He did achieve his P plates mid-year, which I have suggested he could use to get to work (ie. find a job!!). He has been very helpful though taxiing siblings to their activities. He was quite happy with the end result of year 12, and enrolled today in a Bachelor of Business at UTS for next year.
Jarrod by contrast has had a very social year! We like to tease him that he is rarely at home. He has served in the music team at several concerts and conferences as well as at church, and has just finished second year uni. He was successful in his application to join an industry project that credits him the points of a subject at Sydney Uni. It is run at the University of Cambridge, so after a trip to New Zealand with friends in January, he will then head over to the UK for a month to study at Cambridge and return in time for the start of third year uni…..but he assures us he is home a lot…… His focus and career aspirations are in the field of Economics/Commerce/Data Analysis and not Law, so he is considering dropping Law to focus on the other majors. Who would have predicted he would be a law school drop out? 😉
We will enjoy a quiet time at home these holidays, relaxing and swimming now that activities have ceased for the year, and will enjoy the time together before 2019 cranks up and runs as fast as 2018 has! We hope you too are able to enjoy time with loved ones this season, and wish you a beautiful Christmas.
