Welcome to we are amazing!

2011-08-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Here in Australia we have been celebrating NAIDOC week so Nat and I thought it would be a great idea to share with you what NAIDOC is all about and why it's so important to all Australians.

Every July NAIDOC celebrations are held all around Australia to honour the culture, history and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated by everyone and the week is a great opportunity for all communities to come together and take part in a wide range of activities and show support for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

At Nat's school they celebrated by holding a NAIDOC week Assembly where there was a displayof traditional dancing, ceremonies and story telling and during the week the whole school took part in sand and ink art, contempo

rary dot and animal painting, boomerang aerodynamics, Murri Murri which is a traditional ball game using traditional skills, face painting and damper cooking which is where a bread type meal is cooked in a hole in the ground by fire, Nat said it was a lot of fun taking part in making the bread but it didn't taste to good! Every night Nat came home and told us all about the activities that took place, he loves NAIDOC week and said that this year it was really good!

Other traditional activities and ways to celebrate include, holding a traditional flag ceremony, reading dreamtime stories which we did at home, Nat has a book called "Tales of my Grandmother's Dreamtime" by Naiura, his favourite story is Yarrah-Wil Yango The Storm Boy, visiting local indigenous sites of significance and interest, supporting local events and

listening to indigenous music.

You can visit the NAIDOC website www.naidoc.org.au to find out more and Nat and I have found a great website that you can visit which is really fun and interactivewww.abc.net.au/messageclub

We want to share more with you about the Aboriginal Culture and the Dream Time Stories so we will put up a post soon, till then have fun and if you live in Australia hope you all had a great NAIDOC week!

Don't forget, if you have a story to tell and would like a post put up, email us and we will share it with everyone for you!

See you soon Kate and Natxx

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2011-03-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

Earth Hour 2011

At 8.30 PM on Saturday 26th March, people will switch off lights around the Planet for Earth Hour; millions will also commit to continuing actions for a sustainable Planet that will go beyond the hour.

Hi everyone we're back! Nat and I thought we would talk about Earth Hour which is happening this Saturday. Every year our family signs up for Earth Hour and all throughout the year we make sure that we turn off lights that aren't needed and use low energy light bulbs. Nat has become a bit of an activist on climate change and what we can all do help our Planets sustainability and has posted some ideas above on how to help lower your carbon footprint, have a look at his blog post he wrote about climate change from a few months ago.

Earth Hour is in its fourth year now and began in 2007 when Sydney Australia took a stand against climate change, 2.2 million people turned their lights off for just one hour. Since then Earth Hour has become a truly global event with at least 128 countries participating this year!

Earth Hour has shown us how millions of people can come together to send a a powerful message that it's possible for all of us to take action against climate change, becoming a major event each year in a global effort for a more sustainable Planet.

This year the Earth Hour Organisation is asking us all to go beyond the hour by taking simple yet effective action that will make the world a better place. Its a bit like taking a pledge for yourself to do something on a continuing basis that will help lower your carbon footprint; It can be as easy as changing to lower energy light bulbs, to always turning off your computer at night or maybe something a bit more creative such as growing your own vegetables!

At www.earthhour.org you can go to their beyond Earth Hour page, click on the blue square with a cross in it at the bottom of the screen and let everyone know what you will be doing to go beyond Earth Hour, you can also share a story and add a photo or video, I might add one of Nat planting his tomatoes!

Let us know what you will be doing for Earth Hour and what you will be doing to go beyond the hour, have fun on Saturday night we are off to buy candles and will be looking down towards the coast to see the lights being turned off.

See you all soon,

Kate and Nat

email me at kate@weareamazing.com.au

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2010-12-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

We have been talking about Christmas traditions in our house so Nat and I thought we would make this a Christmas post and tell you about some of the traditions we googled from countries around the world!! Wherever you go Christmas seems to mean the same to us all, a time to get together with family and friends, to eat lots of yummy food and to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Happy Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad, Frohliche Weihnachten, Shub Naya Baras, Bouone Feste Natalizie, srozhdestvom Kristovym, Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah, Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun!!!!

Ghana West Africa

On the eve of Christmas, children march up and down the streets singing Christmas Carols and shouting "Christ is coming, Christ is coming! He is near!" Churches are decorated with Christmas evergreens or palm trees which are massed with candles and hymns are sung and Nativity plays presented.

On Christmas Day Children and older people representing the angels in the fields outside Bethlehem go from house to house singing. Church services are held and later on there is a feast of rice and yam paste called fufu with stew or okra soup, porridge and meats. Families eat together or with close neighbours and presents are given.

Egypt

The Coptic Church is an Orthodox Church and Christmas is celebrated on the 7^th of January. On the Eve of Christmas everyone goes to church wearing a completely new outfit. The Christmas service ends at midnight with the ringing of church bells then people go home to eat a special Christmas meal known as Fata which consists of bread, rice, garlic and boiled meat.

On Christmas morning people in Egypt visit friends and neighbours, they take with them Kaik, a type of shortbread which eaten with a drink known as Shortbat.

Argentina

People go to the church with family, then come back to a family gathering. At midnight after eating a toast is made and the adults dance while the younger people go out to see the fireworks, after this they open their presents before going to sleep. The dinner food is pork, turkey and a great variety of meals. The table is then covered with sweet things such as cider, beer, and juice for consuming while waiting for the time of the toast.

Italy

The Christmas season in Italy goes for three weeks, starting 8 days before Christmas known as the Novena. During this period Children go from house to house dressed as shepherds, playing pipes, singing and reciting Christmas poems. They are given money to buy presents. A strict fast is observed 24 hours before Christmas Eve, and is followed by a celebration meal, in which a light Milanese cake called panettone features as well as chocolate. In Italy the children wait until Epiphany on January 6 for their presents. According to tradition, the presents are delivered by a kind ugly witch called Befana on a broomstick. It was said that she was told by the three kings that the baby Jesus was born, she was busy and delayed visiting the baby.

She missed the Star lost her way and has been flying around ever since, leaving presents at every house with children in case he is there. She slides down chimneys, and fills stockings and shoes with good things for good children and it is said leave coal for children who are not good!

Iraq

In the Christian homes an unusual ceremony is held in the courtyard of the home on Christmas Eve. One of the children in the family reads the story of the Nativity from an Arabic Bible. The other members of the family hold lighted candles, and as soon as the story has been read a bonfire is lit in one corner of the courtyard. The fire is made of dried thorns and the future of the house for the coming year depends upon the way the fire burns. If the thorns burn to ashes, the family will have good fortune. While the fire is burning, a psalm is sung. When the fire is reduced to ashes everyone jumps over the ashes three times and makes a wish.

On Christmas day a similar bonfire is built in the church. While the fire burns the men of the congregation chant a hymn. The long Christmas service always ends with the blessing of the people. The Bishop reaches forth and touches a member of the congregation with his hand putting his blessing upon them, that person then touches the person next him and so on until all have received "the Touch of Peace."

England

Christmas in England began in AD 596, when St Augustine landed on her shores with monks who wanted to bring Christianity to the Anglo Saxons.
Father Christmas delivers presents during the night before Christmas. The Children leave an empty stocking or pillowcase hanging at the end of the bed. In the morning they hope it will be full of gifts.
On Christmas Eve the only thing that people ate was Frumenty, which is a kind of porridge made from corn. Over the years the recipe changed to eggs, fruit, spice, lumps of meat and dried plums the whole mixture was wrapped in a cloth and boiled, which is how traditional plum pudding began.
In England Christmas dinner was usually eaten at Midday on December 25, during daylight. In England the traditional Christmas dinner is roast turkey with vegetables and sauces. For dessert it is rich, fruity Christmas pudding with brandy sauces.

The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day because boys used to go round collecting money in clay boxes. When the boxes were full, they broke them open.

Australia

A traditional meal includes a turkey dinner, with ham, and pork. A flaming Christmas plum pudding is added for dessert. In the Australian gold rushes, Christmas puddings often contained a gold nugget. Today a small favor is baked inside. Whoever finds this knows s/he will enjoy good luck. Another treat is Mince Pies.

Many Australians have their Christmas dinner at midday on a local beach, Bondi Beach in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs attracts thousands of people on Christmas Day. Other families enjoy their day by having a picnic, usually the feast will be made up of Prawns, oysters, cold meats and salads with Pavlova for dessert. If families are at home the day will be spent with family and friends in the swimming pool, playing Cricket and other outdoor activities.

The warm weather allows Australians to enjoy a tradition which commenced in 1937. Carols by Candlelight which is held every year on Christmas Eve. Tens of thousands of people gather in the city of Melbourne to sing their favourite Christmas songs and many other towns and cities around Australia hold their Carols by Candlelight concerts in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

India

Christians in India decorate banana or mango trees. They also light small oil-burning lamps as Christmas decorations and fill their churches with red flowers.They give presents to family members and baksheesh or to charity and to the poor. In India the poinsettia is in flower and so the churches are decorated with this brilliant bloom for the Christmas Midnight Mass. In South India, Christians put small clay lamps on the rooftops and walls of their houses at Christmas, just as the Hindus do during their festival called Diwali.

Ukraine

Sviata Vechera OR "Holy Supper" is the central tradition of the beautiful Christmas Eve celebrations in Ukrainian homes. The dinner table sometimes has a few wisps of hay on the embroidered table cloth as a reminder of the Manger in Bethlehem. When the children see the first Star in the eastern evening sky, which symbolizes the trek of the Three Wise Men, the Sviata Vechera may begin. At the end of the Sviata Vechera the family often sings Kolyadky which is a Ukrainian Christmas Carols. In many communities the old Ukrainian tradition of caroling is carried on by groups of young people and members of organizations and churches calling at homes and collecting donations.

The Ukrainian Christmas is celebrated on January 7^th and is usually a peaceful and quiet event. In the Ukraine Father Frost visits all the Children in a sleigh pulled by only three reindeer, he brings along a little girl named Snowflake Girl, she wears a silver blue costume trimmed with white fur and a crown shaped like a snowflake.

Bethlehem

In Bethlehem the town where Jesus is said to have been born is the site of the Church of the Nativity, which is ablaze with flags and decorations every Christmas. On Christmas Eve locals and visitors alike crowd the Church's doorways and stand on the roof to watch for the dramatic annual procession. Galloping horsemen and police mounted on Arabian horses lead the parade. They are followed by solitary horseman carrying a Cross sitting on a coal-black horse, then comes the churchmen and government officials. The procession solemnly enters the doors and places an ancient effigy of the Holy Child in the Church. Deep winding stairs lead to a grotto where visitors find a silver star marking the site of the birth of Jesus.

Hope you liked hearing about some different Christmas traditions from around the world. Have a great Christmas wherever you are in the world, let me know about any traditions your family has and how you celebrate Christmas where your from and I will post it up for you!

lots of love Katie:)))xxxx (all emails screened by the weareamazing team)

2010-11-18T18:24:00.001-08:00

Nat has been studying Climate Change at school and his whole class watched the movie documentary "An Inconvienient Truth." Since seeing the movie Nat has been really interested in everything to do with this issue and has talked about it a lot at home and has been ecouraging us to make changes to reduce our carbon emissions; he is very keen on starting up a vegetable garden to grow tomatoes and carrots, so we are trying to decide on the right place to put it at the moment! He also wants a worm farm!!! He had to write a review about the film so I thought it would make a good post as he has been so passionate about what he has been learning at school!

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

This movie informed me about the changes happening to our world from climate change, it has inspired me to take on the challenge that is ahead of the whole human race to reduce the affects of carbon immessions and the affect everyone has on our Planet.

The movie is presented by Al Gore and directed by David Guggenheim. Al Gore plays a leading roll in the battle we are fighting for the Earths survival, he shows us all how to make a change city by city and how we can make a difference to our world.

This movie makes you think about what will happen to our world if we do not do something now about climate change. Al Gore explained that the population of our planet has risen by 7 billion in the past 500 years, this has had a big affect on the resources we have to use to feed cloth and house so many people.

I think that if Al Gore’s campaign for the United States Presidency had been a success we probably wouldn’t be facing the problems we are facing today.I think that there are many ways that we can help the planet, here are some of the ways we can keep our planet to become sustainable:

1) Solar panels which generate electricity by using the sun’s rays using sunlight to heat water up in a tank.

2) Use energy saving light bulbs.
3) Washing clothes at 30 degrees.
4) Don't leave your electronics on standby overnight, they use just as much power as they do

when they are fully on!

5) And if you can, travel by public transport, ride a bike or walk to school.

Most countries in the world have now signed the Kyoto protocall, and this film and Al Gore’s methods to stop climate change have inspired me to tell everyone in the world about the changes that need to be made.

This means throwing away some of our life time luxuries, it’s going to be hard for everyone but we can do it if we all try.All in all this movie has shown me about the ways that we can make changes, we all need to play a part in the Earth’s race against time. Al Gore will definitely be a positive influence to help our quest to make the earth sustainable and a place for us all to live for all generation that will be here after us.

I will give this movie 4 out five stars ****

I am very proud of my little brother!!

Thats all from us for now, don't forget if you want something put up on here like Nat, email me and I will post it on for you.

Lots of love Katiexxxx

Kate@weareamazing.com.au

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Great Migrations Global Event on National Geographic Channel

2010-10-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Great Migrations Global Event on National Geographic Channel http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ "Inspiring people to care about the Planet"

I have just posted a link to the Nat Geo website, if you click on the link it will take you to straight to their site and if you scroll down you can click on the link to the Great Migrations show link where you can check out all the episodes that are coming up, videos, info about the animals featured and games!! The Global TV event they are hosting starts on the 7th November 2010 and is all about the migration patterns of different species across the world. It will be watched by an estimated 330 million people and took hours of filming, on land, by air and in the sea, all in HD.

If you haven't already seen it advertised on the Channel go to website to check timings for where you are in the world, in Australia it starts at 7pm, the first show is called "Born to move and follows Monarch butterflies, wilderbeasts and Sperm Whales as they make the same journeys their ancestors have made for generations.

The adverts for the show look amazing and I think it will be well worth watching, let me know if you manage to catch it and what you think of it and I will definately be putting up some posts on up and coming stuff from the Nat Geo site and Channel, its a favourite in our house, Nat especially loves Nat Geo Wild! He is quite the mind for all sorts of info on all kinds of wierd and wonderful creatures and often comes out with lots of random stuff about animals, normally from his seat in the back of the car! he is especially into watching the Snake programs at the moment so we know alot about them! Speaking of which we saw a massive and extreamely long and I mean extreamely long shedded snake skin on the side of the road on our way to school today, gruesome!!

Oh, and I am doing an experiment at the moment in Science all about Sea Monkeys, intriguing little creatures, so I will fill you in on my findings and tell you what I learn about them!!

Adios, au revoir and all that is foreign in saying bye!!

lots of love Katexx

email me on Kate@weareamazing.com.au

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2010-10-19T23:26:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

I just got an email from the Jessica Watson website, she is the young Australian teenager who sailed around the world single handed in her yacht Ella's Pink Lady, she was only 16!! I thought it would make an intresting post to share some info on her and give you a link to her site so you can check her out. Its amazing to think that she was only 16 when she made her voyage, we were able to keep a watch on her progress through her website and blog and every day you could see where she was in the world and how far she had travelled that day! She has written a book describing her experience called True spirit which is an inspiration to read and really gives you an insight into how hard and how rewarding each day of her trip was.

Here is a some info on Jessica, I knew she came from Queensland and was very happy to learn that she was born on the Gold Coast!! In May 2010, she became the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassited around the world. She left Sydney harbour on her pink yacht! on 18 October 2009. She headed East over the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and then the Indian Ocean, returning to Sydney on the 15 May 2010, three days before her 17th birthday. When she was asked why she wanted to make the voyage she said " "I wanted to challenge myself and achieve something to be proud of, and I wanted to inspire people with a dream in their heart."

I was interested to read some of her family history, She has an older sister and a younger brother and sister. All four of them took sailing lessons as children, and her family went to live on board a 16 metre cabin cruiser for five years. She was homeschooled with her brother and sister through distance learning and later they lived on a purpose-built double decker bus for a while!! (I would love that!! maybe I should talk to my mum and dad and suggest it for us!!) When Jessica was eleven and they were still living on the boat her mum read Jessie Martin's book Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit to the children as a bedtime story, she said that hearing this story led her to forming the ambition at age twelve to sail around the world too.

Her book really is a great read so I hope you will take the chance and give it a go, I know it will truly inspire you, maybe not to sail round the world singal handed!! but to follow your dreams whatever they maybe!!!

Just a quick update on how Leigh Skinner, Nats friends dad, went in the Power lifting at the Commonwealth Games, he came 4th in his group and 12th overall out of 25 competitors, a brilliant achievement, huge congratulations!!

Dont forget if you have anything to share, email me and please make any comments you want about my post, hope you like it!! her website address is http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

Lots of love Katiebxxx
kate@weareamazing.com.au
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2010-10-02T23:51:00.001-07:00

2010-10-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Commonwealth Games starts tomorrow 4th of October. I have checked out when we will be able to watch the games on the t.v here and coverage for us in Australia starts from 12.00pm tomorrow lunchtime on channel 10; wherever you are in the world check out when you will be able to see the opening ceromony, it will be an amazing event to watch as 71 countries march around the Jawaharlal Nehru Staduim in New Delhi to signify the start of the games! In Australia you can watch the opening ceromony tonight on channel 10 it starts at 11.00pm, if you can stay awake! Nat has put some interesting facts up in his section at the top of our blog and I was really surprised to read that the games had only be going since 1930.

As the games are being held in Delhi I thought It would be interesting to tell you a few things about this fascinating city. Delhi is the largest city by area and the second largest city in India by population with more than 12 million people living there! Delhi or New Delhi is the capital of India and is located on the banks of the River Yamuna, which I found out runs past the Taj Mahal in Agra too! When I looked on a map I noticed that Delhi is in Northern India and I found out that it borders the Indian states of Uttar Pardesh on the East and Haryana on the West, North and South. During the British Raj it was a district of the Punjab Province and in the past it has been part of the larger Punjab region. Two main features of the geography of Delhi are the Yamuna flood plain and the Delhi Ridge, these flood plains have very good soil suitable for growing crops but they have lots of floods which make it hard for the people that live there to farm the land.

The Climate in Delhi is sub-tropical, their summer is from April to October and is very hot and long with the monsoon season coming at the end of June. They have a winter in Delhi but it is very mild and they get alot of fog in January. People travel around Delhi on bicycles, tuc tucs, rickshaws and taxis, it is a very busy city with everyone fighting for a place on the roads to get to their destination in the quickest possible way and there is always lots of horns being blown! and you will always see cows in the streets! These are sacred animals and are allowed to wander around where ever they want to!!

My mum used to go to Delhi alot and she told me that the people that lived there were always very friendly and helpful, I did a bit more research and this is what I found out about the people of Delhi... that just like the rest of India the people in Delhi treat their guests with great honor, respect and kindness, that 60% of the people that live in Delhi come from different parts of the country as well as the world, they are multi linguistic and multi cultural and you will often see Hindus going to the gurdwaras of the Sikhs and Sikhs going to the dargahs of the Muslims, it's very fair to say that the people in New Delhi live in harmony and co-exist peacefully with one another. One of the most commendable qualities of Delhi people is that they take life as it comes and do not miss any opportunity to celebrate and have fun, infact they love to eat and to celebrate for all occasions such as marriage, festivals and New Year, and you can just imagine how they will be enjoying the atmosphere of the Commonwealth games and how kind they will be to all the Athelets that will be competeting; I hope many of them will be able to watch in the venues around the city!!

We were lucky enough to get an update from Delhi from Leigh Skinner, who is competing for Australia in the weighlifting and he told his family that they had all arrived safely and were settling into the Athelets village very well, and that he was just heading to the Athelets restaurant for some breakfast then to training. He said that the facilities were really good and that they were all being very well looked after. His event starts on the 12th October so look out for him and all the other Australian athelets that are with him, good luck Leigh we will be cheering for you!

Thats it from me for now! let me know if you would like to post something up on the blog or if you something you would like me to talk about?

Lots of love Katexx
kate@weareamazing.com.au
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2010-09-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

Its been a bit of a while since I last posted something up on my blog! This is just a quick post to let you know that we are amazing now has its own facebook page called One Global Family One World. I am really excited about it as you can now click and like the page to receive daily updates on what we are doing, get daily affirmations from the "You are amazing" affirmation cards for Children as well as some fun and interesting ideas of games you can play! You can also link up to our website from there too, so tell all your friends about us and see if they want to post a Wish For The World or maybe paint a portrait for the Global Family Portrait Gallery! Keep in touch and let me know if you have any ideas that you would like me to talk about or if you have anything you would like to post up on here.

Thanks also to Judi for the email you sent me, I will be posting up something on the Delhi Commonwealth Games shortly! and I think you are right, imagine if we could get over there to help them get everything ready it would be done in no time! I think though that at any huge event like this it all just comes together at the last minute and everything always turns out okay! I am excited to watch all of the games and will be looking out for the English and Australian teams, especially Leigh Skinner who is on the Australian Weightlifting team, his son plays football with Nat so we are all really excited about supporting him and watching his event!

Bye for now,

lots of love Katexx

email me at kate@weareamazing.com.au

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2010-02-16T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hi to everyone

I couldn't let the Winter Olympics 2010 go by without posting something up! It hasn't been easy to watch the games on our t.v as the coverage is on quite late, Australia is 19 hours ahead of vancouver so we don't get to see any of the events until after 9.30 at night! I stayed up last night and watch the Snowboard Cross with dad, it was really exciting and looked amazing and alot of fun to do! My family and I watched the opening ceremony on Saurday night and we all thought it was spectacular! Mum and I have been following the journey of the Olympic Torch as it made its way from Greece to Vancouver and it was great to see the Olympic Flame finally being lit to signify the start of the games!

Over the next two weeks I am looking forward to watching the down hill ski events, more snow boarding and the ice skating although I know I will enjoy watching any of the events! I have been skiing once, when I went to Canberra on a school trip and I was able to do it quite well! I am hoping that soon We might go on a family ski trip, maybe to New Zealand where I can try out the snow boarding and get better on ski's!!

Let me know what you think about the games, mabe you have been lucky enough to actually go and expeience first hand what its like, make a comment or email me and I will post it up for you!

See you soon,

love Kate XX

email me kate@weareamazing.com.au

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2008-10-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

It has been ages since I last did a post!! I have been studying really hard, and been rehearsing for a theatre production I am in!! Its a musical and I've had lots of lines to learn as well as dances and songs!! It's great fun and I am really excited and looking forward to our performance nights!!

We have been studying the ancient Eygiptians at school this term and I have been really enjoying learning all about their culture and history, so I thought I would tell you a little bit about the Pyramids and the Sphynx! The photo on the right is of the ancient pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramids of Giza are the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the world and the most famous and recognised Pyramids in the world!! The centre Pyramid is believed to have been built as a tomb, although it was never used for that purpose for the Pharoh Khufu, and it is often called the Pyramid of Khufu. Eygyptologists think that it was finished in 2,500 BC, almost four and a half thousand years ago!! wow how long ago was that!!!

Now to the Great Sphinx!! The Sphinx is an enormous ancient statue and he sits amongst the great pyramids at Giza, very near Cairo in Egypt. The Sphinx is a creature that has the head of a human being and the body of a lion!! It's about 241 feet long and 66 feet high. It was carved from a single gigantic piece of limestone right out of the landscape about 4,600 years ago (2,500 BC!) about the same time as the great pyramids of Giza, during the reign of the pharaoh Khafre, and is said to be in the image of him. The Sphinx has suffered much damage through the years, mostly from erosion and also from damage by soldiers, during the Turkish occupation of Egypt and when Napoleans soliders invaded the area!

I found an awsome site for kids that you can check out where you can learn how to build models of the pyramids, do quizzes and learn heaps more out about the ancient egyptians its www.guardians.net/egypt/kids/

Keep your portraits coming in for our Global Family Portrait gallery and your Wishes for the World and don't forget to let everyone you know about we are amazing so that they can get creative and post up their portraits too!! Email me if you have something you would like to share, I would love to hear about life where you are and post it up for all our readers!!

See you soon lots of love,

Kate
email me: kate@weareamazing.com.au
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2008-09-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Well the Olympics were fantastic and in our house now we are really enjoying watching the Paralympics, the opening ceromony for them was awsome, I didnt get to see the end as I fell asleep!! but I loved it just as much as the Olympic one. All the athelets who are competing in these games are amazing and I have really enjoyed watching the Athletics, they are so inspiring to watch, I think there are another 8 days to go so hope you get to watch whenever you can. We go to the Sanctuary Cove fun run races every year as Nat, and my Mum run in the races there and we always get to cheer off the wheel chair athletes first, they are so dedicated to their sport and are so fast!! its fantastic to watch them race!

Well, I have some great news and you will be really pleased to know!! that I got an A for my Ocelot project!!! If you haven't read our blog before scroll down and you can learn all about the Ocelot, it was once an endagered species but thankfully now it has been taken of the list!!!

I have just been watching a T.V show about Queen Victoria!! It was all about the commonwealth and very interesting!! The lady who presented the show was called Victoria Wood and she is a very famous British Comedien, and she visited all the places that are or used to be in the British Commonwealth. And she visited one place where they looked after orphan orangutans, I did a project on these beautiful animals back in grade 5!!

Well you know me!! they were so lovely! and I was very sad to hear about their plight and why they had become orphans, so after the show I looked up information on them and mum also told me all about how their natural habitats are being destroyed so that the palm trees they live in can be cut down and the oil from them and other vegitation and crops in the forest can be used for all kinds of things, such as soaps, shampoos, shower gels, cooking, etc! There are some great sites and organisations out there who are working really hard to help and save the Orangutans with lots of information about them such as The Australian Orangutan Project, I found this organisation through the Australian WWF, we get emails from them every month. Here is some info for now about the beautiful Orangutans and check out the links below to find out more about Orangutans.

Orangutans spend nearly all of their time in the trees. Every night they make nests to sleep in, from branches and foliage that they find around the forest. They quite like to be on their own are but the mothers stay with their babies until they get to about six or seven years old. Females can grow to around 4 ft 2 inches and weigh about 45 kg, whilst adult males can reach 5 ft 9 inches in height and weigh over 118 kg!!! Their arms are twice as long as their legs and their fingers and toes are curved, which allows them to grip better onto branches. Orangutans unlike gorillas and chimpanzees, are not true knuckle-walkers, and walk on the ground by shuffling on their palms with their fingers curved inwards.

This is what Orangutans eat: Fruit makes up 65% of their diet, they like fruits that are sugary and they love the fruit of fig trees as they are easy for them to gather and are kind to their tummys!! Other foods they love are young leaves, shoots, seeds and bark and they also eat insects and bird eggs!

Here are some facts about the status of their species:

The Sumatran Orangutans and Borneo Orangutans are critically endagered, both are listed on the most endagered species list. The reason for this is mostly due to man harvesting their forsets destroying the Orangutan habitat due to logging, mining and forest fires as well as building roads which cut up the forest. Did you know that Scientists believe that all of this activity will lead to the extinction of the species by the year 2012.

There is lots you can do to help the Ograngutans, tell your parents about their plight, get them to check out the organsisations that are helping them, next time you are out shopping check out the ingredients of the products you are buying, if they have palm oil in them ask if it is Orangutan friendly, that means it comes from a source that does not harm their natural habitat. Wherever your family shops the retailer should know where the palm oil comes from in the products they are selling or at least be able to find out for you; I think that if we dont buy the products which harm the orangutans then the people who are making them will not have people to sell them too?!!!!!

Well, let me know what you think about this blog and if you have anything to share and don't forget to get in touch if you want anything posted up.

Love KateXXX

kate@weareamazing.com.au

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2008-08-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hi, TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE EXCITING!!!

I haven't been able to stop watching the Olympic Games!! It is constantly on the T.V in our house and my brother Nat isn't getting any homework done! as he is glued to watching it! he loves every sport, I asked him if he was inspired to become an Olympic athelete and he said that he was thinking about it and deciding which sport he liked the best!! I am loving watching the swimmers and was so happy for Leisel Jones when she won her gold medal yesterday in the 100m breast stroke, like she said it was a long time coming and finally all those years of training paid off, I am sure it will not be the only gold medal she wins. I was really excited for Stephanie Rice too, she is only 20 years old and she won Australias first gold medal for this Olympics in the 400m individual medley, how awsome is that!

There is lots more swimming to come with heaps more finals during the day which you will be able to catch tonight on tele, we have the day off today as its the Ekka show in Brisbane so Nat and I are going to watch as much as we can, check out the Diving today and the artistic gymnastics, and keep an eye on the medal tallies, China are leading with 13 Gold medals!! I have to say that their 2 girl divers who won the synchronised diving yesterday were unbelievable, I hope you got to see it?

I will be watching as much of the swimming this week as I can and hoping that Michael Phelps from the USA will achieve his goal of 8 Gold Medals at this Olympics!

Dont forget to write me with what's inspiring you at the Olympics, and anything else that you would like to share with everyone, check out Nat's Olympic facts in Nat's declassified!! He's found out some really great things for you to read!!

Oh Yeah!! I still haven't got my results for my Ocelot project! but as soon as I do I'll let you know!!

love heaps Kate

kate@weareamazing.com.au

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2008-08-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I am so excited about the start of the Olympic games, it seems forever that the world has been waiting for the 08/08/08 to arrive! Did you know that the Chinese decided on that date as it is extreamly lucky. As well as the start of the games in China, the day will be very special for thousands of couples as they will be getting married on that day so that their marraiges will be blessed with good luck and lots of good fortune!!

I have been catching some of the run up shows about the Olympics and what sports to watch and I am really looking forward to the gymnastics and swimming competitions. Mum and dad say that its awsome just watching any of the sports as its really exciting, mum reckons that its so awsome cause although we are all competeing against each other to win medals there is something about the Olymics that makes it so special and that it brings countries from all around the world together in a common goal and that all the athelets really respect one another as they know how hard and how much time and effort goes into training, and that just to be there is a massive achievement!!

Don't forget to watch the opening ceromony on Friday,it looks like it will be amazing, and have you seen the stadium they have built in Beijing where they will hold it! it looks awsome I wonder what all the athelets will be feeling as all the years of preparing for their events will be about to happen!! I can imagine they will feel very excited as well as feeling very proud to represent their country, watch out for when the Olympic torch finally reaches it's destination in the stadium after travelling all around the world and the Olympic flame is finally lit signalling the begining of the games.

Write me with any news you have on the games, what sports you like to watch or maybe you have a relative who is compeating? I will post things up as amazing stories unfold!!

Be inspired!!!!!!!!

KateXOXOXOXOXOX
kate@weareamazing.com.au
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The Ocelot

2008-07-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

It's been a few weeks since I last wrote you! We have been on school holidays and went camping, where we got very wet!! it rained alot but we had a great time, and the best bit was that we went to Byron Bay light house and saw so many beautiful whales on their way up the coast to have babies and even a pod of about 20 Dolphins which was awsome, the Whales were breaching heaps and we could see them really clearly with our binnoculars! Dad and Nat went to watch the Titans play one night and we had a really bad storm!! Mum and I stayed in the tent watching Harry Potter!!! My mum also turned 40 last week too! Do you think she will thank me for saying that?!!! so we have been really busy with Birthday celebrations and having fun!!

As you can see my title is the Ocelot!! I have just finished my holiday project on this beautiful animal, I had to write it in French!!!! so thought I would share some information about them with you, in English of course!!!!

...Did you know the Ocelot is also known as the Painted Leopard, McKenney's Wildcat or Manigordo (in Costa Rica), it is a wild cat and is found in S outh and Central America and Mexico, and has even been seen as far north as Texas in the USA and in Trinidad in the Caribbean!

The Ocelot's appearance is similar to that of the domestic cat. Its fur looks like a leopard or Jaguar and was once regarded as valuable, as a result hundreds of thousands of Ocelots have been killed for their fur! which you can imagine I was not very happy about!! Thankfully they are no longer hunted for their fur and although the Ocelot was classified a "vulnerable" endagered speicies from the 1980s until 1996, it is thankfully now generally considered "least concern" by the 2006 endagered speicies list.

The Ocelot can be up to 1 m (3'2") in length, plus 45 cm (1'6") tail length, and weighs 10–15 kg (about 20–33 pounds). It has a tawny to reddish brown coat marked with black spots and rosettes and it's fur is short and lighter on it's tummy, they also have a single white spot on the back of each of thier ears and two black lines on either side of thier face with a black-banded tail.

I love these wild cats and hope you love the picture of the one above!!! I'll let you know what mark I get for my project!!!

Do you have a favourite wild or endangerd animal that you love if you have send me an email telling us all about it and I will post it up onto the blog!

Don't forget WORLD TREE DAY!! See my post below for more information!!!

See you all soon

Love KatiebXXX

kate@weareamazing.com.au
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Whaling!

2008-06-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hiya everyone!! How are you? Fine I hope, I'm good :)

Right so, what am I to talk about today? You guessed it! 'Whaling' . Whaling is a MAJOR issue that many have tried to stop. Of course, these beautiful creatures are millions of years old. Actually there have been whales swimming away in our oceans for over 50 million years!! But their numbers declined dramatically over the last 100+ years, as they have been hunted by man to make many different products aswell as for eating. Next month the International Whaling Comission (IWC) meets in Chile. Where the Japanese will try to convince them to let them have full rights back to start whaling AGAIN! This is an issue that really gets to me. What kind of people would want to hurt these absolutely AMAZING animals?? So, if you have a soft spot for these gental giants why not find some kind of petition to sign? Or even better click on this link so that you can create your own oragami whale wich will be sent to the meeting to show how much people care for these animals!!

http://www.send-a-whale.com/sendawhale/landing.php And join many in their quest to save the Whales!! OH MY GAWSH!! I've just made my whale and it is SSOOOOO much fun!!! Go and check it out, now!! & support Green Peace, my whale was the 3 2, 2 3 5 whale to join the "POD"!!

If you've got anyting you would like to share with everyone feel free to send me an email ~

kate@weareamazing.com.au

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Kate xxx

2008-06-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Hope you all celebrated world environment day yesterday, did you know that the United nations slogan this year is "kick the habit!" That is... for us all to kick the use of CO2, carbon emmisions!! There are some really easy and simple ways you can do that at home that will really make a difference if we all tried really hard to follow, they are:

1) Use energy saving light bulbs
2) Get your mum to wash clothes in the washing machine on 30 degrees, she'll know what you are talking about!!
3) Don't leave your electronics on standby overnight, they use just as much power as they do when they are fully on!
4) And if you can, travel by public transport, ride a bike or walk to school.

Also just to let you know that your school can participate in National Tree day which is on the 25th July. Did you know that since tree day started in 1996 more than 1.5 million volunteers have planted 11.5 million native trees, plants and shrubs how amazing is that! The benfits of getting your school involved are:

* you will feel great about doing something to help the environment
* You'll be supporting a good cause
* You'll be helping your school and local community
* Help offset harmful carbon emissions
* Make Natural spaces even more beautiful
* You'll have heaps of fun!!

You will need to get a teacher involved to help co-ordiante your schools national tree day so let your teachers know all about it, and then together work as a team to make the day fun and inspiring for everyone, maybe it could become an annual event?
You and your teachers can find out more about getting involved at treedayplanetark.com there is a great teachers resource section on the site and a great spot for kids where you can find out more too!

Happy tree planting!!

KatieXX

Books!

2008-05-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hello! How are you all? I've been sick with a cold and bad cough and our weather here is really cold, for us anyway! 20 degrees! but i'ts been raining and very dull which really reminds me of being in England! sort of cosy!! So been sitting at home under my dunah watching the Disney chanel!! I thought I would tell you about some really awsome books that you might like to read. Have you ever heard of an author named Jacqueline Wilson? Well, if you haven't already there are some of her books I think you'll enjoy, (Her books are more for girls than boys, but a book of hers boys might like to read would be cliffhanger.) I'm sure that you'll love all her books but my favourites are the dare game, clean break, diamond girls and the 'girls series', for older girls and For younger children I would recommend, the cat mummy, the mum minder and glubsey me. They are truly awsome books and she is a brilliant writer! If you want to find out even more, head to http://www.jacquelinewilson.com/ !!! !!! Hope you enjoy them!

See you all soon!!

KateXX
If you have anything awsome to share or want to tell other about where you live email me at
kate@weareamazing.com.au
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Burma Cyclone

2008-05-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hi, as you know aid organisations from across the world are still working tirelessly to help all those in Burma who have been devestated and left homeless by cyclone Nargis. My mum works for the body shop and she came home last week telling me all about how they have been working behind the scenes with Save The Children Austalia and in every body shop store across the country there are collection tins where you can donate to the appeal to help get supplies through to those in desperate need of water, food, blankets, cooking materials and shelter. I have watched on the news and cannot imagine what it must be like for everyone who has been affected by this, not only having to rebuild their homes but also cope with loosing people they love, if i was me and I'd had my family taken away by the cyclone I would be really thankful to all those people who helped my country to recover and build new lives. So, If you have any spare pocket-money why dont you visit your nearest body shop and help out by donating whatever you can and help the victims of cyclone Nargis.

Thanks heaps everyone, we're all one global family

Love Kate

xoxoxo

2008-05-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Its taken me a bit of time to get my first post to you, I have been getting alot of homework and had to study really hard for a few tests! Although I live in Australia and am in grade 8 here I am studying all my lessons in French!! except English of course!! This is through a French immersion program my high school runs and I will be doing this until I am in grade 11! By then I will be fluent in French!! I hope so anyway! So what have I been up to apart from studying? My mum and I went to a well being expo and had a stand there for the whole weekend, we had alot of fun together and met heaps of really nice people and I got to talk to lots of children and tell them all about we are amazing and our awsome website, have you checked out the portrait gallery and wish for the world pages, they are really starting to fill up, if you have'nt already posted your wishes and upload your portraits, get creative and come up with a really fantastic bright and colourful picture! I check everyday to see new faces and read your amazing sentences and your wishes are all so brilliant, imagine all the really great messages we are sending out into the world!! Our global family is really growing and I am so excited about everyone contributing and getting involved!

This weekend our family are going to hold another earth hour! we are going to do this every month, why don't you try to have one too, it all helps to reduce our carbon footprint!! Dad, Nat and I found some really groovy candles in a little shop near us when we were looking for mothers day presents!! and we are going to play games and tell scary stories by candle light!!

Don't forget to let me know whats going on where you are and if you have any brilliant ideas for saving energy, mum says I have a bee in my bonett!! about it!! she says its a great thing to be beeing about though!!!

email me at kate@weareamazing.com.au
see you soon
KateXXXXXXXXXXXXX