Memorial Awards

This time of the year is always busy with end of year school and work events going on, plus getting ready for Christmas.  Last week was particularly busy with the boy's School Celebration Night on, plus Kings Meadow's High School Presentation Assembly, where I donated and presented memorial awards again this year.  

This year Gabe Collette was awarded the Noah King Friendship Award at the boy's school Celebration Night.  I was disappointed because I got busy at the end of the night and didn't get to talk to him or get a photo with him.  I haven't really heard anything about why he was given the award this year, but have no doubt he was very deserving of it. 

It used to be hard to go back to Kings Meadows High without Aaron there, but I enjoy going back now and just know how much Aaron would love that I still spend time there.  It was nice to be able to sit with Tracey and Rob who was one of the organisers of the Mental Health Forum.  Their son Bowen won the Aaron King Memorial Award last year.  



I don't really get nervous about presenting the awards, but just before I get up my heart starts racing and I feel quite emotional as they read out what the awards are for.  

This year the Aaron King Memorial Award was awarded to Jordan Talbot. I was so happy when I found out it was Jordan because he was in Noah's class at school.

He's a lovely guy and I know Aaron would've loved that it went to him.  The award is for a grade 9 student who is hard working, compassionate, tries their hardest academically and has a love of sport (what the school believe are qualities that Aaron had).   Aaron loved all of his students, but I know that the kids that he really would've had a soft spot for all the winners of his memorial award because I know he would've gotten along really well with them.

The Noah King Memorial Award goes to a Child Studies student who shows a genuine concern for children and who may have a future in working with children.  Every year I would visit the Child Studies class with Noah to talk to them about life with a child with a disability, so when Noah passed away Aaron decided that he really wanted to set up the memorial award at school. I never would've thought that the next year I would be presenting two memorial awards. 

This year the Noah King Memorial Award went to Hayley Burr.   She seemed lovely as well. 

It was lovely to talk to the principal at Kings Meadows and to hear her story about the short time that she worked with Aaron (she wasn't the principal when he passed away) and how she will never forget the speech he gave in an assembly that had everyone in tears. She said he spoke about Noah and it was talking about Make a Wish as they were going to be having a charity day at school to raise money for Make a Wish.  It's always lovely to hear stories about him.   I'm grateful that the schools allow me to continue to present the awards every year, as it means so much to carry on their memories in such a special way. 

'Our' Santa

I'm not sure when it'll be that the boys refuse to get a photo with Santa, but I've been very lucky so far that none of them have complained about it.  Kobe is of course always excited to go and see Santa and to tell him what he wants for Christmas.  Harri humors me, and Jalen is such a good sport because I think he knows how much it means to me.

For a long time we have been visiting the beautiful Santa at Meadow Mews because he remembered Noah's name every year. He was such a lovely Santa and he would always see us pushing Noah in his wheelchair and would say 'here comes Noah!'.  It amazed me every year that he remembered his name, and it touched us so much when the lovely Santa came to his funeral and came and said hello to me after the service. 

We never expect him to remember us, but yesterday the boys went up to him and he looked at them and said 'it's the King family!'.  The boys thought it was pretty cool that he remembered, but he admitted to them that he couldn't remember their first names. We had a lovely chat about how much the boys had grown up. 

I love this pic of all three boys - everyone looks so happy. It must be because it's almost summer holidays!

I hope Jalen lets me get at least a couple more photos of him with Santa and the other two boys, before he decides he's had enough of it.   If only life were as simple as Christmases in the past. 

I hated it when Aaron buzzed all his hair off! I would give anything to complain about it to him now though.

 I loved Noah at this age - he was always so alert and healthy.

 Harri LOVED his thumb back then! I love Noah's chubby cheeks in this one.

 The first time year we  met our lovely Santa at Meadow Mews.

 I think Santa had a year off at Meadow Mews in 2007 as we went to another one for some reason.  It definitely wasn't the same.

 Mrs Claus ended up being Jalen's drama school teacher :)

 When Noah was very chubby and heavy to lift!

 The year after Noah and Aaron passed away - when Harri used to take 'Nono' everywhere with him.

I'll be devastated if 'Our' Santa ever retires from his duties in December.  We love visiting him every year.

The Aaron King Oval

Back in May Harri, Kobe and I went along to Kings Meadows High School when they reopened their oval which had been redeveloped.   We were blown away that the school had wanted to rename the oval after Aaron and felt very honored to be there at the official opening with the mayor. 

On Friday I saw the teacher from Kings Meadows High who had asked me what I thought about naming it after Aaron and he told me that the sign had been put up last week.  Yesterday Kobe and I went up to the school to check it out.   I love the wording that they put on it.

I couldn't stop thinking all day about how stoked Aaron would be about it.  He loved the school so much and was loved by his colleagues and students.  He was obsessed with so many sports so it really is the perfect way to remember him.  Today all of us went up to the oval so that Jay and Harri could also see it. 

Harri and Kobe were keen to have a kick of the footy. 

Jay was happy to sit in the sun :)

Kobe was excited to find a cricket ball but we left it on the oval, hoping that the students will find it tomorrow.

We feel so honored that the school would do such a beautiful gesture and are so happy that his name will continue to live on at the school for many years to come.  I'm sure we will be back a lot for a kick on the weekend or after school. 

Glamping at Sandridge

While we were away on the East Coast for Noah's anniversary, I got an excited message from our friend Alison.  She had taken wedding photos at Sandridge Estate at Boat Harbour earlier in the year.  The owners of Sandridge Estate have since set up some beautiful tents on the property and have had it all landscaped and have built a toilet and shower block and a camp kitchen and fire pit, and were just about ready to start bookings at 'Glamp Sandridge' .  They asked Alison to come and take promotional photos for them to use, and in exchange she was able to take 8 families there for a night of 'glamping'.

We aren't campers at all and have only been camping once as a family last Easter, but I knew that this type of camping was something that I could handle (even though we ended up loving camping last year, except for the thousands of wasps!).

When Alison told me about it, I thought it sounded fun but then as it got closer and I thought about it more, I wasn't sure if my mental health was up to spending a weekend with people that I didn't know very well.  Alison has lots of lovely friends and we know some of them a little bit, but no one really very well. 

I'm a very outgoing person, but since Aaron passed away I find that I go between wanting to be very social and I love being around people, to wanting to just hide away and be alone.  As the date got closer I started to stress as I wasn't really feeling on top of things mentally at the time.  But I knew it was a great opportunity and I knew that everyone that would be going would be really lovely, so I decided to just go and enjoy it.

Harri and Kobe were so excited about it, but Jalen wasn't at all keen to come (he also finds it hard being around people he doesn't know well, especially when he's not feeling great emotionally).  I convinced him that it would be okay and told him he could just hide out in the tent if he wanted/needed to.  According to him, he didn't have a choice (he did...but it was either we all go or we all stay home or he could stay with my Mum) but I was so glad that he came, as I knew I just wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if we had gone without him.

We were so excited when we saw the tents in the distance.

This was our tent for the night.

Each tent had a lovely queen sized bed all set up with beautiful linen.  They also had carpet and lovely rugs, bean bags, cutlery and crockery and towels.  I had the bed to myself and we took along blow up mattresses for the boys to use.   Each tent had power which was run by a generator.  It was lovely to have a light in each tent and the boys were happy that they could charge their phone and iPads!

We know Alison's friends Katie and Adam and their kids a little bit, and because they were the largest family there, they got to have the 'penthouse' of the tents. Theirs had a deck out the back with a little table and chairs, and had a wood heater inside!

There is a very cool fire pit up near the toilet and shower block and camp kitchen, and we spent lots of time there toasting marshmallows and chatting.  Thanks Jess and Kyle for sharing the most amazing marshmallows ever!

The boys have never been to Boat Harbour, but I have great memories of going there a lot as a kid with Mum and Dad.  I always remember the beach because the water is so aqua and the sand is so white. 

Even though the weather wasn't great, a few of us decided to go down to the beach for a little bit, and it was just a five minute drive away.   Jay and Harri went exploring on the rocks and Harri cracked us up when he started squealing because he stood on a dead rat!

Kobe doesn't feel the cold and decided he was going for a swim! The water was freezing, but that didn't stop him!

Kobe and Addison used to play together a little bit when they were a lot younger and got along really well, so it was lovely to see them get along together again.  They had a lovely time playing together the whole time we were there.

This is Kobe acting too cool to get a proper photo with Addison!

One of the owners of Sandridge spent lots of time with us and told us about how they decided to set up the glamping as people were wanting a place to stay after weddings, and it was a lot of work to set up a few tents each time.  She was lovely and let us use their wedding shed at night to hang out in. It was SO beautiful with all the lights! It was nice to sit around the fire inside as well.

I knew that Jay would appreciate how lovely the shed was, and he came over and took lots of cool shots which he has posted on his Instagram.

Kobe and Addison had lots of fun creating games together.

The kids had lots of fun with sparklers before bedtime.

It wasn't cold at all at night, and it was so nice having such a beautiful bed to sleep in and having power.  It was very windy and rainy all night, but we were very comfy in our tent.

It rained all morning, so we packed up pretty early and headed home, but we had a lovely night away and were glad that we went along. Thanks so much Alison for inviting us! The only photo I took of you had your eyes closed, and I didn't think you would appreciate me posting it!   Thanks Sandridge Estate for the lovely night! We loved it and felt very spoilt. I don't know if we can go back to regular camping now!