western australia is really the "wild, wild west." there are creatures that live there that you would never want to know about. shark attacks, snake bites, kangaroos that if cornered will attack you. why the hell even go outside?
we have been to australia 5 or 6 times over the years and let it be known that my children have NEVER stepped foot into the ocean! if my fear is not from the stories my father-in-law tells me about men being drug from knee deep water, and eaten whole by a great white as their children watched, it's the threat of those damn jelly fish that are the size of your thumb nail but will kill you before you can reach the beach! in the past they had always been content to build sand castles on the beach, but not this year.
on the 20 hour plane ride-yes that's right 20 hour-down under, i explained to everyone, including jeffery, to not ask if the kids could go in the ocean. under no circumstances were they swimming in the death pool. maybe they were too tired, but they all seemed okay with my decision...that was until the boogie boards came out and there cousins went in.
as i starred at there faces, disappointment written all over them, i decided to talk to the lifeguard-good excuse huh? mr. lifeguard was really cute, under his goofy hat and zinc covered nose. he proceeded to inform me that there hadn't been a shark sighting off of his beach all year! well it was january 2nd and i really didn't want to ask if he meant season, or calendar year as i was pretty sure he thought i was an idiot anyway. he also told me that the reason the helicopter was flying back and forth was to spot for sharks. so they are out there!!
how ever much i hated it, i had to let them go in. i just decided jeffery had to go in with them :) turns out, everybody made it out in one piece, except for a few jelly fish stings-not the deadly kind-but this trip made me realize once again...i am not in control of anything. statistically my kids had a better chance of getting hit on the head by a coconut then ever encountering a shark, i have a better chance of getting in a car accident then ever being in a plane crash, and at the end of it all we have moved our kids half way around the world for the experiences that they will have. what kind of parent would i be if i didn't let them have those experiences?
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