Slack, Slack, Slack!

Well, I started off really well, but it didn't last long! Can't believe it's been nearly 2 weeks since I blogged last, but what, with the kids on holidays time is not something I have heaps of at the moment!!LOL
Anyway, enough of the excuses, time for a catch up post!
One of the biggest things that has happened since I posted last is that Arlie, Lacey and Sarah have all been talking about joining the Australian Defence Force! I am a bit shocked by all this, but after looking at the Defence Jobs website I had to admit that it sounded like a pretty good idea.Arlie has talked about wanting to join the Air Force for a while now, but since she decided to do the Uni thing, I thought that it had been just a fleeting thought. As it turns out it is something that she is still interested in. She would love to become an Air Force pilot but sadly, at only 5'1" she is just too short, so she is now looking at joining in some sort of health capacity and then continuing on with her Oral Health degree once she is in. If this is the way it goes, she would actually enlist as an Officer Candidate.
Lacey on the other hand, is looking at joining the Navy. When I asked why the "Navy" she replied (in the only way Lacey can) that if a plane went down she couldn't fly so therefor the Air Force wasn't any good, and since she doesn't like running, the Army wouldn't work either as she wouldn't be able to run away from the bullets, but, if a ship sank, she could swim and have at least a chance of saving herself!!LOL She also likes the idea of being able to do some fishing while on board a ship! On a serious note, she has been struggling a little over the past few weeks trying to keep motivated at school. I think this is normal for this time of year in grade 11 as I'm sure that even though she only has on more year left, after already doing 11 years at school, 12 months must feel like a life time! She just started to feel a little lost not really knowing exactly what she wanted to do at the end of next year. She had talked about the Navy a while ago, but she was worried about having to commit to it for four years but we have now found out about a government incentive program called the ADF Gap Year where you can join straight out of school and only commit to 12 months and at the end of the 12 months you can then decided if you want actually join up for a longer period or you can just leave. The money that they get paid for this gap year is pretty good (somewhere between $31000 and $46000 depending on which service you join) which is not bad for a 17-18 year old.
Sarah is leaning towards the Army and is hoping that it may be an alternative to finishing year 12. Although she is doing much better at school this year, it is still not her favourite place to be so I think the Army could really be good for her. I do have concerns about her dealing with all the rules and restrictions that Army life would bring, and we have talked about it quite a lot over the past few weeks, but she feels that the discipline of life in the Army is just what she needs right now.
We all went for a drive to Maroochydore on Monday morning and visited the recruiting centre there to get some more information. The lady who helped us was great and went through the requirements for each different set of circumstances for the girls in complete detail. We were there for quite some time and at the end of it she gave them all some bags with all the information she had given them as well as a few little goodies like hats and sunscreen. She also gave Kaydon a hat as he had been very patient and was helping her to get different booklets and pamphlets of the shelf. There was a lot of chatter in the car on the way home and all three girls were very excited about what they had learned. Arlie has now made the phone call and has an appointment for an interview with the Air Force in early October and Sarah has started to gather the information that she needs before making her appointment. Lacey is still thinking about it all, but really can't do anything much about it all until next year, but I will keep you posted about how it all turns out.