Jennifer until 2010

Baby Days

To the left, I am attempting to help everyone with the cleaning. Now I realise I probably made a lot more work for everyone (but it was a lot of fun!). On the right I am playing in a large pipe at Playgroup. The pipes were my favourite part of the playground.

Here I am dressed up in a Kimono in Kindergarten. After Kindergarten, I was taught Japanese at Primary school, and now (in high school) I am still fascinated with Japanese culture. I like to think that all started here.

Below, I am posing for the camera in my favourite new sun hat. I used to love the camera.

This is me and my best friend at the time, Kate. We were very close for many years, and we both had a lot of fun playing with my toy horses.

Jen early learned to enjoy drawing on the computer, and most of her pictures involved a word or two.

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Here I am, again with Kate. We shared a lot of fun times together, and loved smiling for pictures!

Cooking

This was the first time I tried cooking alone. I made the pancake mixture myself, and after my grandmother showed me how to cook them, I tried it myself. I didn't get it right right away, but I had a lot of fun trying.

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As part of the "Dreaming the Indigenous Way" program at Healesville Sanctuary, children are invited to join in aboriginal dancing, have their faces painted, and to experience close-up encounters with animals. Members of the Wurundjeri people, in whose country the sanctuary is, conduct the program, which Jen enjoyed immensely.

Halloween Costume

This is me all dressed up for a costume party. My friend Mary was born very close to Halloween, so she had a joint birthday-halloween party. We played lots of fun games, and I felt very cool in my witch outfit.

Two of the closest friends I had. Natalia (on the left of the picture) and Mary (to the right).We spent a lot of time together, and every Friday had a sleepover party! That week it was at my house, and we had lots of fun taking photos.

Here's a web page that I made at about this stage in my life.

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Pony Ride at Primary School

Horse riding is a lot of fun, but I hardly ever got to do it. Now I have discovered that horse hair makes me sneeze a lot, so I woudln't get very far riding if I tried today.

Computer Art

We had Star SX, a little DOS program that generated Spirograph type drawings. Jen enjoyed changing the parameters to see how much she could vary the resultant picture. She saved dozens of examples!

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With Alex

A rare photo of my brother and me getting along. Just after a tap-dancing recital, I was given a very big hug!

Alex treasured his Akubra hat, which he wore almost constantly. He removed it to let Jen pose wearing it—but only for a minute.

In this photo are my Brother, my Mother and me all on a mountain when we went to play in snow. I wasn't very happy that day. The snow was hard, and everything was cold. But everyone else had a great time.

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Oops!

I was horrified that somebody caught me when I had fallen over skipping! (I played it up quite a lot for the camera, though.) I picked myself back up, caught my breath, and started skipping again.

Christmas Diorama

My very first diorama! Santa coming down the chimney on Christmas eve. I made the little Santa doll and sewed him into the box. Unfortunately, my teacher didn't realise he was sewed in and pulled him out to look. She didn't mean to break it, but I had spent a lot of time making it, and was very upset.

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After-School Snack

This day wasn't anything special. I was just eating what I am sure is yogurt. However, my grandmother is equally certain I was eating ice cream that day! Unfortunately, we don't have a time machine, so we can't go back and check. What does it look like to you?

Paddle-Pop Sticks

I spent many weeks making a pretty hanging ornament out of coloured 'paddlepop' sticks and hot glue. The glue didn't stick very well, and every stick but two fell off within three weeks. I still have those two sticks hanging in my room, and refuse to take them down after I spent so much time working on it.

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Tenth Birthday

This was on my birthday, but for some reason, my brother's friends were all there instead of mine! It was okay though. My brother has cool friends and we had a fun time together.

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Even with me smiling the crazy smile that only a child can, I think that this photo is just lovely. I don't remember having it done, but my brother does, and he says that it took a very long time, and we both had sore faces from smiling afterwards.

My Primary school had just introduced a new garment into the school uniform. It was a black dress that you could wear over your school top. I loved it very much, and got one as soon as I could, and then told my Mother to take lots of pictures of me wearing it.

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Photographs...

There was a time a few years ago when I decided that I loved photography. I wasn't very good, but I loved it so much, and took photos every day. The rose was one of my better ones.

The other photo is one that I took of the dog of a family friend. His name is Biggles, and he is very friendly.

This is just a photo that I took of some Meercats at Melbourne Zoo. Meercats are always the first things we go to see, and they are such fun little creatures to watch.

... and Paint Drawings

I drew this picture a very, very long time ago. It was long before I put any technique to my pictures. It is meant to be of my pet cat smelling a daisy.

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Feeding the Ducks

Around this age I was quite camera-shy, so there aren't very many pictures of me. Somebody sneakily took a photo of me while my back was turned and I was feeding the ducks at Lilydale Lake.

Medusa

My grandfather was going off to Greece, and his going-away party was themed as 'Greek Mythology'. I dressed up as Medusa, which was lots of fun. My uncle told my three year old cousin not too look me in the eye, or she would be turned to stone. That was years ago, and the girl is terrified of me, and still won't look me in the eye (even though she doesn't remember the party).

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Our Cat, Marmalade

I was trying to figure out how to put a puzzle togther, but my pet cat found my hair far too much fun to play with to let me do that.

He just wouldn't let go!

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By the Yarra

Here I am sitting in front of the Yarra river. It was very, very cold, and the water wasn't very clean. I realy regretted not bringing warmer clothes that day.

Karate

This was after my first karate grading. I had gotten my Yellow belt, and I was really proud. I also got a special award for 'demonstrating outstanding courage' and I got to wear a stripe across my uniform so everyone would know that I had it.

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Wedding

This is me and my brother at my Grandfather's wedding. It was very sunny that day, and very hot, but it was so much fun that nobody minded much.

This is at my grandfather's wedding again. I am walking the other flower girl down to where we had to stand during the ceremony.

We all had lots of fun that day, in our matching dresses. This is my step aunt, my cousin and me all waiting for the wedding to begin.

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Last Year of Primary School

This is at the Croydon festival when I was in grade six. My school choir was singing, and as music captain I had to have a microphone on me the whole time. I'm not a very good singer, so it was really embarrassing! But my friends said I sounded fine.

I was getting ready to go to a Medieval festival that my Archery club was hosting. I love an excuse to dress up, and this was no exception! I had a great time.

Shortened Hair

This picture was taken straight after a hair cut that I got. It was a very big change, and I wanted to show it off to everyone.

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Graduation from Primary School

This was my final Christmas concert at my primary school. As school captains, my friend Jarred and I had to give a speech about how much we were sad to leave the scool.

I loved talking into that microphone!

Later the same week we had an evening ceremony to mark our graduation from Primary school. Again Jarred and I had to give speeches, this time wishing everyone luck for the future.

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Judith

This is Judith. She has been my best friend for the last three years. She is a great person, and I love her dearly. She doesn't really like having her picture taken, and wouldn't smile for me. But at least I got something.

Bouncy Castle

This was at a Blues festival that I went to with a family friend. I still can't figure out why they had a jumping castle at a Blues festival, but jumping castles are awesome so it was fine.

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With Veronica

This is me and Veronica having fun at a beach on the Goldcoast. We were best friends, and it was a lot of fun to spend a holiday together.

Up a Tree

This was on a day trip to Phillip Island. There were lots of big old trees that were really good for climbing. Unfortunately, they were also really good for falling from. Ouch.

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Fourteenth Birthday

This was at my birthday party when I turned fourteen. It was a pyjama party, as well as a hat party, as well as sleepover! It was the first birthday party that I'd had in a very long time so I was really excited!

Judith and Kirralee

These are two of my closest friends, Judith and Kirralee, at my pyjama/hat/sleepover party. Off ito the side you can see part of the sombrero that my friend Medha was wearing.

We all had lots of fun that day! It went really well.

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Anzac Day 2010

Here I was getting ready for an Australia Day celebration. I was told to 'wear something Australian' and so here I am, attempting to look like someone from the ANZAC*.

Nobody else turned up wearing anything even a little bit themed, and I felt quite silly and over-dressed, but I had a great day anyway.

*ANZAC stands for "Australia and New Zealand Army Corps". During the First World War, Australian and New Zealand soldiers were sent, on the 25th of April 1915, to Gallipoli, a peninsula on the coast of Turkey. The number of deaths over the next eight months was horrendous, and both Australia and New Zealand set aside the 25th of April as ANZAC Day, the national day of commemoration of war dead.

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