My acheivements so far this year

​MY ACHEIVEMENTS SO FAR THIS YEAR
 
Can you believe we are six months into the year? Have a think back to the start of the year and all the wonderful achievements you have made in this time.
 
Today, our bloggers share with you the awesomeness (is that a word?) that they have created this year so far…
 
Today I am writing about the first 6 months of the year. 
 
 
This year I have already done so much, I have gone on a holiday, learnt new moves at dancing, watched lots of movies and heaps more! For my holiday I went to Canada and LA with my family for 6 weeks. I went to Disneyland and bought some jumpers, went on some rides, enjoyed the characters, watched the shows, and ate yummy food. They had the best hot dogs ever... I saw the snow in Canada. It was freezing cold, so I liked to stay inside with a hot chocolate and warm food. I saw bears on my trip which was a bit scary, but I did take photos. I had the best time on my holiday. It's one of my favourite things to do. This year I have also been dancing on Wednesday nights, and this is where I learnt my new moves that I love to show everyone. I learnt a dance to a Shrek 2 song, I love the movie Shrek and I can't wait until Shrek 5 comes out so I can watch it. This year l've gone to the movies with my friend Krystle on Saturday's and we have watched so many movies, my favourites have been How to train your dragon, Lilo and Stitch and Snow White. I'm looking forward to watching the Karate Kid and the Smurf's movies when they come out. I've also achieved a lot this year with Umbrella Support, I have been bowling without bumpers, done blogging, enjoyed Hellow Media and interviewing people, and have been making lots of cool things at handmade on Mondays. - Claire.
 
At the start of the year, I wrote down  a few goals for myself for 2025, and I’m very happy with how I'm going with my goals this year. I've had a few holidays within the first six months.  Firstly Hamilton Island, Coffs Harbour, Coffs harbour didn’t go to plan but we managed to rearrange our trip. 
 
 My most recent holiday was to China, and I just got back on Tuesday night. 
China was amazing, I went with my dad on a tour with a group of thirty-five other people, which was the first for me to do a trip like that. It was non-stop, there were many first times for me.  My first time going on a speed bullet train, the first time I saw the Great Wall of China, I unfortunately couldn’t make it up there, but my dad made it up to the top of the fourth building.  The food was amazing, I wasn’t brave to try anything adventurous but I did try a few new things. 
 
I also did my first ever Foam marathon in February, which was great, it was near Belgrave and was a long day that’s for sure.  There was a bouncy castle with foam, I did a flip into it and bounced my way out of it.  I also got a permanent reminder of the marathon, I tell you it wasn’t even from any obstacle, it was from a stick that fling up and scratched my leg. 
 
I also had a goal of a photo a day for 52 weeks, but I only made it up to about week 12, and that’s okay, at least I gave it ago.  I also tried doing a new Facebook page where I would do jigsaw puzzles and watch a movie of the same theme, for example a Disney puzzle, I would watch Disney movies.  If there was a run down building, I would watch abandoned buildings. It was a good idea, because I would watch movies that I never watched before, like session 9 and Dead Game.
 
All up, I’m pretty happy with how the first six months of 2025 is going and I’m hoping the next six months of 2025 is as great as the first six months.  Maybe I should write more mini goals for the rest of the year and at the end of the year I’ll see how many goals I’ve achieved. 
 
I prefer to do mini goals, so if I don’t achieve them, it’s not a big deal.
I hope everyone has a good first half of 2025, I hope everyone has a great second half of 2025. - Haley 
 
In February this year I went to Sydney to see Bryan Adams with my dad and the highlight was going to the wax museum seeing all different famous people like from Ned Kelly to Steve Irwin. It was so interesting seeing Sydney and I absolutely loved walking around with my dad and meeting some friendly people in Sydney.   The public transportation was a pain because you had to use your bank card to tap on and tap off and it was so frustrating because there were so many different train lines and lots of people were in the rush and pushing in as well. The highlight was seeing James Arthur and Bryan Adams. It was a great concert and my favourite songs are "Everything I do, I do it for you" and "Please forgive me" and "Summer of 69" and "All of one, All for love".  I absolutely loved seeing Bryan Adams because my father saw him in the eighties and again in the early nineties. 
I came home with bad vertigo and I was in the hospital with vertigo and it was not fun at all.  Now I’m all better from having vertigo and now I don’t have vertigo that often so for the next six months I will focus on myself to lose weight and feel comfortable with my body again. - Ash
 
 
Hello and welcome to my midyear blog. Yes, it's midyear already. How quickly time flies. I feel like I’ve achieved a lot in the last six months but at the same time its hard to put it all into words. I’ve definitely improved my footy skills. Work has been good too and I've been super busy which has been good as I love being busy. For those that don’t know I work for a well known disability organisation.  I love working in the media as I feel like my disability disappears.  I have continued to improve my independent living skills which has been good. I have planned a couple holidays for the back half of the year which I’m really looking forward to. I’m always looking to improve myself to be the best version I can be for my family and friends. I’m looking forward to saving up for my holidays as it gives me something to look forward to. What have you achieved in the last six months and what are you looking forward to in the next six months?  Keep being awesome – Ben V
 
 
 
My first six months of the year.  
Every Monday I go to Umbrella and Tuesday I go to work with Krystle and Wednesdays I go to bowling with my friends.   Sometimes on the weekend I hang out with my good friend.  Anyway, every Thursday I come here and Friday I go to work same thing every week.  Sundays are a rest day.  On June 27th there is a new movie coming out on Netflix.  I am saving up my money for a Play Station 5 and a new controller with the Joker on it in gold and orange colour.   TJ
 
 
Dear readers, this week’s topic is something you have achieved in the past six months.
Let me start by telling you in the past six months I have achieved so many things. I started the new program at Umbrella Support called Hellow Media, which is an afternoon program and I feel excited every week when I come to the media group I get to see all my friends. I have realised that I've been more confident and I've started to step out of my comfort zone. I have learnt new skills like using the cameras, the clapper, learnt to set up the equipment, asking leading questions from someone's response.
 
I've learnt to come up with interesting questions to ask the person being interviewed and how to ask them with confidence. I’ve grown a lot from doing Hellow Media so far and I want to continue improving and learning new skills for the rest of the year.
Written by Charlotte



What I have achieved in the last six months is that I have finished my book.  I have been at Umbrella for the last six months, and I would like to keep working with Rechelle (My support worker).
For the next six months, I would like to keep going to do my job for Down Syndrome Australia. and help build a Instagram page for them.  I like to work with the people and I want to make it bigger with some merchandise and I would like to write it.  
 Thank you Ben C
 
 
I have a very inquisitive mind and love working with my hands.
In the early start of the year I went to work and found some parts for my next project, I put together a motor from a mobility scooter and made a cart, it had many different parts which I had in my shed. I like to keep a lot of my tools and equipment in stock so I can always have them ready to use when needed. My main interests are lawn mowers where I take them apart and use the parts for other projects.
My projects can take awhile to do as I am always looking for spare parts on eBay or spare parts shops.

I have a good friend that when we get together we are always thinking of inventions that we can come up with. We put a lawn mower together with a new gear box and when we started it up, it took off and crashed into my big standing black tool box and dented it.


For the next 6 months I hope to find more interesting objects to pull apart and put back together with my friend. From Nick
 
Morning friends. How are you?

I have achieved something huge this year, and that is blogging from home every Thursday morning. I have decided not to come to do it onsite because it's nice and quiet doing it from home and I have work every Wednesday afternoon.  I will be too exhausted but lucky Krystle always remembers to send me the topic that the team has chosen and I can call the Umbrella Support staff if I am really stuck on what to write.

How do I feel about blogging? Firstly, I was feeling apprehensive because it's a new program, but I had a one on one meeting with Cindy. She said that there is nothing to be anxious about and she gave me some topic ideas like: family, special occasions, happiness and more. Then after I had a meeting with Cindy I started to blog on that Thursday. The topic when I first started was "what makes you happy".  

Another thing I have achieved is trying new food on my break in May. I tried souvlaki with chips, eating outside even though cockatoos were on our table, I also tried babycino, a drink at McDonalds. On holidays I have to deal with being out of routine. Lunch times are often a different time for example but I managed.

I also watched the J-hope livestream concert twice at the cinemas with mum. Mum likes his songs very much, I am proud of that because I usually love to watch children's movies but the J-hope concert was fantastic, very lively and a lot of dancing. A lot of teenagers and young adults like it, but anyone can like his music. You don't need to be young to listen to his music.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog. Stay warm and I hope you like reading my blog
 
Jacinda