Christmas Greetings from Down Under!

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Back to Hectic Days

It's been a while since my last post. Several things contributed to my posting delinquency. First of all, our schedules have become quite busy with the kids' schools and activities, as well as Mike's travel schedule. Secondly, the honeymoon period of our arrival in Australia has begun to wane. And in conjunction to that, the homesickness has started to set in. The holiday season makes it all that much more poignant, especially since we missed out on Halloween and Thanksgiving!

The weekends are no longer filled with touristy adventures, but baseball games, birthday parties, school functions, and hanging out at home. The last school term will close for the boys in 1 week and for Zoe in 2 weeks. They will have 7 weeks off for summer break before they move up to the next grade. It will make up for the shortened summer break in the U.S. (although Jonah still thinks they got gypped in the long run). It seems like the last few months have flown by. The boys got to participate in Australian Football after school once a week and are in a baseball league that practices once a week and has games on Saturdays. Fortunately, I was able to get Lucas to play up in the U10 group on the same team with Jonah. (Lucas did not want to play off the tee in the U8 team.) The season goes until April. They are also continuing to swim a few times a week as well. Zoe has started speech therapy outside of school once a week and will start swim lessons during the holiday break. I feel like a bonified taxi driver most days. I am looking forward to the school break as much as the kids!

Mom and Dad (Mike's parents) will be arriving in a week for their 2 month visit, just in time for the school holidays. Helen, Mike's sister, will also be coming for Christmas later in the month. We are excited! We are planning some short trips and day visits to the surrounding area. We will also be making a trek to New Zealand in January for 10 days before the kids go back to school. We will be touring the South Island, stopping in 5 different cities. I'm sure I will come back with some good blogging material from that trip.

We hope all of our friends and family in the States had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We thought of all of you on that special day. We have so much to be thankful for... We look forward to hearing from all of you during the Christmas season. Please keep us on your Christmas lists and send cards to the Australia pouch address via John Deere. If you don't have our new address, please shoot me an email and I will gladly send it to you. We will probably be sending out our greetings electronically this year. Until then, take care! I will try to stay on top of the blogs...

Surf's up, Mate!

We thoroughly enjoyed our first beach holiday in Australia! The boys had great fun with their daily surf lesson with Gary (pictured here). I was impressed they stood up on their first day. They have a ways to go to get proficient but they have definitely caught the bug! They asked to rent a board on the last few days so they could practice and have added surf boards to their Christmas list. Lucas said he likes surfing better than skiing without hesitation; Jonah is on the fence. I can check surfing off the list of things I promised them once we got to Australia...

We had a hard time getting them out of the ocean on most days. The weather was warm but not too hot. It was actually cold when you got out of the water with the breezes. We didn't even have to use the air conditioner in our apartment.

To give their board rashes and sun exposure a break, we took one day to go to the Australia Zoo (about 20 min. down the road). It was interesting to learn that it actually started off as the home of Steve Irwin's family and that's where he grew up assisting his Dad rescuing wild animals, to include crocodiles. Today, it's a 1500 acre zoo. There didn't seem to be a huge variety of animals but what they did have were very well cared for. The habitats were very clean and spacious. Some of the animals we saw included dingoes, koalas, wombats, echidnas, a cassowary bird (very cool looking bird with a head that looks like it's painted blue), tasmanian devils, indigenous birds, Asian elephants, and tigers. The boys and I got to feed an Asian elephant, pet a wombat, and pet kangaroos of course. There were several pools of saltwater crocodiles separated by pairs (male and female) with a sign that explained why they were captured and what their personalities were like.

The rocks by the beach also served as a source of some exploration as there were many tidal pools with all kinds of mollusks and sea life. They also attracted some exotic birds that fed there. Next time, we will have to take our snorkeling gear.

Well, we are back home and getting prepared for school to reconvene on Monday. They will start their 4th term (last term for the school year). They will then get out for summer vacation on Dec 5th and return the last week in Jan 2010. I am still getting used to the opposite seasons here. It's getting warmer here when I expect it to start getting cooler. It will be an interesting Christmas as we celebrate in tropical weather...

Happy Birthday, Zoe!

Our Zoe turned 6 last week! It's amazing how much that 4 lb 4 oz. little baby girl has grown and touched our lives. She continues to be our little angel and our constant reminder of love.
We spent her birthday at Sea World to visit her favorite Sesame Street characters. Our lovely babysitter, Prue, went with us to help with the kids. (Mike was in the U.S. at the time.) I enjoyed going on all the kiddy rides at Sesame Street Beach with Zoe while Prue got to ride all the crazy rides with the boys. It started out with nice weather but by the afternoon, it got hazy. The haziness was due to the dust storm that blew through from Western Australia. It had hit Sydney pretty hard the night before. (You may have seen it on the news.) It wasn't as bad in the Brisbane area but it left a thin layer of dust on every surface outside. We were done and left the park around 3 pm. Zoe will get to enjoy her birthday gift in December when we go to see The Wiggles live! She's been watching the show regularly here and has learned a lot of their songs. Her brothers were great sports for her birthday, but declined to go to the concert with us in Dec.

The first week of their Spring Holiday went by quickly, as we kept busy. Besides the birthday celebration, I took the boys to see "G-Force" at the theatre, the boys had a few friends over to the house, the kids got to enjoy the pool at home, and they reacquainted themselves with all their toys and games. Of course, I didn't run out of things to unpack and organize around the house. By Saturday, we were packing up for the beach and anticipating Mike's return on Sunday morning.

Finally Feels Like Home

Yes, we finally got our sea shipment on Wednesday! Most of the stuff is unpacked and put away-- the result of 4 days of hard work. I'm always reminded of why I dread moving every time I have to pack and unpack. But there is a certain amount of comfort being surrounded by your familiar things-- a feeling of home and permanence. Now I feel like we've actually moved to Australia and I'm not just visiting. I have to say one of the things I missed most of all of our things was having a decent set of knives; given all the cooking I do.

We received our shipment on Wednesday, and Mike left for the U.S. on Friday morning. The kids also started their 2 week Spring Holiday on Friday as well. We were lucky to get our stuff when we did. They originally told us the earliest delivery date was this Tues-- while Mike was gone and I was home with the kids by myself. They miraculously had a cancellation after Mike wrote a "I'm very disappointed with your lack of effort after I took the time to plan ahead" email. We had a few things broken, some property damage, and 3 guys at our house until about 8:30pm. I was not impressed; but am just glad to be almost done.

We spent the weekend at home just hanging out. I've been busy unpacking and organizing, and the kids getting reacquainted with all their toys and games. We also took advantage of the pool with the warm weather. We will probably fit in some outings this week before Mike returns next Sunday. Then it'll be off to the beach for 5 days! Mike will be sleeping off the jet lag on the beach...

I've actually had a few opportunities to meet some parents at the kids' schools via volunteering at school activities and attending class outings. I have yet to learn all their names though. I have learned that the Aussies take their "picnicking" seriously. We were invited to a family picnic with Lucas' class on a Sunday morning at a park. They said there would be games for the kids and to just bring a picnic lunch. I packed some sandwiches, chips, fruit, and soda-- our American idea of a picnic. As we munched on our lunch out of our cooler, we notice wine glasses being taken out, wine bottles, bottles of beer, cutting boards, sandwiches being made, cheese spreads, and large bags of chips and crackers; not to mention someone with a table and cloth napkins. Later, we found out it was the Class Mum's birthday so we sang "Happy Birthday" and toasted her with some champagne. I didn't partake in the wine (I was offered many times), but did sip some champagne. Mike was offered some beer from some Dads-- and of course he did partake (he needed to after watching ND lose to Michigan that morning). I realized this is par for the course here when we saw the same thing at an evening outing at the boys' school and at a park get together for Jonah's class after school on Friday (and it wasn't even during meal time). Mike said, "It's like tailgating!"

Another funny story... Whenever I start to feel good about knowing my way around and start to feel less like a visitor, I am reminded that my accent sounds funny here. I was at the Korean grocery about 2 weeks ago and I was speaking to the lady there in Korean about some of the food items. As I was checking out, she says, "Your Korean sounds like you haven't lived in Korea for a very long time." I replied, "Yes, I left when I was 6 and I don't get to use Korean everyday." From there I went to the shopping center to grab some lunch. I ordered a Kebab at the food court from a guy who looked like he was of Indian origin with a very heavy Aussie accent. As he handed me my change, he said, "Are you from Canada?"

National 4p- Conference and Father's Day

We just returned from the national 4p- conference in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast. We had a great time meeting the 4p- kids and their families from all over Australia. It was a much smaller group than the one in the U.S. that met last year in D.C.; about a dozen families. It was an intimate group that was very welcoming. I got that same warm feeling of connection talking to the parents. I felt reluctant to say good-bye and leave the conference early today (the conference activities continues until Tuesday). Most families that have traveled far are making it a family holiday and staying at least a week and enjoying the sights of the Gold Coast. We attended a meet-and-greet Friday night, the whole day of conference on Saturday, half day on Sunday, and the afternoon at an outing at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary before we headed home. We met 2 families who live within an hour of us and whom we exchanged contact information with. We also made a special connection with a family whose daughter, Rachael, has similar relatively mild symptoms of the syndrome. Rachael is 15 yrs old and walks around very well, speaks in full sentences, asks questions, expresses herself and her sense of humor, and has started reading and writing. I had a lot of questions for her Mom, Chris. She was full of good advice and encouragement. The whole weekend was a very positive experience. We hope to attend another meeting in 2 years before we head home.
Today is also Australia's Father's Day. Lucky Mike was treated to a very special day with the kids after being presented with the kids' handmade and heartfelt cards and gifts. (BTW, Mother's Day here is also in May so I don't get another one this year. What a rip!) I think I saw his eyes mist over as he read Jonah's gift but of course he denies it. But watching ND win their first football game of the season with a shutout to start the day was the icing on the cake. (No, it wasn't on Australian TV... He watched it via slingbox (hooked up to his Dad's TV in Indiana) on his laptop.)
Last week, Jonah attended an overnight camp with all the 3rd graders from his school, which he's been looking forward to since school started. They spent 2 days and 1 night at a camp filled with all-boy fun. I knew Jonah had a blast when I picked him up and he talked, unprompted, nonstop about what he did at camp until we arrived home. Now if you know Jonah very well, you know that's a big deal. He's a boy of very few words. When I met his teacher at pickup, she said, "Jonah had a great time! He was quite in his element. I did something I never thought I would. I had to tell Jonah to stop talking and be quiet!" He said his favorite activity was kayaking. Lucas can't wait to go next year.
I also ran my 10k race last Sunday-- Bridge to Brisbane, with over 31,000 other Australian runners/walkers. It was an interesting experience. The water bottles, portapotties, the lines for the portapotties, people strewn all over the streets stretching and just relaxing, were all familiar scenes on race day. But once I started listening to people speaking with their Australian accents and the scene at the top of the bridge (on the highway) with a clear view of the city over Brisbane river quickly reminded me that this was not a familiar scene for me. I tried to take it all in, all the while making mental commentaries, since I didn't have anybody to verbalize them to. The range of emotion filled the whole spectrum through the race-- from awe at the number of people willing to get up at 4:30 for a race that started at 6:25 to shear annoyance at the number of people in my way as I tried to run my race. I was lost in the masses from the start since I did not have an official qualifying time (from a previous year) to start with the first 2 groups. I tried to dodge all the walkers, kids, parents with prams as I ran uphill the first 3/4 mile on the bridge. A couple things I noted-- 18 wheeler trucks honked their horns in encouragement as they roared by in the opposite direction across the bridge (we were only separated by temporary cement blockades); and people stopping at the top to take pictures of the cityscape. There was another huge hill around the 8k point and the unusually warm weather and humidity didn't make me enjoy the race any more. I think I saw about 4 people getting medical asistance on the side of the road. I had dumped 2 cups of water and walked through a hose spray by the time I finished the race and it was still before 7:30 a.m. Yeah, I'll probably run it again next year...

Our stuff has finally arrived in Brisbane! We'll see how long it takes to clear customs...

Science Projects and a day at the Beach

I'm a little behind this week on the blog. We had a nice weekend. It was spent with completing science projects for the boys, a day at the beach, and another trip to downtown after Church on Sunday.
We've experienced a warm up this past week and a half. The highs reached the mid 80's (and it's still winter here. They say it's abnormal August weather. Nevertheless, we've had to turn on the air conditioner and the boys have broken in the backyard pool. Last Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and test out the beaches in the Gold Coast (south of Brisbane). The kids all had a great time and the boys especially enjoyed trying out their new boogie boards.
Jonah made some green slime for his school science project, with Mike's help. My contribution to the project was looking for and purchasing the borax. In the end, I found some at the hardware store after learning what it was exactly. (It's a chemical, in powder form, that is used in household cleaners and pest control). Lucas got to make a volcano-- he got a lot of help from Mike. It was very good to see how much the boys enjoy these projects, not to mention the time spent with Dad. Lucas has another project he is working on-- a water cleaning system, in conjunction to what he is learning about environmentalism. We made another trip to the Science museum downtown on Sunday to get some ideas for this project. They have an Earth section with an exhibition showing how a water filtration system works. This time we drove instead of taking the train.
Zoe continues to adapt to her new routine at school. It seems as though all the students and teachers know her and greet her every morning. We will be attending the Australian 4p- national conference next weekend (Sept 4-6th) at the Gold Coast. They also hold the conference every 2 years, but on odd years. It will be interesting to see how the group here compares to the one in the States. (We went to our first one last year in D.C. last summer.)
The last we heard, our sea shipment was in Sydney and its arrival to Brisbane was delayed a week. Once it arrives in Brisbane, it'll spend another couple weeks going through customs. It'll be nice to have our furniture and all our "stuff," although I'm not looking forward to the unpacking.
Well, I hope all our friends are doing well as the new school year starts!

Nature in Australia

I braved a beach trip with all 3 kids by myself on Wednesday (Ekka Day and holiday from school) and had a great time. We hit some traffic on the way to the Sunshine Coast. I wanted to check out the area of Caloundra, where we planned to go for a week in September for the beach and a surf camp for the boys. This is to follow through with a couple of promises to the boys that we made to them before we moved. Fortunately, we had warm weather (it got up to 80 deg) that day and the rain forecasted stayed away until it was time for us to drive back. We went to a patrolled beach, popular with the local surfers. We had a crash course in what the colored flags meant on the beach. Swimmers are only allowed to swim between the red and yellow flags to stay separate from the surfers and strong rip tides. Needless to stay, the boys loved the waves and wasted no time jumping in. It took them a little while to get used to the salt water (they ran back a few times to chug from their water bottles), but had no other complaints. I had to drag them away when it was time to leave. I also had a hard time keeping Zoe from running into the water. She loved standing and sitting in the water as the waves came in and went back out. She would smile every time the wave brought water splashing at her feet. She got a bit dizzy as she stared down as the water rushed back to the ocean and loved it. The boys have been to the beach when we lived in NC (Sunset Beach) but they have no memory of it. This was Zoe's first time. (This is not counting our trip to Lake Michigan; there were no waves there.)
We went from the beach to the mountains on Saturday. We went to Mt. Coot-Tha (or Kuta, an aboriginal word meaning "honey," for the honey that they used to come to get on the mountain from hives of stingless bees). We took a little hike (another first for the boys), which they loved, and we admired the views of all of Brisbane from the summit. We enjoyed the view as we snacked on some ice cream and some hot chips with tomato sauce (french fries w/ ketchup). We had to promise the boys that we would go back and let them hike all the way down the mountain. The weather was perfect and it was beautiful. We saw a huge white parrot fly out of a tree as we approached.
I think we finally found a parish that we feel comfortable at. Third time's a charm, I guess. We didn't have to sit next to a homeless person and there were other families with young children. The church is in Manly, same suburb as the kids' schools. We drove down the hill to the shore after mass to check out the Sunday open market there. The boys enjoyed a snow cone as they watched some miniature sailboats racing in the marina and then they played in the playground. I got to buy some fresh veggies and browsed some hand crafts. We had some errands to run, so we headed to the shopping center. Mike bought some dress pants (he didn't bring any in his luggage) for a dinner reception hosted by the office of the Prime Minister of Queensland (like state governor's office). I shopped for groceries and the kids shopped for their science project items. Lucas is making a model volcano and Jonah is making slime. We did all this shopping and had lunch in one mall.
We got home to relax and get some housework done. The boys decided to jump in the pool for the first time. They lasted maybe 20 minutes jumping in and out because it was so cold. We sat down to a nice dinner of pork chops and discussed what we wanted to do next weekend...

BTW, Skype is a great tool. Helen, it was great to see and talk to you in Korea! Kayla, it was great to catch up with you for the first time since I left. If you have skype, please look us up!

Celebrating 1 month in Oz

Time seems to be flying by these days. Another week has come and gone. The boys and Zoe are getting quite used to their school routine, and Mike has begun traveling for work again. He was in Melbourne for 2 days and will be going again this week.
Brisbane is celebrating Ekka this week. Ekka is short for Exhibition Day or it used to be called The Royal Exhibition. Back in the day, it was an opportunity to show off the new developments in industrial and agricultural advancements in one place. It's very similar to a state fair with the animals, rides, displays, and lots and lots of food stands. The kids are out of school on Wednesday for the celebration (Different regions of Brisbane get diff't days off). Unfortunately, Mike will be in Melbourne that day so we will wait until next year to attend. I may just drive them up the coast to the beach for the day instead. We will see what the weather does. The boys are just happy they get out of school for the day. Mike actually took today off for Ekka and spent the day with me. We ran together in Manly on the shore and we went into the city for lunch. It was quite the date day. We enjoyed seeing a flock of cockatoos in the trees and a group of pelicans on the water as we ran.
I still quite often have to stop and think, "We are in Australia!" I do feel though that we are quite rapidly adjusting to our new lives here. I even found myself saying, "How ya' goin'?" without even thinking about it. I didn't realize I said it until a few minutes later. It was when I was volunteering at the boys' school Open Day on Friday and greeting parents of prospective students. Of course, this was 2 hours into the day and about 30 other greetings. I also had a chance to meet a few of the other mums from Lucas' 2nd grade class on Saturday. They were very nice and welcoming. I found they are not much different than the Moms in the States, except for their accents.
We decided to take advantage of our season passes and went to check out Warner Bros. Movie World on Sunday. The boys had heard from their classmates that Movie World had the "cool" and fast rides. There were thrills to be had by all, including Zoe. She surprised us all how much she loved the kiddy roller coaster, the flume ride, the Batman simulator ride, and the bumper cars. We had to buy the picture of all of us on the flume ride right at the drop. I had my head down, my arm around Zoe's shoulder, bracing for the drop and splash... and Zoe just had a huge smile from ear to ear. She got splashed at the bottom and that was when she stopped smiling. We were also surprised to find that Jonah was tall enough (140 cm or over 55 inches) for all the intense rides. He is only 8 inches from catching up to me. He and Mike went on "Lethal Weapon," a rollercoaster with the top of the carriage attached to the rails (your feet are dangling). The park was nice but a lot smaller than any Disney park. I was impressed with how much shade they had though. The picture below of the parade is on Main Street and you can see how the whole street is tented. They had this kind of tenting in all the bleacher areas of the shows as well (or they were indoors). It was another great weekend.

Few more Aussie tidbids: 1. The punctuation "period" is called a "full stop." I learned this from Lucas' teacher at the parent/teacher conference last week. He explained that when they were discussing it in class, Lucas got this glazed look on his face and he had to explain when he realized why. 2. A "pacifier" is called a "dummy." I learned this from the Mums when they were talking about the kids. 3. To give you an idea of how much things cost here (I've converted the cost to U.S. dollars): gas is about $4.73/gal; a gallon of skim milk is about $5 while a gallon of whole milk is about $3.10 (yes, the less fat there is in the milk, the more expensive it is); I just bought 2 cases of 18 cans of Coke products for $16.78 on SALE. I paid $42 for 4 for the movies (Harry Potter) but only about $11 for a medium popcorn and 3 slushie like drinks. I bought over 2 pounds of tomatoes for about $1.50.

Happy Birthday, Jonah!

Jonah turned 9 on Saturday! What a treat to celebrate in Australia! He got to invite a couple friends from his class for some pizza and cake and the new Harry Potter movie. It was nice to see the boys getting along well. They seemed to enjoy the movie too. The celebration continued the next day with a trip to Sea World. We were going to wait until Zoe's birthday in September to go visit the Sesame Street characters there, but there was a chance to get a resident season pass for 3 parks for $100 AU per person. She absolutely loved the show and seeing the characters up close. We will definitely be going back soon, esp. for her birthday. You can see how happy she is at the show in the pic below. She was clapping and dancing. When the show was over, I told her to say, "Bye, bye," and she kept shaking her head. We couldn't leave until all the characters were off the stage. She also had a chance to meet Ernie, Bert, Elmo, and Grover up close and get her picture taken. She gave each of them a big hug. It was very cute. Seeing her so excited and into the attractions made it all worthwhile. She got to go on her first flume ride, and watch a short 3-D film (but without her glasses)-- she loved both of those as well.
The boys were tolerant of the Sesame Street show, but they got their turns with the crazy rides and animal attractions. Both boys' favorite was the Corkscrew rollercoaster that looped around upside down 3 times. I felt my age when I just felt rattled after that. The whole family had a great day. We can't wait to do it again.
Jonah's birthday was not the only thing we celebrated last week. Mike and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Has it been that long? Mike surprised me with a huge bouquet of flowers delivered earlier that day, and cooked a lovely meal on Saturday night. For those that are curious, he cooked lamb chops with a mint yogurt sauce for us, pork chops for the kids, roasted potatoes with cherry tomatoes, roasted asparagus and broccolini, and fresh strawberries w/ ice cream for dessert. He also bought some ginger beer for us to try. Are you hungry yet? I am reluctantly admitting the following... I said I was quite surprised when the flowers arrived because I had completely forgotten it was our anniversary. Yes, I felt bad and I own up to my neglect. So, here I publicly apologize to my man, a great husband and father.
Some other firsts in Oz this past week: the boys got to play rugby with a junior league (it's the end of their season, but they will pick up with them next Feb.); I signed up for my first race at the end of August (Bridge to Brisbane 10K). This week, Mike will be traveling to Melbourne for work, we have a parent/teacher conference w/ the boys' teachers, and I will be going to my first Mums get-together on Saturday.