Wowsers! It has been a BUSY few days! Every waking moment has been jam packed with activity. The days and nights are kind of a blur for me as I think back over the week, but here are a few highlights

Shopping.
I can’t tell you how many times Jay or I have been shopping, or how much we have spent, for that matter. Everything is SO expensive here, I am kind of in a state of sticker shock. For example, a “cheap” plastic dish drying rack without a utensil holder or drop tray is $25. I wouldn’t pay more than $7 in the US for a similar one. I think Jay’s spreadsheets are going to implode. :).
The shopping is interesting. There is a “mall” nearby with everything we would need for a home, and conveniently most of the names of the stores make total sense. Pillow Talk sells bedding. The Bed Store sells beds. And so on. So we have managed to find most things on the ever growing shopping list. IKEA was an interesting experience for Jay. Thank goodness we had a ginormous van to shove the huge boxes for our “dressers”. Shopping carts have swivels on all 4 wheels, so pushing them is a workout, especially if it is heavy, or if you are trying to maneuver 2 at once (see previous comment about how much $$ we have spent).
I ventured out to the grocery store on my own. The fruits and veggies looked familiar, but that is where my food recognition ended. I did my best, spent a bloody fortune, and still don’t really feel like I have anything for dinners. I guess that isn’t much different than home, though. 🙂

Sleeping.
. Ty is finally starting to get over his jet lag – he hasn’t been up at 2:00 ready to party. But he has had a hard time laying down for his afternoon nap (and then after fighting it forever he has an even harder time waking up from nap). The sun comes up at 4:30 am here, so he hasn’t slept much past that time. Early bird gets the worm, I guess.
Jay has used the swimming “cool” as Ty calls it as a bribe to get him to take a nap. Problem is that when he wakes up it is dark out and a bit chilly. So I am a wimp and have yet to swim. Jay has for sure made note of that… I guess I am a fair weather swimmer. Ty hasn’t really been in the water much either. But he likes to stand next to it with his trunks and life jacket and throw stuff at dad in the water.

Home.
We are very fortunate to have found such a beautiful home. As we get settled in it is starting to feel more like home. Will be nice to have our air shipment arrive so we have more items from home. I love watching the boats cruise along the canal.

Daycare.
We took the kids to their new school on Thursday to meet their new teachers and friends, and to let Ty’s brain start to process where he would be spending most of his time. He jumped right in and started playing, and didn’t want to leave. When Monday morning rolled around, he went right to his classroom, gave us am extra hug, them went off to play with his new friends. Such a big boy!
Lily was just as easy, but she generally speaking just rolls with whatever we throw at her.
At the end of the first day, they were both happy when I arrived to pick them up. Their teachers said they did great. Ty was a bit of a crazy animal when we got home, think he was exhausted. Lily hadn’t slept much at school but her teacher said she was happy and content all day. She slept for 8 hours straight when we got home.
Ty was filthy – they play outside a lot. Both of their teachers sent us emails recapping their day. Sounded like a success!

Work.
Jay had a busy start to work as it is year-end, but he said everything went well. He got home around 7:30, which seems pretty good for an accounting manager at year end! My day was a little slower, mostly because my boss is the lady that jay is replacing, and she was tied up with training him. The guy I am replacing is in the USA this week, so I spent the day doing online training, getting tours, and meeting people. What bits I did hear about Order Fulfillment sounded interesting, so am anxious to dive in.

Food.
So I have to pack lunches for jay, Ty and I. This might be the thing that pushes me over the edge into the Big Dipper. Our evenings are filled with cleaning bottles and lunch containers (cannot wait for our air shipment with dishwasher baskets to arrive!!), cooking dinner, making lunches, bathing babies, and THEN we can go to bed. For all of you parents out there that do all of this on a regular basis…kudos! Hoping I don’t forget to send lunch someday. :(.
I did discover the Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. Yum. That might save me from going over the ledge. I might have had more than one last night. Better than booze…
Sausage is only available in links, as far as I can tell. Ground sausage for breakfast or pizza doesn’t seem to exist? Will keep looking.
Pizza Hut is definitely not the same as the US. Cheese pizza was OK, weren’t crazy about the other flavors.
Ice is a hot commodity for me around here. They don’t seem to put ice in their drinks. If the packed lunches don’t push me over the edge, the lack of an iced water might. No ice in the office. :(. But they do have a super fancy coffee/cappuccino machine.
We went to a nice restaurant on Sunday. Ate outside, they had some pretty water features, lizards under the table, and a bouncy house. We will definitely go back.

Fun.
While we spent most of the past few days working our tails off, we did manage to make it down to the beach on Sunday. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, and it is about a half hour from our house. The sand is super soft, the waves are constantly rolling in (Ty had fun walking out further and further then racing back to dry land when a big one rolled in. It was about 80 degrees, but really windy. Thankfully I had found a wind tent for lily, so she spent her time shaded and blocked from the breeze. She snoozed. Ty found sea shells and played with his sand toys. We were there for just over an hour and I got a little sunburnt where I missed sun block. The sun is no joke here! Looking forward to many more hours on the beach!

Words.
Heaps, bits and pieces, mate, just a tick, cheers, brekky, no worries.

All in all it was a good, successful first week in Australia!