Boats.
Friday night we got home and were shocked to see the ginormous yacht docked a few houses down the canal. GI.Nor.Mous. We had heard the scoop on the dude that owns it from the cable guy (he know everything – more gossip than the local hairdresser). Apparently the male extension/implant business is booming, because the guy who owns the boat is a doctor in that field. He spends most of his time in the US (jay and I figure Cali), but comes to his vacation mansion in Australia once a year. He wants to be able to take his boat out when he comes, so he has a crew float the boat across the Pacific (must take months) and get the house ready for his arrival. He flies in. Am curious to see how long he stays. So ridiculous…

Swim.
Ty had his first swim lesson here at Gullivers. We didn’t know what class to put him in, so they started him at B1. That class teaches water safety and lets kids get used to the water. Ty did great – so good that the teacher thought he should skip the next 2 B classes and get to the L level (learn to swim). They get more into the techniques of swimming.

Something must have triggered in his brain because Sunday afternoon while jay and Ty were in the pool, Ty grabbed a noodle and went off on his own (life jacket on). He kicked his way across the pool. Jay and I were both shocked!

Hair.
I was due for a hair cut, so I booked an appointment at the marina salon. I was nervous because Brian has been doing my hair for a while and I never had to tell him what I wanted done. He just did it. The gal that did my hair here did a pretty good job. She’s no Brian, but will be fine for a couple years. One plus – the chair for washing hair has a back massager in it. Yes please!

Tiger.
Since Jay is unable to do much tinkering on our leased cars, he turns his attention to Tiger. Starting with some small touches…

Lights.
We have had several lights that haven’t worked since we moved in and an irrigation system that seemed to be broken. Since we don’t have a ladder here and have no intention of buying one, we had to have the property manager send someone out. We finally were able to get on the handyman’s calendar for Saturday, “sometime around lunch.” So we stuck around the house Saturday and he showed up on Australia time…3:00… We have lights now!! Yay!

Sitter.
We have been blessed in the US to have found the best babysitter – Miss Lindsay. Since we couldn’t pack her up and take her with us to Australia, we were crossing our fingers to find someone even halfway as good as her to watch the kids when Jay and I need a date night. We had a work social club gathering in downtown Brisbane that we wanted to go to, so we asked one of Ty’s teachers at school to babysit. She is great! So thankful to Miss Mollie for giving us a chance to go out on the town.

Unfortunately I must have caught a bug of some sort because as I was getting ready to go out (maintenance guy was still here) I ended up losing my lunch…tossed my cookies…prayed to the porcelain gods… Ugh.
Miss Mollie was already on her way so we decided to still go out and see how I felt. Didn’t last long, unfortunately. We were home by 9:00. Date night = fail. Better luck next time.

Massage.
I booked an appointment on Sunday morning with a masseuse to try to work out some of the stress that I have been carrying in my muscles. I found a little place on Google that was only $50 for a 60 minute massage (so cheap!) and not too far from home. It was a strange location, just a little room across from a canal. I had to wait for my time slot on a bench outside the building. The lady has been practicing massage for 15 years, mainly at some larger clinics, but decided to open up her own little place. Very little overhead so she could charge so much less. She did a great job. Different than Janey, but good. I will be going back, for sure!

Funny Money.
I am still trying to figure out the Australian currency – have to look at the amounts printed on the coins, feel so silly sometimes. The paper money is quite interesting. The bills are all different sized and feel like they are coated in plastic. Jay thinks it is waterproof, which makes sense in a country where the majority of the population is on the coast.

Rain.
The summer months here apparently bring quite a lot of rain & storms. Almost every afternoon a storm rolls in. I was hoping to get my delicate clothes washed and hung out to dry on Sunday. Unfortunately as they were nearly dry out on the line, rain came. Nuts. I ran outside with my laundry basket as soon as I heard the rain and scrambled to get all of the clothes off the clothes line. Will try to dry the clothes after the rain passes. Since most people here do not have electric or gas dryers, and it rains every day, how do they do laundry?