ANZAC Day.
Friday was ANZAC Day in Australia, which, as far as I can tell is similar to our Veterans or Memorial Day. They have ceremonies at dawn that are apparently very moving, but there was no way I was going to fight the traffic and crowds at. 4:30 AM with 2 little ones. We had a nice day. We went for a buggy ride to the tennis courts, then drove around the neighborhoods. Ty fell asleep on the back seat, and Lily slept in Jay’s arms. When we got home, everyone was rested up so we ate a quick lunch then the boys jumped in the pool. Lily watched them swim while I got caught up on some housework. It was a beautiful day, so I decided that the fresh air was worth the risk of a critter or two sneaking in the house, so I opened up all of the sliding glass doors on the back side of the house. I snuggled with Lily a bit and when she fell asleep I folded our laundry on the kitchen table. I usually hate folding clothes, but it was surprisingly pleasant today with the breeze blowing through the dining room.

Where are we?
Friday evening the boys went for a bike ride and Lily and I walked along. As we were making our way through the neighborhood we crossed paths with a kid sitting on his motorized skateboard cruising along. And then we passed 4 adults in their late 20’s riding their segways around. And then another guy around the same age goes flying by us on his motorized skateboard. Are these normal gadgets back home? Or is this another over-the-top Aussie deal?

Fizi.
Aussies love to “get fizi”, Ty is definitely influenced by this (which is a good thing). So Saturday we decided to try something new. After the 7:00 swim lesson (still didn’t get to ring the bell but Ty did AWESOME), we rushed over to his 8:00 gymnastics trial. He was super excited. When we got there, Ty saw a friend from school, and then he almost couldn’t contain his excitement. Coach Jake called him and two other kids in to the gym, where they had set up all sorts of fun equipment – balance beams, bars, rings, trampolines, vaults, mats. Jay and I took Lily upstairs to get an aerial view of the action. I think he is a natural (I say that about everything…). I was impressed at how well he followed directions and did what the coaches said. Even though there were lots of kids in other classes in the gym at the same time, he stayed focused, for the most part. I am pretty sure that it read his lips, and he told the coach he was wearing his workout shirt. Such a funny little man. The free trial was a success, so we signed him up. He didn’t want to wait until next Saturday – he wanted to go back after dinner. 🙂

Soap.
The gymnastics facility is a temporary set-up at a school in Coomera, just down the road from swim lessons. Their main facility would be about a half hour drive, so we thought we would give this a shot. It seemed fine to us, except for one thing. Ty had to go to the bathroom before his gymnastics class, so one of the coaches unlocked the bathroom door. Ty went into the boys room and when he came out, he said that there wasn’t any soap to wash his hands. Ok, so we tried the handicap room next to it. No soap. Tried the girls bathroom. No soap. So I asked the coaches if they knew why there was no soap. She said they are aware of it, and have mentioned their concern to the school, but they have not refilled the soap dispensers. The school told them it is a “health and safety reason” to NOT put soap in the bathrooms. Excuse me? What?!?!?!?! That is the most ridiculous thing I may have ever heard. She said something about how kids put soap in toilet paper and throw it. Ok, seriously? Sounds to me like someone has a discipline problem, and should maybe take a look at fixing the root cause of the problem, not just try to implement a band-aid solution. The thought of all of those kids running around all day, going to the bathroom, touching everything, eating lunch, and not having an opportunity to perform basic hand washing makes me almost angry.

Shop.
After gymnastics we went shopping at Robina Town Center. I found some sweet board shorts for Rickey (complete with bikini chics), a couple dresses for work, a fun casual outfit (Jay hates it), and some long sleeve shirts and pants for the kids. Successful outing.

Swim.
Since I didn’t get to swim yesterday, I wanted to jump in the pool today. It was a little chilly in the big pool, so I quickly joined Ty in the hot tub. We splashed around for about an hour, and then Jay cannon balled in. And then Jay decided he would try to play his favorite Wipeout game – Big Balls. He jumped off the side of the pool and tried to land on top of the big Aussie beach ball. Ty thought it was hilarious. Video on Facebook.

Words.
Wacker Packer = compactor