Shop.
I needed to get a few more “winter” outfits for Lily so we went to the Harbourtown outlets on Sunday morning. My back held up pretty well, I just took my time wandering from shop to shop. We ate a light lunch and then headed to Tallebudgera so that Riley could try paddle boarding. It was a warm day, the sun was out, the water was smooth. Perfect for paddle boarding. He seemed like he was getting along fine so we headed towards the surf in hopes of spying a whale. We were nearly to the beach when a rain cloud decided to appear out of nowhere and downpour. We found a shelter and waited it out. Yes, riley was still on the water. The 10 minutes that it chose to rain just happened to be when he was on the board. Impressively that was the only time he got wet. He somehow managed to ride the board for an entire hour and not fall in. Nice work!!

Ty played on the playground equipment while we waited for Riley to finish, and then we all walked to the surf. Ty and Riley ran down to the water. Since we had the stroller, Jay, Lily and I stayed on the sidewalk and found a rock to sit on. Watched for whales. No luck. The boys headed back towards us when the sky looked like it was going to open up and pour again. Riley thinks he may have seen a shark in the water. Definitely saw a fin riding the waves. Yikes.

Thongs.
So what if it was only 3:30 in the afternoon. We were not far from California Tacos so we decided to have an early dinner. We parked next to a surf shop and bought new flip flops (or things as the locals call them) for Ty and Lily. Yes, Lily’s first pair have an Aussie flag on them. :). I got some scoop on the whales from the surf shop owner. He said we need to go to Snapper Rocks (our favorite beach) early in the morning and look down from the cliffs to see the whales. We should be able to spot the water spouts first and then see them come to the surface. We will do that on Saturday, and then let Riley take a surfing lesson while we are there. :).

Tacos.
Ok, enough with the shopping. I need some Mexican food. I got a burrito and a margarita. I wish it was Saturday so that I could have drank 3 of those delicious margaritas. Finally! Someone who knows how to make a proper marg! Ty devoured his chicken quesadilla – Lily helped, but she was more interested in the plastic menus and signs than in eating (for the first time in her life). My giant burrito was too big for me to finish, but oh my gosh it was good. “Happiness is…” California Tacos.

Chill.
When we got home I figured I better lay down and give my back a break. Ty came upstairs to watch a movie with me in the big bed. I wasn’t planning on it, but I fell asleep. I sort of woke up when Jay brought the kids upstairs to read books, fell back to sleep, and just now woke up around 11:00. Oops. I guess I was tired. Or that margarita had more tequila than I realized. Or I had a food coma from the delicious burrito.

Rash.
Update on the rash. It doesn’t seem to be getting worse, but neither is it getting better. She was perfectly normal today – no fussing or any indication of being in pain. Unfortunately since it isn’t gone completely I have to take her to the doctor first thing Monday morning to see if she can get the all clear to go to daycare. I am hoping so as I have a ton of things to do and really need to be in the office. Jay has month end this week so he cannot be away. But, things will just have to wait if she can’t go, and I need to be OK with that.

This is our last full week with Riley. I foresee lots of buggy rides for him. :).

Have a great week!

Package.
We got a package in the mail from Auntie Shell!! Ty loved his new Bozeman hat and t-shirt. Lily will look adorable in her sailor outfit. Ty thought the letter written just for him was pretty special. It was a nice surprise for me to get some old pictures of me and my Papa. He was a special man, wish he was around to hear about our adventure.

Cairns pics.
Riley had taken a few pictures on his phone that I wanted to put in the blog. The beach with the crab sand balls, the awesome signs along the beach – complete with a bottle of vinegar for treating jellyfish stings, and the jet ski crocodile tour that the boys wanted to do but I shot down because, well, wow…

Back.
Seriously. I am too young to have this many back problems. I must have overdone it on vacation and sent my back into another fit. It felt weak on Monday, stiff on Tuesday, and holy heck the worst pain so far on Wednesday. It was so bad that I had to have Jay stay home with me on Thursday to drive me to physio (physical therapist). Thankfully they were able to squeeze me in at 10:00. The physio checked out my CT and xray, had me try to bend forward and backward (ha!!! No such luck), did a bit of massage/manipulation to try to loosen up everything, and then he did acupuncture. Not the same methodology as the old Chinese medicine, but a more modern take on it. Two of them hurt a bit when he put them in, the others I didn’t even feel. I had to lay still for about 15 minutes. I didn’t feel much different immediately, but throughout the day I have noticed a definite improvement to my mobility and pain levels. I will go back next week and see how another round goes. He gave me a couple very minor exercises to try. Will give it a shot.

Crud.
Wednesday afternoon daycare called to say that Lily had a mild fever. They gave her Panadol and she seemed fine all evening and night. It looks like another tooth or two are making their grand appearance on the top of her mouth. We sent her to daycare on Thursday. We got a call around 4:00 saying that she had developed a rash. Diaper, mouth, hands, feet. We immediately took her to the dr but she said it was too early to diagnose Hand Foot Mouth. Mostly because Lily was too happy… So we will keep an eye on her, likely not go to work on Friday, and hope it clears up and she doesn’t have too much pain. :(.

I knew this type of situation would be one of our more difficult struggles. When we are healthy, we get on just fine. When we are sick, kids especially, we really miss our support network back home. If we were in the states, either grandma would have been packed and on the road to help out. I can’t seem to convince them to hop on a plane for a 24 hour trip quite as easily. :(. Neither Jay nor I want to let anyone down at the office, so that additional stress comes into play. But, I recognize that this too, shall pass.

Home.
Have I mentioned yet how much we are looking forward to our trip home in August?

11 months.
With all of the excitement around here, I finally had a chance to take a picture of Lily with her owl. She eats pretty much anything that is put in front of her. She was even sucking on a pickle at lunch yesterday, proving that she is my daughter. She is a bit of a stinker – looks at us and smiles before she does something she knows she isn’t supposed to do. She is fascinated by the kitchen cupboards and drawers. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. She can “walk” along stable objects, and if mom or dad hold a hand or two. A little wobbly yet, but so close to walking. We have closed down the nursing shop, sad day for mama but a bit of relief at the same time. Love our little chunk-a-monkey!

Rash.
I spent the day with Lily on Friday. Her rash didn’t seem to get better or worse, but since she had it she couldn’t go to school. She was extra cuddly, a bit fussy, and she insisted on sleeping in our bed for her naps. She took a 2 hour nap in the morning and again in the afternoon. I couldn’t leave her alone in the bed, so I got basically zero work done. But I did get lots of cuddles.

Couran.
Saturday morning Ty had gymnastics. We all got up and started getting ready. Lily was in her bathtub and she pooped. In the tub. So disgusting. Ugh. So that was fun to clean. After the unexpected delay, we made it to gymnastics. We realized the weather was beautiful so we rushed home and loaded the boat. Riley hadn’t been to Couran Cove yet, so we decided to take him there. But first we went up towards the seaway opening, in hopes of spying a whale. No such luck. Back up the Broadwater to Couran. We had lunch then I escaped to the spa for a pedicure and massage. Since my back has been messed up, I can’t reach my toes and they needed some TLC. Ty and Riley went for a kayak ride while they waited for me. On the boat, Ty discovered that he can go inside one of the cubbies, and it even has a light. He had fun playing in there. Ty also drove the boat for the first time and did a pretty good job! Lily slept most of the boat ride out and back. Good day on the water. Did I mention it is winter???

1953 Ute.
Jay may have found our newest addition to the family. Maybe… As you all know , he has been on the lookout for an old Ute. He stumbled across this one – a 1953 Holden FJ Ute. The son of a previous owner had tracked it down and restored it in memory of his father who was an Australian army veteran. The Aussie flag on the bed is a little much, but also kind of cool considering this is our biggest Australian souvenir. Not crazy about the paint job on the tail gate but I suppose that can be fixed. The interior isn’t as nice as the outside but Jay thinks he can fix that. The main problem is that it is in Perth, which is more than a 48 hour drive. Jay is investigating transport costs to get it over here. To be continued…

Goonies.
We introduced Ty to the wonderful world of Goonies this weekend. I knew Jay was a fan, but I didn’t realize that he was that much of a fan. Dude knew every single line. Ty loved the movie. Just the right amount of baddies and good guys and adventure. :).

Ends.
Random fact about Riley. He doesn’t eat the ends of things. We discovered this when Jay noticed he had a pile of little pieces of French fries on his plate. Apparently this applies to almost anything he eats. Sandwiches, hot dogs…so random. 🙂

Winter Solstice.
Saturday was the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year. Maybe this is why I have been feeling down…the winter blues??? I probably just need a little more vitamin D to cheer up and get healthy. Thankfully we are on the path to longer days!

Not sure what is on the agenda for Sunday. Sleeping in, big brekky, then maybe the beach?? I am sure we will come up with something fun to do. Have a great day!

Great Barrier Reef trip.
These two were really excited to start the day!

Reef.
Riley was an awesome underwater photographer. He took tons of great pictures – swimming super close to the coral and the fish to get great shots. Most of the pictures are on Facebook, but here are a few.

Yes, that is Jay buying alcohol with a baby strapped in his chest.

It has been a really long day…

Train!

Sugar cane.

Amazing Views.

Kuranda.
Ty was fascinated by the aboriginals playing didgeridoos throughout the village.

Swimwear.
Jay and I found new swimsuits…

Skyglider.
Ok, this was seriously cool. Our ride down the mountain was on top of the treetops. It was like we were flying over the rainforest. Breathtaking views.

The sky rail was so long we had to switch cars halfway down. They had a short path through the rainforest. A guide showed Ty a Tarzan vine.

Toilets.
One restaurant, Zinc, had the coolest bathroom. There was a fish tank that expanded from the men’s restroom, to the hallway, to the women’s. So cool. Another restaurant we went to had a one-way window in the men’s room, but at night it looks like the dudes are peeing on a mirror. Ty thought that was pretty cool. He came out and said, “I definitely just peed on that mirror!!” And, these signs never get old…

Flight.
We got up early Sunday morning to catch our flight. Ty took a pill a little earlier this time and he didn’t puke on the way back to Cairns. The flight went smooth, as well. Although now that Lily is a bit older and way more active, it wasn’t exactly an entirely relaxing flight back.

Car.
Riley got to experience the pleasure of traveling with two children. He spent a lot of time in the backseat with the kiddos (otherwise I would have been puking too). He was a huge help, catching puke, feeding Lily, and somehow remaining totally calm the whole time. Thanks Riley!!

On the drive home we passed this old Ute. Anyone know the owner? It is exactly what we would like to take home as a souvenir. 🙂

Home.
So vacation is over. Nuts. We made it home safe, but all wish we were still on vacation (except riley because he is still on vacation). It’s a good thing we came home when we did because my back has decided to flare up again. Trying to rest it tonight so I can have a productive week. Lots to do!!

This vacation was one that I will never forget. Such an amazing experience, and I am so thankful for the opportunity.

Warning:
This blog post starts unpleasant but ends happy, so bear with me on this first bit. Or skip down a ways if you don’t want to read the depressing part…

Argue.
Over the past few weeks, I have been feeling like every time I open my mouth, I have to argue with someone. Over stupid things that should not require any energy. At work. With Ty. With Jay. I really do not like to argue. Most of you know that I love watching reality TV for the drama, but I don’t love drama in my own life. And this arguing all of the time was a bit too dramatic for me. Especially when I felt like every argument I was involved in was a losing battle, even though to me the right answer was obvious. Grrr.

For example, Ty refuses to do anything that I ask him to do unless I push and push and push, and them I usually have to get support from Jay before Ty does what I ask. Like brush your teeth. Wash your hands. Go to the bathroom because I know you have to and if you don’t you will pee yourself. And then 5 minutes later I am putting pee filled undies in the wash. Grrrr.

I say all of this knowing full well that Ty had been struggling a bit lately, and he seems to be missing home, even though he doesn’t quite articulate that. He has been looking at old pictures on the iPad a lot, and he will say things like “when we go back to the unites states…” So I do feel awful for him, but in the moments I forget this and frustration triumphs empathy.

Wednesday night we were finalizing our packing and it was becoming quite clear (to me) that our stuff was not going to fit in the previously planned 3 carry on bags. Good lord, of course it won’t. We are the family that had to buy the super big mamma-jamma Cadillac Escalade ESV when Ty was born because we filled it to the top every time we went somewhere. So I suggested that maybe we need to check a bag. Oh, the horror. What a terrible idea. We would then have to wait for our bags. And you know that could take 2 hours. So after failing to convince anyone else that checked was the way to go, and continuing to discuss stuffing more crap into the already full bags, I hit a breaking point. I might have raised my voice and said something about being tired of arguing with everyone about everything, and then I might have gone up to my room and shed a few tears and nearly hyperventilated. Ugh. Poor Riley has now seen Aunt Nicole at her finest. I hate that I made things even a little awkward for him. 😦

Big Dipper.
Jay ended up transferring stuff from the carry-on to the checked bag, which was stuffed full by the time we were finished packing. When we all went to bed, unfortunately Jay and I had a lot to talk about. He was upset with me for making Riley uncomfortable, and I was upset with him for being so stubborn about the damned check bag. Well, after a couple minutes of talking it out, I quickly realized that there was a hell of a lot more going on in my brain than I thought. The dreaded Big Dipper may have had an attack in my emotions. I blurted out all sorts of things that I didn’t even know were bothering me that much. I miss meeting the girls for dinner and drinks. I miss going to the farm for a weekend. I miss sitting by the fire at Kirk and Sherry’s house in Farragut. I miss bonfires with family and friends. All of that was choked out in between massive sobs.

I am not writing this bit to make anyone uncomfortable, so I apologize if I did. I said at the start I would be honest about everything in this experience – the good, the bad, and the ugly. I hope that episode was as ugly as it gets.

After that little therapy session with my husband, who really didn’t say much to pull that out of me other than, “we aren’t done talking”, I felt quite a bit better. He still seems to be taking all of this stuff in stride. Hopefully he will get through this whole experience “dipper-free”. Despite feeling down for the moment, I don’t want to focus on a countdown to when we move back to the US. There are still a lot of things I want to see and do, so I remain optimistic about our time left down under.

Happy.
We woke the next morning at 4:00 to catch our flight to Cairns. It is pronounced “cans” by the locals. Ty was so excited to go on vacation that he came into our room fully dressed and ready to roll. It was time for vacation!!!

Ty has a history of getting motion sickness, so as we were boarding the plane, he swallowed his first pill. After the first 10 minutes or so of flight I could tell he was feeling something, but he curled up on my lap and fell asleep. He made it the whole way without getting sick! Yay!

After we landed, we picked up our checked bag and stroller and headed out to meet our shuttle to the rental car company. So that was kind of annoying…I think Jay knows now that I will pay extra for convenience. What seemed like forever later, we got to our car, and then another forever later Jay and the car guy got both car seats buckled in, and we were off.

The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas was breathtaking. Thankfully Ty fell asleep after asking every minute for the first 20 minutes “how many more minutes?”, otherwise I am certain he would have been puking (to be continued…). We were on a windy road along the coast – Coral Sea on one side, mountains full of rainforests on the other side. A.Maz.Ing.

We made it to our holiday apartment – Mandalay – and got checked in. Beautiful place. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a giant walk-in closet off the master that fit Lily’s portacot perfectly. We were on the ground floor, with a huge outdoor patio area overlooking the pool and the bush separating us from 4 Mile Beach.

Sand Balls.
Riley and I walked over to the beach for a quick peak. There was a nice short path right out our back patio to the surf. The beach really wasn’t that exciting to me – I guess I am spoiled by the Gold Coast beaches. The mountains in the background were beautiful, though. We were out there at low ride, and we noticed millions of these little sand balls all over, usually surrounding a small hole in the sand. When we got back to the apartment we googled it. Little crabs eat microscopic goodies from in between the grains of sand, then ball up the stuff that had been cleaned and throw it over their shoulder. Would be cool to see them in action!

Port Douglas.
We walked into town (a pretty quick 10 minute walk) and did some window shopping, got the lay of the land. Port Douglas reminded me of a mixture of Key West and Breckenridge. Lots of cute shops, fancy sidewalk restaurants, and a few souvenir shops. We had a yummy dinner then decided to call it a night.

GBR.
Friday morning we woke up and were all excited for our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We ate breakfast and walked to the marina to meet our ship – the Quiksilver. The boat was a giant silver catamaran. Super cool. Ty and I both popped our motion sickness pill and we headed out to sea. If you have never been on a cat, it is a funny feeling. It totally rocks back and forth to the waves. I could feel every movement, and I could tell that Ty did too. I kept telling him to stare at the horizon. I don’t think I took my eyes off the horizon for the entire hour long boat ride. Ty eventually fell asleep (thank god) and yay!!! Didn’t puke!!

The Quiksilver has a permanent 2 level dock in the middle of the ocean, just on the edge of the Reef. We tied off and riley, Lily and I ate lunch while Jay and Ty headed off to snorkel. They donned their super sweet wetsuits and were just about to go down the steps to the snorkel platform, when ugh. Ty freaked out. He didn’t want to go in. So, back they came. Ty sat and ate lunch with me and Lily while Jay and Riley went out to snorkel. I didn’t see Riley for the next 2 hours. :). He was in charge of the underwater camera and did a great job at getting some awesome shots. I will have to download and share those when we get home.

I tried everything in my power to talk Ty through his fears, even bribing him with a stuffed Nemo when we get back to shore if he tries to get in the water. When Jay came back, it was my turn to go. Ty wasn’t ready, so I went out by myself. Wow. So I have always thought it would be awesome to go to the Great Barrier Reef, but I never thought that I would ever actually get to go see it. Wow. So amazing. So peaceful. So beautiful. I don’t think I saw any really unusual fish (no sea turtles), but it didn’t matter. It was so cool to be staring into an underwater world, out in the open sea, rarely coming across any other snorkelers. What an amazing opportunity. One that I will remember my entire lifetime.

I came back to the platform and talked to Ty, trying to get him excited about going in. We talked to one of the lifeguards and he somehow convinced Ty to give it a go. We quickly put on his wetsuit, put on the snorkel, and went down the steps to the platform. Ty got his shorts wet and didn’t want to go down another step. The lifeguard told him to just put his goggles on and put his face in right there on the platform. There were tons of fish right there. He stuck his face in the water for 2 seconds and panicked. Ran back up the steps, and started ripping off his wetsuit. So that was the end of that. Ty was at the Great Barrier Reef – one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, and he snorkeled for 2 seconds. This will be a story told for the rest of his life…

Jay went back out, and Ty, Lily and I went down to the underwater observatory, which was pretty cool. There was an anemone not far from the viewing area, and it was full of Nemos, so that was fun to watch. Interesting fact about Nemo fish…the female is the dominant fish in the family. Only one female per anemone. Only one dominant male and heaps of other males around. If the female dies, the dominant male actually turns into a female. No joke. This is what the ships marine biologist told us. Imagine how the movie would have ended if the writers stayed true to nature….crazy.

Jay came back so I could have one more turn out in the water. While I was out to sea, jay took the kids out on a submarine. I can’t believe he did it by himself, and that Ty didn’t puke. They got to see some more cool fish, and hopefully Ty will remember that experience.

On the ride back, we were a bit more chatty with the people that were sharing our table. It was a group of 3 girls and a guy from Hong Kong. They loved Ty. They have him treats, took a million pictures of him, and showed him some fun magic tricks. They kept him thoroughly entertained on the ride home.

We got back to land just before 5:00, conveniently just in time to watch a nearby bar “feed” George the giant groper. The dude brought out a huge tub of dead fish and tried to bait the groper over. The plan was for him to jump up and eat a bunch of fish tied into the end of a rope. Unfortunately a stingray crashed the party and the groper, who we just barely saw swim by, left the huge meal behind. Dang. Would have been cool to see.

We went back to the apartment, quickly showered and changed, and walked back to town to get dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant, which thankfully was really fast because both kids were pretty much done for the day.

Karunda.
Saturday morning we drove back down to Cairns to catch an old steam train up to the top of the mountain to a town called Karunda. It’s a good thing we left a few minutes early because on the ride back down the coast, Ty’s medicine hadn’t quite kicked in and we had to pull over to puke. Thankfully he had a bag from the airplane and caught it all. Poor Riley nearly gagged himself, so we got out of the car as quickly as possible. He happened to pick a beautiful spot to hurl, so as soon as he found his legs, he wanted to run on the beach. He and I went down the path to the beach and found a bunch of seashells. When I felt like the ocean air had swept away his yuckiness, we got back in the car and rolled on.

We got to the bottom of the gondola shop and were supposed to catch a bus to the train station. The problem was that there were a bunch of buses, and none of them seemed to be ours, and there was nobody other than the clueless bus drivers around to help. Oh, the things I would do to make that so much better if I were in charge… So we finally got on a bus and basically had to sprint to the bathroom and back to catch the train. But we made it!!! The commentary the whole way up the mountain was quite depressing, telling us all about how many men died while building the tracks. But the view was amazing. We went right in front of some spectacular waterfalls. Ty and Lily seemed to get bored pretty quickly, but I am glad we did it. Pretty cool way to travel up the mountain.

Kuranda is a neat little mountain town – more like what I was hoping that Mt Tambourine would be like. Lots of little shops, handmade crafts, Australian stuff, and a few restaurants. We ate at a random German restaurant tucked back in a corner. Delicious brats, sauerkraut, and potato salad. Yum.

We wandered around town for a bit and then caught a gondola back down the mountain. Ok. This was seriously cool. The views were spectacular. One of the coolest rides ever.

Ty slept the whole way back to Port Douglas, so no more puking. They dropped me off in town so that I could do some shopping (didn’t buy a single thing) and them we are dinner at yet another fun restaurant.

I am sitting on the patio, sipping a glass of wine, listening to the waves crashing, downloading my brain onto my blog. I am certain that I forgot all sorts of things, but that is the majority of our fantastic escape to northern Queensland. My internet connection is a bit slow, so I will download all of my pictures later.

Week.
What a week. I was working towards meeting what I thought was a hard deadline on a project I have been working on for 3 months. Unfortunately we had some system issues pop up, and after working late most of the week, realizing that we were not going to be successful if we implemented, feeling depressed about failing, my husband came to the rescue. He controlled the “hard” deadline and it turns out he could postpone his event until September. Best. News. Ever.

Riley spent the week on the dock. Pretty much most of the week he was fishing. We picked up some frozen previously live bait and that seemed to do the trick! He finally caught a fish! We think it is a silver bream. No sharks yet, but we bought some mullet that is supposed to be good shark bait. I admire his persistence. I don’t have the patience…

Shots!
Ty had his 4 year checkup this week. He had to pass a “test” about shapes, colors, vision. A+. He kept asking when he was going to get his shots. When it was finally time, he sat on my lap, took a shot in each arm, plus one more in his left arm. He didn’t even flinch. No tears. Dude is tough.

Facial.
Wednesday night I got to sneak away and get a facial. I upgraded to the microdermabrasion – my skin has never felt so soft. It was just what I needed to rejuvenate and get through the week.

Thursday.
The day after Ty’s shots, he came into our room in the morning, crying because he couldn’t move his arm. Jay decided to stay home with him. He was sleepy and whiney most of the day, so I am glad Jay stayed home with him.

Currumbin.
Saturday morning after swimming and gymnastics we went to Currumbin. Riley held a koala (picture to come later) and pet the kangaroos.

Coolangatta.
We drove down to our favorite beach. When we were at the car, Ty said he didn’t want to swim. 2 minutes after we got down to the water, he decided he wanted to get in the water. So he ripped off his shorts and shirt, down to his tighty whiteys and jumped in the rock pools. I chased lily around the beach, constantly watching to bat the seashells, rocks, and sand from going in her mouth. Little stinker. Jay and Riley went out into the water and watched dolphins swimming 20 feet away. I watched a young lady get baptized – I thought it was a wedding at first because she had a pretty long white dress on. Then I realized what was happening. Beautiful moment.
When Jay came to shore, I went for a mama walk by myself. I found a ledge to sit on and stare out at the water. I saw the dolphins playing. No whales yet. 10 minutes o crashing waves and the stress of the week disappeared. How am I ever going to live anywhere that doesn’t have a coast? I guess the mighty Mississippi is almost the same thing…almost… After the boys had their fill of the water, we had a couple beers at the surf club. We watched a pretty sunset and a storm roll over Cooly.

Tacos.
On the way home, we decided to hop off the M1 at the last minute and go to Burleigh Heads. Rumor had it that a new Mexican restaurant had opened and was amazing. Oh my god. Oh my god. My mouth has not been this happy in 7 months. Oh my god. I kept saying that. So flipping delicious. God bless California Tacos. I nearly hugged the owner when we were leaving.

Brokeback.
My sister, Emily, had a bit of an accident today. She was riding a horse, it spooked and jumped, she lost her seat and came down hard off the horse. Her tailbone has shifted quite a bit out of whack. In one of those ways that things work out, someone was watching over her. A nurse and an EMT were right behind her when it happened. She could have been hurt way worse. She is in heaps of pain, but she will walk and ride again. So thankful that she has great friends in Nevada to help her out. Big shoutout to Murari for spending the night on the couch at the hospital. The doctors are not sure yet if she will need surgery or how long she needs to stay in the hospital, but it will likely be a few days. Hang in there Emmer-demmer!!

Cars.
The big boys are going back to Cooly tomorrow with a guy from work to this big car show. We drove by it today and saw some sweet rides. I am half expecting Jay to roll home in an old Ute… I get to play with the little kids. Don’t really have a plan yet. For now, it is bedtime. Good night!

Prawn update.
Yum. I made myself the most delicious dinner last night. Ty helped me clean the prawns (his favorite part was playing with the chopped off heads), and I made rice, zucchini, and a batch of cucumbers & onions. Lily and I quite enjoyed the delicious meal. None of the boys had a single bite of it. Riley grilled burgers for the men-folk. Have I mentioned before how Lily will eat anything I put in front of her? Ty was the opposite (and still is).

Here are some pictures from the shrimp cleaning event. Apparently you aren’t supposed to use a knife to pull out the vein – lessons learned.

Tuckered.
Lily fell asleep on the toy room floor Friday night. She and Riley partied too hard, apparently, as he did his super secret ninja escape move again and disappeared early to bed. Jet lag sucks.

Captain.
Sunday morning the kids woke us up at 5:00 (when do they grow out of that????) so we turned on a Disney movie channel and at least got to lay in bed a while, although sleeping was not an option. We were undecided about what we were going to do on Sunday. The weather forecast had a chance of rain, and I am pretty much over getting stuck in the rain on the boat… We were debating going to Currumbin, Coolangatta, Mt Tambourine… Then Jay assured me that we were not going to get rained on. So we quickly packed up the boat and away we went. I figured it was probably about time I learned how to drive the boat, so I got behind the wheel. I wasn’t expecting to have to do so much steering – I figured it would feel more like driving a car, but I figured wrong. The whole time I felt like I was over-correcting myself, then again, then again. It was also a bit stressful to have to try to figure out which way oncoming boats were heading. Most of the time I cruised along at 6 knots, but there was one stretch where I kicked it up to 30 or so. I didn’t wreck, am glad I tried it, but wasn’t in a hurry to get behind the wheel on the way home.

Tipplers.
Jay really wanted to show me the beach at Tipplers, so he convinced me to go to the place where we have to beach it. I was surprised at how easy it was to do. We got there before they started serving lunch so we decided to hike over to the surf side. We walked along the coolest little path – thankfully didn’t encounter any spiders or snakes. We walked up a hill and BAM!! There is the ocean. And only 1 other family on the beach for as far as the eye can see. Riley ripped off his shirt and ran into the water, not afraid to go face first into the waves. Jay and Lily (in the baby carlos) stood on the edge of the water – just enough to get their shins wet. Ty went searching for seashells. I found a nice spot of sand to lay down and watch the horizon for whale fins. I watched and watched and watched. Nothing. Nuts. Maybe next time.
We let Lily crawl around a bit before heading back to the restaurant. Ty and I did a mini scavenger hunt while we waited for the food, ate our meal, and decided to roll on out. Unfortunately the tide had gone out a fair bit, so the boat was looking a bit more beached then when we arrived. I was worried when the boys couldn’t push her out, but jay started her and was able to reverse out. Phew!! The kids fell asleep almost instantly and slept the entire way home. I was able to relax in the bow. Such a great outing. The area we have called kangaroo point had a few Roos out for their evening meal, which was fun for Riley to see.

Mush.
When we got home, Riley was in charge of the kids while Jay and I made Lily’s food (mushed up veggies) and my salad for the week. It went a lot faster than normal – amazing how much easier things are with another set of eyes and hands in the house. Riley has joked that he is going to get fixed when he gets back to the states. If he gets nothing more out of this vacation, he at least is getting a preview of what life with kids will be like someday. He hasn’t asked to catch an earlier flight out of here yet…

Beach Boys.
I am sitting on the patio listening to the cane toads croak, the fish jump, and the neighbors down the canal having a fabulous time rocking out to some great tunes. And attempting to be the Beach Boys. Only a bit off key.

Funk.
So I was in a bit of a funk this week, hard to really describe how it feels. I guess I must be a bit homesick. But the weekends usually snap me out of it. I know how fortunate I am to be experiencing this opportunity, and how Ty and hopefully Lily will be better off for the adventure, but I still miss some things. Maybe I am feeling this way because the first Costco in Queensland opened up this week. I haven’t been yet, but my Facebook feeds and lots of people in the office were talking about it quite a bit. Rumor has it Hershey’s chocolate syrup is in the country. So if I start to feel really down, I may just make Jay drive me an hour to experience a taste of the US via a Costco visit. Hoping to hold out until after Riley leaves, as I somehow doubt that he wants to go to a Costco while in Australia. 🙂

That’s all I have to share tonight. Have a fantastic week all!!