Miranda!
I feel like a lot has happened since I wrote last. Let’s see… Jay ended up sick most of the week – fever, achiness, overall yuck. I don’t think anyone else caught it…hoping it doesn’t spread.

We got the newly reprinted car back from the smash repair shop – just in time for Jay to pick up Miranda from the airport. She sat next to the pink-haired crazy cat lady the whole flight, only slept for 2 hours, but survived! Welcome to Australia!

Whale.
Jay thought she probably needed to see the ocean right away, so he kept on driving down the coast a ways. We had heard that there was a beached whale near Palm Beach, so they thought, why not? They parked at Tallebudgera and started hiking up the beach. They had a pretty long walk to get to where the whale was. I was talking to Jay on the phone, completely jealous that they were about to see a whale up close and wondering why the heck I went to work, when I heard jay yell “nooooo!!! Don’t push it in yet!!” And then I heard them both running, shouting, half laughing, half crying (sort of), as they tried to sprint the last bit to see it up close. Have you ever tried to sprint on sand? Yeah, doesn’t work real great. They sort of saw it get pushed back in. Still a really cool first experience for Miranda!

They came home so Miranda could wash the travel stink off of her, then went for a quick buggy ride. Miranda couldn’t fight back the exhaustion any longer and took a short nap. Jay woke her up so that she could go see the kids at daycare. Ty was especially excited to see her! Although he keeps calling her Aunt Staci… 🙂

Birthdays!
Jay and I decided to take the day off since it was Miranda’s 17th birthday and Lily’s 1st birthday. It was a beautiful day – perfect for a boat ride. We had a yummy brekky then loaded up the boat. We rode out to Couran Cove and got there earlier than normal. It was a Friday, so they didn’t have the train running to the surf beach, so we set off on foot. Ty rode in the stroller and lily rode in her new backpack carrier. It probably took us a good 45 minutes to get there, but it is so worth it. That beach still takes my breath away.

I have been wanting to take some good pictures of the kids on Straddy but never remember to bring the camera. We remembered this time, and also brought Lily’s owl for her 12 month picture. Miranda also did some “senior picture” poses – they all turned out great! So happy we got to spend the day with the beautiful birthday girls on a beautiful island in sunny Australia. Blessed.

1 year!
Can you believe Lily is a year old?!?! I can’t. She is such a doll, sweet little thing. A bit cheeky, but what fun we have with her! She is starting to drink cows milk out of a sippy cup, but it doesn’t seem to be her favorite. She loves all kinds of food, but birthday cake might have been her most favorite food ever. She can take a few steps unassisted – so big!! She makes all sorts of noises, one of her favorites is the growly super fast car sound just like her brother makes. She also loves to blow raspberries on mama. Such a stinker. Love this little munchkin to pieces. Happy first birthday Lily bean!

Shots.
Party’s over. As soon as we got home from boating we had to take Lily to the doctor for her 12 month immunizations. She didn’t love it, but was pretty tough. A few tears and she was good to go – but she did give the nurse a nasty look as we were leaving.

Melbourne.
Saturday Jay had to fly to Melbourne for work (annual stock take – or as Ty says “to count tractors”). We spent Saturday morning finishing up laundry and getting Jay ready to go for the week. We went on a quick buggy ride to the park to let Ty play on the equipment for a bit before lunch, then Jay had to leave. :(. He left Ty in charge.

Ps. Melbourne was freezing. Glad I wasn’t there…

Buggy.
After lunch we wanted to show Miranda got to practice “driving” the buggy on the left side of the road. We went for a long ride – Ty fell asleep – and made it back home safely. Miranda passed the test. She now has earned the right to cruise around the neighborhood while we are at work.

Paddle board.
Miranda doesn’t have much on her must-do list, but one is to try paddle boarding. So on Sunday we drove down the coast. First stop – Rainbow Bay beach to show Miranda Snapper Rocks. Ty and Miranda played in the sand while Lily and I “walked” along the sidewalk. It was almost lunchtime so we headed to Burleigh to get California Tacos for lunch. So delicious… Next up, paddle boarding! We drove a short way to Tallebudgera and got Miranda signed up for an hour board hire. It was a pretty windy day, and the tide was flowing out really fast, but she did really well!

Fun.
Miranda and I kept the kids entertained by baking chocolate chip cookies, painting, and making magnets. Messy but fun!

Package!
Terra sent us a package of goodies from the US. Ty literally ripped into the bag of Cheetos. I was able to snag 3 of them before the entire bag was gone. My favorite part were the Rice Krispie treats…and the note on a napkin. Thank you Terra!

Naps.
I knew this time was coming, but wasn’t looking forward to it. Ty is a napper. Always has been. He is a creature of habit. Every day for as long as I can remember he takes a nap after lunch. In January he will go to big kid school and they don’t have nap time, so they start weening them off about this time of year. I was expecting a monster, but Ty has handled it really well. He did have a day where he couldn’t stay awake and they let him lay down, but the rest of the week was fine. He was tired at night but didn’t necessarily go to bed super early. It is getting harder to wake him in the mornings, though. This was what the first day of no nap looked like.

Thursday.
The bread here has a big label that shows the day that the bread was baked. It is really nice because you know exactly how old it is, and since bread molds faster here, it only lasts a few days. I asked Miranda to go to the store on Monday and bread was on her list. She was having a hard time finding what she was looking for so she asked for help. “Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me where the Thursday bread is?”

Zoo.
Jay got home on Friday (yay!!). Miranda wanted to go to Steve Irwin’s zoo, so we headed up north on Saturday morning. It is about an hour and a half drive. That was the first day we changed Lily’s car seat to forward facing. She quite liked it! Both kids slept the whole way there. It was colder than we were expecting, and unfortunately I hadn’t brought a jacket, so first stop was the gift shop. I got a fleece from Terri Irwin’s “Cougar Collection” (oh yeah), and a billion dollars later we left with an Australian cowboy hat for Ty, fluffy pink boots for Lily, a puzzle, sticker book, random bar mat…

And then it was time to pet some animals. Crocs, koalas, & roos. Crikey!

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Camels.
Miranda and Ty waited patiently in line forever, but it was worth it. They had a blast on the camel ride.

Ty and I watched the tiger show while jay, Miranda and Lily walked the 5 miles to the Africa section of the zoo. Ty loved the tiger, couldn’t believe there were guys petting it, giving it milk and hugs. He was shocked when it climbed a palm tree to get some steak. Pretty cool show.

We watched the croc show at the Crocoseum. Ty loved that as well. Big crocs chasing a guy out of the water, a snake around a lady’s neck, birds everywhere. After the show I had the scare of my life. Ty insisted on going out of the Crocoseum a “new way”. He wouldn’t listen to come back and kept on going. Miranda followed him out and jay and I took lily to the stroller. Apparently Ty was too quick for Miranda because she came to the stroller without Ty. I went into panic mode. I sprinted around the Crocoseum and finally found him. He was scared. I was scared. He learned a good lesson, and I was reminded to never ever let him out of my sight. I felt like the worst mom ever. :(.

Jail.
Sunday morning we went to check out Boggo Road Gaol (that’s really how they spell jail). I wish I could tell you some interesting facts about the jail, but unfortunately I was dealing with a little boy who was not at all interested in listening to the tour guide’s stories. I did catch a story about the fact that there were only 2 toilets for over 100 prisoners, and they only had about 20 minutes once a day to use them. Their alternative was a metal can. Every day they brought their night cans in to be cleaned. They left the cleaning job for the worst prisoners. I can think of a couple people that I would like to have to make clean my can…
The prison was shut down in 2002 after hunger strikes, rooftop riots, dramatic escapes all made the jail become font and center in the media.
Ty did like the part of the tour where he got to go inside the jail cells. I might have had to take him into a jail cell at one point to lecture him about how to behave. But Miranda seemed to really like the tour, so not all was a fail on this one.
I could tell that Jay was going downhill fast, and as soon as the tour was over he went straight to the car. The rest of us got some lunch at the markets, then stopped at a little park to play. I didn’t realize how sick Jay was until we got to the car. I drove home, and as soon as we pulled in the driveway he ran in and got sick. Poor guy was running a fever all day on Sunday. He didn’t get out of bed until his doctor appointment on Monday morning.
Miranda and I took the kids for a buggy ride. We found the kangaroos and Ty hit some golf balls. Not a very exciting afternoon, unfortunately.

Schools.
As I mentioned earlier, Ty has to start big kid school in January. I have been on a wait list for St Stephens College (they start in college and go to university after their senior year) since last January when I realized he had to go to school next year. I have been calling Mary every 2 weeks. She always seems appreciative to hear from me, usually tells me there hasn’t been any movement, keep calling. It has been really stressful for me. Ty is starting to ask questions about where he will go to school next year, and I can’t give him an answer. So on Wednesday Jay and I went for a tour of the school. Mary greeted me with a hug (I think I have called her more than my mom). She made a comment about how she thinks we are going to be able to make something happen, she just needs a little more movement. Fingers crossed.
Two girls from year 11 (juniors) gave us a tour. Wow. I am not sure I can even describe it – it is so different from what I experienced as a kid, and not like anything I could imagine. It was more like a university. Several different buildings. Art building. Music building. Science building. Junior library. Senior library. Everything was equipped with the most recent technology. It was more technologically advanced than our office by a long shot. The kids in the graphic design class are designing the new administration building. Like the whole thing. So impressive. We have heard that it is a great school, but after seeing it in person, I really want to send Ty there.

I tried to get a backup plan if we don’t get into St Stephens, so I put Ty on an even longer waiting list at Coomera Anglican College. We did a tour of that school, even though the lady thinks are chances if getting in are slim to none. That campus was huge, a bit dated, less technologically advanced, but had a really good feel about it. Either school would be great, but my heart is set on st Stephens.
On our way home we drove by our likely backup plan – Upper Coomera State School. They don’t do tours until closer to the end of the year. I am hoping we never have to go…from the road it looks sketch. We have heard that it is actually a pretty good school for the public system in Queensland, but I am not convinced yet… :(. To be continued…

Milk.
I know I just mentioned above that Lily is drinking milk, but we just had to revert back to formula. Lily wasn’t drinking enough fluids, got dehydrated and constipated, so we went back to formula in a bottle for the time being. Can’t stand to see her in any sort of pain.

Hooters.
A new Hooters opened up at Surfers Paradise. While it didn’t taste exactly like wings back home, they were pretty good. Fried pickles was a fail – they used sweet pickles instead of dill. Nuts! Miranda wanted to go check out the wax museum, but Ty said he wasn’t feeling well, and as we drive by it was closed. Another failed plan…

Miranda.
Miranda has been a fantastic house guest, which makes me feel even worse about all of the changes of plans we have had to make due to illness. She has done laundry, kept the house picked up, done dishes, packed lunches, unpacked school bags, made chocolate covered strawberries, the list goes on and on. I am hoping and praying that our trip to the Whitsunday islands tomorrow is enough to make up for the plans gone bad so far… Really looking forward to out holiday.

So that’s about all I can stand to write at the moment. I am sure I forgot heaps, but this should give you the major highlights of the past 2 weeks. My apologies for the delay – it’s been a bit hectic around here!