That one word “wet” pretty much sums up our week and weekend. I would say “moist” but Jess hates that word.

Flu.
We got a call from the school nurse on Monday afternoon saying that Ty was sick. He must have caught a flu bug because he was throwing up all evening and a couple times at night. Jay was able to stay home with him on Tuesday to allow him to rest up and get better. He spent the night on his cot in our room, so we could keep an eye on him. He thought that was pretty special and talked us into sleeping on it again the next night. Lily liked climbing up and cuddling with him in the morning.

House.
We don’t have to move!!!!! Jay and I were planning on looking for a new home in Wednesday, but on Tuesday afternoon the homeowner agreed to let us stay for a slight increase in our rent. So relieved!!!!!

Wing Attack.
I found a good stress reliever. Netball. Kind of like basketball, but totally different. I arrived at the sporting complex pretty early so that I could watch an earlier game. I figured I better have some idea of the rules before getting thrown on the court. I sat down on the bleachers and was so confused. I bet the people around me were watching and wondering what I was thinking. I will share with you what I was thinking…

They really do wear dresses to play ball.
Wait, why is nobody dribbling?
How come nobody is playing defense?
Why are there 3 people on the other side of the court?
What do all of those abbreviations on their uniforms mean? WA, GA, GK, C, WD, and I can’t remember the rest…
The shooter is sooooo slooooow and methodical. Why doesn’t she just turn and shoot? Why is she carefully pivoting, taking a step closer, fixing her hair, checking her makeup, and then shooting the ball?
Ok, there is a foul. But they just keep playing at the same spot? Why don’t they take it out of bounds and throw it in?
No free throws? No 3-pointers?!?!?!
I knew there is no backboard in netball, but seeing it in person is weird.
These girls are half my age. And this is pretty fast-paced. I’m probably going to keep over.
Ok, so my skills are 3-pointers, dribbling, fast-breaks, and aggressive defense. Not sure how good I am going to be at this game…
I’m so confused.

And then thankfully Sandi showed up early and explained what was happening to me. It started to make some sense, but I was quite overwhelmed. Every position has different rules, so Sandi ran through the basics for the positions I was likely to play – Wing Attack (WA) or Wing Defense (WD). My head was spinning but it was time to play ball. Wait. First I had to get changed. Into my dress. Oh boy… I was literally cracking up in the bathroom when I was changing. No time to dwell, time to play ball.

So despite not being totally sure what I was supposed to be doing, I just tried to get the ball on offense, stop my WD from getting the ball, not cross the lines (didn’t do so well with that), and not take too many steps when I had the ball (I still don’t fully understand what is OK and what is not). I was full steam the first half, 3rd quarter was a little rough, and I thought I might actually die in the 4th quarter. Great workout!! Looking forward to more games!

Auskick.
Ty got to play Aussie Rules football on Thursday after school. One of the other prep moms, Jo, has offered to take Ty from the classroom to Auskick, and the drop him off at After School Care. He LOVED it! Jo sent me pictures and videos of the boys learning the basic skills of the game. They had a blast!

Sisters!
Friday morning we dropped the kids off at school and headed up to the airport to pick up our next group of guests. We had to take 2 cars to pick up them and their luggage. My older sister, Jess, her longtime boyfriend Jason, Jess’s 12 year old daughter Brianna, and my younger sister Emily. They will be here for 2 weeks – except for Emily who is staying with us until we move back to the states! They took this picture in front of an Iowa State Cyclones advertisement that said “Now boarding for adventure.” Seems as though they brought a cyclone to Australia.

Marcia.
So yeah, about that cyclone…a category 5 cyclone hit the coast of Australia up north, near where Brooke and I were at for our boat ride from hell (just a little farther north). We didn’t experience the high winds down on the Gold Coast, but we got heaps of rain. It rained and rained and rained. There was some flooding, some schools were cancelled, but it didn’t stop Qantas from flying into Brisbane Friday morning (the gang can say that they flew into a cyclone), or us from going exploring. They arrived on time at 8:30 am (barely made their connection in Sydney) so we had all day to play. They got themselves settled and showered at the house, then we headed down to Surfers Paradise for lunch. We thought it was appropriate to eat lunch at Hurricanes during a cyclone. We had a yummy meal, then the boys went to the Irish pub (our $2 bill was GONE!!!!!!) while the girls ran from shop to shop. We had a drink with the boys and decided to brave the cyclone and go down to the beach. We marched past the “Beach Closed” sign and Em literally ran to the water, screaming like a girl. It was so cute. She has never seen the ocean, so she was so excited!! She ran out and we snapped this photo. The rain, at this point, decided to unload on us, so I turned around and ran back up for cover. I didn’t see Jess and Bri’s reactions. Jason was the smart one in the group – he decided to stay under cover.

Kids.
I was getting anxious about the roads potentially flooding and not being able to pick up my babies (we live in an island surrounded by canals), so we headed back north to pick up the kiddos. We went to Ty’s school first. He was excited but a little shy and hesitant. Then we picked up Lily bean and headed home. They were excited to see the goodies that were brought from the US. Jolly Ranchers, pez dispensers, Cheetos, heaps of candy, and costumes. Ty loves his new superhero costumes. Lily wasn’t sure about her new Elsa dress. She thought it was pretty but hadn’t warmed up to the crowd of people who wanted her to put it on. We eventually got it in her – a little big but so cute!!

Saturday.
Jason and Ty went fishing while Jay cooked brekky on Saturday morning.

We went to Ty’s last rugby practice and then decided to brave the weather and head down to our favorite beach, Snapper Rocks. Yes, it was still raining. Both of the girls from the Snowy Mountains were working, and they all got flustered when we told them we were Rickey’s sisters. It is so funny. Rick has this affect on people. He was at the surf club for 2 meals, made small talk with the ladies for just a few minutes, but they haven’t forgotten him. And I am pretty sure they won’t. We wanted to get a picture with the girls, and decided to FaceTime Rickey as well. That made their day. :). So funny.

Next weekend there is a surf competition at Snapper Rocks, so they were busy building a bunch of temporary buildings – stages/bleachers/etc. I hope the swells stick around until next weekend. They were amazing. I haven’t seen waves like that (except for on the boat ride from hell that doesn’t count), and the surfers were having a blast. They didn’t care that it was pouring down rain. I think Em and Jess could have sat there all day and watched the surfers.

On our way back to the car, we had to walk up this really steep hill along the coast. The views are incredible from there. Jay was in the lead and he looked out at the water and spotted 2 dolphins popping up out of the massive waves. So happy the gang got to see them!

Shop.
I needed to pick up a few things from the shops, and since we were limited to our outdoor activities, nobody minded going to the mall for a bit. They were all surprised to see the grocery store in the mall. That still feels strange to me, as well, even after a year. :). Brianna bought a chocolate koala. Aunt Jekka bought both kids some sweet new hats.

Magic.
We went home and made pizzas for dinner. Lily and Brianna are joined at the hip.

Jason put a chicken in the crab pot and checked it about an hour later. There was a small crab and a fish in the pot. He dropped it back in the water, figured he needed Jay’s help getting it out. After dinner Ty wanted to show everyone his magic tricks. He put on his cape and got his equipment ready, then we all went upstairs to watch. He did great! When he finished, Lily wanted to have a turn wearing the cape. 🙂

When everyone went to check out the crab pot again, the crab and fish had both disappeared! Like magic! And so did all of the bones and pieces of chicken. Clever little crab!

Boat.
On Sunday morning, the forecast said “A shower or two” and showed only a 10% chance for rain every hour. So we decided to go for a boat ride. Well, the forecast was wrong….it rained off and on all day long. All. Day. Long. So lovely being on the boat in the rain. But we powered through it. When we arrived at Couran cove, there was nobody there. Normally the marina is full of boats. Not today. They must have been scared off by the storm. We went for a quick swim, ate lunch, and hiked over to the surf side of the island.
The island got hammered with rain, and we realized why the developers had put a raised path through the rainforest. There was water everywhere. It felt like we were walking on top of a swamp. So cool!!
When we got to the surf side, it was stinking windy, and the waves were pissed, but it was still a fun time. The jellyfish were having a bad day, as several of them had gotten washed ashore and were stuck in the sand. The sea foam was flying across the beach. Interesting day on the surf side, for sure.

We made it home just before the next round of rainfall came, but it didn’t stop everyone from jumping in the pool. Quick swim, then showers. Jess and the boys ram to the store and we were going to go to the marina for dinner but I wasn’t feeling great.

Air con.
We still don’t have our air conditioner working. The humidity is full on. I think it will take 2 weeks to get the humidity out once we get the air con working again. Ugh.

Random.
Here are some random pics that others took of our weekend.

Tomorrow is back to reality for us. Work and school. I am looking forward to hearing what they end up doing during the week! G’day mates!

Miserable.
The drive home from Agnes Water on Wednesday was miserable. Tansie and I were feeling OK, but Brooke was not. We were all needing some food in our bellies so we stopped at a cafe for brekky. We sat down at a table under a covered sidewalk and our food arrived at the table – just in time for it to downpour. Sideways. We tried scooting our table back but eventually had to move to a different table a little more protected from the storm. When we were finished eating, Brooke wasn’t ready to get in a moving vehicle, so I filled the car up with fuel to buy her some time. Unfortunately with a solid 7-8 hour drive ahead of us, we had to get going. Poor Brooke spent the entire trip sitting with one leg tucked up under the other, head forward (inches from the dash and air con vents), puke bag in hand. She was miserable. She made me pull over a couple times to get some air and ease her stomach, but aside from that and a lunch stop, we had to keep going. I think the only thing that saved her is that she realized we were not in that boat from hell and she knew it could be worse… She will kill me when she realizes I took this picture, but I had to capture what those 7 hours of her life were like.

Lunch.
We stopped for a late lunch at the restaurant at Aussie World. I wanted the girls to try the damper, which is an Australian bread, typically cooked over fire. Brooke was able to eat a few bites, and the break was good for her. We all got a kick out of this sign.

Shop.
We did a little shopping there, ran through the shops and then drove to the Opal store and the hide store. None of us wanted to fork over the cash required for an opal, but the girls couldn’t resist the temptation to bring home a kangaroo hide rug.

Literacy.
We got home just in time for me to freshen up (or as crazy old man skipper says….get my sparkle on) and rush out with Jay to a meeting at Ty’s school. All of the prep teachers shared with us the methods they are using to teach the children how to read, write, and do math (or maths as they say here). Fascinating stuff. It was very informative, and helped connect the dots to some things that Ty has been talking about in the evenings. I am looking forward to watching him learn these skills in the coming months.

Library.
In one of the first days of school, Ty came home with a library book. There wasn’t a note about how long he could keep it, so we read the book, then put it back in his backpack. This week Mrs. Hanrahan wrote a note in Ty’s boomerang book asking if we could send back the Diggers book. Um. We thought we did. We asked the teachers at before school care and after school care if they had seen it. Mrs. H looked through all of the bags at school. Nobody has turned it into the library. :(. So we have to call the library next week to find out what we need to do to make things right. Ty has been earning gold coins for various things, and we have told him that he will have to use the coins to pay for a new library book if we have to buy one. Hopefully this will be a good lesson and he will take better care of things in the future. But I keep telling myself…. He is only 4 years old. A library book is a big responsibility. Now he knows.

Anniversary.
One of my employees has been working for Deere for 25 years. I organized a celebration to thank him for all of his great work over the years. I was stressing over putting together a morning tea that would be enough food for basically the whole branch, but decided to go against the grain and do what is done in the US. I ordered a huge sheet cake instead of a traditional tea. Ordering that was interesting…. I went to Woolies, the grocery store, and they said they could bake a sheet cake. I asked if they could put a John Deere tractor on it (the HyVee bakery could do this, no problem), but the lady looked at me like I was crazy. She said I needed to go to a specialty cake shop for anything other than words. Um, ok. So I guess we will just write “congratulations Wayne” and the number 25 on it in green and yellow icing. “No, ma’am, we can’t do yellow icing.” What?!?! You just put yellow food coloring in with the white icing and mix it up….what do you mean you can’t do yellow?!? Ok fine. Just do green… So I went to Big W (like Wal Mart) and bought some JD toys. The end result turned out pretty good! Everyone seemed to like it.

Cortisone.
Jay is still having problems with his back, so he finally was able to get a cortisone shot on Thursday. He felt some immediate relief but is hoping that the pain will be completely gone by the end of the weekend. Fingers crossed!

Currumbin.
The weather was decent on Thursday afternoon, so Jay and the girls picked up Ty once school was finished and ran down to Currumbin so the girls could see the Roos and koalas. They have opened up most of the park again, and they turned the treehouse into a kids zone. They ran through the park in about an hour, pet a kangaroo, held a koala, and bought some Uggs.

They stopped at Burleigh on their way back to eat tacos (yum) and see the beach one more time.

Chinese.
Friday night was their last evening in Australia, so I took them to the Chinese restaurant in Sanctuary Cove. I hadn’t eaten there before, but it was delicious! We were finally all feeling 100% back to normal after our boat ride from hell, and we were finally able to laugh about it. And we did. A lot.

We walked around and did some window shopping. There wasn’t really anything happening – no bands (except for one guy that I don’t think was singing karaoke but am not positive), so we went home. I was exhausted so the girls went to the tavern by themselves. The band was playing “older people” music, so they didn’t stay out too long. They came home and packed. 😦

Swim.
We had Ty’s second solo swim lesson on Saturday morning. A combination of cooler water and weather, the subconscious knowledge that Aunt Brookie was leaving that day, and exhaustion from a busy week, all made Ty’s swim lesson a disaster. We have decided to give him a swim lesson break until all of our company comes and goes, and then we will put him and Lily back into lessons at Gullivers. The heated and covered pool is nice, and hopefully by then they will have some new coaches. :(.

Safe travels.
Jay took the kids to rugby while I drive the girls to the airport. I am writing this 26 hours later, and the girls are stuck in Dallas. They missed their connection from Dallas to Des Moines and are on standby for the last flight of the day. If they miss it, they won’t have another chance until tomorrow morning. :(. Brooke did pretty well on the flight, until the landing which was a little bouncy. Poor thing lost 8 pounds while she was here…

Air con.
Oh the joys of living in a rental. See, if I was home and my air conditioner was acting up, I would hire an actual air conditioner repair guy that knows how to repair the type of air conditioner that we have in our house. But we are in a rental, at the mercy of the property manager and his “mate” that knows a little about air conditioners and does some service work on the side. So this guy has been out 3 or 4 times, all at odd evening hours (which now makes sense since I found out he isn’t really an air con repairman full time). Every time he complains about Carrier air conditioners, says the squeaking is just what Carriers do, and says he can’t do much until it throws a code. Well, when I was dropping the girls off at the airport, the air conditioner burned up. Literally burned up. There were no flames, but the smell was terrible. Jay opened all of the windows and when I got home an hour later it still smelled bad. The air con guy came back to the house and pulled the fan out of the attic. He said something about how it might take a while to get parts, and he is going out of town for his real job, so it will not be any earlier than Friday before he can fix it. IT IS SATURDAY!!!!! Oh hell no. This chic doesn’t go without air con for an entire week in an Aussie summer. So that will be a fun battle to fight with the property manager. Ugh. Thankfully it hasn’t been too hot, a nice breeze, so during the day we can open all the doors and windows. But at night we have to close things up. We don’t have any screens and I don’t need any critters or mozzies coming in. We turned on all of our fans and slept sort of OK. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get too hot.

Valentine.
We spent our Valentines Day doing yard work. Ty went next door to play with Taj and Logan. Jay mowed. I trimmed all of the hedges (by hand). Then Jay went to the store and brought home flowers. So sweet. And then he made me my favorite meal – fettuccine Alfredo. All the single ladies out there…marry a man that can cook, change diapers and oil like a pro, and watch the kids while you sneak away for a girls’ weekend without complaining a bit. I love you, Jay. Thanks for putting up with me and my drama. :). We almost had a guest for our Valentines dinner, as I wasn’t sure if the air con guy was going to leave or not. He finally left, leaving me to enjoy my dinner with the 3 loves of my life.

Pool.
Sunday morning we hung out in the pool. Lily is getting so brave. She wears a little floaty vest and can kick her way around everywhere. Hot tub to big pool and back again. When she got tired I cuddled with her on the patio furniture and she took a little nap on my tummy, wrapped up in her towel. Sweet moments.

Workout.
We went for a bike ride to the marina for lunch, then we stopped at the store to pick up a few groceries. When we got home we decided to go for a buggy ride to see if we could find any of the rental homes on the market. I ran (a bit) and walked (mostly) alongside the buggy – first attempt at exercise in a long time. I am out of shape. For real. It was a beautiful day, though, and it felt good to try to do something healthy. We found the only house in Hope Island that is available. The pool looked nice, but it looked pretty small. With Em moving in, we can’t really downsize. The realtor sent over a list of about 10 homes on the market – 9 in Sanctuary Cove. We are going to look at some homes on Wednesday. Fingers crossed. We asked our realtor if the owner of our home would take a little more rent to let us stay until December. Would be awesome if he says yes. I’m not stressing too much – I’m sure it will all work out fine.

Girls.
The girls made it home! They got to Des Moines around 11:00 PM. Long trip, I’m sure they are both looking forward to sleeping in their own beds and eating real food. But I am sure they will miss being in a place “that reminds me of Hawaii. Not that I have ever been there but I have watched a lot of Dog the Bounty Hunter.” And where “No, this is Sanctuary Cove. We buggy to Sanctuary Cove. We have to walk to Surfers Paradise.” Or where you can go on an adventure where “I was afraid I was going to lose control of all bodily functions and was stressing because I didn’t have a spare set of swim bottoms.” Or where “dingos” supposedly exist. The memories will last a lifetime!!

More sisters.
The paper chain for the next round of sisters is getting super short! Jess and Em and Jason and Brianna are arriving on Friday!! So so so excited!! It’s about to get crazy down under… The next time you hear from me (unless something amazingly unexpected happens this week), they will have arrived! Yippee!!!!!!!!

Rest.
Sunday evening I couldn’t wait to dig into the leftover fettuccine. Yes, I had just “worked out”, and no, it didn’t make me want to eat healthy. Quite the opposite. I was starving. Jay and Lily went back to the marina to rent a couple movies. He brought home Gone Girls, which is fitting for today since the girls are gone. Lazy rest of the day planned. One side of my brain is telling me to log onto my computer and do some work. The other side is saying “um, no.” I think I will listen to the other side.

Until next time…g’day mates!

Phone.
Seriously. My kids have now wiped all of the data on my phone 3 times now. They are fascinated with the buttons and numbers on an iPhone, and unfortunately don’t care about punching the correct PIN number in within 5 attempts. Because I have my work email on my phone, after 5 failed attempts it completely resets my phone. Wipes out everything. Thankfully I had last backed up on Tuesday, but I had taken heaps of pictures since then. And, the blog I had spent hours writing was erased. So, we will see if my second attempt comes out as good as the first. Ugh.

Brookie!!!
Aunt Brookie is here!! She made it! And her friend Tansie survived, as well. They were late getting into Sydney on Monday, and they didn’t have a phone that works in Australia to let me know which flight they were going to be on. So I used my mad investigative skills (thank you Google and the Qantas sales guy) to figure it out. Since they arrived in Brisbane on a domestic flight, I actually got to go to the gate to greet them off the plane. You don’t need a boarding pass to go through security at most airports in Australia. No worries. I was thrilled to see both of them smiling! Brooke has a weak stomach, so I wasn’t sure what shape she would be in when she got off the plane. That patch she used worked great!

Loot.
We didn’t have a whole lot of time before we had to go pick up the kids, so the girls took a quick shower and pulled out some of the loot they brought us from the states. As Brooke calls it, lots of processed cheese snacks. Have I ever mentioned how amazing Cheetos are? Seriously. There is no substitute for the perfect crunch and flavor of a Cheeto. Will never take them for granted when we move home. The girls brought me a beautiful pair of Coach earrings, and since they were at the Coach store at LAX I had them bring a new purse for me, too. I was missing my favorite hair conditioner. And Jolly Ranchers. And pink Orbit gum. Good loot, ladies!

Buggy.
I wanted to make sure the girls knew how to get to the marina, so we went for a quick buggy ride to the grocery store to pick up some essentials.

Kids.
We went to pick up the kids, and although they were a little shy, they were excited to see the girls! We took the long way home so I could show them how to get to Sanctuary Cove. I was also hoping to spot a kangaroo but none wanted to make an appearance. We went home and Jay picked up kebabs for dinner. Brooke wasn’t a fan. Poor thing might struggle a bit with the food here…

Girl from Down Under.
Brooke has been talking about this amazing Christmas present she was making for Lily, that she insisted on delivering in person. I had no idea what it could be. When she showed us, I agreed. The most awesome gift ever. She made a book for Lily. Hand sewn, totally creative, so perfect. A puzzle of the Aussie flag and Sydney opera house. Lace up the Harbour Bridge. Unsnap a gum tree leaf to feed a koala. Play peekaboo with a baby roo. Braid a jellyfish. Brush a brumby’s mane and a shark’s teeth. Unzip a croc’s mouth. Count the sea turtles. Dress up the mermaid. A.Maz.Ing.

Tuesday.
I had to go to work on Tuesday so the girls were on their own. They were going to go to Sanctuary Cove, but after playing in the pool for a bit, Brooke got a headache. She took off her patch and almost immediately got sick. She was down for the count for the entire day. Bummer dude.

Wednesday.
Brooke felt much better on Wednesday morning. They walked to Sanctuary Cove and did a little shopping. They got a kick out of the yachts – crazy big. They spent an hour trying to find a few ingredients to make dinner for us. Turns out lamb isn’t a good substitute for Brooke’s ham ball recipe. And sugar water is a terrible substitute for Karo syrup. But the corn casserole was amazing!! That night Jay watched the kids so I could go with them to the wine bar. We had a glass and then went to the tavern for a beer and a bucket of chips. We had a few left over so we threw them into the water. A bunch of big fish came over to eat the fries. They thought they were baby sharks, so I (cough cough wink wink) asked the waiter what kind of fish they were. “Baby sharks. Definitely baby sharks.” Or not. The world may never know.

Thursday.
I had a doctor’s appointment down the coast a ways on Thursday morning so I dropped the girls off at Surfers Paradise. There was a cyclone off the coast, which was causing some high winds and rough seas. So, the plan to lay on the beach was a bad one. They could barely stand to go dip their toes in. But, it was the first time Brooke had seen the ocean, and even during a cyclone that sea is beautiful. They shopped, ate, and drank. I worked from home the rest of the day. Jay and Ty had haircuts that evening, so I picked up Lily and went to get the girls. It sounded like they had a good day. They loved watching all of the wind surfers.

Friday.
I was going to drop the girls at the train station on Friday morning so they could explore the city, but they wanted to chillax a bit. They swam, swam, laundry, swam, napped, swam. Brooke is tan as can be (b). We were all going to go to the tavern Friday night, but Ty fell asleep in the car on the way home from school, and Lily was asleep before 7:00. Jay sent us off by ourselves, so we had a yummy dinner at Red Rock then went to the tavern for a bit to watch a pretty decent band play for a while. We knew we had a long day of traveling ahead of us so we didn’t stay out too late.

Road trip!
Ty woke us up at the crack of dawn by running into our room and saying, “I am all dressed and ready to go to the hotel! Let’s go!” So we got up, got ready, loaded the car, and we’re on the road by 8:30. Girls in one car, boys in the other. We made one pit stop before arriving in Hervey Bay just in time for lunch at a little cafe. I sat at the table while the rest of the crew an across the street to the beach. It was a much calmer day so way more enjoyable for the girls.

After a yummy lunch, we headed to the dock to catch our ferry ride to Fraser (Frayza) Island. Fraser is the world’s largest sand island, known for dingos, 4wd, and camping. No, we weren’t camping. Are you kidding?!?! You will not catch me camping in Australia. Never. We couldn’t drive our car around the island because once you leave the resort area the “roads” are only sand paths. But we thought that since we have so much crap for the six of us, it might be easier to throw it all into one car and ferry it over. Best $30 ever. Plus, Jay got the thrill of driving his wagon on a boat.

Sand Bar.
We got checked in and headed down to the Sand Bar, which is a little tavern by the beach that has a swimming pool. Jay and the kids went for a swim. Lily showed us her cannon ball skills. Such a little dare devil!

Sunset.
Brooke and Tansie took Ty over to the pier to watch the sunset. Glad they got to see a good one.

4WD.
On Sunday we rented a 4WD to explore the island. I have to admit I was kind of a nervous wreck at first. I was channeling my inner Chris, worried about the kids getting whip lash, our truck getting stuck, getting eaten by dingos. We headed off in what Brooke and Jay thought was the way to Central Station – but they weren’t really sure – but there is the end of the pavement and the start of a sand path – so of course we will just go there – holy crap that is steep!!! After 10 minutes of listening to Ty giggle and laugh and say “dad this is awesome – thank you for taking us driving on the sand” I finally was able to sort of relax and enjoy the day. So I never actually relaxed, but I really did enjoy the day. At one point I realized I had been smiling so much my cheeks hurt. Is that really wide enough for us?

First stop was Lake McKenzie. Um. Wow. By far the most beautiful lake I have ever been to. The water was so perfect. Shades of blue, clear as glass, completely fresh and filled by rain water. Amazing. We realized we forgot to bring our swimsuits down to the water but Jay hiked back to get our things. There was no way we were leaving without going in. Lily and Ty couldn’t wait for their suits so in true Aussie style they stripped down (Ty to his undies and Lily to bare bum) and splashed all around. No worries.

Central Station.
While we all could have stayed at Lake McKenzie all day, we had lots of ground to cover. We wandered around Central Station and saw the clearest stream I have ever seen. The area had been used as a little clearing for the logging community back on the day.

Next up – Eurong, which is on the surf side of the island. We timed it just right to have a quick lunch at a “resort” that looked more like a prison. Jay nearly got the truck stuck pulling up to the toilets. Oops. That would have been a crappy deal. Would have really pissed us off. Would have flushed our day down the toilet. I could go on and on… Thankfully his
mad driving skills got us unstuck before too much drama occurred. Sharing chocolate milk…

Ocean.
So yeah, then we did what everyone gets to do at one point or another in their life, you know, driving on a freaking amazing beach!!!! Like for real. We had to wait until after 12:30 so the tide was out far enough to open up the “highway” which doubles as an airplane runway. Yes, you read that right. We had to be careful to stay out of the way of the planes that were taking off and landing on the beach. ON THE BEACH!!!! So cool. Jay was cruising along (all the time of course at the 60 kph speed posted on the window), occasionally splashing the wheels in the little waves, periodically running over a jellyfish that had washed ashore in the most inopportune location. Did you ever wonder what it sounds lien to drive over a jellyfish? Ka-SPLAT!!

Eli Creek.
There were lots of little streams all along the beach that we hair drive right through, which was no big deal. But when we got to the point where Eli Creek meets the ocean, I thought, um……..how is this going to work. Jay sort of slowed down and then HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AWESOME!!! We just drove right through it and everyone (including Lily) was laughing and shouting and waving our hands in the air. What a rush!! We parked the truck for a bit and waded in the creek (again, crystal clear) before heading up toward the next sight.

Maheno.
The Maheno shipwreck was awesome. I haven’t had a chance to read up on the history of it, but it was so cool to see. And we were the only people there.

The furthest north we went was to an area where the sand cliffs (no rocks/dirt/stone) were various shades of color. I think it was called The Pinnacle??

Dingos.
I might just pause here to point out that despite seeing 10,000 signs for dingo safety, I have yet to see a freaking dingo.

Wet.
We headed back south to see a few more things before we had to have the truck home by 6:00. The anticipation of going through Eli Creek again made us all very excited. I rolled my window up most of the way, but Brooke had hers all the way down in front of me. Guess who ended up with half of Eli Creek in her lap… This girl. Oh well, it was worth it!

Red lake.
Brooke remembered seeing pictures of a red lake on Pinterest, so we thought we better go check it out. It took forever to get there, but it was really red!!

Unfortunately we didn’t stay long as 2 minutes after we got down to the lake, some guy came walking down the path alone. We all instantly got the creeps and headed back up to the car. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Jay was convinced he was a spotter so his buddies could pillage through our truck. I was convinced we were going to be adding to the red color of the water. Thankfully none of the above occurred and we got out of there safely, but it ranked high on the list for most uncomfortable situations ever.

So yeah, taking a drive around Frazer Island was one of the coolest experiences ever. The resort itself, Kingfisher Bay, was just OK. The food options were lacking, entertainment limited (aside from the natural beauty of the place), and accommodations were definitely dated. 2 nights were plenty since we don’t own a 4WD to explore the whole island at our own pace. And we never saw a flipping dingo. I think they don’t really exist. They just tell people they do as a bait and switch ploy. But wow. What a fascinating place!!

On Monday morning we all went for a swim at the resort pool before having to load up and check out. We aught the ferry back to the mainland and then we split up. Jay took the kids back down south, and I drove Brooke and Tansie up to Agnes Water. We are staying at The Edge on Beaches resort – it is a really cute unit! We got settled in our room and went to the store to pick up aloe Vera (I somehow managed to forget to put on sunscreen this morning) and some food for dinner and breakfast. We decided to make tacos. Tomorrow is a big day! I am going to attempt scuba diving. The girls are going to snorkel. So excited!!

That’s all for now – of course more to come later!! G’day mates!

Prep.
Well, it’s official. Ty is a preppy at St Stephens College. He woke up ready and rearing to go! He put on his uniform and strutted around like one cool kid. We dropped off Lily first so his old teachers and some friends from Bonny Babes got to see him in his big kid school uniform. He was eating it up. It took forever to fight through the first daily of school traffic, but we made it! Two of Ty’s mates from daycare are at his table and the one next to him – wondering how long it will be before we get a call from the Headmaster about those troublemakers… :).

Dad.
I try not to get too emotional when I think about my dad (he died when I was 8), but by some show of fate, my Facebook has been blowing up with memories of dad. He was a bit of a rock star (booking agent) back in the day and some people are reminiscing about the good old days. I can’t help but think this is his way of letting me know he is watching over us – in particular his grandson on his first day of big kid school.

Celebrate!
I picked up Ty from school and was so happy to see that he had a great day! I thought we needed to celebrate so he and I had a little date. We went to Maccas and got McFlurries. One of his new mates, Xavier (pronounced Zavia in Ty’s Aussie accent) was there with his family. The kids started pouring in from a whole bunch of different schools. It was kind of fun to see all of the kiddos sporting their school uniforms. One of Ty’s classmates from Bonny Babes was there, as well. They all had fun playing on the PlayPlace together.

Uniforms.
So speaking of uniforms, I think I am a fan. When Ty puts on his uniform, it’s like I can visibly see his chest puffing out, his chin held higher – he is proud to be a student at St Stephens. He pays more attention to keeping it clean – usually remembers to use a napkin so that he doesn’t get his uniform dirty. He waits until he finishes his brekky and brushes his teeth (which he doesn’t argue about) before putting it on. As soon as he comes home from school he takes it off and places it nicely in the laundry room (instead of seeing how far he can flick it off with his foot). He has been saying “please” and “thank you” a lot more – to us and random people. He hasn’t been able to express to us what he has been learning at school (“mom, we don’t do letters and numbers at big kid school”) but they seem to be doing something right. I think he is having so much fun that he doesn’t even realize he is learning.

Letter.
Ty received a very special letter in the mail this week. One of his favorite friends from back home, Jana, drew a picture, “laminated” it, and used her excellent writing skills to jot down a little more to him. He was THRILLED! Thank you Jana!!!

Sports.
Saturday is sport day in our house. We started the day off with swim lessons. The term ended at Gullivers and we decided that Ty needed a change of scenery. One of the Ty’s friend’s mom told me about a lady in our neighborhood that does lessons at her house. She had taken her son there a few times and had seen heaps of progress. We wanted to try it out and if it went well, we are going to share a lesson with her son. After a little rough start (coach had overslept), things greatly improved. She worked on Ty’s kicking and arms, focusing on technique instead of just doing laps with bad form. Huge improvement! Jay had taken Lily out for a buggy ride during the lesson, but Saturday afternoon they went for a swim and he could see the difference. We won’t be able to go there in the winter as her pool isn’t heated, but it will at least get him back on track.

After swimming, we headed off to rugby lessons. I think that playing sports with the big kids at vacation care has made him a bit more athletic. He was doing really well. Such a proud mama. He got his uniform this week. We gave him the option of number 10 or 11 like mama, or 52 like dad. No surprise which number he chose.

Bikes!
I have been keeping my eyes out for a bike for me and a trailer for Lily for a while now. Jay found an awesome deal on Gumtree – a women’s bike, men’s bike, and dual kiddo trailer for $150!!! Jay already had a bike, but we figure Auntie Em can use the new men’s bike. He had to stop and pick up a bike rack (also a bargain on gumtree) on his way to pick up the bikes. He came home with sand on his feet…turns out he made a pit stop at the beach. :). When he got home we ran to the sporting goods store and got bike helmets for Lily and I. She loves it. So much, so, that she wouldn’t take it off. Even when we went to the boat store next door, she insisted on leaving it on. Such a goofball. I loved going on a bike ride! Haven’t done that for years. I might not be able to sit for a week though..,

Date!
Jay and I were overdue for a date night so we decided to go out Saturday night. It was a beautiful night (after the rain cleared), perfect for dinner and a walk in the beach. We tried a Hibachi Japanese steakhouse called Zushi. Yum!

After dinner we walked off some of our calories by doing a little random shopping. I saw this and had to buy it…

We sat down at an Irish pub that had a guy singing and playing guitar and had a drink. There were bills from all over the world stuck against the bar. I said “too bad we don’t have any USD” and Jay opens his wallet and pulls out a $2 bill that he has been carrying around for 6 or 7 years. I grabbed a Sharpie, wrote Shearer across it in big black letters and they stuck it front and center behind the bar. Look for it next time you are on the Gold Coast. 🙂

Brooke!!
Brooke and Tansie have had a long day. They flew from Des Moines to Dallas (small plane, rough flight, no Bueno), then Dallas to LA, then an hour and a half delay, then FINALLY they took off at 1:45 AM in LA. Since they had a delay, they did some shopping. Brooke picked up a new purse for me. :). I don’t think they will make their connecting flight in Sydney in the morning, so this should be interesting. Not sure how I am going to track her down as she can’t use her phone when she lands in Australia. I am hoping she can either find free wifi or someone is nice enough to let her borrow their phone. It will all work out. :). So excited for them to get here!!!!

Looking forward to the week ahead. Month end for Jay, new employee for me, sight seeing for Brooke and Tansie, and packing for a fun next weekend. G’day mates!!