Crossfit.
Jay and I had to go back to work on Monday, so the gang was on their own. After watching us drive all weekend, Jason felt like he was ready to give it a go. Jess and Jason are into Crossfit, and they were ready to work off some of the calories they had been consuming. They found a gym nearby and survived a pretty tough workout.
Crabs.
They went to BCF (Boat Camp Fish) to buy a crab pot. We had success catching a crab and an eel, but unfortunately out pot had a hole in the bottom so they both escaped. It’s not every day Jason gets to go shopping for a crab pot…. They found one that doesn’t have an extra hole in it and we dropped it in the canal. We used some old chickens that the grocery store was going to pitch (thanks to our new best friend, Nick the fish guy at the local grocery store). Didn’t take long for another crab and eel to take the bait. We got them both into the live well, but the eel found a little gap in the well and escaped. Eelvil Knieval. REELy sneaky.
So far we have caught 4 crabs – now we have to be brave enough to cook them.
GBR.
I learned something new about Jason. He loves fish tanks. In fact, he loves them so much that he didn’t think that Ty should be living without one. So he bought one for Ty. We got the tank set up but have to wait until we get back from our trip to the Reef to get a fish. Ty calls it the Great BarrierReef. So cute!
{Nochee and Doodie were hand selected after our vacation and are thriving in their new home}
Buggy.
They drove around on the buggy to familiarize themselves with the area. And it is fun.
Currumbin.
On Tuesday they decided to venture out a little further and go to Currumbin. They had a great day! You know, just a normal day of petting kangaroos and holding koalas. Even had time to play at the beach for a bit.
Sick.
We got a call from daycare saying that Lily had a low grade fever, so the gang went and picked her up. Auntie Em got some good snuggles in.
Lily still had some signs of not feeling great on Wednesday, so Auntie Em had her first real day of work. The rest of the gang braved the roads on Mt Tambourine. They had another great day, the highlight being a swim at the bottom of the waterfalls.
Dr.
Emily and I took Lily to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon to get some antibiotics before leaving town on Thursday. Nothing serious, just some gunk in her sinuses. We picked up Ty and then rushed to my netball game. I am officially a player on Mark’s Angels. I still have a hard time figuring out the steps, and preventing myself from playing actual defense, but I enjoy playing it. And we won! I think everyone enjoyed watching it and trying to figure out the rules.
Treehouse.
Thursday morning we drove (and drove and drove) to Agnes Waters. We stopped at the hide shop at Aussie World on the way so that Brianna could get a kangaroo hide rug. Jess also picked up a pair of sheepskin mittens. We arrived at our holiday home just before 5:00. The Treehouse looked really nice online, but WOW! It is amazing. I don’t think I have ever been inside anywhere so nice before. It has a beautiful view of the ocean, set up on the hill, surrounded by trees. Pretty much all of the walls are gigantic sliding doors that open (and there are actually screens so we can open them up). The breeze is great. The sound of the waves rolling in is therapeutic. Jay and I get to sleep in the bedroom on the lower level facing the water. Even the shower and toilet have amazing views. I love this place. Someday I might have to build something like it. Ty wants to stay here forever. So do I.
I
GBR.
If you recall, I have had enough of boats in the ocean, so I stayed home with the kids on Friday while the rest of the gang went out to the Reef. They have beautiful weather, fairly calm seas in the forecast, so they should have a great day. The kids and I went into town for coffee and chocolate milkshakes (not a thickshake, just chocolate milk), then went back to the treehouse to play for the day. We went to the amazing park in the neighborhood, watched a movie when it got hot, swam in the amazing neighborhood pool, played cricket (well, not really, but I threw a ball to Ty and he hit it with his cricket bat), and cooked dinner. Well, started to cook dinner but the oven started smoking as soon as I turned it on (yikes!!!) so I put the pork loin on the grill. The Bach’s and Merrill’s may remember that I do not have a great history of cooking pork loins on the grill. That day may have gone down as the best day ever for Roscoe and Bandit. Thankfully the gang returned from their GBR tour and Jason took over the meat grilling responsibilities.
And….drum roll…their reef tour was WAY better than the one Brooke, Tansie and I went on a few weeks ago. Yay!!!!! They were on the nicer boat (was getting repaired when we went – nor would it have been able to go out in our deadliest catch seas), and it was one of the nicest weather days they have had in a long time. Unfortunately even though it was a pretty calm day, it is still a fairly small boat in the open seas, and Jason didn’t take any seasickness medicine. He was the only one that got sick, but he recovered pretty quickly. Note to anyone that goes out to sea – take your Meds!!!!!!!!! They all couldn’t imagine how bad it was on the day I went out, because it was still pretty rough. Matty, the crew member that was helping us all on our trip, remembered us well. He said he has never seen anyone so sick (poor Brooke).
Once they got to Lady Musgrave, they had the best time. Brianna, who had only snorkeled in our swimming pool, jumped right in and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef like an old pro. Jess had one wish for her entire trip to Australia – to snorkel with a sea turtle. Her wish came true!! I am so happy that they had a great experience!
Guys…let’s surf.
I have been thinking for a while that I need to take surf lessons, but have been wanting to make sure my back is OK before giving it a go. Jess and Jason really wanted to do it, and there just so happened to be a surf shop in Agnes Water with surf lessons for a whopping $17 – Reef 2 Beach surf school is the best deal in Australia. Emily was a little nervous but when Grom, our surfer dude, told us we wouldn’t be in the water above our waist, she decided to give it a whirl. We walked down to the beach and grabbed our boards from a garage. We got about a 15 minute surfing basics lesson on the beach, listened to Grom say “guys” 1,001 times (and tried not to laugh when we all realized at the exact same time that “guys” was his favorite word) and then we headed into the water. There was a surf competition going on that day, so we had to stay in a single file line and go surfing in pairs. What a rush! Even when you don’t get up and just ride the wave for a while, it is a cool feeling. All of us got up on our feet at least once. Em was happy staying on her knees, but the rest of us kept trying to stand. My last one was the best – not quite good enough to enter the competition, but a pretty decent ride in. I asked Jay if I could buy a surfboard. We don’t have a roof rack so I couldn’t buy one that day, but I am now officially in the market for a board. Dude.
Beach.
When the lesson was over, we headed back to the treehouse so we could go down to the private beach that only residents of the neighborhood could use. Flipping sweet. There were a few other people there, a couple guys surfing, but we pretty much had it to ourselves. The treehouse had boogie boards that we all tried to use. The big boys went way out into the waves. There was one wave that swallowed up both Jay and Jason and we could see their bodies inside the wave. It was awesome. I was super impressed with Ty. He used to be afraid of the waves, didn’t want to have them get his head wet. But he was out there on his boogie board, waves coming over top of him (don’t panic,he was only in water that was about his waste deep), and he was having a blast! We might have forgotten to bring the swim diapers with us. Never fear. We had sunscreen and a life jacket. And a private beach.
We had to drive home on Sunday (and drive and drive and drive). Nobody wanted to leave. Best weekend.
Monday.
Jay and I went to work on Monday (ugh) while everyone else kept up their fun filled activities. Jess and Jason had to do some Crossfit competition thingy, so they decided to stay close to home. They had lunch at Sanctuary Cove, went for a buggy ride, and picked up the kids. They had a little pool time. Jess had to stock up on a year supply of Tim-Tams.
Surfer Chics.
Jason had a terrible day on Tuesday. He was forced to go down to Snapper Rocks to watch the women surfing in the Roxy pro surf competition. He hated every second. Lots of ugly unfit girls in bikinis. Brianna, on the other hand, loved it. She got to meet some of the surfers and is now following a bunch of them on Instagram. She may have been spotted flicking her wet hair over her shoulder a time or two.
Uncle Jason.
Pretty sure the kids are not looking forward to Uncle Jason leaving. Ty loved checking the crab pot 15 times a night. Lily loved everything about Jason. This is what I walked into on Tuesday night.
Wednesday.
Wednesday sucked. I had to take Jess, Jason, and Bri to the airport. Not a good time. Poor Jason caught whatever germs Lily had and had a sinus infection – not fun to have before a 24 hour plane trip. He probably should have just changed their flights. But he didn’t. And so they left. Something about work and school and responsibilities at home. Major depression. They didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want them to go. Ugh. As much as it sucked to say goodbye, it was totally worth it to have spent the 2 weeks together. I wasn’t really on vacation for most of the time they were here, but it felt like it. So much fun. So sad they are gone. Missing them a lot. :(.
Life goes on.
So as much as I would like to wallow in my depression, life must go on. On the bright side – Auntie Em is here to stay! We have spent the rest of the week getting into the groove of reality. Em and I went to netball on Wednesday night. I got to shoot for a quarter – super fun! I scored 2 or 3 baskets. So strange to not have defense on me for a 2 foot shot. Em had the rest of the week off to get herself situated and mentally prepared for work to begin. She took the car out a few times to get comfortable behind the wheel. She is doing great!
Bonny Babes.
Friday was Lily’s last day at Bonny Babes. Finding a good daycare was a major concern of mine when we accepted the expat assignment. I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to find a place that I was comfortable leaving my kids at during the work day. Jay did a fantastic job when he found Bonny Babes. The staff there have been amazing to both of our children. They genuinely care for the kids and are excited about coming to work every day. They are such positive people, great attitudes, wonderful teachers. While I am super excited to have Auntie Em look after Lily, I was sad to say goodbye to the daycare.
Movie.
Friday night we had pizza and a movie night. We watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lily found a comfy spot to fall asleep.
Tavern.
Friday night I wasn’t feeling great and the kids were tuckered, but Em was anxious to get out of the house. Twist Jay’s arm…he took Em to the tavern. They made friends pretty quickly. Em broke the dance floor ice with this young chap, and ended up dancing the night away with a number of blokes. A good time was had by all. It has been quite a while since Jay shut down a bar.
Costco.
On Saturday we drove up to Costco. One cart and $800 later… Friends in the US – never complain about high prices. You have it made.
Spectacular.
We made a last minute decision to get tickets to the Australian Outback Spectacular. We had a coupon for discounted tickets, and they had a new show on. I thought Em might get a kick out of it. She loved it! I looked over at her and Ty at one point and they were both on the edge of their seats, chin in their hands, taking it all in. Ty stayed awake the whole time! The highlight of the night was when Ty got to be a part of the show! His little akubra is a good luck charm – he always gets to do cool things when he had that on. He went into the arena, talked into the microphone and said he was from America. And then he got down in the starting position, and he ran super fast to chase the calves across the finish line. He and his mate one the race!! He was so excited!
Sunday Funday.
Sunday we took things easy. We had to run to th shops to get a few things for Em, and Ty wanted to spend his gold coins on a new Lego set. We came home and Ty put the entire police helicopter set together without any help from Jay or I. Then everyone jumped in the pool while I wrote the blog. Lily insisted on wearing a swim cap and goggles. She is getting so brave about jumping in.
Work.
Just a quick update about working (not to bore you with details). One of my favorite things about working in Australia has been having the chance to work with some great people. My team is small – only 4 – and in the past 2 weeks I have had to say goodbye to half of my team. Aldo has decided to see what new adventure life has in store for him, and Belinda is taking off 6 months to have and care for her first child. I will miss both of them and wish them the best of luck. We have some busy weeks ahead of us, but I am happy with the new team members and am excited to get to know them all better.
Memories.
Even though it has taken me hours to write this blog (so sorry for the delay!), I feel like I rushed through everything. Bottom line – the past 2 weeks were awesome. I know it was a big deal for Jess, Jason and Bri to make the big trip down under, but I am so glad they didn’t. Memories to last a lifetime!! I wanted to write down all of the great quotes but of course now that I am sitting down to write I cannot remember any of them. I guess the most important thing to remember is the laughs we had.
Guests.
This week my oldest sister, Sundie, her husband Brad, and my niece Lucia are flying in! We are all excited to to see them and show them the highlights of our little life down under!
G’day mates!
Shearer Adventure 