Nanny.

Ranking in at one of the top 10 best decisions of my life…  Auntie Em’s first week as a nanny has been awesome.  She does it all, folks.  She cooks, she cleans, she does laundry, and she keeps Lily entertained all day long.  Lily has shown us a bunch of new tricks that she has learned this week – ballerina twirls with a grand finish, twirling a pencil, saying “blue” and “red”, putting on lotion and Chapstick, and clicking herself into her high chair.  You know, all of the things that every respectable young lady needs to know to survive in this world.  ;). The girls are having so much fun (Lily assures me with a very dramatic head nod whenever I ask her if she had a fun day with Auntie Em).  And dinner is ready when I get home.  And my clothes are clean and put away.  

How will I ever go back to reality?

Here are a few pictures of the girls’ first week together.





Netball.

Despite me going out and buying a netball this week, unfortunately our team got our tails kicked by the Sweaty Bettie’s.  I tried playing a new position – WD – Wing Defense.  It is similar to Wing Attack, only opposite.  I didn’t like it much – still restricted on the court, and you can’t really play defense once your opponent has the ball.  So the goal as a WD is to try to prevent your girl from getting the ball.  Not my fave.  So far Goal Attack has been my favorite position but we have a few other girls that usually play that position.  We lost 36-12.  Ouch. I hate losing.  It was quite painful to be a part of.  I hate losing.  I do, however, wish that we had a netball league in the Quad Cities.  It is a fun game, and it is something that an old lady like me can play.  I couldn’t handle a game of 5-on-5 basketball anymore.



Tree.

The old shade tree at the farm that we always used to park under on a hot summer day has exceeded its useful life and unfortunately is getting cut down today.  It was hollow, dead, and too close to the main power line. I have no idea why I got a little teary-eyed when mom posted this picture.  The farm won’t be the same without it.  Brooke and mom took a few other pictures around the farm that were pretty neat, as well.  There’s no place like home.







Ruppert’s!!

My oldest sister, Sundie, her husband Brad, and their daughter Lucia are here!!  They spent a day in Texas exploring before catching the long flight to Australia.

They’re here!!



And so is the latest delivery of loot!  Despite having imported heaps of ranch dressing into Australia, there were some concerns that this batch would cause some drama.  Thankfully, all was good – no worries!!



Beach.

After stopping by the house to drop off luggage and take a quick shower, we headed to the beach.  We wanted to go have lunch at Snapper Rocks and watch a bit of the surf competition, but we couldn’t find a single parking spot(let alone 2), so we headed up the coast a bit to the Coolangatta Surf Club.  We ate lunch and then dipped our toes in the water…and then a little more than our toes a few times when the big waves rolled in.  Lucia is a little gatherer – she was head down looking for awesome things most of the time.  She has a collection of heart-shaped rocks and was thrilled to find one.





Currumbin.

Keeping with the tradition, we visited Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary so that the Ruppert’s could hold a koala, pet Kangaroos, and feed wild lorikeets.  Even though we have been there several times, there is always something new to see.  They have done a lot of renovations to the park in the past few months and it looks great!  We lucked out and happened to be in the Treehouse area when they fed the Python a rabbit.  They only feed it every 2-3 weeks, so we were lucky to get to see it.  It was fascinating –  but took a lot longer than I thought it would for him to consume it.  Fascinating.  Ty was our tour guide for the day.  He kept us on schedule by saying “Moving on!” after everything.





That white thing in the snake’s jaws is a rabbit.

Edit





Snake.

When we got home, we all eventually ended up in the pool and hot tub.  We were having a carefree good time when the neighbor, Mic, popped his head over the wall and said that he just saw a snake go from his yard into ours.  He didn’t get a good look at it, but it was a tan color…and since there are Eastern Brown Snakes (you know, the world’s 2nd most venemous snake), he wanted to let us know.  If he had seen it soon enough he would have grabbed a shovel and killed it.  I told him he could still grab a shovel and come into our yard to kill it.  And then I got really uncomfortable and we all got out of the pool.  Jay grabbed a ho, and he and Mic went on a snake hunt.  The good news is that nobody got bit by the snake.  The bad news is that they didn’t find it and kill it, so it is lurking around our neighborhood somewhere.  I am on heightened snake alert now.  



CMC Rocks.

While everyone was at Currumbin playing with the Kangaroos, I was busy making plans for the evening.  For those of you that don’t know my brother, Rickey, he is the type of person that knows everyone.  Pretty much my whole life I have introduced myself as “I’m Nicole, Rickey’s sister.”  He sent me a message on Saturday morning to tell me that one of his friends, Sam, is playing in a band that is on tour in Australia and is in Brisbane.  So I sent Sam a note and found out that he was playing at CMC Rocks Music Festival (about an hour from our house) that night.  If there is one thing the Geisler Girls do well, it is country music, so despite Sundie having jet lag, we couldn’t resist the temptation to check it out.  I couldn’t get a babysitter on such short notice, and both Lucia and Brad were exhausted, so Em, Sundie, and I headed out on the town.  I had told Sundie that there was no need for her to bring cowboy boots with her because in a year and a half I have probably worn mine 3 times.  She will now never go anywhere without her boots ever again…  So we didn’t have tickets to the 3-day event, but Sam had arranged for us to get our tickets at the main gate.  The band was playing at 11:00 on the camper’s stage, so we got there pretty late.  They were just closing up the ticket office when we arrived.  A guy was walking out and we said that we needed to pick up our tickets.  “It’s a little late.”  I said that the band we were coming to see doesn’t start until 11:00.  An unfriendly girl in the office asked for our names, so I rattled them off and the guy turned around and said, “Did you say you were Nicole?  Oh yeah, come with me.”  Rock star treatment.  We got our wristbands and were in.  We met Sam and the band, who were setting up for their gig.  We decided to go watch Chris Young on the main stage to stay out of their way.  We met a crazy Australian girl who had never met an American in the flesh and was absolutely amazed by our “r” sounds.  When Chris was finished we went over to Sam’s stage.  He plays for a band called Wylie and the Wild West.  A Google search told us that Wylie is a famous yodeler whose biggest hit was the voice for the Ya-HOO-ooo yahoo commercials.  The band played a bunch of old time country music.  It was awesome.  We had a great time dancing and people watching.  Most of the people had been partying all day at the festival, so you an imagine the kind of shape they were in at 11:00 at night.  Great fun!!  Huge thanks to Sam and the band!!



We’re in!!



We were not thrilled to see this sign…

Wylie and the Wild West band

Chris Young

Sam and the Geisler Girls

Yahoo!



End of a big day!

Boat Ride.

On Sunday we went out for a boat ride to Tipplers on South Stradbroke island.  It was a perfectly beautiful day, very little wind, hardly any boat traffic on the Broadwater, smooth sailing.  We ate lunch and then hiked over to the surf side of the island.  There was only one other couple there, and they wandered off, so we had the beach to ourselves.  Lucia went into gathering mode and found heaps of shells and coral.  Ty and I made a sand castle.  We played on the beach for a while before Jay and I and the kids headed back to check in the boat, as the tide had come in a fair bit.  Ty and I ate ice cream while we waited for the others to come back.  On the way back, I said, “the only thing that could make this day more perfect would be to see a dolphin.”  Sure enough, about a half hour later a dolphin popped out of the water.  Perfect.





“She’s a rental.”

Netball.

Em made her netball debut on Monday night with a different team in a different league.  This league actually plays inside nets.  The ball never goes out of bounds, and you can bounce the ball off of the nets to get it to a teammate.  It was more fast-paced than the Wednesday night league, but the nets kind of drove me crazy.  More boundaries….  Em struggled a bit in the first half because her aggressiveness is not OK in this game. She had a hard time keeping her 3 foot distance.  The umpire explained a few things to her at halftime and she did much better the second half.  She is going to play full time on Monday nights and I will sub if needed.



Random nanny pics from the week.



first real ponytail!

















One day she put on her hat and sunnies, grabbed a nappy (diaper), and Em saw her like this:

Agnes Water.

The Ruppert’s drove up to Agnes Water on Monday.  They had a great day at the southern Great Barrier Reef on Tuesday.  Thankfully none of them got sick!  They snorkeled with sea turtles, explored Lady Musgrave island, and swam in water that Sundie said was the color she has only ever seen in pictures and never thought she would ever see in person.  They had a surf lesson with Grom on Wednesday.  Lucia is a natural surfer.  Sundie and Brad had a bit tougher time getting the hang of it but still had a great time.  They also got a chance to get away from our crazy house for a few days – peace and quiet and sleeping in. 





Goodbye.

After an attempted fun last dinner at the marina turned nightmare with tired kids, we had takeaway pizza for dinner.  Ty and Lucia showed us their sweet dance moves to Walk Like an Egyptian.  Unfortunately Friday morning rolled around way too quick.  We left for the airport at 4:30 AM so that the Ruppert’s could catch their flight to Sydney.  They had a couple days in Sydney to explore before heading back to the US.  I love having people come visit, but I hate saying goodbye. :(. I know how difficult it is for Sundie and Brad to get away – an artist’s work is never done – but am so thankful that they were able to make the trip.  *plug – check out their website for awesome and unique artwork http://vintagesculpture.com/SNEAK_PEAK.html

Highlights:

Moving on.  Plastic chairs.  She’s a rental.  Oh, you’re Nicole – come with me.  Sea turtles.  Seashells.  Dance party.  Private beach.  Dolphin.  Heart rocks.  Ibis.  Whoa baby.  Agh geez.

News telling.

Ty had a homework assignment to prepare a presentation for News Telling at school.  He chose to do a “Make and Explain” report.  We printed pictures of the construction of his treehouse back home in the US.  He helped stick them onto colored paper and then he wrote the step number and description underneath the picture.  I was so impressed with his writing skills!  It was fun to look back at those pictures – he was so little!





AFL.

Australia has 3 different sports called football:  soccer, rugby, and Aussie rules football. We figured it was about time we checked out an Aussie rules football game (AFL).  The Coen’s had bought tickets to a Gold Coast Suns vs Brisbane Lions game, so we decided to go, as well.  Lily got to stay home and play with Miss Steph and Mr. Kyson, so she was excited!  Like every new thing we experience here, it was different…  The field was a HUGE oval.  There were about 10 referees, 17 or 18 players on each team, and they ran.  And ran. And ran.  If the ball goes out of bounds, the ref throws it in using a unique technique that rinds me of a combination of a bride throwing a bouquet of flowers and kids playing “500”.  There are 3 ways to score, so the score is read 1-8-4, and then the total points, like 57.  I sort of think that I had figured out the different points but can’t explain it.  The players can run for a bit (I think 10 meters??) before they either have to dribble (yes, they dribble a football), kick the ball for a teammate to catch, or pass it to a teammate using an underhanded volleyball serve technique.  I wasn’t able to tell what type of tackling was ok, and what was not.  The one thing that I could definitely figure out was that those boys are in serious shape.  They have to be to survive that game.  The game ended in a tie.  And everyone just got up and left.  We were sitting there thinking “um, so that’s it?  It’s over?  Don’t they need a winner?????”  Crazy.

Ty’s first train ride



Easter hat.

Ty has an Easter hat parade soon, so we repurposed one of the 50 Australian Outback Spectactular hats and made it into an Easter hat.  Turned out kind of cute!





Sorry!

On Saturday we went to Harbour Town to try to fine Em so new shoes (no luck) and Liky some new clotges.  She is now in size 3 – where did my baby go?!?!  Em went out on the town Saturday night with a friend she met the night that she and Jay went to the tavern.  We had a quiet night with the kids.  Ty had been wanting to play Sorry, so we got that out.  Jay won, Ty got second, and I lost.  Lily was over it – and eventually even the coloring wasn’t enough to keep her attention.  



It is Sunday morning  here, and we don’t have much planned for the day.  Em and I might go do a little shopping, and we are going to the tavern later to watch bathtub boat races.  Em and I have massages scheduled this evening. 

 We officially have no visitors scheduled to come see us – who wants to be next?!?!  G’day mates!