As we get closer to our departure date, we are doing a lot of things for the last time.  Pretty heavy and emotional, but we have to get through the “lasts” to make room for new “firsts”.

Cars.

Jay bought two of the three cars we need!  Car shopping from the other side of the world is interesting…we scour the Internet, then Jay emails back and forth during our morning, then we get a response the next day saying that vehicle has been sold, so we start the process over again.  We pretty much have to go with what we know, since we can’t go for a test drive.  I am getting another x5 diesel, similar to what I had when we moved here, only white.  I loved that car, wasn’t ready to give it up.  Em got a Subaru Outback, which she has already named Aussie.  Jay is going to take his time to find the perfect car or truck – he is still undecided at the moment.  Feels good to have two big items ticked off the list.  

   
Sea pen.

We sold the sea pen!  I was getting a little anxious, but a guy came by with cash yesterday.  Sold!!  Thank goodness that worry is gone.  

Sick.

Poor Emmy has been uber sick this week.  She has a flu/cold and has been laying in bed for three days.  She is quarantined to the sick room – I am praying that nobody else gets sick.  I have stayed home this week to take care of Lily and run Ty around.  This nanny gig is hard work.  I have a new appreciation for everything that Emily does during the day.  I am pretty sure I spent most of those 3 days in the car driving back and forth – school, home, gymnastics, home, school, home…

House.

We have a temporary home lined up – we will be in Grimes from 30 December until 1 March.  Fingers crossed we find a permanent home ASAP.  Between Dec 15-30, we will be crashing at either my parents or Jay’s parents.  Relieved to know we have a place to move into after the holidays.

School.

We called one of the schools in an area that we are looking at homes to figure out what we need to do to get Ty started back into a school routine as soon as possible.  Once we have a purchase agreement for a home, we can call the school we think we fall in to make sure.  The kids start back up on 4 Jan, so hopefully we will know where we will be living by then.  The ladies we talked to were really nice, offered to give us their cell phone numbers to contact them over the holidays.  Should be relatively painless once we have a house.

Christmas Carols.

We went to a Christmas carols program at Ty’s school.  He and Lily rocked the new sunnies.  The kids were all a bit silly, and had heaps of fun with the LED candles.  I’m not sure any of them heard the music or sermon, but they had fun.   

    
    
    
   
Christmas Program.

The prep to Year 3 students had a Christmas program this week, and each class did a song/dance routine.  I was impressed with the performances, creativity, costumes…  It was a very entertaining event!  Especially entertaining when baby Jesus’s head fell off during the nativity scene.   

    
   
Artwork.

Ty brought home his art folio.  I am overly conscious of how much space we have (or more appropriately DON’T have) to send stuff home to the US, so when I saw the size of his folio, I panicked.  We sat down on the floor and he showed us every piece of paper.  I set aside my favorites and when we finished, I told Ty that we can’t take everything back with us.  He picked up his giant black folio and said, “yes we can mom.  See, I can just carry it into the plane like this.”  Breaks my heart…  Yes, I teared up.  Had to leave the pile of art and school work for Jay to put in the bin because I don’t have it in me to do it. 

 Saint Stephens.

Ty’s last day of “college” at Saint Stephens was on Friday, 4 December.  He has had a great year of prep, is reading quite well, can write sentences, has a knack for numbers (weird – wonder where he got that from), and excels in art, music and PE.  He has developed strong friendships that I hope will continue even though we are on the other side of the world.  He made Christmas cards for all of his friends in Prep H and I stuck in a note with my contact info.  He has matured quite a lot throughout this year, has confidence, improved behavior, and is an all around happy kid.  It will be interesting to see how he adapts to his new school in the US and how his knowledge level compared to other kids in kindergarten. 

    
    
    
    
 Lunch.

My workmates organized an amazing lunch on Thursday for me.  I was not allowed to help out with anything, and they all brought in something to share.  They set up tables outside with tablecloths, flowers, confetti, music…  It was such a special little lunch, and I am so appreciative of their efforts!  I was not prepared to give a little speech so I blubbered my way through and tried not to cry.  They gave me a super cute new purse, some gold earrings, and a card with so many sweet things written inside.  I am really going to miss this group of lovely people.   

 
   
    
    
 Last day.

Friday was my last day in the office.  I will be working when I can between now and the US, between packing, moving, cleaning, inspecting, etc, but physically I will not be working at JDL anymore.  They are organizing a morning tea on Monday, Dec 14 when we are on our way to the airport hotel, so I chose to not walk around and say goodbye to everyone yet.  I hate goodbyes.  I have a really hard time in emotional situations, and saying permanent goodbyes to all of these people is highly emotional for me.  There were two of my close co-workers that will not be here for the tea that I had to say goodbye to…and I got choked up.  

Zushi.

Friday night we had dinner with the Coen’s and the Osman’s at the Japanese restaurant Zushi in Surfers Paradise.  There were 8 kids at the table and they all had so much fun!  Aside from Ty running off and giving me a major panic moment, it was a great night.  Two beautiful families that we are blessed to have met. 

  

 Santa.

The annual water park Christmas party was in Saturday st Wet-n-Wild.  The kids had a blast running up the ramp, down the slides, over and over again.  They loved seeing Santa and getting presents.  Emily loved seeing Santa in board shorts, sunnies, and flip flops.  🙂 

 
Candyman.

So there is an uber wealthy dude that calls himself the Candyman.  He is in the tobacco business, and has more money than he knows what to do with, apparently.  For example, he drives a gold plated Lamborghini – one of his fleet.  Also has at least one Bentley.  You know, just your average every day drivers…  He lives in the next neighborhood, just outside of the buggy boundaries.  Saturday night he threw a massive party – rumor has it he spent at least a half million on this party.  Helicopters were flying around, lambos, ferraris, bentleys, mazeratis were cruising down Hope Island road, security was at the gate, and as soon as the sun went down, we could hear the music and shouting.  He put on an amazing fireworks display – the best one we have seen here.  So we decided to take a little buggy ride to see if we could see anything.  We found a place to park the buggy that sort of had a view of his backyard – you couldn’t miss it with all of the lights shining into the sky.  There were a few boats in the canal with people stalking the party (just like us), and people in their backyards jamming out to the thumping music.  I can’t believe we didn’t get an invitation…

Sunsets.

One thing I will miss about Australia is the amazing sunsets over the canal.  But I am looking forward to my Iowa sunsets. 

 Boots.

Emily has been mentally preparing Lily for winter in Iowa.  We are making progress but have some work to do… 

 Gymnastics.

Lily has been going to gymnastics at Gullivers twice a week since Em arrived.  She has done so well – is totally in her element at the gym.  She got to show off what she has learned on Saturday morning.  She loves Miss Erika, and spent every spare minute attached to Miss Erika’s hip.  We will have to find someone just like her in Des Moines.  Our little gymnast! 

    
    
           
Joy.

One of our workmates, Joy, had been swapping leftovers with us (again, since Em arrived).  She gets the short end of the stick every time because she cooks amazing dishes.  She invited us over to her cute little apartment for lunch on Sunday.  She reminded me of Aunt Jeanne – enough food to feed an army, every single thing was amazing, and she prepared all of it in a tiny little kitchen.  Butter chicken, pepper steak, sweet and sour pork, chicken wings, cereal shrimp…and just when we were completely stuffed, we got to see her culinary skills in action as she made banana fritters.  OMG.  Might be the most delicious thing I have ever eaten.  Fried bananas – should totally be on the state fair menu.  And THEN she pulls out a homemade mint chocolate cake.  And she had homemade gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate (which they LOVED). Roll me outta there…  She had perfect little gifts for each of us – a superhero lunch box for Ty, a little doll purse that Lily has played with all day, a casserole dish carrier for Em, and the Crabtree & Evelyn lotion and perfume in my favorite scent coincidentally called “Lily”.  Perfect.  I am getting teary-eyed as I write this.  I am going to miss her.  Her name suits her perfectly as she is a complete bundle of joy all of the time.   

         
Pack.

Sunday afternoon was filled with more packing and purging.  Huge thank you to Katie for coming over and taking an entire car load of things I don’t want to pack up and ship home.  The office has a pretty decent pile of free stuff to sort through tomorrow.  🙂

Massage.

Our last massage with Ania…she has been a godsend to Em and I.  She is more than a masseuse.  She is a therapist (mental and physical) and a great friend.  She has worked her magic on me countless times.  Sometimes when I was physically crippled and couldn’t move, and sometimes when I was mentally near breaking point…every time she left here, I felt a thousand times better than when she arrived.  I randomly stumbled across her from a website – completely a cold call – I am so lucky to have found her.  I am going to miss her…my next masseuse in Des Moines has huge shoes to fill.

Night swim.

Jay and the kids went for one last night swim.  This has been the best pool.  So many fun memories were made in that pool.  Cannonballs, big balls, big flips, squirt guns, night swims…my kids pretty much learned to swim in the hot tub.  My next pool in Des Moines has big shoes to fill.

Nanny cam.

As the nanny was in quarantine most of this week, I was in charge of taking most of the nanny cam photos, which is why there are not very many.  I am not cut out to be a nanny… Huge thank you to Linda for taking care of Em and watching Lily on Thursday when Em’s back decided to break again!

    
   
Week.

Big week ahead of us.  Furniture gets picked up on Tuesday so we are moving to a holiday home in Sanctuary Cove.  Air shipment arrives on Wednesday.  Cleaners come on Thursday.  Exit inspection on Friday.  Christmas party on Saturday.  Beach and Currumbin on Sunday.  Last morning tea on Monday and move to Novotel.  Fly home on Tuesday.  Fingers crossed everything goes smooth!

G’day mates!