Better.
Ty had a much better day on Friday. I was worried because it was crazy hair day at school, and I figured all of the kids would be wound up. We gave Ty a Mohawk and sprayed it green. I would like to point out that I think my over-concern about spiders and snakes has sunk into his little head. We went outside to spray his hair and I told him to stand in the grass. He didn’t have his shoes on yet, and he seemed very timid. He said that he didn’t want to get bit by a spider or snake. He wouldn’t go in the grass until I reassured him that it was safe. :). The finished hairdo definitely met the definition of “crazy hair.”

And we couldn’t let Lily go to school without attempting to make what little hair she has crazy.

We left work a little early to try to catch Mr. Lucas to discuss Ty’s behavior this week. Thankfully when we got there he said Ty had a great day! Phew! I think that his little world was shook up when Memaw went back home, he felt sad, but couldn’t explain his feelings. :(. Poor little guy. It’s tough being a kid.
Mr. Lucas did say that most of the time Ty is such a sweet little boy, helpful, and kind. He just has his moments, like all little kids. He also mentioned that he is starting to be sneaky (although clever) and blaming stuff on other kids, so we will have to keep an eye on that.
Ty is a napper. Every day, after lunch, he takes a solid nap. But for whatever reason on Friday he couldn’t fall asleep. He got a little sad early afternoon, probably just from being exhausted. When we got home, we started watching Wall-E while Jay made pizzas. I could tell Ty was hanging on by a thread. When supper was ready he wouldn’t eat anything, just wanted to lay on the couch. Sure enough, by 7:00 he was out like a light. And Lily fell asleep on Jay. *sigh*. We watched the rest of the movie (even though I think it is pretty boring) and put the kiddos to bed.

Rugby.
For the first time in probably a year and a half, Jay and I sat on the couch and watched football. Only it wasn’t American football. Aussie rules football – rugby. Wowza! These boys are t.o.u.g.h. They look like cavemen. They play the sport like ancient warriors going into battle. Non-stop for two 40 minute halves, with only a 10 minute max halftime. No pads. No helmets. Lots of blood.
I don’t know the rules, but here is what I saw. Pick up the ball, run into a crowd of men equally huge and scary looking. Get shoved to the ground, clotheslined, kicked, then give the ball to a guy behind you. Repeat. Do this until you cross the goal line (hopefully) or run out of passes, which I think is 6. They have to throw the ball behind them, or they can kick it forward to a teammate. Hmmm. Seems kind of like how a lot of the things I have come across at work have gone…plow forward. Road block. Back up. Pick another route. Plow forward. Road block. Back up. Pick another route. Repeat. Thankfully on some of the stuff I have been working on we have crossed the goal line.
I digress. The sport is crazy. I don’t know what they pay those guys to play, but there is no way it is anywhere near enough. I felt like I had been in a bar brawl just sitting on the couch watching it on TV. We are planning on going to a game when Jeff and Rachel come to visit. I am looking forward to it now. I think it should be pretty entertaining watching it live!

Rough Night.
Lily must be having teeth pain again. Her nose is stuffed up and she didn’t sleep worth a darn last night. I went to bed at halftime of the rugby game and Jay was thinking about going to the marina to watch the second half, but he stayed home since Lily was so upset. :(. Poor little peanut. Teething bites. Saturday morning after I fed Lily, Jay asked if I thought she should go to swim lessons. Before I could respond, Lily projectile vomited all over me, the wall, the carpet. I guess that answered that question. So she and I stayed home while Jay and Ty went to swim lessons. Afterwards, they hit up some garage sales looking for a bike for Jay. No luck yet.

When the boys got home I put a roast in the crockpot and started making some baby food. Zucchini, peas, mango. I was about to start kiwi, but my head started pounding. I could barely clean up my mess before I needed to lie down. I laid on the guest bed for a half hour, trying to ease the pain before my hair appointment. Didn’t work. :(. I had to cancel my appointment. Jay and Ty took my place, and they took lily with them. I basically crawled up the steps and fell into bed. I fell asleep, heard them come home, then fell asleep again. I woke after a while and tried to eat lunch, then slept some more. Finally by around 4:00 it had pretty much passed. What a wasted day. :(. Maybe my body was trying to tell me I needed to take a break. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Pool.
When Ty woke up from his nap, he and Jay went for a “swim”. It was a little breezy, so it took Ty a while to get in. And then he didn’t want to get his hair wet. I made them come out when his lips started turning blue. Lily and I sat poolside and watched the boys splashing around.

XXXX.
Check out this awesome writing on the back of the XXXX beer can. I don’t think I have seen anything similar in the US, but there should be. Pretty sure the rugby guys drink this beer. If the line “man in a can” doesn’t make a dude want to drink the beer, nothing will.

Beef.
One thing I am starting to miss is a good cut of Lingren beef. My roast that I had been smelling all day was just OK. It was super salty, not the best flavor. Good beef is something go will not take for granted when we move back home.

Fort.
We made a fort after dinner. Ty sported his head lamp and turned off most of the lights in the house. Lots of fun, imaginative play.

Here’s to hoping for a healthy, productive day tomorrow!

Special Day.
Ty’s special day with Jay and Memaw was a success! When they dropped Lily off at school, Ty had to tell everyone he wasn’t going to be at school because they were going to the beach. They went to a beach that has an inflatable playground on the water. It took Ty a while to get up the courage to play, so he and Memaw walked the beach a bit first.

The picture below was taken from the web. There were no other kids there, so Ty was able to get help from the lifeguards and wasn’t rushed by big kids. Jay said he did a great job.

They headed down to our favorite beach – Rainbow Bay. When Jay stopped to fill up with fuel, he glanced at a newspaper that said a huge (3.5 meter = 12 ft) great white shark had been caught near Rainbow Bay just hours before the Roxy Pro Surf competition. What? Sharks? Surf competition? Be there in a jiffy!

They had set up all sorts of stages and vendors on the beach. The swells weren’t great on Friday, so they delayed the competition until Monday. But they still had music blaring from a huge stage on the beach. Ty ran from rock pool to rock pool while Memaw watched the continuous stream of surfers. Just as it was about time to pack up and head home, a guy got on stage and said that at 4:30 Jimmy Buffett may or may not get on stage and play a free concert. What?!?!

Ugh. I am so bummed that I was at work, didn’t spend the day at the beach, and wasn’t there with Lily so that we all could have stayed for the concert. Nuts!! Turns out that Jimmy did actually play. Sigh….

When we all got home, we fixed the pizzas, threw them in the oven, and went for a bike ride. Ty is so super fast now.

We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before calling it a night.

Saturday.
We started the day with the normal swim lessons, then we packed up the boat to take Memaw to Couran Cove. This was my view from the back of the boat.

It was a little windy, on the cooler side, so there wasn’t much boat traffic. We cruised along until we got to the Broadwater and picked up the pace. We were moving right along and Jay saw fins ahead. First thought was sharks. But then we saw dolphins!!! There were 5 or 6 of them, splashing in and out of the wakes. So freaking awesome.

We parked at Couran and went to the pool restaurant. Ty couldn’t wait to try out the new snorkel gear that Memaw got for him (he tried it on first thing in the morning).

After lunch Memaw watched the kids while Jay and I went for a kayak ride. We saw a little water snake on the beach (ewww!), and then while we were out paddling away, we saw a stingray!!! It was around 1 foot diameter. So stinking cool!

We caught the 2:00 tram to the other side of the island so we could show Memaw the beach. I don’t think I will ever get tired of the view there. Breathtaking. Sherry said she had never seen anything like it.

We were walking along the beach and came across hundreds of perfect seashells. I haven’t ever seen so many in one place. We picked up quite a few to take home.

In the same area where all of the seashells had washed ashore, there was what looked like a big, smooth, gray rock. Jay used his foot to try to flip it over. He jumped back when he realized it wasn’t a rock… It was a jellyfish! Jay and Ty got a stick to flip it over. It appeared to be dead, but Ty wanted Jay to try to save its life and put it back in the ocean. He was able to pick it up with the stick and throw it out to sea. If it lives, I hope it chooses not to kill someone. :).

On our way back home, we saw a wallaby on the banks getting a drink of water. About halfway home we came across nearly a dozen kangaroos getting a drink. So fun!

Big Boat.
Our neighbor with the big boat is back. If you look back a few posts, you may recall what the cable guy told us was his profession. Another version of the story came from our next door neighbor. She said that he made his money from Viagra (so related to the first story). He has homes in several different places. His crew takes the boat to all if the places and he flies his own jet. Think about how many men are out there who needed this guy’s services…

Rest.
It is Saturday evening. I think we are all kind of waiting for 8:00 so we don’t feel too bad about going to bed. The sun sucks the energy right out of us! G’day mates!

Sprite.
Probably about 2 months ago, we had gone to Sanctuary Cove for some shopping and lunch. We were pushing our luck with a late lunch creeping its way into Ty’s nap time. I could see the potential meltdown brewing, but prayed that he would fight it off until we left the restaurant. Well, Ty really wanted a second glass of Sprite. Ok, not a big deal. A nice waitress said she would get him a glass. In the meantime, he did something that got him in trouble (no idea what). He got upset. When the waitress brought his Sprite, he didn’t say thank you. We asked him to be polite. He just sat there and frowned. The waitress was standing there, awkward, not sure if she should stay or go. We have him another chance to say thank you and he wouldn’t budge. Big trouble. No excuses to be rude. So we left, had a long discussion about it, took away TV. And I thought that was the end of it.
Fast forward to last weekend. We were at Sanctuary Cove with Memaw. Jay and Ty were off eating ice cream and they walked by the restaurant where the Sprite situation occurred. Jay asked Ty if he wanted to sit on the outdoor patio to eat his ice cream. Ty said, “no, I want to go thank the girl for the Sprite.” Love. That. Boy. We could all learn a thing or two from that. Never leave a wrong un-righted. So sweet.

Ear.
Lily had a rough start to the week. She hadn’t been sleeping well at all, and I knew something wasn’t right. Jay took her to the doctor Monday morning and found out she has a mild ear infection from the drainage caused by teething. She is on antibiotics, Panadol (Tylenol), and baby Vicks. She finally slept all night Tuesday night – thank goodness! Have I mentioned how glad I am that Memaw was here to help give extra snuggles?

Chippy.
Learned a new word this week. I think I have shared that a “sparky” is an electrician. I heard that not many homes here have wood floors because a “chippy” is too expensive. Chippy = carpenter

Hats.
Ty had been alternating between his King Ropes ball cap and his ISU ball cap since we arrived. Occasionally if we forget, he has a spare “Australia” outback-style hat in his backpack. Both of his ball caps are looking pretty worse for wear. His ISU one was worn to the beach and the salt water made it look a little rough. Jay and Sherry were out shopping and they picked up a new hat for Ty. It is the style that most of the boys here wear – flat bill, super colorful. I have said all my life that I would not allow my son to wear a skater hat, but I never imagined myself living in Australia. I have changed my style a bit, partially to stay cool, and partially to fit in. I guess he is doing the same. I am happy to see him adapting, but a little sad that he is so easily letting go of his roots. Or is he just growing up? My baby is making choices about what he wears. Wasn’t he just a baby the other day???
I know, I realize I am probably reading way more into this than I should…call me crazy. He does look kind of cute in the new hat, especially since his hair is getting a little longer (chic doesn’t know how to cut it quite like Brian did). It is also a special gift from Memaw, so now if he starts to get sad and miss Memaw, he can put on the hat and think of her. So, after all of this rambling, I am OK with the hat. If Ty likes it and wants to wear it, I support his choices.
We have a long road ahead of us, don’t we?!?!?!

Relaxation.
Memaw had a couple days to thaw out from the polar vortex in the Midwest. She went for walks, laid out by the pool, went swimming (she never goes swimming!). She ironed all of Jay’s clothes, did our laundry, and had dinner ready for us when we got home from work. Thank you!!

Teeth.
Tuesday afternoon I got a call from daycare. Lily was quite uncomfortable and had spiked a low grade fever. I went and picked her up. Turns out 2 teeth are coming in on the bottom and 2 teeth are coming in on the top of her mouth. She was up off and on all night Wednesday night. When she woke up Wednesday morning she still had a temp, so she got to stay home with Memaw. She was pretty unhappy most of the day, but is so lucky Memaw was here to give her lots of snuggles and love.
The next night was even worse. Poor Lil woke up at 12:30 and screamed for an hour and a half. Nothing we could do made her happy. Nothing worse as a parent than knowing your child is in pain and you can’t do anything to make it better. :(.
Making matters worse, I couldn’t fall back to sleep for an hour and a half after Lily settled down. I have been in Six Sigma Orange Belt training this week, and my brain wouldn’t stop thinking of ideas. Super annoying at 2:00 in the morning! But I guess the training was effective. :). As a side note, we followed the Orange Belt training with a 1.5 day Facilitators meeting. For my fellow employees, both courses were really good – possibly the best I have taken at Deere, so I would recommend looking into it.
The good news is that by Friday Lily’s temperature was normal and she was able to go back to school.

Unicorns.
During one of the drives to school this week, Ty started rambling on about rainbows. Jay added to the conversation that rainbows usually have a pot of gold and leprechauns. And then Ty said, “and those animals that are like a horse…what are they…?” Jay said, “Unicorn?” Ty said, “You got it! A unicorn!” What the heck? Who is this kid? Hilarious! And then he continued to ramble about Dora. Ah ha! Now it makes sense. 80% of what Ty knows about life he learned from Dora.

Weekend!
Now it is Saturday morning. We survived another week! Now for the fun stuff.

To be continued…

Currumbin.
Sunday morning we had a yummy brekky before a quick buggy ride to the grocery store. We had big plans to go to Currumbin AND the beach today. When we got to Currumbin we rode the train to the very end to see the kangaroos first. Memaw was a little hesitant to approach the crazy critters, I am sure because of Ty’s last Roo encounter gone bad. But after watching Ty go up and pet every kangaroo in the place without getting attacked (no fear, go Ty), she managed a pat or two. I sat on a bench and gave Lily a bottle. I could watch the kangaroos all day long.

Some unexpected entertainment came in the form of a Korean game show that they were getting ready to film. Unfortunately we were there a couple hours before the filming so we didn’t get to see any of it.
We watched the crocodile show and then chose to make our way back to the front entrance on foot instead of taking the train. We stopped and watched the free flight bird show. A huge Australian Pelican walked out onto the stage (Jays favorite part about the day). They had a bunch of different birds that flew over top of our heads. One hit my hat – I thought he was going to steal it!

We found a cool playground along the way for Ty to play a bit. We made our way through all of the Korean fans lining the sidewalks (so many of them – even had security) to the koala area. Memaw got to hold a koala! Such a cool experience to share with her!

Memaw took Ty to the gift shop to pick out a special surprise. She thought he might go for a cuddly koala, but he chose a big plastic crocodile instead. Throughout the day she noticed that he picks up everything on the ground – sticks, leaves, rocks. She called him Father Nature. I think that one will stick. 🙂

We took our spot along the fence for the afternoon Lorikeet feeding (and ran into the Torrey’s). There were not very many wild Lorikeets today – apparently usually there are a lot more. They have a Ferris wheel of sorts that spins when the birds land to drink the syrup out of pie pans. Then, if you are lucky, they will come drink out of the pan in your hands, or in some cases land on your head. Memaw was able to lure one over. The rest of us weren’t so lucky. Still, really neat to see!

We spent more time there than we thought we would, so we didn’t make it to the beach. When we got home, I ran ours to grab Thai take-out. Might have snuck in a glass of wine while I waited. The plan for the rest of the evening is a quick night swim and preparation for the work week ahead.

Have I mentioned how happy I am that Memaw is here? We are having a great time!!

G’day mates!