Bakery.
We went to the bakery (the grocery stores usually have a baker and a butcher shop just outside the grocery store – unrelated, ma and pa type places). I thought the cheesey rolls looked good, so I bought a couple. And then I saw something that looked like cinnamon rolls, and I started salivating…and then I found out they are rolls that are not filled with cinnamon, which would be delicious, but instead they are filled with Vegemite, which is anything but delicious. Sorry to all of you Vegemite fans out there…

Ink.
Australians love their ink. Tattoos (pronounced taDOOs here) are everywhere. You are in the minority if you don’t have a giant tattoo. Apparently Ty didn’t want to be in the minority. He grabbed a Sharpie when we weren’t looking and inked himself. I could barely contain my laughter. Part of me wanted to get mad, but the side that wanted to laugh won that argument. Jay was able to scrub most of it off, but it looks like he will be going to school tomorrow with remnants of his taDOO on his face and tummy.

WB Movie World.
At brekky we asked Ty what he wanted to do today. There was a 40% chance of rain so we didn’t want to take the boat out. He said, “I want to go to Disney World!” Well, there isn’t a Disney World in Australia, but there is a Warner Brothers Movie World the next exit down the M1. And we have free passes. So OK, son, let’s go.
The first stop was a show where motorcycles do ramp stunts and tricked out cars chase everyone around. It was pretty neat.
Ty is still too little for a lot of the rides, so we made our way back to the kiddy rides area. Ty wanted to go on the carousel, but he didn’t want to ride a “horse”, instead he chose to sit on the bench. Lily seemed to enjoy the ride, too.

Next stop was the bumper cars. Ty did a pretty good job driving it around!

After that he had worked up enough courage to try the “thrill ride” – Sylvester’s. At first he wasn’t too sure about it, but then he loved it! He wanted to go again and again and again! There is a video on Facebook of the ride.

Next up was the batman show on the Main Street. We found a decent seat and jay went off to find lunch. The show started and a police car and the batmobile drove right in front of us! Ty thought the show was pretty awesome (a little too much fighting in my opinion, but I guess that is what batman does).

After a quick lunch we headed to the Wild West area. I somehow talked Ty into doing the log ride. It looked pretty intense, but he wasn’t worried about the down hill part – he just didn’t want to get water in his eyes.
There wasn’t much of a wait, so we got on a boat pretty quickly. We went up a hill, into a tunnel, and then it shot us out backwards. Wasn’t expecting that, but Ty kept on being a trooper. After we got turned around face first, we had a nice lazy boat ride through an old western town. Ty said a couple times “we aren’t going up a hill.” And then we came up to the hill. I talked him through it, told him what I thought was going to happen. I told him to close his eyes when we go down the hill so he doesn’t get water in them. And then down we went!! Pretty fast! Splash!! Laughing, laughing, laughing! He did awesome – gave me a big high five when we got off the boat. 🙂

AC.
Ugh. So the air turned on for a bit last night, enough to cool the house down. Today it isn’t working again. So. Stinking. Hot. Thank goodness for the nice breeze. And the pool. I sent Jay to the store while Ty was napping. I got hot, so I put Lily in her playpen and I went for a swim. Jay came home, put Lily in a swim diaper, and the 2 of them joined me for a bit until Ty woke up. Pretty sure we are going to need a pool when we go back home…probably one just like we have here.

Quiet evening.
The night ahead should be pretty quiet. The boys went to pick up Thai for dinner. Lily and I are snuggling a bit. Going to make some fruit salad for the week, and then call it a night. Such a fun weekend. So blessed.

G’day mates!

Level 2.
Ty had an exciting day at swim lessons this morning. He was doing really well. He can hold his breath forever, float on his back and his tummy, do the “rocket ship” swim, pick up things off the bottom of the pool, and his kicking is pretty good. The supervisor stopped by his class and asked his teacher, Jara, if anyone was ready to move forward. Jara said he had one that was close. The teacher wanted to see the kids do all of the things required in Level 1. When they got done she said, “Yep, he’s ready for a new challenge.” And she was talking about Ty! Yay!! Whenever anyone moves up to the next level, they get to ring a bell and everyone at the pool claps and cheers. It is really neat – makes the kids feel special. They also get a certificate saying they passed. So proud of my little fish.

Under water.
Meanwhile, in the Babies 1 level, Lily was having a great time. She loves the water. The teacher thought she was showing all of the signs to be ready to put her face in the water, so I let her take Lily. She said the cues – “wait. Ready. Go!” And dipped her into the water. Lily came out a little confused, but then she smiled. :). We did it a couple more times and she didn’t mind a bit. She is only under water for a second or two, so grandmas, don’t stress.

Broadwater.

After stopping at the store to pick up some food for a picnic lunch on the boat, we packed up an esky (cooler), made some sandwiches (finally used a picnic backpack that we got for a wedding present, which worked great!), and loaded up the boat. Lily wasn’t too sure about the life jacket. She kind of hated it at first, but eventually realized that she better get used to it. :). Ty wanted to go fast…unfortunately you have to go slow (6 knots) until you get out of the canals (the red line on the picture above was our route). Lily slept most of the way out. By the time we got to the Broadwater where you can hammer down, Lily was ready to eat, and so were Ty and I. And Ty had to go potty. We have a toilet on the boat, but Jay only wants to use it in an emergency, so Ty had to go wee off the back. It was a little choppy and windy, so he had some serious stage fright, but eventually he took care of business. And when he finished, dad cranked up the stereo and we had a celebration dance party. We floated around a bit, got everyone’s tummies full, and then we let Jay play a bit. Ty loved it when we hit some waves (me, not so much).
We decided we need to ask around, figure out where we can go and safely either dock it or sand it (nervous about this), swim, eat, use a toilet. The first outing was a good confidence builder for both Jay and I. The kids did great. They were worn out when we decided to head for home, and both of them fell asleep (under the shade of the biminy). I got to relax in the front bow for a bit while Jay drove us back up the canals.
We were pretty much incident free, until the boat made an awful noise. Jay threw it into neutral really quickly, and realized we had missed a buoy and needed to be a ways to the right. The water level was only 2 feet. That is not deep enough….I was immediately thinking about what we were going to do if we got stuck on a sandbar. I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to jump in the shark infested waters and push it off the sand bar…thankfully we were able to get back on the main channel without getting stuck. Yikes. That was a close one. Hoping we don’t make that mistake again. Rookie mistake. Keep it between the buoys.
Overall it was a great first family outing – so much fun. I can’t wait to take family and friends out!

Air Con.
When we got home, we noticed that the air conditioner wasn’t running. Crud. It was 30 degrees upstairs – that’s hot. We called the property management company and they told us broken air conditioners are not considered an emergency, so they won’t pay extra to send out a repair man on the weekend. Grrrrrr. There is a nice breeze outside, but remember, we don’t have screens. And remember where we live – amongst the poisonous everythings. We are braving it a bit and have the windows and doors open, but as soon as the sun goes down and the lizards come out, everything is getting sealed up tight. Going to be a hot one tonight…

Pool.
To cool off, we put Lily in her playpen (in the shade) and Jay, Ty and I jumped in the pool. We splashed around for about an hour before coming inside to cook dinner. Lily wanted to snuggle so Jay threw some brats on the barbie and I sat on the patio with my sweet sleeping babe.

Signing.
When Jay was feeding Lily rice cereal and zucchini, she ate every last bite, and then she put her hand up to her mouth, then put her fists together in front of her. Jay said he thought she was signing “eat. More.” I think she was. They have been working on it at school. Amazing!! So I gave her some carrots. Happy babe.

G’day mates!

Boat update.
Jay and I took a half day of vacation to go check out the progress on the boat repairs. Jay took some pictures that I am sure will appear on his Facebook page. It wasn’t very interesting to me (so not a gear head), I just wanted to know when I can get out on the water. Good news: It should be all put back together by Thursday. Bad news: they are only open during the week and Jay has month end. I am really hoping we can figure out how to pick it up before the weekend!!
The Seapen is getting installed this week. We are also talking to a guy to see if we can get the boat’s name put on it. Since we couldn’t bring our dog Bandit with us to Australia, we decided to have him here in spirit by naming the boat El Bandito. I can picture him riding in the front of the boat, ears flapping in the wind, dog-grinning from ear to ear.

Yatala Pies.
Jay and I needed to get lunch somewhere before we went to the boat shop. Every day we drive past the exit for the “Famous Yatala Pies”, so we figured we better give it a go since we had some time. Keep in mind, these are not fruit pies (although they do make fruit pies so we picked up an apple pie to take home). These are meat pies. My prior encounter with meat pies, if you recall, was not a great one. The pie had been sitting out too long and had become lukewarm. Plus I think it was just a frozen appetizer type thing, not homemade, and really was quite disgusting. But I was willing to try one more time at the “best place to get a meat pie”. I ordered a steak, cheese, and bacon pie. Jay got the same thing. In order to complete my Aussie meal, I grabbed a Bundaberg Peachy out of the cooler, as well. I was quite nervous, so I ordered chip (fries) and a pavlova just in case the pie was icky.

So I took a bite and couldn’t really decide if I liked it or not, so I didn’t say anything. I took a few more bites and said, “um, I don’t know” which I then repeated probably 20 times. The crust was really good. I guess I was picturing in my head that the filling would be ground beef (or mince as they say here) or steak pieces with melted cheese and delicious bacon inside. But it was more like they ran the beef through a blender until it was nearly the consistency of puréed baby food, added some gravy and chunks of ham, and sprinkled a few bits of cheese on top.

I choked down half of it before I decided enough was enough, I gave it a fair shot, and switched to chips and pavlova. That goodness I ordered those. :). I suppose I could have ordered a sausage roll, instead… Ewww!
So I won’t be stopping at the Yatala Pie shop anymore, unless our guests really want to experience some authentic Australian food. But on the bright side, at least now I don’t have to wonder whether or not I like meat pies.

Fish.
Lily had her first swim lesson this morning. She took to it like a little fish – kicking, splashing, laughing. She LOVED it!! She didn’t put her head under water today, instead the teacher took a bucket of water and sprinkled it over her head. She thought that next week Lily will be able to go under a bit. I will see how she and I both feel about it – will only do it if I feel comfortable and if Lily seems to like it.

Tripod.
Lily somehow managed to balance herself on 3 limbs the other day. It was pretty impressive – I am not sure I could do it. Ty wanted to try, though.

She pushed herself up on all 4s last night but hasn’t tried to move forward. I predict by the end of the weekend she will be crawling. Time to install the baby gate!

Sanctuary Cove.
This morning we went to Sanctuary Cove. I needed to return some things Jay got me for Christmas (he told the lady at the store my US size, which is 4 sizes different than Australia – I only wish I could squeeze into a size small). Lily and I shopped around while the boys explored the resort hotel and pools. About the time Ty decided to have a meltdown at the restaurant at lunch, was about the time we decided he needed to go home and get a good nap. It got me thinking about school. In a year he will go to prep (kindergarten) and he won’t be able to take a nap during the day. He is going to be a hot mess…I am amazed how many kids his age don’t take naps. How do they make it through a day? Maybe their days don’t start at 5:00 like Ty’s day. Maybe in a few months we will start trying to ween him off of naps.

Barriers.
Along the interstate, many of the noise barrier walls are painted with scenes of Australia – kangaroos, koalas, etc. The trunks of trees that are hidden behind the walls are painted onto the walls. It is a nice touch to try to make something that could be pretty ugly, pretty awesome.

Random kid pics.
Aunt Jekka complained that it has been 4 days since she saw a picture of the kids. This is the best I could do before school.

MAIL!
Today we can declare Dusty & Terra Day because we got 2 pieces of mail that were Blint related. First, an adorable Christmas card with a picture of baby sandals on a beach (ahhhhhh!) and a fantastic letter about everything and nothing and everything in between that me laugh out loud on multiple occasions. And secondly an invitation to baby Blint’s baby shower. Unfortunately I am going to have to RSVP my regrets, but I will be there in spirit (maybe we can do a quick FaceTime). I love mail. I love babies. I love things that make me laugh. Thank you!!

Words.
Bogan = redneck (see below for example)

Budgy smuggler.
Budgy =

Budgy smuggler =

I can’t make this stuff up… (I can hear Em saying “what? I don’t get it.” All the way down here!)

Saturday.
Nothing really exciting to share about our Saturday, I am sorry to say. We had swim lessons in the morning, then we went to a mall, picked up the boat “title” (really just a printout saying we own the boat…apparently boats and used cars don’t have titles???). I had a hair appointment after lunch and snuck out a few minutes early to hit the little boutique at the marina. I found a couple cute things, very “marina-ish”.

Church.
Saturday evening we went to church. I asked Ty to go pick out a nice outfit for church. First attempt was a tshirt and mesh shorts. I clarified by saying he needed a collared shirt. This is what he came up with. I guess I should have told him he needed shorts, too.

Ty was excited, even when I told him he had to sit there and be quiet for almost 2 Dora episodes. I don’t know if he is even quiet for that long when he is sleeping. He said, “I will mom.” He did really well. The hardest part was seeing his friend Maddie in the front row and not being able to go say hi. Lily did great too, just a couple squeaks. The church isn’t heated or air conditioned, so it was pretty warm, but we kept cool by using the program as a fan. Towards the end of the service I could tell Ty was getting bored. He was laying his head on my lap, and a man behind us handed a paper airplane to Ty. It was just what he needed to make it through the rest of the mass. And then a boy (probably 10) behind us gave Ty another paper airplane. So sweet.
After mass, Ty finally got to go play with the Torrey kids. He and Maddie play so well together. They had fun running around while we met a few other people and chatted with Father John. He grew up in Vietnam, one of 10 children raised during the war. Really nice man. There is also a guy who looks like Santa Claus at the church, so Ty thought that was awesome. He wants to go back to church. :).

Marina.
We had a late dinner at the marina after church. We were the parents who bring their kid to the restaurant in her PJs…past her bedtime. Lily slept in her stroller, Ty played the video games. Nice evening.

Real Food!
Sunday morning we woke up and made a bunch of baby food to freeze for Lily – squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and zucchini. Jay cooked a yummy brekky of bacon and eggs. And Lily ate rice cereal for the first time!!!! She did great. She seemed to like it, didn’t spit too much out, and so far doesn’t seem to have had any negative effects from it. Such a big girl!

2 Beaches.
What do you do when one beach isn’t enough? You go to two beaches. Why not? We went and checked out Palm Beach this morning. They have a pirate ship playground and the beach is very protected so there aren’t really any waves. It was great for Ty to go into the water without being afraid of the waves.

We needed to go pick up our Surf Club card at the Rainbow Beach Surf Club, which gave us a good excuse to grab lunch there. The views are phenomenal. It must be a great place to ride the waves because there was an endless stream of surfers running down the beach, catching a wave, and doing it all over again. We had heard the surfers were getting excited because there is a cyclone brewing out to sea that is expected to bring in some big waves and a bunch of the professional surfers.

*reality check* did I really just say all of that? Still have a hard time believing we are here, living in Australia.

Ty loves to play on the rocks and in the little pools that are formed when the tide goes out.

The rest of the evening should be pretty quiet. I am hoping everyone goes to bed a little early – the sun sucked all of my energy today. Hoping for a good week ahead!

G’day mates!

TGIF.
I have been feeling a little emotional the past few days, in a bit of a funk. Work has been stressful since Christmas break. I am feeling a little homesick. Ty has been talking about missing Bandit. I think Sherry’s visit in a few weeks will do us all some good. I can’t wait for a hug! In the meantime, I am just thankful it is the weekend!

6 Month Checkup.
Lily had her 6 month checkup on Friday. She tips the scales at just over 18 pounds and is 25.5 inches long. She is doing all of the things that a 6 month old should be able to do, so she is developing nicely. We have held out on solid foods (except for a couple tastes of ice cream and Vegemite), but we are going to give it a go this weekend. We picked up some rice cereal and I am going to mush up some carrots, squash, zucchini, and sweet potato. Enter super stinky diapers…..
She had to get a few vaccinations, which she took like a rock star and barely cried. I am expecting her to be extra cuddly tonight, which is just fine with me.
We saw the same doctor that checked out Ty when he was sick before Christmas. She is great – very competent, confident, great with the kids. She is moving to another clinic down the road but we will continue to see her for regular appointments. It was a much better experience than the 4 month appointment. Yay!

Australia Day.
There are heaps of Australia Day items sprinkled throughout the stores. Anything they can stick the Australian flag onto, they do. Today I couldn’t resist the temptation and picked up an Australian flags water bottle and an inflatable thong (going to leave you hanging on that one – pictures later).

Seapen.
A guy from the Seapen factory went and checked out the Seapen Jay bought to figure out what repairs/maintenance needs to be done on it before installation. He told Jay that we got the deal of the century. He said it just needs a good cleaning and they will check to see if it needs a new pump (it shouldn’t because the prior owner said he just had it replaced). So Jay scored a great deal again! Yay!!

Weekend Plans.
Saturday morning we have swim lessons and then we are going to pick up the paperwork for the boat. I have a hair appointment. Then we might try to go to church again. Ty has been wanting to go and we haven’t been around on the weekend since the Christmas puking episode. Sunday is beach day. Should be nice and relaxing!

Words.
Chuckin’ a sicky = playing hooky
Off crook = playing hooky
Mansick = playing hooky