Gardening.
When we moved in, our garden areas were a giant mess. I like a neat, tidy yard, but because of my major fear of all of the poisonous spiders, snakes, frogs, and whatever else, there was no way in heck I was going to go digging around in dead leaves and plants. So we asked our lawn maintenance guy for a quote to clean it up. Um, I don’t even want to say how much he said it would cost to do it all at once. So, after the shock of that wore off, we decided to pay him a little more than his fee to mow the lawn each time if he could chip away at the problem areas. Seemed like a good deal for both of us.
Well, 2 months later all he has managed to do was trim the hedges in front of the canal. He is always “flat out” (running behind). I couldn’t stand it anymore (remember my OCD issues) so I decided to brave the gardens. I have only actually seen one poisonous anything – the cane toad, which yes, was right next to these gardens I was about to enter. Jay bought me a rake/hoe tool with a really long handle (this will double as a spider-killer if I ever come across a Funnel Web), a little hand held short rake-type deal, trimmers, and gloves. Here is the picture of the spider-killer that Terra was waiting for.

While Lily was watching the boys play in the pool, I started clearing the dead stuff out. At first I used the long handled rake-hoe (I am sure this is the technical name) figuring that would scare out anything that might have made the garden its home. The whole time I kept thinking “please God, don’t let something kill me today.” After about 15 minutes I felt a little more brave (oooooh!!!) and used the hand held rake. I cleared most of the little flower garden then switched over to the overgrown tropical rainforest by the pool. At this point I had no fear, I was essentially crawling into the gardens to get to the big dead stuff in the back. I whacked away at the gardens for a good hour before I saw a spider. And I decided to call it quits. :). There is still a ton of work to do, but I made good progress. Most importantly, I didn’t die. Woohoo!

Jay had found a steal of a deal on some big pots, so after his boat ride he went out and bought rocks, dirt, and aloe plants. Ty was feeling up to doing some gardening, so he helped me. I figure we will likely get sunburnt at some point here in No Ozoneville, so why not have a supply of fresh aloe on hand? Here are some pics of the planting process and finished result.

Cuddles.
Since Ty wasn’t feeling great on Friday night, he wanted to have movie night on Saturday night. Lily went to bed early, so Jay, Ty and I popped Despicable Me 2 in the DVD player. Ty went back and forth giving cuddles to both Jay and I. So sweet.
Lily woke up a couple times during the night with a cough (I think it might be allergies). I brought her into our bed around 3:00 to keep an eye on her. I didn’t really go back to sleep (makes me nervous) but at least I got some Lily cuddles. Love my babies….

Me Time.
I was able to sneak in a massage on Sunday morning – an hour of much needed “me time.” Thanks to Jay for watching the kiddos and giving me the cash to go (now that I think about it, I am pretty sure I have no idea how to get cash here).

Swim.
Ty was feeling much better Sunday morning, so after my massage we were able to get him in for a make-up lesson. This time he impressed us by holding his breath for a really long time, all the way to the end of the lesson area. Check out my Facebook page to watch a video of him kicking his way across with just a little assistance.

Packing.
I started packing for our New Zealand trip. It is crazy to think that we are going to NEW ZEALAND on Thursday!! 6 months ago I would have never thought I would be spending shutdown in New Zealand. You just never know where life will take you. Six months ago I also never would have thought that I would fly to a foreign country without weeks of planning…feeling a bit unprepared for this trip. I figure we will land, buy a map, pick up some brochures, and see where the road takes us. I know we have a flight, hotels, and a rental car. The rest is TBD. So not how I roll, but I guess if I don’t know that we missed something, I can’t be too bummed. 🙂

More Gardening.
In keeping with the plan to stay home and let Ty recover, after a nice long nap (miraculously all of the wrapped presents were under the tree when we woke) we spent a little more time cleaning up the garden mess we created on Saturday. It really looks a lot better! While most of the time I really appreciate my job in the temperature controlled office, nothing beats the satisfaction I get from sweating my rear end off, getting dirty, working muscles I didn’t realize I had, and seeing the finished result of my hard work. I guess that’s the Midwest farm girl coming out in me. You can take a girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.

Cooling Off.
The best way to cool off in Australia after a hard day’s work is one of 2 things. Either sit under the fan on the patio and drink a cold beer (or two) (which is what I did) or take a dip in the pool (which is what Jay and Ty did). Looks like it will be a Thai takeout night for the Shearer’s! Yum!

Christmas Lights.
Even though Ty puked twice and was fighting off a fever, he really really really wanted to go for a buggy ride to look at Christmas lights. Since had been able to hold down liquids and crackers, we thought we would go for a quick ride around the neighborhood. There really weren’t many great displays – a few houses had some lights, but nothing like what we are used to back home. I suppose it is because the lights are so expensive to buy, and the electric bill would sky rocket… But, we did see a few, so Ty was happy. He was definitely ready for bed when we pulled in the driveway, and was super happy to hear that dad was going to sleep with him. (Didn’t want him waking up in the middle of the night sick with nobody there to help.).

Doctor.
Saturday morning Ty woke up with a temperature, but he hadn’t puked all night (yay!!). Since I had a dr appointment already scheduled, we all got in the buggy and went back to the doctor. Since I gave Ty some Tylenol he was acting more normal. By the time we got home the meds had worn off and he didn’t look so good. Temp was back, gave him more Tylenol and he took a good long nap. The plan is to take it easy while this thing works it’s way through his system.
Of course when he woke up he wanted to swim, so we let him go out for some low key pool fun. Hopefully that won’t backfire on us.

Boat.
Jay took the boat out for a test ride. Rode great, fast and smooth (not that we will go fast when the kiddos are in it), handled great. The biminy was missing some peg which will be fixed. The bigger issue was a whistling sound that may be an exhaust leak. It will be nice to get the mechanical inspection done to make sure it is a solid boat, and what it will cost to fix the whistling. Jay learned a lot in his 30 minute trial run, and had a good time, too! Here she is in the water (thankfully she floats!)

Since salt water is really hard on a boat, we found a used Seapen that will keep it up out of the canal. Should be able to sell it when we move, and it should help with boat resale. Looks pretty slick. Here is a random picture I found on the internet of one.

Baking Update.
The apple bars were not quite the same as Sherry’s, but they turned out pretty tasty! Phew!

And Jay’s Buffalo Chicken Dip, while more spicy than normal, turned out great! I overheard someone say “it’s just divine”. Guys want the recipe for poker night. Everyone agreed it would taste awesome with a cold beer (yup). Imagine what they would think if we had Frank’s here…

Hunger Games.
I have talked before about how it seems that everything you encounter here could kill you. Spiders, snakes, sharks, jellyfish, octopus, frogs. Jay heard a story about someone who died after gardening because he got gum tree sap under his fingernails. What the heck? Even trees can kill you. So yes, I am a little jittery. This morning I was sitting at my computer, finished my mug of tea, and I heard squeaking. It sounded like it was coming from under my desk. I have a giant empty box that I have been meaning to get rid of under there, so I instantly thought there is some sort of critter in there that wants to eat me for breakfast. I asked my cube neighbor, Matt, to come take a listen. He was like, “yep, sounds like there is something in there.” Well crap, now what? All the girls in the aisle were bracing for battle, putting their feet up. Then I had a thought. I squeezed the opening on my tea mug, released the hot air, and the squeaking stopped. Lordy….why do these things always happen to me? The good news is that everyone got a good laugh. They said I shouldn’t be so nervous. My response was that sometimes I feel like I am in a set of The Hunger Games…everything is trying to kill…apparently even coffee mugs…

And the box is now in the dumpster.

Colored Hair.
I haven’t entirely figured it out, and this might be an incorrect broad generalization, but it appears to be perfectly socially acceptable to have crazy colored hair (green, blue, purple, and that unnatural bright red). I don’t have anything against it, but I am always surprised to see as many people out and about sporting the attention-getting locks. And these people aren’t just rebellious teenagers…they are grown adults, as well. No worries, mate.

Tim Tams.
Delicious.

Mr. Australia.
Jay’s department at work did a Secret Santa exchange today. The theme was definitely very Australia. Aussie flag flip flops (thongs, as they say down under), Tim Tams (see above comments), and Aussie flag boxers. Ladies, the moment you have all been waiting for. I introduce to you…Mr. Australia!

And the runner up for the 2013 Mr. Australia pageant goes to….

OCD Blogger.
I told my Auntie Shell something today that I thought I would share with the rest of you. As with most things that I take on in my life, I have fully committed to writing this blog. At first I thought this will be a nice way to keep a record of a few fun memories and to share our experiences with friends and family back home in one efficient document (I can’t help that I live and breathe process improvements). Then it became a therapeutic release for me to make sense of all of the craziness in our lives and try to maintain a sense of order when I felt that things were out of my control. I also used it as personal entertainment during Lily’s meals. But I realized that this blog has kind of done a 180 on me. Now I think, “we have to do something fun so the people who read the blog will have something worth reading.” As I think about things that I want to write about I pop open a blank blog page and jot down notes so I don’t forget to write about it when I have more time. Is that a problem?? Do they have a 12 step program for this? I am truly crazy, aren’t I?!?! Well, whatever you want to call it, thank you. Thank you for making me get out there, try new things, and make the most of this situation.

Apple Bars.
Jay is presenting to the accounting department on Monday about the differences between the US and Australia. Since the Aussies love their tea so much, we have to bring in food for the occasion. I thought just ordering a bunch of McDonalds cheeseburgers and fries would be perfect, but that idea got vetoed. Next to Mackers, there is nothing more American than apple pie. So I took it upon myself to attempt to make Sherry’s apple bars.
First hurdle. No Crisco, only lard. Not sure if I did the conversion right or not…
Second hurdle. No pastry mixer. A fork worked just fine (thanks to mom for making all of her pie crusts with a fork).
Third hurdle. No golden delicious apples. Hopefully red delicious will do.
Fourth hurdle. No apple peeler/corer/slicer. Thanks to Jay for cutting all of the apples by hand.
Fifth hurdle. No sheet pan. Sent Jay to the store to get one and ended up with some sort of roasting pan…one batch in that and a smaller batch in a square glass pan…
Sixth hurdle. No rolling pin. I tried to improvise by wrapping a Pringles can with wax paper, but that didn’t work at all. So I used the palm of my hand.

I felt like I was in an episode of Little House on the Prairie. Cross your fingers they turn out ok!

Jay is also attempting to make a batch of Ashley’s buffalo chicken dip. However, there is no such thing as Franks Red Hot sauce in Australia, so he is concocting something with Tabasco as a substitute. I am more than a little nervous about how that is going to turn out. Everyone is going to think the food in America sucks if they form their opinions off of our weak attempts at cooking here…

Sanctuary Cove, Round 2.
We checked out the Sanctuary Cove Christmas schedule online this morning and found out that Santa was going to be there for pictures between 1 and 2:00. Since that was prime nap time I figured it would be a disaster, but we got Ty down for a nap a little early and woke him up to thoughts of seeing his idol. He was super excited to sit on Santa’s lap. Santa didn’t want to hold Lily, so I got to sit on his lap. Haven’t done that in years!

Jay and Ty went on a quick train ride, then Jay went to get ice cream while Ty waited patiently in line to get his face painted. He really wanted the snowman. He wanted it so bad, in fact, that he chose face painting over the bouncy house. He hit up the bouncy house in style, with Frosty on his face!

Swim.
It was stinking hot out, so we came home, threw on our swimsuits, and played in the pool for a couple hours. I am lounging on the patio, cuddling with Lily, watching the boats come home along the canal. Great way to end the weekend!

Regression?
Ty will probably hate me some day for posting this on the web for the world to see, but I am struggling with this one and am looking for advice. Ty has had a rough stretch where he either goes a little potty in his undies (sometimes won’t tell anyone and wears wet pants), waits until the last second and pees all over the toilet, or worse… This morning Ty woke up at the crack of dawn, came in our room for a bit, then said he was going downstairs. He is pretty independent so I thought he would play with his toys or turn on the TV and be fine. And then I hear him screaming, like an “I’m in pain come quick” scream. I jumped out of bed, sprinted downstairs, and ran over to him, stepping in a pool of something in the living room. I thought we had a leak from the storms last night and he slipped and fell. But then I realized he was standing there crying, with no pants or undies on. My brain caught up and I realized that I was standing in Ty’s pee. Ewwwwww! I immediately think something must be wrong, is he hurting, what would possess him to drop his drawers and pee in front of the Christmas tree, in plain view of Iceman the Elf? Jay asked him where his undies were. He walked me over to the guest bedroom, which is right next to the bathroom, and pulled his partially wet undies and shorts out of the Christmas tree box. What?!?! Jay was furious, I was still in shock. Jay took Ty up to his room to talk about why that was a horrible choice, and to try to figure out why he did that. I got out the mop. :(.
A couple hours later Ty was doing the potty dance so I told him to go to the bathroom. He said no, I asked again twice nicely, then I carried him to the bathroom. He went, a lot, but he made sure to aim on the toilet seat cover, getting pee on everything. Back to his room he went, while you guessed it…I cleaned up more pee.
I know he has had oodles of stress in his life, new baby, new country, new home, new school, new friends, new food. But I also know he has an awesome opportunity to see and experience things most kids could only dream about. No matter what, good or bad, this is our reality and we have to make the best of it. Any tips from parents who have been through thus sort of regression would be greatly appreciated!

Today we did all sorts of things related to the water: swimming, boating (sort of), and storms (sort of).

Swim.
Saturday morning Ty had a swim lesson. This time he had his goggles – since he wasn’t worried about wiping the water from his eyes he spent most of the lesson with his head underwater. He dove down to pick up toys off the floor. He floated on his belly, face down. He used the kick board out in front of him and kicked across the pool with his face in the water. Future Olympian?

Boats.
After a quick brekky at the marina, we drove to another marina to see a guy about a boat. He has made a living shipping Harleys from the US to Australia, and thought he would give importing boats a shot. Problem is, there are heaps of boats here, so it wasn’t a great decision. The boat was OK, had some cosmetic issues, but we weren’t 100% sold on it. Jay found another one online do we drove down the coast and checked it out. Just a bit more expensive than the first but WAY nicer. It is a 2006 (or 7???) Regal 2600. Totally clean, bigger, and from a legit boat dealer (who can help us sell it when we leave Australia). We both really liked it, so we put in an offer. The owner (dealer was acting as broker for the owner) countered and we accepted the counter. Next we will take it for a test drive (was dry docked) with an inspector, and if all goes well, we’ll have a boat tied to our pontoon (dock) in a week or two! The process feels a lot like buying a house. :). I am excited to explore the coastline, Jay is excited to have a toy to play with, Ty is excited to have an onboard toilet, and Lily is looking forward to lounging with mama under the bimini. We are all excited to take visitors out on the water (hint hint book your flights – Qantas is having a sale)! We know the old saying about “if it flies, floats, or f$#%s, pay by the hour,” but how many times in our life will we be living ON the most beautiful coastline in the world? We are thinking the enjoyment we get out of it will be worth every penny. Cross your fingers that all goes well with the purchase! To be continued…

Hot.
Probably adding more motivation to our boat hunting is the fact that it is HOT today. So hot, in fact, that the neighbor across the canal was mowing his yard in his Speedos. I tried to get a picture but he finished before I could grab my phone. I will try to snap a pic next time. Ladies, don’t get excited. He is old…

We chilled out (literally) in the toy room for a while before Jay and Ty had to leave to get their hair cuts and do some grocery shopping. Lily rolled her way around, and Ty played with his tractors. One of the ladies from work gave us 2 giant bags of books (awesome!), so we have been making our way through those.

Rudolph.
We got all dressed up to go to Sanctuary Cove for some market shopping, dinner, and hopefully a Santa sighting. We thought we would give it a shot despite the storm clouds we saw building around us. As we were driving in to Sanctuary Cove, we noticed a long line of cars leaving. Not a good sign. But we got out of the car, Ty put on his blinking Rudolph nose, and we sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer through the parking lot…right up to the area where all of the vendors were packing up their merchandise and tents. They closed up shop an hour earlier than expected because of the storm that was headed our way. We walked by the shop where Santa was supposed to be, which looked awesome – nutcrackers, a sleigh, red carpet – but the storm scared Santa away as well. Nuts!! We will try again tomorrow.

Storms.
We got back in the car and headed home. I snapped a couple pictures of the crazy storm clouds. The storms come and go quickly here, but the show that Mother Nature puts on with the clouds in the sky is amazing. We haven’t seen a drop of rain, but it looks like places around us are getting drenched. There are some areas that are getting hail – glad that isn’t us!

5 Months!
Lily is 5 months old this week! She is such a happy little thing. She loves to roll over, and we love her rolls (fatty ones). She chats with us, lots of coos and squeaks. Her favorite toys are her toes. She has discovered her thumb and likes to suck on it. She has a tooth that can’t make up its mind if it wants to come out for good or not, so some days she gets a little cranky (can’t blame her!). She is sleeping all night most nights – down at 8:00 and up at 5:00. Most mornings Jay has to wake her up. Ty thinks she is so sweet, he likes to give her hugs and kisses. She thinks he is the best thing since warm milk.

Board shorts.
Dudes wear board shorts all the time in Australia. It is strange to see someone in “normal” shorts. I thought this was because everyone wants to be ready to go to the beach at any time. That may be true, but I think it is also due to the fact that regular shorts come out of the laundry with more wrinkles than a 90 year old woman. Jay will have fun ironing his shorts for the next 2 years. Or he will just wear board shorts.

Star.
Ty had a fantastic idea that we should make a star to put on top of our tree, so we did that this week. We cut out a star from a cardboard box, then wrapped aluminum foil around it. Ty used tape to make sure the foil stayed in place. Then we put a smiley face on it, just like Dora’s star. It turned out great – was just what the top of our tree needed!

That night, Ty’s elf Iceman made a special star for Ty. It was also Ty’s reward for coming off of Santa’s Naughty list. He had a hard time listening earlier in the week and wasn’t making good choices at school. After Iceman wrote him a letter, he changed his tune and quickly got back on the Nice list. Phew!

Thai.
I finally found a meal that I absolutely love. There is a Thai restaurant at the marina. Their fried rice is amazing and the cashew chicken is perfection in a plastic takeout container. And…we can pick it up in the buggy!

Drive thru.
We drove through Hungry Jacks (Burger King) for a quick lunch before Ty’s Christmas party. I was reminded that a) we are in a country founded by the Brits – don’t mess with the royalty and disgrace their name by putting “burger” in the front of their favorite male, and b) it was a really weird feeling to drive through the drive thru from the other direction…

Christmas Party.
Ty’s Christmas party was pretty cute. He did a great job, and somehow managed to not fall asleep on the stage (the program was right at nap time). The best part was that we were able to FaceTime with both Jay’s parents and my family, so they got to watch the program also!

Ty also got an award for “Managing Change and Participating in Social Groups.” To say that he has managed change is an understatement. He has really been a trooper throughout this whole adventure!

Swim Party.
Since we had the afternoon off, we decided to all go for a dip in the “cool”. We bought a play pen for Lily so she would be safe while we swam. It worked great! Kept her happy for about an hour. :). Success!