Thursday, November 30, 2006

TBA......

We will be in Tasmania on "holiday". We'll be gone from 12/1 - 12/11. Check back for highlights from our first big trip while down under!

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Thanksgiving

Australians don't celebrate Thanksgiving. So there was no Thursday and Friday off of work and school and no "black Friday" either. Since I don't count Halloween as a holiday (the kids may not agree), I am considering this our first holiday away from home. Thanksgiving is not as big of a deal to kids, so I think they were somewhat oblivious to what was going on. I, on the other hand really missed all my family and all the activity of this "pre-Christmas" weekend. I tried to go Christmas shopping, but it just wasn't the same.

The funny thing is that they don't sell whole turkeys in the grocery store, so I had to order one from the butcher (he had 3 other orders for the same day). Another side note is that the grocery stores have produce, etc. but not a very big selection. So you get most of your groceries at the grocery store, but your fruit at the fruit market, your meat at the butcher and your bread at the bakery. Anyway, I went to pick up the turkey on Friday. I about died when he told me I owed him 100 dollars! I ordered 13 kg - oops that's 26 pounds!

On Saturday we had our turkey dinner. I sure missed my double ovens and my crockpot! We had turkey (and lots of it), mashed potatoes, stuffing, asparagus, and sweet potatoes. No pumpkin pie (no cans of pumpkin). Instead, we had a froze Sara Lee apple crunch pie - even Brody liked it!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Birds

There are lots of birds around here from pigeons and doves to parrot-type birds. There is one named Kookaburra. I will try and get a picture of this one. It's from the Kingfisher family and sounds like it's laughing all the time - real loud too. There is an Australian Magpie too. This one reminds me of a crow - it is mean to everything and everybody else. What's so funny about these birds is that they are ALL loud! I think they all wake each other up at about 3am.


This is the best picture I could get of a "Lorikeet" up in a gum tree (which is basically a eucalyptus tree) right outside our house. The vibrant colors of these birds make them so pretty!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Sailing

We chartered a 40 foot sailboat and cruised around Port Phillip. We went with Jamie (a friend of Pat's from work) and his wife Sarita. They are both competitive sailors, so they actually knew how to do some stuff. We lucked out and it was a very sunny warm day - perfect.



Here are the kids with Sarita. In the background there is a race going on.

These are what they call bath houses. They look like little fish houses. Apparently you buy them, and then you can come and hang out in the nice warm weather.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Settled in at School

Taylor and Riley seem to have settled in at school. They have both made new friends and seem to enjoy school - Riley has even adjusted to wearing a uniform (that's not pink). Every Monday there is a whole school assembly where the principal comes and talks to the kids and hands out various awards. At this assembly Taylor performed for the school with the choir (she joined choir).



Taylor and Riley each received awards for settling into school and working so hard. They both enjoyed getting these from the principal. Brody is holding up a Halloween card that he got from his Grandma and cousins.

Brody will be starting pre-school in February!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Bedrooms

Some people have been wanting to see pictures of the kids' bedrooms. We have been wating for all their furniture to get delivered and all their stuff from home to arrive. Everything is finally here and is pretty much unpacked. Here are some pictures so everyone can see what the rooms are like. The rooms are all very nice, and bigger than we were expecting!




Koala Conservatory on Phillip Island

The Koala Conservatory allows visitors to get up real close to the Koala's. They have boardwalks way up in the treetops. You are an arms length away! Hopefully you'll enjoy our pictures.





The Penguin Parade on Phillip Island

We took a day trip to Phillip Island. It's about 2 hours away from us. It's a famous tourist destination because every night at sunset the penguins come ashore and waddle their way up the beach to their burrows. They are completely oblivious to all the spectators.



I still crack up when I see these signs:


Here we are at the Nobbies looking for fur seals (we couldn't see them, they were too far out). Next time we'll take a boat cruise to see them.

Here we are at a surfing beach.


You're not allowed to take pictures of the actual penguin parade, but here some closer up pictures we were able to take.
This variety of penguins are called "Little Blue".

Brody Rides on Thomas the Tank!

Pat and Brody spent the day at the famous "Puffing Billy Steam Train". Normally it rides through the Dandenong Mountains. Twice a year, they have Thomas the Tank pulling the train, and Brody got to ride on Thomas! It's a real working coal-fired steam engine.
Even Sir Topham Hat was there. Brody thought this was cool, and he wants to go back.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Melbourne Cup Day

Today was a national holiday. Melbourne Cup Day is known as the holiday that stops a nation. Everything was closed down today (including school and Pat's work) so that people could go watch the races. We took the train downtown and went to an area called Federation Square. It is a gathering space in the city for many activities. On this day they were broadcasting the races on the big screen TV outside. Out in the square they also had lots of activities for the kids like, pony rides, hair painting, hula contest, magician, and more.

Here are pictures of the kids riding ponies. Taylor and Riley even got to wear "silks" which is what they call the jacket that the jockies wear.




Unfortunately you can't really see the purple stripes Brody has in his hair!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

We Pet a Wallaby!

These are pictures from Healesville Sanctuary. This was definitely the highlight of the trip! A Wallaby is basically a small kangaroo.


This is a Koala bear sleeping up in a tree.

This is a kangaroo taking a nap.

These are the blue mountains we drove near on the way out to the sanctuary.

This is a road sign to watch out for Wombats!

Snails

Brody HAD to have a picture of a snail on our blog for Alex, Bryce, Blake and Bradley. He thinks these are so cool! When it's moist outside, they are slurching around everywhere. Kind of like worms are at home! This one was coming down a retaining wall.


Thursday, November 02, 2006

Our "New" Cars

Some of you have heard about our new cars - they are hilarious. This one is a 1997 VW Polo. I don't think they make these in the U.S. The thing is so small that when you're driving it you feel like you should be shifting. It will serve 2 purposes. One is for Pat to drive it to and from the train station. The other is for me to "cruise" around in it and try and "re-learn" how to parallel park.


The other car is a 2001 Kia minivan. When you sit in it, it actually feels like a pretty nice car. But after you drive it, you realize it definitely is "No Toyota"!


Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Greythorn Primary School

Taylor and Riley were both very brave on their first day of school!

Riley's teacher is Mrs. Campbell, and Taylor's teacher is Mrs. Verbi. There are about 500 kids in the school which includes year prep (like our kindergarten) through year 6. The whole school follows the same schedule, which is:

10:00 snack
11:00-11:20 snack/recess
12:20-12:30 lunch in the class room
12:30-1:30 recess

Riley had library today, and they are allowed to check out 8 books at a time! Taylor will be learning French here.

Here are some pictures of them in their new uniforms. The uniform includes shirts, shorts, skorts, dresses, sweathirts, and even the backpack and hat. It does not include shoes and socks. They have a policy during summer "no hat, no play". I've been told that Australia has one of the highest incidence of skin cancer. Greythorn Primary is a public school, but in Australia all schools (even public) have uniforms.


Riley is wearing shorts and a shirt. She did not want a dress. She also has skorts.

Taylor is wearing the dress. She also has skorts and shirts.

Even Brody participated!