Last night

Matt asked, while we were sitting around the dinner table, what we missed most from the States. We explained to the kids, he meant a tangible thing. Like if you just got off the plane what is the 1st thing you would want to get. It was kind of a pleasant surprise when no one could really think of anything right away. Granted they have a lot of similar things here but still. Matt and I said we missed going to McDonald's and getting a big fountain soda. Matt said Reese peanut butter cups and I also said mint moose tracks ice cream. MA said all she really missed was her family. DB couldn't think of any tangible thing he had in the States that he doesn't have here. EL said Dora. She is Dora crazy and it is on TV here. That's a pretty short list :-)Conversations like these remind us that we made the right decision coming here. Great life experience.

Santas Everywhere

  Bright and early Sunday morning was the 5k Santa fun run. I signed up the whole family. Everyone got a Santa suit, complete with a beard and hat. EL was too young to get a suit so I made her a little Santa dress (after cooking all day Friday. Matt looked at me like I was crazy!) We woke up at 6:30 and the race started at 7! We rushed out the door and got there right as the last Santas were leaving the starting line. Pushing 2 strollers around the course gave us some good exercise and quality time as a fam. Matt rocked the Santa suit for the whole time. I opted for only the jacket, which was more like a dress on me. Seeing Brisbane from both sides of the river was beautiful. We caught up to the main pack of walkers and finished the walk. After we crossed the finish line everyone put on their suits and we did a few fun pics together. We originally planned on heading to the beach for the afternoon but forgot the schoolies are there right now. So after a busy few days we just hung out at home and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Lots to be thankful for

 Our 1st thanksgiving feast went great! We had lots of friends join us. Way too much yummy food & enough desserts to feed an army. The kids swam all day and into the night, only getting out to eat. Football was on the TV & plenty of cold beverages were enjoyed.

  Having our party made missing the festivities back home a bit easier. Kept me busy and something to look forward to. We are thankful for everyone that helped us celebrate. The Aussies seemed to really like the corn casserole and pumpkin pie!

Nicknames

MA has come up with nicknames for the family and couple of her friends.

Monkey Mommy

Duck Daddy

Emu EL

Dingo DB

Meerkat MA
Koala Kara- because she sleeps a lot

Kangaroo Kaitlyn

Gorilla Grandma

Penguin Papa

Snake Sienna

Kangaroo Kate

Getting ready for the feast

  We spent Friday cooking and baking. Matt did the ice cream dessert & prepped the bread for the stuffing. I made the pies & mashed potatoes. Then we made our 1st turkey. Followed immediately by our 2nd turkey. We needed a lot of turkey to feed our friends. They both turned out very nice. A dip in the pool was a nice treat for Thanksgiving.
  At dinner we went around and said what we were thankful for this year.
MA: that we get to have Christmas in Australia this year
DB: his family (he was the 2nd person to go and did he came up with this all by himself <3
EL: her bed
Matt: Pool
Megan: living in Australia

We had a nice chat with the fam on Thanksgiving. Matt is offering a little tech support to the newest iphone user.

We are extremely thankful for our family that supports us and our decisions, new friends here, old friends in the States.

kids say

Here is a convo that DB and I had while I was driving.
DB: Mommy, how will we know how to get to the store if you are dead?
M: Well, you will hopefully be an adult and know how to do all the things that I do
DB: And eat gum?!
M: yep
DB: and drive?
 Oh the things kids say

November and the Holiday Season

It seems people have their must haves for holiday meals. Matt and I decided to host a Thanksgiving meal this year. So, today I made a run to the grocery store to see what ingredients I am missing from our favorite dishes. They have a lot of similar foods here but we are missing some key things. I will be trying my hand at making a Cool Whip like topping. Can't have ice cream dessert without it! No French's Onions. No french style green beans either. They must be french style for Green Bean Casserole- weird I know! Forgot to check on the pumpkin pie stuff. Oh and wish us good luck cooking a turkey. Just follow the recipe, right?!

Halloween in the land of OZ

  Halloween isn't a big deal around Australia. It is slowly becoming more popular here but definitely not mainstream like in the USA. MA has never really loved the scary part of it. DB is all about the candy. EL isn't old enough to really know all about it quite yet. So, we asked the kids if they wanted to dress up this year or just treat it like any other day. Of course they all wanted costumes. We browsed Pinterest and decided on a Superhero theme. Now to find a fabric store and round up the necessary supplies. EL- Batman, DB-Captain America(he switched his mind a few times), & MA- Wonder Woman. The costumes all turned out nicely and they didn't take that long to make, always a bonus!
  We had planned to hit a couple of the Halloween activities in the area. Unfortunately as we were leaving, it started raining. On Halloween day there was a community event in Bulimba. We thought it sounded like fun and as close as we would get to actual trick-or-treating. Wrong!! They had it all packed into a tiny parking lot and senior center instead of the massive park next to it. They said they were concerned about rain. It was wall to wall people and we didn't stick around long at all. We had some friends over for dinner that night.
  Our neighbor loves Halloween. They put up tons of decorations. DB & EL got a kick out of all the zombies and witches. MA kept her distance. Although she did volunteer to help him put up his Christmas decorations when he was ready. That's my girl! The kids did trick-or-treat at his house (he had told them to come over earlier) and were surprised when he had a mask on!
  The weekend after Halloween our end of the neighborhood did a little trick-or-treat thing. The kids ended up with a handful of lollies and seemed quite please with it. And I loved getting another wear out of the costumes. Our neighbors were have a party so we stopped by for a drink and the kids ate their treats.

More about our stay in Sydney

 Each afternoon we somehow found ourselves sitting at the Opera Bar. It wasn't the kids favorite part but Matt and I enjoyed it a lot. People watching was good. Drinks were cold.  EL had a meltdown one day & I took her to the most secluded place i could find. A random door and let her kick and scream and carry on. She didn't get a nap that day & I don't ever remember what she was upset about at that time. The looks people gave me. I just stood there and smiled. What else could I do?! I got everything from sympathetic looks (they clearly had kids and had been there before) to can't-you-control-your-child (if it was only that easy) but everyone survived. MA & DB got ice cream that night. EL headed back with Matt to go to bed.

 The Opera House is so much bigger in person & not as white as I thought it would be. More of an off white/ cream color. I think we took 100 + pics of it. The Bridge was also beautiful. We had fun watching the groups of people climb it. DB loved the "shark" boat and was not happy to hear he wasn't old enough to ride it. MA loved walking along the waters edge and finding jelly fish floating along.

Sydney Bound-what we did

Matt wanted to check Sydney out & so we made a long birthday weekend out of it. We stayed at the Holiday Inn @ The Rocks. It was a great location. The roof top pool had spectacular views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There is a cruise ship dock right there and it was fun to watch the ships come in and out each day. They are enormous!
  I am sure the fine dining there is great but the family friendly options are a bit limited between The Opera House and The Bridge. We found a delicious Italian spot and had dinner there twice!  The Holiday Inn wasn't anything fancy. The rooms are nice. Highlight of the hotel was the American bacon they had on the breakfast bar. I think we all ate our weight in bacon during our stay.
  We spent Saturday at the Taronga Zoo. It was recommended to us by a friend and the views from the ferry were worth the price of admission. We watched the sea lion show, grabbed lunch, and wandered around all day.
  Sunday, we decided to check out the local market and found some souvenirs. A Christmas ornament (we try and get one from all our trips), a picture of Sydney Harbour, and a couple swim bags made from seed sacks (nice reminder of Metamora).Then we hopped a ferry over to Manly. It was an overcast day but it made it enjoyable and not super hot. The Manly Beach was nice and we had a nice lunch right off the beach.

  Monday, was sunny but breezy. We checked out of the hotel but our flight wasn't until 6pm. We took a ferry over to the Aquarium. There were tons of bars and places to eat. Matt and I could have spend the whole day trying out each one. However, the kids didn't seem to like the idea of walking thru the Aquarium alone so I guess the decision was made. Bars another day! It was busy but there was tons of sea life to see. Walking thru the tunnels watching sharks swim by was cool and they had some giant crab and lobsters too!. We had lunch at King St. Wharf, watched some Monday Night Football, & enjoyed couple cold ones. The waitress told us how well behaved our kids were (which is always nice to hear and nice when people notice). We took the train to the airport where a gentleman said we had a lovely family. It was finally time to head home. A short flight and we were back in Brisbane.