Australia Day---Just Another Day at the Beach

We took advantage of the Australia Day holiday and the beautiful weather. After mulling over some other ideas the beach seemed to be the most popular choice. So we packed a few things and headed off to the beach. It was definitely worth the 15 minute drive! The kids (including Mark) had a great time riding the waves in to the shore. I think our next purchase will be a boogie board!

The crew went back and forth between the water and the sand. They dug holes big enough to climb inside. Kyndal decided that she was cold so she laid down on one towel and covered up with another one. Then she proceeded to tell us all her woes---for a long time. "I'm cold. I want to go home. I have sand in my eyes. I'm cold." Thank goodness for Mady though. She convinced Kyndal to rejoin the sand festivities and put an end to the whining.

After enjoying the afternoon we packed up our stuff and headed home. We took a relaxing soak in the hot tub. Dawson and Mady spread out all their new shells they found.

Funnies for the Day

I said something to K about her sunglasses and she said "You mean sunnies, Mommy" because that's what they call them here.

Mady was being a little sassy so I gave her "the look" and Kyndal told her she was grounded for life! When the kids do something wrong we are always telling them that.

The "No shirt, No shoes" rule doesn't exist in this country. It's nothing strange to see people walking through the grocery store without a shirt or to see someone walk into Mcdonalds' (Macca's) without shoes. Although it's acceptable here, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it.

Phillip Island Holiday

We decided a good way to get our minds off missing family at Christmas was to take a little getaway so we made plans to go to Phillip island. We rented a house 100 meters from the beach and enjoyed the sound of the waves rolling in. The kids LOVED the beach! I thought it was a little too breezy for swimming, but it wasn't enough to deter Mady and Dawson.

Phillip Island is a tourist area know for its nightly penguin parade. Every night the penguins follow the tide into the beach and walk across the beach and up the hill to their burrows. The night we were there approximately 900 penguins crossed the beach. The penguins are used to tourists watching so they are very tame. We were inches away from them. It was amazing to see them come up the beach in groups. The kind of penguins there are the smallest breed of penguins and measure an average of 12 inches in height. It was an amazing experience for the whole family!

We visited a place called A Maze n Things which had all types of puzzles, optical illusions, a huge outdoor maze, mini golf, and a really tall steep slide. It was a strange mix of activities but also a heap of fun. Now to get to the important stuff. You will all be relieved to know that we found a Mexican restaurant in the town where we were staying. While it was not as good as home it was better than nothing!

Our final destination was another animal sanctuary. At this location we were able to buy food so we spent hours feeding the wallabies and little kangaroos. Even Kyndal wasn't intimidated by the animals eating out of her hand. The ultimate sight for us was seeing a baby in the pouch. If you closely you can see it peaking out of the pouch in two of the pictures. There were bigger kanaroos but they were in a field with emus. Mark was brave enough to go try it out but we decided the emus were a little too aggressive to take the kids back.

Grandma---See my blue tongue? That's how much I love the fruit roll ups you sent me!

Look at me riding my new Tinker Bell bike

The House

Well, everyone keeps sending e-mails requesting pics of the house. Here are a few to get started. As we get more settled I can post additional pics. There are other spaces not pictured (two office spaces, bedrooms, upstairs family room) because they still aren't photo ready yet.

Cinderella

We received two packages from our family back home right after Christmas. The kids were so excited by all the little things. Among the special items in our packages were fruit roll ups, candy, Starbuck's coffee, episodes of Survivor, Lego magazine (These can entertain Dawson for months! He will read it until it's falling apart and then he'll ask me to tape it up and read it some more.), makeup (health and beauty items are CRAZY expensive here), mexican seasonings, and some special gifts. It was so exciting!

Our First Christmas

After a lot of begging from the kids we finally got around to putting up our Christmas tree four days before Christmas. Dawson and Kyndal each broke really cute and special ornaments in all the fun. How sad! Mark gave the kids colored star sticker awards for their excellent Christmas spirit. Christmas Day was a fun but quiet time at our house. Santa had gotten Madyson a PS2 game but it turns out Santa didn't know that video games have different region codes just like DVDs--so the game didn't work on our system because Santa must have purchased it in Australia. Thankfully Santa said he would send a new one from the U.S. Kyndal would have been fine to quit opening after she finished her stocking. She is so easily satisfied! Dawson spent the ENTIRE day on the hard tile floor putting together his new lego sets.

A December to Remember

December was a busy month for our family. Mady celebrated her first birthday in the land of Oz. We went out to see High School Musical 3--what else! The kids got out of school for holiday break the middle of December. And on December 15 we got to move into our new house!!! To make it even more perfect, our shipment of stuff from the U.S. also arrived. The night we got our shipment Dawson and Kyndal didn't even want to leave the house to get McDonald's. They were having so much fun playing with all the toys they hadn't seen in two months!

A New Life

Well, a move to a new country involves a lot of changes for everyone. For Mark and me it included learning to drive on the other side of the car and the other side of the road. For the kids it meant starting at a new school and ----the dreaded uniforms!