Catching up

Wow, it’s been almost a month since my last blog post.  I’ve been busy, but the blog has been on my mind!  We have passed the 2 month mark of living here and we are starting to feel somewhat settled.  We should be receiving our sea shipment next week if there are no major issues with customs, and once that arrives, I’m hopeful that things will start to really feel like home to us.  We are all SO excited about the arrival of all of our belongings!! 

We have had some highs and lows while we’ve been here, which is to be expected. 

Highs:

• Great family time: a lot of really fun weekend activities
• Amazing parks and outdoor fun
• We have met a lot of great people-the parents at both girls’ schools are so friendly
• Kyla, Hallie & I have joined a playgroup once a week that has music, crafts, and play
• We are learning and experiencing so many new and exciting things, culturally
• We’ve had several outings with new friends here and they are the highlights of our weekends (parks, barbecues, fruit picking)
• The girls are really enjoying school and thriving and learning SO much…I’m blown away at how much they’ve grown!
• Brian’s job is going well and he is enjoying all of the new challenges
• Running-I’ve been able to start running again and it’s great to be able to run outside year round!  I’ve been running 3 times a week for the past month and really enjoying it (except for totally freaking out and I hear all the little lizards slithering in the plants by my feet!)

Lows:

• Missing friends and family-it’s been especially hard missing all of the great summer activities that have gone on without us
• No baby-sitters! I’m sure this will change a little, but it’s become quite a challenge when you don’t have family and close friends to call on
• Bugs-yuck!  A whole new species of gross creatures to get used to (I’m not a fan, can you tell?)
• Church-we are really struggling to find the right church for our family, but we have been every week but one since we’ve been here and have learned a lot about the differences in Christianity here as well as having some not so comfortable moments in some churches.  Please pray that we find a good church home and can get settled in.
• Missing the comforts of home-hoping some of that will change come next week!
• Prices-getting used to the high prices of everything and adjusting myself to what is “normal” here

I’m sure there’s more, but I’m happy to add a new blog post and am planning a couple more in the next few days!

Festival of Wildflowers

On the last Sunday in August, we decided to check this out after church. The girls had a  fun time at this festival learning about plants and worms and getting their hands dirty.  They also enjoyed the playground and train ride!

                                 

                                    

Book Week!

So every year in August, the schools here celebrate book week…they bring in authors for visits, have special library time, do a book swap, a reading challenge and book donations.  But the coolest part is their character parades!  They get to dress up as their favorite book character for the day and they put on a parade in the morning for the parents.

Here’s a view of the many children at Alaina’s school ready for the parade

The MCs-Deputy Principle and Computer teacher-they did a great job and were so funny!

Hallie and Daddy watching from the opposite side

Where’s Waldo??  There were SO many of them and here in Australia, it’s Where’s Wally?

Alaina as Cinderella.  Thankfully I packed a couple dress up things in our air shipment!  We didn’t have much to choose from, but we made it work!

Alaina’s class parading around, led my her teacher who was an information station for all the Australian animals they’ve been learning about

                                     

Alaina with some of her friends after the parade

Kyla’s school also celebrated Book Week.  She went as Angelina Ballerina since we had a ballerina costume…I just had to make her a mask and find her a book at the library!

                                    

With some of her preschool friends

Around our House

I had to have a blog post on the amazing flowers in our garden (front & back) as well as a few other things outside our house.
Front Garden:

                                        


                                        



Back Garden:




A quick shot of our letter carrier…would love to see Brian’s mom deliver mail like this!

A picture of our new to us Honda Odyssey

And the lovely and NOISY (sound like loud monkeys) Kookaburra that always sits in the tree out front…he usually has a friend with him too.

Weekend Fun with Friends

We have really enjoyed getting to know some of Brian’s coworkers and their families better and have had a lot of fun with them on our weekends out.

On Saturday of this weekend, we met friends out at Darling Harbour, which is pretty close to Circular Quay where the Opera House is located.  It was a beautiful day and the kids had an absolute blast playing at the splash and play area and the rest of the playground while we enjoyed some adult conversation. 

Evie fit right in with all of our girls!

Hallie deciding to ditch the rest of us

Now that’s an ice cream truck!

                                       

                                        

After we were all dried off, we grabbed ice cream and walked around the harbour.

Our fun continued on Sunday with other friends inviting us to their house for a barbecue.  We had a lovely time and the kids loved playing with their friends and having a special dessert!