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Our First Dinner Party

Happy Halloween everyone. I know it is a little late, but we all know how time flies. It was really funny to watch kids trick or treat around here. They put a couple of signs out on some trees that basically said if you want to trick or treat go to the houses with the lights on. There was no one on our block that had a light on. We did see some children trick or treating and the costumes were very poor. A few sad looking witches and some kids with capes on. The funny thing was when they would come to the door they did not say trick or treat. They just stood there. Now if you are going to copy an American holiday, then you have to say "trick or treat". The only reason that I know this is because Shawna, who you heard me talk about in other postings, accidentally had her front light on and had a few trick or treaters.

We hosted our first dinner for some of our good friends over here. Dan and I made some Mexican. We had a lot of food. They like to make fun of us because they say that Americans would never run out of food. Can you believe that they had never had a margarita before? I don't know how they survived with out one in their crazy heat. There is one side note, Sandoval if you are reading this, Dan made your dirty rice and jalapenos and everyone said they were to die for. He did make sure he gave you the credit. I'm sure your surprised.

The night was finished off by a beautiful cake that Emma made. It looked like you would have bought it at a very expensive bakery. It took her four hours to make it and, let me tell you, it was divine to eat. Christian had his first sleep over that night also. It would have been William's first sleep over ever as well. How cool is it that it was at an Americans house.

I guess now everyone will be getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas although we don't have Thanksgiving here. Hope everyone is healthy as winter approaches. We love and miss all of you.

Ange

Australian Education

Here is a funny thing. Our mail is brought to us on a motorbike. They whiz around the neighborhoods delivering the mail and they ride right over your grass. This isn't a big deal for me because we don't really have grass due to the drought. Could you imagine this in the States? I guess the other funny thing would be me standing out on the street waiting for him to come to our house to deliver the mail and taking a picture of him. This really tickled me when we got here so I had to share it.

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Christian's Birthday

Well, Christian turned 8. Not a lot has changed with him. He now fights with Paige with 8 years of experience to her 5. He had his favorite meal for supper...chicken casserole and his favorite cake CHOCOLATE.

We had Brian and Shawna Perry over for supper.(our friends from America). They had a baby boy, Kaden, on the 15th of October. Christian thought it would be nice if they named the baby after him since his birthday was so close.

Thanks to everyone who sent gifts and cards for his birthday. He really felt special. In case you were wondering what we gave him for his birthday, see the new electric scooter pictured.

Getting Back To Normal

Well the weather is heating up and the kids are entering into the their last term of school. This term they will be swimming and getting ready for end of the year concerts. Christian will be getting ready for his piano concert and Paige's class is getting ready for the Christmas pagent. Our darling Paige will be Mary in the Christmas Pagent and she has a solo. We are still wondering how she got the part being American and all.

Yep, things are back to normal. I only have roughly 48 more lunches I have to pack (combinded). Christian will be having his 8th birthday this week.. . seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home. We have a surprise for him...we will be taking him to one of the theme parks on Friday. Dan has a busy week this week so we won't be able to go on his birthday. Our friend Shawna, a wife that is over here from America will also be having her baby this week. We are very excited for them, however I am happy to have my 8 year old instead.

We are going to take it easy for next few week-ends as we will be going to Fiji for Christmas. We have to save up those pennies. We went to South bank this weekend. I have told you about this in past blogs. It is so nice to have little shops and cafe's and to just hang out for an afternoon. We are really laid back and enjoying our life right now. For those of you who are planning on coming down for a trip. Make sure you bring a sun hat, sun glasses and a good book. It is a very laid back community.

Our love goes out to all of you. Thank you for looking at our blog. We do hope you are enjoying it. Let us know what you think.

Austalian Education
Did you know that every 2 hours you are suppose to stop and stretch your legs? In fact, there are signs on the side of the road that remind you to stop and take a rest. Additionally, the dashboard of some cars will display a coffee cup after the vehicle drives for 2 hours to remind the driver that it is time to stop and get a cup of coffee.

Port Douglas - Great Barrier Reef & Daintree Rainforest

I can't believe it is October already. From what I hear from my family, fall has arrived. Leaves turning, corn coming out of the field, and COLLEGE FOOTBALL! GO HAWKS!!!! The opposite is happening here. The children had a 2 week break before term 4 starts (October 8) and the temperature is rising. This will be the last term of the year for them. One of the things that Dan promised was that if we were lucky enough to be here for one year, then we were going to make the most of it. So on Thursday the 20th of September, we were on the plane up to Cairns. Actually we stayed at Port Douglas, but who needs to get technical. Port Douglas is an area of Australia where two magnificent natural areas come together - the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest.

I will try and make this as short as possible. However the 5 days that we were up there were packed with things to do. On Friday we went snorkeling in the GREAT BARRIER REEF. I wish that all of you could experience this 8th wonder of the world. After an hour and a half ride out to the outer ribbon reef we had all the instructions we needed and we were ready to snorkel. I was a little nervous, but it all came very natural for all of us, except our sweet little Paige. She was clinging to dear life on a bodyboard and noodle. Dan and I took turns enjoying the reef and pulling Paige along with us. Christian on the other hand...we could barely keep up with him. He was diving under and swimming like a champ. I don't know if he enjoyed it as much as we did. We had 3 dives that day at different spots. It was educational seeing all the fish and different coral. We saw clams as big as our arms extended, maybe bigger. My favorite memory will be the beautiful fish and on the last dive - a SHARK. Yep, I saw a shark. I had to look a couple of times. At first, I thought it was a big fish then with the next look, oh my god I was yelling for Dan to come and see. With all the flippers and snorkel, he was nowhere to be found. Did I mention the shark was pretty far away? That is why I was calm.

Saturday, we went to the Daintree Rainforest. This is on the world heritage listing so they can't develop anything in it. We did a lot of hiking this day on trails and looking at REALLY big trees. Dan did some reading before we went and there is a bird that only lives in Australian rainforest call the Cassowary. It is similar to our Ostrich or an Emu. The kids weren't as excited about this day as they can only stand to look at so many trees before they become bored. One of the last things we did that day before we went back to the apartment was go to Mossman Gorge. Wow the beauty of the rocks combined with rainforest...Breath taking. I must be getting older now that I enjoy looking at scenery. Dan and I put our feet in the freezing water but Christian was all the way in.

Sunday we went done towards Cairns and took a different look at the rainforest going over the top on a Skyrail. It really gives you a different perspective on how high the trees are when you're riding over the top of them. The rail stopped a couple of times and we looked at the forest and waterfalls. We spent a couple of hours looking around a small town on the top of the mountain. We went to a butterfly sanctuary. The kids loved having butterflies land on them as I snapped a million pictures trying to get the perfect one. We boarded a train and headed back down the mountain and on the way we saw more waterfalls. I just don't get tired of looking at it.

I know we said we were there for 5 days...Thursday was a travel day and so was Monday. We walked around all over the town of Port Douglas, walked on the beach and hiked on a small trail. Overall this was such a fun trip. Great bonding time for our family. The kids swam every night after we finished our day trips in the saltwater pool at the hotel. We also consistently met up with other families that were staying at the same place with their families for holidays. This gave Christian and Paige some friends to swim with each day. We went to bed early and rose early everyday that we were there. There is one more memorable part to our trip. One night, Dan and I were sitting watching tv and we had a little gecko run down the wall and go under the couch. Needless to say I had to put shoes on to go anywhere and slept with pillows shoved up against the door. Yuck. This is just a "lucky" part of being in Australia. These little lizards are everywhere and the locals say that we will see a lot more of them as it gets warmer.

Australian Education
Now that summer is approaching we have blue frill lizards and small little geckos. You will find geckos hiding out on the top of the ceiling out side on our porch. They can get into any little opening. I have a towel shoved up under the garage door and make sure doors are shut at all times. The lizards are found out basking in the sun. I am always on the hunt when we are at the park or at the zoo. Those little suckers will run out from under the bush. From what I heard, they are more afraid of me. I truly find that hard to believe. I'm sure this will only get worse as the summer goes on. Enjoy the slide shows of our trip below.

Swimming and Beaches, Beaches and Swimming

Hi Everyone hope you don't mind more beach pictures. Before Dan left for America, he purchased a GPS navigator for me so I wouldn't be stranded at home. So the kids and I made the most of it and went to South Bank the day he left. What is South Bank you must be wondering. It is a man made beach in the middle of down town Brisbane just off of the river with a full parking garage just feet way! After purchasing body boards and buckets, we were off for our first adventure. We had a beautiful day for laying out and enjoying the water and playing in the sand. However this does make a mess in the car. Christian wasn't the happiest when I said it was time to go, and by the look from the pictures that I took, he didn't want a camera shoved in his face either. The poor kids...they are always getting their pictures taken. Oh well, they will like it later in life. Pictures now...memories later.

On Sunday we couldn't go to church...it was way too nice. We were at the ocean most of the day. We really can't get enough of it. Christian was body boarding for hours. I had to tell him to take a break. It looked like so much fun! Paige had a special thing for me to do though - it was running and getting her some water from the ocean so that she could fill the river she was making out of sand. Thank you Paige.

The kids have been taking swimming lessons from the time we got here almost. Paige wouldn't put her head in the water and now she is getting ready to start the breath stroke. Christian could swim when we got here but now he really knows what he is doing. He is a natural. He loves to be under the water. He has great upper body strength for strong strokes. They will take extra lessons during their 2 week holiday so they can move up in their lessons. The teachers here are absolutely amazing. They have to be with all the water that is around us.

Australian Education
Whether you are out swimming or hanging out with a friend you may want to get something to eat. This was the case for Shawna and myself when we went to KFC. Shawna is one of the John Deere wife's that are over in Australia with me. When we ordered our food, I asked for a buttermilk biscuit and Shawna asked for ketchup to go with her meal. We were looked at like we didn't speak english. We knew what we were asking for but to them, we were asking for cookies and who knows what else. Together we were able to communicate with Shawna knowing that biscuits were cookies and the proper thing is asking for a roll. I knew that tomato sauce was ketchup. Just a little helpful hint if you are ordering food in Australia.

Everyday Essentials

This posting is dedicated to giving the readers a perspective on the type of house we live in, the vehicles that we drive, and the appliances that we use.

First of all, we will give you an idea of our house. We live in a two story home with a "double lock-up garage" (2-car garage in American english). The house has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a fenced in backyard. With a few pictures out from home and the purchase of a few things to decorate with, our house now feels like home.

Next, we have significantly downsized vehicles for Angie. We used to have the large SUV ("Beloved" as Angie referred to it) and now we have a small compact car ("Surf" nicknamed by the kids). The challenge with vehicles started with Angie learning to drive my work vehicle which had the turn signal on the right side of the wheel and the wiper control on the left. Shortly after she became accustomed to the new setup, I purchased her a vehicle which had European style controls and put the controls back to the way they were in the US. Other than turning the wipers on a few times while turning, there were no major dramas. The car gets excellent kilometers per liter and is easy to park in tight spots in the car park.

Finally, we wanted to share some of the differences in home appliances. Starting with the laundry. In Australia, they do not vent dryers to the outside. Therefore, it is very common for people to put their dryer in the garage (if you have one at all) in order to keep the lint and humidy level down. Additionally, we hang clothes outside on a small close line connected to our privacy fence. This is a nice way to get the laundry dry as there is rarely rain and the weather is nice...even in the winter.

The other appliance that took some getting used to was the Australian oven. I would compare the oven size to a large microwave and Angie had to get the directions out to understand the new symbols on it...also, the temperatures are listed in Celsius...luckily, so are most direction for meals that we cook. Angie has it figured out, but of course, I ask her what to do every time she asks me to put something in the oven. Hopefully, I will wear her out and she won't ask anymore (just kidding). Finally, we have had quite an adjustment going from a refrigerator with an ice make to now having to make ice. In the early days, when I was filling up the ice trays, Paige asked, "What are those daddy?" I explained with a polite, "Baby, this is how we will now get our ice...we have to make it ourselves." Hope you have enjoyed the pictures and some of the quick stories.

Australian Education

American's here would revolt over the swings in prices of "petrol" (fuel) from day to day. We have watched and consistently petrol prices go up as high as $0.15 per liter ($0.60 per gallon) overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday. They then stay up until about Friday and then start to slowly work their way down to normal Tuesday levels. Needless to say, we get petrol on Tuesday. Did I mention that petrol on Tuesday still costs $4.00 US per gallon. Think about $4.00 per gallon on a regular basis and then they raise it to $4.50 on Wednesday. Also, it is difficult to find pay at the pump so it is common to wait in lines of 2-3 cars on a Tuesday to get petrol. Not the end of the world...just something you have to deal with when you live on an island.

Footy Anyone?

Recently Dan was back in the "States" as they call it here. I just want to say thank you to everyone who sent stuff back with Dan. Also I would also like to thank everyone who has sent us care packages. Some of the kids favorite things that they have recieved have been fruit by the foot, fruit gushers and band-aids. They don't have character band-aids like they do at home. The girls are wild about the Hello Kitty band-aids.

Our favorite pasttime is footy, which is rugby. During soccer season I suppose that would be called footy too. I am still trying to figure it out. We are able to watch rugby from Friday to Monday. Dan and I have our favorite teams already. Unfortunately, the season is coming to an end with playoffs starting soon.

One of Dan's friends at work (Rod McDonald) has a son (Liam) who is in the minor league's of Rugby in Australia. He invited us to go to his son's game so we could experience Rugby up close. The game was very exciting to watch in person...much like American Football but without the pads and non-stop. After the game, we went back to Rod's house for dinner with his family and Christian was able to talk to Liam about the game. Christian thought that it was the coolest thing in the world to talk to a rugby player...so cool that he wanted to get his picture taken with Liam. Liam was nice enough to pull out one of his old rugby balls, sign it, and take a photo with Christian. Since then, there have been quite a few days where Christian carries the rugby ball around and continually wants to play catch. If his build turns out to be anything like Dan's, we can rest assured that he will likely never step foot on the "footy" field or the oval as they call it here.

Australian Education
In addition to going to the game that day, Christian thought that it would be good to introduce the Australian's to tailgating. He noticed that Liam had a pickup with a flatbed on the back, otherwise known as a "Ute". He thought that we should suggest that we take Liam's ute to the game next time and tailgate before the game like we do at the Iowa Hawkeye games. Not a bad idea...amazing that the Australian's (professional drinkers by eastern Iowa standards) did not think of this idea a long time ago. When we mentioned this idea to Liam's parents, they thought we were talking about following a car too close (tailgating)...again, taking terms literally. Enjoy and have a laugh with us.

The Kitty Hawk and Lone Pine Zoo

This was another great weekend for the family. We were all very excited that the Kitty Hawk would be in Brisbane. I know that I, for one, wanted to see it. I meant that we would see a little bit of home(USA). Who knew that we would have to come all the way around the world to see the Kitty Hawk. The traffic was amazing to see this great ship. It was like the Field of Dreams. The Kitty Hawk was suppose to bring a lot of money into the city due to all the sailors visiting and having to get groceries for all the navy men.

After visiting the Kitty Hawk we decided to visit our local zoo (Lone Pine). This is were John Deere tells the people from the US to visit when they come here. It was really cool. Dan decided to get a family pass for us since we plan on having visitors. The kids and I have been since our first visit. One Friday, we were out feeding the kangaroos after school and one little kangaroo couldn't wait for Christian to feed him so he decided to help himself by tearing off the bottom of Christian's feed bag. We really enjoy the kangaroos and koala bears. I have told my Mom about all the really cool birds that they have at Lone Pine. When we went the first time, Dan brought us to all the shows that are put on daily like birds of prey and feeding of animal. Also you will see pictures of the dog on the back of sheep. This was a really fun show to watch. They showed us how the dogs respond to commands and how they will hop up on the back of sheep to get them moving into the pens.

I was really impressed by the way they would feed the birds. With a whistle sound the birds(lorikeets) would come in by the swarms and sit on feeders to eat. They had a big Farris wheel that the birds would also sit on. This thing was so full of birds that the Farris wheel was spinning very quickly. Quite a site to see. I took my turn on feeding the birds. I felt like the Statue of Liberty. You just had to hold your hand up with this lid on a stick and the birds would come to eat the food. I wanted the kids to get to feed the birds also but as they were coming in, Paige had a bird let a little go on her head. That is so like Paige's luck. As you will see in the pictures below I just couldn't let it go. I still laugh at the thought of poor old Paige. Thank goodness she isn't old enough to read this yet she would be so mad at me.

As promised before, I will now give you a little bit of Australian Education. Did you know that Australia is known for making the dual flush toilets. It is a circle on the top of the toilet split in half. One half being lager than the other. Christian informed me what the small one was for and what the larger button was for. I don't think that I have to explain that any further.

Also the bathroom is called the toilet since we are on the subject. Christian said to one of his friends at school that he had to go to the bathroom....his friend told him that they didn't have bathrooms at school only "TOILETS." Bathrooms have a tub and a shower. Now you know folks...we have toilets in public and bathrooms at our house. Enjoy your day, and remember that we send our love to all who are reading this.

School Days, Golden Rule Days

Sorry this has taken me longer to get this next post out. We are very busy with school, you all know how it is . Now that Christian is in grade2, he has homework every night. The first week of school went very well. Paige blended in like she had been there all her life. Christian made friends pretty easily also. The boys are teaching Christian how to play soccer. The boys must have went home and told their parents that they had a new boy in there class who didn't know how to play soccer! We also got the lunches firgured out also...I asked a lot of people at the school what I should bring for the kids to eat. They said to pack whatever I would put in their lunches in America. To make a long story short, Christian ended up eating fruit loops for his lunch. They have Tea (snack) in the morning. Christian ate all of his lunch at tea and only had a snack for his regular lunch. Needless to say, they were starving when I picked them up from school. Now I basically fix 2 lunches. A piece of fruit and a muffin for tea and sandwich with other stuff for lunch. It's amazing how quickly we adapt to the Australian culture of tea times. Morning and afternoon.

The parents are very friendly also. Everyone introduced themselves and many were anxious to get together. One of the Friday's after school we had tea with other parents from school while the kids played. That was fun. It kind of reminded me of my girlfriends back in Arkansas (Ya-Ya). We sat out side and the kids ate pasteries and we had wine, tea, and a lemon lime and bitter. I have no idea what that is, but they really like that drink over here. The following Friday, we were invited to Bailey Meyers' birthday party. This is a boy in Christian's class. It was a lovely party. The children played some games and then went across the street to the park for a little footy (I think they call everything footy....I'm still trying to get that nailed down). In addition, this is a little wild...one man followed me out at school and invited Dan and myself to his 50th birthday party. It was going to be very large with some John Deere dealers there. I told him we had plans. Then he called Dan at home and invited him for Sunday if we couldn't make it on Saturday. However, we didn't go since we already had plans.

The children both had field days here...they called it a "Carnival". I had no idea what it was. I thought they were going on rides for awhile. Paige told me that she was in training. For what, I thought to myself...standing in line for the rides? Actually it was very nice day and I was able to meet some new people.

A few things the kids are both learning is German. Paige can sing a good morning song and Christian knows how to sing Happy Birthay. Every Friday, Christian has an assembly where people get awards and they tell of peoples birthdays and what will be happening at the school. Christian heard about "AusKick"....which is like a camp for learning Australian Football. He is learning how to kick, catch and pass. Paige is picking up the accent very quickly and is correcting us on what we should be saying. I can't say "what" anymore...I have to say pardon.

Since I am spending almost 20 minutes or more in the car (each way to school with the kids) I have a fair bit of time to try and catch up on the lingo. In a future posting, I will try and put up fun facts about Austrailia and lingo that new people should know to help themselves out if they come to visit. We will call this your "Australian Education". Your first bit of Education is called Fairy Bread. This is served at birthday parties or for afternoon tea. It is simply white bread with butter and sprinkles (basically cupcake or cake sprinkles) on top. They call the little ball sprinkles hudreds and thousands. The Austalian's also say and interpret everything very literally. For instance, one time Dan was out to dinner with two people and they were going to share some pizza. He asked for a couple of plates assuming that the waiter would bring three (one for each) but since he said "a couple," only two plates were brought out. You must say what you mean if you want it to turn out correctly.

That's all for now...enjoy some pictures from the kid's "Carnival" as well pictures of tea time.

Christian's field day

School Days Are Back Again!!

First "Roo" Sighting

Wow! It's amazing how time seems to fly right now. Sunday, July 8th, we were able to take the kids out around dusk and see all the wild kangaroos. I honestly don't know who was more excited...me or the kids. As you can see by all the pictures, I couldn't get enough. Dan thought I was being a little excessive with the pictures. I just wanted to share them with all of you. These kangaroos are much smaller than the ones at the zoo. These wild kangaroos have to feed off of the land and with the drought, they don't have a lot to eat.

Monday was another day of running. Dan was ready to go back to work and I was ready to take charge of the house again. There can only be one boss at a time at the house. So Dan needed to go. I took the kids by myself to get their uniforms. They are a very nice fabric that takes the sweat away in the summer. Right now though, we need to wear our "TRACKIES" (running pants and jacket). I laughed when I thought about the kids wearing uniforms but honestly it's great! There is no competition on who is wearing what and it makes getting ready in the morning very easy. I think the kids look smarter and hold themselves much better because they have something to represent. The children have really taken a liking to the hats. I thought it would be a fight but they wear them all the time.

Monday we also got our phone hooked up. My lifeline. It's so nice to hear familiar voices. Thanks to everyone who are leaving us messages on the blog. We check all the time to see who has left us a note.

CITY WHAT?

Listen Ladies and Gentlemen, being on the road for the first part of July was a dangerous thing in Brisbane when Angie Leibfried was learning how to drive. Dan was oh so kind to give me a few tips of how to enter round-abouts and how to keep it on the road. I was always wanting to go over to the right too much. I won't even go on to the part of the blinkers and wiper controls being on the opposite side of the wheel. I don't even really know why they have wipers...they are in a hundred year drought for heaven sakes!

Sunday, July 8th, we decided to go to Christian & Paige's school so that we could see the Chapel that they would be attending during the week and I could get an idea of how to get to school from our house. After church, the priest gave Dan some different directions to use so I could avoid a lot of the city traffic on the way to and from school during the week. Dan gave me the refadex (reference map coupled with a street index) and had me help with the directions. This is a map of how to get around the area...keep in mind, they have round-abouts in them too. AWWWW! We made it home. Then my lovely husband decided that I should give it another try when we got home. I barely knew how to get out of our subdivision much less get back to school. I did however make it to and from school with Dan only closing his eye's a couple of times as I was heading too close to the bluff wall. He thought I was going to take off the mirror. You should see me take those corners now. Just so that everyone one can be at ease, I did get a driving lesson and you are safe to come over and ride with me now.

While we were down by the kids school for the 3rd time in one day, Dan took us on a City Cat (water taxi) ride. This was really fun. We hopped on the boat at the University of Queensland and rode it for an hour one way. This a fun and inexpensive way to get around the city. We will definitely have to do this with our guest when they come over. We saw the downtown area, the Story Bridge (this is the one that you can climb over) and a lot of other cool stuff. The great thing about this is that you can hop off and get back on another City Cat going the other direction any time for one fare all day. I personally just like watching the different people getting on and off the Cat.

As you can see Dan has been keeping us busy the first couple of days we were here. I will try to be as well as Dan when any of you come over to visit. Hope you are enjoying these entries as much as we are enjoying our time together.