Jet Lag Sucks

Jet Lag is no joke.

we were able to track our flight as we went,
kinda cool to see the path we took.(NOTE:just TX-Sydney)

We have spent a majority of the time sleeping since we arrived here in Exmouth. Well, Jerrod, Logan and myself at least, Addison is another story...she is quite frankly a freak of nature I swear. My 4 year old literally wakes up at 4 refuses to nap and puts herself to bed at 7:30 just to do it all again. Meanwhile Jerrod and I are dragging butt getting things in order and learning the area. We took 3 hikes yesterday in hopes of seeing a kangaroo (the kids want to see one so bad) we even took a trail...the kind that had uneven red sand and tall grass on both sides about the height of my knee and I just prayed I could run fast enough if necessary. It is THE trail to the beach so walked often and every one says they have never seen a long squiggly thing that must not be mentioned on it, but lets be honest if someone would see one it seems like it would be me. We got 1/2 way up the trail to where it meets a main road and took the road back to town and never made it to the beach as the wind was wicked strong and Logan was complaining about his ears in the wind. We were told by a local we stopped to talk with that normally the kangaroo are abundant in the area but they have had so much rain this year (the most they have had since the 1900's!) that the kangaroo don't have to come into town from the desert to seek water because they have it already (makes sense to me!) Everything is sooo much greener than we thought it would be, for the same reason. It is kind of nice, not as much of a shock having some grass in our giant backyard; which i have yet to have the nerve to go back to.
Every one is so laid back, shoes and shirts are optional and everyone greets you with a g'day and a smile. When we took our day in Sydney we were floored with the beauty of the town. There wasn't any garbage ANYWHERE and it was so clean and tidy...and if there were homeless people, we didn't see any and we walked everywhere. The same can be said for this small town. Australia has something right, taking care of there country. It's  the cleanest place I've ever seen and I love it. They also don't use plastic bags at stores at all, so you have to bring your own reusable bags or buy them there.
The sticker shock set in when we did our first grocery shopping trip Saturday. Thank god we had pre ordered essentials and some non perishable food items on walmart.com and they were waiting for us in the house; just a small tube of banana boat sunscreen is $20 (that's something I stock piled from the commissary with coupons before we left since you reapply daily) The grocery store is literally right behind our house, so its nice to be able to walk to. We left with the kids in the double stroller and came back with it full of groceries and the kids walking...glad we brought it! All the shops are close together including a delicious bakery full of breads, breakfast delicacies, meat pies, cakes and desserts (I may make it a goal to try one of everything!) a butcher, hairdresser, several restaurants, post office, Addison's school, library, toy store and several other small shops.

The kids woke up at 5 this morning rather than 4 or 4:30 so it is improving; thank god for New England's Best Blueberry coffee that came with my wal mart order, it has been saving my life on these early morning! Jerrod is getting ready to head into his first day of work! He will catch a car pool and drive about 30 minutes out into the desert to get to the observatory; honestly he will see more wild life (and not the cute and cuddly kind) then I will...he can just keep those things out there with him at the site thank you very much.
Ok off to get 'acup' (coffee)
 of this delicious hot beverage so I don't fall asleep here on the couch while the kids are running around. Wish us luck on our first day being alone in our new town!

Almost Take Off!

Here we are sitting in the TLF (temporary lodging facility) here on Mcguire. Things have gotten real really fast. Yesterday Jerrod drove down to Baltimore to drop off our mini van to meet us in Australia (it should take 2-3 months) and while he was out our first set of movers showed up taking with them our 500 lb essential load-let's just say i realized how few items 500 lbs really is once you start adding in clothing, bedding, towels, pots and pans, and a TV. That load should get to us in 4-5 weeks. Today we were smart and while Jerrod ran around finishing out processing I hired a baby sitter to sit with the kids here at TLF while I was at the house dealing with the second set of movers. Today we had 1500 lbs for the remainder of our stuff. Once again, once we start adding in toys, Logan's crib and the rest of our things to live with we found it added up fast and we just hope we didn't go over our limit (eek). I started the deep cleaning as soon as they were gone and got through the master bathroom and bed room. One thing I can say that is good about military PCSing is you are forced to weed out junk and things you don't really need. It is hard though, and I can't say it wasn't an emotional day making cuts on books, stuffed animals and pictures. It was by far the most emotional moving day I have ever had.  Monday the third and final set of movers will come to pick up everything that is left and take it to storage. This weekend we have a big task ahead of us of selling off all of the things we don't want to keep (donating what we cant sell) and getting everything cleaned up around the stuff still in the house because we have our final inspection Tuesday morning before we leave.
So, as you can see the past 48 hours have been emotional and rough, but we are getting through it.
The kids are both in the the bed room (there is just 1) it is the first time they have ever slept in the same room. Addi is on an air mattress,Lo is in a pack n play and the bed is for me and Jerrod (i was on the 5ft couch/coffee table bed i made up last with Logan and it was terrible!) They are in the room laughing and carrying on in conversation; half of me wants to tell them to lay down, but i'll let them enjoy the first official sleep over and since no one is crying or screaming I think its a success.
The kids are having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to everything...I found Logan hiding under the dining room table today laying down not wanting to come out and Addison has been very over emotional about everything. I give all military kids kudos. They really are resilient and I believe it will make them stronger individuals later on.
Our bags are packed and ready to go.
This is crazy to think we will be in Australia in our new home this time next week.
The adventure awaits us!