Ugly insects

Can we juat take a moment and stare at the ugliness of the insects here. This creepy thing was attempting to get in my house this am upon returning from dropping my daughter off at school. He was in between my screen door and my solid door. Reason #5,489 why I don't leave just my screen doors open and just use the AC because clearly the creepy crawly  things easily slip under the screen doors. His family will never see him again, let's leave it at that.

Addison started football aka American soccer and she likes it alot. There's about 18 mini roos (4&5 year old players) so they split them among 2 coaches. My daughter for sooome reason thought your supposed to tackle the other players around the waist and drag them to the ground...apparently she's watched too much American football and confused the name? Either that or I need to put her in rugby instead. Anywyas after I explained that's the wrong sport it didn't happen again...atleast she didn't make the boys cry that she tackled to the ground.

We got a call Monday that our unaccompanied baggage (our 500lb rush shipment ) would be here this morning! So what do I do, remembering how it's always been done in the past they say morning and that means 1 day it's 11:30 and the next they show up at 6am, I rushed A to school to get back incase they showed up. 2 hours later still no movers. I'm terrified if I even think about getting in the shower they will show up mid shampoo and I'll miss them, so scratch being clean today. I remembered we needed to return toys to the library so I packed them up and hauled Lo and the toys across the street and hurried back. Still no moving truck. Going on 11am. To me, morning means before 9:30 , after that it's mod morning. It's 11:14  now. If they had said noon I would have atleast ran over to the pharmacy or market to grab groceries. Ohhh well. I'm thankful to know that at SOME point today we will have SOME of OUR things, and this makes me happy :-)

Blown away

Jerrod had today off so we loaded up the truck,  packed up a days worth of snacks plus some (because let's face it kids could snack allllll day ) and headed out to the west side of the peninsula to sandy bay. You would be disgusted by the amount of dead roos on the side or in the middle of the road out that way. They are rather stupid creatures and jump either in front of or right into vehicles as they drive...like they hop into the side of your car. It's really rather sad because you are obligated to "finish them off" rather than let them suffer; it's like hitting  a deer in maine. Then you must check the pouch for babies.
Once we drove the 45+minutes to the beach it didn't take long for us to notice some pretty nasty clouds headed our way.  The beach was dead, and much more windy than we anticipated. Some of our friends arrived and the 3 young girls spent the time in the water playing while logan dragged sticks around in the mud making shapes. After about an hour and a half the black clouds were close enough to make us un comfortable so we packed up and got in the car just as the rain began to pour down on us. So much for our sun soaked relaxing day at the beach! First rain for us since we have been here. .so 4 weeks!  On the bright side,  we should be receiving our unaccompanied baggage by the end of the week! (Our first 500 lbs of essentials) this makes me happy because we will be able to start putting our touches into the house and really making it ours.
I made rice krispy treats yesterday to bring to share at the beach. I recommend if coming from the states and you like marshmallows bring your own. There pink and white marshmallow concoction taste like crap. So if you are reading this, feel free to send a couple of bags my way!

Sausage sizzle

Today we had our first sausage sizzle. That I quickly learned is what they do at get togethers. Today was a 5 year olds birthday party. It was very casual at the part y ou know the normal spread, miniature meat pies, sausage rolls, fairy bread (bread with butter and fully dunked in sprinkles!) And then of course the full on grilled sausages , hence the name a sausage sizzle. Eveything was amazing and so delicious. When asked don't you guys eat sausage at parties we responded no, mostly hamburgers and hotdogs; and might I add there version of hot dog we found at the market is NOT  an American hot dog by any means. But boy don't these Australians know how to throw a party!  Besides the giant 2 tier frozen themed cake and platter of fresh fruit, coolers of beer and wine they had a piñata, water balloons and plenty of play for all the 20ish kids in attendance.  We met so many more wonderful, welcoming people.  We are starting to hear the familiar "ohhh so your the new American family"  or "oh nice to meet you, I've seen you around" at which I think 1) I hope that wasn't a day my kids were being terrible in the store or 2) I guess we are the talk of the town!  Once people see you around longer than 2 weeks its assumed your here for a while.
On top of my new favorite "sausage sizzle" phrase,  there's some other lingo that we have caught on to so we don't look like complete idiots
Breaky-breakfast ( I actually love this one! )
Keen-  you keen to still get together? You keen with that?

Ok side note because my mind is all over tonight, pause on lingo. ...yesterday at the skate park we went to meet some friends,  6 kids between the 3 of us. I brought fruit snacks to share that I had imported over as they are every moms life saver for any toddler or child and they don't have them here!  So anyways, I hand out the bags and my kids go to town and they were like, umm what do we do and what are these. ..they are fruit snacks,in no way are they fruit they are just shaped like fruit and yes they are sugar. ..but they are motts so they are the best kind :-)

Ok.up date over.

Sunday Funday

Today I woke up and dressed the kids and myself and we walked maybe 4 minutes down the road to the local Christian fellowship lighthouse church. I felt a little relief as I walked closer to the open doors and we could hear a heavy drum beat coming from inside. Not to much change is good right now for the kids. We were greeted by the tiny congregation and welcomed by many. The contemporary band made it familiar for addison which was nice, I was afraid traditional hymns may have been too much transition for her. She immediately recognized a little girl from her kindy class and they colored as we sang. Logan went into the small nursery they have in the back of the building, the 4 year olds and up left and went to another building for children's church and I stayed put in my folding chair. Because of the small size and frequent transit among the residents they do not have a full time pastor; instead the elders of the congregation take turns doing the message, sermon and prayer every week. The 3 piece worship team was really good and played uplifting music that eveyone got into. As one of the women said to me "we may not have a pastor to lead us, but our hearts are in the right place and God speaks through us to eachother". They were all wonderful and very helpful. Logan enjoyed playing with kids his age and new toys and addison had a blast at church school.

Our weekly schedule is slowly starting to look like a real calendar, with weekly repeating events and functions.

Yesterday I had to have a heart to heart with addi, she was telling me how when we go home to get whiskey and Trigger they will love going back with us to our house in new jersey. I had to remind her that we won't be going back there, and most likely a new family is already living in that house, she got really upset thinking  some new child was using her things. She just doesn't seem to understand we won't ever go back to that house. Leaving it was such a whirlwind I feel like I didn't even get to properly take a minute in the empty house before leaving. Things happened so fast between movers, cleaning, turning in keys ect. I still remember seeing it for the first time with my father and being so excited knowing it was going to be the house we raised our children in and brought home to. As much as we were ready to start fresh, and take advantage of the adventures the military offers, we had a good 5 1/2 years at that base.

Did I mention I found a cockroache last night while I was home alone? No? It was as big as my hand no joke...and did I mention they fly here? Yes.....with wings....i saw it move under my pizza pan in the cabinet as I was getting a pot out. Needless to say, I went without the pot and closed the door and did the smartest thing I could think of , I waited for jerrod to get home. When he got home he went hunting for it, but it was gone....now I have a man eating cockroache loose that will fly around my house at night hunting me.... seriously?! Not cool. And my husband thinks I made it up. I hope he finds it in his coffee mug just for that, ok not really because I would cry if that happened to me.
Cheers.

A little faith goes a long way

I'm finally settled in our new country and with addi attending school now I find myself with free time while logan takes his mid day nap. ..somehow my book I never was able to get into (i was just too busy!)for my bible study back in the spring 'a lineage of grace' by Francine Rivers made its way here even though all we have is suitcases...hmmm...the point is, is i can't put it down! I feel like it made it secretly into my luggage for a reason. I find myself bawling in the pages describing the pain (emotional and physical) Tamar encountered in the house of Judah. In a few short chapters I feel connected to these real life characters. These strong women who structured the course of our biblical history. It gives me hope, and an inner strength that I can do anything, a reassurance that God will in fact look over me and my family and not let anything bad happen to us as long as we have faith in him and nothing but him.
You havn't read it? Then you should! Keep in mind it is historical fiction, but it is fantastic!
I give credit where it's due; new jersey. If there is one thing I can take away from that place it is the re-birth of my faith. I feel like my whole outlook has changed since then. When most people would have been stressing about a move to the middle of another country with not so much as a fast food chain  I just kept praying for peace and some how I made it through the whole transition without one giant melt down. I'm not saying things wernt hard, but I knew we were going to be taken care of.
Sorry too much religion for you? I couldn't help it, my heart was full with faith this morning and I needed to share!

1 week down

Well we have made it a whole week here in australia! (Technically 1 week 2 days). The past week seems like a blur. We have done something every day and have been busy exploring the area and getting to know new people.

A quick summary of our week.
Addi started school and is super happy to have friends again; she goes 3 days a week and they are pretty much the chillest school Iv ever gone to...bare foot,eating outside, lots of art n crafts and tons of play! She is in the kindy program (pronounced ken-dee) and gets to wear a cute little uniform!
Jerrod started work last Monday and so far enjoys his job. He works 30 minutes away in the middle of no where  and works from sun up to sun down, about 3 or 4 days on and 2 to 3 days off. Not a bad schedule and gets to walk addi to school atleast once a week which she likes.
We have discovered a beach only a mile and a quarter away and we were able to watch the hump back whales breaching and playing from the shore as they make the yearly migration journey. The kids and I have got to go to the rescue and rehabilitation site for kangaroos where we go feed and check up on them.
The kids and I have discovered the library, the toy library (we can check out toys! Perfect since we don't have our stuff yet!) And we have encountered several emu around town.
Yesterday we went to the west side of the peninsula with Jerrods co-workers and checked out 2 beaches.  One of them had too many jelly fish on the beach and in the water so we went to turquoise bay instead.  The water was perfect  and the kids spent the after noon making sand castles and playing in the shallow water.jerrod tried out snorkeling and got to see Nemo and dory :-) Jerrods supervisor was taking care of a brand new baby red roo rescued the day before so we brought it with us. ..yep we had a kangaroo at the beach. He was so cute and just stayed in his pouch all day!
We saw about a dozen roos driving home, they are every where and you have to be so careful because they will LITERALLY  run right into your car (they are not very smart) dead roo carcasses  line the roads...it's really sad...it's like deer in maine. And just like deer in maine you can't leave them on the side of the road or in the road if they are still partially alive, I think you know what I mean has to be done if you hit one. :-(
Sooooo let's just hope when we get our van one doesn't run into us! An American here just hit one with there American Van and it cost them 9,000 to get it fixed (keep in mind some roos can get as big as 6'+!)

Today I took the kids down to heritage park for the farmers market and then to Brumbys for muffins.

That's the week in a recap.
Now we are waiting on our cable box to get here, I was really hoping it would be here before the weekend so I could watch the olympics but that didnt happen :-(
We should have internet by September 1st sometime...hopefully.  they only have so many ports in this small town, so there is a wait list for Internet port lines until 2018 but since an American family from the observatory is about to leave we are going to take over their Internet line.

Logan is napping, I juat mopped the floors and addison is playing with Legos we got from the toy library and watching the little mermaid from my computer. I have a marinated pork belly from the butcher in my crock and it smells amazing, not to mention all cleaners here are made with eucalyptus so everything smells good!

Gonna eat a chilled Tim Tam my new favorite addiction and relax. Everyone have a wonderful sunday!!