The Antipodean Toddlers

“Somfing to tell Manny (Maddy)”

2009-04-03T15:04:00.002+11:00

I walked into the twin’s room after nap the other day. Cooper was awake and Maddy was still sleeping. This is very unusual. The following conversation took place.
“Cooper do you want to go downstairs?”
“I have somfing to tell Manny.”
“But Maddy is still sleeping.”
“I have somfing to tell Manny.”
“What do you need to tell Maddy?”
“A train is coming.”
Maddy wakes up on cue. “I awake.”
“Manny, I have somfing to tell you.”
“What Pooper?”
“A train is coming.”
“In our bedroom?"
Cooper nods.
"No. Is too big. Train can’t fit." She gives a worried look around the room and in her crib."
"Train might eat my bear’s ear.”
“Is okay Manny. I go downstairs Mommy?’

Sorry readers...we suck at blogging!

2009-04-03T15:01:00.001+11:00

Sorry to our readers... As the year progresses, it seems boring and repetitive to recount our trips to the same beaches, parks and pools, our playdates with our small network of friends, the hard work and long hours that Jeff is putting in and details I can’t remember of the Ultimate that I am playing here.

Here is a quick recap of the past month of so…We recently survived a stint without Catty. We gave her 4 weeks off to travel around Australia (done in an attempt to alleviate the guilt we felt at enticing her to come with us with promises of grand travels that will not come to fruition on this journey)! She enjoyed herself thoroughly, as much as I have enjoyed her return! The 4 weeks were full of action as they saw the arrival of Nan & Pops for just over a week at the end of Feb, and then my brother Andrew and his girlfriend Marianne for a week in March. These visits were enough to keep me sane and the kids had a blast with their adoring visitors!

Otherwise, Jeff has been kind enough to support my Ultimate obsession. I made the A team, and have played at regionals in Ballarat (called the Rat – nothing noteworthy to report other than crappy weather and lush green fields). We placed second to our nemesis “Team Box Atheletico United”. Then last weekend I flew to Sydney to play in a tournament with the New South Wales teams where we placed 4th out of 7 teams after a 3-3 round robin tourney. We will be playing at Nationals April 23-26th in Perth, Western Australia. Training with Honey is not for the weak of heart, nor is it really for a mom of three with a working husband…I am doing my best but I think the family will benefit once Nats are over.

We are still awaiting word about whether or not Jeff’s work can provide enough incentive to keep us here until the end of the project (end of June) or whether we will be able to return home by the end of May to attend Andre and Julie’s wedding…when we know, we will share the info with all of you asap! Otherwise, there are a few cute stories I thought I would share and few events that deserve some attention so read on...

LAWNMOWER MAN AT WORK!

2009-02-17T14:58:00.004+11:00

So we have a gardener. Well, sort of. A service has been hired to come once every 3 weeks to mow our lawn and tidy up the yard. Until today, the children have been quite timid around “Lawnmower Man.”. But after a rough morning with me, Wyatt must have decided he needed a friend, and at that exact moment, “Lawnmower Man” arrived.
“Hi. I am Wyatt. My mom is cleaning up our toys in the yard so you can cut the grass.”
“Hi. My name is Anthony.”

“This is my lawn mower. We have another lawn mower. This is Cooper. I have a sister Maddy. I have some more things to show you inside.” Off he went to go get his cars, balls, Diego sleeping bag, etc…And he was not prepared to stop, nor leave Anthony alone.
Anthony tried to keep working but once Wyatt had made introductions, Cooper felt like he should be helping Anthony with the yard work. So off he went, right on Anthony's heels(deep in the gardens), scooping up leaves, weeds and branches and putting them in the rubbish bin (there are red garbages here for regular organic waste pick-up). He was actually very helpful. He is a genuinely sweet and generous little guy. Wyatt helped out a bit so as not to be outdone by Cooper, but even after the novelty wore off, Cooper kept dragging branches to the bin and climbing among the weeds to help pull them out.
Time for the big mowers, so I set the kids up on the deck with their lunches and let them watch Anthony mow, use the whippersnipper, and then the leaf blower to tidy up the garden. They were enthralled. Luckily, Anthony is lovely and was kind enough to talk with them and let them help. He even showed them his truck and trailer as he was preparing to leave. After he had gone, I found Cooper and Wyatt trying to uproot a few trees. Here’s hoping that in a few years time, they will remember the joy they felt upon assisting with the yard work and also, that we won't be fined for destroying too many native Australian plants in the garden!

POTTY MOUTH PRE-SCHOOLERS

2009-02-17T14:43:00.003+11:00

Sitting at the dining room table about a month ago, Wyatt takes a bite of lunch and then the following conversation takes place.

“Oh F#$%.” said in a calm, unprovoked, matter-of-fact voice.

“Where did you learn that word honey?” in a very forced calm, somewhere between laughing and complete outrage.
“My dad taught me that word.”
“No Honey, your dad did not teach you that word.” (In truth, the only believable answer to this question would have been - "No mom, I heard you say it once...or twice...")
“Actually, it was one of my uncles.”
“Which uncle taught you that word?”
“Uncle Andrew.”
“I don’t think Uncle Andrew taught you that word.” (seeing as he is in Canada and you have only spoken to him a few times in the past 8 months.)
“He did.”
“Well that is a bad word and if I hear you say it again, I will have to give you a time-out.”
“Okay.”

In the car last week on the way home from the museum.
“Oh F#$%.”
“Wyatt, what did I tell you about that word?”
“That I would get a time-out if I used that word.”
“Right. Also, that if you use that word we won’t be able to go play at your friends’ houses.”
“Who do you hear using this word?”
“My dad used it once when I woke up from my nap and he just said it.”
“Well, Daddy shouldn’t use it either. If he uses that word, he can’t go to his friends' houses either.”
“And if you say it, you can’t go to Ultimate.”
“Okay, if Mommy says it, she can’t go to Ultimate.”
“And if Daddy says it, he can’t ride his bike. Catty what if you say it?”
Catty replies “I can’t use my computer if I say it.”

This morning as they watched morning cartoons.
“Oh F#$%.”
“Wyatt, 10 minute time-out.”
Then Maddy starts with “Oh F#$%. Oh F#$%. Oh F#$%.”
No idea what to do next… no idea… Do people still wash mouths out with soap???

PICTIONARY GENIUS or GRAFITI ARTIST – only time will tell!

2009-02-15T09:19:00.001+11:00

Our budding artist/junior pictionary champ is Madeline Ruby Faulds. She wanders the halls of 15 Wilmot St., with her travel doodlepro in hand, waiting for an adult to venture her way…when she reaches out her “drawing board” and asks in her sweetest voice – “You dwaw someping for me?”. As you draw, she stares intently at the lines being formed and fills the silence with “Umm….Umm…slippers. Umm…Ummm…banana.”. Actually, that isn’t fair, she is an EXCELLENT guess and usually her first guess is correct! She is able to decode very rudimentary drawings with ease and I am constantly impressed with her vocabulary. When she isn’t inside practising her pictionary skills, she is wandering outdoors where her medium is chalk, her canvas – EVERYTHING!!!! She has successfully coloured our garage, the outdoor table and chairs, the deck, the tent, the beams holding up the deck, the trampoline, the swings, and sometimes she manages to sneak some chalk into the house to get the rest of our belongings. Luckily, her other favorite activity is cleaning things with a cloth so there isn’t much fight when I ask her to erase her artistic genius!

Check out our snowman.

2009-02-07T22:32:00.002+11:00

I was feeling a bit guilty that our kids were missing out on some traditional Canadian activities like making snowmen. But as the saying goes, if life give your lemons make lemonade...

Hot Wheels - LIVE and in person !

2009-02-07T22:10:00.002+11:00

So by now you are probably aware that Wyatt is obsessed with Hot Wheels. He will tell you himself. He will ask when about to meet a new friend, "Is he car obsessed ?".

I made the mistake of telling him that we would go the Hot Rod show the end of January way back in December. I've been telling him how long till the show since before Christmas. The show was on the Australia day long weekend ( Jan 23rd - 26th ). AFter a morning of swimming and lunch at the beach I decided to take him to the show on a Saturday afternoon.

The show was at the Royal Exhibition Building which is adjacent to the Melbourne Museum for those of you who have been to visit us. There were tons of cars just parked on the grounds outside the building and all the official show cars inside the building. I was figuring that his head was either going to pop off or explode when I got him there and it pretty much did.

I think the pictures will do it more justice than my words so have a look and enjoy...

It doesn't get much prouder than this...you'ld think he built it himself !

The building is massive...and it was full of cars, choppers, bikes, and people.

Purple was a popular colour, and this was the best of the purples.

this "ute" deserved some special attention for some reason. I saw the guy polishing the railing as we walked away.

There was even a bicycle section....

And this was the all out winner. Check out the plates ! And note that the guy has decorated his booth with toys...I'm not sure if this was well thought out or not. I tried to keep Wyatt out of the toys and was doing ok until some other people let thier kids in to play with them and then I gave up and let him sit and play with the cars for a little while.

Parking - $9.00
Entry fees - $10.00
Over priced hot wheels car from a booth - $3.00
Taking a Car-obsessed 3 year old boy to a hot rod show - Priceless !

Duck, duck, Goose !

2009-02-07T22:06:00.002+11:00

On my way in to work every day I ride past a nice little pond with a flock of ducks and geese that I often see kids feeding. A few weeks ago we conveniently had a loaf of bread go bad on us and found our way over to the pond. The kids enjoyed it for the most part...Cooper loved it, Wyatt tried to kick the ducks, and Maddy found them scary.

Bowled over by Cricket

2009-01-19T23:24:00.005+11:00

Well, I finally succumbed to peer pressure and went along to a Cricket match, I even managed to drag Mel along. Steve ( the aussie from Canada ) convinced all the North Americans to join him at a 20/20 match between Australia and South Africa at the MCG ( Melbourne Cricket Grounds ).

I went in knowing a little more than nothing about the sport and picked it up as the game went on. A typical "test match" can last 5 or more days. Next down the ladder is the "one day" which consists of 50 overs for each team. Finally there is the 20/20 match where each team only gets 20 overs. There are other differences in the rules for each type of match but I can't say I've figured them all out yet.

The test match is the serious version with strategy akin to a 7 game baseball series'. The one day is more like a 2 or 3 game baseball series, while the 20/20 is a lot like a single baseball game. I believe this is the format used for professional Cricket around the world ? Traditionalists don't like them, and worry it will ruin Cricket. However, its better for TV, better for spectators, and actually pretty exciting.

Australia and South Africa are touring around playing a series of test matchs, one days games, and 20/20s.

The match we went to see was at the MCG and the attendance was 66,000. Which meant the MCG or "G" was a little over half full ! We had seats up in the nose bleeds but the view was pretty good.

It was a bit strang at first but we quickly got into it. It was cool to see the different stlyes of Bowlers ( pitcher ) and to see the different configurations of fielders the teams used. Australia was up first and had 20 overs to get as many runs as they could. Basically that meant they had 120 pitches to get as many runs as possible. They got to keep sending up new batters until they either ran out of outs ( didn't happen ) or ran out of overs. You get out by being caught out, thrown out, or bowled out. To get bowled the bowler needs to hit the wickets with the ball or hit the batter in the case where they are deemed to be blocking the wickets.

This format encourages big hits to get big hits as opposed to strategic smaller hits to get runs. In other words the risk of getting out is removed.

The Australians got a large number of runs and this put the pressure on the S.Africans to get more runs in fewer balls. This is called a run-chase. In the end they got close but ran out of balls. It was actually pretty exciting. The game took about 3 hours. The stars of the night were a young Australian batter who in his first game at this level scored 89 runs before going out, and an Australian bowler who was bowling at 150+ Km/hr .

I've been watching more matches on TV now and I'm starting to actually like it ! With the state of baseball where it is I think I might prefer to watch some Cricket over a regular season baseball game.

Hmmm, wonder if I can get the kids into cricket in Canada ??

Boxing Day with Boxwars

2008-12-29T14:23:00.002+11:00

So, I get a text message from my friend Kerry that reads “Boxing day BBQ in Caulfield park featuring boxwars as the entertainment. 4pm, byo full Esky and meat. Cricket updates included.”. What I took this to mean was that there was a BBQ being put on by the community and there would be a band named Boxwars playing at this BBQ.

So we pack up the cooler (Esky) with some snacks, beer, wine and pull up to Caulfield park to find 100-150 people, many of them decked out in cardboard armour of one kind or another, some dinosaurs, some gladiator types, two guys on stilts, etc…

At first everyone is just milling about with a certain buzz of anticipation. My friend Kerry and some ultimate folk are hanging out having a few beer, they see us coming and start laughing as we approach with our three kids in tow. Not sure if they were expecting us to come on our own, or were simply going to enjoy seeing the kids reactions to the battle about to begin…The announcer starts introducing the "warriors" by name with a megaphone and then the battle begins. In any event, the kids loved it, Jeff was amused (not an easy task) and I got to take a bunch of random pics. The pictures do not do the chaotic battle justice. People were wacking eachother with huge concrete mixing cardboard tubes. We surmised that you were permitted to continue to battle as long as you had some piece of cardboard still clinging to your body, otherwise you could steal a piece off of the ground and claim it as your own and keep laying the beats on people…a strange and unique experience.
Wyatt was of course, soaking it all in. After the battle was over, we rummaged through the remains and took some photos. Wyatt found a helmet, then proceeded to charge at me - if he weighed more than 40 pounds he might have leveled me. Not hard to imagine where he got this idea - don't call CAS, they won't come all of this way to remove our kids. Then I got the magic helmet and Rowan thought it would be a good photo op to pretend to tackle me - which ended in a sad fall to the ground...

Then my cool single pals moved to the adult BBQ pits away from kids and we moved our munchkins over to Caulfied park for some more play time and our own KFC dinner! Another memorable evening in Melbourne!

WE WISH FOR A SUNNY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH FOR A SUNNY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH FOR A SUNNY CHRISTMAS, AND A SUNNY NEW YEAR!

2008-12-28T21:28:00.002+11:00

Our wish came true. And how. We enjoyed a somewhat typical Christmas morning. Wyatt slept in till 7 (pretty good considering), he seemed pleased to see that Santa had in fact delivered some presents despite his behaviour in recent days. He sat on the potty (just to make sure the presents stayed) and even waited patiently while we woke Cooper and Maddy up in the neighbourhood of 7:20. Then he gently knocked on Catty’s door with a clear “Merry Christmas Catty” and waited for her to emerge before touching anything. Jeff and I were very impressed with his restraint. We called Grandma and Granddad for a video chat so that the chaos could be witnessed from across oceans. The excitement level was average.
Their stockings had tons of little cars, socks, and other random things I picked up from the local op shops and second hand stores. The most exciting thing for Wyatt was his KungFu Panda Pez Refills – upon opening them, he exclaimed “Look mom, refills!”. Amazing how their vocabulary can be so developed and yet so tailored towards their interests. Cooper got lots of Bob the Builder stuff, Maddy is into Dora so that was a pervasive theme in her presents but she got a purse (which she quickly filled with HotWheels cars), and Wyatt, well, he is still hooked on HotWheels. Their main gifts were complementary hummers, and they each got a LEGO kit of some sort.
Otherwise, we kept it pretty lowkey. Lots of pjs which they needed because try as I might to stop it, they just keep growing!

Once brekkie and a second video call with Grammy and Grampy were done, we decided our Oz Christmas NEEDED a trip to the beach. This marked the end of the traditional part of our day. We packed a lunch and headed to Brighton Beach for some sun and sand, along with all of the other expats in Melbourne. Definitely a notch up from loading up the car in a snowstorm! Jeff and Catty got their requisite Christmas shovelling in - digging trenches and trails for the hummers, while I sat by with my camera realising that I could easily get used to this life. Don’t worry. We are still coming home this summer.

Then home for nap, not us, just them. I cooked a turkey roll full of stuffing, mashed potatoes and some veggies and we enjoyed a very non-traditional Xmas dinner OUTSIDE. Again, not much to complain about! Hope you all enjoyed time with family and friends. We missed you (when we weren’t at the beach) and we look forward to celebrating with you in 2009.

Diamond Valley Miniature Railway & Pony Rides

2008-12-22T14:56:00.002+11:00

Another weekend, another interesting adventure with the kids. Melbourne has too much to do for children. What Jeff and I really need is friends and neighbours with whom we can just hang out and let the kids co-exist...none of this, pack a lunch for another day trip, hope the weather holds, try not to screw up everyone's nap...
Anyways, this was a good trip. The trains and track are better than the other miniature railway we visited and we met up with a colleague of Jeff's named Nick and his two kids. Did the pony cart thing, then a picnic lunch. All in all, a wonderful way to spend a day with family. But we are truly exhausted...and this leading up to the holidays.

BEACH ELVES...

2008-12-22T14:53:00.002+11:00

COOPER AND MADDY TURN 2!!!

2008-12-22T14:30:00.004+11:00

PARTY LEAD UP :
In the eleventh hour, I decided to see if any of my friends could come for a last minute birthday party for Cooper and Maddy. Initially it looked like it might be a big affair, but two last minute cancellations left us with Lisa, Sarah and their kids being the only ones able to join us.
Visit the toy library. Pick up loads of toys including one of their party packs - climbing structure with double slides, whirly rocker and two roller coaster tracks with cars.
Boys get haircuts.
I pick out birthday outfits for Cooper and Maddy. Oh, too much fun!

PARTY DAY :
Breakfast - I decide to frost the cupcakes, thinking no one will pay any attention as they are absorbed by morning cartoons...wrong. Check out the pics of Maddy and Cooper cleaning off the mixer and the spatula! Maddy then decided to clean off Cooper...oh he is in for a lifetime of mothering...sorry Pooper!

Maddy wears her "party skirt" and lets me take a bunch of pics :) But she will NOT let me style her hair in any way...

Lunch - a trip to see Santa, unsuccessful as we were not prepared for a long wait (no strollers) but we managed to pick up a few extras for the party...and we even made it back so the kids could ALL have a wonderful pre-party nap!

PARTY TIME -
The weather cooperated and we had a lovely dinner, loads of sugar, some choice cupcakes, and some good times. The kids all played amazingly together and the only downer was when Declan slipped on our front yard marble tiles and tried to use a very large birdbath to keep himself on his feet, only to have the 30 pound basin crash into his head! We took tons of pics of Maddy the rockstar, Cooper, the urban homey and Wyatt in his new HotWheels t-shirt. As with all of our birthday parties in Oz so far - my kids end up in diapers running around saying "Naked Girl" and "Naked Boy."

Our babies are no longer babies. Bring on the terrible twos...I don't really mean that actually...

So what if Santa tells stories...

2008-12-22T14:25:00.003+11:00

At the local libraries, they scheduled story time with Santa. We met up with Sam and Connor (my Canadian friend). Maddy loves Connor , she often states “I lub Connor.”. The kids were more interested in the toy section and train table at the library than they were in Santa and his stories. This was becoming a recurrent theme in my life. Then came the tamborines – a few moments of complete commitment to the Christmas festivities, then it was gone! The kids got some lollies, Wyatt sat on Santa’s lap and told him what he wanted for Christmas, we made a few tree decorations and then headed off to the park across the street. The park had a whirly tomato that the kids adored – a few times around and I was feeling nauseated but I held it together for the kids. Another day down, another chocolate out of the advent calendar.

YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE DANCING!

2008-12-22T14:18:00.002+11:00

After missing the first concert a few days after we arrived in Melbourne, Jeff was on a mission to get us to a Wiggles concert while in Australia. We packed the kids up half asleep after a short nap (not a good start). We underestimated travel time, the traffic, the lack of parking and wound up arriving late, but we made it. The kids were a tad overstimulated by the whole arena full of people, loud music, dim lights, etc... Maddy was pretty interested in naming the characters she knew but they were finishing up her favorite song when we arrived so I was a bit disappointed on her behalf. Cooper did the most dancing, and then there was Wyatt. Wyatt was very excited by the flip-up chairs, especially those that we didn’t have tickets for. He spent more time trying to convince us to let him sit in all different rows, seats, on the steps, in the hall – than he did watching the concert. Overall, I would say they enjoyed the concert and we have the pics to show them when they get older as a rebuttal for the inevitable lament : “You never take us anywhere exciting!”

TEAM NAME : DEATH THROUGH THE MOUTH

2008-12-22T14:07:00.002+11:00

Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to play in a 2-day Ultimate tournament called the Melbourne Hat. For those of you that are not Ultimate players, a hat tournament is where you sign up as an individual and rank yourself as a beginner - intermediate or advanced player. After everyone has registered, names are drawn from a hat and in this case 24 equal teams are picked and the tournament begins. I was pumped to enjoy a break from the kids and get some serious playing in after winning the Division 1 championships on Wednesday night (yeah Milo!)…then came the weather forecast – GALE FORCE WINDS. For those of you that are not Ultimate players, these are NOT ideal playing conditions. Wind makes a complete mockery of the sport. So fast forward to Saturday morning, the alarm sounds and I look outside, knowing by the light intensity in our bedroom that I was not in for a treat. Not too much wind but TONS of rain. I get to disc central, meet up with a few people I know, then get assigned a blue shirt and a team who for reasons I do not understand named itself Death Through the Mouth. At first glance, our team did not look like much…a few of us looking less fit than we would like (myself at the top of the list) but we managed to hold our own. The rain persisted for the entire day, the field was a mud pit, my team had a few super layout players which made the day very exciting to watch, we won our first 4 games and lost our 5th by one point. By the end of the day, the winds had picked up so much that winning the flip at the beginning of the game to decide who starts with the wind became the MOST critical play of the game! Not bad, we made it to the top bracket for play the next day. That night there was a tournament party – the theme BOND, JAMES BOND!
I went with a few girls and the costumes were pretty good – Odd Job, people painted themselves gold, one painted herself black to represent Ms. Fields who died covered in oil in Quantum of Solace (I think?), and many others. I was a generic bond girl but got some compliments – mostly because people had never actually seen me without my baseball cap on . A few of our players “won the party” – meaning they were drunker and messier than everyone else. These same players arrived late to the game the following morning (I was impressed that they arrived at all!). The weather was MUCH better, still a little windy but it was Melbourne after all, and the games looked more like Ultimate than the crap we played the previous day. We started off very slowly and lost to the eventual champs of the tournament in our first playoff game. I played one more game, probably my best of the tournament (we won), then I had to leave early to catch the Wiggles concert (my teamates were of course VERY jealous – NOT!) All in all, a very positive experience, despite horrible weather! It took me at least a week to be able to walk again however, so I am not sure how this whole competitive ultimate thing will pan out…I'll keep you posted!

Mel Mac Merry in Melbourne!

2008-12-10T15:46:00.000+11:00

Mel Mac was Merry in Melbourne they say.
But was this normal or an unusual day?
What caused her to be merry, you ask.
A December day with sun in which to bask.
After a morning of fun with her young,
And a nice conversation with Jo that was fun.
She packed up her bag and to ulti did go,
but before that, she ventured to St. Kilda’s row
Where fabulous artists display all their wares
Not charging a fortune, but prices, so fair.
She needed a bag, cause her own was now dying,
Okay, “needed” might actually be considered lying.
In any event, a bag she did find
So happy she was, “This bag is now mine!”
Then off to her training, she happily went
In her flip flops and shorts, an afternoon well spent.
Driving along the esplanade in her beat up van,
Watching kite-surfers racing, and kids in the sand.
As she drove down the road, she tried to remember,
What life back home was like in December.
Snow, slush and sleat, and 3 kids wearing fleece,
Or even the departure of our field crapping geese?
So a smile on her face, knowing this feeling was new,
She thought “I think I like Melbourne. I think that I do.”
So a bit late to the field, she was in a great rush,
She parked the Tarago, then cut through the brush…
Oh no! A cricket game set up on our pitch.
What a pity, would practice be something we ditched?
“Oh no. We won’t cancel, we’ll move the whole gang,
Let’s head to the beach?” The coaches all clanged.
So they ran to the beach, not ten minutes away,
And some drills and a game they all got to play.
Driving home to pick up her favorite Thai food,
Mel relished the continuation of her Merry mood.
To this day, she has come to be fond of this bay,
If her friends and her family were here - she might stay!

My Ultimate Woes…

2008-12-10T15:45:00.000+11:00

So as you all know, Jeff and I are playing ultimate two nights a week. We played together this session on a Division 2 team called “The team formerly known as the Hat Team” and we placed 9th out of 11. We also played on a Division 1 team called “Milo of Croton” and have managed to secure a spot in the finals which are to be played this evening (wish us luck). In addition to league, I have started “training” with a woman’s team called Honey. For those of you that know me well, you know about my “self-esteem” issues when it comes to my physical appearance, my parenting skills but most importantly my athletic abilities. I have always wanted to reach a level in sport where my abilities are recognised by the elite within that sport. Here is a short recap of my past in sports that may shed some light on this issue…
Fall 1994 – After a hard summer of training I made the McGill Varsity Rugby Team as a starting winger (after playing on the B team and having issues with the coaches for 3 years) and then dislocated my shoulder in the first half of our first game of the season – SEASON OVER.
Spring 1999 – After a stellar season snowboarding in the Laurentians, I travelled to Banff where I tore my ACL before even reaching the top of Lake Louise Mountain – SKI TRIP OVER.
Summer 2002 – I was cut from both co-ed ultimate team tryouts then I picked up with the SpankDevils (Yeah Devils!) who went on to place in similar rankings to both of the co-ed teams WITHOUT a single practice!
Winter 2002 – I was selected to play indoor ultimate in the Elite division. YEAH, I MADE IT! Then in the first half of the first game I tore my other ACL and didn’t even make the D I was trying for – SEASON OVER.
Present…I am “trying” out for a women’s ultimate team in Melbourne. I am by far the OLDEST player on the team, and the only woman on this team to have any children. I am definitely the most “EXPERIENCED” and by that I mean simply I have played for the most years. I am trying to be realistic. It has been years since I have played competitive ultimate, I am still 20 pounds over my “athletic” weight, I have 2 post-op knees, I have 3 kids and I am getting freakin’ old…but how badly do I want to make the A team? Pretty badly. Why? Because as always I feel like I have something to prove. To whom, you may be asking yourselves – these people I barely know???? No good answer can be provided at this time. So, what is the problem, just do your best and see how it goes? (this is the sage advice Jeff gives me. He says, just do it for the exercise and if you play, enjoy it) So easy to say, so hard for me to do. Not only have I depleted my levels of self-esteem to all time lows, but I have also mastered the art of being self-defeating. The A-team wants to record times for a BEEP test, for a 5km run, as well as other benchmarks for throwing and fitness. So what do I do? To give myself an excuse, I CHOOSE to play a game of ultimate BEFORE doing the Beep test (DUH!) and then I can’t even pretend that I gave it a real go because I totally wussed out while doing it. I keep trying to convince myself that it would be better for me, for a million reasons, to be on the B team – but I don’t feel it. At the beginning of the Beep test I summarised my feelings in this fine quote “I am too competitive for the body that God has given me.” – loads of laughs – me crying on the inside because it is so true!
You may be asking yourselves why I am venting all of this on you, our loyal readers…well, I need to put it out there so that I will have motivation for changing my way of thinking. I need you all to know that I am a sucky baby so that I will make a real attempt at being happy that I am able to play at the ripe old age of 36, with 2 bionic knees and 3 kids under the age of 4! So I swear to you, my friends and family, I will try my best, I will train as hard as my body (not my mind) will allow and I will not give up on myself. If I make the A team, great, if I don’t, so be it – but it won’t be because of my negative attitude or my lack of trying! What I need from all of you – prayers that my body can take what I am about to put it through without giving up on me!
Thanks for listening and wish me luck!

Happy Feet Down Under

2008-12-10T15:44:00.004+11:00

Another rainy weekend day – what to do…Jeff suggests checking out the new Antarctica exhibit at the Melbourne Aquarium. So off we went, talking about penguins, Happy Feet, Pingu and other penguin favorites on the car ride in to town. The exhibit is very modern and quite beautifully designed but for me personally, Happy Feet has ruined my ability to look at penguins in captivity without thinking that they are longing to get out, trying to communicate, or waiting for us to leave so they can do their happy dance. The kids were quite taken with the penguins who waddled along the wall and seemed as captivated by all little people, as much as the little people were fascinated by them. Maddy was mimicking their walk, and they were all entranced to see them swimming in the glass pool. A ton of beautiful pics later we moved on to revisit the rest of the aquarium. The kids are finally reaching an age where they are beginning to enjoy animals and looking at things instead of necessarily doing things, and we have begun taking them to public places without strollers (much to the annoyance of all of the other public patrons) where we let them roam freely within a defined area. They get very excited and tend to get louder as their excitement mounts. Jeff and I wander around half watching, almost pretending that they aren’t really all ours.

Christmas Concert at Ardrie Park

2008-12-10T15:44:00.003+11:00

The City of Stonnington (our municipality) holds several Christmas events over the month of December. The first of which we decided to attend was the Mr. Happy Christmas Concert in Ardrie Park (the park literally half a block away from our house). Sam and Ben (she is from Calgary, he is an Aussie and they have moved here permanently) and their son Connor joined us. After a lovely morning, the skies were looking rather menacing (surprise, surprise) but we ventured out with all of the kids piled into the double stroller. The event started at 4 and we arrived shortly thereafter. There were sausages, a café, facepainting, a decoration painting station, a “Fit for kids” group running physical activities for kids, a “Fairy Dance Party” group putting on dance lessons for all of the girls, and about 200 people enjoying some typical rain in Melbourne. Major difference – most of the adults were drinking alcohol that they brought from home. We are still too Canadian to even think about bringing alcohol to a children’s concert but I can imagine it would have made the event much more pleasant for us. In any event, the kids ran some obstacle courses, painted some decorations and then we decided to head home for dinner, with the intent on returning after dinner to actually catch Mr. Happy and the concert portion of the event. On the way out, we passed the line for the Fire Engine rides and I convinced Jeff that this would be worth the wait. Three turns later, we had our seats aboard the antique fire engine. Jeff volunteered to stay back and take pictures. The kids loved it. Our sometimes shy demure kids were yelling “Hello” to everyone that we passed on the street. They also chanted “Zoom Zoom” for the better part of the 10 minute drive at the top of their lungs. Very enjoyable indeed. Thanks to the City of Stonnington and to the driver of the Fire Engine for making those extra runs!
Dinner was not one of our finer hours so we bailed on returning for the concert. So our only complaint is that Mr. Happy came out too late for those of us that are from Canada and don’t want to mess with “bedtime”. Someday before we leave we may loosen up…

Goodbye Movember! Goodbye Mullet!

2008-12-10T15:40:00.003+11:00

The end of Movember was a happy time for Jeff and I. He didn’t really enjoy having facial hair and was very anxious to shave it off, and after my mom told me how much Jeff looked like my father with his moustache, I felt a bit weird kissing him.

To keep with the theme of getting rid of unwanted hair, I decided to tackle Maddy’s mullet. Maddy is follicly challenged. The powers that be gave her more than her fair share of cheeks when they could have spared a bit of energy on her flowing mane. With pigtails, her hair looks cute, otherwise, something of a rat’s nest.

So while she sat eating her breakfast, I snuck up behind her and chopped away the mullet in favor of a slightly more tomboyish, but definitely healthier looking bob. Kitchen scissors are not the required tool for a haircut, but the wave in her hair has been very forgiving! She now almost has beautiful hair to match her beautiful cheeks and smile!

Wyatt on Batteries...

2008-11-24T22:09:00.002+11:00

Wyatt: Cooper needs new batteries. Where do Cooper's batteries go ?
Daddy: Cooper doesn't have batteries.
Wyatt: Then how does Cooper talk ?

Melbource UCI World Cup

2008-11-24T21:18:00.006+11:00

I attended the latest round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup this weekend. I have to say that it was probably the most entertaining sporting event I've been to in person. Obviously as a cyclist I'm a bit biased but I think even the non-cyclist would have found it pretty cool.

I went the final session on the final day of 3 days so I got to see the finals of the big events. The event was at the Hisense Arena which has a velodrome which was built for the commonwealth games that were here a few years back. The track is 250 metres around with a maximum banking of 42 degrees in the corners and about 12 degress on the flats.

The first event of the night was the men's madisen. This is a 40km race involving multple teams ( in this case 13 ) of 2 riders each. Basically there is a pack like in a road race, except only one rider needs to be in the pack at a time. Riders are able to swap out of the race by touching thier team mate who then rides in the pack. Except, they dont just touch, they grab hands and the faster rider slingshots the slower rider up into the pack. And all this is done while going about 50km per hour in a pack with a dozon other riders ! oh, and the bikes have no brakes and you can't stop pedalling. Sound like fun ? The australian team managed to finish in second while the team from Spain won the race. The Australians were only 18 and 19.

The next event was the keiren. This is an event where 6 - 8 riders are on the track at once, they follow a motorbike for the first several laps with the bike getting progressively faster and faster until it pulls off with 2.5 laps to go. Riders are not allowed to pass the motorbike or touch each other while it is on the track. This is huge in Japan where they get up to 70,000 people to watch keirin races . They gamble on the races so that adds some suspense I imagine.

There was a big crash in the women's keiren when one rider swerved in the final sprint and forced a girl from New Zealand to crash into an Australian girl. They both went down at 50 km per hour but both manages to get up and walk away. Ouch.

Other events over the night were the womens team pursuit (three riders per team trying to catch the other team over 5 km) ,

womens 500 metre time trial,

and men's sprints ( best of 3 one on one races over 3 laps).

In the women's team pursuit the australians finished second to the british women. The brits are olympic, world champions and hold the world record. They only lost by 3 tenths of a second and they were 18, 18 and 19.

An australian also won the Men's sprints.

Shame we don't have a velodrome like this in Canada....but hey, at least we have a biodome !

Santa in Oz

2008-11-17T22:28:00.003+11:00

Perks of living in Australia include wearing shorts to the Santa Claus Parade. No dredging strollers through the snow, bundling the kids up in their Columbia snowsuits, no freezing your butts off waiting to see a bunch of people bundled up on floats. No, imagine Caribana with Santa as the grand finale…Okay, a slight exaggeration but it was definitely pleasant.
Only the second year that there has been a Santa Claus parade in Melbourne, and our only complaint was that it was a tad on the long side. We met Sam, Ben and Connor at their place in Southbank, parked there, then walked down to Starbucks for a Gingerbread latte (‘tis the season after all) and then headed to the parade. Heaps of characters in costume, a bunch of athletes we don’t know (and their very small babies), a few very elaborate floats, a good amount of spectators but nowhere near the crowds we would have back home. The kids did very well, they enjoyed calling out the names of the characters they knew – Bob the Builder, Elmo and the Sesame Street crew. In Australia, there is a character called Ollie. Same colour as Zoe but male. He is their Elmo, he has his own segments between most children’s shows every day, all day. He starts with “I’m awake. It’s a brand new lovely day.”, then moves on to “Do you know what day it is today?”, he has a few bedtime segments and a bunch of stuff in between. Maddy was very excited to see Elmo and Zoe (Ollie) and this was good since the parade wasn’t moving much by then and they were in front of us for a good 10 minutes.
After 90 minutes, we were itching for Santa to appear so that we could go home. Maddy was already asleep in the stroller, Cooper was close behind, Wyatt kept asking where Santa was…we made it to the conclusion and ended up with some mild sunburns – definitely a first for all of us!

Meet the Nippleman.

2008-11-17T22:27:00.000+11:00

The other night at dinner, Wyatt was eating topless and discovered is nipples. “What are these called Mommy?” “Nipples honey.” “Do you have nipples mommy?” “Yes.” “Can you show me yours?” “Well, honey it isn’t really a good idea for women to show their nipples at the dinner table.” “Who is at the door? (the wind was knocking the door open)” “It’s the Nippleman.” “The Nippleman. He has 5 nipples and he has nipples on his eyes. He’s at the door again. Mommy are you going to let the Nippleman in?” Reading this, Jeff wishes his hours at work ended sooner so that we had less impact on their development.

No paparazzi!

2008-11-16T22:02:00.002+11:00

One odd morning, Cooper sat in this corner by himself for a good 30 minutes. Maddy tried to join him. He shunned her. Wyatt tried to join him. He was also shunned. There was no moving him or socializing with him. He just sat there. (no he was not taking a dump). He is a very funny kid. He is very erratic in his movements, very random in his comments and very hooked on his latest obsessions.

He has a new obsession (other than being by himself) and that is “Peanut butter.” For breakfast, on toast for lunch, but most importantly, a pre-bedtime snack “Peanut Butter. Peanut Butter.” If you do not prepare toast with PB and place it on the ottoman, he will fetch the peanut butter for you, then point to where the toast should be placed until you make it happen. Another small obsession – his "people pyjamas". The kids have new summer pjs, his have people on them and he is IN LOVE with these pjs. He fights us to take them off, goes to find them in the laundry room if he can’t see them and walks around with them in his hands if you do manage to get them off of him. Our children are all a little OCD. No ideas why.

Maddy three three three meets the bug fly.

2008-11-16T21:55:00.002+11:00

"Look at dat. Look at dat. Look at dat. My turn right now. My turn right now. My turn right now. Excuse table mommy. Excuse table mommy. Excuse table mommy. Sorry Wyatt. Sorry Wyatt. Sorry Wyatt. Me do dat. Me do dat. Me do dat. You kay Pooper? You kay Pooper? You kay Pooper? T.B. right now? T.B. right now? T.B. right now? Poo in potty right now. Poo in potty right now. Poo in potty right now." Everything is repeated. At least 3 times. Until she is acknowledged. Then she is thrilled and may even do a victory dance.

Bluezone German Beer Gardens

2008-11-16T21:47:00.002+11:00

Kerri (from Winnipeg) told me to check out the beer gardens in St. Kilda on a Sunday afternoon as they have live music, picnic fare and her kids enjoyed the dance floor. Forgetting for a moment that neither Jeff nor I are really beer drinkers, we spontaneously decided to partake in a little action last Sunday. The crowd was a bit hipper than our caravan with 4 adults and 3 kids, but we decided to go in anyways. Cooper, Maddy and Wyatt were not interested in dancing, all they wanted to do was to walk on the road that runs parallel to the beer gardens. This was cute for a while, then got a bit tiring. The music was great, the food was good, the weather was beautiful, but we spent as much time in the empty lot next door as we did in the actual gardens. The highlight of the day for me was when Cooper took a large calamari, put it around his wrist and proceeded to nibble at it for the rest of the evening. The event itself is REALLY cool and I would love to go back without kids so that I could blend in a bit more and so my younger friends from Ultimate don’t say “I'm one of those people that looks at people that bring their kids and thinks "Don't bring your kids here, this is my space."”.

Bug Fly! Bug Fly! Go Way Bug Fly!

2008-11-13T22:06:00.002+11:00

Melbourne has lots of flies. The tourist books intelligently leave this detail out. There are tons of them and they are not your typical Canadian flies that are so dumb you can kill them with a single swat. No. These flies are sticky, persistent, human loving, Superflies. They are everywhere. There are usually 3-4 buzzing around any of our light fixtures at any given time (one downfall of having the doors open so kids can come and go as they please). They probably love our garage too since we can accumulate quite the load of diapers in our rubbish can! You can swat all you like but they will remain attached to you until they have had their fill. At first the kids would scream bloody murder whenever a fly landed on them.

Now they will point and laugh at flies, all the while chanting “Bug Fly! Bug Fly! Go Way Bug Fly!” for a better portion of the day.

Forgetting this whole fly issue, we decided a trip to the Collingwood Children’s Farm was in order. Not sure what we were thinking…hot day, farm full of animals and manure…would you expect sticky flies???? The kids coped better than I did but it was not the dream daytrip we were hoping for.

The Farm is pretty centrally located – sort of like the Experimental Farm in Ottawa. It is just off of the bike-path Jeff has travelled a number of times so he was interested to see what it was all about. The animals were penned and you were able to get up close to the goats and sheep, hold some guinea pigs, see some barn cats, chickens roaming free, and the odd pig and cow. A tractor ride around some fields was well received, pony rides were available but the lines were pretty long and our kids weren’t too keen. True to Melbourne fashion however, there was a café on site with a pretty good menu. We had packed our own lunch, expecting the farm to entertain our kids for a bit longer than it did, but we ended up heading home for lunch to escape the flies. I imagine this would be a wonderful place for older kids in cooler weather, before the flies take over!!!

OFF TO THE RACES...

2008-11-13T21:26:00.003+11:00

So Catty, Leslie and I decided we wanted to participate in the Racing Carnival Week known here as the Melbourne Cup. It is a week of races (Saturday is Derby Day, Tuesday is Cup Day, Thursday is Crown Oaks Day (unofficially ladies day) and the following Saturday is Stakes Day which is family day) with the biggest prize races on Cup day which is a local public holiday. The races are very prestigious, with horses from Ireland, the Middle East, Australia, etc… all competing for a few million in prize money. Over 100,000 spectators attend each of these major days, including many celebrities such as Rob Scheider, Chris Isaak and other random B-listers, that for unknown reasons are well loved here in the land down under. The event is formal, and for women a hat/hairpiece is “mandatory”. We made a few trips to various stores, finding new hats ranging from $100-$1000+ but we were unwilling to pay that kind of cash for something we might wear only once. Then we tried the op shops (Opportunity shops – which are the rough equivalent to consignment stores), with no luck. Next we tried dollar stores and some cheap accessories stores and eventually we all managed to find some cheap hair accessories that would do the trick.

We left the house by 9 am, Catty and Leslie had prepped for our outing by pouring horribly cheap wine (the colour of urine, the taste of super sweet slightly off fruit juice) into empty Coke bottles for drinking on the train. Flashbacks to younger days found me chugging from a bottle on the train, very reminiscent of Hope Volleyball tournaments and other stupid days in my past. I would come to regret this decision, but not for many hours.

From the train station on, the day was full of beautiful women in wonderfully stylish dresses with extraordinary hair pieces, updos and fancy hats, accompanied by stylish men in suits with metrosexual shoes. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced in person before. A giant prom from the set of Gossip Girl, a red carpet event for young adults…and I felt old and old. In any event, ladies – it was fun! There were also people that bucked the trend and went in groups with themed costumes…the superheroes, the jailbirds, and even a crew of Santas handing out presents like flipflops,

We met up with Jeff’s colleagues, Akiko, Steve O’Shea and his wife Adele, Tim and his roomate Nikki. Upon arrival, 3 bottles of Sparkling Wine were purchased. It was but 10:30am. We saw a few races from the edge of the rail which was interesting but the action passes by in a split second and since we were not at the finish line, our split second view meant nothing! Another guy that works with Jeff, Dale, is part owner of a horse that placed second in one of the early races on Cup Day (he also slipped up 2 passes to the Owner’s section where we slummed a little bit later in the day). Over the course of the day, we managed to finish a case worth of sparkling wine. With Tim chanting “Eating is cheating” and Steve and Tim refilling our glasses after each sip we were all enjoying ourselves, the sun, the races and our new neighbours. We placed bets on the final race but none of us managed to win anything with 3 outside hopes placing first, second and third. That was the most disappointing part of the day as I was hoping to pay off my ticket and boozing with my winnings. We left Flemington racecourse with the other 100,000 spectators taking the train back to the city. Very orderly, but mostly a big blur. Tim blared some Hip from his iPhone into my ear to try and keep me in the game, but the train was very hot and very crowded and I was DONE.

As per my usual self, I slipped away from our group and stumbled to the next platform to catch the next train home. The rest of the group went on to party some more in the CBD but I was in no condition to be social. I made it home safely but those of you that have ever been out drinking with me know how this evening ended … luckily there was no one around to witness my finale (at least no one I knew). I am thankful for the experience but more thankful for my husband for overlooking my poor tolerance of alcohol and childish ways.

And that was the celebration that stops a nation!

Movember Update

2008-11-12T21:34:00.002+11:00

Well, I'm one week in and looking good...well, looking okay. There are better Mos at work, and there are worse so that is a relief.

I've passed the $50.00 mark for donations which yields me a Shick Shaving Kit which I will no doubt use to remove my Mo at my earliest opportunity.

Here is a pic of my fellow Mo growers at work.

To Mo or not to Mo....tis the question....

2008-10-31T20:23:00.002+11:00

So, the guys at work have convinces me to participate in Movember. What's Movember you ask ? good question. I asked the same thing...you can go here for all the gory details:

http://au.movember.com/whatismov/content/What-is-Movember/

Basically it's a charity event where men grow mustaches and collect donations in the name of raising awareness of men's health issues. Seems like a good excuse to have a facial hair growing contest.

However, being somewhat facially hair challenged it may prove to be an excersize in just how silly I'm willing to look. I'll try to keep you updated with pictures of my progress...feel free to suggest what style of Mo may suit me best. Here is a list that was circulated at work:

http://www.americanmustacheinstitute.org/MustacheStyles.aspx

If you would like to donate on my behalf go here:

https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1764021&country=au

Sushi Session with Akiko

2008-10-27T15:25:00.006+11:00

Jeff is working with a consultant from Japan named Akiko. She offered to give us a lesson on making sushi - I was VERY excited! After another trip to the Melbourne museum, we picked her up from her serviced apt. in the CBD (she is in Melbourne for one month, then back in Japan for 1 week, and so on...makes it hard to get to know people and feel settled). The whole way over the kids were saying her name and asking about her (they had not yet met her) but of course as soon as she gets into the car, not a peep from any of them! We picked up some supplies and then got down to it.

My technique improved but could never match Akiko's perfectly round sushi rolls! We made 2 full plates of traditional sushi which I am happy to say – did not survive the night! According to Akiko, it is VERY difficult to find fish fresh enough to be used in sushi (especially on a Sunday afternoon) so we used smoked salmon and a minced chicken & ginger concoction I am sure I will not be able to replicate. Cooper and Maddy devoured many pieces of sushi before dinner - they just sat there saying "More sushi" and chowing down. By the end of the evening, Akiko and the kids were great friends. She was amused by Cooper and his erratic movements, as well as Wyatt and his witty banter.

At one point, Wyatt was trying to drive a ride-on Jeep up onto the deck while standing in it (not possible in case you are having a hard time visualising this) and when he fell backwards and groaned, I asked in an exasperated voice “What were you thinking?” and without missing a beat he replied “I was thinking I could ride the jeep up.” DUH! She was impressed he even had a reply. Earlier in the evening, he was storming around the backyard with a toy screwdriver and a toy saw. When asked if he was a good guy or a bad guy he explained “I am a protector. I am protecting everybody from the sharks in the grass. I used my saw but I need to use my screwdriver on the sharks.” But of course young Jedi…

Weekly Chat Sessions...

2008-10-17T19:56:00.003+11:00

After seeing how much the kids enjoyed chatting with Uncle Andrew over msn while the last set of Grand parents were here we figured it might be a good idea to try and organize some chat sessions with the family.

The best time for us is Saturday or Sunday mornings so we thought we would give it a shot this Sunday morning and see how it goes, or if anyone bothers to check us out ! We will try to be online around 9 AM our time. According to the internet that is 6 PM Saturday in Ottawa. We'll have our webcam fired up and ready to go and we'll feed the kids lots of sugar for breakfast.

Here are some instructions for setting up MSN and adding us as a contact. For those of you who already use MSN our address is jeff_faulds@hotmail.com.

Step 1. Get an MSN Hotmail account

Go here -> http://get.live.com/mail/options
Click on the Get it Free button
Follow the steps to create your account.

Step 2. Install MSN Live messenger if you don't already have it.

Go here -> http://get.live.com/messenger
Click on the "Get in Free" button and follow the instructions.

Step 3. Sign into MSN Messenger and add us as a contact.

Double click the MSN Live icon and enter your new userid and password then click the "Sign In" button.
Click the "Add a contact" button. (It looks like a little blue man with a plus sign)
enter our msn address...jeff_faulds@hotmail.com in the instant messaging address box and then click the "Add contact" button.
When we are online you should be able to double click on us in your contact list and start a chat.

THE LAST BATCHELOR HOORAH!!!

2008-10-15T14:53:00.003+11:00

So Mom and John have been very busy here. They have seen several areas, visited a ton of galleries and shopping districts, they even enjoyed a 3-day trip to Cairns which included a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef, a scenic rail tour of Kuranda and jaunt to the rainforest. Upon their return, they enjoyed the free tram tour of the CBD and a trip to the Queen Victoria Market. The last two things on their “To Do” list were the Brighton Boathouses for the compulsory touristy pics (which turned out quite well I think), and a trip to the Botanical Gardens.

So Thursday morning, we started off at Socatime Joeys for Wyatt's session. Mom and John came to watch so John could relive his glory days as “Sideline Soccer Coach Extraordinaire”. Wyatt was true to form - uncoachable. He has some serious skills but he only enjoys the first 2 goes at a drill, then gets bored and decides either to lie down in the middle of the gym, or take a rest on the bench until the next drill begins. Cooper comes to “watch” and he often participates with more enthusiasm than Wyatt, this of course spurs Wyatt on and so I often encourage this sibling rivalry which will likely haunt me for the rest of my life.

After soccer we drove to Brighton Beach and enjoyed a picnic lunch and some amazing KODAK moments (okay, they were really Nikon moments but it doesn't sound as good). This beach is getting increasingly busier every time I go. I have yet to go into this water and am unlikely to do so much in the future with the number of jellyfish that I have seen washed up in the surf – DISGUSTING! This is lame of me, and hopefully I will get over this fear before I instill it in the kids. Everyone else goes in the water and sends their kids in, so I am sure that it is safe. The kids were pretty cooperative considering their lack of nap and they were even clever enough to find the boathouse that matched their outfits that day!!! Mom enjoyed checking out the contemporary homes across the road and they even found a crazy spiny fish washed up on the beach.

After our picnic, we headed off to the Gardens. Mom and John went to all of the various ornamental gardens, the rainforest walk et al., while Catty and I took the kids to the children’s garden. This is a lovely little fenced in area that boasts a fountain that leaks into a “stream” that flows through some rolling hills and bamboo jungles, and other green spaces. The kids had a ton of fun getting soaked and stripping down to their diapers. I met a Canadian woman who moved here 2 weeks ago. She heard me speaking to the kids and turned with a mild air of desperation and asked “Are you from Canada?”...I recognized the quiver in her voice and so we chatted for a while and we have invited them over on the weekend for a BBQ. (Sound familiar Kerri????) I hope to befriend her and ease her transition as Kerri eased mine. She has a 17 month old son named Connor who will likely be the proud new owner of a ton of toys come June of next year….Of course his opening move was to poke Maddy in the eyes. For the next 10 minutes all I heard was "Boy. Poke Maddy. Eyes. (repeat)" Don't you just love Maddy's ice cream shirt! A second hand "bargain" (at least be Melbourne standards).

Mom and John had flight delays on Friday but managed to leave for NZ a mere 8 hours after their scheduled departure time. From the quick e-mails I have received they are enjoying their time in NZ. We really enjoyed having them here and when the door opens in the evening, Wyatt will often look over with anticipation and say “That could be Grandma and Grandad.”…

CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER!

2008-10-15T14:49:00.002+11:00

Mom and John wanted to spoil the kids as all grandparents do, and so we decided to have an early Christmas. This served many purposes, the kids will get more play time out of the toys they received, Mom and John don’t have to send expensive parcels by mail, and they got to watch the expressions on their faces when they received their new toys! So Mom, Wyatt and me went out to Target and Toys R Us and did as much damage as we could.

So without further ado, each of the kids received a hooded towel as shown. These are a big hit at bath time and have already been used at the beach and the pool with great reviews! Wyatt is Lightning McQueen, Cooper is Thomas the Train and Maddy is Dora.

The other HUGE hits have been the plastic trikes with trailors that Cooper and Maddy received for their b-days. These have improved the quality of all of our lives more than can be expressed in words. Prior to this purchase, we were living with one hand-me down ride-on from my friend Kerri (Kerri, we finally recycled the one without a steering wheel as it was a great source of frustration for the kids) and Wyatt’s tricycle. The twins are too small to ride the tricycle and because there is no competition for the trike, Wyatt prefers to claim the only ride-on they can all use as his own. Now that everyone has their own vehicle we can often find them all driving around happily, chasing one another and crashing into one another and various objects around the yard. The big surprise for the was Wyatt’s selection. I tried to persuade him to select a 3rd vehicle, something a bit different but similar enough that he would have a “new” something to ride on. He passed on the Batman cruise, another super cool scooter in favor of a large Megablocks Automobile Transport Truck with 3 Megablocks trucks. He loves this truck, drove it around the store for at least 20 minutes happily and just now is starting to request that I return to buy him the Batman ride-on.

Other presents included a foam paddle and ball set that Cooper adores, as well as a lawnmower than is more often used for duels with the stroller than for pretend mowing. The Dora lego has been a big hit with all of the kids. All this to say, our plans to keep the toys to a minimum have failed miserably but WE have managed to spend very little on toys, instead accepting hand-me downs from friends and gifts from visitors! They are lucky little buggers – as are we!

MORE GOR - PART III

2008-10-15T13:46:00.004+11:00

So after much debate (or waffling) depending on your perspective, my parents asked if I could take them to see the Great Ocean Road, instead of them taking a tour or renting a car. Jeff agreed to look after all of the kids for the day, and so Catty, Mom, John and me headed out at 8:30 Sunday morning. It was a beautifully clear day, unlike my other 2 visits to the GOR, and so I was optimistic that it would be an enjoyable outing. We stopped in Torquay to visit a few surf shops, I eyed some wetsuits for the kids managed to escape, budget intact. Driving without the kids in the car, the pressure of trying to make it to a particular place before they fall asleep/wake up, the need to stop for a minimum of 2 hours to ensure their happiness, etc… made this a wonderfully relaxing experience for me. We felt bad that Leslie had to work, and that Jeff was home with the munchkins, but overall, it was a wonderful day. Highlights included catching sight of the koalas, the beautiful vistas of course, seeing a whale from the highway (pics are not good enough to include here), and the absolute coolest thing was the seal show we experienced at Loch Ard Gorge. We were watching the surf come in when I saw a fish jump out of the water. As I was pointing that out to everyone, a seal jumped out after the fish! John didn’t believe us until the seal made another lap of the cove and put on a wonderful show of swimming back and forth in front of us, leaping out of the water after fish for a good 5 minutes. I tried to up my fee for the drive based on my Steve Irwinesque ability to track animals for prime viewing, but I have yet to receive full payment! No guarantees to future visitors this feat can be repeated!

Does the disc spin the other way ?

2008-10-07T22:14:00.004+11:00

Well, seems Mel is putting me to shame on the blog that I started. Guess thats what happens when you spend all your free time working on your laptop. I am in the busiest phase of the project for me...the build phase ! I'm managing a team of 12 people made up of SAP developers and configurers. We are trying to finalize all the designs so that we can build the SAP EM system and have it ready for serious testing by the end of November. Realistically I should be pretty busy right through to Christmas but things should slow down after that.

Anyway, I'm posting in order to write a little bit about playing ultimate here in Melbourne to answer some questions that have asked about how things work here. As you probably read in Mel's post below we have joined the city league.

My first games were at the "Hat" tournament Mel mentioned which was last Monday. I was on the weakest of 4 teams of guys that night. The top 2 players on each team were probably Open calibre players. The rest of the players ranged from athletic guys with little to no skills to one or two guys on each team who were out for the first time.

The level of play was pretty good at the start of the night...we even managed to run an end zone drill for 4 or 5 minutes without a drop. The "captain" of my team was a guy named Wily who had a subzero jersey. Not sure if he played for them or traded for the jersey at some point but based on skill he could have played for them at some point.

By the second and third game the level of play had deteriorated and it looked like bad league ultimate should look. Lots of hopeless hucks and lazy defense. The fields are in Albert Park which is Melbourne's version of Central Park I guess. It's where they have the Formula 1 Race and also the home of the Aquatic Center. There are tons of various sporting fields and the ultimate fields are layed out on an old field hockey pitch. The ground is mostly flat with the majority of it covered by grass with the remainded just plain ole dirt. The best feature of Albert Park is the view you have of the city sky line at night. Very cool.

This Monday we had our first league game in Division 2. We showed up a bit early but forgot to bring a frisbee so had to borrow one. It was very cold and very windy so it reminded me of a night game in Ottawa's fall league. Our new team assembled shortly before the game and people seemed friendly and athletic for the most part. As it was windy the game was mostly zone D and I was quickly promoted to chief upwind handler...woo hoo ! I travel to the other side of the planet and league ultimate looks exactly the same. Regardless, our team was actually pretty good and more importantly they seemed to be enjoying playing.

We ended up winning the game by virtue of scoring a couple of up wind points while our opponents only managed to score one into the wind. I would say that the level of play in Division two here is similar to tier 2 or 3 on most nights in Ottawa.

The strangest part of the night was the post-game wrap up. Everyone joins up in a big circle with arms around each other's shoulders and then the opposing captains give big, heart warming, speeches outlining the merits of the others team and game. It was a little bit weird.

Anyway, it was fun and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season , seeing what Division one is like, and obviously the warmer weather.

The show doesn't always go on...

2008-10-01T19:39:00.004+10:00

Ever since the fair, Wyatt likes to put on pretend car shows. The other day, Catty and I were still at the lunch table, held hostage by the marathon eater known as Cooper. Wyatt announced that the car show was about to begin. We assured him that as soon as Cooper was done, we would all join him to watch the car show. Catty stayed at the table and as I did the dishes I watched Wyatt happily unpack his HotWheels backpack and meticulously position all of his cars on the concrete block in our yard. “One minute until the car show” he announced every few minutes. Either Catty or I would yell back, “We’ll be out as soon as Cooper is done.” A minute later he would announce “Ladies and gentlemen, the car show will begin in five minutes.” With Cooper still at the table, I figured Wyatt would wait for us so I made a quick trip to the toilet. Sixty seconds later, I made my way out to the backyard, only to find that my little man had packed all of his HotWheels back in his backpack and announced very matter-of-factly “The car show is over. You missed it.” It broke my heart. I tried to persuade him to put on the car show, I explained that I had just gone to the bathroom for a second while Cooper finished his lunch but that I was very excited to see the show. “Well, you missed it because you went to the bathroom then. You shouldn’t have gone to the bathroom.”. What to do…. I begged. “Will you please put on the car show?” “No, it’s over. You missed it.” All this time he spoke without anger but with definite finality. “Will you put on the car show tomorrow after lunch?” “Yes I will. Tomorrow after lunch there will be another car show. You should never go to the bathroom again so you don’t miss the car show.” As he was walking away, he looked back at me and said “I am very upset.” Luckily he didn’t appear upset. No tears, no yelling, not even a really sad look on his face. Just pure resolve that this time he would teach me the lesson – the world does not revolve around you. I was awed at his grasp of actions leading to irreversible consequences that were beyond one's control. I was saddened to see in him, my unyielding parenting style. Should a 3-year old already know that you can’t always get what you want???? Am I too tough on the kids? Should I give in more? I realised then and there that Wyatt is a huge sponge and I flashed forward to visions of him as a very tough father. I am taking this as a huge life lesson - our kids will not wait to grow up, we cannot stop them. We need to enjoy the car shows whenever they are on. The dishes can wait. And sometimes, I guess, even the bathroom can too.

Aussie Rules Ultimate...

2008-10-01T15:15:00.002+10:00

Okay, I was grasping for a great title. Other contenders were "Melbourne Ultimatum", "Ultimate Down Under", and "The Huckers of Oz". Well the spring Ultimate season is finally upon us. Since our arrival, I have eagerly anticipated the start of the ultimate season, if Jeff wasn't so busy with work he might have had time to anticipate it as well. We registered for the AFDA (Australian Flying Disc Association) and signed up for Division 1 and I also signed up for Division 2. The way it works, you sign up as an individual unless you have a team, then you get recruited via e-mail OR you attend a Split Gender Hat Tournament where the captains and Div 1 players can assess your skills and recruit you. In our case, 10 years of experience as a Canadian Ultimate player apparently carries some power, we were scooped up immediately by the league coordinator. We had already committed to the Hat tournament so we decided to play so we could assess the level of ultimate in Melbourne, and hopefully earn our spots in Div 1.

STATISTICAL COMPARISONS :
OCUA (Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association) : 80 teams each/5 nights a week, roughly 3000 members.
VFDA (Victoria Flying Disc Association) : DIV 1 has 6 teams, DIV 2 has 10 teams, thats it, with overlap, I think there are roughly 225 players!

We were curious, to say the least. We were split into males and females and I will only describe my experience. The women were set to have 3 games. The first game, we were told to find someone of the same ability, then each pick a side. This was difficult as I didn't know anyone, nor did I have a benchmark upon which to base my own skill level. Regardless, teams were made and I managed to make a good long cut and score the first point for my team. We won by one point in a 45 minute game. Next game, we were split into blonds and brunettes. The brunettes won by 2. The last game, we were told to split into groups based on the # of victories we had enjoyed thus far, then divide each group evenly. In the end, my team won by 1 point. I was pretty psyched because they were awarding "Queen" awards to any players that had managed to win all 3 games. Me and this women Kate were the only 2 women to do that so I was VERY happy with the way the evening turned out. That being said, now I am afraid I have set my own bar too high and I can only disappoint from here on in...
All in all, the women were very skilled, very friendly and the best part, they were mostly handlers - which of course means, I get to be a receiver most of the time. This in theory was very exciting. However, after three 45-minute games, coming off of a year's hiatus, my body was not terribly impressed - and still isn't 3 days later. I was very funny/obnoxious (not sure which) and loud but I managed to contain the inner ultimate bitch many of you know me for. The women were GREAT and they were all very welcoming. I am really looking forward to playing with and against these women over the next year.
If Jeff feels the urge, he can add a blurb about his experience later.

The Royal Melbourne Fair with Toddlers!

2008-09-30T14:59:00.002+10:00

Unless you are made of money and infinite patience, we do not recommend taking 3 toddlers to the Royal Melbourne Fair. For those of you in Ottawa, imagine the Exhibition but 2X as pricey, 2X as big and 3X as busy. We thought "Oh, the petting zoos might be fun" - 20 minute line for your kid to pet a chicken for 2 seconds. We thought, "Well, the rides should be free since we are paying $27 each to get in." - "$4 per ride for 2 freaking people?!"$&". We thought, "There is bound to be some kind of free play area for younger kids." - "Hey there is a play structure...oh wait. That is a display play structure for sale from an outdoor furniture company...oh well kids, lets go!"

Oh, yeah I almost forgot about the "Show Bags." Think of Super-Sized Themed Loot Bags. We saw families with 15 of these bags on the handles of the strollers, at $20-30 a bag! We were laughing at these parents and then Jeff was convinced by the people at the HotWheels demonstration that these bags were EXCELLENT value, next thing I know, he has purchased a Dora bag and HotWheels show bag. So long budget. Poor Cooper...

We have no pictures because I left our memory card in the computer downloading pics for all of you. Just as well we have no record of this event taking place.

The highlights:
1. Wyatt got to see Sampson the monster truck crushing some cars and a motorcross demonstration.
2. Wyatt got a free HotWheels poster that now decorates his room.
3. Jeff only bought 2 show bags.

Visit with Grandma and Granddad Batchelor!

2008-09-30T14:41:00.003+10:00

My mom and John arrived Tuesday the 23rd – which is also my wonderful husband’s birthday. After a lot of pre-trip stress (my mom is not a fan of flying, especially over water – sorry for moving to Australia Mom!) the actual trip was relatively stress free. Reportedly, the worst part of the voyage was the hour long wait for their luggage in Melbourne. After this delay, they were quickly whisked through the quarantine area and shoved out a back door while Wyatt and I waited patiently (as patiently as any 3-yr old can wait in a stroller at the airport) at the normal exit point for international arrivals. Close to two hours after our arrival, my mom came sprinting towards us and gave Wyatt the craziest hug he has ever received! We were all thrilled to see one another.

Their arrival dinner coincided with Jeff’s birthday dinner so at his request, we prepared our standard “Welcome to Australia” shrimp and steak on the barbie and our new favorite Mud Cake, which is absolutely to die for. The kids are quite fond of chocolate cake. "Piece. Piece. More Piece. " being a popular refrain.

My mom has been crazy helpful! She has been doing laundry, cleaning and taking care of the kids in between reading, sightseeing and enjoying some time away from the chaos of her own home. I think that her favorite part of each day is the morning when she gets a snuggle from all three grandkids in their early morning daze! On this particular morning, Wyatt was in RTC mode (REFUSING TO COOPERATE).

Wednesday we hit the aquarium and a bit of Southbank Melbourne. Thursday we trekked off to Healesville for our second visit to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary. This time round, the kangaroos were much more sociable and we were able to feed them and pet them. Friday I took a day of rest with the kids and sent the folks off to explore. They hit some galleries and enjoyed a cursory tour of the CBD.

Then Saturday we ventured off to the Mornington Peninsula, Jeff stayed behind to watch the AFL finals and enjoy some quiet time, which meant that the rest of us could all fit in the van. This is a stretch of beach that stretches South from the eastern outskirts of Melbourne, and curls up around the Port Phillip Bay. We drove to Sorrento, enjoyed the adventure playground there then had a picnic lunch. Wyatt and Cooper were absolutely hysterical in this double swing, they were laughing and screaming for a good 10 minutes, entertaining everyone nearby.

Then we ventured back to Rye where the beach seemed to be more accessible and child-friendly. We enjoyed a beautiful spring day (sunny and 25) and the kids loved making sandcastles and particularly enjoyed the ice cream cones that Granddad bought them after the beach.

The beach was very quiet (as was the rest of Melbourne) since all of the Aussies were either attending the AFL Grand Finals that afternoon, or they were having a Grand Final Party. As such, it was the perfect day to drive on the highways and visit some of the most popular beaches around. We returned to find Jeff in the throws of the Grand Finals, with the last quarter about to start. It was a close game between the Hawthorn Hawks and the Geelong Wildcats with the lead shifting equally between the two for the first 3 quarters, then the Hawks pulled away and won with a final score of 51 to 38??? The kids were so zonked after their day outside that they were quite content to let Jeff watch the end of the game with little disruption.

On Sunday, we thought we would go visit the St. Kilda Adventure Playground so Mom and John could check out the Esplanade market and the St. Kilda Foreshore. We arrived only to find out that the park (which is staffed by a member of the community) was on school holiday hours, meaning we had to wait 40 minutes for the gates to open. After a good play at the park, Jeff and I decided to take the kids to Mackers (McDonalds). I asked Wyatt if he would like to go to Old Mcdonalds for lunch (this is what he calls McDs). His response “I would love to go there Mom.” Dramatic pause. “Mom, you are so kind.” He is MADE to star in commercials. Such gratitude for getting him hooked on food that may eventually kill him…

Art with Toddlers

2008-09-19T14:06:00.008+10:00

Chalk drawings - everywhere, on the house, on furniture, on stuffed animals, sometimes on the ground, sometimes on one another, sometimes chalk body outlines like in CSI

Birthday cards - stickers, markers, stamps, stencils. Always a big hit!
Painting - must be done outside while naked (the kids not parents), have lots of plastic bags on hand, use old plastic take-away containers to hold paint, NO SHOES, encourage finger painting, buy rollers, have a huge roll of paper so it is big enough for everyone to paint on without fighting, they decide it is done, then get a huge bucket of soapy water and let them go to town...outside of course! Wyatt thought the bubbles were great until he realized what soap does to the eyes...

Life with Catty & Leslie!

2008-09-19T14:06:00.005+10:00

Thanks to all of your for your concerns about my wellbeing (and that of our children) when left alone to care for them. We all fared better than expected. I had a wonderful day on Saturday. As Jeff mentioned, the weather was beautiful and as we enjoyed the park yet again, 2 (yes count them, 2) women that I have met came and talked to me. It seems, I have friends here in East Malvern! YEAH ME! Wyatt is also famous – “Oh, is he the Canadian boy that just started at Central Park Kinder?”, followed quickly by “And, don’t you have 3 children under the age of 3?” So things are picking up for us here in the land down under.

Those days are once again behind me as Catty and Leslie (Catty’s friend) have arrived. It is nice to have help and the girls (as I affectionately refer to them) are already adored by the kids. Wyatt wakes up and within minutes states “I think we should wake Catty and Leslie up.”, then Maddy walks around going “Bye Catty. Bye Lelie.”, even Cooper is trying to say Leslie (sorry Julia). I have signed up to coach some junior high ultimate and as Jeff mentioned, we will be playing in the local leagues in a few weeks time. I am still running with the Moms of St. Mary’s School on Tues. and Thurs. mornings and I am feeling more and more like the me I remember being (almost before kids…).

Catty got to experience her first Melbourne Nap Party. Some days when Cooper and Maddy are put to bed, they don't immediately fall asleep. Instead, they have a Nap Party. They do some serious jumping in their cribs (which will eventually break), they laugh, scream and squeal with delight, and if the party is really good - they throw everything out of their cribs. Blankets, stuffed animals, pillows...then usually, they manage to fall asleep. That is, unless Maddy has somehow convinced Cooper they are having a Nap Party and she slyly convinces him to throw out all of his precious belongings, at which point, she lies down and snuggles up with her blanket for a nap. This is too much for Cooper to bear and he will not go to sleep on principle. I fear this is a hint of things to come - House Parties at 10Fern anyone???

Our kids are very funny. Maddy is a mini-me (a big sorry goes out to the men & boys of the house - and the world). Check out her hari after a few rubs on the trampoline!

Wyatt will bash into her on the trampoline and she creases her brow, wags her index finger and says “Yaya (Wyatt), one warning.”. Her enunciation is not perfect but she does pretty well. Wyatt is a busy guy these days with Soccer and Kinder and he is doing very well in both. Whenever I leave without him, my return is greeted with “Mom, did you get me a special treat? – I was hoping that you were going to be getting me a special treat.” Trying to convince him that me returning IS the special treat is going about as well as can be expected. Cooper is a super mime with countless facial expressions. He has these big expressive eyes (he also doesn’t seem to blink as frequently) and can cry the biggest tears I have ever seen. Our time in the yard and at the parks (both have only 2 toddler swings) usually involves at least one of the following episodes…Maddy decides it would be fun to go in the swing. She looks at the swings and starts to rush towards them. Wyatt sees that she is looking at the swings and sprints towards the swings yelling “I want to go in, I want to go in!”. Cooper slowly clues in to what has become the “in” thing to do and he waddles over to the swings, index finger pointing to his chest, eyes wide and innocent, saying in his sweetest most plaintive voice, “Me? Me?” He must be getting used to the “You get the next turn” speech by now but it still breaks my heart to see his sad little face. Wyatt and Maddy state the obvious. “Cooper is sad. Cooper wants a turn on the swing.” After a set amount of time – I take both kids out of their swings and put Cooper in the swing. No one else is allowed to share “his turn”. Maddy stalks the swings saying “Naddy’s turn. Naddy’s turn” and Wyatt tries to convince me he should be given a turn in the free swing. With any luck, another child comes and fills the empty swing and they all move on to the seesaw…see the problem.

St. Kilda's Adventure Park

2008-09-19T14:06:00.004+10:00

Yet another amazing park in Melbourne. We really are spoiled. St. Kilda's has a community adventure park - open on weekends and evenings. The park is a garden of found toys and objects, abstract metal art, wooden pirate ships and a half-pipe slide! There are chickens walking around, a community kitchen with a stocked fridge and a room for parties. Our kids are a bit young to reap the full rewards of this amazing park - flying fox and all, but we all enjoyed the experience and we are sure to return again soon. Enjoy the colourful pics!

Pigtails.

2008-09-16T15:21:00.003+10:00

Just once. For about 25 minutes. Small victory!

Stuff...

2008-09-15T21:53:00.002+10:00

We've been fairly busy the last few weeks. If you've been reading you will have noticed that Mel had her hands full with all three kids for the last few weeks.

I've had my hands full at work managing a team of developers at work. So neither of us has had much time on our hands to do any blogging these days.

The van is holding up quite well against the assault of our three kids.

The weather is starting to turn...it actually went up to 26 degrees on Saturday here. It was like a different city. People were outside in shorts and t-shirts. The populate seemingly doubled overnight ! I'm starting to suspect that some people just don't have any pants or sweaters and only come out when it gets above 25 degrees ?

Sadly it didn't last and it's back to being 15 degrees, windy, and rainy this week.

We've managed to find spots for ourselves on an Ultimate team here in the summer league. The league kicks off at the end of the month and games are played in Albert Park. There are 5 or 6 teams in this division of the league and another 5 or 6 in the lower division. So, 12 teams in total in a city the size of Toronto. Compare that to Ottawa where the league has about 300 teams. We are both curious to see what the level of play is like here.

I've been doing a fair bit of cycling on the weekends while the kids nap. Nothing too exciting but it's good to get out and explore the city a bit on my bike. I hope to start commuting for good soon now that the days are longer and I won't be riding home in the dark.

I think that's pretty much it from my side of things.

Buoyant bums!

2008-09-07T18:49:00.000+10:00

Jeff and I love taking the kids swimming. We often took the kids to the Sportsplex back home and we enjoy taking the kids to the Waves Leisure Centre here in Melbourne. I would like to think that Jeff and I are intelligent people, but early on a weekend morning, when it comes to swimming we seem incapable of learning from our mistakes. We have had a number of occasions where we have arrived at the “toddler pool” with all 3 kids in tow (no strollers to speak of) only to find that the pool is closed – for a swim meet, for lessons or other mysterious reasons. If the pool isn’t closed, I regularly forget to pack new diapers, bathing suits, towels, etc… Last week when we arrived, the toddler pool was closed (due to fouling), the wave pool was closed (reason unknown), and that left us with a small section of the main lap pool where we could swim around holding 1-2 kids in pretty cool water. Not so much fun. We learned from last week and called ahead, then checked in before unloading the kids. Everything looked good. I was very confident as we entered the family changeroom. Then it dawned on me - this week’s swimming challenge – I forgot to pack swim diapers. So we did the best we could…we kept their regular diapers on and put their bathing suits over them. This worked of course until the diapers absorbed so much water that they were busting at the seams and stretching their swimmers out of shape – I wish I had taken pictures of their poor bums – on the plus side, their bums were sooooo buoyant that they could easily glide along on flutterboards without assistance. Eventually, I felt so bad for each of them that I braved it and took their diapers off one at a time. They enjoyed the swim but even the chlorine was not enough to get rid of the Grumpies and Wyatt the Tyrant went down for an early nap…and that brings us to now…fingers crossed.

Back to basics…

2008-09-07T14:42:00.007+10:00

Friday I smartened up. We met Lisa, Declan and Sean for some playtime at the adventure playground on Thomas Street. The kids loved it. You can tell things are going well if I have time to take loads of pics!

I

Saturday, Jeff and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and we headed to Brighton beach. We had no expectations. Perhaps some feet in the ocean, a few sandcastles, a chance to check out the Brighton Beach Boathouses and then we would have a calm afternoon at home with the kids. And that is what we got, with a bunch of gorgeous pictures as a bonus! Don’t get me wrong – Wyatt is still being a complete bully tyrant, but with both of us around, we seem to be able to minimize the carnage… A very successful day.

Flying solo at Socatime Joeys.

2008-09-07T14:11:00.002+10:00

Well, what was I saying about having no expectations, staying close to home, etc… Seems I should read my own blog and take my own advice. Tuesday evening saw me colouring with the kids – what was I colouring you ask??? I was scrawling a note to Jeff that read “Today was NOT a good parenting day!”. I needed him to know but didn’t know if I could verbalise these feelings in anything other than a guttural scream! Wyatt has taken to hitting (and not a gentle tap - a full fist blow, a sturdy whack with a solid obejct, or a sort of slap). What does he hit : anyone, everyone, anything, anytime. His newest catch phrases - “BAD MOMMY!” and “BAD GIRL MADDY (who, much to Wyatt's dismay - has decided to copy his hitting and she is very strong and has great aim!)”. I had a bad night of sleep on Tues., and by 7:15 Wyatt was up and being a tyrant. Jeff was worried about us and kindly decided to work from home. As a result the day was great. We went to the park, then the library, did some groceries and all of the kids had a glorious nap. I was hopeful that Wyatt might have shaken off the “Grumpies” but alas, they are taking up permanent residence and he terrorized the family for yet another night.

Thursday I foolishly decided to ignore my better instincts and carry through with my plan to enjoy trial sessions at Socatime Joeys. The session for Cooper and Maddy was from 9:30-10:15. Most of the kids had jerseys, shorts and socks from the program and were very eager to get going. Wyatt loved being the superstar (the class was for 1-2 year olds) and he behaved quite well for the duration. When Coach took out the bowling pins (called skittles here????), Maddy immediately started walking around eating them. Coach said “Line them up and encourage them to kick the skittles with the front of their shoes.” Perfect I thought, they can do this. But could I? I had between 3-6 little shoes flying at my face before I could even get 1 pin back in place for them to kick! Pins are flying everywhere, Wyatt is eyeing other kids pins…Next drill sees the arrival of the soccer balls.

Coach : “Line up 3 skittles and see if the kids can kick the soccer ball at the pins and knock them over”. Cool, except, my kids won’t stop kicking over the pins/skittles. I am only one person. I am seriously outnumbered. Coach keeps commenting on how well behaved they are. I then realize I am the one with the screwed up expectations of what soccer skills 20-month old kids should have. The session continues on, the kids seem happy enough but are getting restless by the end. There is free time between sessions (this is when I had the time to take the pics included here), the kids love this! The 3 of them racing down the gym, all kicking soccer balls in perfectly straight lines. A proud moment.

Then, Wyatt’s session is set to begin at 10:30. I think a snack may be enough to keep them all going and at first I think I may have succeeded. I have Cooper and Maddy sitting quietly on the bench eating, while I take Wyatt over to the group for some 1-on-1 time with me. That lasts 3 minutes. Then Maddy starts heading for the open door saying “Home”, Cooper starts emptying my bag onto the floor looking for more snack and Wyatt decides he is done and would prefer to lay under the bench and watch. When I threaten to go home, he says “Mom, I am coming.” in a very exasperated voice. Then he joins me for one kick, only to retreat under the bench once again. I accept defeat (not without some SERIOUS cursing and bad parenting moments) and graciously thank the coach and suggest that until my nanny comes I will only be doing one session of the 2, with all 3 kids if that is alright. He is wonderful. He agrees.

I then turn into the mother you see in horror movies (or at least in bad family sitcoms about dysfunctional parents). I literally throw the kids in the van (still cursing). They all fall asleep within minutes of being strapped in. When we arrive at home and I take Wyatt out he mutters “But mom, I was having so much fun at soccer…” then dozes off again. There is only 1 of me. I am outwitted and outnumbered.

I accept defeat (but not without SERIOUS cursing).

The Day After

2008-09-02T20:25:00.001+10:00

Yeah. No.

Superboy Does Kinder!

2008-09-02T13:36:00.005+10:00

As mentioned in a previous blog, I found a spot for Wyatt in a 3-yr Kinder program. The kinders here are not affiliated with the local schools but are often run in coordination with a childcare centre (daycare). It is most common for kids to be enrolled two 2-hr sessions a week but Wyatt's kinder is a 3-hr session Monday afternoons from 1:30-4:30. Those of you with young kids should see the immediate problem with this - that is NAP TIME! Not only would I be screwing up Wyatt's nap, but until Caty comes, I would also be screwing with Cooper and Maddy's naps as well...Oh, well - here goes nothing!

7 am - "Is is time to go to school yet?" - "No honey, school is after lunch time."
7:15 am - "Mom, can I have some lunch?" - "No honey, it is breakfast time. Then we will go to the park, then we will have lunch and then we will go to school."
8:30 am - "Is it after lunch yet mom?"
12 pm - "Wyatt, it is lunch time." - "Mom, first I need to pack my backpack for school." - "Wyatt, you don't need to pack trucks to go to school, there will be lots of toys at school." - "Then I will pack this container to put my new cars in." - "No, honey, you don't get to take the toys home." - "Mom, I need my cup for school, what else do I need then?"
12:25 - "Cooper and Maddy, I am going to my school. You can come to my school only today. This is my backpack. You don't get a backpack. Mom, can we go to my school yet? We need to take the van to my school. Or you can run there like you did yesterday (on a jog I took him by the school so he could see it)." - "Your school doesn't open until 1:30 but we will be getting in the stroller to walk to your school soon." - "You should run there Mom."
1:15 - Wyatt is almost asleep in the Chariot, Cooper is asleep and Maddy is ready to party!!! I arrive at the door to read a note that says - "We have one case of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease." I think about turning around before Wyatt wakes up then I hear - "Is this my school? Can we go in mom, please..." So in we go, fingers crossed.
1:30-2:00 - Kids come and ask Wyatt his name - "My name is Wyatt, Cooper is my little brother and Maddy is my little sister."
2:00-2:30 - Mom the control-freak teacher tries to keep Wyatt participating in the music session going on - Wyatt is like a kid in a candy shop, trying to locate all objects with wheels, either 2 or 3 dimensional in nature, he can't sit down, I threaten him with leaving and promise that he can play again after the session is over. After each song they sing, Wyatt claps and says quite loudly "Is that the end - am I done?" He is very happy once he gets a stamp on his hand from Dixie the music teacher.
2:30-4:00 - Wyatt plays with everything he can get his hands on. His attention span is -4 seconds. He loves this. The twins cope pretty well - other than half-chewing much of the fruit put out as a buffet and replacing it in the pile if they don't love it, Maddy eating the playdoh, Cooper painting another child and my own kids fighting with one another, I could almost leave them here as well if there were spots for them. I make loads of friends - seems I am quite popular with the 3-year old crowd. Kids making me playdoh coffees and pancakes and trying to force me to eat/drink them...Wyatt was a bit of a loner but since he desperately needed a nap, I think that was the best option for him.
4:05 - "Mom, I want to go to my school every Monday." - "Okay honey, we will come every Monday." - Whatever will I do when school holidays roll around...
4:08 - Wyatt is asleep in the Chariot.
4:20 - Maddy is asleep in the Chariot one block from home. I decide to walk to the supermarket to get some dinner and prolong their naps. Cooper is awake and stroking Wyatt's head as he sleeps. I wish I was Wyatt right now.
4:40 - I am caught at the train crossing which turns into a triple train crossing with the alarm sounding for a solid 5 minutes, Wyatt wakes up miserable. I curse train crossings.
4:45 - Home, 3 kids awake and wired. "Attention mothers - the witching hour this evening has been extended by 2 hours. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause."

7:30 - Lights out for all kids.
9:00 - I start snoring on the couch. Sorry Jeff. Maybe tomorrow will be saner. Fingers crossed.

First week flying solo…

2008-09-02T13:20:00.002+10:00

I survived. In fact, I had a pretty good week. I believe the key to enjoying looking after 3 toddlers is to expect the worst, have very few goals and stay pretty close to home. That being the case, I was able to enjoy the moment (also thanks to the book I am reading – grace a Kerri Lambert – Buddhism for Mothers) and appreciate the kids for all that they are and can be. A stubborn 3-yr old that has NO INTEREST in being potty trained and races to use whatever toy he sees any of his siblings show a glimmer of interest in. Next in level of difficulty to manage, is a very bossy, demanding, vocal, pushy, aggressive mini-me who is a bit of a hoarder (if she were a true bitch she would be the kind of dog to pee on EVERYTHING, marking it as their own). Last in line and always the one to settle with leftovers, is lovely little Pooper (yes, Maddy still calls him this) who is very laid back, he takes abuse with a smile on his face but when he cracks, he cracks. He becomes inconsolable and won’t even let you approach him in an effort to comfort or calm him. No idea where they get these traits from…

We made quite the impression on the neighbourhood though, the 3 kids piled on top of one another in the double chariot, quietly eating snack or sleeping on one another while we went to the local parks, library and even a few trips to the markets and grocery stores.

On Friday, I even got brave and took them to Target for some shopping and the boys got haircuts. Wyatt’s attempt at Australian Shag was more than I could bare and he is too cute with short hair – his eyes stand out and he reminds me of my younger brother Jeff at that age – cute and trouble for it! Cooper got his first cut. Sad to see his big loopy curly combover go, but it was time and he looks like a real little boy now.

Maddy was spared (or should I say, I was spared Maddy's reaction to a haircut). She wouldn’t do well with hair bits on her neck, the dryer blowing on her, or pretty much anyone coming close to her with scissors, a razor, etc…Luckily, she loves her hats (like her mom) which helps me camouflage her bad hair. Check out the hottest wheels in our house at the moment. On a good day they all take turns pushing each other around, in their "finer" moments, Wyatt uses this simple stroller as a weapon of mass destruction or crash test dummy vehicle.

The days are pretty good, but the witching hour is between 5-6 as they are tired of me, I of them, I am trying to prepare dinner with Cooper at my feet calling for “Noodles – Noodles”, just praying that Jeff is on his way home already...

Another lifesaver has been that I have started back on some kind of fitness regime. I started doing a workout tape and went for my first real jog in a while at 6am Tues. morning. After my jog on Tuesday, I met a mom who invited me to join a mother’s running group at a local park so I went out early Thursday morning and met 4 really nice women who have tons of kids between them and lots of advice on great programs in the area. As a result, I have signed Wyatt up for 3-yr kinder Monday afternoons and all of the kids are trying out a program called Socatime Joeys next Thursday morning.

Hope next week goes as well!

The Full GOR-y details...(GOR - Great Ocean Road)

2008-08-26T14:27:00.007+10:00

TARAGO INAUGURAL VOGAGE A SUCCESS. Okay, so I know we already wrote a blog about the GOR, however we didn't really see the GOR last time, so I will change the title of that blog and I promise not to write about it again...not even when I go with my parents, my brother, Jeff's brother, Caty, etc...

So, I mentioned that Jeff's dad rented a motorcycle. The main reason for doing this (other than to impress our neighbours and our kids) was so that he could ride the GOR. He was pumped. For the entire week leading up to our trip he checked the weather (a few times daily) and then discovered that with the google maps satellite feature he could track the entire road and even see the whitecaps on the swells hitting the beach. It kept raining in Melbourne but Kevin assured me that it could not rain like this for much longer - it just couldn't. Luckily for all of us, he was right this time!

Jeff took Friday off and we all piled into the Tarago, all of us except Kevin, who put on his biker gear, donned his "tough guy" black helmet with the tinted visor and we hit the road. I managed not to lose Kevin (or get him killed) as we left Melbourne. Now remember the last time we attempted this trip - just as we arrived in Lorne (120 km from Melbourne) Maddy yacked all over her clothes, her carseat and left our rental van reaking for the remainder of our journey. This time I was prepared. We had a pot lined with plastic bags, all of her clothes were easily removable if puke-stained, extra clothes for everyone, febreeze in the car, I even had a short sleeve shirt on so I could hold her without getting covered in puke, I was ready! Thankfully there was no puke at all on the holiday.

Friday we drove to Torquay, played in the amazing adventure playground close to the beach, ate a quick lunch at the golden arches - Maddy now claps and says "Donalds- park - nuggets" when she spots one - a sad feeling as a parent. We then got back in the car and drove all of the way to Apollo Bay, where we were staying the night. It rained as we were leaving Melbourne (enough that Kevin wanted his rain suit for the bike) but held off for most of the drive. Apollo Bay is less trendy than Lorne but it is more of a half-way point between Melbourne and Warrnambool (the end of the GOR). Our 3-bdrm apt, was really a 2-bdrm with bunk beds in the living room - not the most favourable set-up for our family but it was sufficient for one night. There was a good park but we eventually decided that the beach was the place to be and we were graced with a beautiful double rainbow. Eating in a restaurant with kids that have been cooped up in the car all day is NEVER the best idea, but we tried to have a nice dinner in a bistro on the main strip. Unfortunately for us, most "nice" restaurants have only 1 highchair. This makes eating with our kids MUCH less enjoyable. The food was fine, service was less than hospitable, and we made it back to the hotel to watch some tv. We thought maybe we could just let Wyatt fall asleep naturally (since he didn't really have a room) but at about 9:30, after a few hours of the Simpons (no kids channel here) we decided we might need to take some serious action and so Jeff went to bed with him in the same room as the twins, while I took the bunk in the living room. We knew this was not the end of our night, and I was roused by the distinctive cries of both Cooper and Maddy at about 11. I chose Cooper to sleep with me out on the bunk - a big mistake as he has my grandfathers snore and was unable to really rest in my company. Another rough night, Jeff and his folks took the kids to a cafe for breakfast while I showered so as to feel human again.

On the road again, we traveled to the most photographed stretch of road in Australia (if not the world), the stretch from Apollo Bay to Port Campbell National park is littered with scenic lookouts and amazing sights. We hit the 12 Apostles (as you might imagine, Wyatt, Cooper and Maddy didn't appreciate the stunning peacefulness of the landscape), the blowhole, London Bridge, the Grotto and then had a quick lunch in Port Campbell.

We did the last stretch to Warrnambool without stopping and enjoyed an early evening at Lake Pertrobe (a wonderful spot for kids with at least 4 different playgrounds, a maze, boat rides, pelicans, ponds, tires, etc...) and then learned from the previous night, checked into the StoneCutters Inn, our 3 bdrm-loft apt (beautiful! and well set up, 2 bdrms upstairs with a bathroom, and one downstairs with a gas fireplace, no bathtub but oh, well...) and we ordered some pizza and ate in. This went so well, we also picked up some cereal and milk and had brekkie in the apt. then went and played at the park in the morning. Forgot to mention that we went whale watching from a platform near the "Whale Nursery", a bay where the right whales are known no calve their young. Very cool to be able to see whales without having to get on a boat and go searching for them. Notice in the pic that a surfer is getting quite close to the whales...this is not permitted.

The last day, Kevin decided to go back the way we had come so he could see the GOR in both directions, while we took the more direct highway route in order to get back to Melbourne quicker and spare the kids more car time.

This drive covers some stunning ground. From cliffs and ocean views to dense forest hills and amazing farm pastures. Jeff and I are interested to see what the drive is like in the summer in full tourist season...maybe we'll even write another blog about it....

Inlaws in Melbourne...

2008-08-26T14:03:00.004+10:00

Julia and Zak left us as we welcomed Jeff's parents for our first official "visit from home". As Jeff mentioned, Wyatt was speechless upon seeing Grampy. The twins quickly grew attached to Grammy and Grampy and were excited to show their new attendants all of their favorite parks and playgrounds, introduce them to their Aussie friends and take them to the Melbourne Museum, the Aquarium, Healesville Animal Sanctuary and more. In addition to that, Kevin and Deborah made short work of seeing everything there was to see in Melbourne (more than we have even seen), be it by train, tram, trolley, bus, or by foot. Even the greater Metlink transit system was not enough for them and Kevin rented a motorcycle (which Maddy still asks for "Grampy's cycle - where are you?"). They came, they brought mostly rain and cold weather with them, but they could not be stopped. I hope that I will have that kind of energy once I don't have children to slow me down! We were sad to see them go but I am sure they will appreciate the peace and quiet of Port Credit, far from the sleepless antipodean toddlers and their cranky mother. Thanks for putting up with me!

Meet the Tarago !

2008-08-19T13:26:00.003+10:00

We are now the proud owners of a 1999 Toyota Tarago !

Buying a used car here is very easy. Liability insurance is purchased as part of the registratoin of a vehicle. The registration is specific to the vehicle and transfers to the new owner, therefore insurance is not mandatory here. You can then purchase comprehensive insurance on top of that.

You have two weeks from the sale to have the registration officially transfered over. Also, you don't need an Australian driver's license to have the registration in your name.

I spent an hour or so last night installing the car seats so it was ready to roll this morning.

Weekend in review

2008-08-19T12:47:00.004+10:00

We had quite a busy weekend here.

Saturday my parents, myself, and the kids headed downtown to the Aquarium. We spent the moring there showing Grampy and Grammy all the fish and turtles. This trip the kids were much more into it then the first time we went which was shortly after we arrived. Highlight was definitely the large room at the end where you are surrounded on all sides by floor to ceiling glass and you are circled by the sharks and rays.

Next we headed to the Victoria Market to check that out. While my dad went off to collect his motorbike my mom and I treated the kids to lunch at a MacDonalds...sad I know...but the always have two high chairs and you can be in and out quickly. Key things for having a successful lunch. The market is basically a huge huge farmer's market and flea market all under one giant roof. The market itself is then surrounded by a cirlce of permenant shops. My parents bought a few souvenirs but other than that we managed to fight off the alure of 5 dollar watches and 2o dollar jeans.

Sunday I had bigger plans !

We piled into the van and headed for the Healesville Sanctuary. It's basically a zoo but with a functioning animal sanctuary/hospital on the premises.

The drive out there was great once we got out of the city...which took at least 40 minutes ! This is the wine growing area known as the Yarra Valley. Picture bright green pastures and small vineyards surrounded by small mountains on all sides. Very pretty !

Eventually we got to the zoo. In the end we liked it as much if not more then the Melbourne Zoo. We managed to see all the big Australian animals that you would expect..Kangaroos, Wallabees, Koalas, Dingos, Echidnas, Platapus etc. Not only did we see them but you were pretty close and they seemed interested in all the attention. It's clean, very well laid out, and pretty big.

We then had lunch back in Healesville at a nice cafe and headed for Marysville which was through the Yarra Ranges National Park. We hadn't been up that way before and it turned out to be far better than we expected. The road wound and climbed and dropped as we crossed over the Yarra ranges. The trees here were about 100 feet tall and the road was almost never straight. A good practice run for the great ocean road next weekend.

Once we made it out we thought about going home a different way and doing a circle but decided the risk of getting lost was too high. Since we enjoyed the drive out so much we were all content to turn around and go back the way we had come.

Bad blogger ! Bad !

2008-08-13T22:40:00.002+10:00

Sorry for going dark on everyone like that.

My parents ( aka Grampy and Grammy ) arrived here Saturday night and things have been pretty hectic ever since. They got here around 9 pm our time and I met them at the airport with Wyatt who was wired and rendered speechless by their arrival. Something that doesnt happen very often.

Sunday we let them relax a bit as they had been on a whirl wind tour of Hawaii on the way over. We took them to an indoor playground in the morning and then a walk around the neighbourhood in the afternoon. We capped it off with a steak and shrimp BBQ with some Australian beer. This dinner served three purposes, welcome to Australia for them, a second birthday dinner for Wyatt, and a goodbye dinner for Zak and Julia who were to leave us on the following Tuesday.

Monday I was back to work but Mel took them to the Melbourne Museum for the day and gave them a driving tour of the major sights of the city. In the afternoon my parents took Wyatt to a bike store and bought him a very nice Tricycle. We had bought him a cheap one for his birthday but Wyatt and the twins proved too much for it and it had to be returned when it started to fall apart on day two. We had a pizza dinner as a last goodbye to Zak and Julia.

Tuesday morning Mel drove Zak and Julia to the airport for thier flight to Sydney and then Fiji. They will be missed ! I don't think we will truly know how much help they were until my parents leave and we are all alone here for the first time !

My parents took the kids to the local park for the morning and went for another walk in the afternoon.

Wednesday my parents decided to go off on thier own and take a couple of trams to make thier own way to St. Kilda and then the CBD ( downtown ). The walked all over downtown and my dad rented a motorbike from this Saterday until next Sunday. He plans to do some exploring on that in the afternoons next week and then we will do a big Great Ocean Road trip on the weekend.

I'm in the process of purchasing a used Toyota Tarrago mini van and hope to close the deal on Friday so hopefully we will christen the van with the trip next weekend. Buying a car here is very different from in Canada ! I'll delve more into that in a future post.

Trampoline Time

2008-08-07T14:53:00.002+10:00

Jeff is truly Superdad. With very little help from me, he assembled the trampoline by the light of the moon so that it would be ready for the kids in the morning. Wyatt was very excited to see the giant blue structure in the backyard, but managed to contain his need to bounce until after breakfast. We did not heed the warnings on the box (not suitable for children under 3, only one jumper at a time) and instead, we adopted the Aussie attitude on child safety, and we put all 3 kids on the trampoline at once. Wyatt was instantly a pro, having enjoyed gymnastic classes back home. Maddy enjoys the rush and likes to run around in circles saying "Circle, circle, circle." while Cooper was a bit shy of the trampoline until he realized that it bounces better than his crib mattress at which point he pulled out his favorite move - a big jump with a bum landing. So far it seems to be a good investment - it is in our backyard so there is NO transit time, no batteries are required, jumping tires the kids out, there is no fighting over who "has" the trampoline and they haven't taken to WWF moves just yet. The only down side is that it will not be returning to Canada with us so Fern Avenue may lose some "cool" points in the kids eyes.

On Turning 3…

2008-08-05T20:24:00.002+10:00

Learn from our mistakes and NEVER attempt to get a 3 year old worked up about their birthday BEFORE the day of…

Wyatt has a book called “How Many Sleeps?” about a young mouse that keeps track of how many sleeps there are until his next birthday. Somehow we started down this path with Wyatt a few days before his actual birthday, this got old very quickly. For the past week, every morning he would call my name and as I peaked into his room he would ask “Is my birthday here yet?”, then when I answered “Not yet honey” he would get out of bed crestfallen. In an effort to speed things up, he cleverly decided that naps should be included in his sum total of sleeps and he started asking the dreaded question after waking from his naps “Is my birthday here yet?”. Then this morning, he called out. I was excited to tell him his birthday was here. “Mommy, is my birthday here yet?” he asked, with his head still on the pillow. “Yes honey it is.” “Yeah” he said, “Can I have my birthday cake now?”…I just can’t win!

About a week ago, I asked him what kind of toys he wanted for his birthday. He answered that he did not want toys for his birthday, instead, all he wanted was some vanilla-chocolate birthday cake and his friends over for a party. I was thrilled. Maybe we had raised him right after all…maybe despite the plethora of cars and toys we had purchased for him over the years, we had managed to instill in him the value of friendship and family. Then two days ago he seemed upset. He touched my arm and said “For my birthday I want some birthday cake, my friends over for a party and some toys, Mommy. I want some Hot Wheels and 2 monster trucks and a monster truck for Maddy and one for Cooper.” Oh well, at least he wants to share.

His presents were set up on the table in his playroom and I managed to get a snuggle with him on the couch before he noticed them. I allowed him to open his monster trucks first (before Jeff came down from his shower) and he was quite pleased. Then, he patiently waited for his dad to come down before opening his other treasures. The Hot Wheels were acknowledged, the craft kit containing stamps (of facial features with different expressions) and ink pads was dismissed and then came the Lightning McQueen Figure 8 track (from Grandma and Grandad). We had wrapped it before reading if it needed batteries (then looked it up on the internet where it said that it did NOT require any). Wyatt eagerly unwrapped this present and we were all very excited until we realised that it did need batteries (of which we had none). He was GREAT in the face of disappointment – helped by the fact that we pulled out the “piece de resistance” which we had agreed to withhold until Grammy and Grampy arrived this Saturday – a tricycle. We were nervous he would not like it as he never gravitated towards the beautiful trike Jeff’s dad gave him…preferring ride-on toys he could push. But we lucked in and he was very proud of his BIG BOY BIKE and he learned to pedal quite efficiently in less than 5 minutes.

Then I stressed over last minute preparations until his friends arrived. Zak made a few trips to the grocery store over the course of the morning, for batteries, more batteries and then some flour for the pizza dough I had planned to make.
Kerri arrived with a WONDERFUL car themed cake – an intersection with cars made of “fondant” driving on the left side of the road.
Much better than anything I could have come up with. Loic gave Wyatt a remote control car and Lisa arrived with Declan who was very excited to give Wyatt a copy of his favorite toy – a remote control demonic looking teardrop riding a skateboard. Wyatt loves this toy but it took Cooper and Maddy the full day to get over their fear. We also gave Wyatt this Winnie the Pooh game, it shoots leaves/butterflies out the top of a long plastic tube and the kids have to catch as many as they can in their nets. The game is a hit with the kids but parents be warned - the fun lasts approximately 20 seconds and then needs to be reset. Not a great payout. It was amazing that we had 3 kids around 3 years of age, the twins coming in at 19 months and Tea and Shawn just over a year old and no fights broke out for over 3 hours!!! A proud moment for all of us moms. After Loic, Tea and Kerri left, Wyatt went out front to say good bye and the boys started splashing in the birdbath. Next thing I know, all 5 kids are running around the front yard at least topless. We teased Zak about how Wyatt was much luckier than he was to have a topless birthday party but then we realized most of his guests were male so I don’t think Zak was too jealous in the end.

Jeff and I also bought Wyatt a 10ft. round trampoline that arrived while he was napping. His biggest meltdown of the day occurred when he realised that I could not put the trampoline together in 2 minutes and that he was going to have to wait for Dad to come home to set up that present. A quick ride to the park on his new bike got his mind off of the trampoline (until the bike pedal kept falling off…you get what you pay for) and we enjoyed his favorite dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. Jeff has his work cut out for him as Wyatt expects him to assemble the trampoline in record time, in the dark, with no tools. Wish him luck!

Just before going up to bed Wyatt looked at me with the sweetest look he could muster and asked “Mommy, can I have another birthday?”. I guess you could say the day was a success and the transition from being 2 to being 3 has been a pleasant one.

Commuting by Train

2008-08-04T22:36:00.002+10:00

I've been doing the commute to work by train so far and have had varied experiences. One day it can be as smooth as possible with a short walk to the nearest station arriving just in time to get on an express train that has be downtown in a matter of minutes. Other times it can be a nightmare of waiting 45 minutes for a train due to a broken train getting stuck right in front of the station, or more routinely hitting the station after work at peak times where the people are packed in so tight you can't even move your arms !

Anyway, for the most part it's pretty convenient. I buy a pass that is good for 10 trips of up to 3 hours each. As we live within Zone 1 I only need a Zone 1 ticket. This particular pass costs 28.00 so its a pretty good bargain compared with driving and paying for gas...I mean petrol...and parking.

As the daylight starts to last longer and the days start to get warmer I am hoping to abandon the trains in favour of riding my bike in very soon. I'm just trying to work out where I will shower and leave my bike. I could ride to the Accenture office which has a shower, but I don't know where I could leave my bike at that building, and it's a good 10 minute walk from there to the project office. My other option would be to get a gym membership at the gym around the corner from the project offce and just bring my bike into the office with me.

Anyway, before I start riding I figured I would give everyone an idea of what my daily commute looks like.

Exiting house onto Wilmot street and turn left...

At end of Wilmot turn left again this time on Howard...
Turn right onto Repton Street...
All the houses on Repton are tiny Victorian bungalows.
At the end of Repton turn left onto Ardrie. Can't wait to see this street in the summer.

Turn right and then left from Ardrie and arrive on Waverly. Lots of shops and restaurants along here...
Most popular gas station here is BP. Notice how green they are !
Waverly ends at the Princes Highway. Also known as Dandenong Road.

Monash University has a campus right at the junction of Waverly and Dandenong. They have a lot of very modern buildings on this site.

Cross the highway and cut through the University's parking garage...

and you arrive at Caulfield Station. It take about 20 minutes to walk here or 5 minutes on the Tram that runs down Waverly. This is a major station as 3 train lines split after this station. That means I have 3 times as many train options from this station compared to a normal station.

This is the board listing all the incoming trains. In the mornings everyone is trying to catch the City Loop - Limited Express. No one wants the City Loop - Stops all stations. Express makes 2 stops before the city. All stations is probably closer to 10. The hard part is that as the trains approach the station they can suddenly change platforms. So all the people standing on platform 1 will be told with 1 minute to go that the train is now departing from Platform 3. There is then a mad and futile dash out of the platform terminal and down into the tunnel under the station then up the stairs to platform 3, through the turnstyles only to see the train leaving. These people are usually cursing and throwing thier hats or papers just as the announcer lets everyone know that the next limited express is due back on platform 1 in 1 minute...I've learned my lesson and now when I am in a hurry I wait in the tunnel and watch the board until the last possible minute rather than waiting on the platform.

You can see the Caulfield Race Track ( horse racing ) off in the distance. This shot was taken from the train platform.
Waiting for the train...
A train...an older one actually...
Arriving at Parliament Station. It's actually one of the uglier stations on the city loop. Flinder's Street Station, Souther Cross Station and Melbourne Central are all worthy tourist attractions. Parliament is all business ! no sight seeing here. Once you get out of this tunnel you ride up about 3 stories on one of the steepest escalators I have ever seen. After that you still have to climb up three flights of stairs to get to street level.
View up Albert street after exiting from Parliament Station in the CBD. I work in the third building on the left. On the right side of the street is a park that connects to the Treasury Gardens. That is pretty much it. Door to door it's anwhere from 35 minutes to an hour depending on what train you catch and how long you wait for it.

I hope to go for a walk at lunch this week and start gathering some pics of the landmarks in the CBD.

Superboy Alive and Well in Melbourne

2008-08-01T19:05:00.003+10:00

So, now that we have returned to the daily grind of exploring Melbourne, I have a few Wyatt stories to entertain all of you…

The other day we were at the park with Loic and fam and Loic has an interesting habit of roaring (and he has quite the scary roar for a 2 year old). Julia was chatting with the kids and had the following conversation with Wyatt (or something pretty close to this account):
“Wyatt, what scary animal do you want to be? Loic is a lion, Cooper is a crocodile and Maddy is a snake… What do you want to be?”
“I’m Superboy.”
“Okay, What do you do then?
“I help the world.”
“Okay, What are your superpowers?”
“I save all the girls and boys in trouble”
At this point in the conversation he runs over to a girl he doesn’t know and asks her if she is in trouble. She of course is not in trouble so he tries another girl and then returns to play with Loic.
I have used his Superboy persona to my advantage and have successfully got him to put away his shoes and jacket, to help find lost items, to clean up a mess of cars, etc…According to Wyatt, Maddy is Supergirl because she helps him with these tasks but Cooper has yet to earn his “Super wings”.

For those of you that know Jeff and I, we have always joked together than we should get our kids into horror movies. Jeff has always said that kids make a movie really creepy. So last night Julia, Zak and I thought we would put this plan into action. We coached Wyatt and when Jeff came through the door after a long day’s work, Wyatt ran up to him and said “I see dead people.” Unfortunately he didn’t whisper it as we had rehearsed, nor did he do his proper creepy eyes but we all had a great laugh.

Thought this might make a few of you giggle.

Day 18 - Port Douglas to Cairns to Melbourne

2008-07-29T09:52:00.002+10:00

Last day of the trip and I think we are all ready to go home.

We drive from Port Douglas back to Cairns and went back to the lagoon and playground downtown. Mel and Julia helped to look after the kids until 12 and then had to leave me with the kids while they went off for their big sky dive adventure. A pretty cool way to end the trip in my opinion. They had tried to do it in Mission Beach but the weather didn't co-operate.

I spent the afternoon with the kids at the lagoon swimming and walking and napping. Mel and Julia returned at around 4 PM and we stuck it out at the lagoon until around 5:30 pm. Then we had a quick dinner at a Red Rooster and headed to the airport.

Our flight left at 8:15 PM and we were back in Melbourne around 11:45 PM. The departure lounge at Cairns was great with lots of shops and restaurants. If we had known it was that nice we would have had dinner there. One of the best we have seen on this trip.

So thats the end of the trip. I will leave it to Mel to comment on the sky diving and to add her take on the trip.

Mel's Highlights from Brisbane to Port Douglas

2008-07-28T20:13:00.003+10:00

So here goes the synopsis of my highlights of our trip (for those of you with shorter attention spans and a penchant for less exclamation marks and more …)

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort

Dolphins-cool. Long-winded instructions about how to hold a fish for a dolphin to take out of your hand at dinner time– decidedly uncool for toddlers and adults alike.
4WD Quad driving – supercool! I was meant for speed. Japanese females that do not understand English are generally not meant for speed. Thank goodness we were immediately put in the advanced group and whisked away to the sand desert for some serious off-roading.
Villas opening up to the beach – cool. Islands with overpriced restaurants and a cheap take-away Place where you too can wait 75 minutes for fish and chips – uncool.

Noosa
As Jeff says, if you had scads of money and a huge boat to show off, this is your destination of choice! If you have kids and it is raining, this is NOT your destination of choice. At least the zoo is only a short drive away.

Australia Zoo – worth the drive and the entry fee.

Wyatt was trying very hard to have a conversation with a kangaroo and fully expected the kangaroo to respond – the conversation went something like “Kangaroo, this is your park, where is your playground? See this map kangaroo. This is your part. Do you know where the playground is? Kangaroo? Kangaroo?”. We of course were egging him on since everyone within earshot was highly amused.

Hervey Bay/Fraser Island (I spent the day with all 3 kids so not much worth noting.)
Things have changed since I went there, the tours don’t seem to cover the northern tip of the island where the cool champagne whirlpools are and the sharks and rays can be spotted from the Indian Heads cliff lookout. Minding 3 kids on your own in a penthouse apt. is not the easiest thing to do. However, the 15 minute walk up the stairs to your apt. does eat up a lot of time in your day, leaving less time to fill with exciting activities 

Rockhampton
Jeff and Julia thought of this as a highlight because of the cool park and the buffet style dinner at Sizzler…(heartbreaking to the woman that spent weeks organising super scenic locations where said individuals could partake in stupendous tours only to be outdone by an all-you can-eat meal! with a self-serve sundae bar)

Airlie Beach (not Arlie beach)

I am sad to announce that our family is best suited to caravan parks. You heard me dad, not the luxury 5-star accommodations you taught me to enjoy regardless of my financial situation, but the “Do you not have enough money” type camping/caravan accommodations I enjoyed in my youth. Luckily for me, the Aussies do caravan parks in style. They have serviced “luxury condos” for people like me with kids like mine! Whitehaven Beach was beautifully scenic although the aerial view is much more compelling than the land view. Wyatt loved the bikes as Jeff said and he also enjoyed the near-drowning experience of going down the covered slide into the pool – repeatedly!

Magnetic Island
Lovely, a good day trip. Very low key, great beaches.

Wyatt was desperate to drive a purple Mini-Moke (or the topless one), but as we had the van, we hadn’t budgeted for a second vehicle just for him. (If I win Dad, can I get a Mini-Moke?)

The Koala Sanctuary was very cool. The lorrikeet feeding was awesome as we had NO idea what we were in for and it was totally unexpected that the birds would clench onto our scalps in the hopes of being fed (check out Julia’s face as she was their first victim). The kids were fans until they got too got scalped. These are not gentle birds, nor are they quiet. Deafening in fact.
They are everywhere in Horseshoe Bay and you learn very quickly not to feed them unless you enjoy a good after breakfast swarming and scalping! Luckily they seem to have good “elimination control” and despite their large population, none of us were dumped on. Then came the guided tour where we got to touch all the creepy animals. Highlights : Maddy staring down a croc saying “Snap Snap” and trying to give it a good grab or staring down the snake and hissing…maybe the rubber snake as a baby toy wasn’t such a good idea.

Mission Beach (not Missing beach), although with the rain, time at the beach was definitely missing.
No skydiving – which by the way was my sister’s only request for the trip – everyone that knows us assumed I was the one to con her into doing it... Having bungy-jumped and the like, I thought this part of my life was over but since she wanted a companion and I didn’t fear the activity I said I would go with her. Fate saw to it that we would die another day because the weather was too poor to skydive so we cancelled our booking. The Cassawong cottages were incredible and very rainforesty.
The stick bug in the pool was awe someonly because I managed to inadvertently avoid crushing it while reaching for a diving disc that Wyatt threw at me – that would have FREAKED ME OUT!!!

Anyways, once the weather cleared and we made some friends, we enjoyed our last morning in Mission beach on the the expansive beach and had a tribute-to-Simba morning throwing sticks for the resort dog Archie

(much like Simba in his eagerness to receive but NOT retrieve). Then we got back in the car and then made our way north for our final stop. Wyatt saw a black and white dog in the back of a yute and wanted to buy one like that and name it ABBA???

Port Douglas
To break up the trip we decided to stop at the lagoon in Cairns. Upon doing this I think everyone was wondering why we weren’t staying in Cairns…as the lagoon was quite the sight…beautiful 20-somethings as far as the eye could see, play fountains for the kids, a park close by, nice warm water, beautiful weather. But we had heard good things about Port Douglas so we continued on.
“Dougie” or “the Port” seemed cursed from the get-go. A GIANT spider on the van upon arriving. A crappy “resort” that was under construction, had no real tour desk, really had no services to speak of, ran out of food at lunch – HUH? and had a villa that seemed incredibly small after our other stays. I kept gashing myself on furniture, stubbing my toes, etc… The kids didn’t sleep well but we were too lazy and cheap to find alternate accommodations. We had a long day as we tried to explore the Daintree Discovery Centre – Wyatt’s shoe episode was pretty funny as people must have thought it was some amazing blue bird streaking down to the ground through the trees. The drive was not for the faint of stomach but the kids kept down their lunches and all was good. The next day Jeff and I enjoyed some AMAZING snorkelling and I did a refresher intro dive to remind myself why I got certified so very long ago. The coral was extremely colourful, the assortment of fish rivalled the Melbourne Aquarium and Reef HQ but the highlight was swimming with a GIGANTIC sea turtle (sorry - we didn't take any underwater cameras, preferring to live in the moment!). We were the only ones on the tour to speak of seeing the turtle so we think that we may have been the only ones to see it – lucky break. No sharks or rays but the turtle kept us both happy. Jeff and I enjoyed this day and were glad that it came at the end of the trip as it would have been hard to top.
Our last day saw us tired and ready to go home but Julia and I had some unfinished business. We were going skydiving. Jeff would take the kids to the Cairns lagoon while we attached ourselves to some strangers and asked them to push us out of an airplane – sounded good at the time. Julia was very nervous and I tried not to enjoy this too much. Before they would take my money they told me there was a good chance that I might dislocate my shoulder again, unless I kept my arms in during the free fall. So you will notice in the picks my arms are tight to my body during free fall to minimize my risk. Her tandem flyer Mike was a crazy Kiwi and my tandem diver Ronnie was my age and a tandem skydiver – need I say more? The two of them teased her mercilessly when they clued in to how nervous she was. Mike kept pretending he didn’t know how many straps there were supposed to be and he kept asking Ronnie for advice, etc… all the while Julia became more and more worried. When we were in the bus on the way to the airport, one of their colleagues was driving by on his scooter. They were desperate to hit him with an elastic, but the only ones they had were attached to our gear (their purpose was and is still unknown). Of course, Mike came over and took the elastics off of Julia’s gear…she looked panicked. He then explained that they were “Skydiving elastics” that could carry tonnes…She was so nervous she couldn’t tell when they were teasing her and as she tells it “I (Julia) thought I would cry the whole way but my sister(Mel) did because she was laughing at me the whole time”.

The experience was a lot less scary and a lot cooler than I expected and I am glad that Julia gave me an opportunity to relive my youth for a few short minutes. The pics are very cool and a wonderful momento.

Unfortunately our next and last flight of the day was not nearly as entertaining – 3 overtired and underfed squirmy toddlers and their exhausted parents did not make any friends on the flight home from Cairns.

The trip is done. Things to note:
1. As Jeff mentioned, 200 km on the coast is NOT equivalent to 200 km on the 401. The driving was slow and as a result we bit off a bit more than we could manage thinking that we could drive over 2000 km in 17 days with 3 kids being happy and parents feeling like they were on holidays.
2. Holidays with kids are NOT relaxing. They are simply a change of scenery and often involve more work than a normal day.
3. Kids do not need toys to play at the beach. A ziplock bag and some shells and rocks will suffice.
4. High chairs are an amazing invention and are well worth their weight in gold.
5. Kids are very photogenic but not necessarily very obedient when on holidays.
6. As my wise sister pointed out, the skydiving and the snorkelling should NOT be the moments in my life that I cherish, the highlights should be enjoying my beautiful family, good health and good fortune! Thanks Jule!
AH, THE MANY LESSONS I HAVE YET TO LEARN!!!!!!!!!

Day 17 - Port Douglas

2008-07-28T12:49:00.003+10:00

Todays big trip was to head out to the reef and explore. We chose a boat that stopped at 3 different spots and gave you about 3 hours in the water. Mel chose to do a dive at one location while I opted for snorkeling at all three.

I have snorkeled at a few different places in the Caribbean and I always came away thinking that it just wasn't as colorful as it appears on TV or in photos. Now I know that I was just i the wrong places ! The reef here was as colorful as you imagine it to be. The shapes, sizes, and colours of the coral was amazing ! I'd love to show you some pictures but we didn't get a disposable underwater camera as we wanted to enjoy our time instead of worrying about taking pictures.

Jsut so you know, this is the location where the reef is closest to the mainland but it's still a one hour fast catamaran ride from shore. So you are out in the ocean pretty far. You can't really see the land from here.

The first sight was fairly shallow, I'd say about 10 - 12 meters deep. The depth was fairly constant and the coral most the most diverse here. There were tons of fish , clams, sea cucumbers, star fish, but nothing too big or scary.

Second sight was a much deeper, probably 20 meters and the coral here has formed a huge wall or cliff. At the top of the coral there was only about a meter of water and the coral is exposed to the sun at low tide. The sea life here was much the same but with the water being so much deeper there was the ever present threat of something huge showing up...but it didn't happen.

Last sight was a combination of the above two. Big wall opening up into the ocean and then varied landscapes when you went over the wall. We sal lots of cuddle fish here. Mel was keeping one eye on the open water searching for something big and when she grabbed my arm and pointed I almost didn't want to look ! Judging by her excitement it figured it was a great white ! Turned out to be a HUGE sea turtle. It was about 10 meters below us and was easliy as long as me. It just swam along the wall lazily while we smaw above it . We followed it for about 10 minutes or so until is swam back out to sea. It was the highlight of the day.

The ride back in was much rougher than the ride out and there were lots of people at the back of the boat losing thier lunch. Mel and I missed lunch as we snorkelled for the whole second stop so were not at risk of losing much.

Day 16 - Port Douglas

2008-07-28T12:27:00.003+10:00

Todays plan was to visit the rainforest. So after breakfast we piled into the van and drove for about an hour up to the Daintree National park. To get there you need to cross the Daintree river on a cable driven ferry. No small feat considering the river is infested with Crocodiles !

Once across its like driving into Jurassic Park ! Huge cliffs, vegetation so thick you can't see into it, weird animals ! The road is super twisty and steep and the trees are so thick they create a tunnel over the road.

There are multiple ways to explore the forest including Jeep safaris, helicopter rides, cable car rides, river cruises, and hikes. We chose instead to go to the Discovery center which is a large complex of suspended walkways and towers where you walk through the forest . We were hoping the kids would enjoy walking around more than they did but it was still pretty cool.

The highlight was Wyatt sticking his leg through the railing at the top of the 100 foot tall observation tower and promptly kicking off his sandle !

The other people on the tower found this hilarious...as did Wyatt , until I told him he was going to have to wear one shoe now for the rest of his life. He didn't seem to like that idea so we went down to look for it....luckily it landed on one of the suspended walkways we didn't need to go walking through the forest and risk getting kicked out of the place.

We spent the afternoon at the resort pool and Mel and I signed up for an all day snorkelling/diving trip to the Reef.

Day 15 - Mission Beach to Port Douglas

2008-07-28T12:13:00.005+10:00

First off a little update on day 14. At the pool in the afternoon we met another couple with two young girls . As our kids swam in the rain Mel got the conversation going. Then we invited them over to play after dinner. The kids all got along great and it turned a pretty grim day into an interesting one.

Today started out sunny and warm for a change and we decided that instead of just hitting the road we would head across the street to the beach and spend some time here first.

The beach is a long as you can see and quite nice with palm trees lining the edge. Very tropical feeling. our neighbours had the same idea and the kids got to all play together again.

The owners of the resort have a brown lab named Archie and he follows anyone to the beach. We had some fun throwing sticks into the surf for him and Wyatt grew quite attached to him.

After the beach we hit the road for the drive to Cairns where we hoped to have lunch and visit thier sea side lagoon. The highway is a twisty little two lane road lined with Sugar cane and Banana trees the whole way. The sugar cane fields are all linked together with tiny little railroads that they use for hauling the harvested cane to the processing plants. The gauge of the trackes can't be more than 2 feet.

We arrived in Cairns and headed to the lagoon. Cairns seems much more built up, lots more brand name shops and restaurants. Big hotels. The lagoon was massive and very nice. Although littered with backpackers and tourists ! We stayed here and let the kids play until afternoon nap and then made the last push to Port douglas.

This road is a mini great ocean road and luckily no one got sick ! Port Douglas is just a tiny little town on a peninsula that is a good jumping off point for both the Great Barrier reef and the Daintree Rainforest.

We checked into our room and then headed out for a nice dinner at a Hog's Breath Cafe on the pier.

Day 14 - Mission Beach

2008-07-23T15:34:00.003+10:00

Well, it's still raining. And sadly there is not much to do here in the rain. I guess it just never rains like this here so poeple don't really have any advice for us.

We spent the morning wandering around the shops in Mission Beach and having a snack at a Cafe. We went back and had a quick swim in the rainforest before lunch and nap time. The pool has a rock waterfall and a large boulder in the middle. Mel was retrieving a toy from under the boulder when she let out a small shriek ! There was a walking stick bug that has to be at least 12" long on the boulder. The coolest bug I have ever seen !! The sort of thing you only ever see in a museum !

I came back into town to do some updating at an internet cafe while Mel and Julia had naps with the kids.

Sadly the weather didn't work out for the skydiving plans ! Raining and overcast. The whole point of skydiving here seems to be that you can see the great barrier reef and beaches and admire it the whole way down....only thing you would see on a day like today is great skies and rain on your googles. It's supposed to clear up tomorrow so maybe they can try it again in the morning as we dont have to catch any ferries or anything tomorrow...Just drive to Port Douglas ( our last stop on this trip ).

I hope the weather gets better too cause I want to do a trip out to the outer reef and do a full day of snorkelling out there !

I'll try and get more pics up in the next day or two. I have lots of pics of the birds and the bush walk !

Day 13 - Magnetic Island to Mission Beach

2008-07-23T15:23:00.003+10:00

We got up early in order to be packed and back at Nelly Bay for the 9:30 AM ferry to Townsville. Again it was rainy and overcast so our plan was to go to the Reef HQ aquarium in Townsville in the morning and then drive in the afternoon.

The Aquarium is run by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority and is really devoted to the Coral Reef only. No great white sharks or whales here !

There is one main giant tank in the center of the place that houses a huge living coral reef and all the organisms that go with it.

You then walk around the tank with various other smaller tanks on the outside walls. The do have a few small sharks and other predators in a seperate large tank, but there are none in the giant tank.

It was great to see the fish and be able to find out what they all were so we know what we have seen snorkelling. I was even able to find the Morray Eel that I had seen earlier on the trip.

The kids liked it more than I expected after the disaster we had at the Melbourne Aquarium. Wyatt enjoyed trying to find new fish and Maddie and Cooper just kept saying "Nemo, Nemo !".

We did lunch at the cafe so we could watch the fish while eating and then hit the road for Mission beach at around 2 pm. The drive was non eventful and we arrived at around 5 pm or so. Driving distances are decieving here as the highway is two lanes only with speed limits from 60 to 100 km per hour. A lot like highway 7 back in Ontario excepts skinnier and more twisty. So going 250 km can take 3 or 4 hours sometimes.

Our accomodations here in Missing beach are across the road from the beach in a place called Cassowong Cottages. We are in the sunbird cottage. It is full on rain forest here. SAdly that also means it has rained the whole time we have been here !!

There are several other families staying here and the pool is somewhat kid friendly so that is good. The place has so much vegetation that it is like a maze walking around between the cottage, parking lot, and pool.

This is one of the few places that has had two cots, two high chairs, toys, and books for the kids. Well done ! Mel found out that the owners have 2 kids under 2 so they must feel our pain.

Mel and Julia hope to go skydiving tomorrow while I get my day to watch the kids by myself.

Day 12 - Magnetic Island

2008-07-23T15:04:00.003+10:00

Our place here is a nice three bedroom apartment on the top floor ( 3rd ) at Horseshoe bay. We have a view of the bay from our balcony. The weather here was still overcast today when we woke up so our hopes of jet skiing or snorkelling were foiled again.

We had booked the 2 hour guided "bush walk" at the koala sanctuary where we had seen to lorikeets. We figured that might be something we could do in the rain so through we would catch the 10 AM tour. However, when we walked over there we were told that the 10 am walk was cancelled. Great, now what do we do ?!?

The kids have gotten into the habbit of napping during the morning so we figured we would pile into the van and explore the island that way. Back towards Nelly Bay we came across Aracadia bay which has a spectacular little bay with a small playground. We made note of it and drove all the way to the end of the only road on the island then back to Arcadia bay. The road is only 10 km long so it didn't take that long !

This island seems to made up of lots and lots of huge boulders. This bay was about 100 meteres arcoss with boulders coming up out of the sea on both sides turning into huge cliffs on both sides.

I'll get the pictures up soon I hope. Despite the rain the kids were eager to play amongst the boulders so we let them get wet and dirty. It also started to clear up at this point so I decided to go for a swim as well. The water was quite warm and the waves here were a little bigger then we had seen before. All in all a great spot ! It would have been nice to stay here all day but it was getting close to lunch time.

We headed back to horseshoe bay and got some takeaway food and sat on a picnic table just off the beach to eat it. We were trying to keep the kids awake so that they would sleep during the 2:30 pm bush walk. Again, Wyatt was more than happy to play on the beach and in the water. I'm not sure what we are going to do with him when we get back to Canada !

So we made our way back to the koala sanctuary for 2:30 pm with the kids in the strollers ready to sleep. The walk turned out to be more of a stand around and listen to the guide speak while we showed us animals thing then an actual walk. However, that was fine with us as the kids fell asleep at the beginning and slept for almost the whole time.

He started off showing us a baby croc and a carpet python. They were handed around and everyone got to hold them and take pictures. Maddy and Cooper were all smiles when they got to touch the crocodile. Snap, snap ! Snap, snap ! said maddy as she and cooper tried to grad it away from me ! She also liked the python but preffered to keep her distance from it. They fell asleep at about this point.

We also got to touch some lizards and an echidna. However the big thing here is that you get to hold a Koala and have your picture taken. Mel and Julia held the Koala while I took the pictures. Very cool. Pictures to come soon ! We also got to feed some large cockatoos. It worked out great with the kids sleeping when they did and we were all feeling pretty good about magnetic island despite the overcast weather.

For capped it off with a nice dinner at the backpacker hostel connected to the Koala sanctuary. The atmosphere there was great and you really felt like you were in the rainforest surrouned by nothing by forest even though you were just off the highway. This place was voted the best backpacker accomodation in Australia ! We can see why ! If they had villas or cottages we would surely have stayed here instead.

Day 11 – Airlie Beach to Magnetic Island

2008-07-20T22:28:00.007+10:00

We ended our stay at Arlie beach by renting one of the two seat, three wheeled bikes that they have at the resort. Wyatt was so happy I thought his head would pop off. He had been asking to get one since we arrived and he saw other kids using them.

As we walked to reception today to get our special surprise I asked him what he thought it might be. He replied “Daddy, everytime I ask you to get me a yellow bicycle you say no and it makes me sad. Today you should say yes. I want to get a yellow bicycle, that would make me happy. “

We rode it around the caravan park for an hour with various combinations aboard including at one point Me with Wyatt on my lap steering, and Mel in the passenger seat with Cooper and Maddy on her lap. Cadel Evans has nothing on me !

We departed the park with sad faces and headed for Townsville about 250km to the North on highway A1. We stopped in Ayr for lunch at the local Macker’s ( McDonalds ). The kids love the playgrounds and they are hard to find on the road without the McDonalds attached to them.

We made it to Townsville just in time to catch our 2:30 ferry to Magnetic Island. Magnetic Island is a fairly large Island with a few roads on it so you can take your non 4 wheel drives across. The ride across took about 35 minutes and then we made our way across the islands only road to Horseshoe bay and our room for the next two nights. It was overcast at this point so the initial impressions were a bit muted, but the views are breathtaking.

Since the kids were off schedule and didn’t have an afternoon nap we decided to put them in the strollers and go for a short walk. We went up and down the strip along the beach and then Mel suggested we go check out the local Koala sanctuary / Backpacker hostel. It was only a short 5 minute walk back up the main road . They have guided 2 hour walks through the sanctuary where you can hold a koala, snake, and crocodile. We had missed the last walk but signed up to take one tomorrow. They did however suggest that we stick around to witness the bird feeding. Seemed harmless enough so we decided to wait a few minuted for the 4:30 feeding.

We walked out behind the reception building to find a large tree filled with green and blue and red parrots. And by filled I mean hundreds of them…they were almost deafening. After a few minutes the guide came out from the reception building with a tuperware of food…she was covered in parrots ! Immediately the birds started landing on anything and everything that might have food…heads, shoulders, hands, Maddy’s head !

People started grabbing handfuls of food and holding their arms out so the birds could eat. You would end up with 4 or 5 birds on your arm all at once ! And perhaps even one on your head ! It was crazy ! People were laughing , some were screaming ! Wyatt thought it was great…he was trying to touch them and catch them…Maddy was all smiles until one dared to land on her hat. She was not impressed ! Cooper was fine and acting like it was an every day appearance until one landed on his head. At this point he lost it and I had to retreat with him to a safe distance to calm him down.

So yet again an unplanned event stole the show for us !

p.s. Also updated posts for Days 1 - 6 with pictures. For more pictures see our flickr site as we can't post them all here.

Day 10 – Whitsunday Islands

2008-07-20T22:28:00.005+10:00

The day started early as Mel and I had to be at the front gates of the caravan park at 6:55 to be picked up by the tour company shuttle bus. The bus was on time and we were at the marina ready to cruise by 7:15….unfortunately the boat was not set to sail until around 8 am. So, we walked around the marina and checked out some of the amazing boats. Very impressive stuff…exactly what you would expect to see in a marina in one of the worlds best boating locations. A quick look at the adds posted in the windows of the marina’s boat dealer ended my dreams of owning my own yacht. Prices ranges from 500,000 for a 25 foot cruiser to well over 2,000,000 for a 50 foot cruiser.

My dreams crushed, we got in line to board the catamaran and found some good seats. Yes, the boat is purple…I talked to the skipper who has been captaining the boat since it was new and he explained that it is purely for marketing purposes and that it works quite well. If people like it and want to tell their friends about it all they have to do is remember it was purple as it is the only purple catamaran in the world. He admitted the colour made him sick when he first saw it, but now doesn’t mind it so much.

Pier at daydream island

Anyway, we headed out for our first stop at Daydream island to pick up some more passengers…I never counted all the people on board but there must have been about 60 or so. The boat is 85 feet long so there was lots of room. It was a nice sunny day with no clouds and sadly no wind either. They put up the mail sail on the way out but the motor was doing all the work.

Snorkelling location

After stoping at Daydream island we headed off to a smaller island off to the left of Whitsunday Island. I forget it’s name…anyway, once there they provided us with wetsuits and snorkel gear and we got to snorkel on a small reef for almost an hour. The reef was amazing, much better than anything I’ve seen in the Caribbean. The fish were more plentiful and the coral was much more colourful . We didn’t see anything big, but what we did see was great. We were even treated to another tour operator feeding the fish while we were there…You are swimming and completely surrounded by colourful fish in a feeding frenzy…very surreal !

After the snorkel we were given morning tea and then headed to Whitehaven Beach on Whitsundsy Island…considered by man y to be one of the best beaches anywhere in the world. The sand in 98% silica and is so pure that is exceeds standards for polishing jewelry or optical lenses. The beach is about 15 km long and there are no resorts on it. Very isolated and private. We spent about an hour there before being herded back onto the boat for lunch.

Lunch was a BBQ and then we were back underway to finish circumnavigating Whitsunday island. At one point Mel spotted a whale off the side of the boat and everyone was treated to watching it come up for air while swimming for a few minutes before it swam out of sight. She has the eyes of an eagle ! We stopped again at Daydream island to let people off and then headed for home. There was a bit more wind heading back so they put up the spinnaker as well and we did about 12 knots under sail power only. They claim they can do 30 knots but obviously it was far too calm.

View of Airlie Beach as we returned

The skipper must be able to speak about 10 languages. I head him speak English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian. He also claimed to speak Japanese and Chinese but there was no one there to call him out on that.

Skipper is on the right behind the wheel

It would have been nice to do some actual sailing but obviously that was out of anyone’s control. In hind sight a power boat tour would have allowed us to see a lot more or spend more time where we stopped. But the allure of sailing in this environment is powerful.

Day 9 - Arlie Beach

2008-07-18T21:30:00.005+10:00

For our first full day here we headed to the town in the bay. Drive in is very pretty with the tree covered hills meeting the scenic bay with turquouis water filled with shiny white boats. Best place to see so far.

Since the water here is filled with nasty thngs the town has built a lagoon right off the beach for kids and adults to swim..its basically just a huge swimming pool but it was great for the kids and us. There is also a playground. We swam and played all morning and then bought some sandwichs from a local cafe and had a picnic lunch.

Back at the resort in the afternoon I found myself alone with all three kids when Mel and Julia went off to do some shopping in Airlie beach and the kids decided to have very short naps. I took them all down to the park. I had a quick look at the mini putt course and when I realized it was completed fenced in and no one was using it I quickly herded the kids into it. Turned out to be a great idea. They loved just running around and standing or sitting on all the little obstacles. Wyatt was trying to read all the numbers and kept asking me for a golf ball.

Mel and i booked a full day cruise on a catamaran tomorrow to go around some of the islands...the boat is called the Camira if you want to look it up. So, we gave Julia the day off to shop around the town and prepare herself mentally for a long day withall three kid tomorrow. I'm sure she will be fine, she is very good at handling the kids.

Weather here is pefect. Hot and sunny...no one got burned, yet.

We also moved from a 2 bedroom villa to a 3 bedroom unit...more space here so twins have thier own room agan. Plus, we got our own BBQ so we were alble to make our own dinner which covers the extra cost of the 3rd bedroom.

We really like this place...if we were to plan the trip agan i think we would cut out some of the stuff we did south of here and stay here for a week or so. Definitely a place we would not hesitate to come back to should the opportunity present itself. Lots of stuff to do here and in town and tons of families and kids.

Time is up on the kiosk....update you again tomorrow

Day 8 - Airlie Beach

2008-07-17T21:43:00.004+10:00

big drive today...Rockhampton to Airlie beach...almost 500 km.

I am typing this from an outdoor internet kiosk with a strange rubber keyboard and i am on the clock so please excuse the typos.

drive was scenic but long....we met a couple from Slovania with a girl Wyatt's age at a truck stop and they played soccer together for a while. It was neat to see the way they interacted once they realized the spoke different languages...lots of pointing and mimicking, but no talking.

We arrived at the Big 4 adventure campground and caravan park around 3 pm and pulled in right behind the people we had seen at the truck stop. Small world ! This place looked great on the internet and didn't disappoint us. It's a camper (or caravan) park and it also has 20 or so villa/cottages. There is a massive pool with water slides and sprinklers, a large new playground, an air filled bouncy trampoline thingy, pedal driven cars for kids (and adults), an outdoor theater, and even mini put golf. We sampled all of the above today except the mini golf.

The cottage is great too. A huge spa tub, multiple flat screen tvs mounted on the walls, and lots and lots of space ! Tonight they had a pizza and movie night so we signed up and had all you can eat pizza hile watching "high school musical" on an outdoor screen. Julia was in heaven ! This trip just keeps getting better as far as she is concerned.

We are debating what cruises and what islands to see while here at the gateway to the Whitsunday islands. Should have an update for you on that tomorrow.

Guess that is it for this update.

Weather here is great.. Highs of around 25 today, tomorrow and the next day...I've already lost track of what day of the week it is . Now I am really on vacation.

Day 7 - Rockhampton

2008-07-16T21:08:00.003+10:00

We packed up our stuff and hit the road for a big travel day today. We had almost 500 km to cover to get from Hervey Bay to Rockhampton. The highway runs through the country side and not along the coast but was still very scenic. Lots of hills and mountains, plains, forests, rivers, lakes...just about everything. The day was pretty cloudy but was clearing up as the day when by.

We ended up stopping in a tiny little town for lunch and to let the kids play in a fairly new park for an hour or so. We then hit the road again and made it to Rockhampton by around 2:30 or so. Our plan was to go straight to the local water park and Wyatt was quite hyped up for it...sadly it was closed for the winter. Hmm, 25 degrees....guess we should shut the water park down..way too cold to swim ! Wyatt was not impressed.

Instead we checked in to our hotel ( just a run of the mill travel lodge overlooking a big river ) . The poeple at the desk gave us directions to a nearby park and we hoped it would fill in for the water park and keep the kids happy. Well, it turned out the be one of the best parks we have seen...here or in Melbourne ! All sorts of new things that we had not seen before ! and full of kids !! It kept the kids and adults entertained for a few hours.

Mel talked to one of the locals and got directions to a restaurant called Sizzlers. We debated just walking and finding something on our own instead of getting back in the van, but decided to try Sizzlers instead.

It was the right choice. Sizzlers is basically an Australian version of ponderossa. All you can eat salad bar and desert bar plus steack or sea food main course. Plus kids under 4 eat free. Why didn't we think of this before ? The kids actually ate the food we served them for a change ! Wyatt was thrilled by the chance to pick his own dinner from the salad bar ! Once we finished our dinner it was time for the desert bar ! I'm not sure who was more into it..the kids or Julia. Afterwards Julia declared that it was something that she would see if and when her life every flashed before her eyes.

Tomorrow we have another big drive from here to Airlie beach. It's funny how we can plan and plan and have the actual outcome not quite measure up to the expectations you have for it...and then you can have a day liek this where we really just plan to drive and sleep and have it turn out to be one of the best days on the trip so far ! Hopefully tomorrow can work out just as well.

Day 6 - Frazier Island

2008-07-16T20:48:00.004+10:00

Julia and I had to be at the Tour company office for 8 AM today. Luckily it was right beside our resort so we didn't have to get up too early.

We helped Mel get the kids changed and breakfast started then we wished her luck, thanked her in advance and left before she changed her mind.

The tour company put us on a ferry to take passengers and vehicles over to the island. It takes about an hour to get there. Only 4 wheel drive vehicles are allowed on the island as the island is comprised of only sand. There is a mix of traditional 4 wheel drives and tour operator vehicles. These can be small 4 wheel drives up to 40 seat behemoth 4 wheel drive buses like we were going to be on. Very cool !

When the ferry gets to the island it just pulls right up to the beach and puts down it's gate. No pier or wharf, just a sandy beach. All the trucks drive up the beach to a small parking area and then the people are allowed to walk off.

We boarded our bus and then started our one day tour. Richard was our tour guide and proved to be quite skilled at driving a 40 passendger bus down a sandy, bumpy, twisty one vehicle wide track through the forest. Not for the feint of heart or queasy ! It took about 45 minutes to cross most of the island and reach our first stop...a small fresh water lake on top of sand. Basically it is a depression in the sand where enough dead plant matter has accumulated to cover the sand and stop the water from draining into the sand. Some of these are huge, but this one was faily small. It was a little too cold to swim but we waded around a little bit and took it all in.

Then back on the bus and on to the next stop which was lunch at thier lodge. Just off the beach the company has a lodge with a restaurant, bar, and shop. The also have some cottages and dorms for backpackers and tourist who want to do more than a one day tour.

After lunch the bus headed onto the western beach known as the 75 mile beach. It is also the main highway on the island. The speed limit is 80 km/hour. Keep in mind that you have huge waves crashing over the beach and wash outs caused by fresh water creeks running onto the beach. It's amazing there aren't accidents everywhere. We drove down to a large fersh water creek where the water is crystal clear and drinkable. You're supposed to walk up the creek on a path and then float out to the beach, but again it was a bit cold for that.

Next stop was an area where the sand had formed a cliff that had been eroded by the weather and looks a bit like something from the Grand Canyon. Very pretty, but not all that exciting.

The final stop on the beach is an old ship wreck from the 1930's. It was a cruise ship that was being towed to Japan to be dismantled but was lost in a cyclone and washed asore. The owners couldnt get it unstuck so instead just sold everything they could remove from it on the beach. It was very erie but made for some good pictures.

Back on the bus and a quick stop at the lodge for afternoon tea then back through the island to get back on the ferry by 4:30. The route back took us through one of the sub-tropical rain forests on the island. It was by far the best part of the tour. Huge 50 meter high trees and palms all growing on sand ! The bus dropped us off and then took off up the road about a kilometer so we could just walk up the road in silence. Julia and I agreed it was the highlight of the trip.

We made if back to the room by 6 pm and were greated by 4 smiling faces which was a great way to end the day. Mel took all the kids to the local target and bought some groceries and toys. She also spent time at the pool with all three, very brave !!

Day 5 - Hervey Bay

2008-07-16T20:47:00.003+10:00

We woke up to the sight and sound of rain and overcast skies. Our plan had been to stay around Noosa for the morning and drive to Hervey Bay in the afternoon. However with the weather being bad we decided to leave as early as possible and go the Hervey Bay in the morning.

We packed up and hit the road before 9 am. However, there were no less than 22 traffic circles between us and the highway so it took almost an hour to get out of Noosa ! If a hurricane or cyclone hits this place and carries it away we won’t be too shook up over it. All the cicles make navigating almost impossible and being a passenger is torture.

Anyway, once on the road we headed up the A1 highway and stopped for lunch in Marybourough. We stopped at a MacDonalds with a play land so the kids could get some energy out which was overdue at this point. Then we hit the road again.

It was at this point that Wyatt started complaining that he felt sick. He had been up last night with a fever so it wasn’t a total surprise to here him say he didn’t feel well. About a half hour after leaving Marybourough we arrived in Hervey Bay. The place we are staying here is called ??? ???? Great Sandy Straights. Mel got out to register at reception and I got Wyatt out so he could get some fresh air. I made it about 10 steps before he puked several times next to the reception building. He claimed to be feeling much better afterwards but the fever stayed with him for the rest of the day.

Our room is a 3 bedroom apartment overlooking the ocean, or bay in this case. The view is amazing !

We unloaded our stuff and when for a walk along the bike path that runs along the bay. We walked out along a pier that must be a kilometer long ( actually found out it is 800 meters long. It was apparently 1100 meters long and was used for unloading ships, however when it was no longer needed they removed the business end of it and left if for tourists and fishing ). Tons of men and kids fishing along the pier. Even that far out the water could not of been more than 4 or 5 feet deep.

After the walk we checked out the pool, playground, and beach at our hotel and then ordered some dinner to our room.

The big attracting in Hervey Bay is Fazier Island. The world largest sand island. There are no paved roads on the island, just dirt tracks and beaches so the only way to get around in by 4 wheel drive. The island in supposed to be breath taking with sand dunes, clear fresh water lakes and unique wildlife. Mel did a 3 or 4 day camping trip on the island when she was here the first time so she has been singing the praises of the island since we started planning this trip. However the shortest trip to the island is a full day and we didn’t want to leave Mel with all the kids for a whole day.

However, it looks like each of the three of us will likely have a day where we look after all three kids while the other two go off to do something cool. So Julia and I have signed up for a 1 day trip tomorrow and Mel gets to watch all the kids. Wish her luck !

Day 4 - The Australia Zoo

2008-07-16T20:46:00.001+10:00

We had a quick breakfast and then headed out to the Australia Zoo along the Bruce Highway. This is not small feat as you need to negotiate at least 15 or 20 traffic circles to get out of Nossa. We get lost at least twice everytime we come or go from our hotel.

The day was overcast and a little drizzly so the drive was not as scenic as it could have been, but it was still pretty cool. Lots of hills and cliffs, thick jungle like forests, and lots and lots of 4 wheel drives on the road.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Zoo which is located on a scenic highway through the Glass House mountains. The road has been renamed to Steve Irwin Way since his death.

The Zoo itself is pretty big, at least as big as any other Zoo I’ve ever been to. The central and oldest part of the zoo is pretty much devoted to Crocs. This makes sense as from what I’ve ready it was originally just a croc farm / zoo. This part is surrounded by the newer sections for Kangaroos, Koalas, Snakes, and other Australian wildlife. There is also a new Asian section with elephants and tigers.

The biggest difference between this zoo and others is that it is supposed to be a very hands on experience.

For example we were letting the kids play on the free rides and trampolines in the kids area when we noticed them setting up a large area for something…we walked over and realized it was the setup for the elephant feeding.

Mel and Wyatt were fist in line to feed Bimbo the elephant. They walked right up in front of her and fed her a piece of melon and a piece of cucumber right out of their hands. Pretty cool…I later got a turn of my own.

Another example would be the kangaroo enclosure where you are free to walk up to the Roos and feed them by hand. Wyatt and the kids really enjoyed this part. I think it was the first time that Wyatt has been more interested in an animal than in the trucks and tractors at the zoo. He fed a bunch of different Kangaroos and even struck up a conversation with one while opening up the Zoo map and asking him repeatedly where the Playground was. When the Kangaroo seemed dumbfounded by the question , Wyatt went so far as to show the Kangaroo where exactly the Kangaroo park was on the map.

Other noteable activities were petting a Koala and watching the crocodile show run by Terri ( Steve Irwin’s widow ) in the Crocoseum.

I would say overall it was one of the better Zoo experiences I have had. They do not try to fool you into thinking that the animals are wild animals living in a perfectly reconstructed replica of their natural habitat. They are up front about the animals being tame and sometimes even trained. The premise they have is that if they can make you an animal lover by getting you up close to animals you might be moved to do something to help the conservation effort. Seems like a good idea.

The only bad part about the place is the fact that the Crocodile hunter is dead. It’s a little hard to walk around the place with his picture being everywhere and not feel sad for the guy. He made himself into a world wide phenomenon, built his own amusement park, started a young family, and then died. I got the feeling that his family was really trying to honour his memory by keeping things going but I fear that they might be trying just a little too hard to be like him.

After the Zoo we returned to Noosa along the SunCoast highway to see what things were like along that road. The scenery was much the same but there were some great views of the ocean once we got close to Noosa.

The traffic circles almost claimed Maddie and Julia but we stopped just in time and averted any potential disasters.

After dinner Julia and I headed out for a quick walk to check out some of Noosa. It seems to be the place to go if you are a well to do Australian in need of a second or third home and a place to store your boat. The shops and restaurants are all very nice but the prices were somewhat out of our league. When you look at a map it seems that they really have designed the city more for boats then for cars with canals and rivers everywhere so that almost every development has it’s own waterfront and marina.

Day 3 - Moreton Island to Noosa Heads

2008-07-16T20:45:00.002+10:00

Kids got up early today and Mel made everyone pancakes. Then I took the kids outside with Julia while Mel packed up all the bags since we would be checking out of Tangalooma today.

They wind was gone so the day was hotter than the previous day and we spent most of the morning just hanging out on the beach and playing in the sand. Maddie and Cooper still weren’t crazy about the sand, but seem to be getting better at dealing with it.

After checking out of the room Mel, Wyatt, Cooper and I decided to go swimming while Julia and Maddie went for a walk with Wyatt’s stroller.

After the swim we had a quick lunch at the café and headed over to the pier to catch the 2 pm ferry. An hour ride later we were back at the wharf and into our taxi headed to downtown Brisbane. We picked up our rental van and packed in all our gear and were on the road by 4:30 pm.

Our next stop from Brisbane was Noosa Heads. We had varying estimates on the driving time from 1.5 hours to 3 hours and made the mistake of promising Wyatt we would stop at a McDonalds for dinner. We were hoping we could make it to Noosa before dinner time and thus had to content with Wyatt pointing out every “Old McDonalds” on the way. We had to come up with reasons not to stop at each of them….that one is closed…that one doesn’t have a playland…that one is too small…etc…he only missed spotting one the whole way.

We got to Noosa at around 6:30 and could not find another McDonalds so ended up eating in a local restaurant with a small kids play area. Luckily Wyatt didn’t seem to care that it wasn’t Old McDonands so we got away with one.

Finally we checking into out accommodations here . It’s a huge three bedroom apartment and seems great so far. Haven’t seen it or the town in the light yet so we’ll give a better update tomorrow.

Our plan for tomorrow is to back track a bit and go to the Australia Zoo. This is the Zoo that Steve Irwin started ( the late Crocodile Hunter ). It should be about a 45 minute drive back the way we came but since we drove it in the dark coming in it will also give us a chance to see the scenery we missed the first time.

p.s. Noose is the traffic circle capital of Australia and possibly the world. More to come on this…

Day 2 – Moreton Island continued…

2008-07-16T20:44:00.001+10:00

Our first full day on Moreton Island the weather was pleasant but not hot. There was a strong wind which kept the temperatures down. For bought some cereal, milk, and juice from the general store on the resort for breakfast and had our breakfast sitting at a table looking out across the beach at the ocean.

After breakfast we let the kids play in the sand and waves. Wyatt loves sand. He could play on the beach all day. Cooper and Maddie however, did not like the sand. They must wear shoes at all times and are do not like the feel of it on their hands or feet.

The kids started to get tired so we went for a walk down the beach to see the Tangalooma Wrecks. Basically an artificial reef that the resort has created by sinking half a dozen old ships. Our stollers had to share the beach with various 4 wheel drive trucks as many people take the car ferry over with them and then drive around the islands beachs and sand dunes.

We had a quick lunch back at the resort. Food was super expensive being a resort on an island so we got all of our take out food from just one of the several restaurants as it had some reasonable priced stuff.

After lunch Mel and I signed up for the Quad-bike tour while Julia stayed with the kids for their nap. The tour was fun. Everyone gets a 4 wheeler and then they have as go through a very simple obstacle course where they single out anyone that can’t ride very well. They they split you into groups of 4 or 5 riders to 1 guide where all the people are of a similar level. Then your guide takes you ona 45 minute tour where you get to see some great views of the bay and ride over sand dunes, around sand berm corners , and numerous other sand obstacles. It was actually really fun ! We were of course in the advanced group and our group moved pretty quickly and our leader took us down some pretty steep hills towards the end.

After that I braved the cold water and took a quick swim with Wyatt since he decided he didn’t need an afternoon nap. Then more playing in the sand with the other kids joining after their nap. As we were planning on doing the wild dolphin feeding in the evening we decided to kill some time and put off diner by giving the kids some ice cream cones. They thought this to be a great idea…although Cooper still hasn’t quite mastered the technique.

For the dolphin feeding they have bleachers set up along one side of a pier looking down on the area where they feed the dolphins. You show up at 6 pm and they give your what turned out to be an hour long seminar on how to feed the dolphins while the dolphins show up one by one and start splashing and jumping beside the pier. We attempted to enjoy this while wrestling with 3 over tired, hungry, ice creamed toddlers. Not the best planning on our parts…Anyway, when they finish the speech you get in line to go onto the beach. They have trained the dolphins to line up across the beach in about waist deep water. Then they get the people to form lines on the beach for each of the dolphins. When your turn comes you wash your hands in a bucket of special water and soap, then grab a dead fish from a second bucket and wade out to the dolphin with a dolphin trainer. You then bend down and put the fish in front of the dolphin and they swim up and eat it out of your hand. We each carried a kid and despite all being over tired and hungry they all managed to stop fidgeting and enjoy the moment. Wyatt was very proud to have fed “tinkerbell” who had babies in her belly.

Dinner was a bit of a fiasco as the take out pizza took over and hour to cook and they dropped our order of fish and chips and had to remake them. On the bright side they gave it to Mel for free.

Wyatts comment of the day: Mommy, mommy, here’s your diarrhea coke.

Australian Vacation - Day 1

2008-07-10T20:50:00.003+10:00

We'll , we are on our way on our first official Australian adventure.

We left our place this morning at around 8 am and headed for the Airport. It took us about an hour in the traffic but got there and dropped off the rental van by 9:30 for our 10:15 flight. The great Virgin Blue staff pulled us out of the long line and let us check in without waiting in line at all ! Way to go Richard Branson !

The flight was on time despite the airport losing power and we departed by around 10:30. Wyatt had his own seat while Cooper and Maddy sat in Mel and I's laps. Julia also had her own seat by the way.

We arrived in Brisbane roughly 2 hours later. We gathered our luggage and had lunch at an airport cafe...food was not great but we didn't have much choice. We then took a "Maxi" taxi from the airport to the warf where the boat would take us to Moreton Island and the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin resort....google it ! ... We had to kill 3 hours in the industrial part as there was nothing around but we just let the kids play in the parking lot and then went for a walk while they had their afternoon naps in the strollers. The ride over was in a high speed catemaran and was quite nice although pretty dark. The voyage took about an hour.

We arrived here at around 6 pm just as they were doing the nightly dolphin feeding so we will have to wait till tomorrow night to get our shot at it. We checked in to our villa and had a quick pizza dinner and had the kids in bed by 8:30.

I think tomorrow will be spent on the beach and relaxing...maybe a small tour or 4 wheeler adventure...who knows ?!?!

We will try to keep this updated as the adventure continues provided we can get internet access.

Jeff and Mel.

Tour de Melbourne

2008-07-07T20:34:00.009+10:00

In honour of the Tour de France starting this weekend I took a ride around the city. Ok, maybe not around the whole city. I rode north west into the city on the bike paths I mentioned in a previous post, then west and crossed over to the beach through Albert park and then south down the coast to Brighton and then east and north to get back home.

I took our old digital camera with me and stopped to take pictures to give you guys an idea of some of the scenery and landmarks along the way.

This is Gardiners creek. The bike path into the city crosses this creek at least half a dozen times and runs beside it most of the way.

There are two of these huge Field hockey stadiums beside each other about 15 minutes from our place. The field looks like field turf but the in-fill is sand not rubber. There was a game on one field and kids learning to ride bikes on the other field. Field hockey is huge here. There are leagues for men and women and field hockey stores that sell nothing but hockey gear.
Not too much farther along is the Hamthorn Velodrome. It is probably about 500 m around and in the traditional shape with two straights and two banked corners. Its paved instead of wood, but in great shape. The inside lane is the fast lane and the outside lane is the slow lane.

Another 10 minutes or so and the path goes underneath the M3 highway. The path is made of steel and is suspended from the highway above with huge metal braces. It's very stable and quiet, but more than a little bit freaky knowing you are under a highway. It is plenty wide enough for two bikes to pass, but not much more than that.

Once you come out from under the highway you cross this neat little suspension bridge over the Yarra river. I couldn't get a good side shot of it.

Next the path merges with the Yarra Trail which takes you the rest of the way into town along the Yarra river. The path is on the North side of the river and Toorak, Melbourne's richest suburb, is on the south side of the river. I tried to get some shots of the biggest places along the river.

After a few kilometers the path moves down to the water and actually floats on pontoons. The highway also goes along the river and at one point there is this neat little free access public climbing gym. It's not very high but kind of a neat idea.

As the path comes back up to the river bank you pass the Rod Laver Arena. This is where they have the finals of the Australian Open Tennis tournament.

From here you also get your first good look at downtown Melbourne, or the CBD as it is known here. ( Central Business District ).
Next stop is Birrarung Marr. This is a large park between the river and downtown. It is connected with Federation square and is used for large festivals and events. There is a permanent big top tent that houses a children's Circus as well as a small amusement park.

Here is a picture of Federation square and the play ground in front of it.This sculpture is in all the tour guides so I had to take a picture.Yep, another shot of Federation square...
Interesting sculpture beside a tree...

After cutting through the square I crossed back over the river and took this shot looking back at where I had just come from. In the distance you can see the Melbourne Cricket Grounds(MCG) where the big Footy games are played. People here just call it "the G". You can also see all the rowing clubs on the right of the picture. You almost can't get a picture of the Yarra river without getting a couple of rowers in it.
This is a picture of the Rialto Tower. The tallest building in Melbourne with 63 floors and the tallest Office building in the southern hemisphere. There is an observation deck at the top but I have yet to make it up there.

The next stop was Albert Park. This is melbourne's big city park. It has a large aquatic complex which is where this huge outdoor pool and stadium are.
Albert park is also the site of the Australian Formula One race. Here is a picture of the pit row complex. I rode down pit lane and the building has to be almost a kilometer long. The garages are all empty but the upper floor is used for indoor sports such as soccer and netball.Once through Albert park I came out in St. Kilda which is the the trendy / urban beach suburb in the city. Lots of restaurants, bars, and stores here.

From St.Kilda the bike path runs along the beach all the way South through all the various beach side suburbs. Here is a shot looking back at the city after travelling 5 or 10 km.

Saw these birds sitting on this ledge and thought it looked like a good picture.The path crossed over this weird "S" shaped bridge. It looks like at high tide you would be riding right over the waves !
After a while I realized I had gone too far south and when I turned to go back I happened across this view of the famous Brighton beach huts. In case you were wondering they sell for about 200,000 AUD. you can't sleep in them and they have neither electricity or water. Basically just a brightly painted shed for storing beach stuff.

I rode down as close as I could get without getting onto the sand . We will definitely come back here with the kids and get some good pictures .

If you look closely at these two pics you can see the kite from a kite surfer in the background. This is the sport where you ride a modified surf board while attached to a huge semi-inflateable kite. I've seen a few people in Canada doing this before but it is very popular here. At some points along the bay the beach was littered with people doing this. In hind sight I should have take a few pictures.

From here it was back north and east to our place on normal suburban streets. Now that I managed to dig out our older camera I will try and bring it with me to work so I can take some more pictures of stuff around town.

Jeff.

Oh! What a park!

2008-07-04T20:56:00.003+10:00

North Beach Road Park to be exact. We hadn't been to the beach since we moved away from the Hampton area so we decided to venture to a park near a beach in search of some scenery and some adventure. We got what we asked for as you can see from the pictures.

It was hard to complain as I crossed the street to the cafe, picked up a cappuccino(Wyatt's newest vice as well), walked back to the park and took a few pictures to try and capture the view, and the creative play structures...this park got 3 stars out of 5 from the kids (not enough to climb on, no swings, but fun places to hide, a rocky boat to make your siblings sick in and enough grass to play a little ball!)

Canada Day Down Under

2008-07-04T20:22:00.003+10:00

Winter weather (sweaters and pants), limited selection of friends (at least that were willing to accept our patriotism for what is was - an excuse to get together) and the fact that July 1st snuck up on us quite quickly made for a more humble affair than last year's party. We invited our Canadian friends (Kerri and Dave Lambert (a friend from McGill - no joke!) and their kids Loic and Taya, over for some steak and beer (the only Canadian brands sold here are Kokanee and Labatt's Blue). We dressed the kids up and they enjoyed some party favours, red stars (in place of maple leafs) and some fine dining.

Cooper got a taste of some Cayenne pepper that did not impress him...

The boys watched a little television then the event ended for us as many do with young children, at around 8 with kids in pjs being strapped into car seats or loaded into their cribs. We had high hopes that Zak and Julia would carry the torch for us to the Melbourne bars but my dacquiris did them in and they decided to save the Lambert directed pub crawl for a night when they would not have to wake up at 8 am to look after children. Good thing to, as I woke up the next day with the flu and had to rely on them to look after the kids while I found a doctor and got some drugs. We look forward to future parties back at 10 Fern, if not next year, then definitely in 2010. Hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating - it's a country worth drinking to!

Indoor Playground Heaven

2008-06-29T13:34:00.004+10:00

As it is winter here (LOL), moms in Melbourne flock to indoor playgrounds where they can enjoy a complimentary cappuccino with their admission fee and enjoy the company of other moms while keeping a distant eye on their young. Luckily the structures are built with safety in mind and even toddlers can roam freely with minimal risk of seriously injuring themselves. That is until "those kids" arrive...these kids are trouble and are seriously neglected by their parents who chat on their cell phones while their offspring rough up younger kids. Unfortunately, money talks and the parents are smart enough to frequent the same playground enough times each week, spending loads of cash to be out of their homes with their kids, that the management has no choice but to accept their business despite the number of complaints they get each time the kids enter the building. As a result I am coaching Wyatt to say such things as - "You don't scare me, you are just a boy!" and when that doesn't work we send Zak in as the Wyatt's bodyguard and he has been known to say such things as "Leave these kids alone - and you smell!".

Each indoor playground has a different feel, Play Days is more for floor play and ride-on cars while Kids Space has some amazing climbing gyms and slides that look quite terrifying from the top. The favorite indoor playground thus far is Lollipops which has a carnival style car ride that my kids adore.

I have finally arrived!

2008-06-28T20:20:00.006+10:00

OK folks...now you will hear about the dirtier side of our life here in Melbourne, life with 3 kids at home! You will be able to tell my blogs from Jeff's as they will include more details of life with the kids, fewer spelling errors (possibly more grammatical errors) and lots of ..............

The latest from the home front: Zak has a job, Julia and I survived our first sisterly fight (not bad since we've known each other for 21 years) and I am dreading the day she leaves as I have become quite fond of her :),

Wyatt is enjoying the company of his two new bestfriends (Declan and Loic) and has wholeheartedly embraced the cafe lifestyle.

Cooper is OBSESSED with balls (luckily not of the genital kind) to the point that he sleeps and drinks with them in his hands (see picture).

Maddy is enjoying her new Melbourne wardrobe and spends most of her day locating the boys favorite toys, showing them off, then hightailing it down the hall in hopes that she will be pursued. If that sounds like fun, you should come and visit, I will go on holidays and we can laugh about it all when I get back! I am not joking!

In terms of the places we have visited, I will include a bunch of pics with this post and others as soon as we download them to flickr (or so Jeff has told me). Just wanted you all to know I was still alive and you can expect some regular updates from here on in.

This week in Melbourne...

2008-06-26T16:56:00.002+10:00

Wednesday night Mel and I went out to dinner downtown. Mel met he after work and we headed over to Lygon street. One of the restaurant districts in the downtown area.

The street is fairly major, two lanes going each direction in some places. What makes it special is that the sidewalks are super wide. So all the cafes have tables and awnings set up outside and you walk between the outdoor setups and the cafes. It has a very cozy feel. We ended up eating at a restaurant just off of Lygon called Chin chin's. The menu covered most of the asian styles and was a bit upscale cost wise. The food was pretty good, some worth the price, some not so much. We had some dim sum for appetizers, Mel had a Thai Green Curry dish with Shrimp and I had a Spicy Chicken stir fry. All in all it was pretty good.

Walking back we came across an Italian Pizza place what was packed so we will have to try that one next time. They had a ferrari theme going complete with a recentish Formula 1 car hanging from the ceiling.

Other than that we(mostly Mel) are trying to plan our July vacation. We are going to take two and a half weeks and fly to Brisbane and then drive up the coast to Cairns. I'll post a planned itenerary once we have it finalized. Should be a good trip ! Hopefully we can scout out some exceptional places to take the Grand Parents when they come for visits.

On a side note we thought hard about renting a Campervan (Motorhome in canada ) and living in that for the 2 weeks. However, the cost was not that much cheaper than hotels with a rental car and with it getter dark early we figured it might be tough to kill the time in the evenings. I'm still eager to give that a shot so maybe we can try it for a different trip.

That's all for now.

Jeff.

p.s. Mel has said that she will start posting her daily activities as soon as she finishes with planning out trip.

p.p.s I'll also get some more pictures up this weekend.

Blind luck...

2008-06-24T11:21:00.003+10:00

So, when we started looking at moving here I had found a blog that deals with cycling in Melbourne. I was really impressed that the author even took the time to document his commute with almost 100 pictures and a map of the route. I remember being amazed at the bike paths. Some are suspended under elevated highways, some are floating on pontoons on rivers, and some just look to good to be true.

Here is the post documenting the route.

Anyway, now that I have a bike and have gotten somewhat settled I've started thinking about commuting and planning a route of my own. I went back to that site to see if we might at least be coming from the same direction and low and behold I am living right around the corner from him and we are both working in the city. I'm eager to try out the route and see if it is nice as it looks on that website.

Weekend activities

2008-06-23T14:19:00.002+10:00

On Friday we rented another van, this one until July 10th . We got a good deal with Budget as they still have some vans that are a couple of years old...their price was a good $20 a day less then elsewhere. Weather here this weekend was cool and overcast. Highs of about 14 or 15 but it was off and on drizzly rain almost all weekend.

Anyway, so on Saturday we headed to Scienceworks in Williamstown. It's a lot like the science center in Toronto...lots of hands on stuff for kids. They had a toddler area that the kids really liked as well as a science of sports area that was a big hit. We took lots of pictures so stay tuned for those !

Sunday we headed to the Waves leisure center. Basically a huge wave pool / swimming complex. Again, they had a great toddler pool that the kids loved. They have sprinklers, bubble jets, a slide, and huge waves to keep everyone entertained. Also, they seemed to be able to make the air and water the same temperature so you don't freeze when you get out. Cooper, Wyatt, and Maddie all seem to love the water and will be swimming in no time ! Wyatt and Cooper are fearless. You need to watch them very closely cause they will be in over thier heads in seconds. Wyatt is starting to put his head under water on his own now. We're going to have to get him some goggles or something. Cooper is obsesed with jumping off the edge and into the water. Maddie seems to have enough common sence to keep her head above the water.

That pretty much sums it up. I'll try to put up some pictures soon.

Jeff.

First ride in Australia

2008-06-23T14:05:00.003+10:00

Well, I managed to buy a used ride bike on Friday through a classied ad on BikeExchange.com.au . For those who care it is a Giant TCR C2 with full Shimano Ultegra components. The previous owner replaced the stem, bars, seat, and tires which is good cause I probably would have done the same.

So, on Saturday afternoon I took Wyatt and went across Dandenong Road where there are two bike stores. I bought a new helmet for $100AUD and a pair of new shoes for $150.00 AUD since I left mine back in Canada. I then went over the bike and made a few adjustments and planned out a route for a ride on Sunday.

On Sunday the kids went down for thier naps at around 1:15 pm and I dressed and departed on my first ride in Australia. It was about 12 degrees, overcast, and threatening to rain. My plan was to ride out to Mt. Dandenong and back. Mt.Dandenong is in the Dandennog Ranges National park and has an elevaation of about 2100 feet, or 500 meters. Rought twice the height of Gatineau park in Ottawa.

The roads are great here and drivers almost always give you a wide berth. Almost as soon as I had left our area the hillls started. Nothing major at first but big enough ! The route was up and down the whole way out. I have to say that riding my bike down roads lined with Palm trees and Eucalpytus trees was pretty cool. Having been here for over a month I didn't think it would be a big deal but it was. The off and on rain was not quite bad enough to erase the smile from my face. Plus at the crest of every hill I would get glimpses of the base of Mt.Dandenong. Unfortunately with the rainy weather I wasn't able to see the top of mountain at all.

It took me about an hour to get to the foot of the National park and being the first ride of the year for me I figured it best to turn around and head back.

On the way back the sun started to come out. To think that this was the middle of winter and the the sun was shinning on my face and heating me up was a nice thought. It took me about anouther hour to get back to our place.

I decided to take a quick swing by the park with the velodrome to have a look at it on my way back. It is outside and in the middle of huge park with a playground and footie field. The track looks to be concrete but it has a blueish green surface on top. It isn't an oval exactly, but rather a weird circle with a few small straight section. It is open to the public but doesn't have lights or anything. At the time I got there there was one guy doing some training on a road bike and about half a dozen kids riding on it.

I did a few laps to check it out and then headed home.

It's pretty amazing to be able to ride an hour in our direction to mountains and 10 minutes in another direction to a velodrome. I'm looking forward to a chance to do a lot more riding ! Considering my first ride fell on the dead of winter here I'm very impressed.

The new house...pictures at last

2008-06-21T16:07:00.004+10:00

Ok, being the weekend I was able to take some pictures in the daylight to show everyone our new place. If you want to google our location it is 15 Wilmot Street, Malvern East, Victoria, 3145.

Front Yard:

Main Floor:

Back Yard:

Second floor:

Julia is living in one and the other is our guest room. It has a sofa bed, wardrobe, dresser, and small TV and is ready and waiting for it's first tenant ! There are 2.5 bathrooms as well as a large laundry room and garage.

Solstice...

2008-06-21T15:58:00.003+10:00

So, looks like it's your moment to shine Canada...enjoy it. June 21st marks the point in the year where you are closest to the Sun and have your longest day. Your high today is forecast to be 24 degrees and you should have about 16 hours of sunlight by my calculations. Not bad, not bad.

We on the other hand are suffering through the dead of winter. Brrrrr. We have a high today of only 14 degrees and only about 10 hours of daylight. The day here is pretty overcast with off and on light drizzle. Sweaters and pants here for sure ! Time to bundle up.

Enjoy it while you can Canada !