Superbowl Monday (yes, Monday)

So there I was, leading the party with the kids (pronounced ‘keedz’ in Aussie). It was easier finding chips, cheese, salsa, and the like here in Melbourne (remember…pronounced ‘mel-bin’) on game day than in MI. Just before the game I called another American who was working here. The point of me calling Adam Kline was to rub it in that I was watching the game while he was working. I put the phone up to the TV for the opening kickoff and he got to listen to Chicago return the opening kickoff for a TD. I was his hero. Rats, foiled again. That wasn‘t my purpose! Anyway, to set the stage…..

The TV is loud, as if I had 20-30 people in the room watching the big game. I have got a junk food spread that my dad would have been proud of: three types of Doritos (plain Doritos are the only way to get tortilla chips here), crunchy potato chips, salsa (hot of course), cheese dip, cheese slices, pretzels, and nuts. (I was missing his chex-mix but you can’t have everything). I start frying chicken balls to put into burritos for the lunchtime meal for the kids. When….

Knock, knock, knock. I am standing right next to the door so I open it quickly without thinking. It is the Victorian Apartment Inspector. Turns out they are required to come every three months to make sure tenants are not trashing the place. We had a quick discussion about how I did not receive her letter notifying me of her inspection. She offered to come back. I offered her to inspect then. She said, “No thank you. I’ve seen enough from here.” She left and then it all came together.

I had the TV blasting. Just before the knock I was loudly cheering at the game. I answered the door with no shirt on. The place smelled of smoke because I was frying the chicken. The smoke detectors were hanging from the ceiling because they were going off. The counter was covered in food bags (guys don’t serve chips in bowls - that’s why they sell them in bags). The couch cushions were strewn across the floor for the kids to bounce and play on (Daddy Daycare remember). And, I’m sure to every non-parent the poopy diaper in the garbage created an offensive smell.

So that was my inspection. We haven’t been kicked out yet but I can’t wait until our six month inspection!

The game was much different than it is in the states. We saw very, very few commercials here. Instead we listened to three guys in tee shirts try to recap what a crazy start the game had. They didn’t seem to know much about football and were trying to explain it to Australians who may know even less. The commercials we did see were for local items so they weren’t as creative as the US. Also, this would have been a fun one to go to Glenn Babiak’s party since he is a Chicago Bears fan. But, we didn’t get an invite this year. (Not the first party we were forgotten about. Just because you leave the country people pretend you don’t exist anymore and won’t invite you anywhere).

Now for all you slappies that have harassed me since my college days. The only three artists I have CDs for are Janet Jackson, Rolling Stones, and Prince. My artists have performed at the Superbowl. How about yours? Prince put on a good show didn’t he? No “wardrobe malfunction” but it was good.

After the halftime show, the kids and I went outside to play. We missed the third quarter but made it back for the finish. After the game we went back outside to play again. It kinda sucked though. I had to reapply their sunscreen to go outside after the game. Did any of you have to do that too? It was 75F and very sunny. I squinted the whole time until I put my shades (sunnies in Aussie) on.

Sad Times

We have been here three months. We are past the half-way point. I get sad thinking that I am going to have to tuck my shirt in again (I still wear one in public sometimes). I’ve also come to the conclusion that I don’t like Adam much. I’ve worn pants four times in the past three months and he was responsible for three of them. I wore them for a Christmas dinner with his family, at New Years Eve (not with him), to a bar that may have had a dress code against shorts (turned out it didn’t so I was tricked), and to a dinner with other US GM employees (really not me but Dan likes my kids) on assignment here in Australia being treated to the dinner by a visiting US GM Director in engineering. Pants make me feel as uncomfortable as if I were wearing a bather at the beach. (A lot of men wear bathers here. You know the Speedo bathing suit).

We’ve had a large group of new kids and moms join the biweekly playgroup since the new year. It has been a lot of fun for the kids to play with these new kids both at playgroup and at other times during the week. We’ve gone swimming with Jules at the Melbourne Aquatic Center (an amazing place with a wave pool, two zero entry play pools for kids with fountains, a big water slide, a four foot deep lap pool, and an 18” deep 20’x20’ play pool. We went to the Melbourne Museum with Alex and Thomas (both of which have found houses way outside of the city and will most likely soon become past playmates). There is a four year old, Avantika, that we’ve tried to hook up with but have had difficulty while they are finding a house. There is another four year old, Naomi, who has a two year old sister, Emma, from Seattle that just started playgroup. They moved here in November also but just found out about playgroup last week. Their mom is really nice and this would have worked out perfectly for the kids but Naomi just got accepted into kindergarten for four days per week. Therefore, we will only see her on Fridays. Poor Haley.

We lost our first American two weeks ago. Paul Tran went back to the US. There was a lot of talk about extending his assignment here but it didn’t get done before he left. He flew out here with us and showed our family the ropes. We miss him. The kids especially miss seeing Mr. Paul at dinner. They made him come-back-soon cards and gave him their prized window clings. We will be losing another two soon. Melanie Giasson’s three month assignment will be up soon and Cindy Hamkins (a friend for college) got a promotion and will be going back to the US early.


Another sad thing is that the days are getting shorter. It is so depressing. The sun comes up at 6:45AM and sets at 8:30PM. Ugh! Can you guys spare some in Michigan?

The last sad thing is that I am getting a wicked tan line on my ring finger. That’s going to make slipping it off in the bar more difficult.

Good Times Keep on Rolling

The kids started their classes two weeks ago. They swim on Wednesdays and have gym on Thursday. They are in separate swim classes. Haley is in a level 1A (entry level without parent) class. She is older than most kids at the 1A or 1B levels. She is picking up on the instructors teachings quickly. Robbie is in a parent-tot class. He is the role model for splashing and putting your face in the water. The techniques used by the instructors are much different than what we’ve seen for them in the US. They seem to be pushing the kids more and using interesting, entertaining ways to keep them going.

They also started a gymnastics, play, project class. They were in separate hours (1.5 yr to 3 yr old class and 3-5 yr old class) but that turned out to be too much for both so they are only in the 3-5 yr old class now. Haley is tops in the class for the gymnastics portion. They start off with singing and moving for warm-up, do a free play on the gymnastic equipment (balance beam, rings, bars, tumbling) and finish with projects and cool down activities. It is a lot like what they did in the US in a tumbling toddler class but with Wiggles and Australian kid music.

The kids have been coloring window clings in the shapes of different Australian animals. I trace the animals onto a flimsy then they use a paint pen to drip and smear color on them. We’ve sent some back to the US and will send more. In the first batch, Haley sent some to her class along with her favorite book and a letter. Her teacher told us that the kids love the book. She also told us that Haley wrote that she is learning addition at Daddy Daycare and all the other kids wanted to be like Haley and learn it too. She is getting quite good at it if you want to test her.

The window clings are the only thing Robbie will color. He doesn’t like coloring books or project books. Instead of coloring we sing the ABCs (he still gets caught in repeating DEFG), the days of the week, and counting (he can count to 20 almost without any errors). Many parents remark on how well he talks for his age - even with his accent. They also comment on how well both of them behave, listen, and play well with the other kids. They both have run after another non-listening kid to try to bring them back to their calling mum. Robbie even does it to kids bigger than him. He is a tough cookie too. He fell the other day and chipped both of his front teeth. He cried but wasn’t outrageous about it so we thought it was a normal fall. We didn’t notice until brushing his teeth. We still need to get that fixed.

Funny story about Robbie…. We were at dinner with Ms. Melanie the other week. As with most dinners, it was long with poor service. Robbie and Haley had had enough and were up from their seat and moving around (it’s really hard to expect them to stay in their seat for two or more hours for dinner). They started crawling on the floor and that’s when I stopped them. Robbie came up showing me his fingers. “Yucky,” he said. I figured it was some goop he pick up on from the floor. Then he told me he stuck his hand down the back of his diaper. I used the cloth napkin to wipe his fingers and then escorted him out to change his diaper. Melanie made me take the poopy napkin with me (I, of course, would have left it) and I had to explain to the host why I was stealing their napkin.

Bedtime is getting earlier for the punks and that translates into earlier wake up time. I no longer get time in the mornings to do email or IM (that is one reason why I didn‘t do this update earlier as I projected in my original email). Can you believe the kids are waking up between 7:30 and 8:00! That’s outrageous! The good thing with that is that they get to see Stacey in the morning before she goes to work.

We are cruising the city less. On the weekends we have been adventuring out and during the week we have four days of planned activities. We are still discovering new playgrounds; two of which have pictures included - Federation Square and the Pirate Ship.

Haley plans on making a big sign for our return. She wants to inform all of you that she is Haley and Robbie is Robbie. She doesn’t think you will recognize them when they get home because they are growing so fast due to them eating so many vegetables. So look for the sign in May.

Thank you all for listening (and hopefully enjoying) our rambling stories and adventures here in Australia. We are having heaps (that’s lots in Aussie) of fun and would do this again without hesitation.

December break vacation 2006

Our December vacation started with a flight to Sydney and a quick 2 hour drive to the Blue Mountains.

We had a few issues checking in to our hotel, but we eventually settled in. The next morning, Kevin went for a run around the area. He found a playground that had picnic tables inside caves looking out over the mountains. So we went to the bakery and got some yummies to take to the playground. It was a very memorable and enjoyable breakfast! We spent the rest of the day exploring the mountains. First we went for a long downhill climb to the Leura Cascades. There is where we learned 'Robbie size steps' and 'adult size steps.' The waterfall was beautiful and worth the walk.

The rest of the day was spent at Scenic World, the ultimate tourist center. There was a train that went straight down the mountain to a rain forest. We walked around and saw some info on the old coal mines that used to operate in the area. Then we took a gondola back up the mountain. The last ride was a glass-bottom cable car. Check out the picture where Robbie is pointing to the valley below his feet.

The final day in he Blue Mountains was on the Zig Zag Railway. This was a big hit with the kids. Everyone had to get out of the train on several occasions while the train changed tracks. Robbie loved watching the train from so close. Haley loved picking out new seats every time we got back on.

Part 2 of our vacation was in Sydney. We actually met up with some fellow Michiganders :Melanie, her fiancee, Shawn, Adam and his family in Sydney. We had a big group dinner for Xmas Eve in Darling Harbour. The next day was Christmas so not many things were open. We took a ferry ride across the harbour to go to Taronga Zoo. The ferry ride was where we got some great pics of the Opera House and the Bridge. The zoo was wonderful too. There was a cable car that takes you over the animals and to the top of the zoo. Then you walk downhill all the way to the bottom.

Our last day in Sydney we walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the Kline family. We found a terrific playground and relaxed the rest of the day. We wanted to have dinner in the Sydney Tower which overlooks the whole city. There was a 2hour wait to get down from the tower though!!!! So, went back to Darling Harbour and had another relaxing evening.

Part 3 of the vacation was further up the coast in the Gold Coast. It is like Orlando in Daytona - lots of theme parks in a touristy beach city. We went to DreamWorld first. There was a Wiggles World which the kids enjoyed very much. We also saw a Tiger show and a crocodile show. It was fun, but no Disney World. The second day was a beach day. We spent the whole day there and had a wonderful time. The kids were jumping waves, building sand castles, and digging out their own swimming pools in the beach. Kevin and Stacey took turns body surfing and playing with the kids. It was a blast! The adults got very burnt though!!!! Fortunately, the kids did not. So, the beach was not a good option for our very last day of vacation. We went to Sea World. It was just like the one in Florida minus the killer whales. The dolphins were all over the park. They had all sorts of experiences you could for to be in the water with them. We opted out of it this time, but Stacey was ready to jump in the water.

We returned to Melbourne just in time for New Years Eve. We watched 2007 come in at our friend Cindy's apartment. It is a 5 minute walk from our apartment but she has a much better view of the waterfront and the fireworks were shot off right in front of her porch. It was fabulous! Haley and Robbie stayed awake for all of it. They felt so 'grown-up' after being up that late.

Well, here are the pictures so you can see how much fun we had:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=6yrt5im.65sr9s5i&Uy=-rq2m1i&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

The album should work now if you copy both lines