Our Weekend

Monday, November 18th, 2013

I don't have a green thumb and I haven't killed the roses in our yard!  Yet...

Chaney made this birdfeeder (and Charlie made a matching one) in preschool last year in Warrensburg.  A neighbor gave us some "colourful bird food" and we have been waiting!  (This bird isn't that colorful.)

I know this picture isn't that good.  But, this was the first time we saw a colorful bird in our yard. It was a pretty red and blue parrot just sitting on our fence. 

Charlie just hanging in his PJs just reading.  (You can see pictures leaning against the wall waiting to be hung. You might also see the lone Thanksgiving decoration.  It's still weird that it is spring here. All my Thanksgiving decorations are fall related! )



Australian ESPN was showing the Kansas Jayhawk basketball game LIVE the other day.  But since it was at 2:00 in the afternoon, we recorded the game and watched it when everyone was home from school and work.  We added an extension to the recording time but the recording still ended with 4 minutes 35 seconds left in the close game!  NOOOOOO!!!  Thank goodness for the internet so we could find out how the game turned out.  Jayhawks won!



On Saturday we went to the zoo.  We can get up close and personal with some of the animals. 

At the zoo!

On Sunday we went to Tidbinbilla.  Tidbinbilla is a preserve about 40 minutes away.  We got to get close to kangaroos and see some awesome koalas. 

 

Tidbinbilla also had a cool playground with a huge slide and a mini zip line.  The kids loved it.

 

Bugs and Feathers

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

On day a few weeks ago, a couple of other American women took me to two wineries near by.  We left after dropping the kids at school and we arrived at the first winery about 10:00 when they open.  Of course we had to sample the wine!!  I bought several bottles.  The scenery was beautiful.

Where's Waldo The Kangaroo? Can you spot the kangaroo that we saw on the way to a winery?

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

We pronounce that black and white striped animal zee-bruh.  Australians pronounce it zeb-ruh (with a short e). I don't know why, but I find this very funny.  Maybe its because my six year old twins now pronounce it zeb-ruh. 

The mailman rides a small motorbike dressed in neon yellow from head to toe with a neon yellow flag sticking off the back of the bike.  He rides up to each mailbox, delivers the mail, and rides right on to the next mailbox. 

Instead of saying "ready, set, go!" they say "ready, steady, go!"

We say fillet (fi-lay).  They say fil-it. 

Erich's Nissan 350Z arrived last week.  It appears to be in good condition so that is a relief to Erich.  He dropped the car off in St. Louis back in mid June.  I bet that car has some stories to tell about where it's been and who has sat in the seat! Since we have purchased two Australian vehicles, his car will probably just sit in the garage most of the time.

All the eggs I've seen in the grocery stores are brown.  I haven't seen one white egg.  How do you dye brown eggs at Easter time??  And they don't wash the eggs.  So you might get a feather or two in your carton... Goody...  I have been washing my eggs before I crack them open. 

When you buy leaf lettuce at the grocery store, the roots are still attached.  My head of leaf lettuce even came with some bugs hidden among the leaves. Maybe that's why prices are so high!!  You are paying for bugs and feathers!

I am SO EXCITED that Australian ESPN will be showing the Kansas vs. Duke basketball game LIVE!  It will be on at 2:00 in the afternoon on Wednesday.  We are recording it so we can all watch it together Wednesday night.  (I'm very much against recording and watching sporting events at a later time.  But I also never thought I would be living in Australia!) So don't text or email me the results of the game!!  The KC Chiefs football game against the Broncos will be on live on Monday at 12:15 in the afternoon.  It's gonna be a great week!  Rock Chalk and Go Chiefs!

Only a Matter of Time

Monday, November 11, 2013

Holidays

Since they don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving here, nothing is stopping them from putting up Christmas decorations around the mall in early October.  (I'm serious.). It also doesn't stop them from having their Christmas parties at the beginning of November. I'm totally serious. We thought it was a joke when our friend said they were on their way to a Christmas party.

This was picture was taken at the mall in mid October.

Money

• When shopping, an item price tag already has the sales tax included.  So if the tag says $5.95, you will pay $5.95 at the register. 
• They don't have 1 cent coins.  The smallest coin they have is 5 cents.  So, if you owe $5.67, they round up to $5.70.
• The Australian dollar bills are all different colors and sizes.  A 5 dollar bill is the smallest denomination of bill they have. They have $1 and $2 coins.
  
    

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• They don't measure butter by tablespoons like we do in America. They measure by grams.  This makes it very interesting when I need butter for a recipe.  All my recipes call for tablespoons or cups, a measure of volume. Their measurements are all in weight.  (Aren't you proud, mom?!) There is a website that will convert the butter measurements. So I use the online converter and then break out my handy food scale.  One tablespoon of butter is 14.2 grams. Just in case you wanted to know. Their butter is different than ours. When set out at room temperature, it doesn't get as soft as American butter does.  It's still quite stiff.  Go ahead and ponder that one.
• They don't have drive through ATMs.  Banks don't have drive through lanes.  And there are no drive through pharmacies. (Of course they don't call it a  pharmacy. They call it a chemist.)
• In the U.S. you flip a light switch up to turn on the light. In Australia, you flip a light switch down to turn it on. 
• You know the kids game where someone is "it" and they chase around the other players and the next person that is touched then becomes "it?"  We call that game tag.  Australians call it tips. I heard Charlie asking Chaney the other day if she wanted to play tips.  I had to ask what that was.  They are hearing and using all the local phrases and words.
• More musk flavored candy. A few pellets of perfume tasting candy for a buck.  Don't waste your money.
  
• I've mentioned before that there are a lot of American shows on the TV and I've seen a lot of old shows I haven't seen in a while. Today I saw CHiPs.  It used to be one of my favorite shows! And then I noticed something.  Do you see it?
  
  
  
• I did something I had never done before.  I hung laundry on the line to dry.  Everyone here does it.  One reason is the price of electricity.  Another reason is the incredibly inefficient dryers.  I can't put more then a couple of shirts in the dryer at a time or it won't run.  And it takes forever to dry.  I seriously never thought I would hang clothes on a line.  Never. Ever. Never. I've been hanging my laundry for a week and a bird has not yet crapped on my clothes.  But it's only a matter of time.
  

 

 

Halloween Down Under

Sunday, November 10th, 2013

Oh my goodness! It's been too long since I've updated you about our crazy lives!

Erich was out of town for a week.  We kept track of how
many more nights he would be gone
by coloring in one moon every morning.

A Halloween morning wouldn't be complete without an orange pumpkin pancake!

 

 

Australians don't celebrate Halloween like Americans do.  Most kids don't trick or treat and there is no party at school. The U.S. Embassy had a Halloween party and it was great! A special shout out to Mars and Skittles candy company for donating a ton of candy to the Embassy for the party.  

At the Embassy Halloween Party.  May I present Cowboy Charlie and Princess Chaney.
(Yes, you see Captain America in the background. He's legit.)

Always glad to see Old Glory waving in the Australian wind!
-at the U.S. Embassy

They had a mummy wrap with toilet paper.  Chaney did a great job wrapping up Charlie.

The kids got to meet the U.S. Ambassador to Australia and his

partner. They are in front of the entrance to the Ambassador's residence. 

They are the only ones that live on the Embassy grounds.

 

 After the Embassy party we went back to our house and went trick or treating with our neighborhood friends.  Our neighbors passed out notes to the neighborhood with balloons and ribbon.  The notes explained that if they wanted to participate with the trick or treating, they were to put the balloons on their door.  About every 5th house had a balloon out!  (but no one else had pumpkins!)

In front of our house before trick or treating.  (It is not your imagination.  Chaney changed costumes.)

It was a little strange trick or treating while it was still daylight.  Since this is our spring, we have sprung forward and the sun doesn't set until after 8:00.  But it didn't matter. The kids had a lot of fun and they got candy!

The weekend before Halloween, we carved one pumpkin.  Usually we do more than one but there was a shortage of pumpkins around town (they aren't in season here) and this one was $16. 

Trick or Treat!!