Dream Come True

Saturday, October 12, 2013

More pictures from our weekend in Sydney:

Endless fun in the hotel elevator!

At the aquarium:

SHARK!!

 

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• Do you know what TV show this is from?  "In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."  I used to watch that show all the time!  It's on here every hour of the day.  They love their Law and Order.
• You have to check out this article.  It is written by an Australian living in the United States. The article is called 18 Strange Observations of the U.S. The article made me laugh and gave me insight to the Australian people.  A must read.  http://www.confiscatedtoothpaste.com/australian-living-in-the-usa/
• Around the corner from our house is the Belconnen Soccer Club. If you think the club has something to do with soccer, you would be wrong. It has nothing to do with soccer. Nada. But it is located near a soccer field...  Our neighbor is a member and she, along with her kids, took me and the twins there to play on the club's nice playground.  The best part of the club is the shaded tables beside the playground and the bar right inside.  And we can walk home! As my son would say, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  It's like a dream come true.

Sydney

Thursday, October 10, 2013

We had a great time in Sydney last weekend.  We are now back in Canberra.  The kids have the rest of the week off and I'm enjoying my time with them.  Erich is back to work. I am going to share with you everything we did in Sydney!

We took a train into Sydney.  The kids loved it and said it was one of their
favorite things about the trip. This picture was taken as we went over the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

 

We went to the top of the Sydney Tower.  It was incredible!

 

The Sydney Harbor Bridge

 

It was the Royal Australian Naval Fleet Review.  Several different nations sent ships to participate, including the U.S.  It was really cool to see from the tower.  This also meant lots of crowds.  One news channel said there were over a million people attending the naval review.

Since the whole country has holiday at the same time, lots of places do extra things for the kids.  The Sydney Tower had a table set up for kids to make a picture and turn it into a kite. Charlie drew a picture of himself by the Sydney Opera House.  Chaney drew a princess.

 

The Sydney Opera House.  This was as close as we got to the Opera House. 
We didn't feel like fighting the million people that were there. 

Aboriginal Street Performers

Sharing a cool drink.

There were several of these large yellow snails around downtown Sydney.

This was taken from the Sydney Tower and if you look in the middle of the
 picture you can see a yellow dot. That is the yellow snail in the
previous picture.  And if you look really closely at this picture, you can see the kids waving.
(just joking.) You can also see the shadow of the tower.

That night there was a huge fireworks show down at the harbor.
 Our hotel room was on the 8th floor
and could kinda see the fireworks.  Kinda. If you look
really close, you can see the fireworks on the horizon.

And that is just day one in Sydney!  I'll share more another day!

 

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• Erich wore his KU Jayhawk hat as we went around Sydney.  On gal told him the bird on his hat was cute. Cute.  I think I would use the word tough to describe the mighty Jayhawk. The Aussie at the Sydney Tower ticket counter asked, "Did you go to Kansas?"  He watches U.S. college basketball. Rock Chalk!
• One of the nights we had a booking for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Every other table was there for the same conference.  We felt a little out of place.  But we met an American couple from Illinois!
• This last weekend we set our clocks ahead an hour for daylight savings time.  So now we are 16 hours ahead of the U.S. central time zone.
• In Australia, white goods refers to appliances.
• While in Sydney, I saw a sign in a shop window.  It was an advertisement for a "bikini and 1/2 leg wax."  I'm trying to figure out what half of the leg you would wax if you were also getting a bikini wax...  Hmmm...

How Is

Friday, October 4, 2013

We are in Sydney!!  We are visiting for a long weekend while the kids are on "holiday."  We picked a busy weekend for Sydney.  This is the Australian Navy Fleet Week AND the National Rugby League Final (I've heard it compared to the Super Bowl) both of which are here in Sydney.  Fleet Week hasn't been done here for 100 years.  Prince Harry is here and lots of different nations have sent ships to participate.  Big crowds.  BIG.

Our adventure was to start at noon sharp.  Our luggage was loaded, the kids were buckled in, and we were set to pull out of the driveway right on time.  But then Erich went to put in the hotel address in the GPS.  It didn't recognize the street.  Huh?  Let's just say we pulled out of the driveway about 20 minutes later then we intended.  But we got here!

Photos from our journey:

Pardon the glare. (can you see my watch?).  This was a huge field of yellow. 
I'm not really sure what it was.

This is something you don't see in America! Wombat crossing.



Charlie and Chaney spent part of the three hour drive watching movies.

Sydney or Bust. (Please don't look at Erich's sunglasses.  He doesn't
want anyone to see him in them.  He doesn't like them but the are
they only prescription sunglasses he has.  So don't look.  Don't.)

We aren't sure what these are. ??

Who doesn't like driving through a tunnel? 
The kids thought it was cool.  I did too!

Sydney!

We are staying at a Marriott hotel in a suburb of Sydney.  Erich found this place through the guy he replaced.  The train station is nearby and its a 20 minute train ride into the heart of Sydney.  The hotel has shopping and restaurants nearby.  We got a room with a loft.  The kids are sleeping on a sofa bed and Erich and I are upstairs in the loft.  It's a really great room. 


Checking out the view from our 8th floor room. 



When we first got to our room, we couldn't get any of the lights
to turn on.  And then we spotted this near the door to the hallway.  You have
to insert your room key to get the lights to come on.   

This was in the hotel room guest book.  Erich and I got a good laugh. 

We went to dinner at a nearby restaurant.  Since restaurants in Australia require bookings (reservations)  I had to make the reservations before we got here.  Tonight's restaurant was Ribs and Rumps.  It was a good dinner (I didn't like my fish but everyone else liked theirs).  The kids' meals came with free ice cream. 


The cups the ice cream came in reminded me of Granddad's martini glasses.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel. When we get on the elevator, one of the young gentlemen said, "How is?" 
"Pardon me?" I asked.  (Thinking I must have misheard or missed part of what he had said.)
"How is?" He responded.
(pause) "Yeah," I respond. (My standard response when I don't understand) (pause) (my brain is trying to process what "how is" must mean.) (pause) "Good,"  I reply late.
"Good," is his response.
We got off the elevator and I had no idea what had just happened.  I'm still not really sure...

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• They have dandelions in Australia.  Our backyard is full of them. 
• This morning we woke up to see a hot air balloon out the back windows of our house.  Totally cool.

  

  The kids watching the balloon through the rumpus room window.

  
  
  

 

• In the morning, while Erich and I got ready to go to Sydney, Charlie and Chaney had a great time playing together.  At one point Chaney was a cowgirl and Charlie was a horse. Giddy-Up.

You might notice the wadded up paper.  Charlie is making balls for
you (or anyone else who wants to buy a ball for $1) to shoot
at the trash can.  (or "trash bin" if you are Australian.)

• 

Cock-a-Doodle-Doo

Wednesday, September 30th, 2013

No school this week!!

Erich has started flying with the Australian Air Force.  He needs to get his hours back up since he hasn't been flying lately.  He has to get so many hours per month and he had gotten behind with our move.  He is flying with a squadron that transports the government VIPs and the VVIPs.  (Yes, that's right. VVIPs.)  He will fly again later this week and will be all caught up with his hours!

On Monday, the kids and I worked in their toy room (here they call it a rumpus room).  We organized and sorted toys and I (secretly) got rid of some. We also spent about three hours at our neighbor's house playing.  It was fun to see the kids play with another kindergartner.  It was a beautiful day and they played outside and jumped on the trampoline.  I enjoyed talking with the mom.  It was a good afternoon!

On Tuesday it was cold, cloudy and rainy.  The kids and I went to McDonalds for lunch and then to do some shopping at Costco.  (Sounds like an outing in the U.S.!) We stocked up on more American food.  I was very excited to find Lay's Barbeque Potato Chips.  The chips (crisps as they call them)here are flavored differently. They do have barbeque flavor but its not anything like the ones in the U.S.  They also have a plethora of chicken flavored chips.  I was also excited to find Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon FROM THE U.S.!!  No more of that ham they call bacon! Costco rocks.  I've heard that they are the only place in town to get a pumpkin for Halloween.  A pumpkin can be yours for $20.

Chaney playing dress-up is going out to solve the mystery.  (I don't recall what the mystery was but I'm sure it was about who took Barbi's hat.  Or something like that.)




Wednesday was beautiful! We went to the Canberra Aviary.  It was great.  I've mentioned before that the birds are beautiful here in Australia.  Today we got to get up close and personal with them.  The kids (and I) enjoyed feeding apple slices to the birds. 

 

 

 

 

Most of the birds we saw at the aviary we haven't seen in the wild.  We have seen some of the colorful green birds and some others that weren't at the aviary. 

 

After the aviary, we walked around the cute little shopping area.  We went to the Lolly Store. (candy store)  The kids each picked out a small lolly.  I enjoyed seeing some of the unique candy and the sweets imported from the United States. 

 

 

I'm a bit intrigued.  I didn't buy them but I think I'm going to next time!

Charlie chose a basketball whistle gum dispenser.  Chaney chose Nerds. I'm partial to the Nerds myself.

Imported Twinkies.  $17.50.   Wow. 

 

Our Aussie Friends!
After the Lolly Shop, we went to a café.  The kids each got a mini chino. 
It's frothy milk with chocolate sprinkles.  The grown ups enjoyed a cup of coffee. 

 

 

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• Tonight when watching TV, Erich and I saw an advertisement for a new show that is getting ready to start sometime soon.  At the end of the promo, it said, "Starts Thursday Week."  Well...  Hmmm... We aren't entirely sure what that means.  Obviously it starts on a Thursday.  But, does it start this Thursday and continue every week?  Or, does it start next week on Thursday? It's the little things that always get me!  Just when you think you got it all figured out, something like this happens!  The other day Erich said to me, "You haven't gotten used to feeling stupid yet?  I have!"  What I now have figured out is that I will never have everything figured out.  
• The weather here is starting to warm but is still chilly.  We still have the heat on.  But these beautiful flowers are on a tree in our front yard.  Spring is in the air. (My brain is having a hard time understanding that is spring is here.  It's October!  Several times over the last few days, I've been thinking to myself that since October is here it's time to unpack my Halloween and fall decorations.)

 

 

• You aren't wearing sunglasses when you are down under.  You are wearing sunnies. 
• I miss Directv.
• The U.S. Government shutdown is the top story on Australian news. 
• Tonight at bedtime, when I was tucking in Chaney, she confided in me that she wished she lived in the countryside so the chickens could wake her up. "Cock-a-doodle-do!!"  Six year olds are awesome.