G'day Mates!

We made it through week one! It was pretty quiet and lonely in the house for me, but the boys didn't seem to notice. Ben does seem to miss having kids around all the time but he's happy that we vacuum three times a day and he can use his stepstool to reach the cleaners and wipe the table. Alex has been teething and pretty grouchy most of the week but seems to be back to his happy little self today. Once these top two cut through he'll be at a grand total of 8 teeth...pretty slow for his age but I was very slow to get and lose teeth but have barely had a cavity, so hopefully that means he'll get strong teeth as well!

Ben has been playing with his puppy all the time, maybe since there aren't other kids around to play? Puppy does a lot of things like eat snacks, wash dishes, vacuum, and make things with play doh. Last night I offered for puppy to have a drink of Ben's milk and he looked at me very seriously and said "Puppy doesn't have a mouth." What do I know?

A new discovery - screens! I've been told the flies are really bad here at some point during the year so thank goodness they use screens here. Singapore didn't have much of a bug problem but sometimes a screen would have been nice to make sure no children went wandering outside or through a second story window. But again, what do I know?
Matt's coworker was kind enough to pick him up for work on Thursday so I could have the car and the first thing we did was find a playground! There are outdoor playgrounds all over the place but it has been extremely windy (like 50mph sometimes) and rainy for several days. I still haven't figured this weather out - one minute it's sunny, then it's pouring or raining sideways in the wind, then 5 minutes later it's sunny again. I really don't think I've seen more than 10 minutes of rain at a time. Crazy. But nice because if you get caught without an umbrella it only takes a few minutes for the weather to change and you can get to the car dry.

So this was a great indoor playground. It was huge by Singapore standards, about the size of Fidgets, but with only about 6 other families in the entire place. The boys loved the bouncy castle.

I allowed a little wrestling in there since no one could bump a head.

The climbing tunnels were enormous and Ben went up fearlessly, got all the way to the top, then looked down and realized he was WAY up there. Cue the crying and hysterics...not helped by the fact that parents aren't allowed (and probably can't fit), so a teenage girl working there had to wiggle through everything and rescue him. After a free sucker, he was back in full form and stuck to the toddler area for the rest of our visit.

Alex is crazy about slides right now and this one was just his size! He could go up the stairs and slide down all by himself.

Overall, I'd say we're adjusting well. It's been up and down so far, but not nearly as hard as adjusting to Singapore. Just going to the grocery store and findng everything on my list at prices that don't make me nauseous is a big plus. We were invited to our first barbeque yesterday, which is apparently the major Australian pasttime. And I guess I should call it a barbie now. The family in the rental house next door had several other families over and they were kind enough to include us. It was fun to have some company and meet new faces, and even better because they were all doctors and I met a very nice woman with kids the same age as ours so she'll be a great help in getting us clued in on the medical front here. I also found an American women's club so I'll get to go to a coffee morning and a playgroup this week. Now that I have a mobile phone here (not a cell phone or handphone...got some funny looks when I asked for that) it's time to make some friends so I can add more than Matt to the contacts!

And my favorite thing so far is all the sun and rain means we get lots of rainbows. I've definitely needed the reminders about God's love and care lately.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Ps. 139:9-10)