More Pictures

Here are some more of my favorites from our recent photo shoot. I'm so glad to have these to remember the boys at this age! We took all these at Cottesloe Beach, almost right in front of our house, so it will be fun to look back on the location one day and remember living here. I'm saving my favorite family shot for our Christmas cards.

By far my favorite picture!

And my next favorite...




Sweet brother kisses!



A little fun with the background and Ben's beautiful eyes.

Another fun thing I'll look back on and laugh - we met at 7am for these photos. The sun was already way up in the sky because it had been light for hours!

New Look

I thought it was time to update the blog since the boys grow so fast and pictures get outdated quickly. We had family pictures done over the weekend by our very talented friend Liz. Stay tuned for more of the beautiful pictures, but in the meantime you can check out her website here for her landscapes. She has gotten some amazing pictures around Perth.

Our Second Road Trip

These little guys had shared enough germs and spent plenty of time at home over the past week, so we decided it was time to get out a bit.

On Thursday we met some moms at a great outdoor playground and I literally had to tear Ben away from these steering wheels. Both boys were happy to be out of the house and seemed to be healthy and rebounding from whatever virus had been bothering them.

We even had a quick picnic and managed to keep Ben's sandwich away from these enormous, hungry ravens.

Then just a few hours later, Ben's eye was swollen and gooey (eww) so we made a last-minute trip to the doctor just before they closed. Turns out he had an eye infection, probably from the same virus, but we're treating it with antibiotics just in case. Poor guy. But the treatment (or at least the saline drops) seem to be helping and he's already looking back to normal today. Good timing because we had family pictures scheduled today!

Cute guys on the carousel Friday...


Then Saturday we hit the road bright and early to head up to Lancelin again and enjoy the beach. This little guy was ready!

Between driving and watching a movie, Ben was busy the entire trip.

Our trip took us through a big sand-dune recreation area and we couldn't believe this vehicle. We didn't hang around to see it hit the dunes but I bet it's pretty cool to watch.

We were ready to find the perfect beach to spend the day and that we did! We drove on dirt tracks for about half an hour until we could drive down the beach and found this amazing stretch without another soul in sight.

The boys were so excited.

Ready to hit the water!

It was an absolutely beautiful place and perfect for the kids.

The waves rolled in gently and got really shallow so they both played in for hours.



The water was crystal clear and beginning to warm up.

On the other side was nothing but sand dunes and vegetation. It felt like we were the only people in the world (aside from the occasional car or dirt bike that would pass).

Driving back, we happened upon this lovely sight - a pretty old dead humpback whale. I wouldn't share such an ugly picture but this was my first whale sighting, dead or alive, so it was worth remembering! It was about the size of the car so it must have been a juvenile.

On our way back through the recreation area, we had to take a spin through the big dunes.

Lots of fun going anywhere we wanted! That's Matt new long board on top of the car. Ben got to take a few rides on it in the baby waves and I think enjoyed it a lot.

It was a terrific Saturday together and we can't wait to go back. It's only about 2 hours from our house and I can't think of a better place to spend a day. The weather was still just a little too chilly to make a full day of it but hopefully next time it will be warm and beautiful all day!

The Aquarium

Yesterday was gorgeous! The weather was really perfect - low in the 50's, high in the 70's, low humidity. I know it will get hot soon so we're really enjoying this lovely weather while it lasts. We drove up the coast a bit to check out the Aquarium of Western Australia, but stopped first when we saw an ice cream truck. The best part - they had dipped cones ala dairy queen!

Yum!! And check out his new (short!) haircut. A bit shorter than I would have liked but I think he looks pretty handsome.

It was a really well-done aquarium with great animals that are all over the western coast here. Just last week a humpback whale was hit by a ship (sad, I know, but it made the papers otherwise I wouldn't have had any idea. it must have been okay though) just a few miles off the beach in front of our house. I can't believe they're so close to us! I stare out the windows all day just hoping to get lucky enough to see one. This underwater walkway was terrific because we saw loggerhead turtles, several sharks, eels, tuna, and enormous rays.

The kids, however, saw a moving sidewalk which means moving playground! Alex was fascinated by the big rays when they glided overhead but was more interested in the challenge of walking on and off a moving surface.

One of the big sharks.

Their touch pool was fantastic and the kids felt everything within reach and even some things a little too deep. Ben was wet for a while!

Such fun!

Back home we enjoyed a beautiful sunset from our porch. It's setting late enough now that we can get the kids to bed and enjoy a nice, quiet moment before all the colors disappear.

My sweet ones waking up and watching Mickey in their little chairs. Notice each one has a play light...Ben loves when he and Alex are playing with the same toys and often gives his little brother a matching toy. I let Ben choose their wardrobe most days and he likes their shirts to match as well.

Alex loves to find the lemons in the backyard and drop them in random places around the house and car. I found one in our bathtub this morning with a big bite taken out of it. ewww. I'm not sure how to teach Alex that we don't eat produce with the peel because he'll grab anything at the grocery store and try to eat it, like oranges, eggplant, or zucchini. I guess I should be glad it's not candy yet.

Look at his beautiful eyes! Not as blue as they used to be, but still a pretty blue/brown hazel.

Our church has a fun little sing and dance class for the preschoolers and both boys absolutely love it. Here's Ben at the end of one of the cute little songs. Even Alex loves to dance along to a lot of the music and imitates the motions pretty well.

Speaking of imitation, Alex is picking up all kinds of things. Here is one of his early phone conversations.

Happy Halloween!!

...or should I just say "happy Saturday!" since halloween is just another day down under. We were able to find a few things at the store and had about 3 choices for costumes, but trick or treating wasn't an option so we just dressed up for our playgroup party. We had hoped to go to the international school carnival but Alex was running a fever so we had to pass.

We had one adorable pumpkin (who refused to wear his hat)...

...and one strong fireman.

Orange pumpkins aren't here either, so instead we carved oranges and filled them with chocolate pudding. Too cute!

This was after a few trips the candy table!

Wow, I have to watch this little guy...every time I looked at him he had a new snack in his hand. I let it slide since it was a party but he probably ate more than me!

The older kids caught apples floating in a bucket, a smart alternative to bobbing for them!

By the time we got home the kids were completely wired and took a while to calm down. I put Ben in bed and told him it was okay to play, thinking he wouldn't nap, and about an hour later I peeked in to find he'd passed out in the middle of his toys.

I'm not a huge fan of halloween so I don't mind missing out on everything but I look forward to letting the kids choose costumes and trick or treat again. It will be nice to see it again in the fall, too, because it's really messing with my head to think of halloween in the spring!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It's been almost 3 months in Australia and I'm trying hard to love Perth. Some days I do, some days I don't.

Things I love here:

• No chump change - they don't have pennies here so everything is rounded to the nearest 5 cents. Singapore was the same way and I loved it there, too. Change is actually useful!
• Arnott's biscuits (cookies and crackers). Tim Tams have to be the world's best cookies but I'm discovering more and more wonderful things they make.
• Back in the world of online shopping! It's limited compared to the US but tons better than Singapore.
• Beautiful beaches EVERYWHERE. And because there are so many, we haven't seen any really crowded yet. Plus, we can walk or make a quick drive to some really nice ones.
  
• We can buy gum again! But after two years of going without, I haven't even finished the first pack I bought.
  
• Aussies are active, outdoor people which is great for families. They have a much better work/life balance than most other countries (although sometimes I wonder when people do work after I see dozens of guys surfing at 2pm on a Wednesday)
• The humidity is surprisingly low here, considering we're on the coast, so it's great to open windows and get a nice breeze in the house. Haven't lived many places where that's a pleasant experience.
• The expat women I've met here are generally very nice, down-to-earth ladies and they've been terrific. On the flipside, the expat community is much smaller so it's harder to meet people but I haven't run into the competitive and catty women I'd sometimes meet in Singapore.
  

Things I could live without:

• The money is huge here. Fifty cent pieces are more than twice the size of a US quarter and with just a little change in my wallet it's still about to explode. Oddly enough, the $2 coin is almost the smallest.
• Our recycling bin is more than twice as big as our trash can. We could easily fill the trash can (called a rubbish bin, as I learned when calling the city council and they had no idea what the crazy lady talking about tiny trash cans wanted) in a few days but it's only emptied weekly. We can get a second can for $280. No thanks! Just extra incentive to get Ben out of diapers.
• No dryer sheets here. Didn't think those would be so exotic we wouldn't be able to find them.
• Pacifiers are called "dummies". I don't really want my kids to use that word already, no matter what the context.
• The end of spring means the beginning of fly season. We haven't seen it at its worst yet but it's already really annoying.
• They are loyal to Australian products, and Western Australian particularly, so if it's not in season, we're not eating it. We haven't seen grapes in months. Just got our first mangoes in for the season but they're not the good honey mangoes we're used to eating, so I really wish they'd import some tropical fruit.
• Things are really expensive. I was shocked at the prices of toys and some groceries because they're no better than Singapore. Real estate is outrageous.
  
• Everything is FAR. To give you an idea of how far we're removed from the rest of the world, Starbucks has never made it out here.

Things that drive me insane:

• Turn lanes haven't been invented yet. Many of the divided highways here, which are the major thoroughfares most places, don't have protected lanes to wait to turn across traffic. It's dangerous and makes traffic a nightmare.
• Daylight savings time was voted down. Right now official sunrise is at 5:26am but daylight is already peeking in our windows at 5am. In December sunrise will begin at 5am at daylight at 4:30 in the am. Ouch.
• Virtually nothing is open past 5:30pm. Many stores close early on Saturday. Almost everything is closed on Sundays. And still a lot of things aren't open on Monday. Still trying to figure out when people work.
  

Another Wildlife Adventure

I am not one of those people who will keep a smile on my face all the time and tell everyone how amazing it is to live overseas. It's hard. It's lonely. It's 10,500 miles from home. But its reward is some once-in-a-lifetime experiences that make it worth it.

So far I've found Australia to be interesting but not as exotic as I'd expected...things look familiar, people speak English (although Aussie English can be pretty different, more on that one day), food is recognizable, but the major difference is the wildlife here. It really does surprise me nearly every day, whether it's cockatoos on our roof or black swans landing in the river.

Yesterday I ended up on the beach with the boys (also a pretty amazing thing - the possibility that any day we may end up on the beach, even completely unplanned). This is the path down the dunes in front of the golf course.

The boys explored a bit and found all kinds of interesting things in the dried kelp like shells, coral, and sponges. This stretch of beach is a protected reef so the snorkeling is supposed to be amazing (too cold for me to check out just yet) but it means it's not good for swimming so we have to walk a few minutes in either direction to get the clean sand.

Alex loved this old sea urchin that had lost all its spines.

Ben was just having a great time getting dirty.

I noticed a flock of seagulls behind us so I told Alex to chase them, then I noticed this big mass moved a bit.

Turns out it was a beautiful, sleeping sea lion! Not sure if that was her tennis ball or if it washed up from the dog beach down the road.

After this picture, she woke up and looked at us, then rolled over and kept basking in the sun. What a life!
Apparently the sea lions aren't common on Cottesloe beach but this one has been hanging around a bit lately. Most of the groups live north or south of the populated beaches, which is good news for the surfers since sea lions = great white feeding grounds. There have been a few sharks spotted here since we moved in. That's one wildlife encounter I can live without! (at least not while any of us are in the water)

That was a pretty cool afternoon for me because I was feeling particularly lonely after Lou Anne and Scott left and it really made my day. I love animals and get so excited over seeing new ones in the wild so it certainly helped my attitude about our new home.

For these guys, it was just another day!