Looks like I am settling into a 2 blog a week to keep everyone updated-the post weekend and getting ready for the weekend type! I hope you have all enjoyed this run down of our lives-it's therapeutic for me to write about what we are experiencing-especially the stressful things. I can look back and laugh about how we did the first few weeks now. Strained laughter, but laughter nonetheless!
So, this weekend was the kick off to the Brisbane Festive. Take a look at www.brisbanefestival.com.au and you will see this is not a little event. Think Boise River Festival going on for 3 weeks, that is how big this has gotten. We took the bus into downtown about 2 pm and wandered around Queen Street mall for a bit. Then we headed down to the river to stake out our viewing sites. Rio Tinto's office building is right on the river and they have a great patio overlooking it as well. Their social club puts out requests for sign ups and block out space for over 300 people. This is nice as space is at a premium and it means you can come into town, (if you rate a parking spot in their garage you can park there as well!) drop your stuff, and wander about. We chose not to wander, but to park and socialize. The main hang out was across the river and around the bend at South Bank (one of our favorite spots in the city) but with about 1/2 million people expected to be there, we decided to go for 300+. Glad we did, and one of the guys Lyle works with reported it was shoulder to shoulder. Not good with short kids!
The fireworks were something to see. We have never been to a show this elaborate, long, and loud! It was coordinated to music, but no one remembered to bring a radio! We decided our favorite fireworks were the spiraling ones that went in all directions, the rapid fire fanning and multicolored ones, and the best of all was the firework waterfall coming down from the Storey Bridge. In addition to the bridge based pyrotechnics, there were several barges anchored all along the river firing like mad too. The show stretched along the river for nearly a mile, everything coordinated beautifully! There were 3 bridges, something like 6 barges, and over 1 million people along the river to view it all. Amazing! If you want to see the stretch of river involved, go to Google Maps and look up Brisbane. Look for the Storey Bridge, then go upstream around the bend to North Quay. You should see 3 bridges on the map there-pedestrian, dedicated busroute, and general traffic. The best part, since it is just heading into spring, the show was at 7:00, so we were able to make it home about 9:30.
Once the show was over, we packed up and headed back to Queen Street Mall for the underground bus pickup. Ian was exhausted by this time-he doesn't take a nap anymore (I miss those naps more than he does!) and he fell asleep as I piggy backed him half a mile or so. Lyle had Annika's hand and 3 camp chairs-trust me, I got the best deal! We made it through the maze that is the bus depot and even found seats on the bus-a big deal when you have that many people running for home. Thanks to Translink for making them free until 10 pm too! Annika was asleep on my lap in the first mile, and had to start waking her up 3 stops from home. She was wiped out! Then we had a 300m walk back to the "flat" and bedtime.
Sunday was a bit mellower as we had a late night on Saturday. We had decided to go to the beach at the Gold Coast, but Annika and Ian's behavior pretty much nuked that idea. I won't take them someplace if they act like spoiled monsters. So, when Lyle was ready for his afternoon run, we went to Minnippi Parklands, took the camp chairs and hung out there for a few hours. Glad we did too-much less stressful than hauling stuff to the beach on an iffy weather day! Kids played until they were worn out, Lyle had a nice run and Alex rode her scooter with him. Lyle tore some muscle fibers in his calf a couple of weeks ago and has a 10k run to do as part of the festival this coming weekend, so has been babying it. Looks like he will be ready to go! However, (always a however, or a but, isn't there) he's traveling all this week and cannot pick up his racepack, or get another run in before the race. Solution-Gayle and Ian get to take the bus into town on Wednesday or Thursday, get to the office, hope the reception desk HAS the packs still, and get back home with it. Ian loves the busses, and frankly, I like them too. Lyle's not so enamored with them-he's too tall and doesn't fit in the seats well at all. Thinking that we will look for a house next year to rent near a train stop. That's a future entry though.
On the "where's the stuff" front, good news all around! We get our container tomorrow! It was originally scheduled for Friday last week, but a pine cone Christmas craft was confiscated. We were given the choice of incineration (free) or heat fumigation ($550). Guess what we picked? None of the kids really recognized it from the picture in the email, no sentimental value, bye bye pine cone! At least we don't have the 2-3 week delay and every box opened and scrutinized in detail story for this one. I have heard stories from others that make me very glad for our little pine cone. So, our luxury campout on air mattresses and picnicing on the living room floor will come to an end. To be replaced with tons of boxes and not much space to put it all. I plan to unpack, sort, and repack most of what we own over the next week, storing it in the garage below. Less space = less stuff! But, I won't get rid of much as when we do move into a house, we will want it back!
So, what's going on this week that you will hear about later? Lyle is off for his first full week of traveling fun! He left in the cab at the same time as we left to walk to school. He'll be back sometime Friday. Tuesday, get our stuff day. Wednesday, go to town for race stuff day AND the Arts Show at school in the evening. Thursday-full on unpacking day, Friday too. After school Friday is Annika's parent teacher conference for 3rd term, Alex's will most likely be sometime towards the end of the week as well.
A happy 91st birthday to Grandpa Gene! The family had a wonderful surprise brunch Sunday morning for him. I had to content myself with a phone call, but so nice to be able to call so easily. I also visited with cousin Kim on the phone this week and Skype has been great as well. We got to see the new puppy! She's all sorts of cute. Dad gave us the backyard tour of the new concrete and storage shed spot as well. I gave them the laptop tour of the flat. Tiny, but functional.
So, this weekend was the kick off to the Brisbane Festive. Take a look at www.brisbanefestival.com.au and you will see this is not a little event. Think Boise River Festival going on for 3 weeks, that is how big this has gotten. We took the bus into downtown about 2 pm and wandered around Queen Street mall for a bit. Then we headed down to the river to stake out our viewing sites. Rio Tinto's office building is right on the river and they have a great patio overlooking it as well. Their social club puts out requests for sign ups and block out space for over 300 people. This is nice as space is at a premium and it means you can come into town, (if you rate a parking spot in their garage you can park there as well!) drop your stuff, and wander about. We chose not to wander, but to park and socialize. The main hang out was across the river and around the bend at South Bank (one of our favorite spots in the city) but with about 1/2 million people expected to be there, we decided to go for 300+. Glad we did, and one of the guys Lyle works with reported it was shoulder to shoulder. Not good with short kids!
The fireworks were something to see. We have never been to a show this elaborate, long, and loud! It was coordinated to music, but no one remembered to bring a radio! We decided our favorite fireworks were the spiraling ones that went in all directions, the rapid fire fanning and multicolored ones, and the best of all was the firework waterfall coming down from the Storey Bridge. In addition to the bridge based pyrotechnics, there were several barges anchored all along the river firing like mad too. The show stretched along the river for nearly a mile, everything coordinated beautifully! There were 3 bridges, something like 6 barges, and over 1 million people along the river to view it all. Amazing! If you want to see the stretch of river involved, go to Google Maps and look up Brisbane. Look for the Storey Bridge, then go upstream around the bend to North Quay. You should see 3 bridges on the map there-pedestrian, dedicated busroute, and general traffic. The best part, since it is just heading into spring, the show was at 7:00, so we were able to make it home about 9:30.
Once the show was over, we packed up and headed back to Queen Street Mall for the underground bus pickup. Ian was exhausted by this time-he doesn't take a nap anymore (I miss those naps more than he does!) and he fell asleep as I piggy backed him half a mile or so. Lyle had Annika's hand and 3 camp chairs-trust me, I got the best deal! We made it through the maze that is the bus depot and even found seats on the bus-a big deal when you have that many people running for home. Thanks to Translink for making them free until 10 pm too! Annika was asleep on my lap in the first mile, and had to start waking her up 3 stops from home. She was wiped out! Then we had a 300m walk back to the "flat" and bedtime.
Sunday was a bit mellower as we had a late night on Saturday. We had decided to go to the beach at the Gold Coast, but Annika and Ian's behavior pretty much nuked that idea. I won't take them someplace if they act like spoiled monsters. So, when Lyle was ready for his afternoon run, we went to Minnippi Parklands, took the camp chairs and hung out there for a few hours. Glad we did too-much less stressful than hauling stuff to the beach on an iffy weather day! Kids played until they were worn out, Lyle had a nice run and Alex rode her scooter with him. Lyle tore some muscle fibers in his calf a couple of weeks ago and has a 10k run to do as part of the festival this coming weekend, so has been babying it. Looks like he will be ready to go! However, (always a however, or a but, isn't there) he's traveling all this week and cannot pick up his racepack, or get another run in before the race. Solution-Gayle and Ian get to take the bus into town on Wednesday or Thursday, get to the office, hope the reception desk HAS the packs still, and get back home with it. Ian loves the busses, and frankly, I like them too. Lyle's not so enamored with them-he's too tall and doesn't fit in the seats well at all. Thinking that we will look for a house next year to rent near a train stop. That's a future entry though.
On the "where's the stuff" front, good news all around! We get our container tomorrow! It was originally scheduled for Friday last week, but a pine cone Christmas craft was confiscated. We were given the choice of incineration (free) or heat fumigation ($550). Guess what we picked? None of the kids really recognized it from the picture in the email, no sentimental value, bye bye pine cone! At least we don't have the 2-3 week delay and every box opened and scrutinized in detail story for this one. I have heard stories from others that make me very glad for our little pine cone. So, our luxury campout on air mattresses and picnicing on the living room floor will come to an end. To be replaced with tons of boxes and not much space to put it all. I plan to unpack, sort, and repack most of what we own over the next week, storing it in the garage below. Less space = less stuff! But, I won't get rid of much as when we do move into a house, we will want it back!
So, what's going on this week that you will hear about later? Lyle is off for his first full week of traveling fun! He left in the cab at the same time as we left to walk to school. He'll be back sometime Friday. Tuesday, get our stuff day. Wednesday, go to town for race stuff day AND the Arts Show at school in the evening. Thursday-full on unpacking day, Friday too. After school Friday is Annika's parent teacher conference for 3rd term, Alex's will most likely be sometime towards the end of the week as well.
A happy 91st birthday to Grandpa Gene! The family had a wonderful surprise brunch Sunday morning for him. I had to content myself with a phone call, but so nice to be able to call so easily. I also visited with cousin Kim on the phone this week and Skype has been great as well. We got to see the new puppy! She's all sorts of cute. Dad gave us the backyard tour of the new concrete and storage shed spot as well. I gave them the laptop tour of the flat. Tiny, but functional.
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