Cairns

     First, of all, it is pronounced Cans.  As in kick the.  Now that is out of the way, on to hearing about our week up in North Queensland!
     We left on Tuesday, 4 September.  We were supposed to have a morning flight, but it was cancelled and we were rebooked onto the afternoon flight.  It all worked out.  Kudos to the rebook folks too-we were still able to sit together.  Last time that happened on a stateside flight they had us scattered all over the plane and we had to ask/beg individuals to swap seats.  Can't imagine they didn't want to sit next to our charming kids under the age of 10 without a parent!
     The flight up was so easy.  I love traveling with our kids now.  They buckle up on their own, know the safety lecture by heart, and relax to enjoy the flight.  I have to laugh though-the little ones both asked where the TV's in the seats were-not on the domestic flight kiddos!  They liked that it was a "short hop" instead of a sleeper flight.  But still complained about the lack of personal TV.  Spoiled!
     We had a transfer to our apartment, which was quite close to the airport, as the planes taking off at 6am all week long would attest to.  The apartment was very comfortable-tile throughout, nice size, and right next to a good pool!  The kids liked it!  I also went on cooking strike all week-so we ordered from the Italian place attached to the resort.  Nothing special about it but the price!  Close and convenient counted for it today.
      Nothing was scheduled activity wise until Thursday, so we hopped the shuttle and went into town on Wednesday.  Nice sized place, and the driver was a wealth of information.  We got the grand tour, picked up some groceries for breakfasts, snacks, and lunch, and retired to the pool for the afternoon.  Met a fun family from Melbourne up for holiday as well.  Both are police officers.  He is a motorbike officer doing official motorcades and has met most of the heads of state who have come to Australia!  He preferred the dirk bike version for search and rescue work.  She works in a country town outside of Melbourne as well as in the middle of a stint at the public relations office in Melbourne CBD.  They have 2 kids, ages 8 and 10, so all of our crowd got on well!  Met up with them intermittently as activities allowed and had a great last night there together as well.  Pizza, wine, and clean out the fridge for all!
     Based on advice from the shuttle driver, we rescheduled our reef trip until Friday as the wind was pretty steady and the waves pretty good sized.  We wandered through the botanical gardens behind the resort area as well as the park.  No swimming signs everywhere due to crocs!  They were not kidding about it either.  Didn't see one, but really didn't want to either.  And back to the pools!
     The reef trip was fine.  I have decided that Chinese tourists really need a cultural educator to lecture before they go anywhere.  Cutting in line is a no-no.  Stuffing your face for lunch and then cutting in line before you have even finished the first plate is also a no-no.  On the other hand, the Japanese tourists were so sweet!  Alex and Lyle were the snorkeling pair-Alex loved it again.  She got some nice pics of the coral and a swimming turtle as well.  Here's some pics!  I'll caption them so you know what the story is!

A classic beach shot of the two littles.

Alex and Lyle coming out of the surf from their snorkel.

 Kiddos at the Baron Falls stop.  Everyone had to get this shot!

 A Cairns Birdwing at the butterfly pavillion.  Native to the area-the wings are as big as Ian's hand!  They move fast so nearly impossible to get a shot with open wings.  They are lime green bordered with black.  Beautiful!  The Ulysses Birdwing is grey and black under with bright blue wings and they moved even faster!

Alex with the black headed python.

Annika with the python.

No hesitation for Ian to get his picture with the snake too!

Walk like an Egyption kiddo!

 Isn't she getting big?  So stylish too. . .

Imagined a T-Rex pounding down the stream?

Ahhhhh!  It's going to get me!

These ladies fell in love with Ian!  They were trying to get him to smile all afternoon.  "Are those girls talking to me?"  Yes!  Finally got a picture with them all at a gondola stop.  They loved it!

Alex took this one of a green sea turtle.

And this one of her dad!

 Who returned the favor.

Trees were so tall!  200 ft or so for most of the tallest.

Gnarly growth on this one.  Neato!

Patterns on the ground level leaves.  Beautiful!

General photo of the ground level.

 The boardwalk through the forest.  Felt quite primitive.

 The pitcher plants were pretty cool!

Here's an up close of the pitcher plants.

The view coming over the last hill on the skyway gondola over the rainforest.

     We really didn't schedule much more.  The reef day and the rainforest day were the only organized activities we did.  The objective was to look around, which we did, and relax, which I say we did pretty well.  Lots of time by the pool, I didn't cook a single meal, and everyone slept well, which is a rarity.  Cairns is a very pretty little city and a fantastic area to visit and we would love to go back!

     Have a super week everyone!  It is the last week of the 3rd school term, so the kids are ready to have a break.  Ian has to get his passport renewed this week, so I have to take a day off school and Lyle will meet us downtown to meet with the consular officials.  Sent it all in last month, but have to sign in person in front of a consular witness before they will take the forms to process.  Hope to have it back in about a month, so to travel outside of the country in the meantime.  Darn!  We had so much planned too!

     Love ya!

Better Now. Yay!

     Ok, so the rant is done.  The bond is not back in my bank yet, but should be on the way as of tomorrow.  If it isn't, game on is all I can say.  I took extensive pictures and video.  They are worth 1000 words.
     The rodent situation is at least under control as of Saturday.  The pest guy had a good look and said the evidence was old and they had moved on.  The critters have done extensive damage in the lower attic above the garage-chewed all the wood beams all around to the point where the door lintel into the laundry is loose as it has nothing to hang onto, but they have moved out for summer.  He tossed several wax based baits that are good for several months and when they eat them, they will DIE a painful death.  Hopefully NOT in the house anywhere!
     Alex's Peace Bursary performance went quite well.  They placed 2nd and were pleased.  She is more pleased to be done with it, and missing the performance at the music concert next week is not upsetting her one bit.  I get the feeling she is ready to be done with choir at this level.  Something about having to sing "little kid" songs too many times!
     We are going to Cairns next week for a family adventure!  We have a snorkeling day out on the Great Barrier Reef, another day out in the Daintree Rainforest with a rail journey and village visits, I get a spa day at the resort for my belated birthday gift, and a few days to do whatever we want.  This time of year is supposed to be good as the stingers (jellyfish) are blown out to sea and the weather isn't totally oppressively hot and humid.  We have been told to not swim on the beach as the saltwater crocs do like them.  Um, yeah.  Think we'll follow that advice!  Also there is a species of conch that we call the attack seashell.  Turn over with sticks and make sure nothing is living in them and even then don't touch.  Apparently they pack quite a whollop and can be deadly, so don't play with the shells either.  So, beautiful beaches, but don't play on them is what we can do.  Good thing the resort has several nice pools to enjoy!
     Lyle has a 10k race this Sunday, Father's Day here in Australia.  We are having a family sleepover-really!  One of his workmates is also running in it.  Now, the race STARTS at 6 am.  They live on the north side of town and that means at least a 1/2 hour drive over this way, so we invited them all over to stay and BBQ Saturday afternoon and Sunday breakfast for the dads when they get back from their brisk jog.  I'll be getting up waaayy too early to drop off at the start and they will be able to catch a bus back to the house.  Thinking about doing a breakfast casserole in the crock and pancakes in addition ought to be pretty nice.  So nice to have enough room to do this!  Alex will vacate her room as she has a double bed and kick Ian out of his.  Kai (their son) and Ian will get an air mattress in the lounge area upstairs outside of the bedrooms and have a boy sleepover of their own.  He is so excited!
     Ian and Lyle had a Father's Day get together at school today.  They played basketball (think short plastic hoops!), golf, tic tac toe (naughts and crosses here!), hopscotch, little reading time and a good time had by all.  Ian's class have been planning this for ages and has been all we heard about school for the last month!  "I can't tell you, it's a surprise!  But you'll really like it Daddy!"
     On a personal note, I was closely examining my hair in the mirror this week.  I have this slightly crazed sort of hair going now.  The grey is pretty disguised by my still natural blonde, but is coming in crazy curly.  I am starting to look a bit like a frayed Q-tip.  And on that high note, have a super week everyone!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Don't read if you don't like negativity. Or a few swear words.

     Just a warning here.  This is not a positive entry.  If you are looking for happy, just move on.  This is not it today.

     So, all the stuff is in the house.  Boxes in every room but Ian's at this point, but still getting through a few a day.  Less time to unpack than we wanted as we just can't seem to shake the old place yet.  I do have to say that we were warned.  Landlords here act just like that-LORDS of the manor and expect a place to be returned exactly in the condition you started with.  They seem to forget that clause in the contract that says excepted normal wear and tear.  Lyle and I spent 5 hours working on the place last weekend cleaning, vacuuming, washing, etc.  What we do when we leave a place, and more than most we have PLENTY of experience leaving a place!  Granted, the paint did not quite match when I touched up the scuffs on the wall, so having to redo those today did not burn my ass.  Burning it right now is that the counter in the garage by the laundry hookup is "dusty" and there are water marks on the tiles and on the fixtures in the bathrooms.  Yep.  The place is a year old and there are water marks on the fixtures!  So, after redoing the scuffs with the proper color paint that the maintenance guy dropped off for me, thinking I was done and locking the keys in the house, I get to put the kids in daycare for another afternoon so I can go scrub and paint the marks I missed in the garage.  The Garage!  But, I can get out of it for $150 off my bond payment.  As I said, this is really burning my ass right now.
     But, it gets more fun.  The place we moved into.  Fantastic space and use of it as well.  Not so on the electrical outlets and lighting-imaging a single electrical outlet pretty much no matter the size of room.  Not one per wall, but one per ROOM.  I can live with that.  I can also live with the edges of carpet being nearly black from the pest treatments that have to be done every year if you hope to stay ahead of the roaches.  I don't mind the traffic noise or the gun range.  What I will not live with is the maggots and rat shit that came out of the garage ceiling this weekend!  Yep.  Read that right.  Maggots and rat shit.  These are some big rats going by the size too.  Management was informed immediately and the owner came out and had his look too.  Have not heard from either regarding scheduling an inspector to come over and have a look around, so they will be called tomorrow and informed they have 1 week to get someone out or I start proceedings to break the lease and they get to pay for my move and deposit on the next place.  See, we learned with this last place we lived.  Being nice does not really get you anywhere as a renter around here.  We put up with "the parts are backordered" and bent over backwards to allow access to fix the issues with plumbing, smoke alarm that had not been wired, noise complaints about the appliances outside and all it got us was roasting in our own juices in the summer heat.  And nit picking on the wear and tear on the place.  Considering we had 3 kids in there, I was pretty pleased with how it looked!
     I detest renting.  I'll say it again.  I DETEST RENTING.  We don't trash the places we live.  The kids are really good about keeping their grubby parts off the walls and they don't put weird shit in the carpets.  I don't like having my money held hostage until every little bit is dealt with when normal wear happens.  I don't think it is helping that the landlord is preggo and suspect she is nesting as she is due in a month.  I really don't have any sympathy though.  My blood pressure is skyrocketing and I am just pissed.  I need to go finish my glass of wine and set the alarm half and hour early.  Alex has to be at school at 7 am to catch a ride down to Logan for the Peace Bursary, a group performance by the schoolkids for some reason or another.  She's not really thrilled and has been rewriting the lyrics to the Kermit the Frog Rainbow Connection song as she is royally sick of singing it.  They are fairly rude (for her at any rate!) but funny considering!  And yes, she is old enough that I told her they were funny.  She gets it.
     So, sorry for the rant.  I feel better.  If it still isn't satisfactory then I will request mediation by the tenant representatives to get back my full bond.  I don't feel like being nice anymore.  And is it a bit mean of me to hope the next renters are not so nice and trash the place?  I don't.

Moving Week!

     My apologies for dropping off the net for a few weeks.  I was hit with a terrible cold, had finally started shaking it off and then got hit with strep throat.  Lots of fun, that one.  I ended up texting the doctor on a Sunday morning asking for an out of office visit if at all possible.  It was BAD.  Fortunately he was able to meet me at the office, script for antibiotics, lots of rest and fluids and I was on the mend. Lyle stayed home on Monday to do the school runs-thats how bad I felt.  As luck would have it, I got a text Sunday night asking me to work for the week for a teacher I was going to do a week for as she was sick too!  They cobbled together subs until I could start on Thursday, and as the next week was my contract week, they just started it early.
     I spent the last week doing a 5/6 combined class.  They were a handful.  Thats all I'll say here about that!
     Whilst working, we were also gearing up to get the move done.  We got the keys a couple of days early and have spent the last 2 days making 12 trips to the new place with fully loaded Nissan X-trail.  Amazing what you can pack in there and how much can get moved when properly motivated!  The garage just has the big furniture and odds and ends now, the hall closet is empty, and much of the shelving in the kids' rooms are also empty.  Computers, kitchen cupboards, closets with hanging clothes-good thing we have Wednesday as a public holiday-more time to move!  The more we move, the less we have to pay the movers, so time well spent for sure.  We got the gym work out in this weekend multiple times over.
     Hope to have power to the place on Monday, have to drop off the entry report of house condition (plenty of notes there), another trip (maybe) and so forth.  On the negative, the internet service is poor at this location.  We will have to switch to mobile broadband, which means we'll have to limit our net surfing and gaming as it is more expensive.  The house next door has the service available, but not our place.  Boo, Hiss!  We should be able to make the internet phone service work through the computer, and skype is still able to be used!  No more endless Facebook surfing for me on non work days.  We are also canceling the land phone line as the only reason we had it was for the internet connection.  So, we'll save that much at least.  Now to continue all the address and phone updates.  And did I mention it is tax season in Australia?
     The location of the house is a bit out there, it is pretty much as far as you can go and still be in catchment for Alex's school!  You can clearly hear the shots at the gun range across the highway, which doesn't bother any of us in the least!  The road noise from the motorway is also audible, but not in the back yard.  Worth it for the price AND the space!
     So, busy weeks ahead.  I'll be working until the end of term at Camp Hill with the kids, and we are taking a week to Cairns in September.  Looking forward to being in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest.  Annika is looking forward to doing a few more Girl Guide badges and Alex the snorkeling!
     Until later-pictures in the next couple of weeks-hopefully!  We have a LOT of unpacking to do!

Ramblings for the week

     This isn't a write out about anything in particular.  Life continues to flow, whether we want it to or not.  I think I am finally learning to go with the flow of it, but then something comes up and I prefer to try and become the diversion dam.  On the good note, not much of a diversion dam needed this week!  All is mostly right with our little world.  Or at least as right as it can ever be!
     3 weeks until we move!  Soooo excited to have space again.  While dreading it, we need to unpack the boxes of toys we have stashed in the garage and sort out.  I may actually have a garage sale-icky thought as I have been able to avoid these with donations to Salvation Army and family toy and clothes giveaways, but I just can't haul it all back in our suitcases next year!  This week and next will be address update week and I have to remember to get utilities hooked up in our name and cancelled here. We are planning on getting keys on Aug 13, doing the entry report and a few token items (like the bikes-boy those take up some room!) done.  Aug 15 is a public holiday here, Ekka, which is like a massive state fair, so we will be moving lots of stuff on that day ourselves, then the movers will be here on the 16th for the rest of the stuff and the furniture.  They are planning on 7 hours to get it all done.  Hoping it takes less, and pretty sure it will.  Not too much to pack up quite honestly.  Most of it is in the garage still from last year, so we have some books, kitchen, closets, countertops, which really isn't much.  Bet we have most of it done on Wednesday, so we will be living out of the new place as of Thursday evening!  Then the weekend will be cleaning the old place so it is available to lease on the 23rd or 24th if they can get someone in here.  I saw it was listed on the rentals website, so official then!
     Alex is gone all this week for school camp.  This is the year they get to do the national capital tour!  She and I got up at 3:30 this morning (UGH!!).  I took her to a friend's house to drop off at 4 am for the drive to the airport and we'll pick them up on Friday night.  Figure the toll to cross the bridge is $4, parking is free for 30 minutes (but it will really take 45-60, so $10) and the toll back, why go individually if we can share the trips?  A cab ride is $80 from here and the train impossible from this side of the river at that time of day, so car it is.  Their flight left and landed on time, so they are off and running.  Sydney Monday (Opera house, zoo, The Rocks), bus to Canberra Monday late afternoon, National Capitol stuff and their snow experience (big deal here, trust me!) lasertag on Thursday night, then wrap up and home late on Friday night.  Apparently Alex was not much help supporting her teachers' efforts getting the kids to bring their thermal underwear to this trip.  You know how you turn to someone you KNOW will agree with you, only to find out they don't?  Yeah, that was my kid.  Teacher-"I know Alex agrees with me since she comes from a snowy climate, right Alex?" (or something like this)  Alex, "Um, no.  I don't even own, and don't think I have ever owned thermal underwear!  Besides, it just isn't that cold were we are going!"  Bada Bing!  It will be so strange with her gone!  Miss her already, but she will have a wonderful time.
     Annika is loving Girl Guides (scouts in the USA), but mostly because there are many of her friends in the troop.  This kid is the social one for sure!  She submitted a powerpoint of pictures and descriptions of our trip to the USA and will be getting her Travel and Computer badges for it!  She needs to finish her report for the patrol excursion they did a couple of weeks ago over school holidays and then will have her Nature badge as well.  She is so proud of her outfit and sash and can HARDLY wait to get her badges for me to sew on for her!  Here she is getting her official guide book, certificate, and pins.
     Ian is counting down to year 1 so I will enroll him in Ninja classes. Every night when I pick up the girls from their aerobics practice I am reminded by him that he will be a ninja next year.  Thanks kiddo, I got it!  He also gave me a picture this week.  See below!  And note short "boy hair" on him and the longer do on me!  He also wrote me a note along the lines of "I love you my mommy."  Precious!

     We splurged and got year long tickets to another set of theme parks too.  Dreamworld is a very Aussie version of a theme park.  Decent rides, ones Annika can go on as well!  She is thrilled as Movie world rides were really for the really big or really little kids.  Ian loves the ball play area and stayed there 2 hours on Saturday.  I was content to sit in the sun, relax, and make him leave once in awhile so I could do some rides with Boo!  She was doing several on her own as I could watch her from my seat in lines and on rides, and she is really good about checking in with me after every ride.  Growing up!  Ian is driving a converted Model T in this picture.  They have them on the tracked road you can see in front and to the side.  He drove these a dozen times-no kidding!  Kept getting back in line for it.  Loved taking mommy around the track-I had to sit in the back seat so he could be my driver.

     This is their White Tiger (forgot his name!) at Tiger Island at Dreamworld.  They also have 2 cubs right now and several adults.  This guy was roaming about scenting his territory with the glands on his feet and urine sprays.  He was also pretty vocal while we were there.  Didn't stay for the tiger show-it got cool and rainy, so we called it a day.

   Let's see, other events going on?  Grandma's birthday is tomorrow (but I won't tell you how young she is!  A lady never tells her age, right?) Lyle's mom has her birthday today, as well as our 18th wedding anniversary!  Busy week!  We decided to renew the contract for another year, so all is good.

  

 Miss you and love you!  

We got a House!

     Yay!  We signed the lease on the house last night and will be moving in starting Aug 13.  We will be out of the townhouse by 5 pm on Aug 20 and we are all so excited!  Now the moving stuff just needs to be done-you know the details like forwarding address, changing addresses with everything, geting utilities moved.  Blech!  But soooo worth it.  The house is HUGE-a bit bigger than the one we had in Wenatchee, with a bedroom for everyone and space all over.  The yard is smallish and we'll have to take care of mowing and the garden, but for the price I got it for, well worth it.  The kids are old enough to be learning how to take care of the house, so chores will be shared around!  The rent is only $10 more per week than what we pay now, which is still at extortionist levels in my mind, but if we wanted 4 bedrooms and a house that didn't look like it was falling apart, you gotta pay for it here.
     With the move, Alex will be able to enroll without issue at her chosen High School!  If I don't get a call to work I will go down there today to take care of the paperwork to make sure everything is all in order.  The transportation plan for next year is to drop her off at school, then get the littles to their school in the morning.  After school Alex will take a bus to Camp Hill and meet us there.  Since she wants to continue with swim club at CH, that works out very well.
     This does add time to Lyle's commute, but we figure we can work around it.  Dinner will be a bit later, he leaves at about the same time in the morning, and on those nights when we do swim club and after school late pickups for activities, he may just meet us at Camp Hill and ride home with us from there.  We'll figure it all out!
     With the impending move, Lyle has switched gyms to be closer to the new place.  I went ahead and signed up with him.  Started back this week and sooooo sore!  Now that Alex is 12 she can watch the youngers for a bit while we work out.  She's keeping track of her time and negotiations are underway for proper compensation.  She likes money and extras like having a friend or two over "just because" rather than waiting for a special occasion.  Also iStore apps for approval to download and Amazon.com books are good too!
     The girls are continuing this term with Aerofit and I have promised Ian that he can do karate when he starts year 1.  He wants to be a ninja so bad!
     Have a great week everyone!  Love you all!  I'll send the new address to my family.  If you want it, let Dad, Mom, or Megs know, or just email me.

House Hunting and Rainy School Holidays

     So, the lease is up the end of July and we want to get into a bigger house.  I spent the last week of school filling in lease applications and worming my way into house showings.  Things are done a bit differently around here.  Open houses are for 15 minutes (seriously, that is it!) and if you like it, you take an application, feverishly fill it in with every bit of personal info you can imagine and the promise to hand over your firstborn, then hope you get it in before everyone else!  I found a place right away, got in the papers in and was told there was an application in ahead, but there had not been a deposit made.  So, we lost that one when the deposit was finally put on the place.  Grr!  It was perfect!  Yard, 4 bedrooms, as a bonus it was all on one level too, and next to a stretch of bushland that would be great fun to play in!  The agency that had it listed had taken our application, and everything was approved, so when they had a place come onto the market just down the street just days later, they called!  I was thrilled!  It has not even been advertised and I love it.  2 stories, 4 bedrooms, 2 living rooms and an enormous kitchen dining room.  It has 3 times the space of this apartment!  Hoping to hear today what the final rent charge will be, but as long as it is in budget, I'm taking it.  It's in catchment for Alex's High School, in a nice neighborhood, and did I mention the SPACE it has!  Now the invite is open for any visitors who want to come over and stay for awhile!  We're less than a kilometer to a bus stop that gets you into town in just under an hour, so Brisbane annex is open for business.  Same rules apply as anyplace else we've been.  24 hours please so we can make sure you have clean sheets and towels and can flip to see which kid gets booted for the time being.  Hope to write about it more next week!  It's not available to move into until August 6ish, but our landlord is willing to work with us.  Thank goodness!
     On the negative, the weather here has been pretty sucky.  Rain for six straight days, and of course, school holidays started on day 2 of the deluge.  Think Seattle/Portland in March and you get the picture.  Cold, rainy, blech.  Today was the first day we had seen the sun, so I took the kids to Movie World.  Apparently, so did everyone else!  The girls were in line for 90 minutes for 1 ride, Ian and I managed to get in 2 bumper cars and 1 merry-go-round.  It was insane.  So, we ditched and ran for home.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful for the next week with temps in the 60's and sunny.  Yeah!
     Lyle will be doing his first half marathon on Sunday on the Gold Coast.  It's a flat course, so he's happy to give it a go for the first time.  We're staying until Monday so he can use the hot tub at the hotel.  Spoiled!  Let you know how that goes next week too!
     Love you all-

Oh, yeah.  There was a birthday this week here too!  I hit the big 4-0 on Wednesday, and at my insistence, did not let the family make a huge deal out of it.  I took a night off from domestic duties and picked up KFC for dinner, and make a yumm-o crock pot chocolate carmel cake. Bliss!  I informed Lyle that my gift will be an entire day to myself at the spa in September when we go to Cairns.  Massage, facial, mani and pedi here I come!  I also went out to dinner with several of the moms that run the fundraisers at school.  Mexican and Latin American fare-Meg's tamales are hard to beat, but this place did a wicked chicken enchilada en mole!