A place to call home...

Well, it has been a few weeks since my last post and in that time we have been unpacking boxes and trying to get this house settled. This move was by far the hardest of our moves to date... then again, this is the first move without my mommy AND with four kids! This was our 8th move in 12 years. That is a lot of cardboard boxes and rearranging furniture. For all of our recent moves - since we have had kids - my mom and dad have been part of the mix. Even with our move to England, my parents were able to come over and lend a hand. Usually the men piddle with the electronics and drill holes in the walls for pictures while my mom and I work like mad to get everything put away and make the new house OUR home. So, this move has been hard partially because I have not had them to help. Really, while the extra set of hands is nice, the best part of having my parents around is that we immediately have a sense of family and a whole new set of memories to start our new life, in our new house. So, we miss you mom and dad and can hardly wait until your first trip "down under!"

A sample of what many of our boxes looked like when they arrived...

Sadly, many of the things in the boxes were not so great either. Yes, that chair is missing a leg and it never did turn up. Perhaps we can find it floating around Sydney's port...

Aside from unpacking and reorganizing, we have also celebrated the littlest one's first birthday! Wow - this year has flown by. It is amazing to me that she is a year already. A lot has happened in this past year. The lucky little one got to celebrate her first in beautiful Australia. While we don't know a lot of people here, we did have a little "party" for her. We have gotten to be friends with one family here that came over for pizza and cake. We'll call that a party!

Look at me!

As we started unpacking boxes, we found the walker... look at what our little one can do now! She is growing up too fast.

Haven't seen this one before!

There are lots of things around here that are new to us but here are a couple of signs that we have NEVER seen in Wisconsin before!




We have also spotted koala crossing signs (but could not stop to take a picture) as well as many parking signs that make me pause. And, in case you were interested, the nude beach is only about 1.5 Km from our house. Who knew?

Furry friends

Well, I have been asked to please update my blog. I have not put anything out lately because I feel like it is more of the same - sunshine, swimming, school... It really is a fabulous life that we are living here so far. But, we have been up to a few things so I will give you a little news and some photos.

Last week, I was lucky enough to meet up with a local Aussie here who is the cousin of a friend's friend... got that? We had a great time meeting in person and enjoying the beautiful zoo.


Speaking of animals, we had a little friend visit us last week at our house. Now, before we moved, many of you were kind enough to share spider horror stories with me - making us feel very comfortable and at peace about moving to Australia! When we arrived, the relocation company gave us a lovely spider chart complete with magnets to easily place it on your fridge. (The kids have become quite the experts. Constantly checking the chart for every spider they see and being sure they can correctly identify it!

I did spend the first few weeks here worried that one of the little ones would get bit by a spider and I would not know it. The outlook for some of those bites is pretty grim... " may cause horrific ulceration to skin" or "one of the world's deadliest spiders" or "enlarged head and fangs, deep painful bite." It really is a wonder we sleep at night! So, when I opened the front door the other night to put my milk cooler out (for our morning delivery), imagine my shock when I was greeted by the HUGEST spider I have ever seen!


Now it may be hard to tell but this baby was about 4 inches across. I quickly slammed the door and ran to my spider chart for identification. Fortunately I found that it was probably just a huntsman and it is "timid, and rarely bites. May wander indoors." PHEW! So I went back out and shooed the spider away- I was not happy to go to bed with it still looming around my front door. True to the chart, I just had to walk near it and it scurried its way right off the porch and back into the bushes. My first spider crisis averted!