Happy Halloween

Halloween is awesome in America, according to the Aussie Rules Football Player, Pirate, Witch and Princess.

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I think I'll move to Australia! Wait, we did that and took thousands of pictures only to come home and lose them all when our external hard drive crashed and all of the pictures became "irretrievable". Seriously, a very bad day. Maybe I can convince John to let us move back to Australia and redo all of the fun things we did.

But then again, "Movember" makes me wonder whether all of the things we did in Australia were awesome! (Seriously, check out the Stache!)

November 2009 - Melbourne Royal Botanic Garden

Finally!

Jared started school on September 2 and it was a much anticipated event! He loves it. I love it. We both love it. The only problem with school according to Jared is the following, "Mom, I really liked school, but they only ate once and it was a long, long time ago. I'm hungry!" That was said on his first day, but he has repeated it every time since.

Third Times a Charm

It was the first day of school for the kids today! Let me clarify that it was the third, first day of school for the kids this year. They are entering kindergarten, second and fourth grade, but have already done that twice before in Australia. They are thrilled to be returning to school and to make new friends. I am thrilled that they are returning to school as well!

Poor Jared. He has to wait until next Thursday for his first day of school. He was not terribly keen to be left alone, but we were able to satisfy him with a picture in front of the Bronco after we dropped off the others.

Willow Flats

This is one of John's favourite places on earth and we go every time we visit his parents. This year we also went with John's brother Sid and his family, and his sister Dianna. It is truly fantastic.

One of the first picture stops along the route is this bridge.

The Resting Rock - not quite half way up, but everyone stops because this is where you can get lemon drops that make the rest of the trip sweet!

Seriously cute.

Dianna, Sid and John

One of the best things about the hike is drinking the spring water directly from the mountain. Everyone made the trek over slippery rocks to get the purist water.

Some of us even went to extremes getting the water. Colin followed directly after John.


After hiking to the spring, we always spend time around a campfire eating tin foil dinners, making s'mores and enjoying the beautiful area. The conversation isn't too bad either!

Well done Grandpa! The fire was great.

Did You Know...

Flower Mound, Texas has awesome sunsets just like Australia.

June

After traveling for almost 24 hours we made it home to Texas from Australia. This picture of Jared was taken in the huge party limo that picked us up from the airport complete with two TVs, and lots of amenities. The nicest of them all was air conditioning! Doesn't Jared look tired? Not even close to how John and Jenny looked.

Colin was able to go to his first Cub Scout Day Camp and loved it.

We spent many, many hours hanging out with Jay, our highly motivated Realtor. He definitely kept the kids entertained.

All of the kids took swimming lessons and they have definitely paid off for Bella and Jared. They were lucky enough to have their friend Shawn in their class.

The girls participated in a cheer camp with their friends, Brooklyn and Ella.

And finally, Jenny celebrated her birthday with a delicious cake at the end of the month. It was awesome.

Really, the main blessing in June was being back among our friends in Texas. We missed them all so much during our two years abroad. Can you tell from all of the pictures that I took?

We Love Visitors!

Why? Because we get to take them to the Brighton Beach Houses. It is always one of the first places we visit, we love to pick our favourite bath houses to take pictures of.

Thank you Dianna for coming to Australia so that we can show off Melbourne. We had a brilliant time!

Jared

~He refers to Toucans as Canatoos (which is influenced by all of the Cockatoos found in Australia) and is quick to correct people that say it wrong, just ask Dianna!

~He asks to eat constantly and when I say constantly, I mean it. When we went on the Great Ocean Road with our friends Deena and Christian he said every few minutes, "I want something to eat." Deena was trying to distract him and asked him what he was thinking about and he said, "I'm THINKING that I WANT something to EAT!" He has a one track mind.
~He knows every AFL (Australian Rules Football) team, by colour and jersey and knows that we want either St. Kilda or Wisconsin to win.
~He loves to dance and has sweet moves like his dad.
~He calls his blanket "dankie."
~He refers to an elevator as an "elagator."

The Great Ocean Road #7

John's sister Dianna came to visit the week before we came home and it was fabulous. She brought along her friend Margaret and we had a great time showing them around Melbourne and savoring every minute of our time together. Yes, even the Great Ocean Road.

The Twelve Apostles

The Grotto

Loch Ard Gorge

Triplett Falls


Lower Falls

Upper Falls

The animals are amazing.