Our First Visitor! - August 8

Our first visitor arrived on the 8th but we didn't take any pics. No, we have video from the airport. I'll see if Seth can include any of that. We welcomed my mom to the wonderful land of Oz, complete with a banner. There were tears, it had been almost a complete year since I had seen mom and she was so happy to see Lilly. Lilly had been talking about this day for weeks and announced it to every cashier and friendly stranger we met. When she actually saw grandma she clammed up. Wouldn't make eye contact or even give a wave. She's a nut.

So we picked mom up at about 10:30 am and gave her orders that she wasn't allowed to nap. We went back to our place, gave her the tour, had some lunch and watched a video of Lilly at ballet. Mom took a shower and after watching more video said she was getting tired. So I took her for a ride on the tram to Lygon Street. This was where we were going to have dinner.

Seth and Lilly met us about a half hour after we got there and we chose a place for dinner. We ate a little early in case mom got tired and plus I was heading off to an AWA gathering. We had wonderful meals and asked for take-away boxes and the waiter told us that wasn't allowed. He finally gave in and we 'snuck' our food out. It was the first time we had been told we couldn't take our left overs home.

I headed to my gathering and Seth and Lilly took mom home on the tram. I think mom and Lilly were both asleep by 8:00. It was wonderful to have mom here!

July 31

Lilly and I did yet another trip to the Melbourne Museum. Nothing fancy or exciting, just a trip and some pictures. The pictures came out weird. And the one of me was taken by Lilly. The day was nice enough to head outside to a play park. My friend Heather taught Lilly how to roll down a hill. She needs more work on it. At least the hill was astro-turf, she didn't get muddy at all.

More July

We really didn't do much this month. We stuck close to home even though we were really cold. We have five room heaters but they only work if you can close the door to the room. So that leaves three since the other two are downstairs which is all open (the heat goes right out the front door). We don't usually leave the heaters on during the day since we are in and out of rooms and with a three-year-old, doors don't stay closed either way. There are days when I would drive to playgroup just so I could turn on the heater.

Anyway . . . picture explanations:

Lilly and I went with our friends down to the city. We originally went down to see some puppet show (I'm trying to expose Lilly to those things that she seems to be afraid of as often as possible). We missed the show so we headed to a large play park for the kids. Lilly ran around quite a bit but when we went to have a cup of hot chocolate and a snack she pretty much collapsed. She was exhausted and by the time we got home she had a bit of a fever. It made for a long walk to the tram but she was able to sleep on the tram back to Coburg.

Lilly received a package from my mom and it had a few monkeys in it! Here she is sporting her monkey pjs. She really likes them but she says she is waiting to bring out the stuffed monkey until my mom gets to Australia. In the meantime she wears the pjs every night unless I hide them to get them washed and has asked to wear a monkey shirt every other day (with her skirts/dresses).

And finally, Seth and I had a date! We met five other couples for a night of ice skating. This was a group outing for the American Women's Auxillary. Seth and I were the only couple with a child so that was a little odd but one lady was pregnant (she did not ice skate). I think we had a two hour window, maybe an hour and a half to actually skate and then you get kicked out so the next group could come in. The rink wasn't very big and there really wasn't a zamboni, just two people scraping the ice when we were done. I am proud to say I didn't fall once! Seth didn't either but I think he has a little more experience than I do with ice skating. After skating we went out for dinner and Seth had the best steak he has had since we moved here. I got chicken, which was pretty good and got a side salad which was the biggest salad I've had at a restaurant since I've been here!

July 2 - Kung Fu Panda

Lilly and I rode with our friends to a shopping center on the other side of the city to see a free live show with Kung Fu Panda. Have I mentioned recently that Lilly is rather afraid of people dressed in large costumes? She hasn't gotten over it! When we arrived there was a meet-n-greet with the panda and Lilly's friend Alex (age 2) ran right up and hugged the big guy's knees. Lilly hopped into Alex's stroller and refused to go any further.

We watched the show and while Alex danced and hopped about, Lilly sat in the stroller. She clapped her hands one time.

We'll keep trying! I'm hoping we'll see enough stuff that when Christmas rolls around she won't be terrified to walk through the mall. I just hope Santa doesn't show up at the library again - she still asks if he is coming to story time.

June 7th - Phillip Island

We headed out to Phillip Island on a rather chilly day. It was overcast with a little rain but the drive was rather uneventful.

We purchased a pass that will allow us to see the Penguin Parade as well as two other parks in the area. There is also a free Visitor's Center on the island so that was our first stop. We went with the intention of only seeing the Visitor Center and penguins on this first trip. We will have six months to visit the other parks.

So, off to the Visitor's Center. It was rather nice. It had a large cafe so everyone could get their coffee. There was a little game room and a children's area. The main attraction was the seals. There was a boardwalk where you could go look at the seals. However, the seals were very, very far away. I don't know that we actually saw anything. We tried taking pictures but it looks like we got some rocks. Inside there were cameras that we could pay to use. Since we bought the big pass we were able to use it for 5 minutes for free. It just gave us control of a camera that was on the island. Pretty neat.

Next off to the Penguin Parade. We weren't allowed to take pictures because the flash hurts the eyes of the penguins. So we sat in stadium type seating and waited until the sun went down. At least we went in winter so we didn't have to wait until 10:00 for the sun to go down! Once the sun was gone we started seeing the penguins. The seating area did have this huge spotlights so we were able to see everything (I do wonder if that was harmful for the penguins' eyes.

Anyway, the penguins go out into the water to feed for about a week. When it is time to come back home, they come back in groups. So a small group of about 15 penguins would walk up the beach, past the seating area and into their burrows. These penguins are called little penguins and are only about a foot tall. So they get very nervous about their walk up the beach. The group close to us would get mostly out of the water, someone would get spooked and they they would all turn around and go running back into the water. It was really funny to watch. They slowly ventured a little further each time but it took them about 25 minutes to run across the little strip of land. We did get to watch a couple more groups come across. Penguins are pretty cute.

After we watched them we walked back up this long board walk that was basically built over the penguins' burrows. So we were able to observe the penguins going back home. All the penguins came out of their homes to greet those coming back. It really did look like a little party.

We probably left about 6:00 so we headed back towards Coburg and grabbed dinner at Hungry Jacks (aka Burger King). It was a good day!

A little here and there

Here are some things just from home. This is Lilly's tricycle she got for her first birthday. She has always loved to ride it (with us pushing her around) and she is finally getting the hang of pedaling herself. This is on a hill close to our house so she feels very accomplished when she rides down it very fast! She still runs into things because she turns her head to watch people/dogs/cars/insects/birds and then will run into a tree/wall/curb/fence.

This is at the grocery store in the closest shopping center. They have these wonderful trolleys for the little ones but they slow us down a great deal! We use them only when we have a few items to get and when we aren't tired or wanting to get home. Lilly loves putting things in her basket and then loading the belt at the cash register. She still won't talk to the cashier (or pay for her own groceries) but she's getting better with at least not running when they say hi. If they don't look at her, she'll usually say something. I tell people not to make eye contact (yes, sort of like approaching a wild animal).

And finally we went to the circus. No animals, all people. The tent looks huge but it was pretty small. There were only about 15 performers and they would do some tricks, play in the band, move props and then contort their body. It was strange. There were some interesting choices in clothing. Or lack of clothing, it seemed. It was hard to watch what they were doing when I was analyzing why they would be wearing what they were wearing. I was a little disturbed.

And Lilly's thoughts on the circus: 'I didn't like the part she was stuck in the chair. I liked where they jumped through the hula hoops. I liked one teeny tiny bit.'

Me: 'Do you want to go back?'

Lilly: 'No!' (runs away)

We are fine!

Yes, it has been forever since I last updated. I know, I'm behind. I really need to get with it! I could go on, but really, you aren't here to read apologies. You just want to know what's going on. I have some really great pics to share of our time with my mom but I have to update June and July and then we'll get to some good stuff!

I found out that Scholastic has a warehouse pretty close to us. And for those of you in with the Scholastic crowd, you'll know how awesome their warehouse sales are. Wouldn't you know it, they have them here as well. The warehouse wasn't nearly as big nor did they have as big of a selection but it still was great. We scored some Charlie and Lola books and a handful of other books. I purchased a set of Diego Snap cards for $3.00 and that's all we have played for the last two months!

There is a new indoor play area down in the Docklands, close to the city. We took another family and let the kids play for a bit. It was new so entry was only $2.50 per person. It's not that cheap now but I guess adults get a coffee with entry. I hope I can exchange that for a hot chocolate (I'm still not a coffee drinker).

While we were down in the Docklands there was supposed to be this big light and fire spectacular. These were the only people we saw that had to do with it.

On the upside, we found the COSTCO office. It'll be coming soon (more about this at a later time)!