May 31 - June 6

I'm trying to catch up here. So bear with me while I lump large sections of our trip together. There won't be a lot of detail either, remember, I don't take good notes. I'm working on that. I'll probably do it this way until I catch up. It just makes it easier and I need to get back on track soon!

So our first day in Michigan was Memorial Day so Seth was able to spend the day with us. We went to the Fairlane Mall just to see the sales. We didn't really buy too much although I was tempted to buy lots. Then we went to see some friends from the Moms Groups I used to belong to. We had a very nice BBQ with a few of the other families. It was so wonderful to see everyone and it was great to see all the girls play together.

Tuesday Seth dropped Lilly and I off at a shopping center so we could look around and get a few things. Not too exciting but I miss some of the stores!

Wednesday was supposed to be a trip to a farm with the old Moms Group. However the news was predicting a huge storm so it was canceled. So I went with several of the moms to IKEA to play around with the girls (there were very few boys in our group when we first started meeting). And while the storm only lasted for a few minutes, it was great to hang out and just relax with our old friends. Lilly had a wonderful time catching up with everyone (although she really didn't remember anyone!).


Thursday was spent at a friends house (I really wish I had taken some pictures). Lilly was exhausted at this point and didn't really play much but I got to spend time with a great friend and see her new baby as well.

We spent part of Friday with yet another friend (I loved having so many people to visit) who was able to pick us up at Seth's hotel. In the evening we drove to Seth's parents house so they could watch Lilly for the weekend.

Because on the weekend, Seth and I went to New Orleans! Yahoo! Not only did we get to go see a cool city, but it was just nice to spend time together. Remember, we hadn't seen each other in two months. We did a lot of walking, a little tram riding and then some more walking. We even got to see Seth's cousin who was there for a wedding. That was pretty cool (although we did crash the wedding looking all touristy)!


Browsing the shops, this was what Seth picked out. Of all things.


Had to stop at Pat O'Briens for a Hurricane. Always such an interesting crowd. I've only been here one other time and I went into the piano bar so I didn't even know this fountain existed.


Our nice dinner out was at Houstons. Yummy!

Around May 31 - We're Comin' to America

I don't really remember taking these pictures but we must have been bored at one of the many airports that we were in. Could have been Melbourne, or Sydney, or LA, or Colorado. But not Detroit, we were too tired then.




It was a long journey but we made it safely to Detroit. Seth picked us up and we went straight to Wendy's for a spicy chicken sandwich.

May 24 and 25 - Charlie Bear

Lilly's Kinder class had a Charlie Bear. Charlie was taken home by the kids for a couple of days. We were given a journal to write down what we did with Charlie. It was cold in our house so I knitted Charlie Bear a scarf.

The first thing we did was take Charlie to the library.



The next day Lilly didn't have school so we took Charlie to the pool - the Bear just had to watch all the fun. [That's Alex next to Lilly and Charlie, he's Lilly's best friend, unless they are arguing.]



Then we went to the Melbourne Museum. Charlie played in the children's section.



And then he learned to hula hoop.



Lilly tried to learn as well.

May 22 - A Lesson in Art

We went into the city to check out the National Gallery. They have a couple of little art activities that the children can do each month. I think this month they were talking about the textiles of the Greeks. The kids were supposed to make either a belt or a cape. Lilly took a piece of fabric and attached everything she could find on our table. We discovered the stapler to be the best way to adhere all the extras.




Lilly and I walked down the river to go to a play park. I was surprised to run into a small beer festival. I took a couple of pictures but couldn't take Lilly in to see what was going on. I didn't think security would like it if I asked them to keep an eye on Lilly. So we just went to the play park and I let Lilly play for a bit.



On our way back to the train station we stumbled on another festival of sorts. We were able to see singer Archie Roach from basically the front row. I had to look up the actual event was and it was sponsored by The Long Walk - a charity that highlights issues related to Indigenous Australians.

May 17 - A Little Accident

Lilly liked to take her scooter to Kinder. We would leave her scooter at school and then she would ride it home. On this day, we ran into a little problem. It was the pavement. I ended up carrying the scooter and Lilly home. I didn't make it all the way with both of them. I told Lilly I had to drop the scooter or her. She was very upset but as soon as I got her home I went back and got the scooter (at least I made it to the apartment complex so I didn't have to leave her by herself).



She doesn't even like to have ice on her wounds so it was an interesting time trying to get her to settle down.



I was worried about her teeth as she busted her gums. It took a month before I stopped worrying because the inside of her mouth was still bruised.



It all could have been a lot worse. And at the end of the day, she was still happy.

May 13 - Happy Birthday to Me

We went for another drive on my birthday. We didn't have anywhere we had to be so we went to check out some scrapbook stores and I thought we would go to the Dandenongs, a mountain range about an hour away from the city. Of course, the weather wasn't bad but it got a bit wet somewhere in there.

First stop a scrapbook store. We had to go around the block for this one as we passed it and were looking in the wrong direction.



Second stop - Sky High Mt. Dandenong. I think the gardens were free, but we had to pay to park. And the guy was a little vague when we asked questions about the garden and what was at the top. Well, we figured out why when we got to the top. You are supposed to be able to see the city from the observatory and this is the view we got:



I think the guy was afraid to say there were no views cause then we wouldn't pay to park in the lot. So we tried walking around a bit. There was supposed to be a trail to walk on and we kept seeing signs for it but they just kept leading us to different levels of the parking lot. It was very frustrating. So instead we made a wish at the wishing tree and moved on . . .



And went on to two more scrapbook stores . . .




And to end the day, Emily, Lilly and I went for dinner and cake at the home of a good friend of mine. Not too shabby!

May 12 - Run into the City

I went through to check out some stuff in the blog and I realized I never did announce that the family has received our Permanent Residency here in Australia. In fact, we received it two days before Seth left the country. What does this mean for us? Not much. We don't have to renew Seth's work visa or if he quits his job, we don't have to leave. And I guess we can come in and out of the country pretty easily. People ask if we are going to get our Australian Citizenship, but we don't know. I know if you get that you HAVE to vote - they have a fine if you don't vote. That would mean I would need to learn a little more about the government and I'm already confused enough just by the council set up.

Anyway, that was the reason I needed to get my Australian licence (that isn't a spelling error, i swear). So while Emily was here I had my appointment to go get my actual licence. Well, to pay for it anyway and get the picture taken. We dropped Lilly off at Kinder and took the tram towards the city. I had my paperwork all filled out and the appropriate forms and identification and that was it. They gave me a temp piece of paper and said the new one would arrive in about a week. Nothin' to it.

We had a few hours to spare before getting Lilly so we headed to the National Gallery of Victoria. I figured I could show her some Aboriginal Art since the art trail we walked through wasn't the clearest. We spent some time looking around and then headed up to an exhibit put on by some graduating art students. There were some impressive displays. I would post some pictures but I don't have the names of the artists so I'll leave those out this time. And yes, I don't have any of the names but I figured you'd want to see a picture or two.




Can I just add that for some reason we were just late this day? We had to rush to get to my appointment and then when it was time to pick up Lilly, I was late again. I had to run from the train to her Kinder. We were getting to comfortable with our relaxed schedule.