Hi Honey, how was your day? Mine was good, pretty normal...I bought a car, secured financing and insurance... oh yeah I also changed my long held perception of myself.

Here is my soapbox: Do not tell yourself you are not good at something or you can't do it, I'll bet you can!
Now I don't mean if you are still dreaming of being a runway model or a star quarterback and you are 45 you can still do it, just try harder. No that would be silly and I would call you "Uncle Rico." (Napolean Dynamite movie reference) I mean we all have things we tell ourselves about ourselves, some good and some not so good.

Sidenote: I thought I had blogged this but I must have done it in my head b/c I do not see it here. Does this mean I am crazy? If I already blogged this tell me to lay off the wine. Actually, maybe the blog would be better on wine, I do this during naptime usually and even on my worst day I can not let myself drink at 1:00.

I am not good at negotiating.
I am not thorough.
I am not good with details.
I am not good with math.
I am not good with finances or investments.
I do not understand "things" like that.
This is the negative track that played in my head and limited me based on my own self imposed restrictions, I will not tell you how lame it is that this track started in JR High when I did horribly in a algebra class, amazingly stupid huh? So, when it came time to buy a car I thought of course Mike will handle this, this is CLEARLY not my department. Lucky for me I went from having a Dad to handle this "type" of thing to a hubby to handle this "type" of thing. Yes I was a single independent woman at one time but I relied on my Dad for this or ignored it!
Well this time hubby can not do it for me. He just started a new job in a new country and is a little busy right now. I told Mike I could do all the legwork but he would have to negotiate, I can't negotiate, especially here. So I took a page from my Dad's car buying book and faxed my request to 20 dealers in Sydney in Mike's name. One got back to me with a quote in writing. This was $4,000 under what the first salesman told me was his best price. I called around and started talking to some dealers, I realized it seemed to work best if I was totally not me and acted meek, helpless and like I had no decision making power, they seem to dig that. Of course they try to talk you out of shopping around and you just agree, yes yes I understand, I will talk to my husband. So I used this technique to get another $1,500 off and some extra goodies thrown in. I could not believe it! Well, someone has to pay for the car and cash was an option but not a great one considering we can run this tax free through Mike's work. But we need someone crazy enough to finance two Americans. I found just such a guy, got a rate 1.5% better than the banks are quoting, he is doing all the work to run the Novated Lease with another company. AND... I found insurance $100 cheaper per year than the online quotes. ALL BY MYSELF! As the boys say, "MY DO IT!"

I am really proud of myself for doing all of this. It actually has given me so much confidence. So, I am working to turn off all of the negative, limiting or restricting tracks that play in my head. This will be a lifetime work in progress for sure!

We bought a black CX-9. It is due to arrive sometime soon. I will take a pic when it does! For now here is a stock shot. Just wait 'til we junk it up with our snacks, toys, clothes, diapers, it'll look so good!

Maybe one day we can really have fun and tour the Coke plant!

Mike had a get to know you work b-fast on Friday morning at 8:30am. It was originally scheduled for 7:30 am but I guess some complaining from others led it to it being moved until it is actually light outside. It was fun, as fun as these things can be. Not that I was dreading it but when Colin went to bed with a little fever I thought well someone has to stay home with him tomorrow CLEARLY it will be me! Well he woke up right as rain and so off we went.  The people were all very nice but you know how work things are people go of in their cliques and even if you are invited to a convo that seems normal it turns lickety split to work. So the boys had fun playing at the park I had fun telling people how great their country is and smiling and nodding happily alot! So one funny thing...His one friend Adam whom Mike told me he really liked, pulled me aside, and was like yeah, "you know what would be really REALLY cool? (no tell me I do not know anything cool)  we could get someone to watch the kids.... (I am thinking great he wants to do a double date, I know Mike thinks this guy is cool his wife seems cool I would love to have a friend or be invited somewhere, yeah friends!) and....he says... we could tour the Coke manufacturing facility, I think that would be so fun for everyone, I know Justine (his wife) is always having to listen to me talk about Coke and that would be so cool to see it made." A few things came to mind that I did not say 1. YES I know about hearing about Coke talk, my friend and I started a club called FCS it stands for F-ing Coke Spouses (I might wait til meeting them a second time to drop the f bomb on em) 2. You think I am going to waste my babysitting $ to look at sugar and water coming together, hell no, only if I can expense it and we are watching Cuba Libres being made! 3. YES I have seen Coke being made I used to work there! I also have done "really cool" stuff like fixed a fountain machine, loaded a cooler, and...wait for it... delivered product after hours. The range of my coolness just does not stop. How do you think I got my husband? I dazzled him with my sugar soda water prowess
Anyway, I did what I had been practicing I said, "yes, that would be wonderful" and made sure to smile excessively and nod approvingly! I can't wait! I will lock in a sitter NOW!!!

The Taxidermy Museum of Australia, aka The Australia Museum aka The Mothball Museum aka The Worst Museum ever!

Today is a horribly rainy day. It is the kind of day where you have to force yourself out of bed because you are sure the clock can not be right because it is still so dark and dreary. It is the kind of day where if you do not have small kids you just curl up in front of the tele or with a good book, crossword or anything else cozy and inside-ish. The kind of day made for napping as an extreme sport. Well, when you have two y.o twins and you live in a small hotel that kind of day is the stuff porn is made of. Pretty much it is never gonna happen to you, so forget it and move on. So we flip through our trusty books and find that we have not seen the Australia Museum. To all of our future visitors: thank me now, I have just saved you $12 you do not have to go. We walk in through the wheelchair pram entrance which is on the side of the building and it is none so welcoming. It is like oh you can not use stairs, I guess come on in but you have to come in by the dumpster. This is a little bit of a hot button for me. Life should be more accessible to EVERYONE regardless of their ability to climb a stair. The access does not have to be identical but it has to be comparable or equal.  I am fortunate that one day, my kids if God continues to bless them, will run up the stairs but for some this will never be a reality and they should be able to enjoy things as well. ANYWAY TIRADE on equal access over, sorry. It steams me up!

After I got over the entrance thing, I knew the second the door opened I was gonna hate it, the scent of moth balls hit you in the face like they have the Moth Ball Automatic Release device. But, my boys are there so I have to put on a brave face. I think of my courageous MIL who does not care for animals but enjoyed the petting zoo with us b/c the boys like it. I think, I can do this! I can! I think I will not live up to my rep that I do not like museums, I will like this! Come on, Smile, look like you love this! I tried, I did,  but it was awful, really awful. Here is a summary of the museum: It smelled like moth balls( I did not realize that moth balls were not only a secret of Gmas everywhere but also of museum curators), it was too hot then too cold, there was a room of skeletons(ick) and then literally the rest of the museum floors 1-3 was taxidermy. They would "church it up" and put it in different sections and try and call it different stuff but it was all taxidermy all the time. Just a bunch of stuffed dead animals EVERYWHERE! They had a kids zone which seemed promising. I will tell you at first I was having de ja vu from Mrs Jones 3rd grade field trip 1985 to the Jacksonville Children's Museum b/c it was so old fashioned and so LAME. Literally, they had the bugs in the acrylic little boxes that you could look at with a magnifying glass. If that did not get you revved up they had plastic animals in different sections ala dollar store. Oh, I am forgetting the one huge room that was dedicated to a very very small round table set for 10 with different silverware used around the world. COOL! The kids are gonna love this! Carson tried to leave the kids zone a number of times and told Mike the museum was "borning." So you know your museum is lame when my 2 y.o tells us he did not have fun and the museum was "borning" and he tries to escape from the "kid zone." Another dead give away it sucked was when the boys beg you to ride the elevator or accompany you to the potty b/c both are more fun than the museum. 

So now we are having a proper rainy afternoon. ALL of the boys are napping and I am relaxing with my  buddy the blog! I took a few pics of stuffed dead things, don't worry, I will post soon. 

Are you worried your kids aren't being exposed to enough pesticides or poisons?

I know, as a Mom this concerns me too. How can I make sure they encounter as many toxic things as possible? I would hate for them to be less fortunate than say, our parents, or us on this one. Maybe your not a Mom but you have often wondered...what is it like when a bug bomb goes off, that would be cool to be there and be able to breathe it all in, I feel jipped that I have to leave the room after I set off my bug bomb! No matter your motivation, I have found the solution. Raid Automatic Insect Control System. I checked and I am pretty sure they do not sell this in the States, so yes once I tell you how great it is you can send me $ and I can do a little exporting for you, in exchange for say Tampons or People Magazine. I saw this advertised a few weeks ago and really could not believe it, I actually googled it before I started writing this to confirm it was not serious jet lag hallucinations that dreamed it up. It is fo' real.
Have you seen a continual air freshener where at set intervals air freshener is released, well, this is the same thing except for it releases RAID! Yes just set it and forget it the ad says. The ad also boasts that it works better because it is a mist not a spray, oh good just a fine mist of poison, that is so much more comforting than a spray.

If you are still not convinced you need this product in your life...

Here are the specs
Raid® AutoMatic Insect Control Systems are designed for continuous 24 hour protection against flying and crawling insects.

Why use Raid® AutoMatic Insect Control System?• Eliminates Flying and Crawling Insects
• Naturally effective protection – contains natural pyrethins
• Set and Forget: 24hr continuous protection
• Fragrance Free


You can buy it for indoor outdoor or professional use I thought you would most want to know about indoor: 


Indoor RangeDesigned for insect control in your family home.
Naturally Effective Protection
Contains natural pyrethrins, nature’s own protection against insects, extracted from chrysanthemum daises. Even small amounts of pyrethrin are enough to kill most common insects.

• • • • • • •

Formulated with natural pyrethrins Lasts up to 7.5 weeks or 10,800 bursts Continuous protection Effortless: Set and forget Dispenser releases spray every 7 minutes DIY pack releases every 5 or 7 minutes and has low can warning light Ideal for use in homes offices, shops and other indoor areas. Register your interest today!

Colin The Magnificent or the missing diamond earring

Again, a shameless story bragging about my kids. Usual warnings apply.

Every night I take off my earrings and place them on the nightstand. Every morning the first thing I do is put them back on. The nightstand is low and the boys could get to them really easily. This morning I have no idea why, I did not do it. It was about 10:30 and we were leaving for the park, I went upstairs and one of my earrings caught my eye on the floor(grey carpet). CRAPTACULAR and other cursing ensued. The boys had obviously gotten to them. I found one but could not find the other. Mike had these made special for me and they are sentimental, I wear them everyday. I really love them. Tears. Pulling apart the room. Sheets off the bed move the bed, etc. It could be anywhere, in the drain, toilet, a stomach, really anywhere when 2 y.o twins are involved. Finally the boys came upstairs to see why we were not on our way. I sat down in their glider put my head in my hands and realized it was gone, Car rock the glider for me, sweet. I asked them where the earrings were and Carson was blank but Colin went right to the nightstand. I told him it was missing and we needed to find it. He tried to put a band aid on my leg, I guess since I was crying. I can count on one hand the # of times I have cried in front of them, so the gestures were very kind. I went to the other side of the room where I had not searched every inch, Colin went to my side. All of the sudden he runs over "found it found it found it" Wouldn't you know it, he found it. Seriously, a miracle. I thought I had searched every inch. He saved the day!

Later that day on our way to the park Car ate it hard, face on the pavement and everything. Colin stopped pushing his car, turned around pushed his car back to the accident, rescued Carson's car that had fallen down a little hill pushed it up to Car, and waited to see if his brother was ok. Our baby is really growing up.

Also same day I lost and found back at the park our apartment and safe key. Mike asked me how it happened it is so big he said. This was not the best thing to say in the midst of the crisis.  A few minutes later he texted to say it was the day of lost things, he had lost his laptop power cord. How could that happen it is so big, I wondered? All things have since been found! Even the teeny tiny power cord :)  

Socialized Medicine Part II

I am sure this will be a long series as this Socialized Medicine is just CRAP. I pray everyday our family stays healthy but I REALLY PRAY to God that nothing serious happens here or we are movin home, no questions asked lickety split fast boat to the States please!
Carson cannot seem to stay well. It is a bummer, it sucks, I hate seeing him sick but for the most part it seems to be just little viral infections that come and go. Or so we hope. A little cold here diarrhea there. He woke up Monday and was not feeling well so I made him an appt. Again, he sees a general or GP as a pediatrician is a specialist here. I hate this, I hate this b/c toddlers are not little people they are unique and things can get really bad for them in lightspeed compared to adults and I always found our pediatricians got that and made sick kids a concern and priority. So our appt was for 5:15. At lunch he seemed to have a hard time breathing, it definitely was not wheezing but it was labored but I could tell it was throat ish not lungish. I was not panicked but concerned. I called the Dr. to see if we could come in early. Now I must remind you we have a fancy non bulk billing Dr. I mentioned Carson was having trouble breathing she said "no I am sorry that is all we have we are booked, I guess you could go to the hospital if it gets bad, you could come in at 2 but I can not promise when we could see you. " Ahhh thank you for the hospital option, yes, the ER midday and nothing is bleeding or falling off, that seems rational to go there first instead of my Dr's office great plan. By all means please see the old bird with the corns before the sick child this is all very sensical, and yes, let me come and wait with my twins indefinitely, i'll bet you will find a place for me 'straight away' after listening to us recite Thomas books for two hours." I just said yes, thank you see you at 5:15 and watched Carson and the clock like a hawk until then. 5:15 rolled around, we see the Dr. who at least has more sense than the first two and knew that certain vaccinations were part of the WHO mandates. Kind of a big thing to know, but the first two did not. Car has a viral infection, no not allergies, yes it is possible to get sick this often, try "panadol" (tylenol) hot shower, fluids blah blah blah. Just to make sure lets get a throat culture to rule out whooping cough. For this we have to go to a pathologist, not like we think of them for cancer but like a Labcorp. Except you have to go for EVERYTHING! Urine, throat cultures, the most basic in office stuff you have to go to this awful place.
We arrive today around lunch, probably the worst time but...it is attached to a GP bulk billing place that runs as busy and crazy as a free clinic in the states, oh yeah thats what it is a free clinic, Dr.s peak their head out call a name two times... quick then assume the person is not there slam their door and thats that. Pity the old, slow moving or deaf soul. It is awful to me. The sign for the pathology tells me to take a # sit down and my number will be called. It is not the nice deli number situation, it is a card holder with laminated #'s and a dead bug inside. I pick my # not thinking to look through and see if it is actually in numerical order, I just focus on not getting dead bug wings with my #. We waited for a solid hour and no numbers were called. NONE! There is no one to ask. The front desk says they run separately and they have no idea, and pathology just has two pocket doors that say do not disturb testing in progress. Finally we left, who knows it may have been our turn in minutes but we were 15 and I saw a nice old lady with a 13 that is when I gave up. I hate this part of OZ. No pics for this section only frowny faces. Minus 10 for Oz on the score sheet. I hate to be political but you do not want this model coming to a Dr near you. Period. No matter what your bend this model does not work. I know all humans should have access to healthcare, I can not imagine having a sick loved one and not being able to access care for them but there has to be other answers than having the government run this, cuz it SUCKS when they do. REALLY SUCKS!

Island Hopping!

Sydney is having it's annual International Food Festival this month. The city is hosting tons of events TONS! One was breakfast on the bridge, they close the Harbor bridge and roll out green grassy carpet and you get to picnic there, how cool! We did not get to go to that, maybe next year, but we did go Island Hopping. I am not sure what the link between the event and food was, because no food was served, oh except for hot dogs and prepacked ice cream for purchase. Nonetheless, it was a great afternoon! We took a small ferry to three seperate islands all with activities and themes, colonial life, marine and aboriginal. We picnicked and had a great day! A few calamities: our Bob Stroller would not fit on the ferry, Mike discovered this as he was trying to get through the door, the boys and I were already making our way to some outdoor seats so we had no idea. He had to fold the stroller which sent all of the bottom basket contents flying...two mini soccer balls, a towel, tissues, diapers, Thomas the Trains you get the idea, shit everywhere. Other passengers helped him collect the contents and he folded up the stroller and eventually made it in. We sat unaware in the back practicing our wave. Folding the stroller meant he had to move the soft sided cooler perched on top, as he slung it around his shoulder the strap broke so he had to carry the heavy cooler dangling like a pendulem.  Again, we were too busy practicing our wave to help. WAVE WAVE WAVE!
One of the many highlights was getting to watch the Keel Boat Spinnaker Event in the Harbor. Yeah, I had to look it up. There were about 50 little sailboats that are more like little catamarans, manned by three people each that would sail back and forth based on when a loud horn would sound. They go very fast and get extremely close to each other and all sailers wear wetsuits cuz there is a good chance you are swimming if you are not so good, like the guys on the red sail boat, they went over twice while we were watching. It is quite a sight to see them right themselves, they hang on the one high side and heave ho heave ho flip it and and two of three scramble on to start working the sails to make sure it does not tip again and then the last guy can get on after they make sure they are balanced. I wish I had some kind of skill like that.  It would be so cool to go racing around the harbor in my wetsuit!
We were all very relaxed on the ride back, except Colin, he talked the whole ride back, he talked so much that a 4 y.o behind us who was trying to nap shushed him twice! Colin paid no mind and kept narrating the trip, BOAT WAVE OCEAN BRIDGE OPRA HOUSE BOAT WAVE BRIDGE OPRA HOUSE GO GO GO GO, you get the idea.

BRIDGE!!!!!

I think my brother just dropped Thomas over the edge! 

Miracle Shot! Both Boys looking in the same place at the same time!

Marine life straight from the Harbor, literally divers were pulling them up and then putting them back!

Funny mushroom rock, you would not believe how long it took to take a pic without another person posing in it!

Go little boats GO!

big day out!

I love this pic! Please know I am not making fun, I love the Jesus and the Gospel!  It sums up Ozzie attitude, they do not try and make it pretty or say "fun and  fellowship" or "change your life" "meet new friends" etc... they just tell it like it is. This is exactly what will happen when you show up on Sunday. Period. 

It was probably the prettiest day weather wise since we have been here so we walked around the Harbor, through the Botanic Garden, went to pizza dinner in the rocks, it was terrible (our original choice would have been way too fancy for a family outing) then in an effort to capture every minute of the weekend, we sat in the Oktoberfest BierGarten. This is where a girl fell in love with Car, she tried to kiss him three different times. She was wild and rough, she gave him a WWF throwdown at one point, she put rocks and sticks in his hair, he loved all of it. Colin hid behind Mommy.  He told Mike her name was Dawn, he has no idea, I am sure which makes it funny he chose Dawn, Dawn meet Jim, Jim this is Dawn. When we ask if he has a girlfriend he points to his hair.

Hooray for physical fitness!!!

I am so behind on blogging which is probably no matter since I have talked to my Mom and Sally at length and I think they may be my only faithful, but anyway...my Dad or Gil maybe interested :) The boys started swim lessons last Wednesday at the Ryde Athletic Club. It hosted some portion of the Sydney Olympics so it is a pretty nice center. Learning pool, MANY lap pools,  and they have lots of stuff the kids like, a kids slide, a big duck that shoots water, a lobster shower, no doubt all parts of the original Olympic creation.! (and now for Olympic Lobster Spray...the favorite is Colin Medor he has been training vigorously in the big boy shower to prepare for this moment)
They did as well as to be expected at swimming, I have not enrolled us in the JR Olympic team just yet, but we show promise in the bubble blowing event. Their instructors name is Titik and she sings nursery rhymes that sound familiar but have really different words, so I hum along b/c I never know when one of the crazy words will hit, and sometimes I sing loudly on accident and she looks at me like I am not so smart.
At this age you still get in the water with them but she is confident that in a few weeks they will not need me, I know I will be suited up until December. Not that I mind, but I realized I must hover because my kids do not think they can have fun without me. Carson even pulls me into things like slides and tunnels I am way too big for. I will soak it up for now as I know soon I will hear "go away MOMMY!" Here is an odd thing about Sydney SAHM, they do not like to be involved in anything that resembles play with their children. I have witnessed this at parks, the pool, everywhere, they kinda hang back with a friend or two and check out of the scene with a cappuccino or two. There are Moms at the pool with kids who are clearly not capable swimmers, the kids are off by their non swimming drowning risk selves and the Moms are dressed in street clothes.  Two ladies had their older boys about 4 y.o swimming while they sat and drank coffee with their 2 y.o in the pram crying to get in the water. They finally let the younger ones in but never suited up themselves. I have heard kids begging for the Moms to play and the moms act deaf. It is odd to me, the only time you see Moms playing is on the weekends and I have to assume these are working moms who miss the time with their kids. To be a working Mom here requires you make a large sum of $, daycare is about $100/day per child so the choice to stay home may not have been a choice at all? Who knows why these Moms are so checked out? Who am I to judge? Anyway, Weds at the center was so quiet only the kiddos doing lessons and some Grandmas enjoying water aerobics and coffee club. We went back Friday, the kids had been begging since we got home Wednesday, Friday was a much different story. There were about 1000(I am not exaggerating at all) school aged boys having a fun old fashioned field day. This was complete with tug of war, water polo-ish games and all around fun. These kids were playing so hard and having a ball. All the boys participated, no one went in a corner to rebel and not play and all of the boys were fit. There were a few chubby middle schoolers but I think that is the age and growth stage. I wish I could have taken a pic, but I would have looked like a complete extreme illegal cougar. I think my only point for mentioning this is we can yammer on all day about why America is fat, it could be alot of things but if our kids loved to and were encouraged to and felt safe to play I know it could cure most of the problem. So hooray for physical fitness! One point for OZ.

Why are we 6 white boomers? They are only 4 of us, right?

This is what Mike asked me a few weeks ago? He may have been worried I was thinking of cooking up another set of twins or going on an animal spree. I do love the boys, they are a treasure, and I sure miss my animals but...NOPE! We are only 4, and we are not old man roos either, it actually has little to do with us directly. 6 white boomers are special old man white kangaroos that help Santa deliver presents to the children here in OZ, too hot for reindeer is what Rolf says, I think. This song just strikes me as funny and sums up what I think about living here SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT. That means things are pretty much the same, here just different. They celebrate Christmas yes, they have Santa yes, but, he gets around with the help of roos, so SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT. My brother is the one who told me about the song and he is the funniest person I know so I thought naming the blog in inspiration of him would be a good thing.

Here are the Boomers...











Here is a great video: you may have to copy paste








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlSsffF2xhA
 
Here are the lyrics in case you want to incorporate it into your holiday caroling repertoire:

by Rolf Harris and John Brown, 1960

This song is a favourite of most Aussies, young and old alike. For those of you who don't know this song, white boomers are special kangaroos that Santa uses in Australia instead of a traditional reindeer team. Our boomers are stronger than reindeer so Santa only needs six of them to pull his sleigh. It's quite sight to see!

Wondering what the six boomers names are? Rolf tells the story about them on one side of a 45 record he did with this song on the other side. The boomers names are Jackaroo, Bluey, Two-up, Desert-head, Curly and Snow.

Early on one Christmas Day a Joey Kangaroo,
Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo.
Mummy, where's my mummy? They've taken her away.
We'll help you find your mummy, son. Hop up on the sleigh.

Up beside the bag of toys little Joey hopped,
But they hadn't gone far when Santa stopped.
Unharnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why,
Then he heard a far off booming in the sky.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Pretty soon old Santa began to feel the heat,
Took his fur-lined boots off to cool his feet,
Into one popped Joey, feeling quite okay,
While those old man Kangaroos kept pulling on the sleigh.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Joey said to Santa, Santa, what about the toys?
Aren't you giving some to these girls and boys?'
They've got all their presents, son, we were here last night,
This trip is an extra trip, Joey's special flight.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Soon the sleigh was flashing past right over Marble Bar,
Slow down there, cried Santa, it can't be far,
Come up on my lap here, son, and have a look around.
There she is, that's Mummy, bounding up and down.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Well that's the bestest Christmas treat that Joey ever had,
Curled up in mother's pouch feeling snug and glad.
The last they saw was Santa heading northwards from the sun,
The only year the boomers worked a double run.

Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun.
Six white boomers, snow white boomers,
On his Australian run.

Your Going the WRONG WAY!!

Ahhh! I am starting to lose the urge to shout that to all of the other drivers driving on the wrong/I mean left side of the road. As many people told me, hang in there it will be like second nature to you soon. It is. I think. I still have to repeat what my friend Cristin taught me, left turn easy right turn hard. I still have to think, which I guess I really should have been doing all along while driving. AND I still think it is the wrong side, I will tell you why 70-90% of the world's population is right side dominant... and....I found this our today doing research for this sophisticated highly factual blog 2/3 of the population is right eye dominant. So, to drive in the left side requires you take in alot of information on the side that is not dominant for you and is really far away now, (more than likely your a rightie, unless you are Pete Montaigne) I find this to be true when trying to judge the space on the left side of the car. Am I about to hit those parked cars or am I going to be in oncoming traffic? Hard to tell, but important to know. I have started checking my side mirrors and if I can see the lines, behind me, I am good! Who knows whats coming ahead but I am center in the lane!

So, a few things, the speed limit here is how they like for you to keep the swings at My Gym, low and slow.   Real Slow, the speed limit on most freeways is 80 KM  or 50 mph sometimes you can really fly at 100 km or 62 mph. The side streets are generally 40km - 25 mph or 50 31mph or a racy 60km 37 mph. There is no secret speeding they have speed cameras everywhere and you can lose your license for speeding. It is a non aggressive driving culture which makes being a new driver here alot easier. When you use your blinker people actually let you in/over and other drivers generally use their own signals! The blinker is not universally on the right, our Ford rental has it on the right but we test drove another Ford model that had it on the left b/c it was made in Germany? This is another confusing part of wrongside driving I often turn on the wipers on the left when I am trying to indicate I am turning, then I get flustered can't get the wipers off, water sometimes discharges to clean the window, I don't signal my turn and basically f it all up. I do this at least once every trip. argh.
Petrol is by the liter and very expensive, but cheaper mid week than weekends, and you know when someone has a good price because the line can be 10 cars deep.
Cars are also very expensive with a Range Rover and BMW X5 running about 200K. Of course, we bought 2.
The El Camino is alive and well in OZ, the 70's dilema of do I need a car or a truck must still be a pressing one here because this trar(truck/car) is everywhere.
Trucks and El Caminos are called UTE's. El Caminos official name is coup utility vehicle, cute.You may think a road is 4 lanes but watch out the left hand lane maybe used for parking, not off to the side so you can get around, but SURPRISE just right there where you were just driving so you better pray your brakes work and there is no one on the right cuz you are going to swerve city! Swerving ala defensive driving school style. I can not seem to get over this one, it just seems crazy. Do you remember that silly joke about why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? Well this parking on the street is like that bad joke come to life. I attached a pic.

Pedestrians are lucky to be breathing the same air as cars and don't you forget it! You only have the right away when the light up sign turns green starts beeping and tells you to run like hell and then it is still up to you to wave away any oncoming cars. At roundabouts forget it, you can stand forever until some kind and probably foreign soul waves you through. When this happens run like hell because the person in the egg sized 2 door, 3 cars back is going to be honking any minute, and all involved will have to be embarrassed at such a public display of emotion.

Honking is frowned upon and is only used in EXTREME situations, like when the Woolies truck got stuck on a little two lane side road and held up traffic on the big road, some people honked but most just acted like it was totally normal to be at a dead stop for like 10 minutes with an 18 wheeler perpendicular to the road. Also note, if you are honked at, for the love of THE QUEEN and all things decent act like you can not hear anything and nothing is out of the ordinary, reacting to the honk would be almost as shameful as honking!

I think I have mentioned before but backing in and parallel parking are national pastimes, seriously  Australia is trying to add them the Commonwealth Games. 

Can you tell if this car is driving or parking?

This one?

Random pic! Beautiful Wild Cockatoos are everywhere!

And now for our every night feature movie...

Here at the Medina our TV channels are limited. We get about 12 stations about 11.5 of those are FOX, one is Nick.
24/7 we can watch:
Family Guy
American Dad
Simpsons
Icarly
Spongebob Squarepants
Competitive Darts(seriously, do not take this lightly the competitors are fierce and make pro bowlers look weak, I know I thought that was impossible to do too, they all wear sweat towels around their necks tucked into their shirts ala getting a short haircut)
Old and New rugby depending on availability, when u can't get new old will do!
Old and new cricket same as rugby!

and...the best is every night they show a full length feature movie. The newest film we have watched is Marly and Me but usually they are about 10-20 years old at the newest. A few nights ago was Wall Street, last night was Crocodile Dundee 1 and 2. I make fun but they are always addicting! I had to make myself turn off the TV last night as they were going into Croc D 2, I knew if I let Mick Dundee have me for one scene he would have me until 1 am. The other best thing is when they go to commercial they show a still promo pic for the movie like what you would see on a DVD cover and they play a little baah bumm! this is exciting type of music. I kind of remember networks doing this when I was a kid like the Sunday night movie is...and it was a big deal when it was ET or something cool! If you loved it then come to OZ and you can love it now, complete with commercials!

I am sure there are great offerings if you are fancy and hifalutin and have more than 12 channels but I wouldn't know about all that.

Tomorrow...I will tackle the topic of driving and some really strange things they do

How are you going?

Hi Maam, HOW ARE YOU GOING? The nice young lady at Woolies asked me as she approached me with some samples of ice cream. Currently, I go by foot, once I leave here I will go by car and when it is family fun day I go by ferry, I said. Just kidding, I said, "I am Well how are you going?" You see this is what Aussies say to ask each other HOW THEY ARE DOING.
Well GOOD ON YA MATE! This means Great job, well done good for you! They even say it when in reality you did not do so well like the swimmer that got Dehli Belly and did horribly at the Commonwealth Games, the announcer still closed the interview with Good on ya mate! Even though the dude stunk it up! When people say it I can not help but think I am going to need my Tide Stain Stick STAT or the time when my Mom got bird pooped on about 4 miles from our house and had to wash up in the sprinklers of the park like a hobo! All funny but none make me think I did a good job!
YOUR TURN TO SHOUT-no silly not your turn to talk at a loud bar your turn to buy for the group.
NAPPIES-diapers
CAR LEASE-actually in reality a loan
CHEERS- see ya peace out later gator, has nothing to do with toasting you with a beverage

I am sure there are many more that still fly right by me :) I will keep updating this post as I am able to understand these people.

My name is Carson but you can call me Jim

Be forewarned this section is all about the funny things Carson and Colin but mainly Carson say...people who will love this section...Nana, Momo, GGI all others proceed with caution.

This morning I was working on teaching the boys their own names and how to answer when someone says what is your name. Over the months they have thought their names were "me" "brother" and Carson thought his name was Colin for awhile. They call each other by their names but will rarely say their own. I asked Carson what his name is and he said "JIM," I said what? HIM? Thinking this was another instance where he thought the pronoun was his name, he said  "noooo JIM" and I asked Colin what carson's name was and he cracked up and said "JIM" I got my Mom on the phone and asked Carson to tell Momo what his name is and again he said "JIM." I asked him in the car and he said "JIM" We only know one Jim and have not seen him in two months, none of his characters on his DVDs are Jim I have no idea where he got this, but it is hysterical.

I was changing Colin this weekend at the park on a blanket on the grass and Carson was all in Col's business as he is fascinated by all things potty. Mike pointed to Col's bottom and said "whats this?" thinking he would say Butt, tushy, etc... he said in a loud monotone voice "BALLS." Daddy was so busted as clearly Mommy did not teach him BALLS! Enough with the anatomy lessons and slang at bathtime puhlease!

He also greeted the cashier at Woolies yesterday by saying loudly Hi, Have a good day! She said, are you having a good day or should I, he yelled back YEAH GOOD DAY BYE THANK U WELCOME!

We taught him see ya later alligator well, he forgot the rhyming part so now he says "bye bye...(pause)... GATOR" He only says this when he is trying to be funny and casual.

"MEENO MEENO"...the twin language war cry. At the museum yesterday Carson could not find Colin and he yelled MEENO MEENO and Colin lit up smiled looked around and yelled back MEENO MEENO! Everytime they yell this to each other they get the cutest all knowing smile. They yelled it to me this AM and I had to break the news that I am not their triplet and I do not know what MEENO MEENO is, wish I did!

Nap

This is one half of the duo who would not take a nap today. He is clearly not tired!

WAVE! WAVE! WAVE!

There are never enough hours in the weekend! Went down to Manly Beach and explored the area again and liked it so much more than we did the first time. Amazing how jet lag can affect you. We also explored some areas close to Manly that were all beautiful. Had a picnic style lunch and yummy ice cream.
Sunday is Family Fun Day and you can travel unlimited trips on any public transport for just $2.50/adult. We took the ferry from Double Bay to Watson's Bay and had a blast! This ferry was the "cat" kind and was superfast and had lots of cool look out points. The boys loved it! About ten minutes in they were still squealing with delight when they would see other boats...BOAT BOAT BOAT!!! Yes we are in the Harbor so there were a few boats out, I love that they are still so excited even though there are more boats than you could ever scream for. As all good and polite boaters do Carson waves to all the other seafaring passengers we pass...but he does not just wave he yells at the top of his lungs while he waves...WAVE WAVE WAVE. I can not get enough of that kid! He is hilarious! We walked up to the "gap" where you can see the Pacific stretch out for miles,. We let the boys walk the narrow stairs up and down, as Carson would pass people he would say scuse me, sorry, thank u welcome. He would just say every polite word we have every taught him and he figures that covers it! Had fish and chips and beer seaside, a sit down lunch with an adult beverage is quite the treat for me! For the beer connoisseurs the beer was Blue Tongue for Mike and Coopers for me (wheat beer). Pretty good I must say! On the return ferry trip a nice old Asian Gma gave me wet napkins to clean the boys faces, they had barbeque crackers and had messy faces(I was going to clean them when we stopped and got the stroller from the front of the ferry but...I suppose I better do it now) I think Asian Gmas maybe our "bubby" equivalent. Very "helpful and observant."

Monday just the boys and me, Daddy is back to work, went to the Powerhouse Museum for a toddlers only presentation which we lasted 4 minutes for, the robot was very scary for Col. :( No worries there were plenty of other fun things to do, including soaking the toddler bathroom by turning the faucet on the short sink on full blast and putting our hands under it while Mom changed the other guy and could not get to us hahahahaha! What fun! They are the only kids who left the museum soaked. I bet the staff couldn't figure out who soaked the bathroom

I'M ON A BOAT! WAVE WAVE WAVE!

The Gap looking towards Harbor

YUM! CHIPS!

View from the Gap

 

THEEEEE Mall

I have been wanting to blog about this but where does the time go? THE MALL is the center of Aussie outer suburban life. I don't mean the social center like people go there to hang and look cool, it really is where everything is! EVERYTHING! Target, Grocery-Woolworths is a big one here, cell phone stores, Department stores, sporting goods stores, Electronic Store (Dick Smith...really thats the name), butcher, baker, candle stick maker, in our mall there are 19 places to get your hair did or  your nails filled, you get the drift. In So you would probably assume it keeps long hours since everything every human needs is contained inside, as Colin says..NOPE!

The "Centre Trading Hours":
M, T, W F 9:00-5:30 better not have a job and work during the day and need something MTWF, better send your partner if that's the case!
TH is the big day and the place is jumpin 9-9
Sat 9-5
Sun 10-4

To their credit the grocery stays open late and keeps long hours, everyone else runs home when the street lights come on. The Aussies have yet to make shopping a sport or at the very least a national passtime, VIVA America in this department!

Your Partner: Your partner here is anyone you are romantically involved with, hetero or homosexual. This really threw both of us for a loop at first when people asked me what my partner did? I thought great, I am trying to make new friends and they think I am gay, they are probably thinking well that explains the twins, you know science mustav' been involved. great! awesome! Well, upon further investigation it just means the person you bunk up with at night, your flavor is not a factor!

Cat A Roo is totally a swamp wallaby and his peeps live at the Featherdale Wildlife Park

The boys and I have had a pretty low key week, I have been under the weather and not feeling all that ambitious for outings. But by Thursday it seemed there would be mutiny on the bounty if I did not get my rear in gear for some serious fun, the local park a 5 minute walk away was getting so lame. We hit the Featherdale Wildlife Park. And guess who was right at the front to greet us...CAT A ROO! See video. This particular CAT A ROO is a swamp variety and I think that is exactly Cat A Roo's flavor! They have all manner of native Aussie animals you can get up close and personal with. Wallabies, (coulda seen those for free at home thanks!) koala's, roo's, birds, reptiles and...goats, pigs, roosters etc...not sure how these guys fit in but they were a treat I consider myself an animal lover but I was terrified when a big cute cuddly grey roo came hopping towards me making eye contact and wanting the food I had insanely purchased( I actually did not have change so they gave us the $1 cake cone with dried grass inside) so we could hand feed him. Colin and I were in the same camp, I think Carson vacilated between terror and wanting to curl up with them like they were the family pet. The ultimate highlight for the boys was figuring out how to use the aussie style water fountain and running laps through the horseshoe shaped nocturnal habitat. They like to pretend they are grown up so I gave up trying to keep up and just waited at one side or the other. At one point Car must have ate it inside the habitat because he cam tearing out, covered in dirt screaming, "my knees my knees a boo boo my knees ouchie kiss it!" Then he did not want to be grown up and independent!

Great videos and pics to come...see last line in post "my dishwashers gone ghetto"

"WATCH OUT! My dishwashers gone ghetto"

This is what my friend Jay tells me last month when we stayed with them(the Byars). Oh no I thought, what happened did it fall in with the wrong crowd? is it packin' heat? get a grill? some 22's with spinners and a bad weave? How could this happen to such a nice dishwasher? Will I be safe alone with it in the kitchen? Well, as it turns out he shows me how it "went ghetto," the top drawer comes flying out when you open it and well it is just not working quite right but not broken enough to fix just yet. This has led me to start thinking of the appliances in my life as little people who are basically good but have a few character flaws, as to try to not get so frustrated with them. I will tell you about the "little people" in my life right now who live at the Funky Cold Medina Serviced (in the abstract sense apparently) Apartments. My dishwasher has gone narcoleptic, it just stops, until you realize it has stopped and you go in and give it a little bump, say wake up little guy,  and away it goes! How do you know it has stopped? you can actually hear the 757's that fly over our home on their way to the airport. The dryer is on speed, meth, crack whatever your generation calls the bad stuff, well it has a nasty $300 dollar a day habit. You can not leave this one unattended or it will fall off the wagon and go forever, i.e one day while we were out for 8 hours or while we slept last night. The toilets are apparently toddlers because you have to tell them to stop doing what they are doing like 20 times before they actually stop, in the states this would be jiggling the handle, here it is hitting the flush button on top of the lid like it is a whack a mole game. The heat, well, it is like the mob, or the dreaded love em and leave em guy, you are in or you are out, it is either pumping the heat all over you or you are freezing, depending on which square inch you are residing. The shower, well the shower in our room is a bright spot it is like your favorite team in their heyday, all fun and good times, you can get the temp just right, pressure for days, perfection! Oh, what, you are dying to know about the famous rangehood that won the Aussie Design Excellence Award in '88. It is soooo 80's, way too loud and obnoxious!
Pics on the above mentioned cuties will have to wait as we are trying to download Mad Men, Biggest Loser and the Soup, and the internet here is a bit like the government(sorry Julie) wastes money, (they charge $190/month for it), slow and unwilling to multi-task!

Your never too young for rum cake! Don't let the division of child welfare tell you any different!

I felt like we had just moved here when I realized the boy's second birthday was quickly approaching. I had barely gotten my Aussie sealegs when I realized I better get organized if this is going to be a respectable 2 y.o bday! So one of the makings of a great 2 y.o bday is a fun cake with their favorite character...THOMAS! So I asked around in the mall who makes kid's bday cakes, I was referred to Michel's (say Michelle). I enquired with the nice young girl at Michel's about cakes, she informed me in English as a second language that my options were a sponge cake with fresh cream and jam or a blah blah blah cake. Well, how yummy does fresh cream and jam sound? ick not at all to me! Sounds old and tea roomish or baby showerish. I am of the camp it is not dessert unless it has chocolate! Also blah blah blah cake was more expensive so it must be better, right? I asked her to say it again and again but I still could not understand her so I said fine lets get that blah blah blah cake. I want it to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARSON AND COLIN, ohhhh she says huh? you better write down, apparently my accent was too much too bear. So I write it down, order my blah blah blah cake, bribe the kids with some flaky cheesy bread, buy 2 #2 candles, pay and off we go (to pump coins in the ride on Thomas on the first floor!) Later on that night I am reading the brochure and I notice they have a specialty cake with rum a GATEUX, naaahhh that sounds nothing like what she was saying, and besides who would let me order a kids cake with rum, how dumb! October 3 rolls around we light candles, say happy to you dig into to our cake and Mike looks at me somewhat disapprovingly, but to his credit more confused than disapproving and asks.."does this cake have alcohol in it?" NO! Of course not what kind of Mother do you think....take a bite...why yes it does! I believe this is the Gateux Cake with rum complete with Thomas the Train Decoration! This is the only instance where I have ever been glad I had no friends or family around to celebrate/be horrified that I fed their kids rum at my kids 2 y.o happy to you party. The shame! What did the cake maker think of me? What does my husband think of me? Colin loved it, but since he was driving we held him to one piece. I keep telling myself it must have been baked in so the alcohol burned off, right?
Anyway, despite the major parenting misstep, I am sure the Gmas are horrified right now, and have both booked tickets to come over here and make sure I don't mess the kids up too much, it was a great 2 y.o happy to you! The boys first boat/ferry ride ever and it was across Sydney Harbor to Taronga Zoo where we rode the Sky Safari 3 times! Colin would have ridden all day, he loved it and tried to stay on despite being pulled off by Mommy and the nice man operating the Sky Safari. He has asked every time we have been previously to ride but it never worked out...I ride I ride I ride he says and points adamantly, finally little man got to ride! The zoo was empty b/c of a light on and off rain and the footy finals so it was perfect we could see everything. I think the animals also like it when there are not as many looky loos, they were all out and frolicking, except the koalas, they are always snoozing!

We got the boys a Thomas The Tank Engine Rail set and they love it! ( we also got each one of them their own prezzy that they did not have to share, a tow truck, we should have saved our $ for more Thomas) They wake up talking about it and go to bed talking about it. They talk about it at the park, in the car, whatever they are doing, they are talking about Thomas and wishing they were back with Thomas. Especially Carson, he is completely and totally obsessed! This is the first gift occasion where they have been really cognisant of getting presents. Aunts and Uncles have sent presents and that is so fun for the boys to get stuff in the mail, they know it is for them and they scream "what is it open dis open dis open dis."

Add caption

Sky Safari

Car is almost as tall as the world's tallest penguin!

The Powerhouse Museum, Meat Pies and lucky to be alive meal

Theeee best museum ever! It is a pretty tough task to create a museum where EVERYONE has a great time. The Powerhouse Museum delivered. It is officially a science and design museum, but unofficially it is AWESOME! I get a bad rap from my family of not liking museums, well yeah I do not like boring museums, where you walk around with your hands behind your back nodding in quiet appreciation, those have their place but I can only do about an hour. At The Powerhouse the kids could touch just about anything although it is not specifically a kids museum. It was only $10 for each adult, kids under 4 free, a bargain for Sydney attractions. We stayed 5 hours and shut the place down at 5!

A few highlights:
1. 80's exhibit. Oh yeah! Take me back to the glory days of BIG HAIR, spandex, hammer pants and Z Cavaricci's baby! They had all kinds of treasures, pink boom boxes, Nintendo's, Teddy Ruxpins, Cabbage Patch kids, Barbie and the Rockers-"their dressing up their totally in the groooove," shoulder pads galore. Medor's, Montaigne's and all other parents stuck with their kids junk,  call the Smithsonian you have an exhibit just waiting in your attic to be displayed at a museum somewhere! The boys favorite was a big giant white room where they had club style lights and very loud music...when we were in there it was Salt n Peppa Push It...ohh baby baby! If it was just me and that white box I would have ripped it up! I coulda showed the boys what dancin was all 'bout. They had a giant digital Rubics cube which the boys liked touching and trying to move the colors. A nine y.o girl came by and corrected me and said "oh, they only move on that side" what? Girl, puhlease, doncha know I invented peeling the stickers of my rubics cube and putting them back on to make it look like I  am smart?
2. Zoe's House A "house" under construction for kids 3-6, this is where having kids who rock the growth chart is really great, we just sailed right in like we were 3! They have a track with rail cars they could fill up with "bricks" and move around. They have cranes, pulleys all kinds of fun. The boys played great with all the big kids, you would never know they used a fake id to get in.
3. Climb on full size train which Carson was convinced was the REAL THOMAS!
4. A kid music area, kid virtual techie area, playground, toy train area, I could go on but you must come visit so I can show you!

This place is great!

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/

Meat Pies- Must be an acquired taste. They are decidedly Aussie, I see them everywhere and was curious. So, I tried a meat pie at a place where people were lined up to get them, I thought that was a good first step. I was not sure what kind to get but I was certain I would not like the 10-12 varieties of pies with the term "mushy peas" in the description. Seriously, mushy peas. Is this their best selling feature. I got a lean beef curry pie and threw it away as soon as I was out of sight of the nice ladies who sold it to me. Don't want em saying told ya so ya shulda gotten the mushy pea one, those are the good ones! Doncha know?

ChinaTown- Great fun bustling part of town with wild markets and wildly fresh and diverse treats. We walked around the same block 4 times looking for the lace in our book Xic Lan, which is now a Chinese version of Dungeons and Dragons or Warcraft "fantasy gaming" palace of dork. So we went to a place that was packed with locals, Pho Pasteur. This should have been an alert to me, any restaurant referencing the great Louis Pasteur in their name can not be good for your health. We forged ahead anyway, we knew the kids would not be up for an exotic dining experience so on the way we picked them up a few Bondi Nuggets at OPorto (our beachy version on chik fil a) the nice man at the restaurant informed us that they usually do not allow food to be brought in, but it is OK as long as we clean up our trash. Yes, yes, let me just order up some piping hot Pho soup for the boys, chopsticks too please, that would be hilarious. Colin would make him wish he had chicken nuggets at the ready.

 In case you were not obsessed with LP, as I was as a kid, here is a blurb:


The French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur is famous for his germ theory and for the development of vaccines. He made major contributions to chemistry, medicine, and industry. His discovery that diseases are spread by microbes, which are living organisms—bacteria and viruses—that are invisible to the eye, saved countless lives all over the world.


Ah yes bacteria that you can not see! A key factor when dining. It did not seem bad until the end of the meal when I got up to go to the potty and saw the kitchen. The food was OK. I have had better in Denver I have to say. But the experience was one in a million, and it keeps you on your toes wondering if/when food poisoning will set in and 72 hours later we are still alive, no Delhi Belly as they call it here. 

Zoe's house!

Twingenuity. Col threw a fit b/c he did not want to wear the vest. Carson was worried that they would be kicked out without the vest, so he made him wear his vest. Truly he tracked him down with his vest and told him to wear it. He succeeded where Mike and I failed. I understand costuming concerns. I quit Brownies at age 6 b/c I hated the uniforms, the brown socks with orange tassels specifically.  

Carson really enjoys getting his picture taken and asked us to take it with the "Thomas." again and again and "gain, gain gain gain daddy" In this particular shot after I took his pic, he continued to pose for the cute young Asian couple on a date who happened to be taking a pic of the train, not Carson. Carson was pretty sure they wanted him in the shot so he continued to pose and would not move when we encouraged him to step away, NO CHEESE he said and pointed to them, they were polite enough just to laugh and not demand he get out of their pic. To his defense, the boys have been photographed and videotaped by strangers about 8-10 times since we have been here and the paparazzi are usually Asian. So, he figured he would just get on with it and pose to not make it awkward for anyone.

Paddy's Market Chinatown, we did not brave it