Family Blogs

It's very exciting. Lots of family blogs have been popping up over the last few months. It is such a great way to keep up with each others very busy lives! The latest family blog is my brother Duane. He and his gang are constantly on the go so I hope they can keep up with their new blog! You'll get the hang of it very quickly Duey!

It's great that Shamus and Breagha can see lots of pictures of all their cousins. Darryl's sister Kelly and his niece Ashley also started up blogs a couple of months ago and it so wonderful. But, I think Miss Ashley neends to update hers soon! And get some pictures of Baby Rory on there!!!!

So, I just wanted to say THANKS guys! We love seeing the blogs. It's so nice to see what everyone is up to. And I especially enjoy the pictures. It makes me miss you all even more but that's ok! I'll just have to suck it up for now!

Random Info....

Yesterday we went over to Darryl's coworkers for dinner. Nick and his wife, Mariana moved over about 8 months ago from California. Nick is an animator on Darryl's team. Mariana is actually from Mexico and they invited a few of us over to enjoy a true Mexican dinner. It was great and very yummy! Thanks guys!

This is the awesome view from their balcony. The Brisbane River. Their place is really, really nice. Very modern and along the water. We were all jealous!

After dinner the guys got to enjoy a few video games. I don't think guys ever grow out of this obsession? They love video games. What is it?

And Shamus got to have his own little party after dinner...he was treated to a movie. Movies are Shamus' obsession. I'm sure he'd watch tv all day if we let him.

This is Breagha "posing" for me. I'm not sure what she was trying to do but I still thought she looked cute!

So, I just thought I'd post something else. We've been asked alot of questions about Australia and Brisbane in general. What's the city like? What are the people like? That sort of thing. So, I'm really going to try and take more pictures of the city and post them. Now that I'm working downtown and I'm not taking the kids everywhere with me, I'll have more of a chance to snap some pics.

The city is really nice I think. It's quite new so downtown doesn't have alot of old buildings. A few but not many. It's also right on the Brisbane River so that makes it very beautiful too. Any city on the water is always nice. It's kind of like Halifax/Dartmouth but all one city. The public transportation here is better than Halifax though as it has a City Cat that goes up and down the river and it was several stops along the way. Plus it has the City Ferry that goes back and forth across the river. So, many options for getting across the water.

Brisbane seems to have a wide range of home styles. Very modern apartments to old Queenslanders. A Queenslander would be similar to a summer cottage at home. It's up on stilts with usually an open bottom. No insulation and not usually very big. They are very much the "Aussie" type home. Anyway, I took a couple of pictures of Queenslanders. I was telling Cheryl the other day, "You can have a really nice Queenslander. Well taken care of and in great condition. And then next to it will be a totally dive Queenslander." So, here they are:

A very well taken care of Queenslander. Really nice verandah on the front. Under-
neath is very nice too...not all open like most are.

And then next door you have this. A totally and complete dump. With nasty old cars in the yard! Awful! And yes, someone does live in there. And then back to a beautiful Queenslander. I'm not sure why some of them are so nice and others are awful. But, that seems to be the pattern. The homes outside the city seem to be bigger than in the city.

So, that gives a bit of an idea on the city but I am going to start taking more pics. Next post I'll tell ya how they have their own language here!! And what life is like Down Under!!!

Workin' 9 to 5, What a Way to Make a Livin'

I started my new job yesterday. So far, so good. But, it's training week. Which means this is the easy stuff. It will take a while for all of us to get back into the whole "2 working parents" routine. Waking the kids, rushing out the door, rushing to daycare, and then to work! And we walk everywhere so it takes a while. It's about a 30minute walk to the daycare. And then it's about 25minutes for me to walk from the daycare to work. Not so bad for Darryl as the daycare is near his office. So, lots of walking still happening! And it's been quite muggy here the last couple of days. I did my hair this morning and by the time I got to work it was a mess!! Awful! And so frizzy!!! Nasty indeed. :)

I think I'll like the job though. I was always used to working directly with the travel agents but my new job is being the supervisor for support roles. This just means that the staff aren't really on the phones. So, none of the whole, "take another call", "hurry and finish up your call"...that sort of thing. I know my HRG/BTI crew understand what I'm talking about. There's not as much stress on the support team. So, I hope things work out. It's a very new department with a new manager. And me and another guy are the first supervisors on the team. So, lots of things to figure out, build some structure for the team...but I think it will be good. I hope!!

I have a lot to learn but hopefully things will fall into place. My manager seems really great. She is really about helping the staff. She's not all about statistics. So, we'll see how I'm doing in a couple of months!!

Tartan Day in Brisbane

On Saturday we went to South Bank (across the river) and checked out Tartan Day. I was very excited!!! And I was so glad we went. The music and dancing was more similiar to Darryl's hometown (Antigonish) than to Cape Breton. There was more bagpiping and highland dancing. Cape Breton is more about the fiddle and square dancing/step dancing. It was great either way!! And the kids seemed to really like the music. Shamus was humming along and trying to sing. Pretty cute!

This group did Gaelic singing. I was surprised because I actually knew alot of the songs. The only thing that Darryl and I noticed was that the singing and music here is done slower than at home. If someone at home is playing the fiddle, it's usually a pretty fast, upbeat tune. Here the tune is played slower. But, a lot of the singing and fiddle/bagpiping was the same as what we hear at home so we were pretty happy. One of the singing groups even sang, "Donald where's your trousers?" We learnt that song in Gaelic class years ago!! I always thought it was a funny song so I remembered the words.

Yeap, the 3 legged Scots Man!! The kids were very confused by that extra leg!!

Snack time. B chillin' out with her new sunnies
(they call sunglasses "sunnies" here...everything ends in "ie" or "y" here...Brisbane is "Brissie", university is "uni", choclate is "chocy"...you get the picture :)

Just thought my hubby looked hot here. :) And yes, we had our 8 year anniversary yesterday! I still think he's hot so that's pretty good!

One of the piping bands. They were great. Lots of Scottish accents to be heard! I love the accent. So, overall, a great day. I'm really glad we went. I was scared that I would be homesick but it just made my very happy. I went home and pulled out the old Maritime CD's!! And I was really glad to see that there is a Scottish culture here. Even if it's only 1 day a year!

Yesterday was our anniversary. 8 years married....so that means that we've been together about 12 1/2 years. Wow, where did the time go? Darryl's coworker was kind enough to babysit for us and we went out to a movie. (babysitters are very expensive here. You'll pay about 15-25/hour) Thanks Jen!!

The kids started daycare on Monday (I start work on this coming Monday). The first day was rough. I stayed with them...went back and forth between the kids. But, Shamus was very upset. I thought that he would be the easy one since he did daycare for so long in Montreal. But, I guess he understands what is happening. He wasn't happy that I was leaving him there. And we only stayed for 2 hours!! I was pretty upset on Monday night. Second guessing whether I should be going back to work, was the daycare actually a good daycare, will the kids make friends....all that stuff. But, we did better on Tuesday (they did 1.5hours on their own) and this morning they are doing 3 hours on their own. Cross our fingers that it all works out!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY BREAGHA!

Yesterday we celebrated Breagha's 2nd birthday!!! I can't believe she is 2 already! Time really does fly by. And she is a wonderful little 2 year old! Although she keeps saying that she is 3!! We didn't have a big birthday party. Thought we would just keep it the 4 of us. Breagha got to pick what she wanted to have for her birthday dinner and then we had the cake and presents!!

The kids love to help out in the kitchen.

I think it needs a touch of salt Dad.

And the results...PANCAKES!! Breagha's favorite. Pancakes with bananas. I'm sure the kids would have pancakes for every meal.

Some birthday cake for desert. Yummmmmy.

And time for the presents!! Breagha is really into Dora right now so lots of Dora stuff. And of course big brother Shamus is the middle of everything....helping out with the gifts. :)

A talking Dora and Backpack!!

And a little gift from Shamus. Elmo. Breagha loves him too.

Later on the Dickinsons landed over with a gift for B too. Very nice of them.

Of course Steve has to be goofy in all his pictures!! Too cool Steve! Breagha got a little cute doll from Cari and Steve. And some educational toys! Always important. Thanks guys.

And even Shamus got a little something!! Very thoughtful! So, B had a nice 2nd birthday.

Both kids have been under the weather this week and Shamus is still a bit sick today. Good times. Hopefully they will be better by Monday because they start at a new daycare! Yeap. The kiddies are going back to daycare because I got a new job. Oh yeahhhh. Back to the real world of working! I got a supervisor position with Carlson Wagonlit....it's a corporate travel company. Very similiar to my old company...but Carlson was always the competition! I start on July14 so the kids start daycare on Monday - gives me a week of getting them back into the daycare routine. I've been having very mixed feelings about going back to work. One day I'll be really excited about going back - learn some new stuff, challenge the brain a bit! And I always enjoyed working...even when it sucked!! But then some other days I think of how much I've enjoyed the time home with the kids. I'm really glad that I took the full year off after they were born. And now I had 5 months home with them. So, I really can't complain. It's been really great.

Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see how the new job works out!! Crossing my fingers! I can always quit and have Darryl start a 2nd job!! :)

To the outback and beyond....

Hey everyone,

This post is going to be picture heavy. We had a busy weekend. We did another group camping trip with Steve and Cari, Rej and Clo, and Dan and Amy. We went to Bunya Mountains National Park. They have a very distinct type of pine tree called a Bunya Pine. Apparently, they have one of the largest seed pods of any tree. Just smaller than a soccer ball. Below is a warning from the National Park's website:

"Avoid lingering under bunya pines between December and March. That is when the soccer-ball sized cones weighing up to 10kg fall from the tops of towering trees."

Pretty crazy. Inside these seed pods are Bunya nuts. We roasted one to try it. It was a little bland in my opinion...but "to each his own".


















After the camping, I took a day off work and we drove to the sunshine coast. Sas and I rented a room in Caloundra (a small beach town just north of Brisbane) and took the kids to the Australia Zoo. The Australia Zoo is the Zoo that Steve Irwin made famous. It was started by his father and mother and then Steve and his wife took over ownership in the early nineties. Honestly it was a little sad not having Steve Irwin there. He was such a great voice for animal conservation and ecological awareness and such an engaging person to watch. I truly believe the world is a little bit worse without him. On the other hand it is amazing the impact that one life can have. I know he was no Gandhi, Mandela or Mother Theresa but he definitely made the world a better place. I am sure of that.




After the Beach we went out for dinner at this great little restaurant near the beach. I forget the name but man was the food good. Stace had prawn linguini with pesto and I had salt and pepper calamari with a salad. mmmmmmm....mmmmmmm. Really good. Best meal we have had here yet. The kid's fish and chips were actually really good as well.


The fish and chips were so good in fact that not long after this pic Breagha decided that she wanted Shamus to try her's ... again. So she regurgitated them onto his head while he slept. Yup... right on his head. The amazing thing is that he never even woke up.






This dingo almost ate our baby. Breagha kept sticking her arms through the fence. The dingo wasn't impressed and took a snap at her. Thankfully ... mom has quick reflexes and pulled B away with all ten fingers in place.





Animals are great but I think the highlight of the day was the two rides they had for the kids. I think Shamus was pretty impressed that he could go on a ride all by himself.