So Rowan is Crawling

I forgot to mention it, but Rowan is crawling. I think he worked it out in the car yesterday on the long drive to and from the zoo as when we got home - he just started doing it. It was pretty funny - I was making dinner and Cyp goes "did you just see that? - he just crawled from here to there - just like that" Or maybe one of the animals passed along the information - perhaps the elephant.

Today when we were video chatting with Anita, Suzy and Max he did a demonstration. It appears the computer and all it's buttons are a good motivator. I would just move the computer and he would crawl toward it. I think Anita et al got pretty funny view of it. Monster baby! Sigh - it appears that child number two also takes after Cyp though - I still hold out hope that he will want to go the park instead of staying inside.

That said, I decided we should try to stay inside today away from the heat. I thought we could attempt a craft. Really - what was I thinking? This craft was far too complex for me let alone me and a three year old. I definitely did not get the craft gene and had to sit there and say "ok -let me think for a minute - quiet - how do you make a conical santa hat - arrgh!" as Ellis watched on and Rowan screamed on the floor. At one point I felt like hurling said Santa across the room. Tracey reminded me again that Ellis is three - put some paper, scissors and glue in front of him and let him make a mess - then clean it up. That is art. Right. That is what he does at playgroup and he has fun. Santa lasted about five minutes anyway before Rowan ripped off his legs. That sent Ellis into a rage and he proceeded to finish the job by ripping off beard, hat and arms. Sadly, Santa may be our only Christmas decoration as I do not want to go out and buy a bunch more (and I don't really have the time or energy to do it) when we have a ton of decorations sitting in our container. So I cobbled santa back together again.

The rest of the day spiraled downward - tantrum at the pool etc so I decided we had to go out. "Shall we go the library and get more Mr. Men books?" I asked. "Sure" said Ellis and he climbed into the pram.

It was a lovely evening - the breeze had arrived and we had a great citycat ride to the library. Ellis passed out and Rowan entertained the folks on the ferry. Ellis woke up from his nap in the library which prevented another tantrum as I just held up Mr. Men books to him as he came awake. Afterward we played in the courtyard - they have cool metal balls that have lights that change colour inside.

Walked home along Queen Street Mall - picked up quesadilla fixings, came home, made them, read stories and put them to bed. Cyp is out for dinner tonight. Lucky duck.

The Australian Zoo

Sunday is our fun day so I decided (it always seems to be me that decides :) we should go to the zoo. I had a two for one coupon on our Raisin Bran box (which helped me decide) and Ellis had mentioned that he wanted to go the zoo last weekend. Of course when we said we were going to the zoo
today he said he didn't want to go. So we had to use our old standby - well, I guess we could leave you here, but then the police will put mommy and daddy in jail and you'll end up living with people that don't really love you like we do. Terrible - but it seems to work. We did try reasoning with him for a while before resorting to scare tactics.

I should have thought about the weather before we went to the zoo. For some bizarre reason I forgot to think about how the zoo is outside - no air conditioning. It was hot even though we got there just after opening. I think it was another mid 3os day. Yuck.
We were waiting around at 10:30 to get a chance to feed the elephants when Ellis started to complain "it hurts - the sun is hurting me - owwww - I want to go home." Ok - abort that plan - we walked about 500 feet - a miserable looking bunch. Ok - let's eat lunch - it's only 10:30, but we've been up since 6 -must be lunch time. After lunch we sat in the crocoseum (should mention that this was the Steve Irwin zoo - Crocodile Hunter - Crikey). That was good - if we didn't move we didn't sweat much. Ellis decided to run around the stadium instead of watching the show - that worked. It was cooler up in the nosebleeds. It was kinda cool too as they released birds in the show that would fly up to where we were - and zoom around. After that we saw a few more animals and decided it was time to go. Drove to the beach - huge waves - Cyp said - "no swimming today I guess." Till we got out and saw that yes, indeed, most people were swimming. I guess the waves were nothing to them.

Drove back - got stuck in Sunday traffic. Ellis asked about our family in Australia - were we going to get a new one? Is Graham our new family? He's been talking about everyone a lot lately and I think really misses everyone. I think seeing the different animals at the zoo makes him realize we aren't in Canada anymore (that plus the fact it is so darn hot). I tell him Christmas is coming and he looks at me like I'm insane. Then he starts going on about how it doesn't rain here.

Tonight Cyp and I went out on a date. At first Ellis was like - I'll come with you but when the babysitters showed up and were actually showing interest in his computer art he was like "bye - have fun"

We went to a nice Italian place downtown. It was BYO (bring your own). Our dinner was $70 - a huge salad to split (good too), two mains, tiramisu and a corkage fee of $6. That included tip and tax (which is not actually separated out). I thought that was not bad and the service was really good. When we got home, Rowan had just woken up and Ellis was in bed. Pretty successful for our first night out. Ellis came flying out about 20 minutes after the babysitters left - "they read stories and brushed my teeth, but they didn't change my diaper." I think they had, but I did anyway and put him back to bed. About 2 minutes after that he came out and said "I poohed." He had been holding it all day again. He has serious poo issues. I think that was why he kept wanting to go home all day. I told him to just poo in the car at one point but he said "it will squish out and go all over my seat." Oh dear. Sorry - another case of TMI.

House Hunting 2

Today we crammed ourselves into a suzuki swift. Wanted to see if we could do it. We can surprisingly - wonder if we can put a Thule box on top. We headed to New Farm market again - I told Cyp to take Ellis and Rowan to the fantastic playground, but just as I was putting my new favourite yoghurt in my bag (lemon curd - tastes like lemon pie - delicious) - I felt a tap and looked down and saw Ellis. He wanted to come to the market (I think cause of the free samples). Rowan was pouring sweat (it was 9 am - about 34 degrees, though our car said it was 37 outside and steamy - Aussie for muggy) so I told Cyp to take him into the Powerhouse arts centre and I'd try to be quick. Ellis is good at sticking like glue amongst the hordes (he'd eyed the lemonade stand and wanted to make sure I stopped on the way back to get Cyp). With most of my money gone, I went back to find Cyp. Barb - this is no trout lake market - $20 would not go far here. That said - I do buy most of my dinner meat here. Tonight we had fantastic lamb chops that I barbecued - very tender and juicy - they were from the meat truck at the market. $13 for 6 chops - not bad.

I powerwalked back to the car so we could get to the open house - squished shikabob back into the car and hopped in, programmed the GPS - ready to go.... traffic. It was horrendous. Really bad - and I think this is a typical Saturday. There is only one way out of New Farm it seems. Decided I couldn't live in New Farm. Although, we would like to live in New Farm so we don't have to drive as much, but if you do...

Made it to the open house with minutes to spare. I ran in - loved the house, so sent in Cyp to have a look. Unfortunately, it's kinda far from the Uni.

Decided to go to another open house closer to the Uni - stuck in more traffic. Again ran in with minutes to spare. Imagine bad 70's suburb. House was bleak, yet amazingly, there were quite a few groups of people there showing interest. Bizarre. Sent Cyp to have a look then called him on his mobile to come back - wanted to check out another house a few blocks away. Went - neighbourhood had bad feng shui and the agent didn't show up so I said - let's skidaddle.

We stopped for lunch and had fish and chips (what else - see picture above) and then went to a house in Chelmer, which is the posh area. The house for rent is right next door to a new house that was being auctioned at the same time (they sell by auction here). We wandered down to look at the auction house. http://www.myhome.com.au/buy/qld/brisbane-central/chelmer/house/p000zyeu/

Cyp wanted to stick around, but I wanted to look at the rental. The rental was nice - available now though and kinda remote. We spent about 10 minutes looking. When we came out, the auction for the other house was over - $3.5 million. Yikes. That's a quick way to spend money.

There was an enterprising lad that had set up a lemonade stand at the auction entrance. He suckered us in a few times. As we were driving away Ellis said "let's have that kind of picnic mommy." meaning I now have to help him establish his lemonade business. Apparently we will have to mix up some chocolate chip muffins to sell too.

We now had two hours to kill before seeing a house we had actually made an appointment to see. We were going to go home, but all that lemonade meant we had to find a toilet. We found one in a park and Ellis decided he wanted to play. I don't like to discourage these rare moments, so we got out. We stuck around for a while (no one else was about - it's too darn hot) so it was too late to go home. We drove around and Ellis decided it had been a bad day. "Why?" I asked. "no treats." "WHAT" He has a short memory - lemonade, fish and chips, lemonade, chocolate chip muffin but as he was falling asleep 10 minutes later (and 20 minutes before our next open house) I said "don't fall asleep or you won't get your treat." So I found myself buying ice cream at coles. It worked though - he didn't fall asleep. Afternoon naps are a disaster - especially when we are about to see a house.

I really liked parts of this next house and is a five minute walk to the Uni. However....

It is right on the bush - the main level is built on a cliff - so you walk straight through out to a fabulous deck overlooking jungle - and about a 50 drop. With a flimsy little railing (or it looked flimsy to me). No where for the kids to run around, so we nixed it. I could just imagine Ellis and Rowan wrestling on that porch in a couple of years and going right through or over. Sigh.

We drove home and I took Rowan for a swim to cool off. Even though our pool is cold (freezing by Tracey standards) he was still hot after I had immersed him for 15 minutes.

Tomorrow is our day off and we are going to the zoo.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you you you, you can come too too too, we're going to the zoo zoo zoo.

and now I'm off to watch the Santa Clause III - sureal

The days seem so Loooooong

It is only Saturday? It seems like a decade ago that I went to the movie. I'm exhausted. Oh yes, we were looking for permanent accommodation again today - it's exhausting.

On Friday we ended up going to playgroup as our Cdn friends have been passing the barfs back and forth between family members and couldn't go to the waterpark. Felt I should try the playgroup again as they are having a Christmas Party next week so wanted to make sure that I didn't miss any important information.

It is hot. HOT! The sun was blazing as we headed out to playgroup - startled a neighbour washing a car (I think it is still illegal to do that what with water restrictions). Finally made it to playgroup - up the hill along the highway (not a pleasant walk really) and was dripping sweat again. Rowan was better this week - I could put him down and walk away without him having a breakdown. Ellis likes this playgroup as it has a craft table - he cuts and pastes and uses sticky tape. It was hot in the church though - there was a bird sitting on one of the ceiling fans, so apparently there had been an argument before we got there about turning on the fans. Apparently, the people who thought the bird would be chopped to bits won. Dumb bird - I say let him get splattered. He was probably laughing at us.

Met another family there from Venezuela - They've come here on a permanent visa that they started applying for 3 years ago. Husband is a civil engineer but doesn't have a job yet. Wife doesn't speak english (or I should say - her english is kinda like my spanish - I tried to understand her spanish and she my english - we did ok). They don't have any friends or family here - they made the decision to start an entirely new life in a new country. Kinda like saying to yourself one day - where do you want to go, picking somewhere out on a map and then learning a new language, new skills and using up all your savings to go there in the hopes that you'll have a better life. Made me realize how lucky we are to be born in Canada.

Watched people slowly leave and realized that I was pretty much stuck till the bitter end again. They are very anal about the toys in this group (there are mounds of them) and it takes forever to put them away - everything in its proper place. I note that some of the kids had started to try to put things away themselves (the moms were still sitting around the table chatting - I think the kids were done and realize they better start things going or would be in the sweltering church all day). I mentioned to one mom - should we start packing up? She gave me a dirty look -how dare I interrupt her gossiping time - noticed she packed up her kids not long after and left without helping. It actually turned out ok - some keen people stayed behind to help and I think Ellis and Rowan know the procedure now - I just leave Rowan in the middle as things slowly disappear from around him - Ellis helps out. I think he likes carting things over to the stage. He was also practicing stage jumping for later in life.

We headed home (Ellis never walks anymore - he jumps in the stroller right away - he likes the low down seat near the back and talks to me the entire time. He doesn't like up front cause I can't hear him. As soon as we got in the door I turned on the ac and vowed not to go out again till after 3:00. Instead we stayed in and baked a lemon cake. Yup - we cranked that oven. I'm doing my part for global warming.

I lasted till 2:30 and then had to get out. We all did - we were going slightly mental. Decided we would go get panther at school (horror of horrors - Ellis had left him with his sheet after nap). As we neared the school Ellis asked "is it morning time?"

"no, don't worry Ellis - I'm not leaving you at school."

As we got even closer "I'll wait out here, let me out of the stroller please."

I reassured Ellis that we were just collecting panther, which we did (phew) and we were on our way to the store. I had to get a few presents for secret santa. As I wheeled down the store aisles, a little hand would reach out and grab things - "I want this" "no - put it back."

I got to the cash register - "I don't have enough money Ellis" "just go get some." "Can't"

After we left that store Ellis kindly pointed out the cash machines - "there's one mommy - there's another one."

Thanks

So we went shopping - found that they must still do sewing here as there were two floors in the shopping mall dedicated to it. Picked up the last bit of felt needed to make our toilet paper roll santas. Also got Rowan some new clothes which distressed me greatly to do. I have mounds of clothes but they are sadly all to hot for him to wear. If I could take him in just a diaper, I would - but that would just be too white trash.

Got home, made mac and cheese (which the kids loved -Cyp didn't)

Tried to stay up to watch a movie, but sadly, fell asleep before the end.

I Finally go to a Movie for Mom and Baby Movie

I think Ellis secretly likes school. He must, as it is no problem getting him out the door on a school day.
Take today for example - he's started to sleep in again, so at around 8, I started making noise. I opened his door and turned on the TV to cartoons. After about 5 minutes, he came out and turned off the TV. Hmm. He started to be grumpy, but when I mentioned that we had to hurry or we'd be late for school, he suddenly got more cooperative. He let me change him, ate his breakfast and picked clothes without me having to threaten or bribe or anything.

Soon, we were on our way - I'm starting to dread the walk to school as it is so hot. Plus - sadly, it's only been a couple of weeks, but it's already getting a tad monotonous. I find myself getting impatient when the ferry sits there and I just want to get the river walk over with.

Ellis likes to comment on the walk - "there's the step fountain" "there's the fake grass." There are 3 patches of astroturf. Today he was counting something. "There are 12 fake grasses."

"huh?" I said. "THERE ARE 12 FAKE GRASSES."

"Oh, I said - there are 3 fake grasses."

"mom..... I was pretending."

"oh right - sorry, pretend away."

I think I'm too old for this mom thing. You know -the good thing about school is that they do art there. This relieves me of the duty to do art at home. I don't like art. Baking cookies is another story - both Ellis and I like that. The problem with that is that we eat all the cookies.

Ok - enough of that. We made it to school - Ellis is getting to be old hat at this now. He grabs his name off the board and puts it on his locker. We put away his things and I'm off. Today I noted other parents lingering and hugging and consoling - didn't they read the handbook? A loving but firm goodbye - rip the bandaid off quickly people!

I was soon on my way to movie for moms. Yay!

I walked along Ann Street. It is a major road into the city. See picture above. It doesn't do it justice, but big trucks and cars spewing fumes accompany you along your walk. I made it to James Street - turned the corner off Ann and was suddenly in yuppiedom. Fancy stores and upscale food markets. Went into a children's clothing store. $70 for a swim shirt for a 4 year old. Ok, maybe not.

Went to the theatre - $9 for a movie, and a latte and a piece of cake. Ok - I now know what I'm doing Thursdays until Rowan learns to crawl. Movie was good too - The Boys are Back. Filmed in Australia. Tearjerker. There were some moms there that still weren't giving up the experience even though their kid could crawl. Not sure how much of the movie the mom next to me saw - she was chasing her kid all over the place. Maybe she just comes for the cake and the coffee - $9 is a bargain for that alone here.

Afterward I walked home through New Farm - hills not as steep here - note picture above. Got home exhausted - did a bit of house hunting online and it was soon time to go get Ellis. Rowan and I set out again - Ellis didn't come running today to jump in the stroller - in fact, I had to search him out. I'm not sure about this school thing. Wish I could remember what he said on the way home - it was funny but I was tired. Bad thing is, we forgot Panther at school - may be making the trek back tomorrow again.

By the way - is it wrong to have a fake birthday for Ellis to let him think he's four? He's told me he will go on the potty when he's four. Thinking there may be an impromptu birthday party this weekend.

New Farm Park

New Farm Park
Originally uploaded by Renboo

Today we went to the park in the trees again.

and we made it to Wednesday market which is in library square (which I found yesterday) - too many people though and Ellis got an ice cream and I got a bacon and cheese pasty that Rowan loved. Beat pork pie by a mile. Market not good for our health.

Walked home through the hordes in the Queen Street Mall - at least there is a reason for the hordes - last day of school was last Friday and the "Schoolies" are out and about causing havoc in the city and on the coast. Schoolies feature at least once in the nightly news now.

As I sit here, I'm watching another public announcement on alcoholism.

Did I mention that I got 6 bottles of wine for $48 on Saturday? And these were good ones.

Tuesday - Library Card

School dropoff is getting better and better. Although the walk to school is getting harder and harder and hotter and hotter. I managed to get Ellis to daycare before 9, yet we were all dripping sweat. Ellis helped me grab his label off the wall to put on his locker (he can recognize his name) and followed me around as I put away all his things. We left his room and he stood in the common play area - A helper came up to help him transition, but he seemed ok today - still sad looking, but resigned to his fate. I think he's getting to like it - he asked to go to school on Monday. Rowan and I hiked up Adelaide St. to find the bus stop to Paddington (where we were meeting Deidre's friend Bronwyn). We passed city hall and Christmas tree on the way. I was way too early, so figured I'd keep hiking up Adelaide - I had an idea that I would find the library. Yup - I did - it's on the other bank of the river

http://bit.ly/66Fkdb

I know I've said it before - I don't know how many times I've trucked up Adelaide, Elizabeth, Queen Street - if only I'd kept going I would have run into the river again - in fact, I would have run into another City Cat stop and could have taken that home instead of walking. Sigh.

Rowan and I went into the library - ahhh relief and air conditioning. I managed to quickly sign up for a library card, grab a book off the shelf and then I hit the children's section. Mr. Men paydirt! I was grabbing them as fast as I could when I noted that there was no one else around. Ok - there were lots there too. I grabbed 8 and then headed to checkout. Success - no alarms bells went off when I proceeded to take out the 8 bo0ks.

We trucked back to King George Station - this is taking the bus in style - an underground, pristine air conditioned station with lovely seats where you sit and watch the computer screens relay when your bus will be arriving at your gate. This is where I also noted that Rowan had jettisoned his sippy cup. Darn him - he's learned how to throw and is quite proud of his skill. I decided I wouldn't try to locate it as our bus was coming in 5 minutes. I should have known it was too good to be true though - I lived a 98 b line moment as my wait time jumped from 1 minute to 5 minutes.

We made it to Paddington (early again) so I went to Woolworths to pick up veg. Rowan jettisoned his dummy but this time I noticed as I was about to go up the elevator. I went back to the store and found it by the checkout. Decided that was probably where he jettisoned his sippy cup as he tends to get bored when waiting in lines and uses that time to practice his newly acquired skills.

Had a lovely coffee with Bronwyn - learned lots of good info about choirs and then walked back to her house. I should say hiked. Note picture above. I'm not sure if you can tell the grade of the hill but it was steep. Had to put the emergency strap on from Shiskabob (stroller's new name - courtesy Anita) so I didn't lose Rowan - at least we'd go rolling down the hill together. I think this was when I ruled out Paddington - a lovely suburb, but I can't imagine walking to the store.

I decided to retrace my steps and went back to the library - thought I'd check the lost and found and lo and behold - they had Rowan's sippy cup! I'm a freak - a $3 sippy cup, but that made my day. I then walked down to North Quay and took the City Cat home. This has now opened up an entire new side of the city to me. The library was great and so was library square.

Got home and Heike and Jonas came over for a swim. She was shocked at how cold our pool is (it's sort of indoor so it doesn't get much sun - that's why I like it - it's very refreshing and you don't have to worry about sunscreen). Jonas was born Mar 26th so is not a Pisces, but he seemed to like the water almost as much as Rowan.

It was time to go back and get Ellis. As soon as he sees me, he runs over and hops into the back of Shiskabob. I then wheel him around and gather his stuff. We always pass the babies on the way out. Ellis always has lots to say about the babies - from "they sleep all the time" to "the babies are sad." He has also said "Rowan could go to school too - babies go there." I agree though - the babies do look sad there.

The other good thing is that they are getting Ellis to pee on the toilet. Yee hah!

Got home and I was exhausted (it didn't help that Ellis whined the entire way home - it's a beautiful walk - made especially better by the fact that the breeze kicks up in the afternoon and the river walk is in the shade) - but it was a great day.

Monday

So on Monday we didn't know what to do. Finally managed to connect with G. Anita which was great. We also met with potential babysitters in the morning (unfortunately, they oohed and ahed over Rowan, so Ellis might have been a little put out - though he was immersed in my computer, so he may not have noticed). I decided we should go the the library as the children's area is good and it's air conditioned.

It is usually quite a panic getting out the door. Ellis stalls and stalls and Rowan gets more and more bored with the toys I keep putting in front of him to keep him quiet till I'm ready to go. So he was screaming and I was running around looking for my keys - guess who had them last? Yup Cyp the key thief - they were still in his pocket and he was at work. So he agreed to meet us at the library.

At the library, Ellis played with..... the computer. Ah, but at least Rowan got to go out! I met Branwyn (someone I had met before at Wed. playgroup) - and two other moms that each had two boys that were approx. Ellis's and Rowan's ages. One was originally from the UK and one was from Montreal. The Cdn has been here 6 years and is going home soon - there are lots of immigrants here. Someone mentioned (can't remember who) that over 1000 people immigrate to Brisbane every week. That seems like a lot to me. Anyway, one of the moms offered to exchange numbers with me - said that she and some other moms usually get together once or twice a week at the park or some other kid venue. This never happened in Vancouver! We'd be lucky if they said hello back (isn't that right Barb). Anyway, Ellis could have stayed all day, but eventually I got bored with playing with my iphone (and hungry too) so I pried Ellis away from the playspace and we got home in time to talk to Max and Anita! Hooray.

Expressions I Must Remember not to Use

Had a mini interview with a couple of potential babysitters yesterday. Ellis fell over one point and grabbed his elbow in pain.

"Did you bonk your elbow?"

That got a look.

I realize I've used that before - I seem to recall it might have been out and about on a citycat or ferry. No wonder people looked at me funny.

Must purge that one from my vocab.

Sunday Drive to the Mountain

Today we drove to Mount Tamborine - my German friend
Heike had mentioned that she had been there a couple of weeks ago, so I decided that is where we should go. I didn't feel like going to the beach (too much work convincing Ellis - plus the mountain was supposed to be cooler). We finally made it out of the house around 9. I had sent Cyp the coordinates for where we were going the night before, thinking he might plug them into his GPS - but no, he seemed to be doing this as we drove down the street. Asking things like "Where are we going?" Argh. After our somewhat rocky start, we found a route and were driving down the wrong side of the motorway (ok - wrong if we were in Canada). It felt slightly odd - "which lane is the fast lane?" "the right one" hmm. Motorways are boring the world over we decided. The only amusing part of the drive for me was whenever Cyp would try to change lanes - instead of putting on the turn indicator, he would put on the wipers. He was still tending to drive like it was a race, so I kept repeating - we're out for a Sunday drive.

We went to the skywalk in the forest and it was not bad - pretty good actually. It was $18.50 each and Cyp said it was miles better than the one at UBC ($25 each). Ellis kept trying to ditch us and finally I had to chase him, stop him and say "if you can't see me, you're too far away." Oddly, that seemed to work, however, it did become a bit of a game - he would test how far he could go, but at least I could still see him.

At the end we landed up in the gift shop (of course) and he said "I want one of those balls mommy" (chocolate). It seemed easier than arguing so I went to get one (they were only $2 as opposed to

muffins here that are an astonishing $4.50. I went to order it and the cashier said - those are filled with 40 proof alcohol. Oh - I was still tempted - might knock him out for the drive, but she pointed out they had some $.95 smartie cookies. Even better.

We hopped in the car again and drove around aimlessly - cute area - lots of wineries, bed and breakfasts, cheese factories, but it was too much of a pain to get out, so we just looked. I started to feel like we were missing something so we stopped at the information kiosk to talk to someone. I mentioned that we have a three year old and 8 month old. "hmm" said the woman manning the desk "there's not really much round here for kids - you could hike into see the falls" So we went back and did another walk. As is typical with waterfalls - the one of the brochure looks more spectacular. So after walking 1km through the forest, we came across the trickle. Took the standard picture and hiked out.

Jumped out at a roadside stand and got some "avos" or avocados and then we headed home.

Stopped at a historical tunnel - thought we could just drive through it, but no - it was really historical - used to be an ammunition dump during the war. Ellis was suitably impressed, so even though it was a pain to lug El and Ro out again, it was worth it.

By the time we got home, we were all beat (it was only 3). I started to make dinner and Cyp drove out to the airport to pick up a friend that had been here for a conference. Our first visitor! It was great to see someone from our area (Seattle - close enough) and she was happy to get some vegetables. We haven't eaten out a lot here, but I guess most places are heavy on meat. We're going out next Sunday for dinner, so we'll see if this is true.

Saturday - House Hunting

Ugh - House Hunting.

Looking at houses made me realize I'm tired of living in an apartment with someone else's furniture, but it also made me realize that I don't like renting. That said - we weren't organized - we just printed off the list of open houses (that last 10 minutes here - that is it) and headed out. We put the GPS to the test as we criss crossed the city and suburbs going from open house to open house. I did get a better sense of what the suburbs look like. Cyp sat in the car as I would run in (and then out - only to try to get in on his side of his car - darn left hand side driving) at which point we would check the list and try to find the nearest open house.

We had a mid day break at his bosses house where we had a swim in their fabulous new pool and I got depressed about the how nice their house was compared to everything we had looked at. Next weekend we will have to have a better strategy.

We may have narrowed down some neighbourhoods - but it's hard - there is only one two lane bridge south of the city so we are really debating which side of the river we need to live on. Cyp thinks he can live on the opposite side (which is cheaper, flatter and recommended) and bike to work. Hmmm.

Friday - Train

On Friday Ellis, Rowan and I checked out the playgroup near our house again. This time I went the right way - I was still exhausted by the time I got there as it was so hot. I think it was only about 32 but it was very muggy. We were all dripping with sweat and poor Rowan in particular - he is suffering these days. He looks like a wet dishrag - hair constantly wet. Every morning when we get up - there is a sopping wet spot where Rowan sleeps - he got my sweat genes I guess. Even if we have the air conditioning on, he still seems to sweat. Anyway - I went too early to playgroup as I was done after an hour and so was Ellis - but this is a hardcore playgroup and they had hauled out all the toys (for about 6 kids - although more showed up later) and I felt I had to stay to help clean up. They are also very diligent about clean up - putting everything (and I mean everything) back in the proper box. So we stayed till the end to help clean up. I got to walk home with Heike (our German friend) so that was good.

Scarfed lunch and then headed out to our Cdn friends' house. Thought we would take the bus but after wandering aimlessly in the noon day sun (must be a mad dog as I'm not an Englishman) I couldn't find the bus stop and my iphone failed me so we asked the nearest bystander where the train station was and quickly changed plans. Hiked up to the train station and caught the train. Mercifully, the train was air conditioned and Ellis liked the adventure. I had phoned our friends with our new plans and they met us at the station. Walked to their house (cute Queenslander - I like them - very old timey) where the kids sort of played together.
As an aside - the train was kinda fun - even though we only
traveled about 4 km (in fact, one of the options on the Translink site was....

Option 2

walk 4695 m

it felt like we were on a grand adventure to the Aussie outback. The stations all had a very oldtime feel. Unfortunately, I didn't take any good pics. People were also helpful and one man helped me off the train with my new 1o ton stroller (actually, I think it is the kids - specifically Rowan that weigh 10 tons). Walking off the train grounds, we almost got run over by a train - thank goodness for automatic closing gates that stopped us.
So a mostly successful journey
shouldn't have done it though as it made the day too long - didn't get back till 5 - Ellis had crashed (see photo) just as were on the last leg home (woman in the ferry lineup said - oh how cute - he's fast asleep holding onto his.... bug?

Darn it!

Oh well, I made dinner in peace and woke Ellis up for dinner. We rented a car this weekend so as there was no way Ellis was going to go to bed just having woken up from a 1.5 hour nap, we went for a drive. Rowan got to sleep in peaceful air conditioning and Ellis got to be a backseat driver. We have a Tom Tom GSP with John Cleese as the narrator and every time he would say "turn right" Ellis would chime in "Right Right - daddy - that wasn't right"

I kept cringing and saying "yikes" as it felt like Cyp was going to take off the passenger side of the car - plus I think he thinks we're in the Indy - there are a lot of traffic circles here that he seems to think are his own personal challenge. That said - our car is still intact. I'm grateful for the GPS - it seems to finally work - Cyp has always been a first adopter of technology and we've spent many frustrating drives having to figure out which way to go after a GPS has sent us in the totally wrong direction.

What Kind of Car Should We Buy

This is a test to see if anyone is reading, but I also do need help as cannot make my own decision

Ok - Mazda 3 sport (pains me as will have to pay about $6K more than we got for our car and it still won't have leather)

Mitsubishi Lancer (gets good reviews in Top Gear)

Subaru Outback (Top Gear likes it better than the Forester)

Toyota Corolla Ascent (looks like a Mazda 3 Sport - slightly smaller, therefore, slightly greener)

Ford Mondeo - per Top Gear (I think Top Gear is a brit show - but it could be Aussie - anyway, it's now part of my viewing repetoire) "the Mondeo is the only recent new car that Hammond, May and I (Clarkson) all agree is excellent. That's why it was, without question, our choice for car of the year (in 2007). Oh wait, except for the Subaru Outback."

Renee Buys Too Much Again

Renee Buys Too Much Again
Originally uploaded by Renboo

Daycare day again (that was fast). This time I was more upfront with Ellis and told him it was a school day. He didn't seem pleased, so I had to do a bit of cajoling. As a result, although we were up early this morning 5:30 - we still didn't make it out of the house until about 8:45.

Ellis actually dutifully walked to school without me having to bribe or threaten, so I was pretty happy. When we got there he turned to me with teary eyes and said "you'll be back at 4:00 - right?" and then he walked forlornly off to one of the school helpers (who was sitting listening to story time with the other kids in his class - seems most people are probably there by 9 - not like us stragglers) and proceeded to sit in her lap, while trying not to cry. I don't think he wanted to cry in front of the other kids so was trying to hold it together. Now that almost broke my heart, but I left. Our walk over was a long discussion about how you have to give some things a chance and maybe part of that discussion sank in.

Rowan and I left and I decided I would try to take the bus to New Farm. So I got out my handy iphone and looked up the bus route on their translink site and I actually figured out where to go. Just as I neared the stop, the bus pulled up. I got on without incident and even managed to get off at the right stop without incident. I was so excited about my success using the bus (and my iphone) that I proceeded to buy too many things at the store and had to lug them home. Diapers were on special - 2 packs for $48 or 130 diapers for $48 - about $0.37 per diaper - a bargain! Up till now, I've been averaging $.50 per diaper and so every time I change Ellis and Rowan I say to myself - there goes another dollar! It's quite painful. I would feel less saddened if the money was actually going to cover some of the environmental costs of the diaper, but that is just wishful thinking - it's just going to the profits of the diaper company. I should invest. Darn diaper companies should have to pay to clean up some landfills or something - maybe that would spur them on to developing a more biodegradable diaper that doesn't use plastic. Yes, I know - those are called cloth. There is not a lot of water in Australia, so they actually prefer if people use disposable (or so Cyp told me).

Ok - enough about that.

Got home - went for a swim - got back, was nursing Rowan when our buzzer rang. Our stroller is here, our stroller is here!!!!!

AND I WAS HERE TO GET IT! HOORAY - MY LUCKY DAY!

Said stroller is now put together - Ellis will be very excited to see it when I go and pick him up today.

Museum Day

IMG_0044
Originally uploaded by Renboo

I forgot to mention that Rowan is a giant spot. He had a fever a few nights ago and the next day when he woke up, he was covered in tiny red dots. I thought it was heat rash. Mom thinks it is fifth disease or slapped face disease. Could be...Everyone I run into say "oh my kid had that a couple of weeks ago"

He doesn't seem to disturbed by it, but he's not getting the comments that he usually gets. Maybe that's why Ellis has been in a better mood.
Today we went to playgroup, the library, the museum and the waterpark. The museum is mostly free - but the Science Centre (which I assume is like Science World) costs. Not sure if I want to introduce Ellis to the Science Centre - he may never want to go anywhere else.

I think Ellis feels the same about museums as I do. The most fascinating things were the elevators, escalators and automatic opening doors (oh, and the air conditioning). I mentioned we were going to the museum and he said -"oh, that's ok - Tracey already took me there."

At least it was free

Daycare - Rough

So, now I know why I made Cyp take Ellis to Georgia in the morning. Drop off is rough.

I told Ellis when he woke up that is was a school day

"I don't wanna go to school"

Hmm. I decided to not mention it again. We managed to leave before 9, which is fairly amazing. It was already scorching hot though. Nothing compared to Melbourne these days, but it was 34 C and the walk to daycare in the morning is in full blazing sun.

Ellis hopped onto the front of Bob as we disembarked the ferry (I think he does it now, just to annoy Rowan - who I must say, gets very annoyed - he is a happy baby, but I don't think he will let anyone push him around). We spent the walk with Ellis complaining that Rowan was pushing, pulling and pinching him.

As we neared daycare, Ellis suddenly cottoned on. "where are we going?"

"School - remember?"

"I don't want to go to school anymore."

Hmmm

When we got there Ellis continued to sit on the front of the stroller and wouldn't get off. I eventually had to pry him off and say a hurried goodbye and skeddadle as one of the workers held onto him. He was bawling. I didn't linger (as per daycare strategy 101) and left. Good thing I was wearing sunglasses as I was bawling too. Not sure if daycare is going to be worth it....

I hadn't made any plans for my time off, so Rowan and I wheeled downtown to do some window shopping. We hit Harvey Norman (Future Shop) where I looked at fridges and dishwashers briefly. You usually have to buy a fridge here for a rental property. Got bored - left.

My life seems to be about shopping these days - that is really all I have to do. Sad really. Went to Target, Woolworths, Crazy Charlies, Coles - got stuff to make toilet paper roll santas with Ellis and stuff to make choc chip cookies too.

That's the other thing Aussies do - they shorten everything. Chocolate is choc. Swimsuits are cozies (as in swim costume) or bathers or togs. Babys are bubs. I like that one - hey bub. Those aren't the best examples, but I'll try to note more.

I slowly plodded home in the heat -it was too hot so I basically sat in the air conditioned apartment until it was time to go get Ellis. Yup - researched some cars, took a swim - didn't get much else done.

Ellis seemed happy to see me, but he was also very chatty on the way home. I think he had fun at daycare.

Monday Again - Waiting for Modem

Today Cyp offered to stay home to wait for the modem we were expecting in the mail. I said, no.... I'll cope. So Ellis, Rowan and I sat around all morning. It was probably a good thing as Rowan had quite the fever last night and this morning he woke up covered in spots. I think it's heat rash and I think the fever is from teething, but I can't be positive.

I lasted till about 9:30 and couldn't take much more - Ellis had been plugged into the tv the entire time plus it was getting hot - so I turned on the air conditioning. That helped a lot. I'm afraid that this is probably going to be an air-conditioned pad from now on.

Some more thoughts I had about Australia as I was bored out of my mind.

They are friendly - but not pedestrian friendly. I swear that they speed up when they see us in an intersection - they may like kids, but that doesn't stop them from seeing kids as target practice. Plus - you have to hit the button to get a walk signal - and the walk signal is very short - I've usually made it about 1/4 of the way across the street before it starts flashing. Perhaps that's why I don't see many elderly people out walking.

They like breast fed babies (Rowan's legs have started more conversations....) but they don't promote breast feeding. It is rare to nurse babies past 6 months here.

They only sell one brand of cookies - Arnotts - but it has about 1000 different types. They are all made in a factory that makes things with nuts, so if you happen to be allergic, no cookies for you.

Their bad tv is oddly addictive - Border Security or Patrol or whatever it's called is highly entertaining. I can't understand how they can show real people on the show - why would the real people who stupidly import oranges agree to be on tv?

They sell things by auction here - houses and cars. We're contemplating getting a car at auction...

They say "how ya going" instead of "how are you doing"

Turns out I missed the modem delivery, so Ellis, Rowan and I trucked out to the post office this afternoon. It was a different post office than downtown (of course) so we got to check out a new cat stop - Mobray Park. It looks nice in from the river, but then you get out to the road which is really a highway. Not so nice. Too much car culture here.

Got home - ripped open the package and hooray - fast internet!

Bus Tour Commentary

We decided (ok, I did) that we should take a bus tour of the city. There was one in our travel book that did a tour of the city plus a couple of suburbs where we are thinking of renting. Cyp has been pestering me to try and investigate some different suburbs - a good idea really, but I don't want to think of moving yet.

I really haven't seen much of Brisbane that is not near the river, so this would be interesting. We took the ferry across to downtown and walked to stop 2 on the tour (as I knew where that was). The ferry let us off at a different stop and it threw off my carefully mapped out route so we ended up walking further than I had planned. Oh well - I was trying to figure out what street to turn up when the City Sights bus pulled up to stop one - which we were standing right in front of. Maurice (the driver) hopped off and gave us a brochure. "Oh we know about the tour, we were actually trying to find you when you found us"

We hopped on - it was $35 each (book said $25 and the book is 2009 - that's quite the inflation). The tour was good - I learned a lot about the buildings I'd been walking by almost every day (on my trips downtown to pick up things). I also got a totally different perspective of how the city is laid out. On my walking tour to the Queen Street Mall, I thought I was walking away from the river, but no - I was walking across a bump (the CBD - Central Business District - is on a bump out into the river - so I usually get off on one side of the bump and walk a good ways across it to get to the store). If I'd only walked a few more blocks, I would hit the river again and a bunch of cool buildings that I'd seen from the other side of the river or Southbank as it is known. The CBD is really quite small - it's weird how I totally can't tell where north, east south and west are. I think the tour today helped a lot.

Cyp had mentioned that some of the streets in the suburbs are steep - he wasn't kidding. I felt scared at one point on the tour - I also wondered how I would push the stroller up the hill in the heat and how Cyp would bike home. It doesn't help that people have recommended that we live on the top of a hill to catch the breezes. Hmm. Decisions.

It was also weird to see how far apart and different the suburbs seem even though they are maybe 1 or 2 km apart. I also noted that there was no one out and about. New Farm is looking better all the time - flat, shops to walk to, near the river and people with kids walking around. Only problem with it is that it is far from Cyp's work oh and it's expensive.

We got off at Southbank (so Ellis could go to the waterpark) where I picked up some fish and chips. Tried the barramundi which is a local fish - it was good. Rowan enjoyed feeding the seagulls - he is such a different kid from Ellis - more of kid really. He notices things like birds, whereas Ellis notices things like Cyp's iphone, oh, and the open sign on the ice cream store, which is where the bus driver let us off.

As we had to wait for the bus right outside the convenience store (which had pictures of ice cream plastered all over it, I went in and got us all a fudgicle (paddle pop). Cyp finished his and noted that his stick said "wii" Yay! he won a wii. We were very excited.

We got on the bus again (hey - it was Maurice again - that was good timing) and continued on our tour. Noted as we got on the bus that Rowan had pooped. Sigh - at the next stop I asked Maurice if I could quickly hop off and change Rowan. Sure. Of course, it was a bit of a disaster made more so as everyone on the bus got to watch as I got poo everywhere. I made sure to conspicuously purel my hands and Rowan's too when I got back on the bus. While I was doing this - Maurice and Cyp were hitting it off. In fact, Maurice gave Cyp his card and said "call me if you need help" People are friendly here.

Cyp and I were debating where to get off when Cyp noted that Ellis had passed out - well, I guess we weren't getting off anytime soon. We did the tour again - back to the suburbs (so I could get another look), back up Mt Cootha, back to Southbank, Maurice's shift ended and we got another driver. Now we got to hear everything again but slightly different. I almost feel I could give the tour myself. We decided we'd get off at stop one - Cyp could put Ellis in the stroller and I'd carry Rowan. That worked - Ellis slept on. We walked down to the ferry terminal - noted that stop 4 of the tour was right across the street (duh) and caught the ferry home.

As soon as we came in the door, Cyp ran to the computer to find out about his wii - turns out he didn't win - you need 3 sticks -they need to spell wii console. Darn.

Ellis slept for at least another hour. I blogged, Cyp took Rowan for a swim.... I used my chinese ingredients and made stir fry for dinner. Now I remember why I don't make it anymore - kids don't like stirfry.

New Farm Market

On Saturday we decided to try another market that is only ever second Saturday in New Farm. I was told this one would be less crowded. The market runs from 6 am to 12 pm - I think that might say something about how hot it gets here. Of course, we didn't get out of the house till 9:30....

So it was hot - we had to take the ferry and transfer to a citycat. I had my first experience with a cantankerous ferry worker. There were some tourists in front of us getting on and paying and most other times I've taken the ferry, the ferry person has waved us on behind the paying person (we just show our pass). This ferry person reamed us out. Cyp laughed it off - but it made me feel a tad grump. The ferry drivers do seem a bit inconsistent here - sometimes they tell you not to wait on the pontoon, sometimes they tell you to and as noted sometimes they dock in spots that are not even ferry terminals. I've realized that I really do like rules and consistency and I don't like getting reamed out :(

Anyway - I tried to forget about it - I guess Ellis does get his sensitivity from me.

We got to the market and it was huge - Tracey would be in heaven. Oh - except there are too many people - she wouldn't like that. There were at least 6 different meat vendors - fish vendors, bakeries etc. All I know if I spent way too much - although I think we have dinner for a week. The market does seem way cheaper than the stores and you can get just about everything you need - I guess that is why they are so crowded. I also picked up things you don't need - chili marmalade, date, ginger chutney, mustard mint sauce....gourmet yoghurt etc. Yoghurt here is good - one brand that Cyp likes is Jalna.

After that we found the real playground in New Farm - it was fabulous and I decided I want to live in New Farm (except Ellis doesn't like the playground... well, he did like this one). It wound it's way through the fig trees and had beams and bridges - it was huge and great. We had to pry him away. It was super hot, I was done and we had to go home and start getting ready for dinner.