Coming Home!

We took this photo at the beach right outside our door on Monday at around 5pm. Charlotte found it quite interesting to be buried in the sand.

This will probably be the last post before we head off on our big trip tomorrow morning. We're close to being ready - got new visas today which will allow us to re-enter Australia in January.

We're bracing ourselves for the cold, but figure that we're Saskatchewan natives, so adjusting to the typical December weather shouldn't be too hard on us . . . we hope . . .

Looking forward to coming to a proper Christmas-y setting. It truly doesn't feel like Christmas at all here; very few places are decorated and those that are seem to do it half-heartedly. It doesn't help that the weather has finally started to improve -every degree the temperature increases makes it feel less and less Christmas-y.

I'm interested to see what Charlotte will think of Christmas trees and lights - she was too young last year to get much out of them, but this year will be different. I imagine we'll be removing many of the ornaments on the bottom of the tree at Mum's and Dad's houses!

We're all packed up. Ready to head out early tomorrow morning. See you all soon!

Tick . . . tick . . .tick . . .

We're coming home in a week!

Exciting times around the apartment in Glenelg. We're starting to get organized and think about packing. Only 7 sleeps until we make the big trip.

Charlotte seems to be on the mend - the fever has subsided and she is getting back to herself. Still a little irritable, but not nearly as bad as earlier this week.

We're having Jen, Rod and Annika over for dinner tonight, and it's so nice out -I think we'll eat out on the balcony. We've only done that a few times since we've arrived, so it will be a nice treat. Funny to think that the next meal we'll share with Jen and Rod will be at the SO Asher Christmas party next week in Saskatoon.

Eye eye?

As some of you know, Charlotte has been sick again for the past few days. She's been fighting off a fever since Friday and has yet to develop any other symptoms (other than some vague and transient congestion). She has been on antibiotics since Saturday evening, but the fever hasn't really subsided for longer than a few hours, and even then, she almost always needs Tylenol to help bring it down. This morning we discovered that she has three new teeth coming in. Yikes! All of her eye teeth except the upper left side are through the gums. Maybe that has something to do with her being unwell? I'd be surprised if the new teeth were entirely responsible for all she's been dealing with, but I will chalk up some of her irritability and crankiness (see above photos for an idea of how happy she's been lately) to the teeth.

She seems better today than she has since last Thursday, so hopefully she is on the mend. Now that these teeth have broken through her gums, the majority of the discomfort should be over.

I won't be taking her to her playgroup this morning, but I think we'll try for Montessori tomorrow. We might not make it through the whole 2 hours, but I think we'll give it a shot at least for a little while, depending, of course, on how she seems tomorrow morning.

Last week at Montessori. Playing lego outside.

Offering up sand soup at Montessori. She looks a little sick in this picture . . . maybe this was when she started coming down with whatever she has now . . .

Impatience and wanting to play with dangerous stuff

The title of this blog encompasses Charlotte's latest phase. It is definitely difficult to teach a 18 month old patience, so for now I've kind of stopped trying. As for her wanting to play with (potentially) dangerous things, I'm at a loss. I try my best to keep these items out of her reach, but if she crosses paths with a pen, she has to take the cap off and wave it around blindly, often narrowly missing her eyes. Another favorite is putting the pen in her mouth and biting down on the metal tip (can't be good for those tiny new teeth) and/or getting ink all over her tongue, teeth and face. I realize that the easiest thing to do is to hide all of the pens (or other controversial debris), and I do try to do this, but every now and then I forget to hide them after using them. Now that she can reach up to take things off the counter or table, I have to be extra vigilant, because once she gets her hands on the off-limits item, just try to get it away from her with out a tantrum resulting. Even distraction or bartering with other coveted items doesn't seem to work. She has her mind set on the objectionable item and will not give it up with out a full-on fight.

I can almost hear all of you saying "Welcome to toddlerhood".

The countdown is on

We'll be home in just over two weeks - the excitement is brewing! Charlotte got her hands on some family photos yesterday and wouldn't let them go - she's obviously very excited, too. We're trying to teach her everyone's names, but so far she seems happier to come up with her own names for everyone, so be prepared!

We had a nice weekend - Neale was home for most of it, which was great. As we were driving to the airport to pick him up the other day, as soon as we got in to the parking lot she said "Daddy!" - she has obviously associated the airport with seeing her Dad. Speaking of airports, I'm starting to get prepared for our big flight - the things that will keep Charlotte entertained at this stage in her life are a little different than the things we relied on back in August when we made the big trip. And this time we'll be flying during the day rather than at night, so it could be doubly hard to keep her preoccupied! We have made the decision to get her a portable DVD player and a couple DVDs, so that should work - until the battery dies . . .

We keep hearing how Saskatoon has no snow and that it has been unseasonably warm for this time of the year, and for the first time in my life, I'm kind of disappointed to hear such news! I was looking forward to a white Christmas, but I suppose there is still lots of time for that to happen. But maybe Charlotte won't need that snowsuit after all, Mum!

We've got a busy week ahead of us and have Wednesday to look forward to - that will mark the end of Neale's last trip to Sydney for 2008 - hooray!

Montessori Name Game - an update

Today was Montessori day. I was a little nervous going today, as last week was a little disappointing. . . see below . . .

I took this picture of her just as we were heading out the door.

For those of you who we have not told about the name game at Montessori, here's a brief explanation: it occurs during circle time, and the teacher and parents sing a little song ("I wonder what your name is, I wonder if you know . . . your name is Charlotte! Hello, hello, hello) - when the child's name is called they get to go up to the teacher and take a laminated name tag and place it on a Velcro board for all to see. Last week, after 6 weeks at Montessori, Charlotte still didn't have a name tag made for her, so I brought this to the teacher's attention (not entirely sure how she didn't realize this herself) and happily, this week Charlotte had her very own name tag. When her name was called, she proudly stepped forward and took her name tag from the teacher (saying "ites", which translates to "thanks" when receiving it) and scurried over to the board to place it on the Velcro strip. She couldn't have been more pleased with herself, and walked back to me beaming and clapping. So sweet.

A new week is here

Yesterday we took Charlotte to the Glenelg Christmas Pageant. To most Canadians, a pageant would conjure up ideas of contestants in flowing evening gowns talking about how they want to achieve world peace, but here in South Australia, it refers to the annual Christmas parade. Most of the "floats" were not really floats at all, but instead groups of people walking down the street in Halloween-type costumes. Lots of fairies, Spidermen, angels, pirates, etc. Not really Christmas-y, but it still seemed to entertain the little ones. Santa did make an appearance at the end of the parade / pageant, but we didn't stick around to meet him - by that time Charlotte had had enough and it was time to go home for a nap.

We've had a few weeks of cool weather recently, but finally today the sun is shining, and even though the breeze is cool, it's warm enough to spend some time outside. Charlotte and I took advantage of this fact and spent a couple hours down at the beach this morning. She ran along the water's edge and was delighted when the water came up to meet her feet, stopping every now and then to pick up a rock or shell to hand to me or to chase after a bird. She ran along the whole length of the beach and was quite tired out by the time we got to the end. She happily retired to the comfort of the Chariot and was quiet and mellow for the entire walk home. Once we got home she helped me vacuum the sand out of the stroller (whereby her assistance entailed climbing on top of the vacuum and giggling).

Yesterday I took some pictures of her while we were colouring. She wanted to get in to the shoebox that we keep the crayons in, as you can see. She was also more interested in putting the crayons into and out of the box than actually colouring with them.

More Pictures

The whole fam damily.

Bridgeclimbers.

Bridge and Opera House.

Happy, happy.

G-rafs.

Can you see the otter? Charlotte did, although she was not that interested.

Meerkat. Charlotte really liked these guys.

Elephants.

Charlotte and mom on the way to the zoo.

Charlotte walking around on the ferry from manley to circular quay.

Heading down to the pool.

Happy girls.











Sleepy Charlotte.

More Taronga Pictures

Can you see the baby Chimp?

Can you see the Bridge?

Hey you goats, do you know which way to the city?

Charlotte was tired that night.

Mama was tired the next day too!

Taronga Zoo

Although it was raining when we awoke from our slumber on Saturday morning, we were not going to let it get it in the way of our trip to Taronga Zoo. We grabbed a ferry from Circular Quay at 9:45am and were at the zoo about 15 minutes later. We had to drop some folks off at Fort Denison which is an island in Sydney Harbor that was going to be a prison then was changed into a military fort after the decided that it was not a good idea to keep prisoners in an area that would a be a main tactical depot if there ever was an attack on the harbour.

The zoo is right on the hillside opposite Circular Quay and when you arrive at the zoo by ferry, you take a cable car to the top part of the zoo and then walk back down to the ferry through the zoo. The cable card ride gives you a bit of preview of what you are going to see for the day (as you can see from the photo above, which was taken about half way up the line). The rain stopped as soon as we arrived at the zoo which meant we pretty much had the zoo to ourselves for the first hour and a bit. Charlotte was such a good girl, she sat in her stroller for most of our 3 hours at the zoo pointing at the animals and saying ooohhh or making the sign for bird when she saw one walk or fly past. There were many animals I had not seen before, and I think the gorillas were my favourite. The Alpha male just stayed on his back with his arms and legs sprawled, looking at the people - he was very tired or possibly has had his spirits crushed by his existence in a zoo environment - oh well, i enjoyed seeing him, and although there was no emotion in his blank stare, I could feel he enjoyed seeing me too. The Taronga zoo is very nice, designed perfectly for walking and well worth the small fee and short trip. Charlotte may be a little young, but when you can keep her in the stroller for an extended period of time, you know she is content with her surroundings. We had a small lunch at the zoo, and then Charlotte zonked out as we got back on the ferry (see below).

On the ferry and did a little tour around the harbor seeing Shark Island, Watson Bay, the Heads and some of the most expensive real estate in the world. The Heads is the only entrance/exit to the Sydney Harbor, so all cruise liners, tankers, cargo ships that come to Sydney enter from the pacific ocean . There were hundreds of sailing boats out enjoying the days, not an exaggeration, we will post the pics at some point. Charlotte woke up as we got back to circular quay and was happy to stay in her stroller as we went picked up some Chevapchichi for dinner. Upon our return to the apartment, we went for a swim in the pool. Charlotte was in a great mood and enjoyed the pool but probably enjoyed the hot tub a little more. She was laughing and splashing the entire time.

I'll let Kate take over from here. Neale

We had a quiet evening and when we woke up today we were ready for some more Sydney sight-seeing. We headed out to the Rocks (a nearby funky neighborhood) for breakfast and to check out their weekend market. Charlotte was still operating with a sleep deficit, so we were back at the apartment by 10:15 am and she's been sleeping since then. Who knows what's in store for us when she wakes up . . . stay tuned!

Sydney: sun, sea creatures, Sloan and Sadie!

How's that title for an alliteration? It does sum up much of our first full day here in Australia's biggest, busiest city. Charlotte and I arrived yesterday afternoon after a challenging flight. Tired but relieved, we got to the apartment around 4:30 pm. After trying unsuccessfully to get Charlotte to nap (she hadn't had her regular 3 hour afternoon sleep), all three of us headed out to Circular Quay to check out some of the sights. It was hot, windy and busy, but we hustled along with the crowds and managed to see some sights before heading back to the apartment to eat supper and get the little one to bed. We were up before Charlotte this morning (Friday) and awoke to a warm, sunny morning. It was 25C by 8 am, so we knew we were in for a hot one. Soon after getting up, Charlotte and I were off to the Sydney Aquarium (Neale wasn't able to join us because it was a work day for him), which is conveniently a 10 minute walk from the apartment. We arrived shortly after it opened and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. We saw a huge crocodile, thoousands of fresh- and salt- water fish, sea horses, jellyfish, fairy penguins, sharks, huge manta rays, turtles, and although we tried desperately to see the resident platypus, we weren't patient enough to wait for him / her to emerge from it's hiding spot. The best part was the "oceanarium" which was a section of the aquarium that had us walking through an enclosure that had sea life all around us - above, on both sides and underneath. This was the part where we saw the biggest creatures - 20 foot sharks, manta rays that were 2 meters across, giant logger-head turtles - it was amazing. Charlotte was very interested in the exhibits and sat contentedly in her stroller for almost 2 hours. For those of you who know her well, that is almost unheard of for her! It really was an impressive sight, and I hope the pictures do it justice. I'll be sure to post some soon.
After finishing up at the aquarium, Charlotte and I carried on along Sydney's famous harbour to Darling Harbour. Despite it's posh reputation, we were disappointed with it's lack of interesting sights, so we carried on home. By the time we reached the apartment we were tired and sweltering, so we headed downstairs to the pool and went for a nice refreshing swim. After that it was back upstairs for lunch and Charlotte's nap.
After Charlotte woke up, she and I headed out to Manly to visit Kathy Donnelly and her twins, Sloane and Sadie. We took the ferry from Circular Quay (30 minute ride) and met Kathy at the Manly wharf to walk back to their place in Queenscliff. They treated us to a great barbecue, and the three girls entertained each other well in to the evening. The skies lit up with lightening around 7pm, so we quickly packed up to head back to Sydney, trying to beat the rain. We got a little wet on the walk to the ferry, but Charlotte was a trooper and didn't even make a peep. Now we're home, Charlotte's been asleep for almost an hour, and we're looking forward to another exciting day tomorrow . . .

Neale here, It has been nice to have Kate and Charlotte in Sydney to see the sights. I think I have taken this beautiful city for granted as it has been a pretty stressful stretch as far as work is concerned. You really need to stop and look up at all the beautiful old buildings and appreciate it and I have not done much of that in the last 10 weeks. Greg and I drove to Manly at about 5 oclock today and were greeted by a course of "daddies" from the 3 girls. Kathy prepared a very nice dinner as the girls ran around the apartment and we watched the surfers enjoy some pretty nice sized waves. I would like to give the surfing a go, but those who know me, know that water and I do not get along to well. I may not have a choice as the it is early summer, and we may need to use the ocean to keep cool. We are hoping to go to the zoo tomorrow as we have heard very good things about the Sydney zoo. It is about a 5 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay. Circular Quay is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment and you can catch a ferry to all the main spots from there. Yesterday when Charlotte and Kate arrived, we walked down to to circular quay which is also very close to the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera house. It was very windy but Charlotte loved running on the vast concrete fields that surround the opera house. We got a few pictures with Charlotte running with the bridge in the background. On the other side of the Harbor, you can see #42 Wallaby Way which is famous from a certain movie for having a denist office in it - can anybody name the movie? Think children's genre. We'll post pictures soon.

Heatwave!

Well, maybe it's not quite a heatwave, but today is really hot, and yesterday was, too. Tomorrow it is onlt supposed to get to 26C, which will feel positively cool after today's 38C cooker. Charlotte's cheeks were actually flushed today after playing outside for about 10 minutes. She never gets pink cheeks (unless it's from crying or teething). As you can see in the picture, Charlotte has found a way to keep cool. The hose on the deck is a recent favorite, and if she could play out there all day with it, she would.

Charlotte and I are off to Sydney tomorrow for the weekend. Looking forward to seeing another Australian city and visiting the Donnelley's at their home in Manly, which is apparently a very nice ocean-side suburb in Sydney. This will be a practice flight for our big trip home next month, and will be my first time flying alone with Charlotte. Wish us luck!

Will post more when we're home from Sydney. Have a good weekend, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD! Wish we were there to celebrate with you :)

Warrawong and Melbourne Cup

Charlotte and I have been doing a lot of playing the last few days. I have been in Adelaide since Friday morning which is the longest stretch since we arrived here in Australia. Our favourite game is to move her toys from one place another and then back again. We repeat several times until Charlotte decides we have had enough. We sat in her tent this evening and read 1 book about 40 times. I tried to introduce others, but she would just throw them out of the way and pick up the same one over and over again. I tried to hide it, but she would just give me a "just read the damn book" look and we would begin reading again. I could hear Kate giggling everytime I would start the same book again.

On Sunday, we all went into the hills to Warrawong Nature reserve. It is a free nature reserve with many types of Australian animals. We saw an albino Kangaroo which was quite interesting looking. We thought we would get to see a Duckbilled Platypus, but there were none at that time of day. Charlotte chased down an emu, but quickly retreated when it turned around and looked at her. It was a good day, Kate and I agreed that we are going to try and get out and explore as much as we can.

It is Tuesday night now and today was Melbourne Cup day. It is a big deal of a horse race and there were many parties throughout the city and country. Horse racing is so huge here and this is by far the biggest race of the year. People, young and old, get dressed to the nines (ladies all have some type of god awful hat) and watch "The race that stops the nation!" I did not watch it, Kate did not watch it, Charlotte watched Barney. Australians wait all year for this day, horse racing is a big part of the culture here as you can bet on the ponies in pretty much every corner store.

-Neale

Happy Halloween

Since we were all feeling so much better this weekend, we decided to have a little fun. After last weekend, which was spent taking care of each other and trying to feel better, we were ready for an outing or two. Friday was Halloween and although it really isn't celebrated here, Charlotte still dressed up in her costume. Instead of trick or treating (which again isn't done here) ,we took her out for ice cream after supper. A fair substitute for mini chocolate bars and candy corn, I guess. She wasn't too keen on the hat that went with her costume, but we managed to get one before we left for ice cream.

The next picture is of her in McDonalds eating her treat. She was pretty enthusiastic about the huge cone we got her (it wasn't until later that we thought we should have asked for a baby cone, which they may not even have). Even after she was clearly done with it (and long before it was finished), it was hard to get the cone away from her sticky little hands.

We took her outside after getting her cone and she splashed around in the fountain for a while. It could have helped to clean her off a bit, but as you can see, she was still clutching her ice cream cone.

She also decided that it was time for a poop about the time this shot was taken, so soon after we headed back to the car and then straight home to clean up our messy child. A fun Halloween evening, even if it was somewhat different than it would have been if we were at home in Saskatoon.

"Oh no"

Charlotte's newest phrase is "Oh no". It applies to just about everything. No more strawberries at breakfast? "Oh no". Can't find dolly's bottle? "Oh no". Time to change her diaper? "Ohhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooo" (she is still quite defiant when it comes to diaper changes). Can't reach the books at the back of the cupboard? "Oh no".Getting ready to go for a walk? You guessed it, "Oh no". See? Many varied uses for this expressive phrase.

We're hoping to get to meet Jen and Rod's new baby this weekend. They will likely be home from the hospital sometime in the next day or two.

Charlotte is slowly getting over her cold (Neale and I are also both slower to recover than we'd like), but has been in mostly good spirits and has been sleeping quite well, despite her congestion. We're looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home, even though it appears the weather is not going to be great. As Charlotte would say, oh no.

Cheerios and acrobatics

This morning I've found myself laughing a lot. Not a bad way to start a morning that had me awake at 6 am to the sounds of Charlotte coughing and hacking away in the room next to me. From the second she woke up today, she was in a silly mood. When I went in to get her from her room she greeted me with a big, goofy, snotty smile and said "Mama!" then she proceeded to run down the hall to the front room, pull the curtains apart and giggle. At what, I'm not sure, but obviously she was happy to be awake, which made it easier for me to be up, too. After a few little impromptu dances, she was ready for breakfast. Cherrios, banana and orange juice. She was determined to feed herself the cereal today, as you can see. Most of the milk ended up on her legs or the floor, and she never really got more than 1 or 2 Cherrios in her mouth per spoonful. It took about 40 minutes for her to eat, and that was before she even got to the banana.

After breakfast, she was ready for play time. Lately this has included a lot of acrobatic and/or climbing activities. Today she had located her pink Ikea stool (last night I tried to hide it to avoid this type of thing) and placed it carefully on top of her Dora the Explorer mini-couch. She then proceeded to climb onto the couch and then got on top of the stool, soon standing upright. She looked so proud. From here she tried to carry her stool, which isn't heavy but is awkward, to Mom & Dad's room. Once there she put the stool on the bed (our bed is quite low to the ground and she can easily climb on to it) and then, once again, climbed on to the stool. Soon enough, she was standing on the stool, very pleased with herself.

Despite her cheery mood and all of these enjoyable moments this morning, we had to skip going to Montessori. Her cough is still quite bad, her nose is runny and she still has a bit of a fever. She's sleeping now, and my hope is that when she wakes up, she'll be just as happy as she was when she went down.

Thanks Kate, this blog is a great idea!

Hi All, Neale here.

I think this blog is a terrific idea, thanks for getting it rolling Kate.

It has been a difficult stretch spending so much time on the road, especially with Kate and Charlotte both being bit hit by a cold. I think we are all looking forward to the upcoming summer months and getting to spend a lot more time together exploring Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. We have already experienced some of the things that Adelaide has to offer: the zoo, an AFL grand final party, a nature reserve, a weird little german town up in the hills and the endless beaches that are right out our front door. The aparment we live in is quite nice, has a beautiful view and is very central to everything we need.

I have not really had an opportunity to explore Sydney or Melbourne as I have been quite busy, and quite frankly I want to share it with my girls. Although, I did do the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb, as I knew Kate would not becasue of the heights. I did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did - Greg and I did it together and I would recommend to anyone who visits Sydney. Kate got a T-shirt - she was happy with that.

I now have the cold and have it passed it on to my work colleagues - they are thrilled with their recent acquisition.

Thanks Kate, I miss you and Charlotte all the time.

I look forward to seeing you at all at xmas.

Wondering . . .

So, day two of blogging.

I'm wondering how long it is going to take my sweet little girl to get back on her regular sleep schedule after having it up-ended while being sick. She should be soundly sleeping for her regular 3 hour nap right now, but I can hear her rattling around and talking to herself (and occsionally coughing and sputtering through the phlegm that is ever-accumulating) in her crib as I type. Neale and I have never been very good at letting her "cry it out", so I suspect that I'll be heading in to her room shortly to console her and likely take her out of her crib to play a while longer before she REALLY goes down for a nap. Sure enough, the rattling and talking has turned in to cries for "mama", so I better go check on her. . .

Life in Adelaide, part I

After some encouragement from friends and family, I have decided to start a blog to document our family adventures while living in Adelaide, Australia. . . Here goes!

Today is October 27, 2008. After a weekend spent taking care of a sick little baby (and trying to get in as much rest as possible to get over the cold that I had also come down with), Charlotte and I are having a very quiet Monday. She's still quite sick - very congested in her chest and nose - not really a pretty sight, but my hope is that she will get better as quickly as she got sick. Unlikely, but I'll still keep my fingers crossed. Normally we'd have gone to Kindergym today, but that will have to wait until next week. In fact, I suspect we will miss a lot of our regular activities this week, unless the aforementioned quick recovery actually does take place.

Just as we were gearing up for the hot weather here, things have regressed back to cool temperatures (at least for today). It was 37C on Saturday, and today the high is 16C. It's now 3:30pm and I don't think it's reached the high yet . . . Oh well. The forecast is for mid-30s for the rest of the week. Sounds nice, but it's hard to do much outside with a toddler when the weather is that hot. I'd be happy with 25C day after day, but it's not likely that there is any chance of that happening.

Halloween is just around the corner, and it will be interesting to see how differently it is celebrated (or not) here. I've heard that it's not a big deal at all, and so it seems, as there are only a few shops that have anything even resembling Halloween in stock. Trick or treating is DEFINITELY not done here, but a few people have mentioned that kids will, on occasion, dress up. We were sent a costume for Charlotte from her Grandma back home, so at least we'll have some pictures of her all dressed up. Our neighbors across the hall are half Canadian (by that I mean one half of the couple is Canadian), so perhaps we can do some sort of Halloween activity with them and their little boy who is 3.

That's it for my inaugural blog. Hope I did ok . . .