Now it is cool

The weather has finally sorted itself out and it has been reasonably cool for the past couple days - good thing, since it was making us all a little crazy. Over two weeks with temperatures around 40C -- too hot! Charlotte often cooled off by climbing under her table and resting her head on the chilly tiled floor.

A lot of people have been contacting us asking about the fires in Victoria - it is being called Australia's worst natural disaster ever. Luckily, we're about 900 km away from the area the fires are in, so we're not really affected by it, other than that our hearts go out to those who have lost so much. Now the government has announced that they believe the fires were started by arsonists, which is so, so sad and disappointing.

Things have been relatively quiet lately as Charlotte is sick (yes, again). She's had a tummy bug for almost a week and it has really taken the wind out of her sails. She sleeps a lot, and when she's awake she's whiney and uncomfortable. Poor little thing. We thought she was on the mend, but then yesterday and today she's had a fever, so who knows what's going on in that wee little body. We had to skip Montessori today, and we missed our first swimming class on Monday. Hoping to be able to take her to Kindergym tomorrow, but we'll see.

I joined a gym just down the beach from our place. I've been going from 6-7 in the morning with our Canadian neighbor, Melissa. I really like the concept that they have going at this particular gym - the trainers who work there provide a new workout everyday, and the idea is that members follow the work out that is posted on a whiteboard. You do it at your own pace, and it ensures you work your entire body and exercises are rarely repeated day-to-day. It's especially good for someone like me who can easily get in to a rut at the gym when left to my own devices. There is so much variety in the workouts I've done so far that I think I'll find it hard, if not impossible, to get in to a rut! It works out for both Neale and I, because as soon as I get home from the gym in the morning, he gets up and goes for a run - we both have our workouts in before Charlotte even wakes up!

We're thinking of going away this weekend - leaving on Saturday after Neale's baseball game and driving north to either Port Augusta or the Yorke Peninsula. Either way, we'll spend the night somewhere and head back to Adelaide on Sunday afternoon. Now that the weather has cooled off, these kinds of trips are much more appealing. Will post more about our weekend once it's come and gone. Happy Valentine's Day!

Neale and Charlotte colouring at her new table. She like to have company when sitting at her table, so for those of you coming to visit, be prepared . . .

Click on this photo to enlarge it, and if you squint and use your imagination, you can see the dorsal fin of a dolphin just to the right of the pole out in the water. They are much easier to see in person, I promise.

+44 C

Hi Everyone! It's been a while since we've updated the blog - the big trip home and back, and the recoveries on either end of the trip have meant there hasn't been a lot of time to sit down and post something.

We've settled back in to our routine here in Adelaide - Charlotte and I went to Montessori this morning and it was like Charlotte never left. She got right back in to the swing of things very easily. We weren't able to play outside like usual today, though, because of the heat. It was 37C by 8:30 this morning, and over 40C by 11 this morning. Crazy!

Last weekend was a long weekend (Australia Day was Monday) and we took it upon ourselves to do a little exploring. After all, many of you are coming to see us over the next few months, so we are of the mind that we need to get to know our surroundings a little better so we can show it off when you're here.

We were up early Saturday and decided to take advantage of that and head out on a little road trip to the southern beaches along the Gulf St. Vincent coast. After navigating our way out of Adelaide, we ended up along a gorgeous stretch of coastline with very impressive beaches, cliffs and views (see above). On 4 different occasions during our little road trip we came across the Tour Down Under. Unbeknownst to us, we were cutting a path right through their cycling route. We were lucky enough to catch very fleeting glances of Lance Armstrong (I think he's somewhere in the picture below, but I don't know which one is him). Even though he wasn't the winner, we were happy to see him, mostly because I don't think either of us could name another famous cyclist . . .

By the time Sunday rolled around, the heat was upon us, and there's no sign of it ending. The weekend forecast has LOWS of 30C. Luckily we've been invited to a barbecue at a friend's house on Friday. They have a pool. You're probably thinking, "well, how bad can it be when you live at the beach?", which is true, but honestly, it is too hot to be out at the beach for any length of time, especially with Charlotte. If she was content staying in the water with her hat on, it may be OK, but she prefers to run around on the sand and fling her hat off, which isn't the best thing to do in this kind of weather.

We'll post more soon, including some pictures of our trip home over Christmas and Josh's wedding!

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!