Sydney

In our final hurrah before coming home, Eric and I spent some time in Sydney. Well, Eric had to come do some work up here and I came along. What else was I going to do?! Even though Eric worked, we were able to get out and see some of the sights. While Sydney is great and is definitely tourist friendly, I prefer Melbourne. It's just cooler.

Anyway, this will probably be our last post from abroad - our flight home is April 28 (only 11 days from now)! As much as we've enjoyed our time here, we're both ready to get back to Seattle and set up our home for Wiggles! I'm sure we'll be in touch with all of you not too long after we get back to the States. We're very excited!!!

Fiji Trip

Here are pictures from our trip to Fiji. We called it our babymoon (last vacation for a while). We only really had two full days there, but managed to get in some snorkeling, kayaking, swimming and relaxing.

UV

In my most sincere New Year's resolution ever, I decided to make a concerted effort to keep in better touch with friends and family. I've taken up the challenge posed to myself with a flurry of emails and sometimes even phone calls to loved ones. In that same vein, however, I figure I should begin to blog more regularly as well (because we all know that Eric sure isn't going to do it!). So, we'll see how long this lasts...

As we reach the height of summer here in Melbourne, saying it gets wicked hot is an understatement. Not only is the temperature going to reach about 100 degrees tomorrow, the 10 year drought that Victoria is in the midst of makes going outside quite unpleasant. I mean, there's a reason I chose not to live in Arizona with the majority of my family! This weather is definitely reaffirming that choice for me. But, in addition to the high temperatures and extreme dryness, the UV index is at at least 10 every day, sometimes reaching as high as 12. In case you don't know, a UV indication of 10 means that you really shouldn't stay outside for more than about 20 minutes before you will begin to experience sun damage. Even on cool and/or cloudy days, the UV index is at least 10, if not higher. That's right, Eric and I can't even do the 25-30 minute bike ride to work from our apartment without worrying about extreme sun exposure. Eric refuses to put on sunscreen, claiming he'd just sweat it all off anyway, but I still think it would do some good. Yesterday, for example, I went for a walk around a nearby lake. The entire walk took me about two hours. I put on sunscreen before I left yet still managed to get sunburned in those small slivers of skin showing where my shirt had shifted!

It's amazing how much the ozone actually protects you from the sun. I know that I've always taken it for granted. But, being a pasty white person down here gives me a whole new appreciation for the ozone and how much it protects me.

It's about time!

Sorry for the long hiatus from posting!

Eric and I took a three week Christmas vacation back to the States and were able to see both of our families and some of our friends, even though we didn't make it back to Seattle. Our first stop back was in Arizona to see my family, my sister's new house, and Lari and Amos. One of the highlights of family time for me was playing "Monsters" with my niece, Victoria. She's 3 and currently in to Scooby Doo, so that's where fighting monsters came from. The game basically involves running around, screaming, chasing, jumping on beds, and pillow fights. Every time I saw her, she wanted to play. It was very, very cute!

Another highlight of our time in AZ was going on a road trip with Lari and Amos to New Mexico to visit Amos's brother and family. They're really great people and, of course, it was nice to be able to spend all that time with Lari and Amos just hanging out.

After about 10 days in AZ, we left for Virginia to see Eric's family. I was a bit nervous because I'd never met them before, but they were all really great. One of the highlights while we were there was Eric's grandmother. We went and visited Eric's grandparents twice while we were there and they're quite lovely as well. The second time we went to visit them was the night before we left back to AUS. As we were leaving, Eric's grandmother gave me a hug, which I thought was very sweet. Then she took both of my hands and looked and me and said, "You know, you're very lucky." What could I do but laugh and agree?! Of course she's right - I know I'm very lucky to have found such a great guy as Eric. It was just a funny, cute moment and I'll remember it forever.

Also while we were in VA we drove down to Athens to see Tom and Liz, which was very nice. Although it rained almost every day that we were there, it was so great just to be able to hang out and talk to some great friends we haven't seen in a while. Liz and Tom also have the most personable cats that I've ever met and really provided for tons of entertainment. Actually, they're very social and have personalities that you'd expect to find in dogs, not cats. We were in Athens for New Years and went to a really great vegetarian (vegan?) organic restaurant in Athens. Being in the South and finding a good New Years event when New Years Eve is on a Sunday was no small feat, but Tom and Liz managed to plan a great night! Two of Tom's colleagues came out with us and they were also both very, very friendly and nice. It made me happy to know that Tom and Liz have managed to find some neat people to hang out with down there.

All in all it was a great vacation. The most disappointing thing, though, was that I left my camera in Melbourne so we don't have any pictures of our entire trip! That really makes me sad. At least we've got all the wonderful memories with our family and friends.

Now we're back in Melbourne, enjoying the summer sun. Oh, we've moved so here's our new address:

1506/80 Clarendon St
Southbank VIC 3006

Although we got the Internet working, we don't have an adaptor plug for our IP phone yet. As soon as we do, I'll let you all know!

So, we hope you all had a good new years and we look forward to hearing from you all and heading back home sometime in '07!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving - November 2006

Obviously, Australians do not celebrate the wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving. Well, we decided that we couldn't let the season pass without celebrating, so we held our own Thanksgiving down here. It turned out to be a great time for all for all of the Americans down here and we were able to get all of the traditional fixings that make Thanksgiving a feast to remember. Over the past years, I've always celebrated Thanksgiving with Lari and Amos and, while it was sad not to be with them this year, we made the best of it. Ryland even came to visit, so we had a little slice of our Seattle life with us!

And with the passing of Thanksgiving, it means that we're also one step closer to Christmas! In fact, Eric and I will be flying home in a little more than two weeks! I guess that means we should get shopping for some gifts. I must say, I'm very excited to come back to the States and see both of our families and some of our friends. We're disappointed not to be able to make it back to Seattle, but such is life sometimes. We'll be back soon enough!

Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup - November 2006

Yes, we know this post has been a long time coming! In any case, we are now happy to show you all these wonderful pictures from the Melbourne Cup. It was very fun, though I only saw two races. Everyone dressed up and we all drank champagne. The only down side to the whole day was that it was very cold. Luckily for me, I had my bobblicious shawl (and Eric) to keep me warm.

Other than that, we are planning on having a belated Thanksgiving next weekend, so at least we won't totally miss out on the feast. In more holiday news, Eric and I have booked our flights home for Christmas and unfortunately will not make it back to Seattle for the holidays. We'll get to see our families and some of our friends, so it'll still be a great trip, but sorry Seattle friends, it looks like we'll have to wait until April or so to get together again!

Zoo

We went to the zoo a while back and just finally put up some pictures. Hopefully we can get out and see a few these in the wild.