Bunny & Paw Visit - Part 1

At the end of September, my parents, also known as "Bunny and Paw" by the kids, came over to Oz for their first visit.  It was such a welcome break from the day-to-day life, and we were all thrilled to see them arrive after that 24 hour trip...it's a doozie folks.

A two-week visit would have been a treat, but we were in for four whole weeks with our precious family, so their visit will be spread into multiple posts.

we made a sign for them to see at the airport that the kids colored themselves.  Of course Caden didn't want to hold it by himself...too embarrassed.  And, don't ask me why I'm standing like that...I know I look goofy.

So glad Mr. Kookaburra decided to make a showing that first afternoon and introduce himself to our visitors.

There's not much to say about the first two weeks other than it rained.  It's something when sunny Queensland gets the most rain they've had in something like 50 years.  I'm happy for the state, but it sure did put a damper on our plans!

Our first trip out was to Burleigh Heads. A quaint little beach town just a bit farther south than Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast.  It wasn't the blue-sky picturesque day that we were hoping for, but no rain = opportunity.

looking for shells

making sandcastles

proud of her find

hangin' with Paw

our crew...minus Bunny, behind the lens.

the rocks at Burleigh looked almost black on this part-cloudy day...that's Surfer's in the far distance...doesn't show up as well on screen as it does in the real photo, but it makes for an amazing backdrop!

we had fun looking in the tide pools for fish and shells - they are full of treasures like these.

the girls had fun feeding the gulls.

feed them and they will come

then we took a bush walk

here's our noisy little parade.

one of the many creepy-crawleys.

On the south side of Burleigh was one of the quietest and calmest beaches I have seen since we've been here.  It looked like a great place to play with small children or just float around in the water.  I'm pretty sure it's on the list of places to go back and see again.

The following week, we took B&P to the Australia Zoo.  It was our second trip, but it was just as much fun as the first!  This time it was school holidays and we went to see Bindi the Jungle Girl perform and her mom, Terrie Irwin, feed the crocs with little Bob-bob.  It still gets me that Steve isn't there doing what he loved so much.  I can only imagine Australia's sense of loss when his life was taken. 

Bindi and the Jungle Girls

Terrie Irwin, Bindi and Bob-bob waiting to feed the crocs

look at the size of that thing!  He's about to do the death roll.

posing with Steve...crikey!

feeding the elephants

Caden got to meet one of his favorite characters - Ben 10

one of the cute and cuddlies at the zoo

one of the many walls that pays tribute to Steve's amazing life and career.

little devil

cool roo

marin wasn't sure she wanted to get much closer to the koala.

caden wanted to take his photo with this gigantic statue...

monkey see monkey do...

and Bunny & Paw too

That's one more successful trip to the Australia Zoo under our belts.  I sincerely hope that next year they run the same special we got in on this year.  If you visited in the month of August you got a pass for the rest of the year.  That's a great deal considering the price is something like $60 per adult! That said, the zoo seems to spend it's profits wisely and put them into the things that they promote like conservation and wildlife research.

Later in the week, Bunny tried her hand at driving on the wrong side of the road.  Luckily, our car is still in one piece after our trip to the grocery.

And to wrap up, a few photos with our favorite Texas grandparents on the back patio...we spend so much time in this area of our house.  It really is an extension of our living space.  These photos don't show it, but one of my favorite memories from this whole trip was waking up to a house full of loved ones, who (lucky me) were already up and moving around in the morning, usually relaxing and drinking coffee to the sounds of the birds waking the world up.  We also spent a lot of time there in the evenings where Bunny would sit with an audience of 3 to watch the bats fly by during twilight. There are amazing colonies of gigantic fruit bats who live in the Brisbane area, which I will post more about soon.  But back to the grandparent lovin...

We love visitors! Big smiles!

Keeping it Simple

In line with the freedom I've felt since moving to Australia to reflect on why I am doing certain things or spending my time in certain ways, I could not get in gear to throw a birthday party for my kids this year...much less three.  I had this great idea that to take some of the burden off I would just throw one huge house party for all three of them (since they mostly have the same friends anyway) and I would theme it "our favorite things" since Caden was set on Star Wars, Marin on Dora, and, well, Hallie is still too little to have many specific preferences for characters or themes.

However, as the days and weeks wore on and the target period got closer and closer, I still couldn't get up an ounce of excitement or motivation to start the process.  After some serious honesty sessions with myself, I realized that surely our lives and photo albums could live without a fully themed birthday party for one year (at least) and that none of my children would be scarred by the omission.  Can you hear that?  That's the sound of unnecessary stress leaving the building.  Whew!  There is something about trying to figure out how to do all the little things and put the finishing touches on a party in a country where everything is different - costs, stores, brands, etc. that can wear you out faster than singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow."  Nothing about that process sounded fun or necessary to me this year, so why not take a break?

Well that's just what we did and we are all still doing just fine.  So, what did we do for our birthdays?  Both Caden and Marin were sent to school with treats for them to celebrate with their school mates, and then that night the kids had fun opening presents and cards from family and friends back in the States, plus Mommy & Daddy of course.  S-I-M-P-L-E. What's so great is that they both felt celebrated and mommy didn't have to lose her ever-lovin mind.  It was a win - win. And that "S" word, it's the best thing to enter my life since the birth of my last child.  S-I-M-P-L-E...it's such a great thing!

A few birthday photos, proving that you can have a great birthday without a massively planned party.

First day as a five year old

the big boy even let his little sister open one of his presents

what else? Star Wars galore.

 enjoying a birthday cupcake.

bad to the bone.

 wheeeee on my new scooter.

for Marin's birthday, we spent the afternoon at a park with some of our dear friends the Purnell's, and went later for fish and chips.  This crew couldn't get enough scooter time.

as we ate, we noticed carload after carload of high school age kids dressed in formals right outside the restaurant where we were eating.  Later, on the way back to our car, a disco bus pulled up with another load of partiers and, after unloading, the bus driver let our kids go to the back and dance to Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg and who knows who else.  It was such a birthday treat for our little sassy dancer.

when we got home, we had Marin's favorite - cupcakes with chocolate icing. I love the effect of the soft blur of this photo and the sweetness in her eyes.  

afterwards - opening presents.

more Dora stuff = happy 3 year old.

So, that's two birthday's down and one left to go.  Who knows what we'll do next year, but at least we have 12 whole months to think about it!

I'm So Glad...

I'm so happy to be able to share this song!  It's one of our favorites, even though we only heard it a few times on Noggin a few years ago.  It has stuck in my head for all this time and we still use the chorus to sing about things we are glad about.  I've tried Googling it a few times to no avail, and I finally found it today.  I love that it's a reminder to be thankful for all the simple little things we are blessed with like skin, teeth, feet, etc.  Enjoy and be glad!

Little Creature

Hallie has always been little - since she was in the womb we knew she'd be smaller than our other two babies - but her personality makes up for her size.  She's slowly turning into the comedienne of the Heitzmann clan, but even so, rarely let's us snap a photo of her (you might even notice that she's conspicuously missing from other blog posts coming soon).

On this particular evening, she decided to let mama paparazzi in on her fun.  Cory had just returned home from a run to the bottle shop where he bought a carton of beer brewed in Western Australia, or WA, called Little Creatures.  It's a micro brew, which we both enjoy more than a lot of the traditional beers here in Oz, but imagine our surprise when Hallie climbed right into the box not even knowing how appropriate the name was.  Getting use out of the box made the $60 price tag a little more bearable.  That's right folks, beer here is dear (expensive) and yes that was a purposeful rhyme.  The price for a six pack is anywhere from $13 - $30 and a carton ranges from about $45 to $75.

Our New Pet!

Okay, so it's not officially a pet, per se, but we are having regular visits from the neighborhood Kookaburra. He flew right up to our back patio recently, and after trying crackers, cookies and some other odds and ends flew off without eating a thing.  The following day I caught up with some of my Aussie girlfriends and asked them if it was common for them to pop in for a snack.  They said no, but they thought the birds ate mince (ground beef) and other raw meats.  Say no more, we stopped by the store on the way home from the park and, sure enough, later that day Mr. Kookaburra was back. He gobbled up the raw mince and some raw chicken, but passed on the hot dogs and cooked hamburger patty.  Here are a few pictures of our new friend. Since then he's made numerous, sometimes daily visits to the Heitzmann patio, and we are glad for it.  How cool is it to have a semi-tame bird eating out of your hand?

"Tea" is for Tuesday

One random morning while we were still cooped up in our little two bedroom apartment in the city, I managed to get the kids dressed and outdoors before noon.  Most of our days after grandma left were spent in our PJ's trying to cope with the leftover jet lag and behavior issues (mine included).  Oh we ventured out, it just usually wasn't until after lunch time and it was nothing short of a miracle at that.

But on this particular morning we made it out by 10am or so and wandered over to the Brisbane Botanical Gardens for a play at the one and only playground within a 5 minute walk from our hotel apartment.  When what to my wondering ears should I hear but the sound of American voices...many of them!  Of course I jumped right out of my shell (as any expat has the obligation to do) and asked where the group was from. The rest, as they say, is history.  Here I met my first group of American Mommy friends and it was such a welcome event.

Every week this group gets together on Tuesdays at parks around Brisbane, most of which are within walking distance from a City Cat stop, which are the catamarans that cruise up and down the Brisbane River as a form of public transport. A few of the parks we frequent: South Bank, Roma Street, Orleigh, Bulimba, and once they even ventured out my way to play at Grinstead.  Melisa, or "The Oracle" as they call her (she's been here the longest of the group and has figured out what to eat, where to go, and pretty much has things down pat) is a tea connoisseur and brings us a sampling of her loose-leaf tea of the week.  It's a nice little treat while the kids are busy playing, or fighting, or getting us in trouble with other Aussie moms.

I've been meeting with these girls now for several months, and I must say that it is often a highlight of the work week.  All in all there are five, sometimes six moms and anywhere from 5 to 12 kids depending on who shows up and who's in school.   It is such a blessing to have met these women and get to commiserate about the joys and pains of being an expat here in Brisbane.  Here are some photos I've taken at various times over the past few months.

Here's a large part of the group at Roma St. Parklands: Me, Dawn, Becky &; Paige (Melisa is behind the camera).

The scooter crew...and yes, despite my earlier post about keeping up with the jonses (or not in my case), we did break down and get Caden a Razor for his birthday so that he could join the crew along with Marin on Caden's blue, three-wheeled hand-me down.  Now they can be in the next line up...they LOVE them! Scootering is huge over here.

Another partial group shot: Me, Melisa, Dawn & Paige.  This time Becky was missing - off running around with some of the numerous visitors she had over the US summer months.  This week it was Orleigh Park in West End.  That's the Brisbane River in the background.

Traffic jam! Several of the kids piling up on the slide.  If you look closely, you can see Marin's bandage on her forehead.  This photo was taken less than a week after her fall from the tree.

Abby & Dawn

Caden & Sawyer horsing around

Marin on her favorite Aussie park plaything...I call them whirligigs...they spin and spin and spin...and would make this mommy sick.

And, most recently we met at Kangaroo Point, which is directly underneath the Story Bridge...my favorite bridge in Brisbane.  Here's yet another partial group shot, this time I'm behind the camera.  

Marin & Tahlia.  You can see the bridge behind them.

Caden & Carson

Marin, Tahlia & Abby playing ring around the rosie.  Here they sing it a little differently:

"Ring around the rosie,

Pocket full of posie,

A tissue, a tissue, we all fall down!"

Caden, Sawyer, Brady, Marin & Avery playing with Ms. Melisa's antique glasses after we were finished with our tea {and wine ;0)} Tahlia's in the background too!

Not sure where we are meeting next week, but it's always an adventure to be sure!