Oh how my belly has grown!

Just to update you all...This Wednesday I am 28 weeks. All is going well. This baby moves a lot! And I do love feeling it move. Steve often feels it move too. And we can see my belly move at times too. I am feeling great, so far I have been so blessed with such a smooth pregnancy. 12 weeks left!

Here are some pictures of my belly growing.

19 Weeks

20 Weeks

21 Weeks

22 Weeks

24 Weeks

25 Weeks

26 Weeks

27 Weeks

It's a lot of fun to see my belly grow - it means the baby is getting bigger! I can't imagine getting much bigger though. And my belly button is almost out which is strange too!

Baby A scan!

This is me and the baby bump yesterday! We did not find out the sex of the baby as we want to be surprised.

We are 20 weeks today! Officially half way there (unless Baby A decides to come late). We had a big scan today, it was very exciting. I felt like it was Christmas - I had butterflies in my belly all day leading up to the scan.

The doctor did almost an hour scan but the video attached is about 5 minutes. The scan is a lot of back and forth, gray and blurs. If you don't know what you're looking for, you could miss it. So I've tried to narrate below what you'll see.

It starts with the beating heart; very quickly you'll be able to see the four chambers. Then the Doppler look at the heart showing the blood go into and out of the heart.

Next you can see a side profile with the baby's head stretched. It's amazing how well you can see the spine.

Then is a view from the top of the head. You can see the dark eye sockets (the cursor goes over these).

From here you can see an arm (the white line is the bone) and then it will bring its hand up to its face. You can see it's hand, thumb and four fingers (the cursor goes over this).

The baby continues to move its arms and will grab its foot with its hand up near its face.It's a better profile picture as well, you can see the nose and mouth. If you look in the chest, you can see the beating heart.

More views from the top of the head, then more profile with arms and legs moving. At one point, the cursor goes over the umbilical cord all the way on the left.

Go to this link for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZlcn-okT6s

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Kate

Thailand - Finally Here! (And it's a long one)

It's finally here. Four months it took me to get this blog together. Not entirely true. Four months to figure out what I wanted to write about and then one hour to write the blog and then another week to stop being lazy and attach the pictures so I can FINALLY post it.

We were, yet again, very blessed to have the opportunity to travel in Thailand. We had been saying for two years that we wanted to go. Luckily we stayed an extra year in Australia and were able to do this.

The trip was amazing! We visited Bangkok and Tubkaek Beach. Perfect timing for Bangkok as Thailand had violent protests about the government in Bangkok only a few weeks after we left. It is normally a very peaceful country.

We were busy doing a lot while we were there: seeing the Royal Palace, visiting temples, seeing different statues of the Buddha, taking many different modes of transportation (tuk tuk, ferry, bus, train, subway, taxi, van, motorbike, long boat, kayak and airplane - we tried to take as many as we could), kayaking the Andaman Sea, going to a snake show, visiting markets, touring the city and canals.

Bangkok is way more westernized than I had pictured. The downtown is anyway. Skyscrapers, malls (with security metal detectors upon entry), millions of cars and pollution. We stayed on the perimeter of the downtown area where it looks a bit more like I pictured Thailand to be. Lots and lots of people walking in this area. Sidewalks where every other square of concrete is uprooted and you constantly feel like you're walking up and down hill. Hundreds of street food vendors. Steve was up early most mornings and said it was amazing at how early the vendors set up. Some earlier than 5am. And they would still be there when we ended our day at 5 or 6pm. And they would literally have a tin lunch truck but with no roof or they would set up a card table with a stove and wok and cook ALL day long! These people definitely earned their money, which was next to nothing. There were also men who made their living by repairing shoes on the side of the road. No store. No lunch truck. Just a man sitting on one crate working over another crate which served as his workbench.

We went to a few different markets and they were HUGE! They had everything here, literally. Food, clothes, handbags, candles, lamps, trinkets, even puppies. They did! I'm not sure if those puppies were legal or even had the right shots, but if you wanted a puppy, you go to the market. And it was places like this, as well as the lunch truck, that you got really great tasting authentic Thai food. This is where the locals were every day, this is where they ate. So we got some really good food here.

Tubkaek Beach was more like the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. We stayed at a small resort on a gorgeous beach. Ofcourse we are not really "resort" people so we found other things to do at the resort or nearby towns to stay active. The water was gorgeous; although now come to think of it, we didn't even swim in the water. Not once. The resort was beautiful, luxury but very Thai. We had dinner at an amazing buffet there. Right on the beach with a three piece group singing and playing guitar. It was so peaceful and beautiful. There was so much food, steak, lobster, prawns, salads, pastas, anything you could think of. They had a bunch of different canapes and a variety of small servings for dessert.

The resort had seven pools all in a row, different shapes and sizes and at different levels along the walk down the stairs from our room to the beach. We only used the pools for 1/2 hour total during our whole trip and only one hour before our car picked us up for the airport. We did that just to say we used the pools. This was how we 'used' the pools: get in. Snap a picture of us in pool. Get out. Next pool. Get in. Snap picture. Get out. Next pool. for all 7 pools. That took us about 1/2 hour total. Sad. But like I said, we're not really resort people.

Highlights of our trip included:

1. Elephants. We rode on top of elephants through the jungle. Of course we had a tour guide, but it was so crazy! They are huge. So lovable and friendly. We were able to feed them pineapples and bananas. You just hold one out in your hand, and they will use their trunk to grab it from you. Of course I was afraid to get elephant slobber on me. During our ride through the jungle, the elephant trumpeted. SO LOUD! It was so great though, just like I'd always imagined as a child. The elephant raised its trunk and out came this enormous shrill. Finally, not in the jungle, but out on the road as we were riding back to our hotel, we passed a man riding an elephant on the side of the road. He didn't have a bike or a car as his transportation, he had an elephant! It was insane and almost surreal to see this. A two ton elephant, 10 feet tall with a tiny Thai man on top riding to their next destination. It was quite incredible to be able to experience elephants in these ways.

2. Renting motorbikes. I was so excited for this! I never rode a motorbike or motorcycle before. Not even on the back of one. We hired one each for Steve and me while we were in Tubkaek Beach. At 9.30am we arrived at the front desk to retrieve our bikes for the day. It wasn't until the girl instructed me to sit on the bike that I started to get nervous. She said, 'You've riden a bike before, right?' I told her no and she was quite nervous to give me the key to the bike, which only made me more nervous to take the key and then ride the bike. Wasn't it like a bicycle? Like that old saying 'it's like riding a bike?' No. A motorbike is nothing like riding a bicycle except that they both have only two wheels. Needless to say I chickened out and happily got on the back of Steve's bike. In retrospect, it was the best idea as the traffic was crazy and I didn't know where we were going. So to have us on separate bikes, it would have been very difficult to stay together or communicate if one of us needed to take a break and the one in front kept on driving. Being on Steve's bike, I was able to be his side and rearview mirrors. On the main roads, there was quite a bit of traffic. It was similar to Route 73 in Jersey. Very busy, quite speedy, merging, turning, and few opportunities to do any of these because there were so many cars. To get to the main road, we probably had to drive about 20 minutes. We left our hotel and it was exhilerating. Riding without doors, with the wind in our faces. Luckily there weren't any bugs. And motorbikes are mostly the way to travel on back roads. In fact, we regularly saw a family of 4 on one motorbike. No joke. The father driving with a small child in front of him, then a small child behind him and finally the mother at the very back. I have to remind myself that these are tiny Thai people who do not have the hips and butt I do which take up the entire back seat. There is no way we could have fit two small children on our bike. Plus, none of them were wearing helmets! Just insane. But I guess it's just normal and a way of life for them. Anyway, so 20 minutes to the main road, we left our hotel and after driving for 10 minutes, we decide to stop at 7-11. That's right. 7-11. They are international and even in small towns. Because it was on the other side of the road, Steve would need to do a U-turn. He came to a full stop, then asked me to get off the bike because he wasn't sure what the weight would be like doing this turn. No problem. I hopped off and looked both ways to cross the street while he began his U-turn. It was more of a half U-turn as he lost his balance and ended up off the bike and the bike was on its side. I slowly walked over to him. He was moving and he wasn't going too fast so I knew it wouldn't be too bad. It seemed like he had just fallen off a bicycle. Again, motorbikes and bicycles have nothing in common except for two wheels. It turns out that he hurt himself pretty badly. A cut down his right shin that went for about 5 inches, scrapes on one knee and the other shin and a couple bruises here and there. Since we were at 7-11, we bought some soap, water and cotton balls to wash out the dirt and rocks to assess how bad it was. A local man came over to try to help, he actually tried to help wipe off the blood. After washing, Steve decided to go to the clinic. The local man drove us into town and we spent the next two hours waiting for and getting serviced by the doctor. Steve had to remain on bed rest for the remainder of the day. We decided to hire the bikes for the following day too since we only got to ride it for a total of 20 minutes. And it was great. We rode around our area of the penninsula, stopped at a temple, a small town for lunch, waterfalls, a beach, and a cobra show. We were definitely happy to have rented these although Steve had a minor accident.

3. We visited a cave and a waterfall in the same day. Although they were both beautiful sights, what I remember most was being a celebrity. There must have been a school field trip because at each place were a couple of buses and tons of kids. Steve and I were walking around the cave looking at things when a little girl asked me my name. I told her. She then said, 'You are beautiful.' So sweet! And quite flattering. Then Steve came over, they asked his name and then said, 'You are handsome.' So, that was sweet too. But it was then less flattering for me. Not that I was jealous and of course Steve is handsome. But, I realized then that they were probably practicing their English. They must have learned in school that girls are beautiful and boys are handsome and it's a nice thing to say to boys/girls. Oh well, they seemed excited to meet and talk with us. Onto the waterfalls. A small walk and passing some school kids and there were these great waterfalls. All the kids were in the waterfall. There was a small natural pool at the bottom shallow enough to be safe where anyone could go in. Because there were about 100 kids there, we decided just to observe. While watching the excitement, a little girl came up to me asking me if I could take her picture. I said yes and went to take her camera. She then skipped away from me, to her teacher, handed her teacher the camera and then ran back to me to sit next to me. She wanted her picture with me! How cute was that? She said thank you when it was done and then another girl came to sit next to me. After she was done, another girl. About 10 girls did this and then we got a group shot. It was quite funny and I do not know why they wanted their picture with me. Was it because I had red hair? Had they never seen red hair before? Was it because I was so pale white and they weren't used to that? Perhaps it was because I was so tall and most Thai people are short. Or perhaps it's like the first girl said at the cave, I was beautiful and they just wanted their picture with me. Ha! Anyway, it was a lot of fun for those 10 minutes and I felt like a celebrity.

4. Anytime we ordered a beer, they would give one 40oz bottle with 2 glasses. Apparently Thai people are superstitious - ordering 2 of anything is bad luck. So people won't buy 2 oranges, they will buy 1 or 3. So I can't really explain the 2 glasses that accompanied the 1 un-superstitious bottle of beer. These 2 glasses seem like bad luck to me. After the first time, we then knew to order one bottle and two glasses.

5. Monkeys. At one of the caves, wild monkeys lived there, like 50 of them. They were so tiny. They swung from trees. They fought with each other. They groom each other. The babies feed from the moms or ride on their moms backs as they run around. It was so cool to see these monkeys in their natural habitat. When we arrived, the monkeys were at the top of a cliff. They then used the vines to swing down to the ground level where people were eating. They were so quick and graceful. The best part was that these monkeys took food right from peoples hands. Steve and I both got to feed them.

6. Toilets. Man, how do I describe these? Being on the other side of the world, you may wonder if the water goes down the other way. I have no idea. The big surprise was that it was basically the top of the toilet, like the seat that the boys put up and down, cemented to a hole in the ground. Before we went, sometime in my life, I vaguely remember hearing toilets like these existed. I forgot until we got there. The hotels had regular westernized toilets, but almost all of the public toilets were this hole in the ground. It was quite challenging. I'm not quite sure how boys do it, it seems like there is a far distance between themselves and where the pee ends up; perhaps they have urinals. But for the girls, you put your feet on the toilet seat, and squat. It is quite uncomfortable. To me, squatting is reserved for camping and the woods, not to public toilets. And it's wet. I like to pretend that it's just the water from the toilet splashing up from the flushing, but who knows what it really is. I have tunnel vision with that. So it's a bit slippery. It was an experience to say the least. And I am very grateful that westernized toilets are well above ground and have a seat.

Thailand was an amazing place to go, so gorgeous and welcoming. This country has so much to offer in such a small space and we didn't even see that much of it. I am so glad we got to go there! Looking forward to the next trip...until then...

Cheers,

Kate

Crazy Things People Say to Pregnant Women

I have heard from pregnant women before, 'You won't believe what people say to you or how complete strangers will come up to you in the supermarket and touch your belly without asking.'


I of course, decided that when I got pregnant, I would speak up to these people and politely say, 'Please don't put your hand on me without asking.' I mean, why is it okay to put your hand on a strangers belly? What if I were just fat? Would they put their hand on my stomach then? Do strangers approach me and put their hand on my butt? No.


To date, I have not had any strangers put their hand on my belly. Perhaps that is because I am not clearly showing. But I do have one coworker who feels he is able to touch my belly any time he wants to. I have aggressively and angrily pushed/thrown his arm off of me after he did this. It was not as polite as I would have imagined by asking nicely 'Please do not put your hand on me without asking.' But I couldn't help myself. I felt so uncomfortable. As I am not even out of my first trimester, my uterus is only the size of a grapefruit. And to be nice, my stomach is not that small. I had a little gut to begin with, plus the grapfruit, plus some carbs to curb my nauseau and there is my current bump. Although it is extremely exciting that I am pregnant, I'd say my bump is only 20% baby, and that is under my skin, flesh and fat. So when someone touches my belly at this point, they are simply touching my fat. Again I ask, Would they put their hand on my stomach if I were fat? No. But that is what this coworker has continued to do. I have since made sure that I am carrying something at stomach level, a coat over my arm or a purse to block my belly from being touched.


Being pregnant, and so early pregnant, I thought I would be immune to such belling touching and inappropriate comments. I was wrong. Apparently being pregnant means anyone and everyone can give you unsolicited advice. I might as well wear a shirt that says 'I'm pregnant. Please approach me, touch my belly and/or provide me with unsolicited advice and/or scary pregnant stories.' It is truly unbelievable. It actually makes me wonder how many times I have said inappropriate things to others. I do remember being in sixth grade and constantly telling my family things they didn't want to hear but starting or ending the statement with 'No offense.' As if 'no offense' excused the horrible comment I had just said. Like, 'No offense but that dress makes you look fat.' Or 'I just don't like you, no offense.' That was my mind when I was 12. I truly hope that I have outgrown that and no longer tell people inappropriate things. What is that saying? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.


Here are some things that people have said to me in the less than 13 weeks I have been pregnant:

1. I saw you on Wednesday and thought you might be pregnant. Yeah, I came in, saw your stomach and thought to myself, 'she's definitely pregnant.' But I didn't want to say anything just in case.

2. I have had 8 miscarriages between 6 and 11 weeks.

3. I saw you at Target and saw your bump and you are definitely pregnant! I didn't start showing until the end of my second trimester.

Note from Kate on #3: Screw you lady. We are not all stick thin with the metabolism of a gazelle.

4. My friend had an awful labor. So long and painful. And she really tore.

5. You're pregnant? Oh, I just thought you were putting on weight.

6. You're going to take a nap?!?!?!?!? You just woke up!

Note from Kate on #6: Screw you man. You try building a brain, a heart, lungs and a full body. Then talk to me about if it's okay to take a nap.

7. You should really do pilates. I read that it can really help with labor. You should really make sure that you're keeping active. Do you want the number to my gym? (Advice given by a man whose wife has never been pregnant and after reading an article on keeping active during pregnancy.)

8. Chocolate? You don't really need to be eating that.

Note from Kate on #8: You must be kidding right? I'm pregnant!

9. Do you know what night it happened?

10. Waiting for the next inappropriate comment to take this slot. Will it be your comment?


As most of you know, I do not like being told what to do. But I especially do not like being told what to do if I do not invite some sort of opinion from the other person. It's who I am. But, I believe 9 months of hearing such things will probably help me to improve. There has to be good out of all of these crazy comments, right?


Sincerely,

The fat, tired, chocolate eating pregnant Kate:)

Thank you to shoemaker Hoby of St. James's Street London, Hiram Hutchinson and Charles Goodyear

Steve and I celebrated Christmas on 19th December 2009 this past season. Since we were going home for the holidays, we decided to have 'our' Christmas before we left and to have a small Christmas with few gifts. It was a Sunday night after I had just finished packing for our trip.

One gift for me, one gift for Steve. One gift for me, one gift for Steve. It went on like that for four and a half rounds. Five presents for me and four for Steve. He opened is last present which was an index card. There was a clue! I love games! It was the beginning of a scavenger hunt.

Once he opened the index card he stared at me. I had gotten this idea from a gift my dad gave my mom one year. In Moorestown, where the house has many, many rooms, my dad sent my mom on a scavenger hunt. In the family room, then the study, then the bedroom, then the kitchen, then another upstairs bathroom, the laundry room, then finally back to the family room where her Rolex watch was in the cabinet where the remote controls are stored.

So when Steve stared at me, I explained my inspiration followed by, 'No, your end prize is not a Rolex.'

And so he started. The Moorestown house where my family lived had 15 rooms (including bathrooms). Our teeny, tiny apartment had 3. This was going to be a challenge. Plus, I had to figure out how to plant the clues throughout the rooms without Steve seeing. But he piped on anyway. After the first index card, he was off to the bathroom, then to the kitchen, then to the laundry room, then to the library (small corner in our family room with a chair and shelf of books) and finally under the rubbish bin in the kitchen.

Ahhh, the golden present. It must be a good gift to require a scavenger hunt, right? Well, Steve liked it. The present was tickets to the Golden Plains Festival. A weekend camping and music festival. Just what Steve likes. He was very happy with his gift.

You may remember last year, December 2008 when Steve and I went to another music festival (Meredith Music Festival). It was my first and Steve's umpteenth. (Picture below.) It was challenging to say the least. After that experience, I am shocked that I considered going to another let alone bought tickets as a gift for Steve. It rained the entire time we were there. It was ridiculously muddy. I walked around in wet, muddy sneakers all weekend and had to continue to wear the same pair of wet, soggy, muddy socks as they were the only non-cotton socks I had taken with me. It was a nightmare. We slept a ton and barely any beer had been drunk. But the worst part, and I suppose the best part, was that that had to be the absolute worst conditions to ever see a festival in. It could only go up from here. And it had. Sunday morning we saw sunshine - on our way out. But I had survived, with minimal complaining.

Coincidentally, the Golden Plains Music Festival was to be held at the same amphitheatre. But it was in March and the beginning of autumn. It was going to be a lot of fun as we had four additional people going with us this year.

We arrived early, got a great campsite and set up camp. I can't even remember when it started. When the first drop of invasive rain fell. I almost felt like it hadn't stopped since December of '08 or that this country town has a permanent rain cloud over it. Surely it couldn't rain again, could it? No, it was just a sprinkling. Phew! Close call.

No, I was wrong. In December 2008 when I thought there was no way another festival at this amphitheatre could be that rainy and muddy again...I was wrong. It was. It rained the entire time! Except on the morning we were leaving - why does that always happen? It poured. It hailed. It was cold. It was wet. It was muddy. It was miserable weather. This couldn't be possible. I'm never doing this again, ever!

There was an upside though. After the festival in December 2008 and on our drive back to Melbourne, we stopped at an outdoors store and bought gumboots. They remind me of gardening boots. Basically, they are rain boots. They sat in storage for over a year. 'So glad we purchased them and I'll never get to use them' I would think sarcastically. But Steve suggested we bring them this weekend 'just in case.' I couldn't have been happier. I had the driest feet around. Last year when I was wearing muddy, soggy, wet sneakers with the same muddy, soggy, wet socks I had worn for three days, I had so much gumboot envy as other girls had prepared for the rain. Well, this year I was prepared too! I had gumboots, rain pants and a raincoat. (Picture below.) It was bearable and actually still fun!

I don't know if I'll ever do a festival like that again. When I think of the rain I think no way. When I think it can't possibly happen for a third time, I think I may be able to.

Anyway, to tie it all together...thank you to shoemaker Hoby of St. James's Street London for manufacturing the design of the calfskin leather boot. Thank you to Charles Goodyear for inventing the vulcanization process for natural rubber. And finally, thank you to Hiram Hutchinson who bought the patent to manufacture the footwear and took the rubber from Goodyear and calfskin leather from Hoby to combine them and make the 'Wellington boot' aka the gumboot aka the best footwear that kept my feet warm and dry during this very wet music festival.

These men helped to make my experience bearable and fun! I am actually considering going to another music festival again someday. (Plus, I got lots of compliments on the cute design I had chosen for the gumboots.)

Cheers,

Dry Feet Kate

The Dingo Ate My Thong

Not my thong...Steve's thong. And not underwear, but a flip flop. (Thong is an Aussie term for flip flop; a US thong is called a g-string her in Australia...FYI). Anyway, TRUE STORY!!!!!


Frazer Island over Australia Day weekend (Steve's belated birthday present). A weekend of camping and 4-wheel driving on this strictly beach island. It is literally a beach island. The beach is not used for sunbathing. It is a highway. And the middle of ths island is all sand as well, so it made for a very bumpy ride but a very happy birthday boy.
















This island is off of Queensland and has a population of wild dingoes. Everywhere you go are signs reading 'Be Dingo Safe.' It lists what to do in case of emergencies of a dingo encounter (look it in the eye, cross your arms, if you are with another adult stand back-to-back, do not run away, always accompany small children). It also listed how to prevent encounters with dingoes such as storing food in the car overnight and under no circumstances should you feed a dingo.

















Easy enough. Although I was still scared that a dingo may attack me. They are cute. They look just like dogs. And they are not afraid of people in the sense that they came onto our campsite every night and stood about 6 feet from us. But they are scared if they feel they are being threatened. For instance, as I was scared of being attack, I was on the lookout for dingoes one evening after dinner. It was dark out so it's hard to see sometimes. Every movement of the wind in the bushes would scare me. And finally, a dingo was trotting along out of a bush on the side of our campsite I jumped up and screamed. The poor thing, I scared it more than it scared me. It flinched and scampered away tripping over itself.


The morning after the night we arrived I was packing up our site. We had just learned that Keith and Becky welcomed Maddie into the world!!!! Steve was sitting in the tent doorway looking perplexed. "Where are my thongs?" he asked me. "What do you mean, didn't you take them inside the tent last night?" I pointed to the outside of the tent. Of course I would assume he took everything inside the tent. That's what I would do. Just incase there is a masked murderer or a thief on the island trying to get whatever they can from innocent people sleeping. Always bring everything in the tent so not to tempt those people.


"No, I left them outside the tent. The dingoes must have gotten them." I thought it was a possibility. I mean, if I was afraid of a masked murderer traveling all the way to this remote island, getting through on a 4WD and taking the lives of innocent people, why would it be unlikely that a dingo (animals which were prevalent on the island and which we had seen just the night before) had taken them. Besides, hadn't a dingo eaten a baby before?


Still, as I didn't have proof, I couldn't be 100% positive. Innocent until proven guilty, right?


We finished packing up the site and were spending a few moments enjoying the weather before driving to our next destination. Steve did a scope of the site ensuring we didn't forget anything. And you'll never guess....there on the hill, 10 feet from the entrance to our tent were the platforms or base of Steve's thongs. Unless it was the masked murder, the dingo had taken his thong from right outside our tent in the middle of the night (we didn't even hear them!), taken the thongs only 10 feet away and proceeded to eat the strap on both thongs, again we didn't hear them/it chewing away at the thongs (They are so sneaky quiet).





















But mystery solved. "The dingo ate my thong!" Steve proclaimed. It was a funny moment. Not only do they look like dogs, but they have similar interests as well (eating and chewing on people's shoes). Luckily Steve had a pair of boots he could wear for the rest of the trip.


Other than that exciting Aussie initiation, Frazer Island had gorgeous pure water lakes. One was so blue and clear with white sand beaches that I felt like I was in the carribean. Another lake was the color of honey - it was just beautiful and so peaceful. It was a great trip and Steve was very happy with his birthday present.
















Don't forget to be Dingo Safe - be sure to accompany your children, and thongs, at all times.

Holy Crap it's February!

WTF? February already, and really it's March tomorrow. So Holy Crap it's March!

Where did the time go? 2009 was here and gone in an instant. Here are a few blogs being thrown your way.

We had a great time home for the holidays this past season. It was really nice to be home for Christmas with the appropriate corresponding weather. Snow! We saw snow! I know you all are probably so sick of the snow. In fact, I know a lot of you are as your emails and Facebook status' state this. But for us, it was great to see the snow, to feel the cold, to have the heat on in the house during Christmas (or not on in the case of the Fitzgerald's house).

Again, it was a whirlwind of a visit, not staying more than 2 consecutive nights at one house. A fast 18 days but we did manage to see most people. Those that we did not, we look forward to seeing you again in early 2011. Wow, 2011! Talk about where does time go.

My unbirthday was a lot of fun and a good intro into being 30 plus a fabulous farewell from the states - once again. We are so lucky to have such amazing friends and family.

Not to fret, it is about nine months until we are home for good!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

Summer Lovin'

Thank you Eva - best mother-in-law around! Probaby my one and only fan, but quite encouraging. If nothing else, at least I'll be writing for your viewing pleasure:)

You'll never guess who I brushed shoulders with. Never!

Yesterday I went to the Melbourne Cup races. It's similar to the Kentucky Derby, but the entire city of Melbourne has it as a public holiday. I ventured to the races with three girlfriends, all dolled up in dresses and fascinators. It is a very fun event. The day usually starts off really classy and fun. By the end of the event, which is not even 4pm, boys are being loud and obnoxious and the girls are walking through the city barefoot as their heels hurt their feet. It's a good spectator sport, the races. I like to judge the girls' dresses. I of course, hold it together and do not get wasted walking barefoot through the city.

Anyway, I bet on some horses, but didn't win any of the races. It's quite a thrill being there, waiting an hour between each race. Sitting on a picnic blanket, nibbling on some snacks while drinking champagne. It is packed though, thousands and thousands of people. The actual race itself lasts 3 minutes maximum, but the cheering that goes along with it is exhilerating. You sit around for an hour enjoying the food and drink, then for 3 minutes you stand up, look at the screen because there are thousands of people in front of you and you can't see over them to get an actual view of the horses, and people are just screaming! Rooting for the horse they bet on to come in first place. There were 7 races in total this day that I saw.

So after the races we went to the L'Oreal tent which gives people a quick makeover and a goodybag. When we walked away from that tent, I brushed shoulders with...drum roll please....Sandy from Grease!!!!!! Olivia Newton John!

I wanted to breakout into song and dance of Grease Lightning right there in front of her, all my friends and the rest of Melbourne. But something came over me and I smiled instead. I didn't want to embarrass myself at such a classy event.

It was more exciting that it was Sandy from Grease than Olivia Newton John. She had performed a couple of songs earlier in the day - nothing to write home about. I don't like her music. But I do LOVE her in Grease! It was quite exciting. We get celebrities here in Australia too:)

And if we're being technical, it wasn't that I brushed shoulders with her. I brushed shoulders with the man standing next to her, but same difference when we're talking about celebrities. Needless to say, it was Sandy. It would have been nice if she had performed songs from Grease instead of the Australian National Anthem and even better yet if John Travolta showed up. But I guess you can't get everything you wish for.

Here's a picture of me and my girlfriends I went with. From left, me, Melati, Pretty and Asa.

Baseball

The Phillies are in the World Series!!!! You all know that right now. And by the time you read this, we should know the result of who wins.

So exciting! Go Phils. Poor Steve supports Philly teams for 30 years and they never succeed, then the Phils win last year and make it to the playoffs this year!

We do get to see it on the Internet. And by that I mean, we can see a digitally designed baseball figure, similar to Madden 2000 for Playstation, and updates on the score. Not exactly the same, but it gets us by while we're working and since the games are not aired here.

Franks and beans. Have you seen my baseball? - What movie is that quote from?
If you build it, they will come. - How about that movie?
Baseball movies.

Anyway, Game 6 tomorrow! Go Phils.

And we all know how Game 6 turned out. It was a great effort!

How many times...?

do you think I'll make a promise to myself to actually keep up with this thing? Can't answer that, sorry. Not sure.

Don't you think blogs are kind of self-centered and self-absorbed? For the person who is writing it? All I do is talk about myself. And post it on the Internet. And invite people to read it, saying "Listen to stories about me, let's talk about me." Oh well.

We haven't been on many trips lately, so not too much to blog about, although I think there are a ton of things I've kept out of this blog - not on purpose, maybe because of lack of creativity???

I recently saw Julie and Julia. Julie wrote a blog about cooking all 500+ recipes from Julia Child's cookbook. She had a purpose. She had something specific to write about.

I'll do a survey. And I think the response will be low seeing as it's been six months since my last post, so I'm not sure people even bother to look at this anymore. But when Steve and I are gray and old, we'll be able to read my random thoughts when I was 29 living in Australia. Right, anyway, what was my survey? I can't even remember! Oh, how many of you would like to read a blog from me daily, no matter what the content? Once I get some answers, then I'll decide if I'll do it:)

It is currently 1.51am on Saturday night/Sunday morning for me. Which means at home it is 11am Saturday. I CANNOT sleep! I've been trying for hours to go to sleep! I had Pepsi Max earlier tonight, probably not the best idea.

Steve is away hiking. He is finally getting out there hiking the way he likes to with a few friends. It only took him two years:) And in celebration of 'boys' weekend, I am having a 'girls' weekend! I did some shopping tonight, watched some chick flicks, am going to the spa tomorrow with a girlfriend, indulging in Twilight and then the cinema on Sunday and the races on Tuesday! How great is my life? Pretty great.

I quit my job. I did! Two weeks ago. I quit on a Monday and my boss asked me to rethink my job description. After much stress and little sleep (and Steve being the best supportive husband out there), I quit again on Friday. I have never slept so well! That's a lie, but it's been a relief. Why does work stress people out? Why are some people able to leave work at work? Why does the world turn round? What is art? Are we art? Is art art? Random quotes from movies.

I guess that's it. Nothing to report - thus the lack of blogs.

We are coming home in less than two months though. That is exciting. We will be home for Christmas. It should actually feel like Christmas since it will most likely be cold out. It is dead hot summer here during Christmas, so it doesn't feel like the holiday season.

Hope you are all well and smiling! Can't wait to see you.

Love Always,
Kate

PS I'm taking requests for blog topics!

Appreciate What You Have

Okay, it's come to my attention that there are some unfriendly visitors that have been slowly hanging around me more and more.

I've always thought these unwanted guests would eventually visit, I just never thought so soon. I mean, come on! Why are they bothering me? I've never asked them here. Why show up unannounced or uninvited?

Because they can. I guess that's all there is to it.

Years and years ago, I remember being singled out in Kindergarden for having red hair. My teacher was trying to explain Martin Luther King Day to the class. Her analogy went something like this, 'What happened to black people is like me telling Kathleen she must eat her lunch in the bathroom because she has red hair.' I'm 99% sure this happened because from that day forward, I used to count how many people in my class had red hair.

In my grade school I would count how many people in my class had red hair. There was never anyone new! When I counted on Friday that there were 2 people having red hair, it didn't change by Monday morning, or the next week or the next fall or the entire time we were in grade school.

Strangers would stop my mom to talk to her about my hair. Even as I grew up, strangers would stop me to say they liked my hair, hair dressers would always say 'People would die to have your hair' or 'People pay to have that color.'

In junior high my face used to turn bright red for pretty much any reason (well, it still does) and my Social Studies teacher who was the funniest teacher I've ever had used to call me a chameleon because I was able to change the color of my face to match my hair. When i think about it now, it was pretty ingenious, and very funny.

And of course there is the story of when I got on the bus in 1st grade and another little girl called me Carrot Top. I, of course, had no comeback. I went home and asked my brother Brian what I should say to her. He said, "You go back on that bus tomorrow and say, 'you know what Christina? The top of a carrot is green!'" I was so excited. This was going to be the best comeback ever! Seven years old and I have something cool and witty to say back and I know it's cool and witty because my cooler older brother told me what to say. I was praying Christina would be on the bus that next morning. Please, please, please! I thought to myself, 'Play it cool. Don't seem too anxious.' My heart was pounding, I felt my hands sweaty and my face hot. I stood next to her seat and said, 'You know what Christina? The top of a carrot is green.' I waited there for her response. After a bit she replied, 'No, your top is carrot-colored.' WHAT?!?!?!?!!? What happened to my comeback? I hadn't thought to ask Brian what to say if she had something else to say. But I had nothing. Defeated, I sat down.

All of this attention and people noticing my red hair made me self-conscious. I don't want to make it seem that I hated myself. It was just what I was self-conscious about as a child, just like we all have something. I used to hate it. Why did I have red hair? Why couldn't I have blonde or brown hair? Why did people always have to say something to me. Why would people pay for this color or better yet, why would they die for it? I just didn't get it.

Now, it is present day, no longer worrying about comebacks to 'carrot top' or being afraid of being called chameleon, or being weirded out by strangers talking to me about it. It's present day, and I have red hair that I actually love! I went from hating it mostly in gradeschool. Being 'okay' with it in high school and college to LOVING it now. That probably sounds so self-involved.

That is, until the unwanted visitors have been frequenting my hair more days than I'd like. At first it was one. And small, and able to be hidden under my bangs. But then there was another one. And I never pulled it out dammit! That rule where if you pull out one and four come to it's funeral? It didn't matter because it's stupid friend came to visit anyway! The unwanted guests? Gray hair. Way too many of them. I believe I am up to 7 near my forehead. I know it sounds ridiculous. But it took me a long time to enjoy my hair.

I'm finally here and the grays are starting to come in. It is a slow growth (knock on wood), but it has truly given me the opportunity to love my hair more. There will be a time that I'm going to go gray, completely, so I will be happy when I look back and know that when my hair was red, I loved it, I realised it made me - me and I appreciated while I had it. Let's just hope that the red sticks around for decades longer.

10 Random Thoughts

1. I feel pressured to make this interesting.

2. It has been damn hot here! Summer starts here on December 1. I am not sure why. And it has been a cold summer, all the way through mid-January. Now, we're in a heat wave. In Farenheit, it was 111 degrees yesterday, 109 degrees today and 104 tomorrow. Luckily it will go down to 82 degrees on Sunday. Yay!

3. Steve and I went camping this weekend for the long weekend - off Monday for Australia Day (did anyone receive a card?).

3.a. We slept in the middle of nowhere. Again! I have to give myself credit on this, I mean, what a good wife, right? Steve picked a site that was good for families and groups. But by families they meant a husband and wife and by groups they meant no more than two people. It was just literally in the middle of nowhere, with noone but us. 11km from the main road. As we arrived, I was thinking, 'How am I supposed to run that entire way in case of emergencies? What if someone chases me down that long road, I'm never going to make it.' Luckily, it was a peaceful evening with no scary people.

3.b. We also hiked 22km through mountains on this trip. My longest trip ever! The next closest I've hiked is maybe 7km.

4. My mom is coming to visit! In May! It's going to be very fun. I cannot believe she is going to do this, I'm so proud of her.

5. I've finally 'finished' a big project I've been working on at work. I worked for four months on creating a new website for work (I didn't personally create it as I'm not a web designer), but it was my baby, my project; it was four months of blood, sweat, tears and fears of getting fired. It's now ready to view! Take a look: http://www.ascet.edu.au/.

6. It really is a small world. I keep in touch with a girl from high school who is best friends with my oldest friend from home. This girl and I keep in touch through Facebook - what a phenomenon - and it turns out that her new mother-in-law moved an hour plane ride from Melbourne, weird, right?

7. Bindi Irwin is very popular here. My brother Brian is quite fond of her as well.

8. We went to a Neil Young concert last night. When Steve asked me to go three or four months ago, I jumped at it. I was very excited! How fun would it be? In the past couple of weeks, as we were listening to Steve's iPod, a song came on and I shouted, "I can't wait to see Neil in concert, it will be such a good show." Steve looked at me funny and said, "This is Neil Diamond on the iPod, we're going to see Neil Young." What? No Sweet Caroline? Who is Neil Young? It was good (so hot out), but very relaxed and chill. And he closed with a Beatles cover which was cool.

9. I am trying to think of another random thought.

10. Oh, here's one. Steve and I did not buy matching outfits contrary to popular belief. The pictures you saw in the Australia Day cards are a requirement for anyone doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. We do not buy outfits to match.

Love and miss you all tons!
~Kate (and Steve)

Christmas Break - Informational Blog

Over the Christmas holiday, my work closed for two weeks. How nice is that? Seriously! Two weeks off. A lot of companies do this in Australia. I feel that they're very good at making a work-life balance here in Australia. Steve took a few extra days from work to travel with me - nice, right?

Anyway, we decided to jam-pack our two weeks with things to do. We spent the first weekend in Queenscliff, a beach town about 2 hours from Melbourne CBD. It was beautiful. We stayed with about 15 other couples and 16 children. It was very chaotic. The house we stayed at was big enough for all of us staying there and about about 10 more families. It was an old nursing home. It was kind of creep actually, there were even name tags on the doors of the people that used to live there. I, of course, picked a room without a name on it as I thought this room might be less likely to have a ghost in it. It was a great weekend, relaxed, fun, drinks, games and sun. This is when I learned the hard way that the Australian sun does not love my skin. Or rather, it does:) On Saturday, my legs got so burnt that my ankles swelled into cankles and I couldn't even walk. And great, we're supposed to fly out to Tasmania on Sunday. Don't flights make some people swell? Why yes, they do. And I am one of those lucky people.

Poor Steve, we weren't able to hike the way he liked to because I was a cripple. I needed to keep my legs elevated as much as possible and that was really hard while we were camping outsite of Hobart, Tasmania. Hiking consisted of a drive up a mountain and me staying in the car while Steve would pull over, get out, walk a few feet into the forest and return.

The campground we stayed at was so amazing though. You should have seen these animals! They were everywhere, it was literally like a zoo. Or better yet, it was like Toy Story or A Night at the Museum where everything during the day looks normal but at nighttime the place turns into a zoo and everything comes alive. There were animals EVERYWHERE! Pademelons (in the wallaby family, pictured) - Steve actually saw two trying to start a family, bandicoots (who look like hopping mice), ring-tailed possums (pictured), superb wrens, Tasmanian native-hen (which look like miniature emus), Steve saw two platapuses. It was really cool to be out in nature this way, and they weren't too afraid of us, pretty used to people since they live on a campground.



We flew home on Christmas Eve and finished wrapping presents so Santa/Father Christmas could visit. Christmas was really nice; Jill came over and we went to lunch/dinner at friends' houses. Then we flew out to Sydney on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) for a friend's wedding and New Years.



Sydney was great! The last time we were there was in winter, when it rained and someone lost our camera. But it was much nicer this time. We went to Bondi Beach, it was packed, see picture above. It's pronounced bon-die. Do not try to pronounce it as bon-dee as Australians will have no idea what you're talking about. You would think they could piece it together, bon-dee beach, but no, no clue. Anyway, Bondi Beach is where they film the Australian TV series Bondi Rescue. Just your typical real-life Baywatch with no David Hasselhoff. This is also the second time that I was reminded that the Australian sun does not like me. And I reapplied!!!!! I have since gotten a sun hat, which I still have yet to use.

We climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge (below) which was really cool. It is a very safety-conscious tourist attraction. They require you wear no jewelery or watches, cannot take cameras, they provide hats and hankerchiefs which must be clipped onto the harness you're wearing and they even do a breathalizer on everyone! It was a beautiful view of Sydney from that height, and I got to see where Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have a house. Love it!

The two day wedding was amazing. There were two choreographed dances that put our wedding dance to shame, though, that's not incredibly hard to do. It looked like straight out of High School Musical. Seriously. The brides' girlfriends were doing an Indian dance performance for the entire room when all of a sudden the bride got on the dance floor and danced with them. Then out of the back, three male guests jumped in and danced while the groom watched with the rest of the crowd. Not long after that the groom jumped in too! It's like the 80's movies where you wonder, 'How does everyone know the same exact dance?' It was beautiful though.

New Years Eve was fun in Sydney. Luckily we found an amazing place to see the fireworks off of the Sydney Harbour bridge. We didn't realize what we would be in for when we started looking for a place to see the midnight fireworks at 3pm that day. We got on line and were in the group of the last 25 people to get into this gated-off area. While we were on line, I noticed a sign that said no ATM and Cash Only! Ahhhh!!!!!! Did we have cash? We had less than $100 and we were there from 3pm until midnight! We had to be very careful about what we ate as we needed to make sure we had enough money for booze:)

We wrapped up our two week holiday on 2nd January and headed back to Melbourne. Back to the grind.

And so, we started planning all of our upcoming trips, camping in January, getaway to the wine region in February, camping/beach in March, Ayers Rock in April, Sydney in May with my mom, Gold Coast in June...but these are all weekend trips. Hopefully I'll have some fun things to write about.

See you soon!
~Kate (and Steve)

Meredith

Good Evening People!

This blog will be about the Meredit Music Festival. Held every year in December from a Friday until Sunday. I wanted to leave work early but did not want to tell my boss why. Apparently this event gets dubbed as a 'hippie' event and I heard my boss makes fun of those who attend, so I just kept that to myself. Maybe you will be able to sense sarcasm in this blog.

This picture shows the absolute chaos that happened over the weekend.

I was slightly nervous that I would be bored going to a music festival all weekend, this was my first. I mean, what could we possibly do all weekend? The obvious, listen to music, yes. But what if I didn't like the music? What if I wanted to sleep and the music was too loud? What if I wanted to take a real shower? What if we didn't meet up with the other people we knew going as the ten thousand people there might be hard to find them? What if, what if, what if everything??? I've only become a 'camper' in the last five years, was I really ready to embark on a full weekend of music and camping?

I committed. Along with Steve and Annie, we drove the few hours to Meredith on Friday afternoon and then sat in a bit of traffic waiting for all cars to get checked (no glass bottles were allowed, but any other form of container in which to put alcohol could be taken in).

The forecast was not looking good. I think it drizzled a bit on our carride, maybe even rained a bit. But this did little to prepare me for what was to come. Two nights of camping, three days and nights of music and this year, especially for us, 48 hours of sideways rain, cold wind and mud. It was a thrill. I cannot even begin to describe the actuality of this weather-but I will try.

Out of pure luck, we were in the farthest possible section for camping. Tents were crammed in next to one another, like sardines. And couches! Everywhere! Couches at campsites and even more down at the stage. There were so many. I wondered if people literally took the couches right out of their living rooms or if they found a couch on the side of the street and grabbed it on the way. After this weekend, none of these couches would be able to return to their original homes.

People were walking in the dirt road (which was a no-no on the list of rules), people were partying, people were listening to music, people were waiting on line for the port-o-johns. There were just massive amounts of people, everywhere. As we drove to a land far, far away, we pulled up next to another group of friends by pure coincidence. Steve picked out a site for our tent wanting to set up before the downpour started. Annie set her massive tent up next to us.

We then began a difficult walk down a very, very long road to get to the music, the Supernatural Amphitheater. Maybe not so difficult for the drunk people there who didn't care, or Steve who has experience walking in any condition, or Annie who had gum boots (of which I had gum boot-envy all weekend), but it was tremendously hard for me. I am pretty sure I was moving at the pace of a slug and missed about four sets of bands performing. It was just mud, pure mud. It must have rained pretty good before we got there. But it was just slippery. I just had this huge vision of me walking too fast and slipping and being covered in mud. No way was I going to go all weekend without a shower and mud covered.

Off to bed early. As we slept, the wind swept through like a tornado. And all night. I almost thought one of the drunk neighbors was pushing our tent in just to annoy us. Poor Annie had this giant tent that broke. It caved in on her! While she was sleeping. The wind was so intense and insane! Annie's tent day 1:

That was Friday night. I thought that was bad. Had I known what would happen on Saturday, I probably would have been kissing that muddy ground thanking the skies above for providing such a beautiful evening for us.

This day was just absolutely ridiculous. We finally got our acts together and put on our ten layers of clothing-oh, I forgot this very important point!

Steve must have learnt this in boy scouts. As it was completely muddy and wet on Friday night, I had on a pair of synthetic socks which allowed for them to get wet, but to keep me warm still. They were unbearable to get off at bedtime, so wet and muddy.

When I had to get dressed on Saturday, Steve wasn't sure if the other socks I brought were synthetic so he suggested I put on the damp, muddy socks from the night before. Oh it was so disgusting. I almost got sick when I was entering my right foot into this dreadful, unwarm dirty sock. But Steve insisted that they would keep me warm. Then, I had to put on the cold, muddy shoes I was wearing the night before. Another joyous moment at Meredith. I was so annoyed that Steve didn't know if my other socks were synthetic, it would have been so nice to wear a fresh, new, clean pair of socks. Ugh! What the heck do boyscouts know anyway? It wasn't until I actually got out of the tent that I realized my feet were warm. They were! He was right! Boyscouts know everything! And while I tried really hard not to think of how filthy my feet were, at least they were warm in this freezing cold weather.

And so, in the dirty, warm socks, we went to the top of the hill where we could slightly see the bands on stage. It was a giant tent, two actually, that tons of people were under to be sheltered from the sideways rain. Massive amounts of rain fell from the sky. And because the tents we were under only had ceilings and no side walls, we might have well just been outside with the rain. The wind was blowing the rain sideways into the tent and making us wet. It was hard to get into the music with this but I did hear a few bands that I liked. Wish that the weather wasn't so bad so we could have been out more. Mostly I was just standing there, face down, with a hat on and a raincoat (thank goodness Annie's dad insisted she bring an extra set of rain pants and raincoat!) snug around my face, I wondered how long I would have to sit there.

We walked around some more. Up and down the hill, the food and bathrooms were down the hill. The 'path' up and down the hill was really just a hill filled with mud. I know this entire area is a farm, but don't they have any grass on this farm? I swear it must only be dirt for miles when there are no people or rain. It was so thick, seriously! I just had to put my foot in it, it just sank right down, like quicksand. You could almost hear the oozing of mud into my shoe if it weren't for the rain. And when the heck was this rain going to stop anyway??!?!?! I think there was clearly enough mud to last us a decade! I almost thought girls were going to break out into full-on wrestling.

The mud near our campsite was so bad that they brought in quads and a tractor to pull the cars out of the mud who got stuck. By the time we got back to our site that night, half the people were gone because the weather was so ridiculous. I was proud that I was still there, although, that's probably only because I wasn't driving.

Another early night for us, about midnight. Steve said this is the most sleep he's gotten at any music festival in his life. Annie's tent officially became our storage area for our esky and chairs as it clearly could not be a safe place for one to sleep, some of the poles even snapped in half - just from the wind! It was now a storage area because Annie had to put the seats down in the back of her car and sleep there! What a trooper and a true Meredith fan (8 years of attendance!).

Sunday we awoke to no rain! Was this really possible? Maybe we were all having the same exact dream. But no, this was real life and there was no rain! We could actually get to the stage and stay dry, and the mud was about 98% muddy still, but that 2% difference made it feel like dry ground.

We watched a few bands, one of which we felt was a cult as the lead singer was male and sang songs that sounded like Simon and Garfunkle and all the other band members (all 12 of them) were women, ranging in age from 13-25ish. Seriously. Okay, there was one other creepy guy in the band, but totally a cult, right?

And better than that, Steve was offered a porn DVD by some random guy. Steve said no and another guy near the porn DVD guy said, 'Don't worry, he's not in it.' I guess he was thinking that Steve would be interested if the guy offering the DVD wasn't in it. Still not interested. And so random!

Later down at the stage, we ran into the porn guy. He was wearing what can only be described as a 10-year-old girl's winter coat circa 1986 (bright blue with pink and purple flowers on it). And that's it! Nothing else. Seriously. I know this because he flashed us a few times. And this was earlier than 11am. He must have been pretty cold.

I sound so bitter, huh? I still had a great time and I would probably do it again next year. It can only go up from here, right? Just jinxed it! I had a really good time and left on a really good note-no rain! We were able to enjoy some of the music and got a ton of sleep! It was a good experience and I'm happy we went.

Hello Again!

Welcome back to Steve and Kate in Australia. Previously in Australia, we went camping and found many Aussie animals.


This time in Australia, we've been just as active as usual.


Steve's birthday was six months ago in December. Although it was that long ago, we celebrated a few weeks ago by taking advantage of the gift I've given him. See pictures:





That's right. We went skydiving! It was crazy. I mean, I never thought I would jump out of a plane, who would? I was very, VERY nervous. I mean, not as nervous as I thought I would be. But I was afraid something would go wrong. As you can tell, it didn't. But it was pretty great! Unreal actually. We both jumped tandem so someone was doing all of the work for us, attached to our backs by harnesses. I was grateful I had an experienced jumper guiding me through 14K feet of vertical gravity; but Steve wanted to go it alone. Lucky for his safety, he didn't:)

So we flew in a small plane up the 14K feet for what felt like a decade but in reality it was about 10-12 minutes. I scooted to the open door on my bum-that's how you jump at this place-mostly being pushed by the tandem instructor on my back. I concentrated, rocked back and forth three times, praying that this was in my life's plan and that I wasn't jumping to my death. I looked back at Steve and gave a nervous smile. Before I could even get too scared, I was pushed out by the tandem instructor I was with. Then, just 'WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING? GOD I HOPE NOTHING GOES WRONG!!!!' went through my mind. It was surprisingly hard to breathe, and it was damn cold and really noisy from the air rushing by. The photographer was in front of me, falling a little beneath me but facing me to make sure he could film me. It was so weird. I think we free-fell for almost a minute, but that also felt like a decade. 'Please let the chute work when it's pulled,' I thought, 'this is taking a long time to reach the bottom.' BAM! The chute opened and we were home free. Thank goodness! I was going to live! What a great day it was! Then I looked around and the scenery was breathtaking. We actually were floating through the clouds. We saw the mountains, kilometers of gorgeous land, and also a rainbow. It was beautiful.


While I was plummeting to what I thought was my death, Steve saw it in action. Me heading straight to the ground since I jumped first. He said it was a crazy feeling and a little nerve-racking.


Since then, we celebrated my 28th birthday...the best birthday I've had in a few years. Steve did a great job, got me a cake, took me out, really made it wonderful. We've also been doing the usual, hanging out with friends, shopping:), fixing up the apartment with decorations, watching movies. We're both doing well, having a good time, getting lots of relaxing time and really enjoying each other.


We've been here six months already, it feels like forever and just like it was yesterday that we arrived. 1/4 of our time here is already done. Life really does fly by.


See you next time at Steve and Kate in Australia.

"Friendly" Bird Photos

Another photo for you, in case you were wondering what a chicken-eating kookaburra looks like. This bird obviously was well versed in eating meat-on-a-stick. I think it waited until the chicken was medium rare - not too dry.

Later, a crimson rosella inspected our frying pan to make sure our cleaning skills were up to par. Good thing the dangerous tiger snakes aren't as keen about people food.

Wilson's Promontory

Last weekend we had an extra day off from work for Anzac Day which is similar to Veteran's Day. To enjoy the long weekend, we traveled 4 and 1/2 hours to Wilson's Promontory National Park; it was supposed to be a shorter drive, but it's a popular place to go over long weekends. Our friend Annie has been going to 'The Prom' for years, so it was nice having someone to guide us through the area. The Prom is on a peninsula, but 'promontory' actually means high points on a peninsula. This place was absolutely gorgeous-mountains meeting the beach and the Bass Strait. It reminded me of Lost. The sand is so white (some of it actually squeaks), the water looks like Caribbean water, and the mountains and the horizon enclose the beach making it feel like a secluded island.

We were joined by some friends: Annie, Jill and Nick and then Ed, Danielle and T on the third night. It was really nice to go camping with friends similar to our camping group at home (although not as loud and no citations or getting kicked out of the campsite).

Steve and I arrived Friday night to meet Annie, Jill and Nick. It was SO cold outside; between the three nights, the coldest was below 5 degrees Celsius. I mean, I had six layers on my torso and I was still cold. Thank goodness we got an air mattress or else we would have been feeling the cold creep up from the ground into our sleeping bags. It was so cold in fact, that the second and third nights I slept with a hat on!

Friday morning we cooked brekky (breakfast-everything here has a shortened name), hung out for awhile, visited the beach and hiked Mount Oberon. It was a steady, slightly inclined hike. The view at the top was amazing. On top of the mountains, able to see for kilometers out into the ocean, although it all looks the same after awhile anyway-just kilometers of water. But before the kilometers of water, it was just a fantastic view. Really breathtaking, making the hike totally worth it. Steve was in his element, nature and hiking. And I'm lucky that he's so patient with me, going at my pace:) The hike down was a lot easier and faster than the way up; but to anyone that will be at The Prom, this hike and the view is worth doing.

During the hike down, a giant hollow log was slanted down from a height of five to six feet.

After some encouragement, we convinced Steve to climb down it. He said it was harder than it looked, very slippery inside. But it was hysterical watching him try to maneuver down this log.

Halfway down, going head first, he decided he was going to turn around. I mean, how was Steve going to turn around in this log? It wasn't a very big log, and he's six foot. But it was funny, here are the pictures.

After the hike, Jill was cooking chicken skewers on the grill when a kookaburra swooped down and grabbed a skewer right off of the grill! She shrieked, afraid that the bird was going to attack her, rightfully so. Nick and Steve followed the bird over to a log where it was smacking the skewer against the log to get the chicken off of the stick while making these crazy noises to defend it's territory and keep Steve and Nick at bay. The kookaburra reminded me of a penguin, but it's noises were so annoying.

Friday night we hung out, ate dinner and talked. Out of nowhere, this pig/dog-like animal stands on Annie's foot (which she describes as the weight of a 10-year-old child) and proceeds to try to open the food bin with his snout. It turns out to be a wombat, which was exciting to see, but so crazy in that it looks like a pig but acts like a dog. Steve gently kicked it's bum to get it out of the bin and Annie acted like it was a dog by telling it sternly, "No." The wombat did not react to either the kick or the scolding. Luckily the bin was closed shut and didn't get into the food. But apparently these animals wait until nighttime and then go to people's campsite's looking for food. It was an early bedtime for us all after the excitement of these Australian animals.

Saturday we went for another hike (Lilly Pilly Gully trail) with the entire group and did the same old camping thing, cooking, hanging out and we introduced our Aussie friends to the card game of Kings. While we were playing, Ed tried to warn me of a wombat coming up behind me, but I didn't believe him. And what do you know? Not only was Ed telling the truth, but the wombat tried getting into the food bin again. We scared it away after Steve tried unsuccessfully again to obtain a picture of it. It's funny because wombats stick around for quite some time trying to get food, but I guess Steve's camera doesn't work fast enough and he kept getting pictures of the wombats' bum, while it was running away. He finally got one full picture of it (reference picture above).

Sunday we packed up camp, walked along the beaches and headed home. On our caravan ride, we noticed a kangaroo (the video/blog before this one) and two emus. It was so crazy. I can't believe how many Australian animals we're finding. I never thought we'd see anything besides a kangaroo and we're really seeing them all.

It was a great weekend. Lot's of fun hiking, hanging out with friends and seeing new parts of Australia.

Cheers!