If it looks like a duck and smells like a duck...DOES NOT mean it is a duck...

So to celebrate Addie's last day before school, I let her pick where she wanted to eat lunch.  She chose Subway.  Secretly I was thrilled because I had been wanting to see if it was like back home.  When we first saw the Subway we were hesitant, it SMELLED like Subway, but would it TASTE like Subway?  After all, when we went to Hungry Jacks aka Burger King, it was nothing like what we expected at all.

So back to Subway,  I ordered Addie and I a Subway Club...easy so far.  The first hurdle came with the cheese... when asked what kind of cheese I wanted, I of course responded with American.  Well clearly they do not have American.  The man just laughed at me.   I asked him my choices and was told "Swiss, Cheddar, and Old English."  My answer was a blank stare.  I did not want cheddar, I do not like swiss, and I had no idea what the hell Old English was.  Again he laughed and said it was probably like American, but they do not call it that for obvious reasons....uh not so obvious to me!

On to the meat and veggies....they were identical to what we have back home, so I figured it was smooth sailing after the cheese...WRONG!  The last part of my order was where things diverted from the good Old USA.  I told the "Sandwich Artist" that I would like salt and pepper, and oil and vinegar.  They do not have oil and vinegar.  My choices were ranch (does not taste like ranch), 1000 Island, honey mustard, mayonnaise, tomato something, and hot mustard.  NONE of which I liked.  No worries ;)  I can eat a dry sandwich.

As I was getting ready to pay, I was trying to decide cookies or chips....the decision was made for me.  They do not have chips.  My options this time were cookies or yogurt.  I went with the cookies, for Addie's benefit of course!

After all of that, I was ready to get our Sprite and sit down to eat.  One last surprise....NO ICE!  So on a positive note, I got WAY more Sprite than I normally would have, on the negative side, it was hot.

Oh well, the sandwich DID taste like home and the cookies were yummy =)  Addie had a smile on her face and actually ate her whole sandwich.  Seems like Subway may be getting a lot of our business!

On to the next adventure =)

Sunday Afternoon

Just a lazy day here today...resting before school starts tomorrow.  We Skyped with Andrea, Natalie and Shannon in the AM, and then headed to the beach....here are some videos and photos of our day.

Hugs to all!
Amy

Getting ready to boogie board

Posing

Mommy and Daddy

Playing around

Mommy and Addie

There was an Iron swimming race...this was 1 of 3 helicopters for the event

Hard to see, but the swimmers in the surf....

School Days

Well the day is almost here, FIRST DAY of SCHOOL!  We ALL went to the school today to have a meeting with the head of the Junior school, and other new students.  Dustin finally got to see the school, he was impressed with the gym and pool.  The air conditioner was not working today, so let's hope that gets fixed by Monday!!!!

There were 5 other girls there today, all of them in Year 4, but it was nice for Morgan to still meet the girls.  She will see them at lunch, recess, etc.  They split the girls up from us, and took them to meet their teachers and get to know one another.  We stayed back and met individually with the head of the school about Morgan (and Addie) to discuss our concerns and expectations for the year.  Mrs. Pope was extremely friendly and really seemed to care about what we had to say.  By the time Morgan returned to us, she was beyond excited about her school.

On our way out, we were able to stop and meet her teacher.  She was in the middle of getting her room ready, so I did not want to stay long, but she was very chatty and very welcoming to Morgan.  Back in November, Morgan received a letter from one of her classmates, Ginger.  As it turns out, Ginger's locker is right next to Morgans.  Morgan is SUPER excited to have her "friend" by her.  The room was decorated very nicely and had a SMART board....they are up on their technology.  In Year 5, each student is given their own Mac laptop....Morgan is counting down the days until Year 5 ;)

They stagger their first days of school at PLC, so that means on Monday Morgan will only go a half day, and I will go with her.  It is essentially a welcome day, where we are both in meetings to learn about the school and meet other families.  Then on Tuesday, Morgan starts full time.

Addie does not start school until Wednesday, and even then she only goes for 2 1/2 hours....seriously this is right up Addie's ally =)  She will start full time on Friday.

I can say that we are all anticipating the first day...Morgan and Addie are both ready to make friends, and Morgan is ready to learn.  Addie is ready to make friends and eat snack ;)

I am ready for a routine!  While I am going to enjoy a few days of peace and quiet, I think I just might get a bit lonely....well until I meet some other moms and start going to lunch, shopping, book club, wine tastings,....this right up MY ally ;)

Below are the much awaited pictures of the uniforms.  They are adorable if I say so myself....Morgan really likes her uniform especially her formal hat.  The white hat she MUST wear to and from school.  The blue hat that Addie has on is for recess and outdoor activities.  Both girls will wear the polo style shirt with the shorts each day.  Two days a week, they will dress in their PE uniform.  Addie's is blue and green stripe shirt with blue shorts, and Morgan's is white polo shirt again with blue shorts.

Their hair must be pulled back each day with a ribbon around their hairband.  The ribbon is to be either blue, white, or the one that I could purchase from the uniform store.  The picture of the clothes on the bed,  includes everything that was required...backpacks, swimsuit, swim cap, hair ribbon etc.

They are rather strict on what you wear and how you wear it.  This should prove to be interesting for a certain little one that thinks she should get dressed in her own style each day.  Lord help those pre-primary teachers, they have NO IDEA who is about to walk into their classroom......

Both of their uniforms

Morgan's uniform, backpack, and gym bag

Addie's uniform and backpack

Our little ladies =)

Morgan is wearing her formal hat, and LOVES it!

Sisters

I will take more pictures on their actual first day.

We aren't in Kansas anymore...

I might have to add to this post as the 4 years go on, but so far I have noticed some differences.  I figured putting them in a list would be better to understand.  While most things are the same as American...it is those subtle differences that are the hardest to grasp.  Those subtle differences have made the past trying to establish our home a bit challenging.  So here goes for my observations thus far:

• They drive on the left hand side of the road.  I HAVE gotten used to it though, and my trusty Navigation system is getting me around pretty good.
• There are not a lot of trucks here...especially the big ones =)
• Apparently hot water is a luxury...both houses have not had it. at least not as hot as we like it.
• Shopping carts are called trolleys and they roll sideways as well as front and back.  This makes it HARD to steer the darn thing.  I am not promising that I will not knock over a display at some point.
• Grocery stores are in the mall...so while I shop for clothes, I can also shop for milk and bread.
• Coffee is a BIG deal...but not Starbucks, they think that is evil.  And stopping mid morning and midday for "tea" is almost insisted.
• Dryers are not common in most homes...they hang dry things.  People that do not hang dry are considered lazy.  Color me lazy ;)  I am getting a dryer!
• Sugar...aw sweet sugar (pun intended)  Their food is not nearly as sweet as ours.  In fact even when I add a sugar packet, it is still not too sweet.  Again my healthy will improve =)
• Things are very relaxed here...Their saying "no worries" should apply to those giving service.  When you try to get things done...it takes a while.  They like to chat too =)
• If you saw my Facebook status you already know this one....they are WAY more comfortable with their bodies....topless on a beach is not unusual nor is nudity on TV.  As parent it is our job to steer them clear of those things if we so wish.
• Ironically Australian wine, Yellow Tail, is twice the price as it is in the States.  
• Drivers here in Perth are BAD...I might actually be considered a good driver ;)
• Myth buster:  We have yet to see a Kangeroo =(  Addie is rather disappointed.
• Myth buster:  The toilet water does not swirl the opposite direction...they just swoosh down =(  I am disappointed in that.
• Target is NOT cheaper...Kmart is.  So as the girls said "Kmart Smart"  Here's to hoping for a LOT of blue light specials
• Body surfing at 36 DOES hurt the next day!
• We are NOT used to their sun, and will have to apply sunscreen each day.

Ok, I will update this list as I think of things...they pop in my head at random times.  The past couple of days have been rough trying to get things established and staying connected to home.  But I have to remain optimistic and know that in the end things are going to be great.  As they say "no worries mate"  =)

As always HUGS AND KISSES...thinking of you all often!

Getting settled

Well we have officially been in Australia for one week....and I feel like we have been here a year =)  We have been busy each day with something.  And of course, each day brings a new challenge.  So first thing we did was find a house.  As much as I love being by the beach, I wanted to figure out where we were going to live and get settled.  Also rental properties are scarce, so we had to move quick.  In our price range, the options were limited in the area we wanted.  Needless to say there were some houses that were less than desirable and then some houses that were ok but much different than what we are used to.  The biggest differences we noticed were the size of the bedrooms and the lack of closets in those bedrooms. It was very eye opening to how "big" our houses are in the states.  What is considered middle to upper class in the states would be considered very wealthly here.  

After two days though, we got extremely lucky and found our new home.  It had more than enough bedrooms and PLENTY of closet space....I just may have to go shopping to fill things up =)  here.

The hard part of renting the house was getting the money together for our deposit.  We have the money in our Chase bank account, but because of their "security" it took us over an hour to set up a wire transfer.  Of course we all know how soft spoken I am, so it came as a real shock when I started yelling on the phone to the Chase customer service person.  The bank manger had to shut the office door.  Later I apologized, and was told that I was considerably calm and to not worry about my outburst.  Whew!!!!!

After the house, was setting up my cell phone and figuring out appliances.  That was not too difficult of a task, so that was a good thing!

Of course since we moved so quickly on finding a house, we were worried about appliances and our stuff that is getting shipped by sea....no worries. Chevron rents us furniture and appliances until our sea shipment arrives.  So today we waited at the new house while they unloaded our rental furniture.  Not a bad deal AT ALL!

Also today we found a car.  Dusty has gotten rather good at driving, I am still working on it.  I need to get used to it, because come Monday I am on my own if we go anywhere.  Dustin is taking the train to work =)

So we hope to get financed for a Volkswagon Tiguan.  Very nice car...used of course.  New cars here cost at least $50,000....hmmm no thanks.

Keep your fingers crossed that we can pick it up on Monday.

Finally today we went grocery shopping....I will say that while we spent a boat load, it was not nearly as bad as I thought.  It will just take some getting used to, and making sure I shop sales.  HOWEVER my diet coke habit will be going by the wayside.  15 packs of coke are ON SALE for $10.  Someone said that if people see you buying soda, they think you are having a party ;)  At least I might be healthier.

All in all, it has been a good week.  I will say that starting over again is hard...especially in a foreign country.  I think we are getting the hang of it though.  Still miss Texas though!

Hugs and Kisses to all....

The Suite Life with Morgan and Addie

So after the movers packed our house and took everything away, we moved into our "home away from home" until we left for Perth.  We stayed in Towne Place Suites which was actually not too bad.  We had a two bedroom suite with a full kitchen and living room.  Each room had its own TV, so when we needed our alone time we could all retreat to a separate room.  The only issue was the lack of volume control on Addie.  She is anything but quiet, not only with her voice, but she decided that stomping rather than walking was more fun in the hotel.  Good times....

While in our hotel room, we had to rent a car because we sold our Highlander and then Dusty's Tundra.  Now this would not seem like such a big deal because we would only need the car for one day....however it does become a problem when you cancel your car insurance the day before you rent a car.  You see I was trying to be very proactive and cost effective and cancel our utilities, insurance, etc in a timely fashion so that we would not pay for days that we did not use things.  Well that backfired because I did not take into account that we would actually need car insurance to rent a car.  Thankfully Dusty was able to "persuade" our insurance company to extend us for another day.

All in the all the hotel was not that bad, but I am glad that we moved out of that "house".

Packing and Moving dayS

While most of you were busy putting away Christmas presents and decorations, the Collier family was crazy trying to organize our house for the packing of a lifetime.  About a month earlier, a representative from the moving company came to assess our house and see how much space we would need.  He at that time also told us what we could and could not bring....this led to MANY discussions between Dustin and I about should we store this, should we ship this, or Dustin's favorite choice, should we discard this.  We were given stickers to put on everything so the packers knew where to put things.  I could not wrap my head around I was going to leave ANYTHING behind in storage.....clearly I needed everything that was in my house.

Now I HATE to throw anything away (I get that from my father).  I feel this need to hold onto things because one day I might use it, or because of the memory that it might hold for me.  If you really know me than you also know that my closet is the worst offender of all.  I have things in there that I have not worn for the past 10 years, but "one day" I might.  Thank goodness for Andree...she came and politely, in only a way a best friend can, told me that what needed to go.  I thought we made great progress....so much in fact that I went out and bought 6 more pair of pants to replace the ones we got rid of ;)

So back to the stickers....on December 27th we thought we were ready for the packers.  Not so much.  They knocked on our door at 9 am and the fun began.  There were 4 of them, and they worked FAST!!  For as organized as I thought we were, there were so many things that we forgot to label....my duck toilet brush was not on the forefront of my mind and got passed up on the stickering.  Sadly that was not the only thing....HOWEVER, as I was getting my head around trying to separate things and decide what was important enough to take with us, I was realized that somethings were better off in the trash.

They were there for 4 days and had plenty of help from Addie....I think she wanted to them to come with us to Australia =)  Overall they were awesome and did a great time!  We had to take a picture to remember them by.

Walking out of that house totally empty was hard....but in the end those things that were packed in all my boxes are not where my memories are.  My memories are with me and while on our new adventure, I am not going to be so worried about tangible things...instead I am going to focus on making memories with my family.  And those things that had to go to storage...well they will be there when I get back, and I might use them one day ;)