Happy Holidays!

So here- whenever there is a school break or just a public holiday.... it's the holidays! So the kids are on a 2 week holiday from school. Things are starting to feel a little more normal around here, as normal as they can when you live in a foreign country. We are enjoying it- as we meet more people it enhances the experience.

I though I would start out with a few more vocabulary words for you. The award for the best vocab mistake of the week goes to..... Kevin! Kev has been interviewing new assistants. He found one who he liked, she is about 50 yrs old. He told his staff in a meeting "I think she would be a great assistant because she is really 'spunky'!" Spunky here means - 'hot and promiscuous'. FUNNY! I'm glad they worked that one out or they would think he was a sick-o.

Cuppa- cuppa of whatever: coffee, tea or in my case juice. I went and grabbed a cuppa with some of the 2nd grade room moms.

Just a Tick- just a second..... 'we are leaving in just a tick'

Muckin'- 'Quit muckin' around!', means messing around or goofing off.

Ring- 'Just give me a ring.' Call me.

Sing out- 'If you need anything just sing out!' Just let me know.

Lovely- if food is good, I'm sure other things too. 'This dip is just lovely.'

Cheers- Sometimes people use it to thank you or sometimes they thank you and then say 'cheers', people end emails with it or say it when you open a door for them and such.

No worries- basically saying 'No problem.'

Everyone also always asks how we are 'finding it here?' How do we like it so far.

There are a few phrases I can see myself picking up. Many of them sound more cheery....however to hear a grown man say "Oh- I want to go get some lollies (candy)," makes me laugh....some words sound a little feminine. :)


The school year here starts in February and ends December 21st. So there is only a 6 week summer but after every term the kids get 2 weeks off- that happens 3 times. I actually really like it. It was $650 for the kids uniforms and it was just over $1000 to get the kids registered for school. That is a cheaper public school. However, they do great field trips and in just the 4 weeks my kids have been there they have had 6 career professionals from city come talk to them. I can tell this is a really great school and the moms are so involved. My friend told me to register her 4 girls in their private school, which is most common for middle and high schools here, they could have purchased a really nice car. That is just for one year!

Andrew and Brooke on the first day! They have to wear the hats at recess the 1st and 4th semesters- sun smart school.
Yes....she's mine :). So cute but she said she only wore it because Aunt Leah wanted a picture. I can only get her to wear it like once a week but it's so cute on her!
This is there school- it's pretty old and historic looking but they have updated it and added a new addition on the back.
New addition...and the playground grass is turf. They also have 3 sandboxes.
These next few picts are at the Victoria Street market. It is awesome there- a huge square block of just an outside market- under a metal canopy. They have clothes, cooking supplies, toys, souvenirs, and food. I believe they are open year round. This is Brooke with a potato dipped in batter and fried. And it came from a Chinese booth. By the way....when we say Idaho here people say "oh- home of the potato!"
Tons of fresh fruit and veggies....I love it!
Meat market across the street from this market. Seriously a building filled with vendors selling meat. One guy had beef ribs in an open box on the ground....needless to say- I purchased from the next guy.
We are really close to a train station and the kids love to ride it- it is quite handy. The kids and I took it the 2nd week we were here to the zoo while Kevin was out of town. This is the central big station downtown where the trains come into- I took this picture when we were switching trains.
Train ride!
So the story with Kevin's foot is still sortof a mystery. While he was traveling on business we think he got bit by something. The problem was that it got crazy infected- it was so swollen and he couldn't walk to get onto the plane to come home. They wouldn't let him get on plane and sent him to hospital- he came home the next day and was on in-home hospital care for the next week. It was awesome having the docs an nurse come to the house so Kev could just be home with us. Carson didn't leave his side- at the end of the week the doc told Carson that he was released from the hospital too and that he was also going to have to get out of bed soon!
Kevin's IV of double dose antibiotics hanging from the curtain rod :).
Here are just a few random pictures of a few things we have done and seen. This is the first beach we went to- Safety Beach on Mornington Peninsula. So clean and beautiful!

This huge dome is the stadium where Kevin got to watch some of the Australian open tennis tournament. Botanical gardens- they had 1,800 different kinds of trees and plants there- it was awesome.
St. Kilda beach near downtown Melbourne. It isn't very clean but it was an awesome view.
Wind/kite surfing. We don't know the official name but these guys were all over and it looked like so much fun!Last but not least. This is a picture of our safe haven....our home away from home. Oh Mackers (McD's) how we have such a love hate relationship. In Idaho Kevin and I would protest before we would eat here.....now we look forward to it. Soda's with Ice and a cheeseburger that tastes so familiar to us. Not to mention....the only good deal we have found in Australia so far....the ice cream cones are only 30 cents! However- value meals are only available from 12-2pm....otherwise you have to order the meal separately!

Until next time! Cheers- Steph