Matt's father has been in the hospital for blood clots and pain. The doctors have not been able to determine the cause, but we are praying for insight and recovery. It has been tough being so far away during this time.
The kids and I have been trying to stay busy and enjoy Sydney. We've had a lot of rain here which has limited some of our options. Everyone :) is ready to get back into a routine and structure. Fortunately schools starts later this week for Cade and then Paige starts Feb 4th and it will be back to work for Laura too. One day last week we took the ferry boat from Milsons Point (our temporary apartment location) to Circular Quay and spent the afternoon at the Sydney Opera House. The Opera house is offering many kids activities this summer around their Cat N the Hat performance. We enjoyed story time, telephone games and torches (flashlights) with animals. The kids are amazed with the Opera House. They think it looks like a shark's mouth. We also took a train ride through the city's botanical gardens. Thank goodness, as we were all tired of walking. We learned that the Opera House design was inspired after the wings of a bird, seashells and sails of a boat.
Small things have proved to be challenging. After almost 3 weeks we finally got our credit card on Friday. We have had to make numerous trips to ATMs to buy groceries, furniture, etc.. On Friday, we also got a better Internet connection installed in our new house. Still no cable and no date on when it will be installed (and I thought Time Warner was bad- nothing compared to Telstra/Foxtel). With rain and no cable, we are getting creative. We have completed every puzzle at least two times, colored many coloring books and have watched Toy Story and Cars on the IPAD (probably at least 20 times). I discovered a great website called - Nextissue.com. For $9.95 per month you can access almost any magazine and quickly get through all the advertisements and get directly to the content. Our sea shipment isn't expected to pass customs until late Febraury so we had to purchase rental beds and our suitcases continue to be our dressers.
We also joined a gym yesterday. It is walkable from our place, has many classes and a kid's play area. The walk up the hill from our house is a workout in itself. I had no idea Sydney was so hilly. We ventured out to lunch the other day for a change of pace and discovered a place up the street to a that will only serve you food if you buy a beer. Twist my arm:) So Matt and I enjoyed local Australian beer with lunch at 11:30. I am sure we will be back soon! The Aussies love beer, wine and wow, they love their coffee. They drink it like water. There were even people drinking it my yoga class yesterday. I don't blame them as it is so good and they put a lot of effort into it.
I am missing my garbage disposal and laundry machine. Sydney is very environmentally focused. The recycling bins are much larger than trash bins. The laundry machines are about half the size and don't get the job done as well. All houses have clothes lines/pins for drying clothes which most people use since electricity is at a premium and the dryers don't work that well. No one has garbage disposals.
We are hoping to hit the zoo this week if the rain stops and also have new family orientation at Cade's school. We are looking forward to meeting other families.
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