Werribee Mansion

We had a free Saturday so went to see the Werribee Mansion. It's just a ten minute drive away. 

It was built in 1877 by the Chirnside family. There is a sad/interesting tale of the love between Thomas Chirnside and his cousin Mary. Their marriage was refused by her parents, but she was later granted marriage to Thomas's younger brother Andrew. Thomas never married, but Andrew and Thomas remained business partners and built the mansion together. Thomas wanted Mary to live in the best home in Victoria, even if he wasn't married to her. He lived in Point Cook (where we live). Sadly, Thomas died of suicide in 1887. There are so many questions here, but it makes my heart hurt already. 

Christmas Day

White SAND and SURF Christmas this year! No complaints. 

I managed to get most of the traditional Christmas dinner made in advance so I could just put the side dishes in the oven when we got back from the beach. I put the turkey in the crockpot all day and baked the rolls before the kids were even up for breakfast! It was really a low-key Christmas morning. Not a load of presents but no one complained. We knew we would head to the beach soon.

Carols on the Coast

Every year Allen and I look at each other and wonder what we should do for Christmas Eve. Something special. Something to put a halt to all the hustle and bustle of shopping and gift buying and bring our focus to the Savior. We've tried something different every year.

This year I wanted to do something memorable and special to harness the warm weather we have and make a memory. I came up with Carols on the Coast. I invited some friends to join us on the beach to sing Christmas Carols around a campfire. 

Ward Christmas party and Torquay Beach

Ward Christmas BBQ was HOT by 8am. Fanning ourselves with the plates.

Christmas Family Robinson

I remember reading Swiss Family Robinson to the kids many years ago. It seemed a little dorky how they would say, "oh how I wish we had something like a ladder so we could cross this bridge," and then they would come around the bend and, viola, there's some bamboo poles and a pile of rope. Or they would say, "now all we need is a pulley and some buckets for indoor plumbing," and then they would walk along and find Home Depot. We would laugh about how perfectly timed and placed things were for the Robinson family.

Well, this Christmas I'm feeling like the Robinson family. Christmas has been very different here. We have been more aware of things we don't have here and there are a few things we miss, but everything we've wished for, we've been able to make happen.

Christmas in downtown Melbourne

I'll say I haven't sensed a great deal of "hustle and bustle" of Christmas like I do in Utah. Usually at Christmas the stores are packed, traffic is terrible, and you can always overhear people in the crowded stores talking about gift purchases they are considering. You can even see people with lists they are checking off as they get all their shopping done. I haven't seen that here. I don't notice a lot of extra shopping happening. Maybe I'm unaware, but I'm fine with the more relaxed nature at Christmas. In the states we always talk about how we wish we could enjoy the season more. Here, people ARE! They are having pool parties, and BBQ picnics, and going to the beach!

We took a train into the city one evening to see all the Christmas displays. 

Merry Christmas from Melbourne! 

What do you expect

I was done with my Christmas shopping by mid-November. No one is expecting much of me this year since I'm half-way across the globe and our means to transport larger items is reduced. It's been wonderful. I've had a great time decorating for Christmas, listening to Christmas music  (also this music), and teaching the story of Christ's birth to Henry.

I've been reflecting on the idea of expectations lately. I'm really content with the lower level of possessions we have now. But I recognize it's made easier because if we lack for something or don't have something very nice, we can use the whole "we're only here for a year" excuse and everyone understands. We don't have a printer. We don't have lawn tools. We don't have matching bedroom furniture or fancy throw pillows. It's okay. We borrow things if we need them or just do without. I have been living without many of the social expectations that are part of regular life for most people.

We have fewer clothes, no guest towels, one car, no fancy serving dishes, no TV. It's fine. I still have something to wear everyday. I just spend less time picking it out.

I have realized how much of my daily life in Utah (and stress) was a direct result of living up to expectations. I felt the need to keep a clean house, the need to keep my Zumba classes fresh and exciting with new choreography, buy or make the perfect present for Christmas, the need to help with school/church activities.

So I notice two things about all of that. 1) all of those things are things I want to do. But 2) when I start to respond to the perceived exterior pressure (expectations) it loses it's joy and becomes a chore. A stress.

For instance, I like (love!) teaching Zumba, but the one and only thing that has ever made me want to stop is if I feel I can't keep creating new choreography at the same rate and same quality that I've done in the past. But I still like it. So do I quit teaching just because I can't meet everyone else's expectation?

I like (love!) Christmas. Without the expectation to deliver lots of presents this year, I found myself discovering little treasures along my path and thinking, "Oh! this would be so great for _______!" It was really a joy to picture them opening it and being happy, knowing that I was thinking of them all the way from Australia. I wasn't *going* Christmas shopping. I just found things along my regular way and carried thoughts of people with me. Kind of a "wish they were here" thing. Just a little gift from me to capture a moment in time when I was thinking of them. Most things I found cost very little money or, in some cases, nothing.

So how can I let go of all of that more permanently? How can we live this freedom from expectations when we return? It is definitely more joyful.

I don't know. I can say I will let things go and not care about meeting expectations, but they creep in.

Are there things I do to place expectations on others? Even unintentionally? When we play the game of matching gifts, worrying about dollar amounts, and spending more than we can afford, we not only steal joy from ourselves, but I think we are stealing joy from others. We could be doing everyone a favor by just releasing it all and living more in the moment. Enjoy ourselves. We may not be able to do everything we have done before. Perhaps it's wiser if we don't.

I have frequently remembered a line from our church's General Conference this past October. Elder David A. Bednar shared a piece of wisdom from Elder Robert D. Hales. He said, "when you cannot do what you have always done, then you only do what matters most."

I'm going to try harder to make my life right now what *I* want it to be. Find out what kind of life I want to make, instead of the one I am supposed to make. Do the things that matter most. It's now or never.

No pressure.

Baby Jesus and The Gingerbread Boys

Every year for the past 12 years, our family has made mini gingerbread house kits. It's been a fundraising project for our children. They cut the pieces, assemble the candy, mix the frosting mix, pass out the flyers and sometimes stand on the street corner to sell them. They've been very popular ever since that first year. In 2014 we sold 500 kits! It's a huge undertaking for our kitchen and takes a good deal of our time during the Christmas season.

But here we are 9,000 miles away. There's no way it can be done this year. We are taking a break. But we still love the smell of gingerbread, so for family night, I made pieces for a larger house we could decorate together. We spent about $40 on candy to ensure everyone was happy!

I should have taken a picture of the candy assortment we came up with. We couldn't find gumdrops or peppermints. But we found candy canes, Mentos, gummy candies in Christmas shapes, some marshmallows, and some Lifesavers that fizzle in your mouth. Pez was familiar and mini M&Ms, but they were just a lot more expensive here. I really liked the sprinkle covered chocolates called, "Freckles." I bought a bag of M&Ms Toffee Apple flavor because they were green and red. They are $5 for a small bag and don't taste very good, but we were mostly after the color.

Henry has been helping himself to the candy and kangaroos for a few days now. 

He says it's very good. Ha ha. Allen and Henry are the real Gingerbread Boys. They worked together to finish the house with candy when everyone else was ready to move on. 

Adding that Australian touch.

 And, I tried out a special new gingerbread house design.

I like it very much.

I've been using the pictures for this nativity for years and years. This time, I needed a nativity that Henry could hold and manipulate. I simply printed the pictures and taped them to some plastic cups. They stack together easily. I have been using them to tell the story of Jesus' birth to Henry often. Hopefully by Christmas he'll be able to tell the story to us. 

Last week we went to the beach. I started collecting shells to make a nativity, but decided the best setting for the picture was right there on the beach. Millie and I had a great time arranging them in the sand, actually UNDER the water. We had to do it twice because by the time we finished the first one, the tide had gone out and it was half in, half out, of the water. 

So Christmas is here! It feels different because it's warm, the sun stays up longer into the evening, we aren't baking gingerbread like crazy, and we aren't spending loads of money buying presents for everyone on the planet. We are keeping the presents to a minimum and enjoying more time together. We aren't missing anything! We love it. 

Merry Christmas to you!

Christmas Trees from Trash!

I haven't had so much fun crafting since Allen was in graduate school.

Really, I don't "craft" much anymore. I don't create things anymore because then you have to find a place for it. And I suppose I have turned to "creating" with Zumba choreography and growing in my garden. And remodeling my house. But Allen gets exhausted when I do that. Because it creates work for him.

But Christmas trees are a must. I loved the living tree I created on the patio, but my juices were still flowing and I saw some possibilities for very low-cost trees I could bring inside. So, of course, I did them all. The common theme is "trash to treasure." Making my dad proud.

TREE #1:
TRASHED ITEM: metal fan screen, white trash bags, old t-shirts, salvaged styrofoam ball

I had a whimsical idea for an indoor tree made from t-shirt material. Using t-shirts from the thrift store, I cut fringe pieces and layered them on a frame of bamboo poles. My idea was to layer them thickly and then shine one single light from the inside of the tree to create an illusion of twinkle lights. But I could only find two green shirts at the store so it didn't turn out like I planned. But I still like it!

I needed a good base to hold the poles steady. I was on a run one morning and saw an old metal fan in pieces next to the sidewalk. It was just what I needed.

I topped it with a styrofoam ball that I had saved from the trash at the church Halloween party. I wrapped it with a little yellow fabric from a shirt we didn't need. Millie made a paper chain and I think it looks so cheerful!

TREE #2:
TRASHED ITEM: leftover felt from Halloween costume, reused tent poles

Henry has been needing some activities to entertain him. So I threw together this little felt tree for him to decorate and redecorate as much as he likes. I used the tent poles from the circus tent he hasn't been using much from IKEA and secured them in a pizza box base. I wrapped it with green felt and cut some simple shapes from colored felt. It was pretty easy!

TREE #3:
TRASHED ITEM: tree branch, "coasters," imperfect seashells, bricks and an extra tile piece from garage

I think my favorite "tree" is this one. The house we live in is a typical neglected rental property. There are three trees here and all of them show signs of neglect. I have trimmed two of them significantly and they look much better.

I cleaned the leaves off one branch and brought it inside.

There is a picture hook in the wall holding it steady, one branch bracing against the wall, and the base is supported on more bricks from the other side of the house and a metal hanging basket frame from a yard sale. It is surprisingly sturdy. 

Allen and I went to a garden show a few weeks ago and one of the businesses was handing out some products to promote their business. The lady offered me the last box and said, "they're coasters." I thought, "no silly, they're Christmas ornaments." They look perfect in this tree. I also sprinkled the branch with seashells from all of our coastal explorations. I could only use "imperfect" ones that have holes to thread some string through it. It's very relaxing to sit under it.

One of my favorite restaurants in Orem is Terra Mia. I especially loved the huge live ficus tree that was about 10-12' tall. It felt so good to sit under it to enjoy our meal. There is something so pleasant about sitting under a tree. I think I'm keeping this tree branch even after Christmas is over.

TREE #4:
TRASHED ITEM: rusty rebar, old grass from the front yard

This is a crazy find. Henry and I were on the bike trail one morning waiting for the car to be serviced. I just happened to see a piece of rusty rebar that was discarded. I can't explain my love for old metal, but I was drawn to it. I thought it could be cute to stick magnets on it for holding pictures.

I looked at it for a few days and then found a great use for it.










The nativity pattern is one my mom created years ago. We have a full size version made of plywood at our home in Orem that is painted white. It looks so peaceful in our front window. I found the pattern on my computer and transferred it to brown paper from shopping bags. I added some pieces of "straw" that are actually remnants of last years ornamental grasses out front (Again, "neglected rental property"). It's kind of a tree, kind of a nativity but it looks nice on the wall. And it makes me happy to see our familiar nativity again.


TREE #5:
TRASHED ITEM: loads of discarded succulents! and some empty plastic containers from the kitchen.

I was on a run one evening and as I passed a house I saw that they had cut down a lot of their succulents and the remnants were just laying there. As my feet were still moving, my wheels started turning. I couldn't resist the opportunity to make something with SO MANY ROSETTES. I headed back and knocked on the door. No one answered so I came back later with a note asking for the scraps. Permission was granted.

Commence WORK.

I didn't take enough pictures. Mostly because my hands were dirty the entire time and I couldn't handle my phone. It's also because I lacked faith that I was going to be able to turn my dream into reality. It was really questionable what I was doing.

I pounded some bamboo poles into the ground out front. Now see, "out front" means I was really sticking my neck out doing this crazy thing IN PUBLIC. I was nervous.

I had planned to pack sphagnum moss along a network of poles and string and then fill the inside with dirt. But the moss was more flimsy than I thought. I almost gave up right then. But I start weaving some twigs from other tree trimmings through the string and it gave me hope.

But not enough. There was no way this was going to be sturdy enough to hold up all those succulents.

I gave up again. I was still in the mood to work outside so I walked through the front yard. The grasses still have the dried up remnants of two or three sesaons at their base, so I grabbed a handful to throw away. It was in my hand and I realized I could make a basket-weave out of it to hold the dirt in place.

It worked!

You can see inside that I took up some of the volume with a large pretzel container. More trash to treasure!

The completed base. I still lined it with moss and filled it with as much soil as I could. 

So now "all" I had to do was "just" stick in all the succulents. My hands really suffered with this. I had to poke my finger into the tight weave of the grasses and shove in the stems. A screw driver would have been handy to save my fingers, but...it was inside and I don't like being interrupted. I can't be bothered to go get tools!

It took three days to finish arranging the plants on the tree. I won't get any compliments on my manicure, but I don't care. Do you like my tree?

An Australian Christmas Tree

Ever since we got here I've been thinking about what I could use to make a Christmas tree. I didn't want to just buy a normal tree with normal ornaments. This year is all about DIFFERENT and I wanted our tree to reflect that. I wanted to be resourceful and creative and simple.

The first thing I asked myself was, "what do I have an abundance of?" I also thought there was no reason the tree couldn't be made of living plants since it will be summertime during Christmas. Then I could enjoy the plants for even longer.

Okay, maybe it was just an excuse to buy more plants without feeling guilty about it.

On the other side of our house is a large stack of bricks. It's just leftover from building the house and is being kept just in case the need arises. I hauled them over to the patio and built a pyramid shape. I started on it sometime in October. After I felt I had a good shape, I went to buy the plants. I wanted to be sure I bought enough, but only as many as I needed.

Can I just say this was quite the workout hauling 

72 bricks from the opposite side of the house? 

I needed something that would grow in the part-shade conditions of the patio, but could also handle some direct sunlight. Having something that resembled the fine greenery of a pine tree was also on my wish list. And blossoms. If it wasn't asking too much I wanted something that would create it's own ornaments! Oh, and could we have it be a plant unique to Australia? I know, I'm rather demanding.

I found the perfect plant! It's called Creeping Boobiala. Not very Christmasy! I actually prefer the botanical name, myoporum parvifolium. It sounds better when you sing, "O Myoporum Parvifolium, how lovely are they branches." An Australian native, it has fine needle-like leaves and small delicate star-shaped white blossoms. STAR shaped! And it can handle the sun or the shade! Could there be anything more perfect?! I bought them just before our trip to Perth and kept them in the back of the house until after we got back. I wanted the tree to be a surprise for the family.

I was so excited to put it all together. I even had solar powered lights so I didn't need to plug them in, and they come on automatically at night. I had sent Allen to Costco to buy a long roll of ribbon to wrap around the pots to cover the black plastic and to secure them to the bricks. It can get VERY windy here sometimes.

And I couldn't resist adding a showy succulent tree-topper. 

Of course, I took advantage of the back side as well. These are portulaca plants. 

They are also very hardy and drought tolerant. I use them a lot at our house in Orem. 

It's beautiful! Not sure if everyone else was as thrilled as I was, but it sure lifted my Christmas spirits.

And then I was hooked. More trees to come...

American kid aces Australian history

When we first got here, we had no wi-fi for a few weeks and the kids weren't in school yet, so they had some spare time. Leo read a long travel book about Australia called In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson. It's wonderfully entertaining and in addition to giving highlights of the wonderful things to see in Australia, it contains a good deal of the history and heritage of Australia. Leo has a mind like a steel trap, so all that history poured into his brain.

Just a couple of week after reading it, the youth at church had a Jeopardy game night. One of the categories was Australian History. Guess who aced it? It was fun for him, but pretty mind-blowing to all the other kids in attendance. "How did YOU know that!? I don't even know that!!"

Knowledge is power and you just never know when it will come in handy.

Leo eventually got enrolled in school and continued to impress everyone there with his work ethic and knowledge base. His teachers really liked him. He wrote thoughtful essays and turned his work in on time. Actually turning it in at all would be a strong contrast to a lot of the students.

Last week was the last week of classes before summer break here. They had an end-of-year assembly and gave awards. Guess who did very well?

This guy.

He was chosen as the sole recipient for awards in two categories for his grade level. And check it out! One of the categories is HISTORY! He really enjoyed that class. He says it covered Australia in World War I, including the negative sides of the U.S. involvement. They also discussed the Australian Aboriginal rights and freedoms movement, and Australian pop culture through the ages. I'm so pleased he really got to immerse himself in a completely new world and perspective. The other class was Business and Finance. He chose that class to help prepare him for all the great ideas he has for his future.

Here they follow career paths very early and it limits the variety of classes a student is allowed to take, but Leo is returning to American schools so he still wants that well-rounded education. He's been very thoughtful about choosing classes that will be helpful to his goals and prepare him for college. And then, he has to push for those choices against the existing system that is designed to channel him into just one career path. I'm glad it's important to him!

I asked him what he thought caused his teachers to choose him for those awards. He said he just did the work and made an effort to do it well. I think they also just like him.

Today we had to go into the school to make some class changes for next year (which starts in February). Leo headed off to get some signatures for a while and I waited in the office. The school principal was walking through and said to me, "Very nice boy, that son of yours. You must be very proud." Well, yeah. I am. He also said he was very pleased to have been able to present those awards to him.

Way to go, Leo!

Thanksgiving

First of all, if it isn't obvious already, Australia does not recognize Thanksgiving. But many of our friends here seem familiar with what it is and wished us a happy day. We tried to invite a family over to share it with us, but it didn't work out with what was going on at Church that day, and we were really craving some family time anyway. Okay, maybe it was just ME that was craving family time.

Our first challenge for Thanksgiving was actually finding time to be together. I originally thought we'd have Allen and Maddie take the day off work on Friday so we could have it at the same time as our family in the U.S.  But Allen had a meeting he couldn't miss Friday afternoon and Maddie is trying to minimize her days off so we can travel. Saturday we had a church meeting in the evening and Maddie needed to run some errands (since she's always gone during the weekdays) so we opted for Sunday. We were going to be home from church earlier that day because meetings only went until 12, so we'd have the rest of the afternoon to cook and prep and enjoy some time together.

I'm organizing this post into shopping, cooking, eating, and feeling.

SHOPPING:
Turkey here is pretty expensive. I can buy boneless chicken breast for $7-8/kilogram (around $3.50/lb). The turkey was $7.50/kilo which was a good price, but it included all the bones and wings and everything so it's considerably more than chicken for just the meat part. Turkey breasts were priced at $20/kilogram. We didn't buy those!

We did NOT buy this turkey. We found a 4kg turkey for $30. That is about 9 pounds, and worked out to be just over $3/pound. Still quite a bit for a turkey. We are used to getting them for about $1/pound in the U.S.!

Other things that were different in my Thanksgiving purchasing this year. I had to buy an actual pumpkin and roasted it myself in advance. I scraped the pulp from the rind and pureed it in the blender. I couldn't find whipped topping in a frozen tub, so I bought a can. The celery for the stuffing is just HUGE. It's an issue when you're trying to fit everything for the big meal in the fridge. No Ritz crackers for appetizers but I found a brand that would suffice. They are not as buttery and greasy and I like them better.

The big score was the cranberry sauce. It's in a cute little jar with a lid, just like jam. I found jellied cranberry sauce AND whole berry sauce. They were $3 each and are smaller than the cans in the states.

COOKING:
I had asked all the kids in advance what dishes were on their "must have" list. We narrowed it down to

stuffing

mashed potatoes

sweet potatoes

cranberry sauce

butterhorn rolls

buttermilk pie

pecan pie bars (as a substitute for pecan pie, recipe below)

green peas (because we have to have something green)

I know, it's missing pumpkin pie. I was hoping to make a pumpkin chiffon/mousse type dessert with gingersnaps crumbled on top. But I can't whip cream because I don't have a mixer, and I couldn't find any pre-whipped topping in containers. So I gave up. But don't worry, I made some FABULOUS pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. And smeared with nutella they were amazing. (I'll post the recipe below). And Millie came up with the amazing idea to add pumpkin pie spice to hot chocolate and it's so comfy and wonderful.

Things we left off the menu:

scalloped corn (Allen's favorite)

cornbread stuffing (Shelly's favorite but I haven't found ground sausage here)

pumpkin pie

apple pie

4x as many butter horn rolls. The kids were feeling SO DENIED because we ONLY made 28 rolls. But I only have two baking pans. 

I cut up a loaf of bread the night before and dried it in the oven for the stuffing. I made the buttermilk pie Saturday night and it looked SO good. I was thinking it was because I had blended the ingredients in the blender instead of the mixer so everything was finely mixed and slightly whipped. I also made pecan pie bars against my better judgement because I KNEW I wouldn't be able to control myself eating them. 

Sunday afternoon everyone was really looking forward to the meal. They all disappeared in their rooms to wait. Uh...no. I went and got them all. I didn't make anyone help, but I wanted us to be together. Really, Allen and Maddie are gone so much, and I MISS, MISS, MISS Sunday dinners with my siblings and older daughters. I really wanted time together to welcome in the Christmas season. 

Millie was happy to help with the sautéing, and both she and Karly did a great job dressing up the table with whatever they could find. We don't have much! And seriously, plastic plates. And plastic serving dishes. Actually one of those is an ice cream container. So not classy, but we don't care. 

left to right:

disposable baking pan, ice cream container, pyrex batter bowl, plastic dinner plate (3/$1), thrift store springform pan, and the rolls in a plastic mixing bowl. Cuh-LASSY! But if you could see their faces, they were smiling.)

I dressed the turkey with some fresh rosemary from our my garden. I slipped the rosemary under the skin. I rubbed the outside with sage, thyme, paprika and garlic powder. Then I sprayed the whole thing with olive oil. It looked so good! I don't have a picture! Waaaa! 

Allen usually gets the task of rolling out the butter horn rolls. I think he doesn't like it because his personality always wants a perfectly round shape when he rolls them out but it doesn't happen and he has to fight with it. But I think he did a perfect job! They looked absolutely heavenly. 

I decided to experiment with the sweet potatoes. I sliced them thin and arranged them with apple slice to make them prettier. It would have been better in a pie pan with slanted sides, but it turned out okay. All I did was put them in untreated, sprayed them with olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt. Oh, and just a little bit of raw sugar over the apples. I covered the pan with foil and baked for a long time. 

A long time. Because... the turkey. It's always the dang turkey.

It was supposed to defrost for 2 days in the fridge. I gave it three. It was still frozen and took longer to cook than expected. I didn't have a thermometer and it didn't have a little popper either so we didn't know until we started to carve it that it was still raw in parts. Seriously we had the potatoes mashed and the beans steamed and the rolls freshly baked. And we had to put it all under foil. No fun. Maddie gave up and went to take a nap.

The reason there is no picture of the turkey is because by the time it was finally done we were ready to EAT! We cut it quick and set it out.

I had scored a large bag of fresh green beans at the grocery store for only $2. The girls helped me snap them while we talked (bonus!) and I steamed them just before eating. Except that raw turkey thing ruined that timing. I forgot to turn them off so they got VERY well steamed for a long time. They weren't as pretty and fresh as I had hoped. 

EATING!

This is the FIRST time we've actually sat at a table to eat a meal. I got an outdoor patio table for free several weeks ago, but have kept it outside thinking we'd start eating outdoors. But The Commuters get home pretty late and it's usually kinda cold, so I finally gave up and brought it indoors. I was hoping we could eat outside for Thanksgiving and make ya'll jealous. Oh well.

There was a noticeable lack of discussion in the first 10 minutes. The food was good. They were happy!

FEELING:

It felt good to enjoy a family tradition together. This is our first big holiday away from home. We got to FaceTime both of our daughters in the states while we did the cooking. And we broke out the Christmas music while we worked. It really doesn't FEEL like Christmas here because it's getting warmer and we are moving into summer. But that music just felt so good to hear and really changed the mood. I'm so glad for music. It is magical.

You know what was SO GREAT? After the meal, no one rushed off to their rooms. They stayed. And we talked. And we laughed. And it felt like Sunday dinner back home again. I couldn't have been more thankful for the Thanksgiving meal bringing that back to us.

We crammed a 4-day weekend into one afternoon. It wasn't perfect but we are happy with our Thanksgiving Day. There are a lot of things we are doing without but no one cares. We have what we need. We have met some wonderful friends who have helped us a lot and GIVEN us a lot.

And no one is missing the Black Friday chaos.

P.S.

The Buttermilk Pie was basically the only dessert (I am left to face those Pecan Pie Bars alone! Yikes!) and the pie was a BUST. I think I under baked it. It's so hard to bake in this oven. It looks like it's a pro-level oven with 5 burners and extra large baking capacity and convection air, but it STINKS! It burns on the right side in a very small spot about 4" around. You have to rotate the pans every 5 minutes. And then maybe other areas don't get cooked enough. Like a pie. And a turkey. So the pie looked fluffy and nice when I pulled it out, but it flattened and turned into a rubbery unsatisfying blah. No amount of whipped cream helped it. But if you only eat the whipped cream anyway, it doesn't matter.

Notice he's alone at the table with his pie!

Pecan Pie Bars:

1/2 c oil

2 c brown sugar

1/3 c water

1 t vanilla

2 c pecans, coarsely chopped 

2 c flour

2 eggs

2 t bkg powder

Bake in a greased 13x9 pan at 350° for 25-30 minutes.

Pumpkin Pancakes
I made these up based on a muffin recipe. I blended it in the blender to hide the oatmeal texture. These were SO GOOD. 

1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 T coconut oil
1 t vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c oats
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t pumpkin pie spice
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt

Blend the wet ingredients first, then add the dry ingredients. Fry in a skillet as usual. Top with applesauce or nutella. Or whatever. So good.

Doctor's office in Australia

Leo takes amoxicillin regularly for acne. Our doctor in Utah told us that we needed to find a franchise that existed in both Utah and Australia, and then the prescription could be transferred here. But pharmacies aren't the same kind of place here. There is no such thing as a pharmacy at Target or the grocery store. A pharmacist is called a "chemist" and the laws are different. The chemist here can't accept a prescription from a U.S. doctor. So in order to get some simple amoxicillin we had to go see an Australian doctor.

One of the stipulations of our visa is to maintain our own insurance and not use the socialized medical coverage here. So we have to pay for all medical costs up front and then submit our own paperwork to our insurance company.

It wasn't too expensive to go. It costs $50 for a visit (about $35 U.S.). That's without insurance. Think about that for a minute. $50 TOTAL to see a doctor. In the states we have pretty good insurance. Our copays for doctor visits are $20. The total charges including what our insurance pays could be much more. So $50 is really inexpensive. I can submit this charge to my insurance, but it will only reimburse me for the amount over $20 so it's hardly worth the hassle of paperwork ($35US minus $20 copay).

We also didn't have to schedule much in advance at all. I called at 3:15 and got an appointment for 4:30. So we headed over. We did have a long wait in the office, but that's not unusual for doctors.

The check-in had a few differences. The paperwork was very minimal. In fact, they had just one laminated sheet to write in the details with a dry-erase marker. This saves paper and then they just clean it off for the next patient.

I noticed in the lobby they had information about in-home visits for patients that are too sick to come to the office. That's pretty awesome! I'm sure it costs more but it's great that it's even offered.

In the U.S., a nurse assists the doctor and calls the patient from the waiting room. The nurse checks your medical form, gets some basic information about what you need, takes blood pressure, weight, temperature, etc.. After all relevant info is collected, then you wait in the room for the doctor to actually arrive.

But here at our Australian doctor visit, each patient was called back to see the doctor, it was the DOCTOR that came out to call the patient. No nurse. We went straight back, and got right into the issue at hand. He isn't sick, knew what medication he needed and why, so it was a pretty simple visit. But the doctor could only prescribe 25 days worth of amoxicillin, after which we'd have to make another appointment to get more. Ugh. Since we don't benefit from the free socialized medicine, that's a pretty expensive plan. We explained our out-of-country insurance and she kindly gave us as many samples as she could. We then contacted his doctor in the U.S. to send in a mail-order prescription and we'll have my daughter bring a 90 day supply with her in December. After that runs out, we'll just have to have someone ship it to us. Or he can just have acne.

As pleasant and inexpensive as it was, I'm hoping this is our last visit to the doctor.

My Childhood Dream Came True! -- Siri told me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street

When I was little I had the idea that Sesame Street was at a hidden location and if you just had the directions you would be able to enter the magical world where Bert and Ernie and Big Bird and Oscar and Kermit all really existed. I always wished someone would tell me how to get there. 

Did you know that if you ask Siri how to get, how to get to Sesame Street, she will TELL YOU!

Oh my gosh!

And did you know there is only ONE Sesame Street in the world? It's in Melbourne! There is a Sesame Road somewhere in Pennsylvania. And Sesame Drive somewhere in California. But there is only ONE Sesame Street. 

My kids discovered this one evening when we were talking about Sesame Street and I put that on my bucket list of things to do while we are here. I made it happen the next weekend. 

It was a cloudy day. I was disappointed because going to Sesame Street is supposed to happen on a sunny day. But for real, the clouds were SWEPT AWAY while we were ON OUR WAY to Sesame Street. The magic was happening. 

It took over an hour to get there. Everything takes longer than any GPS will tell you. We finally got there! 

I really wondered if some smart city council would have a cute official Sesame Street looking sign where the (surely *loads* of) tourists would be able to come and take pictures. 

What are they thinking?

I was still just as happy as could be. You could say everything was A-OK. 

We even used our new selfie stick.

If I had known as a child that it was in Australia, I would have never stopped asking my mom to take me.

I can imagine the tears I would have cried when she told me no. 

Henry doesn't realize how lucky he is that he doesn't have to wait until he's all grown-up to go to Sesame Street.

Maybe he does. 

And isn't it totally interesting that Sesame Street is only a 10 minute drive from the Melbourne Temple? There are FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS THERE.

Southwest Australia

When we first arrived in Australia, Madeline was reading "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson. It's about his epic tour of Australia in 1999. It's been a great resource to help us decide what we really want to see while we are here. She decided her must-see item was the Tree Top Walk in Walpole. But it's all the way on the west side of Australia, waaaaaay down on the southern coast. We'd have to fly to Perth and then drive 5 hours south to see it. Remember Australia is as big as the United States. Flying from Melbourne to Perth is like flying from South Florida to San Francisco. But I'm a nature lover myself so it was an easy sell. I thought we'd just take the two of us, but everyone else wanted to come, too. And we're only here for a year...chance of a lifetime...etc, etc. Everything gets big fast.

We decided to leave Allen with Henry so we didn't have to rent a huge car and deal with Henry's schedule. It was a good decision but I deeply regret that Allen didn't get to see what we saw.

But you can see it here. I've tried to narrow down the 755 pictures that I took. It's so hard. We packed in so many places and experiences in just 4 days. I'm so glad we went.

I'm breaking it into days because that makes the most sense. Please keep your seatbelt fastened. This is a fast pace! I'm keeping this as a memento and journal of our trip. If you get weary of the epic length I'm not offended. But you should at least browse the pictures. If you never get to experience this part of the world, I've tried to show you as much as I can and give you a little background so you can feel like you were there.

DAY ONE:
We arrived at the airport about 5:00am. This was strategic to maximize our sight seeing time and minimize hotel costs. We even gained 3 hours on the schedule because of the time change from East Australia to West. We got our rental and headed out to have a quiet picnic at a park to refuel. Today was planned to be low-key and just a little coastal drive.

Cute little park we found tucked behind some homes. That tree. Wow.

These looked so picture perfect. What are they?

We drove to a beach just a bit north or Perth. It was a little ho hum, but had cool tide pools and crabs. The rock formations were interesting. I notice the rocks at all the beaches we've been to are very distinctive. I love seeing the way they've formed over thousands of years.

They look subdued. Probably were. 

It was just the beginning and they didn't know how amazing it was going to get. 

 The beach had lots of tube shaped tide pools. There were lots of crabs scurrying along the rocks. 

I thought those little oval shaped things were fossils, but they are fuzzy chitons.

We were going to be staying in Bunbury for the night so we headed that way. It's about a 2 hour drive. Saw a dead kangaroo. And this is getting to be a depressing irony.

Bunbury was a delightful place. Very old timey and small. And our motel was directly across the street from the beach. The kids had a blast in the waves.

We were looking forward to seeing the sunset on the ocean since it faced west, but the clouds came in that evening and fizzled that possibility. We went to get some fish and chips. That's always a go-to meal. Mostly because the chips are $4 and it provides enough for all of us (even though Australians think it's only enough for 1). It's probably 4-5 potatoes worth of chips (thick-cut french fries). Fish is bonus. We got shark this time for fun. It tasted like fish. The teenagers working the restaurant looked like they stepped right out of Napoleon Dynamite. But with man buns.

DAY TWO:
We had breakfast in the motel with cereal and milk. We went to the lookout tower in Bunbury. It was 8:30am and we drove into the business district to get to it. It was DEAD. No one on the streets. I remembered my friend telling me this was a place people go to retire so that may explain some of it, but I was really surprised how vacant it was. We headed up a long set of stairs to get to the lookout. I didn't take a picture of it but it had a spiral staircase and resembled a lighthouse. There were a couple of people running up and down this course for a morning workout and I was jealous.

View from the top of the lookout tower in Bunbury

We then started on the long drive to Walpole.

It was supposed to take three hours. We settled in. I set the cruise control. For about 90 seconds at a time. The speed limits constantly would change from 100kmh, to 90, to 60, to 50, then 60, 80, 100. It was maddening.

I saw so many small town names. Here's how to name a town in Western Australia: get yourself some scrabble tiles. Toss a handful on the board, line them up and add "up" on the end. Dallyelup, Gelorup, Boyanup, Gwindinup, Beelerup, Mullalyup, Palgarup, Manjimup, and Nornalup, were all towns we passed through. And then there was Mandjoogoorap Drive. Apparently that word means, "meeting place of the heart." I didn't know I was about to meet my heart. My heart LOVED the scenery between Bunbury and Walpole.

I finally got past some of the closer towns and was able to get the cruise set to 110 and leave it there. That's 68 miles per hour.

I was screaming along making good time and then suddenly saw a sign that said, "Diamond Tree Lookout, 300 meters." By the time I had time to wonder what that was, I was there. I hit the brakes and we went to see it. It was just a wood chip covered parking area in front of a tree. I parked the car and then I could see the stairway going up the tree. THE tree. I had heard about this from some friends but didn't know where it was. I was going up that tree. With or without the kids.

There are giant rebar spikes nailed into the tree in a spiral fashion all the way up as a staircase. 

There is a lookout on top. It was originally built to be a lookout for fire spotting. 

Leo, Karly, and Maddie went up first. I stayed behind with Millie who wasn't really sure about it. We got to the halfway point in what seemed like just 5 minutes. It really wasn't bad. I was ready to go the rest of the way, but the advance party up top was worried it would be too much for Millie. They said it was sketchy in the last bit, and there was a sign prefacing the second half saying, "That was the easy bit." It also said to ask yourself how you feel and "if in doubt, do not climb." So Millie decided not to.

So I did what every kind, loving mother would do.

I left her on the platform and climbed the rest of the way.

Okay, really I was scouting it out for myself and was going to see if she could handle it. My assessment was that she could. And after hurriedly taking some selfies with the advance party, I went back to get her and bring her up. But she had changed her mind again when I arrived.

Millie at the halfway point. Notice how tall "halfway" is. 

At the top. It is 52 meters high. 170 feet.

Lizard we found at the bottom of the tree.

That sure woke up the kids' personality. They weren't subdued anymore after that. Leo said it was the most stressful things he's ever done. I really didn't feel I was in danger, but I was preparing myself to catch Millie if she slipped through the rungs or fell back on me. It was scary to think of the possibilities, but at no point did I feel my footing was unstable. The rungs were very solid. The tree somehow didn't seem to mind this? (Here is another video from someone else.)

We had to keep moving. As we got closer to the forest, we noticed evidence of a recent forest fire. I found out it had moved through the area in March of this year. The trees told different stories in different areas as we drove. Some areas you could see how the fire and swept through quickly and mostly burned the under brush.

In other areas the fire had burned more intensely, burning off all but the thickest branches and trunks. The trees had begun to regenerate small sprouts that we tight against blackened trunks. I really have a thing for trees. I'm completely smitten with Australian trees. And this was fascinating to see. I couldn't stand it anymore and stopped in an area to take some pictures.

Here is seems that mostly the underbrush was burned away as there is so much of it freshly regenerating now. 

The black trunks contrasting with the brilliant greens were beautiful. 

Here you can see more evidence of a more intense fire. It burned farther up the trees leaving very few limbs. The tree is sending out lots of brand new shoots all along the still-living trunk. 

Another blackened tree covered with new growth. 

We finally arrived in Walpole. We had few choices for eating establishments. I had to swallow hard and buy $10-12 burgers for each of the kids. I had a less expensive (and less greasy) chicken wrap.

The place we were staying turned out to be amazingly beautiful. It's a small group of cabins or chalets run by the nicest couple. They were so helpful in suggesting sights to see and helped get us set to go canoeing on the river in the morning. I think I'd have been happy enough if we didn't see anything else in the area but just stayed right here for a few days. It was just beautiful.

Beautiful gardens. Beautiful. I can't believe people live here. Everyday. So jealous.

We pretty much dropped our stuff in the chalet and took off to see Conspicuous Cliffs. It took maybe 20 minutes, most of it on a gravel road. It is a place where we hoped to see some whales. But we knew there was a good chance they had moved on for the season.

It didn't matter. It was an amazing beach. There was NO ONE THERE. And it was so huge. And big. And the waves were roaring. The kids were playing in the surf. But I was eyeing some rocks in the distance. I thought of the little tide pools that must be over there. I thought I'd go for a quick jog to see what there was.

It was probably a half-mile away. Farther than I thought. Eventually everyone else joined me. I couldn't stop taking pictures. I just knew i'd never come back to this spot ever again and wanted to capture as much of this incredible piece of God's art as possible.

We all strolled back at our own pace. The waves were so loud that it didn't matter that I was singing "How Great Thou Art" as loud as I pleased. It was just between me and Him.

We headed off to catch a fish and chips place that was recommended farther to the east. We had to drive more on the gravel road to get there. By the time we got there they were just about to close. It was a dumpy looking place that was just part of the campground there. The fish was probably fresh and the chips were probably good, but the kids just wanted the ice cream in the freezer, so we had ice cream for dinner.

We drove away around dusk. And then we saw a huge kangaroo jump right across the road in front of us. Madeline screamed. I thought it was great! This one was ALIVE! YAY!

We were on more dirt roads and were surrounded by cattle ranches. Can you imagine living on a ranch with these kind of coastlines just moments from your door? Can you even comprehend how blessed that life would be?

The kids were pretty happy and loose now. They had climbed a huge tree, splashed in two different oceans in two days, talked their mom into having ice cream for dinner, and faced a huge kangaroo. Leo started joking about what kind of accent an Australian cow might have. "Maauuuuerrr." Oh. My. Gosh. It was so funny because he's so right.

A huge pelican flew overhead as we drove. It looked like a pterodactyl. It was graceful and I felt so lucky to be seeing all of this.

DAY THREE:
We were still on Melbourne time zone so I was pretty much wide awake by 4:30am. I waited around for awhile but we got going for an early morning canoe trip as soon as possible. Just as we approached the water, we heard a Kookaburrah call from the forest across the river. Leo and I looked at each other knowing we had just gotten very lucky to hear something so authentic!

I'm telling you the canoeing was really incredible! I was on a river that was a perfect mirror reflection of the most amazing trees! I couldn't stop taking pictures.

The people at the chalet had taught me a little about the kind of trees there. They are all different varieties of eucalyptus. Karri trees are the smooth barked trees. Tingle trees have rough bark and are the main ones featured at the tree top walk, and Jarrah trees are also in the area. The owners had a wood floor made of Jarrah wood. They said it resembled mahogany.

We had about an hour on the water. Then we had to go see the treetop walk. THE reason we were here!

The tingle trees have large tubes that channel water up the tree at a fast pace. The water can move so quickly that high pressure is created and the water can actually vaporize. If you were to listen with a stethoscope you could hear popping sounds! But the large tubes get crushed easily with things like cars from tourists. So the walk was built in 1996 to protect the trees from the damage caused by tourists driving their cars over their vast but delicate root systems. 

The understory tour was very interesting. I learned that some eucalyptus trees actually emit toxins from their roots that discourage growth of other plants nearby. They also have some toxins in their leaves, that get into the soil below when they fall and breakdown over time. We are always talking about how everything here in Australia is out to kill you--crocodiles, spiders, snakes, jellyfish. But even the TREES here are out to kill!

Some Tingle trees get a weak spot in their base as they start to buttress out. When a forest fire moves through, a fire can start to burn on the inside of the tree. Repeated fires will hollow out the base but the tree stays alive and strong because of the wide root system. In fact, the walk was inspired by a signature tree that had such a large hollow in its trunk that people could drive their cars right through it. The tree eventually died and fell over because the root system had been so damaged by the cars driving over its roots. 

The boardwalk is made of Jarrah wood. You can easily see the burned out interior in this tree. 

This tree is called "Grandma Tingle"

So in order to protect the root system, a canopy walk was built to keep people off the ground level. It only took 15-20 minutes to walk the course. Surprisingly brief. We had time to walk through once, and then catch a guided tour through the understory. Then we did the canopy walk again and took our time.

Honestly, it was was shorter than I thought but very cool. But not *the coolest* thing about our trip. I was okay with that. I was already so glad we had come.

We scarfed down some peanut butter and jelly then headed to Green Pools according to recommendation. We were just going to wade in the water and give it a quick look. We wanted to get back to Bunbury and see the sunset over the ocean. The kids took off ahead of me. As I made my way down Leo came bounding back to get his swimsuit with a huge grin. "It's really fun!" he said. The color of the water. The stone formations. The sound of the waves. But there was a small inlet that protected you from the actual waves so you could swim in peace but still hear the waves. There were swimmers jumping off a huge rock into the water. Everyone wanted to spend more time there.

Millie got some size able cuts on her feet while trying to climb up a rock face. I carried her back up the stairs to the car. Up a long flight of steps!

We drove out and took some gravel roads to see Circular Pool. It was sorta worth the long time on the gravel. Leo had a blast bounding back and forth across the creek on the rocks.

Can you spot Leo in mid-jump? The circular pool at the end of the falls is in the background.

Cooperation. Priceless. 

The Parcell Album cover. 

Then we dashed off to Swarbrick Art Loop. Somebody had some crazy idea to put modern art pieces in the middle of nowhere. And we drove to it. I think it would have been more disappointing but the scenery along the way is just so amazing. I just felt so giddy that I was driving out in the "whoop whoops" of Australia. Cattle farms and forests. I can never get over the idea that people LIVE here and wake up to this beauty EVERYDAY.

Australian cows say, "mmmmaauuuuerr."

The art loop. Just random artwork. Actually it wasn't random. They had explanations for everything. None of it made sense to us. We were kinda loopy tired by now and were hurriedly finishing our tour of Walpole.

This spiral growth on the tree wasn't part of the art. The tree grows like this. Weird. 

A giant golden ring suspended over the pathway.

Giant ants. 

We figured out that the "counties" here are called shires. Doesn't that just sound so poetic? We had been in the Shire of Denmark. As we left town we were in the Shire of Manjimup. 

We saw a sign out in all that rural driving called Allen Road. So naturally, I had to take a picture of that. The kids roll their eyes a lot. 

This was up in the mountain area on gravel roads. We found the street sign at the other end of this road that was asphalt and had a more modern sign. As I tried to poise and take a selfie there, I shocked myself on the electric fence. Keeping the "spark" in our marriage!

We headed back toward Bunbury and said goodbye to the beauty of the Shire of Denmark. As we were driving back I remembered Millie had decided she wanted to climb that huge tree. I woke her up and she was still determined. We arrived just before dusk so we had to hurry before it got dark. 

She aced it! At the top we met a spry older gentleman from England. He took a bad picture of us. He had already climbed another tree in Gloucester (that we didn't know about) that was 61 meters. We tried not to be disappointed that we hadn't climbed the higher tree. As he descended he stopped on the ladder to take a picture. Which meant he was holding his phone suspended about 160' in the air. Which FREAKED. LEO. OUT. 

We didn't put this here, but it seemed appropriate to take a photo keepsake. 

We had missed our chance for the sunset over the ocean, but it was okay. We got this instead. 

We stopped for food in Manjimup. The nice cashier thought we were crazy for leaving Melbourne on Cup Day. The Melbourne Cup is the Kentucky Derby of Australia. Horse Race. Parades. Crazy Hats. Big Deal. He offered Maddie a job when we mentioned she wanted to move to Perth.

We got some chips (fries) to have a little something warm in our bellies. One "minimum chips" is meant to serve 1-2 people but it's always plenty for the whole family. It comes wrapped in about 4 large sheets of newsprint size paper. Always very hot and stays hot. I tore the paper wrapping and made some cones for each of us and we scarfed it down in the car. 

It was now fully dark which helped us make better time since I wasn't constantly stopping the car to take more pictures. As we drove we smelled another forest fire burning. It was also in Bunbury and we could smell it all night long at the hotel.

DAY FOUR:

We headed over to the Dolphin Discovery Center. It's a place where the wild dolphins often come to visit, but they don't live there. They have volunteers on the lookout and when a dolphins enters the area, they ring an alarm inside the center so all the visitors know to run out and get as close as they can. 

They had us all stand in a single line with little space between people. We had to stay as one line because the dolphin will only come in as close as the person standing furthest out. So we all wanted to be the same distance out. And we couldn't have space between us because if the dolphin gets spooked, they can dart between people at up to 70mph (or something like that) so that could hurt to take a tail fin in the leg at that speed!



We were lucky and got to meet Eclipse. Later we met Cracker and her little calf, Cookie. We didn't get to touch them but got lots of photos. They came within 18-24 inches of us. It was well worth the $22US entry for all of us. And we got punch cards good for two more visits that don't expire. So I'll hang on to them just in case. 

Inside the Discovery Center they had seahorses, sea stars, and some very interactive octopi. There were plenty of college age volunteers hanging around ready to tell us all kinds of interesting things about the animals. One told us something about the anemone. But the way she pronounced it rhymed with "alimony." And, just in case you didn't know, the MALE seahorse is the one that gets pregnant. There was one that was great with 2000 children. The volunteer said the father eats a lot of them after birth. "They eat whatever is in front of them. They aren't very bright." But they were adorable. They wrap their tails around the leaves so they don't float away.

Octopi are very smart. They can solve puzzles and make decisions. Apparently somewhere in the world is an octopus similar to Punxsutawney Phil. He always picks the winner of the Super Bowl correctly. This particular octopus liked to open the lid of his tank and explore the center. They started duct taping his tank closed because he would crawl into other tanks and eat less intelligent creatures. 

Leo could put his finger on the tank and this octopus would 

reach out and touch the spot where his finger was.

Leo and I found some great shells along the beach while we waited for dolphins and saw a couple of cargo ships come and go. They move faster up close. Out at a distance they seem to stand still. Apparently cargo ships are still the most cost-effective way to transport goods around the world. 

So, apparently the Simpson's have retired to Bunbury. 

I didn't take a closer shot because they actually looked a little disturbing. 

We went back to the first beach we visited here called Back Beach (not where the dolphins were). It has some black volcanic rock formations. At one point on the beach the waves compete with each other and made side splashing waves toward each other. I made a recording of the sound. It was magnificent.

We have eaten more peanut butter and jelly while in Australia than we did in the U.S. Thankfully we can buy it here! We did some more of that PB&J and then headed off to the airport. I was so glad to turn in the keys to the car and let someone else be in charge of transport! I could close my eyes and finally get some sleep. The flight attendants on this flight were both men and whenever they walked down the aisle they STOMPED and the floor bounced, so it made getting some rest impossible. 

Leo was a great co-captain on this trip. He was very helpful to me, always seemed happy to let me take pictures and go places that I was interested in. He seemed just as happy to geek out about the natural beauty as I was. He even made sure I was getting enough to eat. Next, we are taking a camping trip in the Australian outback to see Uluru together. I can't wait!

In case you ever want to go, here a map of the southern area we visited. 

We absolutely LOVED our trip!

It was Perth-ect!