Ex-pat Mums in Oz??

[yummimummy]

Is there anybody out there......?
(Apart from me)

BTW Hi Israel

Bouj - are you on maternity leave yet?? Hope your ds had a lovely birthday.

Aah, thanks eidsvold! Last day at work on Thursday (thank god), and ds's birthday on Saturday. So, from then on, I am happy to have this baby! How's things on your side of the river?

things are fine on our side of the river - no activities this week - oh boy - am going to have an energetic 3 1/2 yo to entertain all week. Luckily my sil and 2 nieces are coming to visit - her two are the same age as my two so they play pretty well together. Then have a family get together Easter Sun so plenty of other people to entertain dd1.

It is great having her home though and not having to rush around in the morning to get her to kindy or sn kindy or swimming or so on.... and the girls do love playing together

have done the girls easter shopping - just need to sort out dh and my mum.

for non aussie mums - do you find this...

dh said to me last night - he finally gets some of the phrases etc sayings that I used to use and of course still do - as he hears them all the time... he used to have to ask for translation from me but not anymore.

Eids - after being an avid 'Neighbours' watcher in my sad youth, and having an Aussie boyfriend from 18-23 years old, I can't think of any Aussie phrases that I've misinterpreted recently.
And 18 is much too far away to remember. I do remember the said boyfriend telling everyone that when I visited him, I was surprised not to see kangaroos hopping around Sydney city centre and that I thought there were no trees in Australia. Does that count?
Bouj - good luck for your DS's birthday. And, of course the Big Event

funny how your perceptions grow - Being a city girl - when I moved to a small country qld town to teach - seeing roos on the school oval was a big deal for me.... for the kids - nothing BUT a plane going overhead was a big deal and they would leap out of their seats and rush to the windows...

2 reasons

anyone with anything remotely seriously wrong with them had to be flown out ( only 2 hours form coast mind you)

and planes were such a big deal.

although we do get the odd koala out our way and sometimes see them on a morning walk.

I've only seen a koala in the wild once and I swear it was nailed to the tree! ( It was there for days)

LOL I don't liv ein the wild although sometimes the girls can be pretty feral

We don't get much wildlife around here anymore.
Word must have got out.
DD eats anything that comes within 10 metres of her hungry little mouth.
Latest tally is 5 flies and a baby gecko in the past 2 weeks
Yum.

at least she is branching out

dd2 has eaten a couple of moths - can't even imagine what that feels like in your mouth and my neice ate a blow fly - my SIL was sooo ill when she realised what dn had in her mouth!!

I know it's foul!
I'm now used to the feel of their soft little wet bodies in her mouth when I put my fingers in to fish them out. Yuk.
She did eat 2 blow flies!
I managed to get most of their body parts out and washed down the rest with lots of water.
Just add salt.

We are looking for something good to do this Easter weekend in Bris.
Any ideas?

sorry just caught this... we are hoping to head off somewhere for either breakfast or lunch somewhere tomorrow....

NOT the coast - either of them by the sounds of the traffic reports I heard today.

Redcliffe - for coffee/walk along the esplanade

we have gone late afternoon for a play and fish and chips at Clontarf.. you would just get on the gateway - take the deagon redcliffe area and just over the bridge to your right you would see a park with play area and just a little further down on the left is a fish and chip shop - FAB!!

We have family get togethers - one today at my mums with my sil and neices and then one at my aunts on Sunday for lunch.

We also have DIY and gardening to do.

If you got yesterday's Courier Mail it had some hints in it to for things to do.... Thursday's that would be.

No worries Eids.
sounds as though you have a busy one planned.
Actually it turns out that we have a few social things to go to and the rest if the time will be a well-earned rest ( ha ha).
Might go for a picnic though - some friends are having one on Mon at 8am in a park close to them.
Avoiding the shopping centres is a definite and I agree with your plan to avoid the roads which sound like total chaos.
Have a good one everyone

Brief hello...still in the throes of visitors (mum for 3 weeks, she left on Wednesday and PILs since last Saturday and for another week...). Hope all is well with everyone (Happy Easter!!); Israel - lovely to see you back on the boards (you'll have no clue who I am but I remember you from threads a while ago).

We had the most fabulous times in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. My goodness it was nice to return to civilisation even if only for a week! Don't any of you take shopping for granted again!!! Ds2 (3) fell in love with the Sydney Opera House and we had to see it from some angle every day - he literally shook with excitement each time he spotted it and now has a lovely T shirt with a picture on it to remind him. Hopefully we'll spend up to a week there again when we leave in July (en route to San Fransisco). Did all the usual things - opera house, bridge, ferry to Manly, Botanical Gardens, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Tower etc. Mum babysat one night and we went to Aria for dinner AND IT WAS SHUT! Ended up in Doyle's instead which was absolutely fine but was a bit disappointed - how often do you get to do that? Not to worry.

Anyway. Should get the boys in bed and tend to guests...

Hi Hannahs
LOL your DS shaking with excitement when he saw the Opera House.
He's going to be an architect isn't he?
Glad you're having fun with the rellies.

Eidsvold, I'm sitting in Surrey reading your message about fish and chips at Clontarf and it brings back so many memories. Used to love heading down Redcliffe way for fish and chips on Sunday afternoons, looking forward to being able to do that again when we move back there

glad to hear you had a fab time hannah...

Oh scully we just went for a drive one day and usually head scarborough way but decided to go to Clontarf instead.... those fish and chips were just scrumptious... best I had had in a long time and very reasonable.

Has everyone gone off to play somewhere else?
Story of my life....
Hope everyone had a good long weekend.
We overimbibed on Saturday night (involving DH's work colleague, his large wine cellar, no memory of arriving back home, a 5am start the next day and oh-what-a-headache!) - won't be repeating that for a while - at least a week or so.

hello
I 'm here stuffing a double Whopper down my neck as ds2 is finally asleep for arvo nap. Even the Burger King is better downunder

Oh that is so true. We tested it on a teen, so we have 100% confirmation. I love Oz BK.

I am attempting to shift the weight I've put on since I got here, so am being worthy and not eating junk.

if you take the buns off a double whopper it's OK, a bit like atkins
It's called Hungry Jacks over here in WA, it's sooooooooo parochial

busy but then keep forgetting to check this one...

yummy - so prefer Hungry Jacks to Mcdonalds - hj do yummy breakfasts.

Could not believe it - got 4 invites in the mail the other day

Kindy mothers day evening do - me and dd1
kindy committee lunch tomorrow - me and 2 dds ( no sitter)
morning tea to celebrate 30yrs of the Qld down syndrome assoc ( maybe me and friend)
pregnancy help centre dinner ( me and 3 friends)

Boy - oh I finally have a social life( as opposed to jsut ferrying dd1` to her social life!!)... If only I can find someone to look after the girls for the morning tea - sounds very posh!!

It is sad when you suddenly realise you cannot 'party' or 'socialise' as hard as you did when you were single ( won't say young and single - cause I don't think I am old!!)