Farewell Brisbane

It's a little different scene than when we left Dublin. We felt like we just didn't have nearly as much stuff (which we didn't) and we weren't nearly as tired or bleary eyed. If you took away the two strollers, car seat, and pack and play it was a perfectly reasonable pile of luggage for three people who were moving across country. (our big stroller has it's own suitcase and it's a giant black thing that's taking up 1/3 of the trolley).

We're in a long-stay hotel in Perth right now. It's a bit gloomy but in a nice part of town. We hit the grocery store last night and drove around to look at the outside of some townhouses the relocation agent sent to us last week to get a feel for the neighborhoods. It's nice having a few things ticked off the list already - no new mobile phones this move, the cable is already sorted we just have to call to get our account turned back on when we move in, and we are familiar with the grocery store chains and how to navigate them.

Already it seems Perth is not quite the pedestrian city inner Brisbane or Dublin was, FFM and I will be adjusting to life with a car as our plan is that Travis will find his own way to work by bus/train/bike/foot or some combination thereof. Something new for everyone!

In kiddo news, FFM is a true toddler, wobbling his way between walls and furniture all over the place. Last week he started taking more than just a couple of steps at a time between T and I, and just a few days ago he started letting go of furniture and taking off on his own. We've stopped counting the number of consecutive steps, and now count how far he goes in yards (or meters). He thinks his new perspective is hilarious and toddles along laughing uproariously along the way.

On my last full day in Brisbane Mom finally let me pet a kangaroo

Oh my, he was much more excited about this than the photo shows.

We took a boat cruise to the koala sanctuary with Sara and Cooper. The boys were pretty rowdy on the way there.

Sara knows just how to pet the kangaroos, she's a kangaroo whisperer.And lastly some snippets from this weekend's Riverfire - a purely decadent event where Brisbane puts on a fireworks show just for the fun of it.

Cooper's family and our friend Leo (and his parents) came for a visit. FFM was pretty happy to have his buds around.

The city buildings get all 'decked' out with nifty lights for the event.

The scope of these fireworks was amazing, there's a giant horseshoe bend in the river where we live, and we could see the THREE barges of fireworks in front of us (I only catch one in the video) AND the barges across the city on the river on the other side of the horseshoe. Fireworks are shot off of two bridges and the tops of the city skyscrapes. The show starts and ends with an F111 fighter jet screaming through the city doing a fuel dump which leaves a streak of flame across the sky. I caught a tiny bit of it in the video (which is the end of the show but I posted first since it's the better one and if you're only going to watch one watch that one. However to get the idea of the true breadth and scope you've really got to see the second one). Make sure you've turned the volume down, these are a bit loud.

Brisbane Weekends

I know I can get up there...

Swimming School

This is our #1 favorite activity around here. This term it's buy one lesson get another lesson per week free, so we go Mondays AND Wednesdays. Things worked out that Travis could come with us one Monday so I took advantage and let him hop in the pool while I filmed. It's not our 'normal' class, FFM's still getting used to the new kids, and it was a little different having dad do all the lesson stuff so he's not quite on his A game, but it's our regular teacher who he (and I) just loves. We only have one more week of swimming school before we go and it's a good thing FFM's too small to know it's his last week or it would be traumatic. This will be one of the first things we sort out upon arrival in Perth!

Presenting, Swim School.

Music to my ears

I have some seriously talented friends. My friend Nancy is on the verge of releasing an album - she's done three solo albums on her own and is now collaborating with her friend Fran on an album of children's music.

Back in the days of FFM's non-stop screaming (months 0-3) Nancy bravely invited us to her house to hang out. If her 1 year old was asleep (thus not requiring her immediate attention) she'd pull out her guitar and sing Beatles songs to help lull FFM into calmness. And darn it, if it didn't nearly work :)

So please check out the upcoming album "Under the Stars" by Sunflow. http://www.myspace.com.sunflowmusic/



We're also lucky here - FFM's swim teacher is a blues singer when she's not teaching swim lessons. She, too has released an album of kids music but mostly does regular blues and sings all over Queensland (and the US when she lived there!).