Australia Day

So January 26th was Australia Day.  We weren't sure what people do around here for Australia day, so lucky for us, some of our nice new friends invited us over for an authentic Aussie barbie.  Ya know, throw another shrimp on the barbie, Mate?  Except there were no shrimp, and I was glad, because they don't even call them shrimp here, they're called prawns and they are huge, and they still have their legs and eyes!  They have eyes!  It is creepy, but I still ate one at a bbq at Christmas time!  It was good.  But it is hard to get past the eyes! 

Now for a little history, on January 26, 1788, a group of ships known as the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove. These ships and their passengers and crew didn't know it at the time, but their arrival, although to establish a penal colony, was the beginnings of one of the most isolated countries ever to exist in the world! And I guess that is why they celebrate Australia Day.  

Anyways, I don't have great photos, but I'll just post what I have.  We just barbequed up a bunch of meat, including kangaroo, had a bunch of salads and treats and just let the kids free in the yard while we just ate and talked.  It was fun to get to know a lot of new people!  Big thank you to our kind hosts, Ben and Candace!  We love you!

Here is our stack of meat!  The kangaroo meat is on the kabobs on top.  I didn't try any, not because I didn't want to, but because it was gone before I got my food!  So that means it must be good, right?  I'm sure I'll get another chance, they all said it was good, just more tough than other meats.  So not sure if I will like it.  I like my steak to melt in my mouth! 

 Here is Ben, our grill man and host, he was a good sport for my picture. :)

 Here is Ben and Candace's nephew trying kangaroo for the first time.  He said he liked it, but it didn't sound too convincing!

 Here's one of our new friends, Lillian, and her cute girls, eating kangaroo, she is the one who brought it, so she likes it. 

 Here is Will riding the girly bike in the back. 

 Here is Ava building with blocks outside.  And Lily swinging.

 Here is cute, little, festive Siena.  Her outfit could totally pass for a 4th of July outfit, well except the Australian flag.

 Here is a delicious cheesecake that Tess, another new friend, made for the occasion.  I tried to get her to be in the photo, she wasn't game.  Not only was it delicious, but it was so festive. 

 This cute, little, neighbor girl was so good with all the kids.  I asked her how old she was and she is only 10, so unfortunately I can't hire her to be my new babysitter!  But she put Aussie tattoos all over her face, so I wanted to capture the patriotic commitment. 

 Here is Ava playing peek-a-boo with the Aussie flag. 

 The playing outside got a little out of hand and little Will got absolutely soaked! So Candace pulled out these old overalls of her sons.  I had to get a pic of this cute little redneck hillbilly looking boy! 

Will hung out in this little baby walker for over an hour before we left! 

I need to remember to ask people to take a family photo of us all together at these sort of things.  I wish we had one of us all holding the Australian flag!  Next year, I guess. :)  But we are so grateful that we got to spend our first Australia Day with such fabulous, friendly and generous people. 

Hammond Park

Here is a park that is unfortunately not in walking distance from our house, it's Hammond Park.  It is so fabulous and my kids loved it.  When we get a car, I think we'll come here often.

There was a huge playground with a fence and a gate (that none of my kids could open themselves! Bonus!).  All around the park there is a fence and on the other side of the fence there are a bunch of emus and kangaroos!  Then there is a pond with ducks and my kids favorite, peacocks just walking around.  There are also a lot of bird cages all around the whole park with exotic (well exotic to us, but indigenous to Australia) birds in them.  To me it was like a very miniature Liberty Park/Tracey Aviary, for those of you in the Salt Lake area, you know what I'm talking about.  But I mean super miniature in comparison, but it was just the right size for us! :)  Here are the kids following a peacock around. 

 Will never wanted to stop, I wasn't sure how docile these peacocks were, if maybe they would suddenly freak out that this little boy wouldn't stop following it, so I eventually distracted him with something else. Plus Will is one of those who would start pulling out its tail feathers if he could just reach them. 

 But he would have followed it around the whole time if I had let him. 

 Here are some pics of the awesome playground.

 There were so many different things to do.  My kids could have played forever!

 Here's Will driving the ship. 

 I loved that they were trapped in there because of the gate, that way I didn't have to worry about them wandering off somewhere else! 

 Lily recently started sliding down the poles at the parks.  She is getting so big!

 Here's Lily balancing. 

 Here's Will "balancing" What a cutie!

After a lot of playing on the playground we decided to go check out all the birds and animals. 

We were walking over to some bird cages and there were a bunch of pink and grey cockatoos on the grass, so my kids of course decided to run them off.  Too bad you can't really see the birds in this picture! 

 Here is the talking macaw.  They call macaws Maccas, and they also call McDonalds that too.

 Anyways, this macca talked to us.  Lily said "Hello Macca"  and the bird said,  "Dance, Crocy, Dance."  It was hilarious!

 

 Here are the peacocks sitting on the top of the bird cage.

Here are all the kids feeding the ducks. 

 Here's the pond, I love the palm tree island. 

 Here is a close up of a cockatoo.

The pond had this cool castle across from it. 

After we looked around the whole park the kids went back to the playground and played for another hour or more!  I'm not sure why, but I have no pictures of the emus and kangaroos!  I guess we will have to go back and get some of those!  It was a great park and I'm glad that we have it here in our town!

Discovering the Neighborhood

So we have been stranded at home, more or less, since we got here, since we only have one car.  So on days that aren't so hot, meaning only 80 degrees Fahrenheit, we have been going on walks to find out what is nearby. 

The first day was the worst, since I wasn't sure where we were going, but I knew a park was in the general area.  So it took a lot of encouraging and prodding to get the girls to carry on, but once we could see the playground, they suddenly had enough energy to run!  Since that first time, we have been back several times to play and we have even found a few short cuts to get there quicker. 

Here is the park. 

 Will had totally crashed by the time we got there.  (That's just how long it took the girls to walk all the way there!) 

The next park we found was probably just as close to our house as this one, just in the other direction.  We were attempting to walk all the way to the store, but I decided to abandon this goal when we were half way there, because it looked like rain.  So we started back home another way and came upon this park. 

This park was humongous (As Ava said) and it was all totally covered.  So even though it did start to rain, we were covered! Also nice on really hot days too!  We've been back a couple of times too! 

The next day, I decided to attempt the walk to the store again, and surprisingly, it was a breeze.  The girls were such troopers!  Maybe it had to do with the fact that I told them if they didn't complain at all and walked the whole way they would get $2 to spend at the store!  They have a $2 coin here, so it makes an easy reward!  Anyways we made it!

And there just happened to be a park right across the street! Bonus!

It was lots of fun and we even made it back home without complaints.  Slower, but no whinging.  That is whining in Aussie talk. 

The girls school is just beyond the store, so that is our next walking goal since they start in a week! 
I'm glad to have so many great things within walking distance!  Next we'll have to get out and actually meet some neighbors.  We're hoping for some nice kids in the neighborhood! :)