... ... a late update

15.11.2016
Kristen says...

Oh my goodness it has been a LONG time since I posted on our blog!! It's amazing how busy life can be, and how easily some things slip through the cracks...

I'd love to say I'm turning over a new leaf and will be more diligent about the blog, but I can't make that promise--I'll just say I'll try and leave it at that. :)

Anyway, to catch you up on the past year, we're still in Australia, and still loving every minute of it. We have just a few months left and then will move on to our next post, something I know I'm in some ways trying to pretend isn't happening, even though I'm excited about the future and where we're going next.

School is still awesome, and the end of the year is coming ever-closer, which of course means lots of work and near-constant exhaustion. A four-day camp with 100+ 7th graders didn't help with the exhaustion, but it was, as always, an experience.

We've been able to take advantage of school holidays to travel to many places in Australia, and I made a short trip home in April to see my family, which was really nice. I got to meet my (then) two newest nieces, and one tried to come back home with me :)

We've been to both coasts and the middle of the country, and taken trains, planes and automobiles to get there. Highlights were definitely the Pinnacles and sandboarding in Western Australia (although not the jellyfish stings!):

taking the Ghan to see Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Alice Springs in the center:

and of course Sydney...it might be my new favorite city. I'm going to miss it!

We've hosted a couple of foster greyhounds, which was awesome, but also emotionally draining. They're so beautiful, and it was hard to say goodbye. Pip is still doing well, but his age is starting to catch up to him a bit--we started him on medicine and testing for Cushing's Disease a few months ago. Just afterwards, he broke his tail while at the boarder's, and lost over half of his tail as a result, but that, at least, hasn't slowed him down. He's found a new love of walking and often tries to keep me out much longer than we have time for first thing in the morning.

 Last weekend we got to go to the Marine Ball--it's always fun to dress up.

 So there, now we're all caught up...

 Until the next time...let's hope it's sooner than a year!

KF

Floriade

27 October, 2015

Kristen says...

Funnily enough, it's spring here in Canberra.

Unfortunately, the old adage "April showers bring May flowers" doesn't really work here...in reality, the flowers come in October!

Canberra has an annual spring flower show called "Floriade" which runs for almost a month and features a wide and ever-changing array of flowers. Chris and I visited one warm afternoon:

One of the many flower  beds

Pretty, no?

Some of the flower beds had very interesting descriptions. It's hard to tell in this photo, but this one one of the most-like the descriptions.

Chris taking it all in

The flowers weren't all in flower beds--you could also buy a poppy to add to the reflection wall

Floraide is only open at night for a few days of the festival, but I imagine this is even more beautiful to walk though when it's all lit up!

Not only are there flowers, but there also flower-related vendors!

There was a playhouse building contest--this was my choice for the win

You could even get churros... (pronounced choo-ross here). These are amazingly popular in Australia.

This was pretty trippy. It was a picture of a house and then a mirror, and if you laid on the picture it looked like you were climbing up the side of the house in the mirror.

Bea-utiful!

The ground wasn't the only place to find beauty in early October...I'm not sure anywhere in the world has as beautiful sunsets as Australia!!

What a lucky country!
KF

Go Wallabies!

6 October 2015

Kristen says...

A few weeks ago we were given the opportunity to buy tickets for a Wallabies/All Blacks (Australian national team vs New Zealand national team) rugby game. So of course we did.

I really enjoyed our week in Sydney back when we arrived in February, and this was our first trip back...and it was just as enjoyable as the first one, I assure you! :)

We took the Murray's bus up Friday night after school, crashed pretty much when we arrived, then were up bright and early the next day--game day!

The next morning we got up bright and early to meet up with some friends, have some breakfast, and then stroll down to Sydney CBD. Naturally we wore all of our Wallabies gear!

Later that day we headed out on the train to the game, which was held at the ANZ Olympic Stadium!

Unlike major sporting events in the States, the Aussies don't really go for the tailgating thing...but because this was a special event, they had some fun activities for us to take part in, like breaking a Guinness Record for the World's Largest Scrum!

We actually got to go on the field for the scrum!

Yeah World Record!!

After breaking the world record we were pretty hungry, so we had some authentic Turkish amazingness.

Finally, after all that, it was time for the game!

We had some great seats as part of the "Goldmine" or something like that. It was supposed to be all Wallabies supporters, but we were almost fully surrounded by New Zealand fans. It was pretty tough when they were ahead, but we won in the end! :)

We got some free Wallabies swag

Three Americans who got denied for a photo by the Wallaby mascot...

Our clappers--sort of the vuvuzela of the Rugby world...

It's winter here, so the heat from the flame cannons going off was an extra reason to celebrate!

Wallabies watching the Haka

The Haka (on the big screen)

SCRUM!!

A try is something like a touchdown in American Football.

After the game we caught the train back to town...it was a little smelly, as someone had lost their lunch on the seat behind us. Poor Chris.

The next day we did a little shopping, and spent quite a while coloring at one of my favorite Sydney bookstores. (It's cool for adults to color now, don't you know)

The weekend definitely wasn't long enough, but boy did we have a great time! :)

 KF