Week 6: March 2- 7

Girls Night Out, The Edge

The Australian Truck: The UTE!

Paddle boat Champs!


Chewey.. in Australia!


Jenni & Lou

Jeff representing & Kenz @ the Beach

Lou & Mitchell

Up close & Personal. my favorite Kangar

Family pic!

Jen's photography skills.

Inside Peak.

The Gordon site.

pretty flower!

Classic Jumping Picture with a message in the sand for any of you reading!


Lou & Jenni enjoying the camping Experience

The Highlights

The week started off with extreme Bush Fire conditions on Monday. Thankfully there were no additional Bush Fires but there was some crazy weather (a mix of rain, wind, & heat). The weather was crazy at home as home as well. I couldn’t believe all of the snow pictures I saw! The snow news even made it all the way over here in Australia on the news and in the newspaper!! I loved hearing about this pleasant yet chaotic surprise, Catherine even sent me a few pictures of our apartment and the snow and Hailey tagged me in a picture of a snowman she made. While this did make me a little homesick, it also made me feel warm inside and happy for all the fun that was taking place at home. Too bad Augusta didn’t get blizzard.

We had Mexican again this week and it was delicious. I promise Jenni is one of the most creative people I know in the kitchen. She loves it and so do I!

On Tuesday I went to my first Australian Birthday gathering. It was Amy’s (a friend from Church) birthday. She picked me up and we joined about twenty of her other closest friends at the Cat’s Bistro (a restaurant at the back of the Footy stadium). It was a really good time; I made some more friends and thoroughly enjoyed just hanging out with such a laid back & easygoing crowd. Amy’s birthday gifts were hilarious- she is a huge fan of American Idol so one of her gifts included a “Property of Ryan Seacrest” coffee cup. I gave her an American One dollar bill decorated. I realized after this birthday gathering that Australians always add “hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray” to the Happy birthday song. Quite festive. Afterwards, few of us went to “Cold Rock” like our “Cold Stone” to get ice-cream, compliments of Paul and his free ‘mix in” coupons…

Thursday I had my first Aussie haircut! I asked for my bangs to be trimmed and I quickly learned that 'fringe' was what I was trying to say... I also got to talk to Elle & Coleman via Skype. This was especially weird and exciting considering they are in ITALY. They even got to meet some of the family, including the cat Felix, thanks to McKenzie!

I spent a lot of my time this week at school and simply hanging with the teachers, which I will elaborate on in my “school” entry. The 3-day weekend came at the perfect time. Yes, no school on Monday here because it was Labor Day! Weird I know. Especially weird when Katy & I realized that she had her Labor Day in Perth last weekend AND that she spent it in Bali, Indonesia… check out her blog for proof- crazy girl!!! Bottom-line, Labor Days are determined state by state in Australia.

For the long weekend we headed to Anglesea, one of the stops along the Great Ocean Road. The Gordon’s have a camper that they like to take on road trips over Holidays. There was so much excitement buzzing around the house Thursday night before we left, I swear for the kids- it was like Christmas Eve. They love camping, and now I know why. We had a wonderful time!! Lou joined us so I had a roommate in the camper. The camper had EVERYTHING we could have possibly needed. Jen & Jeff are SO thoughtful and SO organized; they make such a great team! Jeff & the kids left early Friday and spent about 4 hours setting up. There are so many ‘behind the scene’ details to making camping a successful trip. Lou, Jenni, & I arrived Friday evening. I think we barbied for just about every meal. Jeff is the grill master… We had lamb Souvalki with Tzatskiki sauce (in other words what we would call Gyro wraps), hamburgers, eggs & bacon, Crumpets (kinda like French Toast), Barramundi fish (native to Australia), SMORES and more. Smores was new to the family- I loved sharing this special American camping tradition with them.

The campsite had Kangaroos everywhere. They would just hop through the site, naturally—it was great! There was also the Anglesea Golf Course nearby where they were everywhere. The golfers literally had to play their game around mobs of Kangaroos; it was a sight to see for sure! I could just hear Papa saying, ‘hot damn- these dang things are in my way.’

On Saturday we spent half of our day on the beach. It was chilly but so nice to just to walk and explore the beach. Jeff, Mitchell, & Kenz were crazy and swam in the ocean--- wet suits were present. On Sunday, ‘Nan & Dand’ (Jen & Lou’s parents) joined us and we shopped around the Anglesea Market. Lou & I got some exercise paddle boating while Mitchell & the girls zoomed past us in a motorboat. We also had some fun playing games in the camper like Cadoo, Uno, & Magic Eyes
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Oh yeah, there was an Earth Quake in the Geelong area on Friday night, 4.6 on the Richter scale. Never know what you may get over here…

Sunday I came home with Lou. She had a fun night out planned for us. We went to a new pub called The Edge on the Waterfront with a group of about 6 teachers that all teach at different schools, it was a fun girls night. The Edge was just recently opened by one of Geelong’s footy stars, Cameron Ling. Cameron is a good friend of Lou and the crew- it was a good night.

Monday was a good day for relaxing. I spent the afternoon with Tash, Paul, & Josh. We went down to Torquay and sat on the beach in the sun. It was so nice. Paul showed me where he works- he does advertising for Quicksilver and Roxy. Pretty cool. He told me that he can go into work barefoot if he wants to, go figure, the perks of working for a surfing company in Australia- I guess that is only appropriate. Monday also Jeff & Jenni’s 13th Anniversary, the kids & I made them a special little book. Monday was also a perfect day for catching up with my loves at home: I even got to speak with both set of Grandparents and wish a very important Happy Birthday!