Live from New York, it's Wednesday night!

New York has always been on my "want to visit" list. Woolmerhof said he could take it or leave it, but I think he is secretly enjoying himself.

Nothing could prepare me for the size of this place! It's insane! We picked up a car on Saturday morning and drove the easy few hours from DC to NYC. Stiefs flew In a couple of days before to commence operation shop. We met her at the hotel after being completely mobbed by pedestrians after getting stuck at many an intersection around Broadway! Woolmerhof declared the last time he'd been mobbed was in Kabul, but this mobbing seemed somewhat friendlier. Clearly New Yorkers must be friendly! Things were looking good despite starting off rough that morning when Hertz conveniently didn't have the carseats we booked at the downtown station in DC, and I had to drive F out to the airport in a booster seat that was way to big for him to pick other ones up. I believe I may actually write an email to Hertz on that one..

But, I digress.. We have all been sharing a hotel room in Times Square to save on dollars. Awesome location and Stiefs and I have been reliving all those weekends spent at gran and gramps' place sleeping over in their spare double bed - unfortunately no Flight of the Navigator on VHS this time though. I don't believe Woolmerhof is as ecstatic about sharing the other bed with F (who likes to kick.. A lot) but we thought it would be unfair to Auntie Stiefs to run the risk of waking up to a bed soaked in F wee.. Touch wood we've had no wet beds so far though.

On Sunday we headed over to the Museum of Natural History to get our nerd on. We promised F elephants, and elephants he got! It was fairly wet and cold so we tackled the subway like pros (thanks to Stiefs!) we asked a very tired F that afternoon if he liked the museum. His reply "Nope." Thinking he misunderstood the question, we asked what his favourite thing there was... "Nothing." He was so matter-of-fact with the way he said it, we all cracked up. He did then say he liked the Asian elephants better than the African ones so I will take that as a win.

Aside from the museum, we've seen Central Park, parts of downtown, Times Square of course and lots of shopping to name a few. We also did top of the rock at the Rockerfeller centre on Tuesday and that was great. The whole time I had the 30 Rock jingle in my head. The building is amazingly awesome and the wait to get to the observation deck was surprising short. No trip to NBC studios is complete without Parks and Recreation Merchandise!

Stiefs and I saw Matthew Broderick in "Nice Work If You Can Get It" on Broadway last night and it was great. We lined up at the TKTS booth in time square at 2pm with our top 3 preferences. Certain shows release discounted tickets the day of the performance if they still have lots of spots left. A great way to grab a bargain if you don't have your heart set on one show in particular. We had Annie as our first choice, seeing as though Anthony Warlow and Jane Lynch were performing, but for some reason that night was cancelled. Nice Work was our second choice and we got tickets for 50% off and were only 10 rows from the front!

We have been waiting for the last week and a half to hear of results of a board that sat to determine woolmerhofs next posting. During intermission, I had a text from C as D was also waiting. He had an email so I texted woolmerhof and began the nervous wait as his checked his account to see where our fate lied.

All in all, an awesome evening. Woolmerhof was wrapped to find out he is being posted to Brisbane for 2014/2015. We are really excited to catch up with some great friends from previous postings who will be there too. I am rather excited about being in close proximity to ikea, and shops, and friends who are having babies, and a big backyard, and an outdoor clothes line, and no fire ants.. and the list goes on! All that is only a 2 hour and 15 minute flight away from Melbourne. yay!

So tomorrow morning we will pick up a car and drive 3 1/2 hours to Bwaaaah-sten (aka Boston). Unfortunately the weather isn't looking so awesome, but that hasn't stopped us before :)

See you in Massachusetts everyone!

We made it to DC... And then kept going!

Forgive my lack holiday updates so far but this has been the first night I've had with the iPad and wifi since we arrived. Auntie Stiefs and woolmerhof have gone to see a play so I am sitting here with a reading light typing away whilst F and T sleep.

We made it to DC last Monday after two easy flights. The 3am start was as suspected - super early but both the kids were great. F was happy "reading" the in fight magazine on the puddle jumper flight to Dallas whilst T had a mini snooze, then both of them (and woolmerhof) slept most of the flight to Regan. We touched down around lunchtime, braved the metro with our one suitcase and duffle bag (yes, I packed so light that I may have had to shop for some stuff.. And may need to buy another suitcase when we get to Boston tomorrow) and arrived at the hotel. We dumped our bags and headed straight to the photo place to get T's Australian Passport photo taken.

Australian passport photos have notoriously strict rules and regulations - head has to be a certain size, must be face on to the camera, no teeth showing, taken only by the light of a new moon on the fourth Thursday of the month etc etc so the passport office in DC gave us the name of a place to go to who did them regularly. T was a dream and I must say that her Australian passport has a much better photo than her US one!

We told F the next morning that we were going to see a little piece of Australia (since he'd told anyone that would listen to him that we were flying to Australia), complete with a kangaroo and we didn't disappoint. I think he was a little cheesed off that the kangaroo in question was on a carving out the front of the Australian Embassy, but it was SO ace to see our desk officer again and hear a bunch of Australian accents.. kind of weird too! We lodged T's passport application after having it all signed off. Unfortunately it cost us nearly 300 bucks with paying a rush fee as they FedEx the passport to a home address and it needed to be signed for. Because we are still on holidays, we had to collect it before we left DC. It worked out perfectly though as it was ready within 24 hours and woolmerhof collected it after his day of mandatory briefs on Wednesday.

We were also crazy excited (woolmerhof, in a manly way) to see our friends who are posted to Canada and head home in July. Woolmerhof and D were in Darwin together on their first posting after RMC and C and I worked at Flight Centre together.. And we kind of introduced them.. And they got married.. No biggie! C and I spent Wednesday catching up after the morning tea with other spouses, whilst the boys had briefings and then we all got to spend Friday together being tourists. Thursday, they all went on an embassy battlefield tour to Gettysburg and I stayed back with the kids because they were too little to attend. I must say, I didn't really mind.. civil war history and battlefield tours aren't really my thing!

DC was great. It was so strange to be in a big city again and so refreshing to meet so many nice people. Things really are so different in the north as compared to the south of the country.

No really big major hiccups to report - except we've all had colds and are a bit snotty. Doesn't seem to be troubling F though who's back to his usual 6am holiday wake ups. I swear he's like the energiser bunny! I think he's got us sussed though as when we tell him we're going on an adventure, he knows it generally means a day of walking which he's not too fond of. I forget his legs are still a bit teeny and his place in the stroller has been lost to a littler T! He did at one point tell us "no more adventures for me, I stay here" when we threatened to leave him behind in the hotel one morning... he totally blew our reverse psychology attempt.

I have lots of great photos thanks to my new camera that I got for Mother's Day! I'll update pics when we get back. I'll post a separate post about our New York adventures now

Happy Mummy's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my mumsy friends, and in particular, my wonderful Mum, Nana and Gran!

It's still Saturday here, but considering I haven't even contemplated packing yet and we have to leave at 0330am on Monday morning, I've got this feeling tomorrow will be a whirlwind of organisation and I won't have time to scratch myself. You'd think I would have learnt from Florida and actually packed a bit earlier this time.. clearly not. I have realised that driving a mini van was a luxury and we had plenty of room, this time, we do not and I will desperately try to cram clothes for 4 people, our super awesome teeny tiny portable cot and baby accessories into a suitcase and a duffle bag for the next two weeks. *gulp*

See you all in a couple of weeks - it'll be June then, and I will be able to reveal our plans for travelling back to Australia.. in particular, just where we'll be living :)

 Gran - seriously, the pose cracks me up. I can just see the photographer saying "yeah, just look like you're gazing off into the distance.. yep.. perfect.."

 Love this photo of my Mum. I don't know what makes me laugh more, Dora looking like some kind of crazed maniac, mum much the same, or the fact that not long after that photo was taken, Dad fell over Dora whilst trying to catch a football and it would have made us money on Australia's funniest home video show.

Nana! Lets hope I have her longevity.. she turned 90 last year. This photo was back in 2011.

May is here!

We haven't really missed TV much during the day. F has been far too busy playing "car shows" with his matchbox cars (you can tell who's son he is right!?). But today the dude is finally meant to be coming with the spare parts after nearly 2 weeks. Woohoo!

We are so far behind on Game of Thrones and Mad Men, I can only keep my fingers crossed that the DVR recorded the last few episodes for us.

Yipppppeeeeeeee!

It's May. Not many months to go and we're nearly on the downhill stretch with a posting order in our hot little hands. I started off writing a post about all the things that we miss from home because we've been discussing them quite a bit of late and have had a few events that have really upset us. I won't go into detail. I re-read it and then decided it sounded like a massive whinge fest so I'm starting a fresh and I'll I say is 18 months in a foreign country, even though english is spoken, is a long time to be away from home, friends and family.

Luckily, we're off to DC on Monday to mingle with some Aussie accents for the first time in 18 months, (12 for woolmerhof because he was there last May) apart from our visitors that have been over of course. It couldn't have come at a better time. We will know in the next week where we're going come December and can start planning for our return. Exciting. Oh so very exciting!

Go Crazy? Don't mind if I do!

At least Woolmerhof has beer.

We've had a big week here at the Woolmerhof household. Firstly, a big storm came through early last Wednesday morning. Woolmerhof and I both woke to an almighty "crack" and flash of light outside our bedroom window. First instinct was to race in and make sure F hadn't fallen out of bed in fright (he was good and told me there was thunder, but it was still dark outside so he'd go back to sleep!) and then we both tried to go back to sleep with the thunder and lightening. We woke later that morning to discover no internet, and no TV. Crap. Our TV is hired, as is all of our furniture and appliances and also plugged into a surge protector board because in this housing, we quite often get small power surges from storms. Turns out the surge protector failed to protect and the TV blew. So, we missed Game of Thrones and Mad Men last night as we're waiting for the TV repair company to get a new main board in. Luckily, the furniture company had a warranty on the TV so it can be repaired. Being Louisiana, this will take an unspecified period of time. Back to board games right!?

Our modem also blew, but Suddenlink came out to repair that the next day so at least we're online and have Netflix. Woolmerhof and I sat up on Saturday night watching Blackadder Goes Forth and snapping the inserts into T's nappies. Man, it was an exciting night for us!

Can you believe this was a whole year ago? F turned 3 yesterday, and of course, not to be outdone by previous years attempts, I made him a cake and channeled my inner "womans weekly" and recalled the #3 cake...

F was so excited about his racing cars cake! Proof that if it aint' broke, don't fix it. I'm sorry to say T, you will be getting a number one cake for your birthday this year, I'll just make sure it looks somewhat girlie!

We had some friends over for a BBQ lunch, one of whom has a little girl about 2 months older than T, and a little boy who is a big younger than F. F and he had great fun playing Gator Golf (thanks Uncle Hegs) until it started getting a little too intense for inside play and we had to put it away, the balloons were also a big hit. The Dutchie's new puppy, Jack, also made an appearance much to F's delight. The English also got a new puppy, Nabi, who F loves. He does often call Nabi "nasty," (no reflection on the dog though!) and more recently, he's been christened "Nadi." Sorry guys! The FedEx and UPS men now no me by name (how sad) and I'm going to go ahead and say that's because of F being spoilt by everyone back home, and not a reflection on my internet shopping habits.. not one little iota..

Happy Birthday F! Can you believe he starts 3 year old Kinder on Wednesday! Wow!

trust me on the sunscreen

The older I get, the more I appreciate and understand these words..

The Dutchies usually give us a hard time when we're out in a public place on a sunny day. They play spot the Aussie.. and it's an easy game because we're usually the only people wearing layers of sunscreen and caps. I'm sure I've mentioned that in a previous post.

Anyway, T and I were out walking this afternoon whilst F was at rugby training with Woolmerhof. Before they left, we of course made sure F had his hat on and was wearing sunscreen. In fact, he reminds us he needs it now before he goes out to play. It's practically summer here and I was thinking how when the weather turned warm last year, I was absolutely gobsmacked by the number of kids running around in the blazing midday sun with no hats or rash vests on over their bathers. (clearly they hadn't been told between 11 and 3 stay under a tree!) We are the crazy parents that slather the kids in sunscreen before they go outside. Partly, because it's what we're used to doing. I grew up spending every summer in my grandparents pool, and then my parents pool and the rule was no sunscreen, no pool. Why? Because back in Australia if you don't, you'll be burnt to a crisp! The other reason behind it is if we don't get F into the habit (and T to a lesser extent) of wearing sunscreen outside, he won't want to do it when he goes home and the sun is a fair bit harsher there.

Here, it's probably not as necessary to wear hats everywhere and if you make a quick trip somewhere in the sun, you won't fry, but it just goes to show that old habits die hard. I also find myself scoffing at the cute swimmers in GAP. Phft, they'll never work back home - spaghetti straps on a 2 year old?? Bah! Irresponsible  Nope, it's rash vests and farmers tans for these kiddies.

On the other end of the scale, yes, we're crazy about sun protection but not so worried about snakes. Woolmerhof laughed during the mandatory presentation at the start of last year about safety in the box. Oh ok, you have snakes.. do your snakes kill in record time? No? Well I'm not too worried..! Apparently there is a "snake problem" in our street. Not surprising considering Fort Polk is in the middle of pine forests. I scoff at "problem" though. Really? Problem? So much of a problem that the couple that have been found now mean that a pest control company is coming out to spray for snakes. I am yet to see one, and I didn't know that snakes could be sprayed for. I would have thought they'd be better off treating the rodents that must be around for the snakes to eat. Anyway, we shrugged it off. I was transported back to my youth at my Uncle and Aunt's property, and more recently my grandparents place in the same area. I was always petrified of snakes and came across a few (I'm still scarred from the dead black snake they coiled up in the vegetable patch to make it look alive and then asked me to go get carrots for dinner.. yeah.. they laughed as I came running down the hill screaming bloody murder) in all the times we were there. The adults used to always say "if you make enough noise, they're more afraid of you than you of them, just be mindful of where you step"

.. hmm.. scared shitless of the sun, not too concerned about a snake or two.. now.. Yep. That's how we roll.

Oh, and on a side note, F had his operation on Friday to have his tubes put in and his adenoid removed. He's doing wonderfully and really hasn't missed a beat apart from the hour or so after the op in recovery when he screamed like a banshee coming out of the anaesthetic. He now tells everyone that his ears feel much better, (apart from the ear drops, they must hurt him because he'll drink the antibiotics no worries but we're using Cadbury mini eggs as the currency of choice for putting the drops in) right after he reminds them it's his birthday and he's turning 3, as I remind him it's not his birthday til Sunday!

Are we there yet?!

So we made it home safe and sound on Tuesday and had a surprisingly good trip home. We worked out F's "I'm faking because I want you to stop the car" potty voice and his "I really need to go" voice. He did really well just going potty when we stopped and not every hour in between. Gulfport to home was our biggest day (a tame 5 1/2 hours) and because F fell asleep just outside of Baton Rouge, we managed to make it 3 1/2 hours in one go from Gulfport to Opelousas. A new record!

During our trip home, Woolmerhof and I compiled a list of tips and tricks that we think will make road trips more awesome for all involved. And we're not talking your standard "pack an ipad with movies for kids" tips... maybe a few of them may be a tad tongue in cheek but they helped us!

1. iPhone car chargers are a must. We learnt from every other road trip we've done in the past 18 months.. hell, even the road trips we did back home. Every time without fail, the phone has died and we've had no navigation. A good thing we had it this time.. it kept me entertained whilst sitting in the passenger seat.
2. Take a bag with toiletries, spare clothes, nappies etc to prevent you from hauling every bag into the hotel when you do a quick overnight stop. This will also give you the illusion you're travelling light like you did in your pre kids days. 
3. Hire a mini van. What it lacks in coolness, it'll make up for in convenience. A wise man told me that once, he was totally right. I contemplated for a mini second buying a mini van when we got home just for extra shopping space.. but then remembered it's completely uncool and stupid to think two labradors will stay in the back just because they're told too without any sort of barrier.
4. Take a potty with you. Even if you don't have children who are potty trained or well past toilet training. We considered using it a few times when it got really rough. (well not really, maybe woolmerhof more than me.)
5. Reverse psychology works a treat. "I will leave you here if you don't...stop making elephant noises at the top of your lungs, whinging, asking if we're there yet etc etc" (Be sure to pull over so they know you're really serious.) Note, that might work better on a quiet road and not an interstate doing 75mph.
6. The zip lok bag enthusiast will have a field day. I did. Put EVERYTHING in zip lok bags.. cables, medicine, snacks, dirty laundry etc. I don't know what was so awesome about that.. I think it just made me feel more organised when really I wasn't.
7. Starbucks drive thrus are your friend. Find them. Use them. Love them.

And seriously, we learnt the following from visiting Disney World with a (nearly) 3 year old and 3 month old..

1. Hire or take a stroller/pram even if you think your 3 year old will happily walk because he does wherever else you go... you will walk A LOT! I can highly recommend Orlando Stroller Rentals. They deliver and pick up right to your vacation home or hotel.
2. Food is expensive in the parks compared to everywhere else so be a nerd and pack a cooler with at least some snacks and water. We bought plenty of disney food but the water was super handy to have on hand.
3. Fast passes are your friend. Get to the popular rides early and fast past them. Rides like Peter Pan will often have hour long queues by 1030 and fast passes fully booked.
4. Wear a hat. I know all our non Australian friends laugh at us, but seriously, it's hot if you're there during the majority of the year.
5. Wear sunscreen. (see point 4)
6. For mums that are nursing or have kids in nappies, the parents rooms are great. There's one at each park and it seems to be not known to many people. (the ones at Epcot and Animal King were completely empty every time I went in to change or feed T.) They also have loads of stuff for sale if you run out or forget - nappies, wipes, sunscreen etc.
7. See at least one parade. They're pretty hard to miss!
8. Only the non suited characters speak - like the princesses. We told F that Mickey and the other gang didn't speak because they were saving their voices for the performances. That worked quite well.
9. You can get badges to wear or take home as souveniers. Just head to the guest services, usually located to the left of the entrance of the parks as you walk through. We got F a 1st visit and birthday badge to stick in his scrap book. They're free and we saw lots of "1st visit" "Just engaged" and "honeymoon" badges getting about the parks. 
10. The Disney staff are all called "cast members." It's their job to make sure you have a memorable visit for the right reasons. Talk to them, swap pins with them and tell them if you've got a problem. They will do their best to fix it. I don't like complaining about stuff and had no reason to complain, but the cast member that helped us find Mickey Mouse when we were in the wrong line was super helpful and made our day.