What We've Been Up To...

Besides trying to get our sleep right (I was up at 5am but Abby is still sleeping!) we've been trying to get out to see the city. We walked down to Cockle Bay Wharf on Friday. It was a cloudy day but they were having a boat show so there were a ton of sailboats to look at. We ate outside at a restaurant right on the wharf. Even though it is "winter" here the weather has been amazing...at least we think so! Sydneysiders are all in winter coats and scarves saying that the weather is terrible while we are walking around in t-shirts. It's been between 65 and 70 degrees so perfect weather for a t-shirt, not a winter coat!
We've made it to the food store a couple of times and most things look surprisingly familiar. They have alot of the same brands and some that are just slightly different, like rice bubbles instead of rice krispies or apple puree instead of applesauce.
We walked over to Hyde Park and the Botanic Gardens yesterday and got our first glimpse of the opera house and the Harbour bridge. It's crazy to see it in person when I've seen so many pictures of it. I still can't believe we are here. We saw (and heard!) a ton of different birds which Abby loved.
As for normal life stuff we are getting things figured out. We are now able to access our money...whew! We are working on getting our cell phones up and working we have been able to pay our US bills online and the list goes on and on. I won't bore you with those details though.
I would love to post some pictures but our internet is so slow! I will save time for that later today.

A Fire Drill...Seriously!

I thought last night might, just might, be the first night that we all got a good night's sleep. And there was even a chance that Abby would sleep through the night. Then, at 11pm I woke up to a bell ringing outside. It didn't sound like it was coming from our building but I woke Jason and he got up to check things out. He went into the hallway and people were running down the stairs. So, I got Abby up out of her cot and we went down 10 flights of stairs and outside. We think someone set it off by accident but that was not a good start to the night.
I feel like we are back in our Broad and Walnut apartment in Philly. The fire drills there were so regular there that if they weren't deafening we would have rolled over and slept through them.
Abby was up again from 4am-5am so we are all tired today!

It's Already an Adventure!

We have arrived!! We got here Thursday morning at about 7:35am Sydney time after a very long journey. There was quite a bit of stress about whether or not we had seats together, or seats at all and then whether or not our bags were going to make it here (because of the flight cancellation). As it turned out, we wound up having great seats in the bulkhead row so we had tons of leg room. When Abby was awake we would put a blanket down on the floor in front of us and she would play there. They did however lose two of our bags. They have located them still in Atlanta and they are being sent on the next plane out. They say we should receive them tomorrow or so. It was one of the camping backpacks and a bag with household stuff like towels and sheets. So, not too critical since the place we are in now is fully furnished with everything we need.
The leg from LA to Sydney was supposed to be 14 1/2 hours but was closer to 16 hours because we sat on the runway for awhile. Abby slept a couple of different times but once for 5 hours straight which was great. We were up walking with Abby quite a bit so we weren't sitting the whole time and thus managed to keep the swelling down in the ankles and feet (thanks for the tip Dunfey!)
Everyone we have met so far has been really nice. Jason's manager at work met us at the airport with another guy who works there too. They helped us with our ridiculous number of bags, gave us a great welcome bag with some starter food and got us a taxi. A maxi taxi to be exact...because of the number of bags.
I will post pictures and such soon but just wanted to let everyone know we arrived safely...finally!

My Sleeping Beauty!

Take Two!

We are heading out of the Hilton and hopefully all will go smoothly today. For awhile there Abby was scheduled to sit by herself in the exit row which was fine with me but I don't think that the guy sitting next to her would have been happy. Jason also didn't have a seat from LA to Sydney so they were going to throw him in with the luggage. It sounds like it is all figured out now after being on hold for 25 minutes. We now have the bulkhead seats which means extra leg room and space for Abby.
Abby slept through the night and is now napping so she should be well rested for another fun day in the airport. She did fall down today and split her lip open (her first injury!) but she handled it well. She looks cute with a fat lip :)
It's been an adventure already!
P.S. Never ever fly Delta!! Sorry Ash...I know you have your ticket already!

We're Not Off!

Well, we haven't left Philly yet. We were forced to take a little side trip to the lovely Hilton Airport Hotel. Apparently Delta had some serious mechanical issues today with their planes and only got about 1 out of 10 flights in the air today. After waiting in some long lines and dealing with some less than pleasant people Delta gave us two rooms at the Hilton and some meal vouchers. We are booked to leave tomorrow at 2pm with the same itinerary as today. Is it Groundhog Day?
On a more positive note, Abby was amazing! She fell asleep in her carset for awhile and was happy when she was awake. She has no idea what is going on and is just her happy old self. She is now sleeping in the adjoining room and hopefully will sleep through the night in a strange place. Gotta love my little sleeper.
We'll keep everyone posted! Wish us luck tomorrow on Take Two!

We're Off!

We just finished packing and the total is...

9 checked bags plus a stroller
3 carry-ons plus a camera bag, computer bag and baby backpack

Not too bad considering we are going for a year. We are leaving for the airport at 10:15am tomorrow and should be arriving in Sydney at 6:35am on Wednesday (that's 3:35pm on Tuesday Philly time). Both of Jason's parents are dropping us off (one for the bags and one for us!) Hopefully it all goes smoothly as there are alot of places that something could go wrong. For example, we received an email last week about some possible strike that the Sydney airport employees might be going on that would cause huge delays. Can't even worry about that. Or, Abby and I both have head colds right now so we could be in lots of pain once we are a million feet in the air. But, there's nothing I can do about that either.

We're beat...to bed! We'll be in touch from Sydney. Thank you to everyone that has helped us get to this point, we are very grateful.

No One Wants to Say Goodbye!

I have been noticing a funny thing going on and that is that no one wants to say goodbye! The days are winding down and as I see people that in my mind I know I will not see again before we leave, I am expecting a big hug, a goodbye or a bon voyage. But instead, I get an awkward, "when will I see you again? Oh, I'm sure I will see you again before you leave." There are even a couple out there (you know who you are) who are actually refusing to say goodbye!
So, I just want to say that it's okay to say goodbye. We'll be back and a year goes by SO quick!

Packing twice is no fun!

I thought packing everything once was bad well looks like most bags are needing to be packed twice. Why? Because Abby LOVES to undo all of my hard work. She is a huge fan of "putting in and taking out" and it doesn't matter what it is or where it's going. She has a few good hiding spots that have stumped me in the past but I'm on to her. Any basket, box or trashcan is the first place to look. I found a pair of my shoes, that I had already packed in a suitcase, in the trashcan yesterday! She has hidden my credit card in the magazine bin...the list goes on and on.
This is definately a trait from her father as his cleaning method is much the same. Put it out of sight in some bin or drawer or closet and it's clean. I'm on to him too.

8x8 Tent in a 10x10 Backyard

I was reading on one of the many ex-pat forums recently that if we plan to bring any camping gear that we should be certain that it is spotless. Someone said that their stuff was held in quarantine while they tested a soil sample taken from one of their tents. They didn't get it back for about 2 months. So, today I put up the tent in the backyard to clean it out and it's a good thing I did. The stakes did have dirt on them and there were some leaves and stuff inside of it. Erecting an 8x8 tent in a 10x10 backyard is not an easy feat.

22 Days and Counting!

I can't believe that we leave in 3 weeks! We sold the car last week so we have been living the real city life since then. It has entailed quite a bit more walking and more time for Abby in the stroller. It's a good thing she likes it. We should get used to it since we won't have one in Sydney.

I realized at some point last week that we didn't have enough bags to pack all of our stuff so we bought some nice pink and brown luggage that was on clearance for the trip. I'm guessing the colors are what had it on clearance because it's really nice. I will be sure to pack all of Jason's stuff in the pink suitcases :) We packed our winter clothes last week...3 more bags down! We used vacuum sealed space bags for our sweaters and coats but I am not convinced that they really save space. I think my packing skills are such that I could pack more in there but 50 pounds is 50 pounds so it doesn't much matter.

We got new temporary accomodations which are even closer to Jason's office because the other place was "not able to accomodate a cot" (translation: they couldn't get us a crib for Abby). The new place is not nearly as swanky.

This move to Australia has caused us to finally get a will and trust together which we had been talking about doing for awhile. I suppose that going to a country with the most deadly plants and animals in the world will do that to you. It has made us consider some really terrible life scenarios such as, if everyone that we have ever known in this world is dead, and Abby with her superhuman powers is still alive, who will have custody of her? Hmmm...that was a tough one.

And now that I know that people are actually reading and keeping up with our blog...leave a comment or a question!