Tech Owen

Like many 3 year olds, Owen loves machines of all kinds. Anything with buttons he can push will do, but he's especially keen on DVD players, cameras and computers. He insists on putting his DVDs into the player all by himself, and getting them going. He's also taken a few photos -- here's an example of his art. I guess it has a certain something...

A new church

It looks like we've decided on a new church, after about 5 weeks of visiting different places. The church (St Mary's) is Anglican and is about 10 minutes drive from our house. There are maybe 150 people there, and lots of kids. Serena & the kids go there for a community playgroup on Wednesday mornings too. Anyway, it's nice to have a regular church again, and we're starting to get to know people there.

Settling In

We moved ourselves into our new house last weekend. Despite a few teething problems (dishwasher, stove, heat, hot water all didn't work initially), we now feel quite set up and at home. It's nice to have a house that's flat as a pancake -- we can let the intrepid Georgie do her own exploring without baby gates or other accessories. And we are so nicely de-cluttered (our stuff on the slow boat doesn't arrive for another month) that we're automatically quite baby-proofed. We rather like the minimalist existence -- we're not sure we're going to know what to do with the stuff when it eventually wends its way here.

Marc is delighted to find that his commute is the promised 20 minutes, sometimes even less. He commutes with two short walks and a tram ride, so it's a fair bit more pleasant than a 10 mile highway drive (his old commute). He's enjoying his new job, which he started last week.

Serena has discovered that life with two young kids is still... life with two young kids. But she's enjoying the warm and mild weather, a more kid-friendly house, and catching up with friends and family.

Owen had a hair cut last week and was overjoyed to discover that his new hairdresser plays Wiggles videos while she cuts (a very smart move). Georgie was a bit cranky for much of the week, but is now sporting a new tooth, so maybe that explains it. She's not walking yet, but continues to stand... and stand (clearly wondering what to do next).

Kangaroos

On Sunday, we took a trip to a local golf course -- doesn't sound too exciting, except that it was positively overrun with kangaroos. These are not zoo kangaroos, these are the genuine article. So, it was pretty exciting for Owen and the rest of us to wander freely among the kangaroos and flying golf balls, and escape with our lives (the golf balls were far more of a threat than the very tame kangaroos). The weather was beautiful all weekend, so we also spent a couple of days at the beach -- everyone's starting to look a lot more tanned and healthy. This week is more mundane -- we're hoping to move into our new house at the weekend, so there are still plenty of logistics to cover in the meantime.

Australia Day!

This is the Australia Day 3-day weekend, so we'll be heading to the beach for a few days for some R&R. It's been a hectic time for our little family, trying to get ourselves set up here, so a few days of downtime will be nice. We adults spent several hours yesterday morning in a sea of IKEA boxes, pretending to be carpenters. Made some progress, tho sometimes it feels like you're starting with just the planks.

Owen started "school" this week, and seems to really be enjoying himself. By some miracle they've managed to get him to eat fruit there, too.

The race is on

Georgie is desperate to walk -- she's a determined little thing, and now spends most of her day pulling up on chairs, couches, legs, radiators... If she manages to stand for a minute, she breaks into the most delighted smile. We'll be moving into our new house in about 10 days, and we're hoping to get there before she takes her first steps. But it could be a near thing....

We have a house!

On Tuesday, we signed a lease for our new house, and got the keys yesterday. Phew. Seeing 13 houses with kids in tow was quite enough. We'll be living in Armadale, close to a park and shops. And Marc's commute will probably be around 20 minutes by tram (Owen's mesmerized by trams -- we get a full tram report every time one passes by).

The house itself is cute and looks little -- only about 15 feet across at the front -- but is surprisingly deep. The hallway is about a quarter of a mile long, which'll be great for the kids (they love tearing up and down hallways). Three bedrooms, a laundry/study (yep, that combo surprised us too, but it may just be crazy enough to work), and a big kitchen/dining/living with doors to a back yard with clothes line and some space to play. Off-street parking too, which is a great luxury for us.

Our address is on the left, and there are also some new photos. We'll probably move in at the end of the month, but we can collect mail from there anytime. Yay!