I'm not going to lie, I'm a little bit disenchanted with Australia this time around! The main reason for it? BUGS. In our old apartment, aside from a few ants here and there, we never had any bugs! But in our new place bugs are just the way of life. I'm most specifically annoyed with the bugs that bite the bottoms of my feet in the night that then cause my feet to be super itchy when I walk on them during the day!!!!! IT IS MAKING ME SO MAD! I've started spraying my feet with bug spray every night, but then I end up with bites on the tops of my feet where I've missed or on my legs. Maybe I should switch to socks? Pants? But when it's so hot out even at night that's the last thing you want to do - cover up more.... And it's just me! Charlie and Andrew don't seem to have any bites. It's so frustrating.
Also I should mention the flies. They aren't your average North American fly, these are super annoying - try to fly in your eyes, ears, nose, mouth - flies. At soccer last week as Charlie and I were cheering Andrew on a fly (I'm assuming, although it could have been something else) flew into my ear. I wiggled it around and tried to poke my finger in there to get it out, and I thought I had. A few minutes later I could feel it buzzing around in my ear and let me tell you it is the creepiest feeling ever!! After a minute or so of shaking my head around and still feeling it in there, I called Andrew off the field and we flooded my ear with the water fountain. I swore I could still feel something (the bug? water?) moving around in there, so we went home and I had Andrew look around in my ear with his little Dr. light, and he gave the all-clear. A secret little part of me thinks that the bug is still in there and going to lay eggs...
Next bug on the list - cockroaches. They are so creepy! One minute they're not there and then the next there one is! They seriously appear out of nowhere. And they are so hard to kill. And they're crunchy. And they're fast. And they have creepy antennas. And they have buggy eyes.... ok maybe that last one is just my imagination, but seriously it looks like they have buggy eyes! I am constantly scanning my surroundings in hopes that I won't see one. There are also huge crunchy ants and these things called sap-suckers that always seem to get into Charlies room. The houses here are not sealed well and therefore whatever wants to can get in. I swear I saw some mouse droppings on the counter when we came back from Canada, and I'm pretty sure I've heard them in the walls, so we set up a few mouse traps but these mice are clever. I know they are around because I saw a baby one in the back yard. It was cute, probably because it was a baby and in the back yard. As long as they don't come into the house (again). And it's so hot! During they days its brutal with no air-conditioning and relentless heat. People here say that we're lucky we missed the heat and that it's so nice out right now, but I'm from CANADA where it never gets this hot on a regular basis.
OK! My little rant is over!
Now on to some good, fun things we've been up to since we've been back!
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| Charlie and daddy picking some mangoes off the mango tree on campus |
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| Charlie got really into it |
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| "Look mom I found one!" |
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| We got this little chair for Charlie a while ago from a garage sale, and he's just finally starting to use it! |
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| We got to Bunnings (the hardware store) at least once a week, it's probably more like twice.... anyways, they have this cool play park area that Charlie loves! Andrew crawled up there with him so he could make it to the top! |
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| So pleased with himself |
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| On Andrew's first day back we drove him to school, then went to find this new park! It's a cool airplane theme, and Charlie seems to like it! |
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| Airplane and control tower |
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| We took a little trip to Ikea, and Charlie did so well on the drive! |
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| Just chillin' out |
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| Charlie in the cupboard... after he had emptied it of bags... with the cockroach trap... |
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| We went to the little free zoo one day last week, and Charlie actually did some of the walking! And he is getting to the age where he can notice the animals and be a little bit interested! |
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| Ipswich has the best sunsets! One night at soccer |
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| With Charlie we have to leave the house at least once a day, he doesn't like being cooped up! So we headed to the swimming pool. I got Charlie this lunch kit right after we got here and he it obsessed with it and knows his snacks and water are in there! He loves to carry it around. It has a shark with googly eyes on it - very Australian (the shark not the googly eyes) |
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| Working on refinishing my wardrobe! Our house has no closets (which is actually really annoying) |
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| Charlie is at that stage where he really wants to help and be involved with everything, especially when it involves tools! It drives poor Andrew crazy when he's putting together a shelf or something and Charlie is just right in there trying to use the screwdriver or something... |
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| My little helper sanding away! |
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| I thought Charlie would be afraid of the lawnmower, but nope! He wasn't at all and wanted to help |
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| So cute! |
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| Charlie's little play pool! I like to sit in it too... It has a little slide, a ramp with balls, a ring toss and you can hook the hose up to it and it sprays water. |
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| The finished wardrobe! I got too lazy to distress too much.... which is unfortunate. I just wanted my clothes off the floor! They don't have the type of wax here they recommend on all the DIY sites to wax/seal your chalk paint furniture, so we're going unsealed! Hopefully it's ok in the long run... Normally I like dark colours furniture, but here I want everything light coloured so I can see if there are any bugs hiding on it. |
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| Andrew came home from a seminar at the hospital looking like this! It was really creepy (For those of you who can't notice right away look at the eyes.... they dilated one to practise using some equipment) |
