Welcome Home!

I still haven't blogged about our homecoming and here it is Tuesday and all day I was thinking it was Monday and I still had time to post my MMPP on time.  And yet, I'm sure I thought it was Monday all day on Monday too.  Yet still didn't publish it.  Sigh.

Well anyway, I wanted to quickly mention our arrival home.
Healthy Friend Janeen picked us up at the airport and drove us home.  Friend Lyana was waiting with Gabe (she'd graciously taken him off Janeen's hands for the day as we was getting a little anxious for Mommy to arrive.)

We got out and grabbed Gabey and smothered him in hugs and kisses.  Soon Sam arrived and got the same treatment.  We sent some neighbor boys to find Max in the backyard and eventually we got to see him too.

With his arm in a sling.

He said he'd crashed into the garbage building on his bike after school and Dr. B (whom he was staying with) had to take him in to Urgent Care.  He said he'd have to go back to get a cast put on in a few days.  I actually thought
"I'm surprised he's made it this long without breaking anything."  I also thought,
"Maybe Chessa will feel like we're even now - since I let little Z fall off my trampoline and break her leg!"  And finally I thought, while sitting with Max looking at his fingers poke out of the splint
"How in the world am I going to get that grubby little hand clean without soaking it in the tub for an hour?!?"

So we told the boys about our trip, showed them lots of pictures on the computer, gave lots of hugs, cuddled and passed out souvenirs.   I talked to Max about what happened, asked him if it hurt a lot...if he needed medicine...

Two hours or so passed and the boys wanted to go to the school to try out their boomerangs with Daddy.
Which is when Max took his sling, bandage, and splint off.

The little booger tricked us!  And I don't mean Max, I mean Dr. B.  The same infamous neighbor/home teacher/Dr. who took part in the "Pac-Maning" of my house last time I left the country!  O.B.'s evidently have WAY too much time on their hands.  (And you thought Ped Dentists had it easy, Wes?!)

Yes, he and Max cooked up the scheme just to torture us.  And Max pulled it off with exceptional showmanship and skill.  Punks!

So anyway, props to both for tricking us.

I'll have to figure out another way to make it up to Chessa.

I'm Itchy + Saturday in AU + Sunday in transit!

Itchy, itchy, itchy.  My skin is all sorts of itchy.  Unfortunately, I did NOT come home from my trip with a golden tan.  (as if!)  But I did get just enough sun that now, a few days post trip, I'm starting to itch.  And my back will surely peel.  (In fact, if (when) I ever get skin cancer, it will assuredly be on my shoulders where all the extremely large freckles are.  Sunburn lands there first.)

Yes, I know.  You're all crying me a river because I'm itchy after my trip to Australia.  Well, it's not MY fault you didn't get to go too!  In fact, I'm pretty sure it's your HUSBANDS fault!  So blame him for your pasty white skin and general malaise!  Not everyone can live up to Doug's standard of awesomeness!  (I also have an in-grown toe-nail if it makes you feel better.)

ANYHOO, to finish off my trip, I will quickly sum up Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday:  We stayed close to the hotel, went to the pool, and just took it easy--ending the night with dessert in the hotel lounge.  (How's that for record breaking succinct-ness!?!)

Sunday:  We went to the airport to fly home.  This is when we found out that our baggage weighed too much.  15 kilos too much.
Me:  "Oh, Doug...just pay the charge and lets get on with it."
Doug:  "It's $357."
Me:  "WHAT THE BLEEP?!?!?!!"

Doug tried to argue with the attendant at first claiming we weren't taking home any more than we brought.  (Besides a few didgeridoos, stuffed animals, boomerangs, bottles of Vegemite, bags of sand, and a tube-yes tube-of sweetened condensed milk.)

The lady wasn't budging.

So we took our bags and decided to see if we could lighten our load.  Turns out, 15 kilos translates into a lot of stuff!  A whole, large, duffel bag full of stuff in fact!  We were shedding everything we could possibly spare that might weigh anything substantial.  Shoes, clothes, and copious small half-used toiletries.

I kept my flat iron at the last minute but it was a close one.  Clothes with any physical defect--small stain, loose button--were sacrificed.  Doug actually got rid of the Gap shorts he's had since we were dating!  (Hallelujah) 
I hope the janitor who came to pick up our stuff enjoyed the wind-fall!  Those were my favorite slippers!

When we got on the flight home, we confirmed what we already suspected from the flight over:  Jet Star Airlines stinks!
Take THAT Jet Star!!!

Fortunately, by Sunday night, we were home in Japan.
Tucked into a Seventies-licious Tokyo hotel.
Ready to see (if only for an hour) some welcome relatives, and finally, our three older kids Monday afternoon!

--
To be continued...

Friday in Australia - or - "Getcha swimmies own!"

Yes, we're back in Japan.  And I have a lot of catching up to do.  But first, I'd like to address a startling accusation.  My friend Lyana said "It sounds like all you did was eat pancakes."  Patently untrue.  I also ate French Toast three times.  And Belgian waffles once.  And lots of desserts.  And the occasional sandwich or dinner item.  Yes, I may be focusing a lot on food in these posts.  But you have to understand I've spent the last 2 years, 8 months in Japan and good fish-free breakfast is hard to come by!  So YES, I've been reveling in all of my yummy breakfast options.  It's my favorite meal! (One day I ordered breakfast twice.  And I don't even regret it.)
;)  Now back to the re-cap:

After my day of rest and Doug's day of SCUBA, we were ready for another adventure.  This time, we headed for the Cairns Zoo to have "Brecky with a Koala".  (This is where I got the Belgian waffle.  Doug got eggs and toast or something similarly boring.)

It's so FLUFFY!!

I almost tripped over this guy.

The zoo had lots of super cool animals.  For example, the Red Panda.  Also known as the "Fire Fox".  This was the first "panda" discovered but it's fame has been overshadowed by the discovery of the "Great Panda".

Even though I think it's cuter.

We also got to have our pictures taken holding a koala!

Anyway, I was a tiny bit nervous.  When I was little, I was very allergic to animal dander.  Which meant I wasn't supposed to touch anything furry, and if I did, I had to immediately wash my hands.  So I'm not much of an animal person.  I don't generally touch things with fur if I don't have too.

But I was brave and posed for the photo-op.  And when the koala lady took Buster back, my hand was covered in koala poo.  Squished right in there.  I looked at my hand, looked at Koala Lady, looked at my hand...she said "Oh, just shake it off."  and "Ah, it's good luck!"  And then I wanted to cry, boil my hand, and cry some more.  But I was brave and survived one more photo before running to the sink.

Donating money to wildlife preservation

Madagascar Ring-Tailed Lemur

Yay!  I'm eating a STICK!

Kangaroos are kinda gross.

Because we could!

Wombat!

Sweet little sleeping baby koala

Even sweeter little sleeping baby koala

After the zoo, we went to the beach.  Interesting fact:  Cairns proper doesn't have a beach.  Just mud flats!

If you want to go to the beach, you have to go up north a bit.  So we went while we were in the neighborhood.  The beaches were BEAUTIFUL.  BUT--it's still "stinger" season so the only place you can swim is where they've sectioned off an area in the water and surrounded it with nets to keep the jelly fish out.  So that's where we swam.  With every other person in town.  But the water was warm (hopefully not from all the kids nearby) and beautiful and the sand was pretty and we had a great afternoon playing in the water with Gray-Gray.  (And speaking of sand, we got some more to add to our collection.)

That evening we ate at a yummy sea food place.  I asked what the "catch of the day" was.  The waiter said (and I quote)  "Salmon!  Actually, it's white fish caught locally, but we call it Salmon!"  That's what I ordered, and it was the best white fish salmon I've ever had!

--The End--

Did you know...?
They use dollars instead of pounds here?  But all of their coins have Queen Elizabeth on them.

In Japan, people say "hi" a lot to respond to anything you may say.  Here they say "no wahrees!"  (no worries.)

Like Japan, the national policy is to NOT TIP!  Doug luuuuuuuuuuvs this.  He HATES tipping!  (I was a waitress once.  Only for a month, but I still leave big tips.)

Diapers = nappies
Stroller = pram
Pacifier = dummy
Lolly = candy?  I have no idea what kind, but I don't think it means sucker.
French fries = chips
Chips = chippies
Ketchup = tomato sauce
Wood = timber (timbah)

Swimsuit = swimmies

G'day from Australia!

Traveling always has it's ups and downs.  This trip is no exception.  Mind you, I'm not complaining.  Not a bit.  We're having a great time.  But the facts must be recorded!

Up:  Free trip to Cairns, Australia.  Free plane tickets, bus tickets, and accommodations!   (Thank you SO MUCH for coming to Misawa, Survivors!!!)

Down:  Left my prescription medications at home.  Dang.
Down:  Red eye out of Tokyo was less than restful for Doug and Gray.
Up:  Empty flight meant I got to spread out and sleep!  (Sorry Doug and Gray.)
Down:  Flight regulations that require waking sleeping babies every time the plane hits turbulence!

Up:  Arrived in time for breakfast and ate a FABULOUS meal at "Perrotta's at the Gallery".
Me:  French Toast with caramelized pear, King Country Vanilla Yoghurt and raspberry syrup.  Yep.  It was divine.  (Doug had a yummy fritatta with mushrooms.)

Up:  Beautiful hotel!

Up:  Doug took me right to Target (a few blocks into town) as requested.
Down:  It's super expensive here--even at Target.  Plus, it's the wrong season.  I was looking for a few casual t-shirts to wear while here.  They have out the long sleeve flannel shirts for fall!  D'oh!  (Always good to be back at Target regardless, though...)

Down:  Had to visit the Cairns 24-hour Clinic.
Up:  Got my prescription.
Up:  Got to explore the Cairns ghetto and meet a sampling of the indigent population!  (Now really...how many tourists can say that?!?)
Down:  Out a cool $110.
Up:  Made me that much more grateful for health insurance and free prescriptions back home in Misawa!!

Up:  It's warm and humid and warm and warm and delightfully warm!!!  I'm soaking in as much vitamin D as possible!
Down:  It's still a bit rainy--got rained on all day today on Green Island.  (It was still beautiful and fun.  Just wet.)

Up:  Gray is so so so so cute and adorable.
Down:  Gray is one.  Not good at walking, swimming, napping on-the-go, or communicating.  Makes traveling with him a little tricky.  But he's still been remarkably cute and happy despite the crazy shift in his routine.

Up:  Cute new travel shoes!
Down:  Million new travel blisters!
Up:  38 band-aids later, NO PAIN (practically).

Up:  I love love love the different accents and dialects and colloquialisms and idioms!!!   It's so fun to listen to people talking here!  Doesn't even matter what they're talking about, it just SOUNDS awesome!

Up:  Little kids (and some adults) keep calling Gray "Bubby".  It's adorable!   i.e.:  "Hey Mahm...It's eh Bubby!" and "Hey lil Bubby, wahs yo neame?!"

Down:  My Australian accent.  I keep trying to perfect it, but it comes out a cross between Swedish and East-Indian.

Up:  We're in a tropical paradise surrounded by beautiful blue/green water.
Down:  We're on an island surrounded by bad-evil-killer-death water.  The first thing we did was discuss our plan of action should we hear a tsunami warning.  (Okay, so maybe it was more me demanding to know which direction I should run if sirens started going off...)

Down:  We miss the big boys lots and wish they were here with us!  :(  (Gabe is currently crying himself to sleep in an attempt to guilt me into coming home immediately.  After our Skype conversation tonight, I'd get on a plane right now if I could...)

Up:  We're having a fabulous time!  No down-side to that!!!