Week 2 (From Shannon's perspective)

 Our Second week here got off to a bit of rough start as poor Caitlyn caught some sort of stomach bug. I fear this is just the beginning of all the bugs we may catch as they have a different crop of them down here AND we've spent the last two years mostly with ourselves or masked and distanced from everyone due to Covid. Despite the fact that covid is everywhere here at the moment, mask usage is not high here. Though, in their defense, something like 98% of all adults in Canberra have been vaccinated. Kids under 12 have a lower vaccination rate, but I think still higher than kids under 12 in the U.S. I'm undecided about how masked I think we should be. We are heading into winter here, so the likelihood that people will be passing winter bugs is higher. But, I'm not sure we can wear masks forever, and there isn't much more people can do if almost everyone is vaccinated.  Because winter is coming, we are actually set to get our Southern Hemisphere flu shots the day the girls start school. 

We were invited to Bitsy's house for an Easter celebration last weekend.  It was so nice to see and catch up with her, and the kids had fun doing an egg hunt and just generally enjoying the company of anyone other than their parents. But it was at this point that Caitlyn's stomach bug reared its ugly head, and we had to leave early and get her home.  The rest of our plans for last weekend were put on hold as we waited for Caitlyn to feel better.  We also rapid tested her twice for covid. She tested negative both times.

On Monday we got a tour of the girls new school. It is a beautiful building.  The school itself has less students than I think the girls' elementary school back home did.  They have three classes for each grade with anywhere from 18-25 students in them. So about the same as their classes in Maryland.  The school is very pretty. The middle of it is open to the elements, so there are trees and sunshine in it.  Here is a picture of the girls looking into the middle of the school.  They will walk along this terrace to their classrooms.

We were able to see their new classrooms. Lauren was excited to see that she is indeed in an all-girls class. The school is a girls school, except they do have boys in classes up to the year three (3rd grade). We also learned that this term (the word they use instead of quarter) they will have swimming lessons at the senior school. Lauren is very excited about that. 

On Tuesday and Thursday, both mom and dad went to work and the girls went to a holiday program (aka fall break camp) at the school. Sadly for Caitlyn, she was the only year six (6th grader) at the camp. The majority of the kids were quite young. I'll let the girls post about their camp experience. From a mom's perspective, the camp was expensive (though I hear this is because they pay their people a living wage), and they spent a little too much time watching movies. But, in the future when the kids have a break we will likely be traveling. As we just got here and we have so much to get set up, we couldn't arrange travel for the first break. We showed up now between terms because we had expected to have to quarantine and didn't want them to miss much school.  Luckily we didn't have to quarantine, but it meant that we had to find a camp for the kids. 

On Wednesday, the girls and I dropped Mike off at work (we currently only have one car) and went to find a meat pie for the kids to try (as the kids in their camp were astounded that they had never tried one). We found a lovely bakery in a suburb called Braddon. I was informed by a woman in line that the pies there were artisanal (aka fancy) so that not all pies would be like that.  The food at this place was awesome. I enjoyed the meat pie (the girls were so-so on it), and we also had a nice ham and cheese sandwich and the most glorious almond croissant. Then we walked to a library. The libraries here are nice enough, but the kids' sections pale in comparison to the libraries in Howard County, particularly the Miller library right by our Maryland house. The kids book selection at the libraries here is quite small. We are trying to learn to make do by using inter-library loan, but I suspect that I will be buying more books than I have done because our libraries in Maryland are so fantastic. I will never take them for granted when we return. It may be possible to borrow more electronically, but there is something to be said for having a book in your hands.

After the library, we went back to the pod playground at the National Arboretum.  The girls really like this playground. We went three times in the past week. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day here. So warm it basically felt like summer. The sun feels stronger here, which could be because there is a hole in the ozone above Australia. We are learning to make sure were are covered and lathered in sunscreen.  They have a campaign here that says "Slip, slop, slap, seek, slide." Slip on clothes that cover your skin, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat, seek shade, and slide on sun glasses. 

Here are some pictures at the pod playground as well as a couple shots from the arboretum:

A cool gate with a bunch of Australian animals on it

Be careful! A warning to parents to not let their kids touch/eat mushrooms here because they can kill you - like everything else in Australia.

Friday was a public holiday. They take Easter weekend very seriously here.  They get a four day weekend. Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays. Very little was open on Good Friday. We are told that more things are open the rest of this long weekend, but we will see.  I discovered this morning that the stores can charge you a "public holiday surcharge" just for being open and providing a service during a public holiday.

Friday we got up early and went to an event on public lawns near the center of the city. They had an inflatable obstacle course set up by Tuff Nutterz. You had to have tickets for the event, but it was a really good way for the kids to burn some energy. They got two hours on all the inflatables. 

I signed them up for a 9am visit to this since we still rise relatively early. I also figured it wouldn't be as hot. I didn't even think about morning dew that built up on the inflatables overnight. The inflatables were coated in water and the girls were so wet, but they had fun regardless.

While they played Mike and I got a coffee. At some point I had to use the bathroom. They had port-a-potties there. I had heard stories about if you stop at rural bathroom on the road you should check to make sure that dangerous spiders, such as redbacks, have not made a home under the lid.  Even though we were in the middle of the city, these were bathrooms that live outside, so I approached it with caution. With one half of my body still outside the bathroom, I lifted the lid to make sure nothing was living/lurking underneath the lid. There wasn't, but I did notice spider webs all over the inside of the port-a-potty.  However, nature called.  I've never used the bathroom faster.  As I went to wash my hands, I saw this:

Thankfully he was dead. Mike suspects someone scooped him up and put in him here (already dead?) as a spider wouldn't naturally try to crawl into the soap.  But maybe at that point I hastened my exit from the bathroom.... 

The last thing I have to say about this week is that Mike and Lauren's efforts to acquire bird seed have already brought a lot of birds into our yard. Beautiful birds, just like Lauren wanted. Here are two rosellas that visit us often.

I need to do some research, but these two seem to hang out together, so perhaps they mate for life? We've also seen some pretty green birds, and a lot of magpies. The magpies swoop and hit our windows with relative frequency. It is lovely to see these pretty birds in the yard.