Where has summer gone?

I racked my brain trying to come up with a clever new blog title since we are no longer in the Northwest. Just to make my readers aware Drum is an Australian slang term for news or the latest info I thought it was fitting, although maybe that term is on it's way out around here. (I'm always the last one on board with the latest trends, I just threw out my overalls with the hammer loop and troll doll collection). 

We have officially been in Melbourne for two weeks. I feel we have all adjusted to a somewhat normal routine (I've stopped waking up at 3AM every morning) and have acclimated to different food, season, way of driving, etc. Ava somehow survived a 16 hr. flight going on very little sleep without having a huge meltdown. But before I get ahead of myself, I have some catching up to do. Prior to our voyage down under we spent a fun- filled week in Utah with Eric's family and then a couple days in California visiting Eric's sister.

Here are some of the things we did during our final days in America.

Family Reunion Pool Party!

Swinging in the backyard

Relaxing with cousins

Enjoying an all American Holiday complete with family, outdoor picnic, four wheelers, and a great fireworks show put on by Brigham City. 

While in California, Lisa took us to the Santa Monica Pier. It was actually my first time at this famous pier.We  got to hold some exotic birds, ride the ferris wheel and enjoy a touching, yet cheesy song entitled "tiny miracles." 

Since arriving in Australia we have had fun exploring our new home. We like our new apartment, it is spacious and has a beautiful view off the balcony of the Yarra River. Even better every Friday this month they have a fabulous fireworks show over the water! For the most part I walk everywhere but there is also a free tram circling the city that we ride mostly because Ava is obsessed with trams. 

Our first week here Ava and I found a petting zoo full of adorable baby animals. I was pretty impressed by how docile the animals were. Ava noticed some children who got to hold baby bunnies when they sat on a hay bale near the bunny area, so she ran over, shimmied up the hay bale and exuded as much cuteness and charm in the direction of the staff member as she could. The staff member held the bunny over her and paused realizing that her lap was so small even a baby bunny is liable to slip off. So the worker pushed her legs apart and placed the bunny there. I thought for sure the bunny would get squished to death but she surprised me by her gentleness with such a fragile creature. 

Below is Ava with the baby pigs.   

Unfortunately being in the city means we haven't yet seen any kangaroos or koala's but below are a couple of animal sightings we have had:

These cute little guys are Australian Penguins. Most people travel to Phillip Island to see them but you really don't need to travel too far outside of Melbourne to find them. (This is just an internet picture as is the one below because the pictures I took stink. At least it gives you an idea of what we saw.)

Lorikeets so far are my favorite, usually if I'm walking around late afternoon I'll see green and purple flashes between the palm trees. They are really beautiful birds but they can be pretty loud and obnoxious when they are in big clusters. 

The Pier at St. Kilda where we saw the miniature Penguins.

The two biggest things I've had to adjust to is 1.Going from Summer to Winter and not just the colder weather but also shorter days it has thrown me off a bit. 2.The language. Yes they speak English, that I am thankful for, but there are many slang terms I don't understand. Add to that living in a city with so much cultural diversity. It's one thing to understand someone with a thick aussie accent throwing in phrases like brekkie or cobber. Now take someone with the aussie accent plus all the slang on top of an Indonesian accent! Yeah that's interesting. But truly I enjoy the cultural diversity around here. I have already made some friends from Bermuda and Hong Kong. Kinda exciting!

The other day I was at the bank and the woman helping me asked if my little girl would like some bickies. I had no clue what she was talking about but I said yes. The woman handed Ava some teddy bear crackers or "biscuits". I have also since learned that bickie can be a slang word for money too, so for either connotation my response was good. 

Even though my generalization leaves out a lot of phrases, my guide for understanding Australians is as follows:

 Shorten a noun then add an ie 

Example: Breakfast = Brekkie (This is not a slang term it is the word for Breakfast. I see it on menus)

Another good one is Chesty which is flu medicine. I thought it was funny but I guess it's referring to getting the  mucous out of your chest.

Any word ending with A getts an r on the end of it.

Example: If your gospel doctrine teacher says to turn to Almar 5 he is talking about Alma 5

 Ava's new Australian name is Avar. I don't know it's kindar growing on me.