We made it!

We're here! And I think I could get used to this.  The plane ride went well, the girls handled it remarkably!  No fighting, kept pretty quiet and entertained themselves pretty well.  Almost makes me want to live in an airplane!  The only time I almost panicked (okay, DID) was when we hit some serious turbulence over the Pacific ocean.  At that point I vowed never to get on a plane again and was really wondering if we would stay in Australia forever.  But that moment passed and I began to plot my next trip abroad, especially upon watching the sun rise while descending into Sydney. At least now the girls can say that they actually have seen a sun rise!

Our apartment is wonderful!  We have amazing views of the harbor and if we go up to the roof we can see for miles around in all directions.  We have everything we need close by.  The girls and I walked to the grocery store (where everything seems really expensive) and I'm thrilled to death to have a trash chute and recycling pickup about 10 feet from our door. If any of you saw the dumpster and pile of recycling outside our home on the farm, you would understand why it is such a big thing for me!

We're going to walk to the city library tonight and see about getting some cards.  I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time there, but that's nothing I will ever complain about.  We have DSL and TV which we have been taking advantage of (even though we have only been here a day).  I think it might be very difficult to leave all these luxuries behind in a few months.  Well, TV I don't think I'll miss but it is nice to see the local shows in a different country and I think Marra might be saying, "give it a go" by the time we return.  I absolutely love the accent and dreamily gaze at anybody talking loud enough for me to hear their conversation.  I'm sure they can tell I'm American. :-D

We'll get some pictures posted and hopefully get a panoramic shot of the view on our roof.  If anybody downloads Skype we can talk online and the girls could talk to their friends "face to face".  They think that is pretty cool!  

The Countdown Begins

We purchased our tickets! Finally, we can allow ourselves to get excited about our trip to Australia.  The day after we bought the tickets, I was packed and ready to go!  The girls are making lists of what to take and where to go once we get there (hopefully short ones) and we're scrambling to tie up all of our loose ends.  I've been on a de-cluttering mission.    I find that things are put into perspective a bit, knowing that I won't need anything in my house for 3 months!  In fact, I won't need my house at all, or the farm, or the animals, or the vehicles (although I'm sure it will be nice to have them here when we get back).  The girls don't need the gymnastics lessons, music lessons, swim lessons and horse riding lessons.  My responsibilities will be nil and we can just enjoy each other's company (I can dream)!   Free to have fun for 3 months.  That opportunity doesn't come around every day, or month or year.  Shucks, maybe it only comes around once every 38 years or once in a lifetime.   I would like to think that this will be the impetus we need to change our priorities.  My hope is for the girls to  build global perspective by traveling rather than just spending their entire lives working at a job to make money to pay the bills, to put their kids in daycare, to drive the dream vehicle and own the dream house.  Though the status symbol thing seems to have eluded me all these years, I have plenty of things to clutter and cloud my perspective.  Gosh, I'm becoming a little too introspective and this is supposed to be about FUN!

Time 'Till Takeoff