Our new-to-us car

1988 Ford Laser

After we got home from California, we decided to buy ourselves a car. We did 8 months without one and decided that now that the baby is a bit older, we should start taking weekends trips to discover the country around us.

After hemming and hawing for a few weeks, we finally settled on that beauty above. The price was right and the best part is that it only has 50,000 kms! Sure, it doesn't have power steering or fuel injection, but it does have air conditioning and new tires.

Car insurance as we know it costs about the same as it does at home, but registration (or "rego" as they call it here) is quite expensive! We paid close to $700 to register the car for the year. Half of the rego goes to a different insurance company for Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance. CTP covers damages to the other guy in case of an accident and our personal insurance pays damage to our car. That means we still paid about $350 to the state to register a 21-year-old car.

Nate still bikes to work, so Rox and I have the car all day to putter around town. We're expecting another lot of visitors this week (Eddie and Lisa's parents on a layover from PNG on Wednesday, Eliza and Andrew on Thursday, Becky and Lindsay on Monday), so picking them all up from the airport will be a breeze!

Skink Watch 2009: Success!

One day way back in February, I walked outside to check the mail and spotted a reptilian flash out of the corner of my eye. This was different from the usual geckos, lizards and skinks that scatter when I walk around outside.

This thing I saw was different. Specifically, this thing was much bigger. I only saw a flash of its scaly abdomen, but that trunk was about 2-3" in diameter! Enormous!! I ran inside, grabbed The Wildlife of Greater Brisbane and turned to the Lizards chapter. I decided that we had a Blue-tongued skink living in our garden. This was Day 1 of Skink Watch 2009. Every day that I went out to check the mailbox, I kept my eyes peeled for our blue-tongued amigo, but didn't see him again until a couple of weeks ago.

We had some people over for a winter BBQ and for the first time in five months, our skinky little friend showed his slithery head! It's not like this lizard runs around with his blue tongue hanging out. He has to be pestered before he'll flash it. We decided to be good neighbors and just let him be. There's a whole web page dedicated to these animals, so if you want to see the blue tongue, just follow the link. After seeing the photos on that site, I'm kind of glad we didn't pester him.

Can you imagine finding this in your garden? For size comparison:

This picture makes us look like our baby is in imminent danger. Don't worry - the baby wasn't in there and I always shake the pram before I put her in it to wake up any animals sleeping in it. (Oh, and Mr. Blue Tongue eats fruit, flowers, eggs, snails and carrion.)

Skink Watch 2009 is over. I'm glad he paused and let me snap a few pictures. Now he's out in our garden somewhere. I hope he plans to stay!

We also discovered that our funny little possum like to take naps in the laundry room.

You can see her disinctive "jelly bean-shaped poop" in the foreground.

Other favorite pictures from the California trip (and then it's back to our life in Australia)

Playing with El Pres.

From the Shh! Daddy's Sleeping series. Under P&P's warm blanket.

Bananas!

Brooke's amazing arms!

Terry and Roxy have matchy hair.

Oscar Dog makes peace with Nate.

Rox's first meeting with G.

Show kitty!

First cuddle with Aunt Rebecca.

My mom's Peaceable Kingdom. Feline, Prairie dog and infant.

What a good lookin' crew, hey!?

Standing outside during a bizarre lightning storm. The neighbor across the road peeked her head out to tell us that we were crazy for standing out in the middle of the sidewalk during the lightning storm.

California: Week 2

We picked up Nate's family from the airport on Monday and began an epic drive to our cabin at Shaver Lake. The cabin we stayed in belongs to my sister-in-law's boss. He generously let us stay there for the week. The cabin was gorgeous with an amazing view.

The view on our last morning. It rained and snowed on us!

There was plenty of room for all of us to spread out and lay on our bellies just like the baby. We went for walks around the lake and many hours were spent playing foozeball/air hockey/pool.

The Game Room.

The living room from the second floor landing.

Mena teaching Rox that tummy time is fun!

Eliza giving walking lessons. Next up: dancing!

Andrew and Eliza watching Will Ferrell on that Bear Grylls show under the heat lamp on the deck. It was awesome!

On a walk around Shaver. El Presidente got to work on his funny faces.

Pooped after a long hike. How cute are those booties?!

My family came up for dinner mid-week. Nate made delicious pulled pork sandwiches and we had pie for dessert to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. Our niece Caitlin decided Eliza is the perfect playmate - probably because Eliza didn't have some dumb ol' baby she had to take care of. (Caitlin is working through some sibling rivalry issues.)

Rox with cousins Ethan and Caitlin. Ethan is twice as heavy as Rox and half as heavy as Caitlin.

The night before we flew home, my parents hosted Nate's family for a Mexican feast. The weather was unseasonably cool, but it was still quite pleasant.

Yes, that's a bottle of vodka on the table. Zing!

Rox and her grandparents.

Hardys!

Buster fresh from the groomers. He's such a funny kitty cat and he loves his summer haircuts.

Snapped on our last morning in Kingsburg. This is my favorite picture.

Roxy seemed to grow and change immensely during our time in California. I don't know if was the California sunshine, room to stretch her legs, the California produce or being handed off from family member to friend to family member and showered with love and attention. It was probably a combination of all three. She ate her first solid food (banana mashy), sat up pretty well on her own and decided to give rolling over another try. After the trip, she became much more talkative and babbles much more than she did before. Probably she learned she needs to speak up if she wants to get a word in edge-wise with her family - just wait until she meets the extended Hardy-McCullochs!!

On the plane headed back for Australia! Plane rides make her hair flat. She's so much bigger now - that outfit (a gift from Vaughn C.) doesn't even fit her anymore!

Seven months

Enjoying a rice cracker.

Roxy turned 7 months old on Saturday. She's eating anything she can get her hands on and is growing cuter by the day. I feel unbelievably lucky to be with her all day and she saves her biggest smiles and laughs for Nate in the evenings. She's an absolute delight. She also sprouted her first tooth a week ago!

California: Week 1 (Updated)

We flew into San Francisco via Aukland. The #1 question we were asked was, "How did Roxy do on the flight?" She did just fine, thanks to the bassinet on the plane. After we reached cruising altitude, we put her in her jammies, filled up her tummy and placed her in her own little sleep zone. She slept longer than she had ever slept before. We should make a "Sounds of a Jet Plane" lullaby CD - we'll be millionaires!

Hanging out in her sky boat.

My sister picked us up and that night we enjoyed a Mexican meal (our first of many) for dinner with my family. We met our nephew Ethan and introduced Roxanne to a lot of her extended family.

With Daddy, Uncle Mark and cousin Ethan (just a month older than Rox, but about twice her weight). Stripes are in for babies this year.

The next day, Becky graduated from law school!

Taken in her bedroom before the ceremony. Nate and I didn't attend the commencement because we had a jet-lagged baby who wasn't too chipper the morning after her first trans-Pacific flight.

Becky organized a picnic in the park and we all enjoyed a lot of delicious food and games.

Delicious food.

Games.

Merriment.

The next day, my mom's side of the family caravanned to a duck club outside of Los Banos to scatter some of my grandmother's ashes.

Duck Club. Poker table off to the right (not visible).

Following in each others' footsteps.

Just the spot.

We then drove onto Kingsburg and spent the week visiting with family and friends. My dad spent a lot of time filling Nate up with Mexican food. One memorable meal was a lengua burrito!

After a week in Kingsburg, we drove up to Davis for a stopover and to introduce Rox to our Davis amigos.

Here's Roxy getting her mind blown by Fran. Roxy never had so much fun in her entire life. Seriously! It was awesome.

Diego and Rox. Best Hair Ever.

Tara getting to meet the baby she felt kicking months ago. :)

We stayed the night at our PhD advisors' house in Pleasants Valley, just outside of Vacaville. Nate and Rox took a dip in the pool and we sat outside and enjoyed dinner on a cool summer night. The next morning I lounged in the hammock and watched the birds.

P & P's beautiful backyard on Sunday morning.

Alas, we had to leave their beautiful spot in the country and we drove over to the Bay Area to pick up Nate's family and begin the second half of our California visit.

Sunday night, we stayed at Becky's with our kitty-cats. I was hoping that they would remember us right away and curl up on our laps, just like old times. I was wrong. They have adjusted to condo living and could care less if they ever saw us again. Boo!

Adorable little traitors on Becky's bed.

Mystery Solved

Roxy and her Grandpa Charlie. She's got a bit more in the front, but that back curl is identical.