big day out

Life has been just peachy here down unda. The weather has been questionable at times, but today was absolutely gorgeous! Today was "Australia Day," which pretty much means that all the aussies head down to the beach, drink, and hardly anyone is working since it's a national holiday. Last night a big group of us went to the Newport Arms Hotel for an Australia Day Eve party. It's about a 20 min drive from Manly. We got there and there was a massive line that we had to wait in for over an hour, but it was worth it! We had the best time and the place was packed, and it was huge! It apparently has the largest waterfront beer garden in all of Australia--and they even had fireworks at midnight! 

This past week of nannying was a little hectic, since the kids are still on Summer break (they start school on Thursday, thank goodness!) On Wednesday I took the kids down to the park to ride their bikes and when we got in the car to head back home, the car wouldn't start! It was a very hot day out, and you can imagine how hard it was to keep three little ones entertained in the car as we waited over 30 minutes for the mechanic to come. We made it back home and had fun playing games up in Mia's room, and of course when I thought things were going great, Harvey pulled his pants down and peed on Mia's carpet!! Hah, I still can't believe he did that! But of course just when things seem to get tough, someone says something hilarious that makes it all better....Mia was staring at my ear and I asked her, "Mia, what are you looking at??" She responds, "your ear." I then asked her why and she tells me "because your ear is so beautiful!" Then we both started to laugh hysterically--definitely what we both needed! 

Friday was a much much better day, as the older two kids went to vacation care and I just had Harvey....I took him on a bike riding path by the beach in the morning, then to the park, then to a place called "clown town," then to McDonalds for lunch...I forgot how entertaining it is to watch a child try to eat an ice-cream cone. He kept tipping it over and eventually the top half fell off...whoops!  He had me laughing so hard and whenever I start to laugh he begins laughing too! We had such a great time together....just the two of us...and I can already tell it is going to be very hard saying goodbye to that little guy!

Saturday was the best day yet! I went to an all day music festival called "big day out" with Shayli....it was at Sydney's olympic park and there were over 50,000 people there!! They had tons of food booths, bars, and even rides set up all throughout the park! The event started at 11 am and didn't end until midnight, so it was a long long day! It got up to 110 degrees but in the arvo (afternoon) it started to rain and cooled down a lot (which was actually a blessing!) Anyways, we had an awesome time dancing away to Muse, Jet, Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascal, and much more bands! One of the highlights was a guy pointing out to me that I'm, "fabulous. Just a side note." Haha, after he said that I realized that maybe Australians always seem so nice because they are always intoxicated. 

Anyways, I should get going as I'm hoping to get a full nights sleep tonight before the nanny week starts up again...just 3 more weeks and I'm off to Bali :) Hope everyone is staying dry and out of the rain-sending sunshine from down under! 

love, caitlyn

surf's up!

It seems like these weeks just keep going by quicker and quicker! In exactly one month from today, I will be done nannying and off traveling! Wow! Anyways, my past few days off have been great! I went out to dinner on friday night with some of my closest friends here and had an awesome time. We went to a place called "In situ" and it's known for their tapas and cocktails. I went with Shayli, Jess, and Ruthie (they are in the picture). After the meal, when we went up to pay, Ruthie grabbed the bill and paid for all of us! I really couldn't believe it, considering the bill wasn't cheap...we decided to buy her an ice-cream after dinner, (Ok, I did really want ice-cream anyways hah)..we went to a place called "copenhagens" and they seriously have the BEST ice cream. You get a free chocolate dipped cone, free toppings (self-serve) AND free whipped cream! Yum!! It was a really fun night, just us girls. The weather here has been a little iffy and we have been getting some rain and thunderstorms....although yesterday and today were gorgeous. Yesterday I went out surfing with Erik, who was one of the sons of the family that my friend Molly stayed with when she came out to visit. I'm feeling like I'm finally improving on my surfing and am now attempting to turn the board and learn how to really ride the wave and not just simply catch waves and go straight. I wish I could go out everyday....I'm really looking forward to Bali (just over a month away) when I will be able to surf a lot! Today we were gonna go out for another surf, but there were no waves, so we (Erik and his friend Simon) went to a little beach called Collins Beach...it was gorgeous! There's also a high rock that they call "jump rock" and there were heaps of people jumping off it...we were gonna do it but there were too many people, but I really want to go back another time and do it! Oh yeah and it was super funny because at that beach there's little boats that come to shore selling food and stuff! There was one boat selling ice-cream and another boat selling bottled water, juice, yogurt, and smoothies! Crazy huh? They literally drive right up to shore and ring a bell and people run over and buy stuff. I thought the whole concept was pretty funny. 

 

Tonight Shayli and I went on a movie date (Tuesday nights are cheap night at the theater) and we saw "It's Compicated" (it was filmed in Santa Barbara!) Probably one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long long time...we were cracking up the whole time and I would definitely recommend seeing it! Anyways, I should get going ...have to wake up in five and a half hours to start another nanny work week! Only a few more weeks to go and I'm done. Hope everyone is enjoying 2010 so far! xoxo

So long Holidays...

So my "holiday" is over and this week was my first week back at nannying. Today was pretty hectic with all 3 kids, since the older two are still on Summer break. I did manage to make some homemade pumpkin soup from scratch and it was AMAZING. I am definitely going to be cooking some of that when I get home! Anyways, let me tell you about my Christmas trip to Byron and my new years....

So I made it to Byron and the first hostel I stayed at "Backpackers Inn on the Beach" was pretty fun, but people there were very "clicky" and it was intimidating and hard to meet people. Lots of people already knew eachother and were traveling in groups, which made it hard to mingle. My first 3 roommates (I was in a room with 3 other girls) were best friends from Sweden. They were nice and I went to the beach with them a couple times, but it was odd when they were speaking Swedish as I silently sat on my bed. Anyways, my first full day in Byron I did a kayak tour that Julie (the mum) booked for me for my "Chrissy" (christmas) gift. It was so sweet!! I saw heaps of sea turtles, manta rays, and fish..it's crazy how clear the water was--oh and the water seemed super warm too! (although there were TONS of blue bottle jellyfish) My kayak partner was one of the kayak tour guides, which was really cool because he would find all the sea animals and caught lots of waves for us to ride. Haha he was pretty goofy and here was his famous joke he told me: "Did you hear about the hippie that drowned out at sea??"  ME: "What!? Oh my gosh a hippie died! That's horrible! I didn't hear about that! How'd it happen?" HIM: "He was too 'far out!" Haha I totally fell for it. Anyways, I'm in love with kayaking. Oh and guess what I got for free for my "morning tea" during the kayak trip?? YEP! TIM TAMS!!!!! 

On Christmas eve I woke up early and walked to the Lighthouse in Byron Bay....it's the most Easterly point of Continental Australia...it was SO beautiful and was a good walk...took me about 45 minutes each way and I had to walk through a little jungle forest to get there. Since Sweden celebrates Christmas on the 24th, my Swedish roomies celebrated Christmas then. So they put up a little palm tree in our room and put presents under it and had a Christmas meal...then that night they were super homesick and bummed out and were all starting to cry...I awkwardly sat on my bed and decided I wasn't going to let them get me down...so what did I do?? Well, I sucked it up and went out by myself!! I had a wristband for a free drink at this place called "Cocomangas" so I walked there from my hostel, got my free drink (it's called a "jam jar" and comes in a sweet jar)...then I sat at a table by myself feeling like a loser haha. Great Christmas eve right?? Don't worry, it gets better....so I'm sitting there, by myself...then I notice a big group of people (about 20 or so) dancing on the dance floor...then they all start to leave and a few of the guys yell something at me, which I ignore...then a couple of them come over to me and ask why I'm sitting by myself... I then explain to them my deal and they invite me to come to their "bar crawl" that they are doing...apparently they signed up for it and had to pay to go to every bar in byron and get a free drink and free entry. So I tagged along and had the best time!! It was too funny because the guys were feeding me compliments left and right, which was really cool for me to hear, since I was completely alone the past couple days....my favorite compliments were, "I hope my next girlfriend looks like you...and that's an understatement!" The next one was one of the guys saying, "wow, she's cute!" and his friend saying, "she's not cute, she's gorgeous!" Haha I don't think I've laughed that hard in awhile...they must have been pretty drunk for saying that! Anyways, I had a nice Christmas surprise and my good friend Shayli drove down to Byron to meet me for my last few days!! The crazy part was she was staying at the same hostel that I was staying my last couple days! I moved to a Hostel called "Nomads" and it was AMAZING!!! It was brand spankin new and was totally modern and looked like a really nice hotel. My roommates at the hostel were 5 other girls...two of them were aussies (Lauren and Emma) and Shayli and I immediately bonded with them and hung out with them the rest of our trip. We went out with them and had the best time! We were so bummed we didn't meet them sooner though. 

Anyways, Byron Bay was so much fun and I really miss it. I would definitely go back if I ever had the opportunity....Oh speaking of traveling...so I booked a ticket to Bali...I leave Feb 15th for about two weeks!! Craziness....

So New Years was unreal. Shayli and I met up with my friend Roxy and a bunch of her friends and we went to a sweet lookout spot where there were lots of families and young people set up to watch the Sydney fireworks. We got there just after 6, which meant we had plenty of time to see both the 9 pm and midnight fireworks. The fireworks were probably one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time....they were so surreal and I still can't believe I was actually THERE! I really had the best time and wish I could relive that night again :) I hope everyone had awesome holidays...for me it just never really felt like Christmas, but that's okay because I am lucky to be here in Aussie land and I will DEFINITELY be home next year for Christmas. I love and miss everyone and I will try to be better about updating this more often...I should get to bed...have to nanny in a few hours! 

Barely Made it to Byron...

What a crazy day! Well, I made it to Byron Bay...BARELY. So last night I was up all night packing, booking a flight to go to BALI, and trying to get everything all ready for my week long trp to Byron Bay. I ended up getting one hour of sleep and then the shuttle picked me up to go to the airport. I hopped on the shuttle bus, made it to the Sydney airport, checked in within 5 minutes for my flight, and had over two hours to wait for my flight to board. Sounds good right? Wrong. Haha, so I went to the bathroom and came out and thought that my flight was boarding because it was supposed to take off in 10 minutes and they still hadn't boarded....so I follow everyone and the lady even announced that the "Ballina flight was now boarding"...so I hop on the little shuttle bus that drove us to our plane, get on the plane, find my seat...then a woman with a baby said I was in her seat, and we discovered that we both had the same seat number...anyways, when the flight attendent walked down the aisle before we were about to take off the woman told her that we both were given the same seat number...the flight attendant looks at my ticket and told me I got on the wrong flight!!!!! Apparently though two other people were on the wrong flight, so they said not to worry because the ticket people weren't doing their job...even though I'm sure it was my fault haha. I am just so thankful that the lady told the flight attendent (the plane was only 1/3 full, so I'm thankful that I was in someones seat!). Anyways, then a taxi had to come pick me up on the runway and drive me to my plane! I get on the plane and it is completely full and everyone is staring at me haha...I am just cracking up and saying "sorry!" Then the rest of the flight I couldn't stop laughing and felt like a complete dork. Oh well..whats new!
So I made it to my hostel but haven't met anyone yet...It was so hot out I went straight to the beach and laid out and went for a swim. Tomorrow morning I'm going on a kayak tour, so I'm pretty excited about that! I'll keep you all posted...pray that I meet friends and don't screw anything else up :)

byron bay here I come!!

So it's about 1 am and I am getting picked up by a shuttle at 5 am to go to the airport and fly to Byron Bay!! haha, I am definitely the procrastinator and am still packing sadly. Anyways, I am so stoked about this trip...I will be there from the 22nd to the 29th! I plan on surfing, enjoying the beach, kayaking, and hopefully meeting people to spend Christmas with :) It will be weird being away from home, but this is a once in a lifetime thing and I know I will be home soon...

     This past week has been really really great!! On my day off on Tuesday I decided to be spontaneous. The night before (on monday), I was really anxious to go out surfing, but since I hate going alone, I searched for "surf day trips" in the area and found one that was a decent price! So I texted the phone number that I found (since it was 11 pm at night) and the next morning I got woken up to a phone call at 8:15 am saying that they had space for me to go that day! I was so excited, but also flustered and worried because I had to be at the wharf by 9 am! I somehow made it there, and had the best time ever...we surfed for about 4 hours total and had an awesome time...I caught more waves than I've caught in my whole life and really enjoyed the trip! We just went to a couple local beaches, which was cool because I was already familiar with the area and everything. Oh and fun fact about freshwater "freshie" beach that I live by...it was the first beach where surfing was brought to in australia-the famouse "Duke" from Hawaii surfed there. Cool eh? 

Another fun fact...Stan Walker, who is the winner of the "Australian Idol" goes to my church and I also saw him perform randomly when I was at the mall the other day. I also saw the live taping of the "Australian Idol Finale" where he won, at the opera house. 

       Anyways, it really hasn't felt like Christmas yet at all. The weather has been nice and hot, and since the family doesn't have a Christmas tree, it hasn't really hit me yet that it's the holiday season. Although on Saturday evening the family had a big Christmas dinner (since they are going out of town in a couple days) and had relatives over and Shayli (my friend) came over as well. It was an amazing meal and I definitely appreciated wearing a loose fitting dress that day haha...no waist band for me thank you!! 

So let's see...today was an amazing day! I spent it all day with Molly (my friend from home) and Katie. We went to the famous Blue Mountains and on the way we stopped at an animal park where we fed kangaroos and petted koalas..then we learned how to throw a boomerang which was pretty sweet! I had dinner at the Murray's house, which is who Molly and Katie are staying with. It was so nice being able to spend all day with them, as I'm leaving tomorrow for Byron Bay and they are leaving on Wednesday to fly back home to the states. It was pretty sad saying goodbye to Molly....I am SO glad she was able to come out here though :)

       Anyways, I should probably get going, as I'm getting picked up to go to the airport in less than 5 hours and I still need to finish packing and get a bit of shut-eye hah, whoops! I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and I can't wait to update you all on my little Christmas trip to Byron Bay...oh and by the way, here is a link to a little video I made for everyone at home. Love you all!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STu5lIXTudY

caught up in the life of "motherhood"

            So I feel like I've been lagging at this whole blogging thing. I honestly feel like I'm actually a mom here sometimes and don't have time to keep up with the blog hah, so sorry if you have been waiting impatiently for my next update...because I'm SURE you all are so interested in my life haha totally kidding! Anyways, I have been experiencing the low points of taking care of children..the big one being tantrums. Let me tell you about my Friday...Harvey (3 yr old's) swim day. Harvey is a sweet soul, but is also very stubborn and definitely a little pistol who knows how to make a scene. So every swim class he splashes other children, hits them, calls them "stupid" and will not share the shower with other children. It is utter chaos and instead of having a 30 minute break while he is swimming, I am constantly going to the edge of the pool telling Harvey to stop splashing and to listen to the swim instructor...I usually end up getting splashed by Harvey and by the end of the swim class I'm soaked. It is quite stressful, but before every swim class as I walk Harvey in the pram (stroller) to swimming, I think positive and pray that it will be a great swim class and that God will give Harvey self control...Unfortunately this past friday was a bit intense. Not only did Harvey do his usual misbehaviors, but he had a HUGE tantrum...it resulted in me carrying Harvey out of swimming, both of us completely soaked, Harvey naked (he wouldn't get dressed) and he was kicking and yelling at me and calling me "stupid." I was SO embarrassed and felt like crying, but I remained as calm as I could and eventually I just sat  Harvey on my lap as he was screaming and crying and told him to take deep breaths (usually I say, "blow out the candles" or "blow up your balloon" or "blow on my face") and it has actually been a good method to get him to calm down. It took awhile, but eventually he stopped his tantrum and I struggled to get him in the pram, but eventually, by the Grace of God we made it home in one piece...we came home and had lunch and I remember looking at his cute little face wondering how such a sweet soul could behave like that. During that crazy tantrum I remember thinking, "why am I here again? I want to go home now!" 

             Another crazy time I had was last night when I babysat...Harvey wouldn't go to bed and I struggled for an hour with him to get his tired little body to fall asleep. I've definitely been feeling exhausted lately, although going to church tonight made me realize that all those little crazy moments are really not something to get caught up in. It's actually funny because there's a mildly mentally challenged girl (she is pretty high functioning) at church and she is so sweet and always comes up to me and gives me hugs...tonight she came up to me and told me how beautiful I looked and then she said that God told her to tell me that when I go home flocks of children will be running to me and that she had a vision of this and could actually see it. Crazy huh?? The weird part is she knows nothing about me...I haven't told her anything about me and haven't told her about my love for children or even that I'm here working as a nanny...

              Anyways, the sunset picture that I posted is from a potluck I went to at the beach with girls from church-beautiful eh? The other picture is of Shayli and I in front of the Manly Christmas tree...we went out in Manly that night and had so much fun together :) Hope everyone is getting all hyped up for Christmas...remember to not focus and stress over buying gifts for people, but simply spend time with the ones you love and remember what Christmas is all about! Love you all...

Molly's Here!!

One of my closest friends from home, Molly, has made it down undaaaa!! She travelled here with one of her good friends Katie-It has been so sweet having them here and we've already had a blast! On Monday we went to Taronga Zoo and saw some crazy animals...there were even peacocks roaming around and I of course freaked out when one popped out of a bush at me. We had a pretty good time, although it ended up being a rainy day...on the ferry ride back to Manly there was a crazy old guy who was yelling at these poor girls sitting next to us threatening to kill them! Thankfully someone got security--yikes! 

          On Tuesday we went wine tasting in the famous Hunter Valley. It was gorgeous!!! The day started off bright and early (we had to catch the 7 am ferry to the city)-so we decided to make a starbucks pit stop. I made up the drink "gingerbread chai latte"-it is SO amazing! Anyways, we had the time of our lives and we even bought some bottles of wine while wine tasting (lots of the places we went to don't sell their wines to stores, so the only place you can buy them is at the vineyard). I of course bought only the sweet wines :) Too bad they don't have a tim tam flavored one! We were lucky enough to see some wild kangaroos while wine tasting--I didn't get a chance to take a picture, but they were pretty small and moved very quickly! We stopped and had sandwiches in the middle of the day at a nice cafe and I discovered a chocolate shop next door, so of course I indulged myself there! It was such an awesome day, although we were so pooped by the time we got back to Sydney (the Hunter Valley is a couple hours away). We arrived in the city, bought some chips (french fries) and chicken salt (it's very popular here-it's pretty much just a spicy seasoning) and hopped on the ferry back to Manly. 

              My week has been great so far, and I'm so thankful that Molly came to visit me- she is staying with a family friend right down the road, so it has been such a blessing having her so close to me. I can't wait to hang out with her and Katie this weekend when I'm done nannying! Nannying has been going well, although I have been fighting a cold so I have been pretty exhausted by the end of the day. Today and yesterday I helped out in Mia's and Oscar's classrooms at school and have really enjoyed it (especially Mias-the kindergarten class). Hope everyone is doing well at home with the Holidays and everything coming up! (Speaking of which, the family made me a thanksgiving meal here even though Australia doesn't celebrate it...we had turkey, cranberry sauce, cornbread, potatoes, veggies, and pumpkin pie of course!) I was so excited about that :) Now I'm getting hungry again....