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....

Sydney's Wildlife World

So yesterday was cold and rainy, so Shayli and I decided to head to the Taronga Zoo. Our day started out a bit rocky...we caught the ferry into the city and the boat literally felt like it was going to tip over and waves were crashing over the boat...then when we finally made it to the city we tried to catch the next ferry to the zoo, but the lady who I was trying to buy a ticket from said that we need at least 4 hours at the zoo and since it was already 1 o'clock & the zoo closed at 5, we we wouldn't have enough time (however, I talked with several people before I left and they said 2 hours is plenty at the zoo). Oh well! Luckily I knew that Sydney's wildlife world was another option to go to...so we walked there and they had a deal where you could buy two park passes for a cheaper price, so we bought a ticket to the wildlife world & to the aquarium! Wildlife world was SO much fun, and we had the best time taking pictures of the crazy animals and we even got to take pictures with Koalas!! They were the CUTEST Things...definitely my favorite animal now. They sleep with their head tucked in their arms because when it rains, the rain won't get in their face...they were so stinkin cute! Anyways, I also saw kangaroos and we even saw two kangaroos fight or box or whatever they do haha. After that we got a little lost on our way back to the ferry, but we eventually made it and got some dinner and gelato :)

      Oh man, but Sunday was the best day/night I've had. Shayli and I went to the live taping of the "Australian Idol Finale" show (like our "american idol") and it was taped at the Opera House! So we caught the ferry, had dinner at the opera house cafe, and watched the show from the outside and it was sooo amazing!! Michael Buble and Mika even performed! Anyways, there were several fireworks shows on the water and it felt like it was new years!! After the show, we caught the ferry back and decided to chill out at the Wharf Bar in Manly and talk...it was pretty funny because a guy dropped his glass and it shattered right under me and of course I screamed and yelled really loud. When one of the guys that worked there came to clean it up he tapped me asking, "Did you squeal?" I confidently responded, "Yep that was me!'' haha wow. Anyways, it was such a funny night and after we were sitting by ourselves for awhile, a group of guys came over to our table one by one and started talking to us...they were all pretty funny and were being ridiculous, so it was an entertaining night! Anyways, today was rainy again so I just ran some errands and went to the mall....tonight Shayli and I are gonna go to the movies...it's cheap night tuesday (movies are usually $17 but tonight it's "only" $10)...Then tomorrow I start nannying again! Haha I just went to the kitchen & Harvey (the 3 yr old)  told me "My love you Caitlyn!" (he says "my" whenever he refers to himself haha). Gotta love those little ones!

feeling hot hot hot!

So the weather here has finally been super hot...I just got back from a run and it's 100 degrees out..ouch. It was over 100 degrees the other day and today was super hot too! It's really humid too, so the heat hits you pretty fast...I still love it here though! Anyways, this past week has been so busy but really great! Saturday was a super busy day at the hardware store, so the time flew...then Saturday night was the work christmas party at an "RSL" in Dee why...they have RSL's in each town and they are pretty much big community centers...they have casinos, restaurants, bars, and people of all ages go out there at night. The work party was pretty fun...started out with bowling, then dinner, then a night out! While we were bowling the song "California girls" by the Beach Boys came on and I got super excited :) 

              On Monday I had a beach day and then went to a church connect group (kinda like a bible study) at night...here's the best part though..they had tim tams & I didn't eat any of them!! I know I know...I can't believe it either! Oh yeah, another exciting thing that I did this past week was book a little christmas trip for myself! The family is going on vacation for a week over christmas, so I have some time off and decided that I should take advantage of it. So I got on the internet and booked a flight to Byron Bay within 20 minutes! You could say I'm a bit spontaneous haha. Byron Bay is a sweet little beach town about 400 miles north from here. It's supposed to be pretty funky and looks like it's straight from the 70's...lots of hippies live there..so I guess I'd better whip out my tie-dye! Anyways, I'm pretty excited about that trip..I'll be there for a week over christmas...hopefully I meet some good people to spend Christmas day with! It will definitely be weird being away from home over the holidays, but don't worry, I'll be home for next years holidays! 

            Nannying has been going well, although it makes it more tiring when it's so hot out! I thought I would take Harvey down to Manly Beach and play at the park down there on Thursday...I was dying trying to push the pram (stroller) up the hills, but I kept thinking...okay, I'm going to have GREAT legs after this...I hope! We had fun though...played at the park, then I bought him an ice block (popsicle) as a special treat and we sat and watched the surfers for awhile (more for my enjoyment, but I made him excited about it too and we would cheer them on when they were trying to catch the waves). 

          Yesterday I had work all day long and it went by pretty fast because it was super busy! Oh and I saved a little girls life! No big deal :) Seriously though, I was at the cash register at work and a tiny little girl, probably 2 years old max goes running out the front into the parking lot by herself....the parking lot was super crazy too and there were cars driving all over the place so I immediately booked it out the door and scooped her up in my arms just as a car was backing up almost running her over....I held her close to me, but she didn't seem phased at all that she almost got hit. Her older sister (probably 3 or 4 years old) came running out too screaming at her sister "don't go outside!!" So I grabbed the older sister's hand and the three of us walked back into the store....the best part was the dad yelled at the "older" (3 or 4 year old) sister for not watching her little sister...oooh MEN. haha just kidding dad (I know you're reading this and I know you would've never done that!) 

       Anyways, today I'll probably head to the beach and go for a swim, then tonight another local nanny (Shayli) and I are going to try to go to the "Australian Idol Finale" at the Opera House, so that should be fun! Hope everyone is doing well at home...if anyone feels the need to send me their thanksgiving leftovers (PUMPKIN PIE) I would mind it ;-) Love you all!

Spit to Manly Walk

It's friday!! I'm so thankful for that-I've had an amazing week but I'm definitely ready for some r&r. Anyways, let me update you on what's been exciting in my life this week...so Monday was a laid back day--I did the usual walk down to Manly and walked around, laid on the beach, did some reading, and of course, some people watching. Right when I was getting ready to head back home, Lee called me...let me remind you that Lee was my surf instructor, who I thought I totally embarrassed myself in front of, but apparently I didn't! Anyways, he invited me to go out with him and his friends last weekend but since I babysat all weekend pretty much I couldn't go...so we ended up just meeting up during the day on monday and sat and talked and he bought me a beer! It was such a gorgeous day and it was nice to talk to a local...he was giving me tips on what to do here so now I have a better idea of where to go on my days off and such. Even though he is a very good looking aussie surf instructor, no one should be worried because I don't see anything special, so No-I will not be moving here for good and marrying an aussie (if any of you know me well enough, you should know that I have been dating an amazing guy at home before I left for australia :) Hah anyways, enough boy talk. Let's get down to business.

           On Tuesday, I got invited to do the "spit to manly" walk with Ashley (the au pair that lived with my family before me). It was seriously the most beautiful walk I've ever done! It's about 6 miles of gorgeousness all along the coast, so the sights are absolutely breathtaking! Seriously...if you go on this little hike or "bushwalk" as they call it here, you will see some sweet sights and get stunning shots on your camera...all along the walk Ashley and I would just stop and stare in awe and were so thankful that God has created such an amazing place for us here. We ran into two local girls that were about our age and they actually just got home from nannying in Europe--it's such a small world I swear! Anyways, once we made it to Manly we decided to relax on the beach for a bit and eat some lunch...we were starving! Then, we got some ben and jerrys ice cream (okay, only I got ice cream haha go figure)...it was funny though because I was so excited about all the flavors and couldn't decide what to get...so the worker let me try pretty much every flavor and was cracking up at my indecisiveness & excitement over ice cream...he obviously doesn't know me very well haha. 

              Last night I had volleyball and we had a new player on our team...an Italian guy. I don't have anything against Italians, but this guy was SO rude! It was pretty funny though...he was nice enough, but kept bossing everyone around on our team and he really didn't know what he was even talking about. He could hit the ball super hard and had an awesome serve, but he would run all over the court and literally step in front of you in order to hit the ball...then he would tell you where to stand and what to do..finally I had enough of that nonsense. He told me "hey girl, move up closer to the middle" I firmly responded "no this is where I'm supposed to be." haha I think I totally shocked him because I think I was the first girl who stood up for herself...I even shocked myself..I would normally never talk back like that to someone I didn't know..but enough was enough! He was being rude to the other teams too...he would shout out "we are going to beat you" randomly during the game...oh man & he had a really thick Italian accent so the whole situation was just plain funny. What a night! Speaking of nights, I haven't been sleeping! I keep waking up at 3 am and can't go back to bed...but I've kind of been fighting a cold, so I think it may be from that (...or from the tim tams I eat right before bed..whoops!) Anyways, I work tomorrow at the hardware store...then tomorrow night we have a work Christmas party--it will be my first night out! Woohoo!! 

....Oh and by the way, the picture that I posted is of my two boys, Oscar (7 years) and Harvey (3 years)...I'm trying to take pictures of all the kids and framing them for the parents to give to them for Christmas. They are such cuties!