Sunday, 31 July 2011

Gold Coast



Pops---there is a job for you here!!   You could do an accordian duet with this nice lady!!










We had our first visit to the Gold Coast on Sunday, the 31st of July.   The girls were thrilled to get out on the sand and run!!!   We had a blast!  

Kim's New Car

On Friday, the 29th of July, I picked up our new car.   We had been searching and researching several different cars and finally decided on the Volvo XC90.   We found a diesel 2008 in great shape!  Since there are NO huge Denali SUVs here, we have gone down in size but it is still a 7 seater.   I love it!!   Aunt Diane---we now have twin cars!!!







Yes....the steering wheel is on the right!!!

Monday, 18 July 2011

First Visitor

Can you believe that we have already had a visitor??   Crazy!  Well, it's not as crazy since Brandon, Troy's cousin, also works at ABB.  Brandon is a Group Account Manager for ABB and gets to visit Australia and gets to visit 2-3 times a year.   We were all very excited to see him!
We had a great dinner at Venice (now Carter's favorite restaurant) Friday evening.  Saturday, after a great breakfast on the river, we took Brandon to New Farm Park and had a blast!   The weather was a bit overcast but that was okay....not as crowded at the park.   By the way, the goal of the round spinny thing is to stay on the longest!!





 These little birds with the long beaks are quite friendly.....eating peanuts off of Brandon's shoe!








We took Brandon all around the city and showed the sights we know.   We went to South Bank for dinner with some more ABB folk.   Sunday came very quickly and we sent Brandon off to Singapore after another great breakfast on the river...The Groove Train!



Thanks so much for the visit!

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

First Day of School-St. Aidan's

Tuesday, July 12th, the girls started school at St Aidan's Anglican School for Girls.  This is a private school located in Corinda, QLD with about 840 girls.   When Troy & I visited the school in March, we knew that it would be a great fit for our girls!















Due to the traffic in the city (& my lack of driving experience), Troy takes the girls & I to the train station in the morning and yes....we take the train to school!   Much more reliable than me getting lost all over these one way, 5 directional intersectioned streets!!!
The girls have two uniforms:
1-Blues - Blue dress/brown socks/brown shoes/panama hat
2-Browns - Tartan skort/brown polo/white socks/brown shoes/sport cap (tennis shoes for Taylor--the other two switch at school
The school is very strict for the older girls wearing their panama hat to and from school and also always being in their brown shoes.   Taylor gets a little more slack and gets to wear her tennis shoes on PE days.
The pictures are from day 1 and day 2 so you got to see everyone in their "blues".

On the first day of school an assembly was held which included the presentation of the school badge pin to the new girls.   My girls were very excited to get their school pins.   The other pin that you may see on their left lapel is their "house pin".  The school is "divided" into 6 houses..each with their own name and color.  Being sisters, the girls were put into the same "house".  They are in Nightingale....green is their color.  Each house is named after a famous/influential woman.   The houses are used mainly during "intra-school" sporting events.   Pretty neat!