A new Season

For most of you who read this blog, you just celebrated your first official day of Summer. Part of me is completely jealous, by the time our winter is over we have been living in almost an entire year of winter. Not that the winters here are horrible or shut you in, so I am not complaining too much. But the fact of the matter is we have not had summer activities for almost a year! It is too cold here to go swimming and have bbqs and lay outside all day. We are blessed that it is warm enough here that we can still go outside and play, but its cold enough Erik's gets a runny nose. And you need some type of jacket. Well ok, so Lindsay can still wear shorts with a long sleeve shirt. I need pants and a jacket. So I am missing having yummy cherries, and berries, and missing the lake (although I have missed that since we left Spokane), and camping. I am just hoping that when we leave Oz that we get the reverse.....a year of summer......ahh that would be nice. Although to be quite honest I am a little nervous about the summer here, the hot, sticky, and super humid weather. I have never lived in humidity so it will be new and I am pretty sure my hair is going to hate it, I already tend to have a bit of frizz in my hair but its going to be a lions mane. It is humid right now, but not much. We noticed when we first arrived, but are used to it now luckily.

This last weekend we visited a local koala sanctuary. It was amazing, we bought annual passes (two visits was the same price) and spent a few hours seeing koalas, emus, wombats, bats (they are huge!), snakes, birds of prey, sheep herding, and of course kangaroos and wallabys. We got to feed the kangaroos and it was an amazing thing. Erik loved that they would eat out of our hands and how it tickled. The roos are very gentle and would let us pet them while we fed. Once the whole herd of them got up and ran away and that was cool to watch. It was like a stampede of them bouncing into an area where visitors werent allowed. Wallaby's look like a kangaroo but are smaller and have slightly different color to them. We didn't even visit the whole park. We figured with it being so close and having passes that we would come again to see the rest. Also our passes get guests in for a discount so if anyone does make it down here or any of my Oz friends want to go, we will get you in for cheaper!

Also recently I took my hand at cutting Erik's hair. I did a little more the next day after this picture was taken to even some things out but I think I did ok. It definitely wasn't anything like a pro, but he's two and will never know. Plus if others notice we could just pretend he got a hold of the scissors ;) He loves the clippers and think they tickle so the back neckline was where it looked the most choppy. Every time I got the clippers on his neck he would squirm and giggle thus making it hard. But I am excited to try more and get it right so that when he is old enough to have it matter more, it will look great. He loves to put mousse into his hair too so we like to style it.

The picture below from a really silly morning. We were all playing in Erik's room and Erik was taking pictures so I made a silly face. When Linds played the pictures back for him Erik laughed hysterically at my silly face one. So they would rotate through to regular ones and then hit the funny one and Erik would belly laugh. So then he started trying to make the face and so we took pictures of all of us doing it. What a goof. Soon after that I put a mud mask on my face before jumping into the shower, linds had left for a workout and Erik called me the lion king. What a goof ball. Good thing he has a sense of humor!

Erik has also gotten into a phase where when he is not sure if he is allowed or knows he shouldn't be doing something he goes into his room and shuts the door. Usually its not really anything, he has something he thinks is forbidden like a cord that is unplugged that he drags around like a snake or something but every once in a while he is doing something naughty.

This weekend Lindsay and I are going to run in a 5k race. I haven't run in months but luckily since we are so active here I surprisingly was able to run still so I have been training in the last few days and I am sore but it feels good. I am such a happier person when I am exercising regularly. It's hard to get out the door and it is hard sometimes during the workout but it feels soooo amazing afterward. Mostly I just feel empowered that my body can do such a thing and proud that I am healthy enough to do it as well. Running is not a strong suit of mine. I will never be fast or be able to run as far as lots of other people but it works and it takes me where I need to go. My heart is getting a good workout and same with my bones and muscles, it helps with digestion, and lifts my mood. So even it may be one of my least favorite exercises I am learning to love it.

A few days after we arrived in Oz my Dad had a huge heart attack..emergency heart surgery and all. A couple of weeks later he had another surgery, and there will be yet another one after he is healed and ready for the third. My mom's side has heart disease mixed in as well as Diabetes and so I want to prevent/prolong those things as long as I can. One specialist has already told me it's not a matter of if but when I get diabetes because of my family medical history and pcos. So I want to not only keep myself as healthy as I can for as long as I can. I also want to set a good example for Erik of a healthy lifestyle so that as he grows and creates habits that he is healthy. I understand that he has free agency to make his own choices but if I can give him a one up then I will. So are running in a race this weekend on the beach and hopefully it will be the first of many here. Lindsay starting really getting into a healthier lifestyle at the new year. He looks great and feels so much better than he did prior to that. He wants to eventually do a triathlon but is training smart. Just building small steps at a time. He is racing this weekend to see how fast he can go. I jumped into the bandwagon too late this time, so I will be pushing Erik and just hoping to get a similar time to my first 5k last november.

It's nice here because healthy lifestyle and food are abundant. It's common to exercise regulary there are tons of parks and playgrounds and sports available to all ages to get your heart rate up. Food is mostly healthy here, or at least much more available and affordable than in the states. Most of the beef is hormone and antibiotic free. Free range eggs and chicken are available just as easily as the others. And there are many more options of everything else. And the healthy options are usually the same price as the non healthy options, so while its expensive in general to buy food here, its not more to eat healthy. For that I am grateful. Beef is super expensive though and so lamb and chicken and pork are more common meats eaten. Linds and I have eaten even less meat here than in California and love it. THere is much more yummy seafood and sushi is cheap! You can find it as kiosks all over shopping areas for about 2.50 a roll. You order quickly and then eat the roll whole, they dont slice it for you here you just take bites slowly eating your way down the roll. So for 10 bucks Linds and I can get 2 rolls each and call it lunch. Erik usually tries it but hasnt aquired the taste for it yet. Plus their sushi choices are different which makes it fun. They offer the same typical ones but also will do different veggie ones, or mix eel with a veggie in it or something, it is really yummy. mmm, makes me want some right now.

HOpe you all enjoy your summer and please do lots of fun things for me since I am still in winter mode.