Home Trip 2011 - Chapter 1

Our home trip has come and gone and of course I've been too busy to tell you about it!  The weeks leading up to the trip as well as the weeks after our return have been busy ones.  Hopefully things will calm down a bit once we complete the move to Brisbane but until then our crazy life continues.  Now onto the details of our trip.


The trip home was a great one.  It wasn't as relaxing as we would have liked (or expected) it to be, but we were able to visit with lots of family and some really great friends.  We were excited to try out the new Sydney - Dallas flight, as it meant that our trip was cut by 1 layover and about 5-6 hours.  The great thing about it was that on the way back it stops in Brisbane and then continues on to Sydney, so for us that was it.  We went Pensacola to Dallas (1hour) had a 3 hour lay over and then Dallas to Brisbane (15 hours) and we were done!  We'll get to that part later though.  So, our flights from Australia to the US were our biggest concern.  Not so much the Perth to Sydney or the Dallas to Pensacola since they were relatively short (5 hours and 1 hour) but the most concerning flight was Sydney to Dallas.  It was scheduled to be 16 hours and I had no clue how I was going to entertain an 18 month old for that long!  The flight also left at 11:05 Perth time, so for Kylie it was middle of the day.  We didn't land until 11ish Dallas time so I needed to get her to sleep at the right time to help with the jet lag.  Of course the flight was a disaster! Not only did I not get an infant seat beltt, I didn't get a kids meal or a kids activity pack.  Thank goodness I planned ahead and brought tons of food, coloring books and toys.  Hell, not 1 crew member even acknowledged that we had a kid, not 1!!  It was the WORST service we've ever received on a flight, no joking.  The other problem we had was being given the bassinet row.


Now, had Kylie been a year younger or lets say, half her height the bassinet wouldn't have been an issue.  Seeing as though she isn't either of those things though it did us no good.  We paid for a seat for Kylie even though by age she could have been a lap baby for free.  We felt it was worth it not only for the extra space but for comfort as well so that Kylie could lay across the seats to sleep.  And it would have been, if the damn arm rest would have lifted up like they do on regular rows.  Because we were in the bassinet row they didn't.  This resulted in Kylie only sleeping in my arms because she couldn't stretch out in the seat and she's not really old enough to explain to her how she should lay to get comfortable.  After a few attempts of getting her to sleep and putting her down failed I gave up.  I did eventually get her to sleep for 6 hours, but I had to hold her the entire time which meant no sleep for me.  Every time she would try to move I would have to maneuver her as well as the pillows and stuff around her head and legs so she wouldn't wake up. AGHHH!  Of course she wouldn't have anything to do with Jamie during this time so I was on my own.  When we made it to Dallas I was so relieved to be off that f*&%ing plane I could have kissed the immigration and customs people, seriously!  The flight from Dallas to Pensacola was very uneventful and we were extremely happy to be treated to Mexican food on the way to Jamie's parents house, yum! 


The first few days were basically spent getting settled, finalizing our will and trust account for Kylie and getting ready for our big trip to Clemson.  We were sooo looking forward to this trip not only because we were going to meet up with some great friends that we haven't seen in a few years, but it was also going to be our first 'adults trip' without Kylie and it was much needed!  I hated to leave her, but I had lots of surprises planned along with some really fun stuff for the guys and was really excited for it all to begin. 

Last year all of the guys turned 30.  Since we weren't able to get together then I wanted to make this trip not only a reunion, but a birthday celebration as well.  For the guys I had golf balls inscribed with a message and tiger paw, hand painted beer and shot glasses and engraved paperweights.  For the girls I had monogrammed tote bags, hand carved coasters and hand painted wine glasses.  To top it all off I also got a bottle of Dom Perignon, a bottle of Cristal and arranged for us to have access to the stadium for photos with Howard's Rock. Oh, I almost forgot my cupcake arrangement with the tiger paw on it!  Jamie didn't even know about all the stuff I had and I was dying keeping it all in!


All of the goodies were a success and we had a great weekend golfing, shopping, checking out the campus and tailgating the day of the game.  Being back there made me realize how much I miss that little town and I know it always makes Jamie a little home sick.  We hated that the trip had to come to an end, but we've got loads of great memories and hopefully some new 'reunion trip traditions' to look forward to for next time!  I now leave you to enjoy some photos of the Clemson Reunion Trip and Birthday Bash of 2011!

Welcome Home! 
Our yearly Betty Webber cake!  I'm sure I've talked about it before, but this lady really does make the BEST cakes in the world!!

Our beautiful lake house and view

Trying to re-live their youth with some OE!  Thankfully some things have changed!

Golfing at the Walker Course.  The 3 amigos

Goodie bags and cupcakes for everyone, yay!

(One of my favorite items! Wine glasses for the girls, check out the bottom of the glasses!!)

A new tradition, Dom Perignon to start the trip off right.

Howard's Rock and campus

Tailgating on game day!!

Another new tradition, Cristal at the tailgate!

What a game, Go Tigers!

Final countdown...for this trip at least!

So, we are less than 10 days away from our departure from Perth to the US.  Woo Hoo!!  Aside from being terrified about having a 16 month old trapped on a plane for 15 hours I'm really excited for this home trip. 5 days after we arrive in Pensacola Jamie and I will be leaving for our first adult trip.  We'll be in Clemson, SC with good friends and NO KIDDOS!!!  Scary and exciting all at the same time!  I've got lots of fun stuff planned and can't wait to be able to tell everyone about it.  The secrets are killing me!  Even still, out trip home couldn't be coming at a worse time.

You see, in addition to our upcoming move from Perth to Brisbane, Jamie has also started his MBA.  Now he works 6 days a week, 10-14 hours a day and then adds in additional time for studying, quizzes and homework.  I am basically a single mom for 6 1/2 days out of a 7 day week.  Fun.  Add that to the fact that I've had a sick kiddo lately (while being sick myself) and that I'm trying to organize a cross-county move to a place I've never been and you get one run down Erica most of the time.

Everyone keeps telling us that we're going to love Brisbane.  They say "it's like Perth, but better".  My response to them is usually "yeah, we shall see".  It's not I'm not excited about the move, I've just come to the conclusion that this move will not be like any of the other 10 we've encountered thus far.  I've got Kylie this time.  I'm just not looking forward to all the moving stuff while dealing with an 18 month old.  Finding a place to live has become that much harder as well. 

Before, all Jamie and I thought about was - Is it nice and does it have a yard for the dogs.  Now I have to think - Where are the bedrooms located if it's a 2 storey (which most of them are in Brisbane)?  Where would Kylie's room be?  Is it near the garage?  Is it near the front door?  Not making either of those mistakes again!!  Where would her play room be?  It can't be on a different floor than the kitchen and living area.  Where would Jamie's weight room be?  That can't be on the same floor as the bedrooms if it can't be closed off.  What if Kylie wakes in the night and stumbles into it and hurts herself?  It's really not that far off that she'll be out of her cot.  Does she have a yard to play in? (I guess that's not a new one but still)  Are there good walking spots around and nice parks?  How close are the nearest recreation centers and swim centers?  Are the good schools in our area?  With this new move we can pretty much bet that we'll be in Brisbane when she's old enough for Kindy 3, so that's a valid concern now.  I could go on and on!! Oh, another good one.  What about daycare??  I LOVE the daycare she's at now even though I pay dearly for it.  I never worry about anything and LOVE the girls in the room.  What if I can't find that over there?  I'm pretty much screwed now that we've found the place she's at currently, I'll compare everything to it!

I also worry about Kylie having a childhood home.  I know that she's young and won't remember this stuff now, but I want her to be able to look back at her childhood and say "that's where I grew up" or "that was my home".  I can't say that.  We moved tons while I was growing up.  I can't think on one place that we lived that I would consider being the house I grew up in.  Jamie had that, hell his parents still live in the same house they moved into when he was 7.  I want Kylie to have that, a place to call home.  Not just a home town, which even still wouldn't be the place she grew up because her home town will be in another county!  Okay, I'll stop ranting about the move and move onto more about what we've been up to.

Jamie has been working lots the last few months but we've still managed to get out a do a few things.  I've been able to have a few girls night out's, which has been a life saver!  It's nice to relax and talk about things other than baby every once in a while!  A few Friday's ago we went on a Swan River dinner cruise and even though it was a work function for Jamie it was a good time.  It's something I've wanted to do since we got to Perth so it was nice to be able to check it off the list before we leave.  Jamie also went on his aerial flight of Perth and the coast, which was a gift for Father's day back in June.  Here are a few photos of each.

This was our ride for the night.  Jamie referred to it as 'The Cube'.

Perth skyline

 View of Kings Park from the Swan River

Perth CBD

Fremantle, WA

Rottnest Island, WA (in the distance)

Even though it's winter we've had some really nice weather lately.  I've made it a point to get Kylie out, even if it's just down the road to the river near our place.  Of course, I had to capture every moment on camera!  Here's the cutest video of Kylie chasing a "puppy" at the river! 

Here are some from a few of our outings!

Our favorite spot!



Hanging at the river under the rainbows

Playing in the bush

Kings Park (not really sure what she was doing in the second one!)

She was in love with those birds!

Kylie and her hometown! 

I hope to return with her years from now when she is all grown up and retake this photo! 

Will be interesting to see how much it changes.

That's it for now.  Wish us luck on the trip home, can't wait to tell y'all all about it!!

11 and counting...

Some of you asked why this photo appeared on our facebook status.

You might also be asking yourself why the theme song from The Jefferson's is playing as you read this.  Well, if you haven't guessed by the photo and the title of this post '11 and counting...' the McMillan's are moving... again!  Unfortunately I can't say it's anywhere in the US.  But it is one 5 hour flight closer!!  The McMillan's are moving to Brisbane, hence "moving to the east side".  The decision was made a few weeks ago, but we waited until the families were informed before putting it out there for everyone else.  The beautiful skyline photos you see at the start of this post and below will be our newest home!

This will be our 11th move in 8 1/2 years.  As of April 5th of this year, living in Perth is the 2nd longest we have been anywhere.  But alas, the fun in this location must come to an end.  We still haven't ironed out an official date of departure, but it will most likely be at the end of October when we return from our trip to the US.  Will post more details later.

Beautiful Bali part 2 - Erica's 30th Birthday and more

So, in part 1 I told you all about our flight over to Bali, the villa, our tour of Ubud and the famous Kuta Beach.  One part I forgot to mention was our visit to the Santi Agrowisata during our tour of Ubud so that's where part 2 will begin.

After our visit to the temple Wayan took us to visit a plantation called Santi Agrowisata.  Here they grow several different types of fruits, coffee beans, teas and spices.  There are a few things about this place that make it unique.  The first, they process all of their own chocolate, tea, coffee and spices.  Everything is organic and available for purchase from the gift shop.  The second thing that is unique is that they still hand roast all of the coffee beans.  There is even a guy that sits out in the tasting area that you can watch as he does it.  The third unique thing, they make and sell Luwak coffee.  If you're not familiar with it, Luwak coffee is one of the rarest, most expensive coffee's in the world.  It takes several steps to make it, some of which are a little, shall we say... "unconventional".  Click here and here to see some videos that explain it.  The second one is in Indonesian, but it was filmed at the place we were at.  Jamie and I are not coffee drinkers so we did not find it or the Bali coffee very nice but we did find a vanilla coffee and a lemongrass tea that were wonderful.

View while sampling the coffee and tea at Santi Agrowisata

 Still roasting the coffee beans by hand

Okay, so on to the day after our visit to Kuta Beach, my 30th birthday! Jamie and I had already arranged to have a babysitter for the evening so I wanted to make sure we spent the day with Kylie.  We started out with a wonderful breakfast arranged in the villa.  Not really different from any of the other mornings up to this point but I was surprised by the staff of the resort with a cute little birthday cake next to my banana pancakes along with a "happy birthday madam" from all of the staff that I encountered, even the cleaning staff.  It was a nice touch and very thoughtful of them to think of me.  After breakfast I opened (well, with Kylie's help of course) my gift from Jamie and Kylie, which was a beautiful new watch.  I absolutely didn't expect a gift like that at all so I spent most of the next few hours staring at it and asking Jamie if he wanted to know what time it was. 

Enjoying breakfast with my girl!

What could it be?!?!

Flowers and a gift?  It must be a special day! (Note Kylie in front of me ready to go!)

After getting ready we grabbed a taxi and headed out to Sanur Beach, which is known for being a family friendly beach due to the calm waters and 8 km walking path.  It is also one of the few walking paths in Bali that is 'pram friendly'.  We walked along the beach, had lunch at one of the resorts and then rented some lounge chairs and went for a swim.    It wasn't Kylie's first time to a beach, but it was her first time in the water at a beach and she loved it!  She even tried to do "safe pool entry" into the water, which was DAR-LING!  When a wave would come she would quickly crawl up the beach away from it and then try to scoot herself back into the water.  She also enjoyed playing in the sand and her way of telling us was by covering herself in it from head to toe.  After our afternoon out we headed back to the villa to relax before our big evening out.

Sanur Beach - They had these little 'rest spots' all over the place, pretty neat

 "They better hurry, this muffin isn't gonna cut it!"

My 2 favorite people!

 Lovin' the water!

Cuddles from my sweet girl, happy birthday to me!

That evening Jamie and I had reservations at Ku De Ta, which is the hot, trendy place to be in Bali.  We arrived for drinks and watched the sunset and then went to our table in the dining area for dinner.  I can say that I've seen better sunsets (Krabi, Thailand for example) but the place itself was pretty neat.  The drinks and atmosphere of the place were good and the food was wonderful.  Jamie and I didn't find the price to be expensive but for Bali it's considered extremely pricey, which is one of the reasons it's so trendy.  They are big on security as well.  Just to get inside the door you are searched twice!  The walk from the 1st search area to the 2nd search area maybe takes a minute at best, and that would be a very slow casual walk!  It's such a hot spot that after the bombings in 2001 and 2005 they decided that they might need to increase security as they felt that if anyone ever decided to bomb outside of the Kuta area they would be a possible target.  Crazy right?  We had a wonderful night, drank a little too much Sangria and headed back to the villa.  The original plan was to go out to a club of sorts after dinner but that never happened since we are too pathetic to hang out past 10pm anymore!  How sad right?!  Since we had already went through quite a bit of drinks at the restaurant it was probably best that we didn't continue our night elsewhere, seeing as though we needed to get up with Kylie in the morning!  I'm telling you, the whole "travelling with kids" thing really puts a damper on things!

The crowds starting to gather...

to watch this sunset

The hubby!

Enjoying the evening

The view from our dinner table, a little blurry after too much sangria!  This is probably the same way we were seeing it!

 Happy Birthday to me!  And a wonderful birthday it was!

The next day was our check out day, so we had breakfast and relaxed around the pool.  I hated that we had to leave so soon, but I must admit when you are travelling with a little one you are almost relieved to get back to your own surroundings.  At least I was!  For our first 'real' family vacation I was extremely happy with how Kylie did.  With the exception of the flight over, she handled being in a different environment really good.  I was concerned that sleeping would be an issue but she continued to sleep through the night with no problems.  Thank god!

Playing in the water one last time!

A few photos of our villa

  

 Flowers from the trees that shaded the pool

All in all it was a great vacation.  Had we known at the time of booking that we were considering not going back to the US at Christmas we would have definitely stayed longer though!  Next trip - home to the states with a side trip to Clemson, let the countdown begin!!

I'll leave you with one last taste of Bali.  Photo courtesy of the Bali international airport!  Only in Asia!