Last weeks in Perth

Our last weeks in Perth were pretty hectic. Jamie was working tons (what’s new?) and we hadn’t found a house on our trip to Brisbane. Add that to the fact that we were supposed to be out of our Perth house on the 24th of October and that made our move a bit stressful. There was other stuff going on behind the scenes that further complicated things, but since I’m writing a blog and not a book there’s really no need to go into the details. The result of everything combined ended with our stay in Perth being extended until the 12th of November and a very stressful few weeks for all involved.

Even with all the stress, we tried to make the most of it. I’m sad to say that there are a number of things we didn’t get to see/do before we left, but I guess that just gives us a reason to go back and visit one day. Well, that and the fact that Perth is Kylie’s hometown. I feel sad that she won’t grow up in the same place that she was born, much less get to visit it. By the time she starts school she will have lived in at least 2 places, most likely 3 or more though. At the moment, assuming that we don’t move back to Perth one day, my plan is to return with Kylie when she graduates from high school. Jamie’s response to this was “yeah right, likes she’s going to want to spend her summer before college in Australia with her mom. She’ll want to go to Cancun with her friends.” My response, “That’s fine, I’ll go to Cancun with her and then we’ll head to Oz from there.” I was half joking, but I do have every intention of bringing her back to visit one day. I think that she would think it was pretty cool as well. I guess we shall see what the future brings!

Instead of spitting out commentary of our last few weeks I’ll hit the highlights with a few photos below.

Kylie’s Nursery, completed.  Not sure if I ever posted any photos of her room once it was all done but here it is.  Probably the saddest moment of our last few weeks was having to return Kylie’s room back to the original color.  I hated doing it and I think it freaked her out as she didn’t sleep though the night for a few days afterwards.  I have to admit, it was a great '1^st' room If I do say so myself!

 

Kylie’s 1^st trip to the zoo.  I was a little disappointed in our trip to the Perth zoo.  I really thought that Kylie was going to be really into it, but she wasn’t quite old enough to get it.  She wasn’t very interested in the animals and had more fun running around from exhibit to exhibit.

 

Lots of time was spent playing in the backyard.  The weather was perfect when we returned from our trip to the US/Brisbane and we couldn’t get enough of the outdoor activities.   Great memories were made in this backyard, I hated to leave it  : (

 The girl can't get enough of her books!

Or her Daddy!

We continued to send Kylie to daycare up to the very end since we knew that it may take awhile to get her into another one in Brisbane.  Having to say goodbye to the people there was the 2^nd saddest part of leaving.  I loved that center and Kylie did as well.  They were extremely nice and took lots of photos of Kylie enjoying her last few weeks there.

Kylie and her 'bestie' Matilda-Rose

She was so sad that it was her last day with Tash and Sara she wouldn't even smile for the photo!

Since we left a few weeks later than we expected I had 2 weeks of Kylie in daycare with no work.  I used this time to get the house ready for our move and hanging with my girls!   After one of our ‘booze lunches’ we decided to make an afternoon of it since we didn’t have to get the girls from daycare until 5-ish.  We extended our lunch by heading down to Subiaco Hotel and had a few more drinks there.  It must have been the place to be because we ended up meeting the ‘1^st bloke’ (the Prime Minister of Australia’s partner Tim Mathieson).  He was there celebrating his birthday with some mates and after a few drinks I decided it would be a good idea to go up and talk to him.  He was very polite and after a nice conversation with him he even took a few photos with us.  How many people do you know can say they hang out with cool crowds like this??



The same weekend I hung with the 1^st bloke Kylie and I attended the Queen’s BBQ.  She was in town for the commonwealth heads of government meetings (which was why the PM and her partner were there) and on her last day in town they held a big BBQ for her and Prince Phillip on the foreshore.  I took Kylie down there not because I thought she would remember it, but because how many American’s can actually say they’ve seen the Queen in person?  Not to mention she’s like 90, so I don’t think she’ll be travelling much longer.  Her visit to Perth was probably the first and last time we’d get to see her.  I was pretty aggravated that I moved from our original spot, as she ended up greeting people right where we were standing (we were right on the barricade with only 1 person in front of us).  I moved because 1.  At the time I didn’t think she was going to walk that way and 2.  I was afraid that if Kylie had a breakdown I wouldn’t be able to get out once the people started filling in behind us.  In the end we still had a great view and hey, I attended a BBQ with the Queen of England.  How many people can say they’ve done the same?

Eating lunch while waiting for the Queen to arrive

 

It's exhausting seeing the Queen!

 The last family event we attended in Perth was the Little Feet Fest.  Kylie had a great time running around in the mazes and at the petting zoo.  She was still a little young for some of the stuff, but I think overall she had a great time.

Fun in the maze

Feeling a bit overwhelmed!

Starting to warm up

It's all good now!



Of course we couldn’t leave without having a proper Melbourne Cup luncheon. It was a great time with the girls and the kiddos and I ended up getting 2^nd place in my draw, which is always a plus.

  



Some of the girls I work with arranged a ‘going away’ outing one night to relax, have some drinks and say goodbye.  It was nice to have a night to hang out with a few friends before I left for Brisbane where I would know no one.  After the week I’d had getting the house ready to hand over (our property manager was a pain in the ass!) I needed (and deserved) a few drinks so the timing worked out well!  Here’s a photo of me and the Hollywood Private Hospital theater (OR/recovery) girls!!

Since Kylie had so much fun at the LFF I got together with my Perth bestie (and Kylie’s bestie) and we went to the grand opening of the Waterford Plaza center.  I had a great time hanging out with Shell and the girls had a good time at the petting zoo and with the balloon lady. We ended the day at Gloria Jeans having yummy chocolate drinks and baby chinos.  What a great way to end the day!

Patiently waiting for the ballon lady to finish

The best part of the day!

Wow!!  Even though I feel like I’ve been writing forever I can’t believe that our last days in Perth went by so fast!  Of course, we had to have some family photos taken before we left Kylie’s home town.  Here’s a few from our last day in Perth at our favorite spot and our last visit to our first family home!  Thank goodness it’s time to end this post as I can no longer see to type anymore!!

 

 

 

The best one we could get!  She was actually trying to get away in this photo, lol!

 



Coming Soon!!

Updates coming soon, I promise!!

Home Trip 2011 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2, Part 1 - Pen-sac-o-la!!

So once Jamie and I got back to Pensacola after our Clemson trip we had 2 weeks to hang out and relax.  Well, that's how it was suppose to go anyway!  I think I've mentioned it before, but just in case I haven't this semester Jamie went back to school for his MBA.  He's only taking 2 classes this term but he has discussion boards, questions and quizzes most weeks as well as some other stuff including 2 research papers.  During the time that we were home Jamie had to write a 20 page paper and unfortunately it took longer than expected.  Most of his time was spent out in his parents RV trying to finish the paper which meant there wasn't a lot of time to hang out at the beach like we had planned. We did get to spend some time with family though and of course take advantage of being able to watch live football games.  That's right people, I said 'games'.  As in, more than 1 at a time!  Jamie was in heaven, I'm actually surprised that he was willing to come back to Oz!  Weekends were pretty much spent doing just that and of course the Clemson game not missed!

My little cheerleader

  

Watching the game, I'm sure this was taken during a commercial break!

Aside from lots of football we spent time hanging out with my dad.  Kylie enjoyed watching the horses and hanging out with Paw Paw and her Great Grandma and Grandpa Hunter.

Telling Daddy all about the horses!

My Dad and Kylie having a very important conversation I'm sure!

4 generations of 'Hunter's'. 

This was the best photo we managed to take!

If you listen closely you can here Kylie telling you what the horse says at the very beginning of this video

We also had a family BBQ at my mom's house where Kylie was able to play with her cousins and was introduced to the newest members of the family!

Kylie and Papa John, the cook!

 Hanging out with Aunt Crystal

As well has her cousins Bella and Morgan

The newest baby of the family, Brooklyn.  Along with her Daddy (my brother Richard) and her Mommy (Heather, Richards fiance).

In addition to visiting with my family we had some very special visitors from Jamie’s side while we were home.  Aunt Jenny, Uncle Sheldon and Grandma Hughes came to visit and meet Kylie toward the end of our visit.  It was wonderful to get to see them and now Kylie has officially met all 4 of her great grandmothers.  It was a great way to end our trip!

Dinner on the bay. Cheese!

4 generations of 'Hughes' + Pops and myself

So part 2 of our home leave trip was complete and from Pensacola we travelled on to Brisbane, our soon to be home. The plan was to start seeing some houses and narrowing down the areas of town we would be interested in living in. Our apartment was right in the city with some gorgeous views of the Storey Bridge and the Botanic Gardens. During the times that Jamie had meetings or functions Kylie and I took walks around the city and chased the birds and lizards in the gardens. Well, Kylie did the chasing and I took photos!

Our view, gotta love this weather!

Kylie chasing the birds...

and trying to pet the ducks

Yes, she attempted to chase this as well!

In the end we didn’t find a house but we were successful in determining the areas we would focus on.  A short week later it was back to Perth where the real fun was waiting. The McMillan Home Trip of 2011 was complete. Even though it wasn’t as relaxing as we had planned it was a good trip and just what we needed before the chaos of the move took over!

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!