The trip of a lifetime!

So last time I was on here Jamie was travelling like mad, we had family photos scheduled to be taken, I had another IPL appointment scheduled and Jamie’s parents were set to arrive May 7^th.  All of Jamie’s travelling went off without any issues, my IPL appointments still hurt like hell, and our photo shoot went really well, actually a little too well according to our credit card statement for that month : )  We’re still waiting for our prints/disk to come in but hopefully that will be soon.  I’ll be sure to post a few as soon as they do!

Jamie’s parents arrived on time, without any issues as well.  It was so cute to see Kylie’s reaction to them, seeing as though she hasn’t seen them in person since September.  I know that 6 months isn’t really too long in the grand scheme of things for adults, but to Kylie that’s like a ¼ of her life!  Thanks to the wonderful invention of Skype she completely recognized them and even went right up to them and gave each a hug and kiss.  Totally cute!

Hanging with Pops and MiMi, fresh off the plane!

We spent the first few days with the parents hanging out around Brisbane.  I’ll start off by saying that I am a total organizer.  Spreadsheets, calendars, lists, you name it, I do it!  If you haven’t guessed by now I also absolutely love to plan vacations as well.  One of the things I enjoy most about moving is finding out what’s around the area to see/do/travel too.  With that being said, I already had a list of things to see/do around Brisbane but we’ve been holding back on doing a few of them until they arrived.  The 2 big things in Brisbane were the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Mount Coot-tha.  Both were nice, but Lone Pine was amazing!  There are only 8 places in the world that allow you to ‘cuddle’ a koala and this is one of them.  You can also feed the kangaroos, pet emus and have your photo taken with crocodiles (if you really want to!).  Kylie absolutely loved feeding the kangaroos.  I had no clue she would be that into it, but really the kid couldn’t get enough of it.  I actually felt bad making her leave; because I knew she was having such a good time!

Lone Pine - Kylie with her 'roos

Koalas too!

View from Mount Coot-tha lookout

After a few days here we headed up north to Port Douglas for 7 days.  It’s a small, tourist town a 2 ½ hour flight from us with tons of stuff to do.  We could have easily spent another week up there and had plenty of stuff to do.  We rented a house and car for the week and pretty much just relaxed.  We took walks on 4 Mile Beach, visited the oldest rainforest in the world, went on a tour of Paronella Park and checked out a few other sites as we went along.  The main reason for us going up there though was to take a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. 

Breakfast with the Birds - Wildlife Habitat

Mossman Gorge

Babinda Boulders

Paronella Park

4 Mile Beach



For me, I think it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!  At the last minute Jamie and I decided that we would just snorkel and not do a dive, but if we ever go again a dive will be a ‘must do’.  The reef was beautiful and just the experience itself was amazing.  I know that we live in Australia, so some might not understand why I’ve called it the “trip of a lifetime”.   You would think that living here it’s a no brainer to go and see it.  I am actually amazed to hear how many people are from Australia though and have never done it.  When Jamie and I were dating one of the conversations we had was what places we’d like to visit one day and the reef was at the top of both of our lists.  For us it was a given that we would do it before we moved out of Oz.  Thinking about it though, I guess it’s really no different than the US.  I’ve met loads of people who have never left the state they were born in, haven’t you?  Hell, I’m from the US and I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls so who am I to judge anyone? Both are on my list though!

Anyway, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it!  The photos below don’t even do it justice!  I wish I could put all of the photos on here but there just isn’t enough room!  Even what I put up on facebook is just a small sample of the photos we took and an even smaller sample of what we actually got to see!  My only disappointment is that Kylie wasn’t old enough to go with us.  Hopefully we’ll get a chance to take her back up there before we move back home!

Photos from the reef

When we got back to Brisbane Jamie’s parents only had another week before heading back to the states.  We spent that time going down to Manly boat harbour, Southbank and just hanging around in general.  It was so nice to have that time to just relax, especially since we’re not used to having Jamie home for that long all at one time!  Since the folks have headed back to the states it’s pretty much been right back into the daily grind but we’ve still managed to squeeze out some ‘adult’ time too.

Last day of parents visit - Manly boat harbour

The first weekend that our holiday was officially over, we had an ‘adults’ day/night out.  We went to the Doomben 10,000 (horse races) to celebrate our neighbors birthday and then from there went to a bar in the valley for dinner and drinks. It was the first time either of us had ever been to the races and we had a pretty good time.  We won a few and lost 1 big one but overall had a pretty good time.  Unfortunately, Jamie had to fly to Tokyo that same night on the midnight flight so it wasn’t the big night out that we hoped it would be : (  Since his return from Japan, we’ve celebrated  my birthday, Jamie’s had 2 trips to Melbourne and next week he’ll be off to Sydney. I’m sure July won’t be much better in the travel department either.  To keep myself busy during the nights that he’s gone I’ve started planning the rest of our vacations for the year. 

Earlier this year we decided that Thailand would be our big holiday for the year.  Since then we’ve decided to go to Fiji instead.  The reason for this was solely based on the travel time, about 12 hours to Thailand versus 3 ½ to Fiji.  Either way I’m excited.  I’ve always wanted to visit Fiji and if we didn’t go this year we would have gone next year so it works out either way. 

We’re also planning a big home trip this year.  We plan on heading out around mid-December, stopping off in Houston for a week or so and then heading over to Florida for a few weeks.  It’s a good bit longer than we usually go home for, but Jamie decided that we need a trip away (just the adults) and the only way that’s going to happen now that we have Kylie is to do it  when we’re in the US.  At this point we’re not exactly sure what we’re doing, but it’s looking like it’ll either be a cruise or North Carolina (to hang out in the mountains).  We’ve briefly talked about Vegas as well, but neither of us wants to deal with the 6-7 hour flight to get over there.  It’s pretty safe to say that this is a trip we are both really looking forward to!  If anyone else is interested in leaving the kiddos behind for an adult’s only long weekend away, consider this your invite and feel free to come join us!

Well, that’s about it from here.  Hopefully I’ll have some updated family photos to post soon but until then here’s a few recent ones to get you by, lol!

Our best race of the day, 2nd and 3rd place winners : )

My little Tiger

Kylie heading out to tell Mr. Charles happy birthday



2 down, a lifetime to go

The past few weeks since my last post have been pandemonium!! Jamie has travelled every week for the last 3 weeks, and during this time we’ve also had our 9th wedding anniversary, Easter and Kylie’s 2nd birthday.


Week 1 Jamie was in Perth. Our anniversary fell on a Thursday this year which just so happens to be one of Kylie’s daycare days. Thankfully, Jamie was able to work his trip around this and get home on the midnight flight on Wednesday so that we could spend Thursday together, kid free! While Kylie was at childcare we exchanged gifts, went shopping and spent the afternoon down at Southbank having lunch and drinks. It was a really relaxing day. That evening we put Kylie to bed and had our neighbor, Tayla, come stay with her while we out to dinner and to watch American Pie Reunion. Dinner was good, the movie was hilarious and we got to spend some much need quality time together. It was a great way to spend the day!

Photos of Southbank.  The view from our table while having drinks.

 The happy couple!  9 years married and still going strong : )

That Sunday was Easter and while Kylie still didn’t ‘get it’ she did notice the basket on the table right away and went directly for the candy. The kid doesn’t really eat anything sweet (because we don’t really give it to her and when we do she doesn’t really care for it) but she would have eaten the entire basket it I would have let her! To keep with tradition Jamie got a basket as well. I was pretty excited about both baskets this year because I was able to find this little candy stall that had loads of American Easter candy. The only thing I wasn’t able to find that I had hoped to were peeps. I don’t really care for them myself, but I think Kylie would have really liked them. Oh well, maybe next year. I’ll give you a moment to admire my awesome baskets!!

Kylie's Basket

Jamie's basket

Some photos of Kylie!

Week 2 Jamie was back in Perth. Easter weekend is a long weekend here in Australia so he stayed in town for Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. Well, he actually left on Monday so I guess that doesn’t count. Anyway, back to Perth he went and I got to spend the week getting ready for Kylie’s birthday party all on my own, yay! Friday (her actual birthday) started with chocolate chip pancakes with her age in them and then we went to the shopping center to hang out at Build-a-Bear and have lunch. I wanted to do something special on the actual day since her party wasn’t until Saturday. Jamie came in on the midnight flight again so that he could be here for the party.

Since Jamie and I really aren’t fans of the baked goods over here (they’re just not as sweet as they are back home!) I did all of the baking myself. I tried to get a bit fancy and decorate things to go with our ladybug theme. Some stuff turned out really good, some okay and some not as good as I would have liked! I had a hard time getting the colors to come out as bright/dark as I would have liked and no matter what I tried the result was still the same. I’m convinced it had more to do with the quality of the stuff I was working with (coloring, etc.) than with the baker ; ) Despite how good it did or didn’t look it all tasted really good, which is the most important part anyway. All of our guests seemed to have a good time and Kylie had a blast! I don’t think she fully understood the meaning of the party, but I do think that she realized that everyone was there for her.


It’s so crazy that Jamie and I are parents to a 2 year old!! We’ve had such a great time getting to know this amazing little girl over the last 24 months and couldn’t be more proud of the lil’ lady she’s become. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my lifetime watching her grow! It was a great party and Jamie and I were totally bummed that most of you reading this couldn’t attend. One year (hopefully sooner rather than when she’s a teenager) we’ll be able to make that happen. Until then the photos will have to do!

The Birthday Girl!!

Finishing up at Build-a Bear



The party table

Opening gifts

Hanging out after the party

Other than that there’s not too much going on. It’s week 3 of Jamie’s travelling and he’s currently in Melbourne. Hopefully after this week he won’t have to travel for a while! He’ll be swamped for the next few weeks at work but at least he’ll be home at night. His parents arrive May 7th and in addition to plans around Brisbane we’ve also got a week planned up in Port Douglas visiting the Great Barrier Reef. We haven’t had a vacation since our home trip in September. I desperately need this vacation!!!

One last update and then I’ll call it a night. Kylie is still in daycare and is doing much better! I did end up keeping her out that week due to the fact that in addition to her nasty virus she also had a double ear infection. It was her first one ever and I can honestly say that I am so happy to see it go!! That’s it for now! Hope everyone else had a lovely Easter xx

Mommy and Kylie getaway

Two weeks ago Kylie and I had our first girl’s trip!!! We flew down to Sydney and visited with a friend and her daughter (who is about 2 months younger than Kylie). We had a blast and I’m so looking forward to making this a yearly thing.

One of the reasons we went when we did was so I didn’t have to pay for Kylie’s ticket. Unlike the US, Australia does not offer children’s airline fares. It’s either full price or free for under 2’s. I thought it would be nice to take one last trip before having to take on that extra fare and why not make it a girls trip?

It was just a short trip (3 days) but we had lots of fun catching up with Michelle and Matilda-Rose. We hung out at the park, went to Darling Harbour and the Sydney Aquarium. I wasn’t sure if Kylie would be old enough to really be ‘into’ the aquarium but she *loved* it. The first thing she said when she saw the first exhibit was “FISHIES!” and didn’t stop until we left. She’d run around, look at all the stuff in the area and then grab my hand and say “okay more” while pulling me to move on. I’m so glad she enjoyed it. The girls played really good together as well and they were so cute!! With the exception of getting home it was a great first girl’s trip!

Of course, any time the McMillan’s travel there is a problem. We were a 30 minute drive from the airport and we had a 4:20pm flight home. We left Shell’s house at 2:35, plenty of time to get to the airport…so we thought! Of course as we approach the area where we are supposed to get onto the motorway it’s completely blocked off. Not understanding what’s going on, Shell calls Trevor (her partner) and tries to get some info from him. Turns out that earlier that morning there was an accident and 2 women were killed. The motorway was completely shut down. Of course, there was only one way to get back on the motorway further up and it was through town. Not to mention that everyone else was going that way as well! It ended up taking us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the airport! When I got to the check-in counter I was told that the flight had closed for check-in 6 minutes before I got there! In the end I was able to get on a flight that was leaving an hour later and they were nice enough not to charge me for it but how annoying!! Just once I would like a trip to go off 100% without any hiccups, please!?!

Here are a few photos from out trip!!

Kylie's first train ride.  Unfortunately this was the best photo we could get : (

Sydney Aquarium

She loved the 'interactive' area!

One of my favorite photos from our trip!

Darling Harbour 

People watching and hanging out at the park.

So exhausted they couldn't even make it onto the train before passing out!

Hanging out

Park Time!

Since we’ve been back Kylie has started daycare. The drop offs didn’t go so well but I was assured that once she got over it she was completely over it. They said she went on to have a wonderful day both days and that she played well and had a good time. They also wrote out a summary of her day and gave me some photos when I picked her up, which was nice. I so hope she really did have a good day, because I can’t tell you the guilt I felt leaving her while she was screaming for me! I couldn’t even bring myself to leave the building until I saw her playing. The first morning it took about 10 minutes, 5 of those screaming and crying. She then stood against the wall and slowly moved closer to the play area before she took the plunge. Day two went a bit quicker, only needing about 5 minutes total to get out there and start running around. I know it will get better but I am so dreading it this week! I actually get butterflies just thinking about it! While she was in daycare I went into the city and had lunch with Jamie and we tried out this American style BBQ place which ended up being pretty good! This was the first time Jamie and I have had any alone time since we were home in September and it was much needed!! On day two I had a spa day, which was much needed as well!

It's a good thing I had that day of relaxation because as predicted Kylie is now sick.  She hasn't slept through the night since Thursday, where she woke up at 7:30pm, 9:00pm, 12:30am, 3:00am and 5:00am.  I swear she didn't wake up this much as a newborn!!  It hasn't been that bad every night, but when you're not used to getting up even once just throws off your entire night!  She woke with a fever again this morning but seemed to be getting better as the day went on.  Hopefully tomorrow is fever free otherwise we'll be missing a day or two this week (and she's only there for 2 days).  I hate to keep her out since it's only her second week, but I know if I send her in she'll just get worse.  Not too mention the fact that you don't get sick days over here, so either way I pay full price for it.  I guess we’ll just sit back and see what the week brings : )



This and that

* This post was actually written last week, but for some reason it didn't post.  Here it is anyway! *

Since nothing big has happened since my last post I thought I'd get a few little things out there.  Here's a few random thoughts and minor happenings going on at the moment.

1.  I recently started IPL treatments.  I've wanted to have it done for a while now and decided that now was as good a time as any.  I've had 2 treatments thus far and have been pretty happy with the results.  The problem with IPL?  It f#%&ing hurts!!  I figured it would be uncomfortable, but seriously?!?  If you've had it done you know what I mean.  If you haven't let me break it down for you.  Imagine lighting a match and then blowing it out.  Take that same match and put it on your skin. Yeah, that's how it feels!  And one more thing, the size of that match is the size of a lego piece!!  Knowing that imagine it all over again!  I guess I should mention that it only hurts that second that it's happening and really only on certain parts of the body.  The good news is that once it's over you feel nothing, which is why I've continued doing it.

2.  While hanging out with our neighbors a few weeks ago I head something that really pisses me off.  We were talking about travelling and I mentioned that one of my regrets is not visiting Cambodia and Vietnam before Kylie was born (since it's really not a place to take young kids).  She then started to tell me about a trip she took last year.  I guess you could say it was a 'mission' trip of sorts but the point of going was to help the prostitutes.  A friend of hers owns a safe house for women and they take them in and help them get on their feet.  They would go out to the slums and find the girls on the streets and then take them to a hotel to feed, clean, de-lice and clothe them.  They would then offer to take them to the safe house but most (almost all) declined.  Usually they would find them back on the streets that same night.  The part that really pissed me off??  The youngest girl they picked up was 4!!!  Yes, I typed that right...she was 4!!!  My first comment was "why didn't you guys take her to the police??".  She then went on to explain to me that one of the conditions of them being able to do what they do is that they aren't allowed to take the girls away unless they agree.  With the child, the parents/guardians would have to agree.  I don't know what specifically went down with this little girl (I was too pissed off to get into the details of it) but I was then told how there have been instances where they've asked parents if they can take the girls away and help them get into schools and such and the parents wanted payment (which they are not allowed to do).  I am still deeply disturbed by this conversation.  It's hard for me to imagine that when some people look at Kylie they see something sexual and not the sweet, innocent little girl that I see but some people are just sick!

3.  Kylie starts daycare in 2 weeks.  While I am happy that I'll have some free time I'm a little sad.  I've gotten used to our routine and having her around.

4.  Next week we go on our very first "Mommy & Kylie" trip.  I am so excited I can't stand it!!  I hope it goes well because it's something that I would like to make a regular thing.  We are heading to Sydney to visit our friends (Michelle and her daughter Matilda-Rose) from Perth.  A month after we moved to Brisbane they moved back to Sydney, so it worked out perfect!  Now we'll get to see each other a few times a year since it's only a 1 hour flight.  GIRLS TRIP, WHOO HOO!

5.  Punkin had her stitches and lens removed today.  Her eye is looking great and she is able to see out of it.  We now have to decide when to get the other eye done.  It shouldn't be as bad as this one but it's still a long recovery.  The plan at this point it to wait a few months and give her some time to be a dog again.  Toward the end of the year we'll discuss it and get it scheduled.

6.  Lately I've been thinking that I wouldn't mind living in Singapore again.  Crazy, I know!  I told Jamie before that I'd like to start thinking about heading back home after Brisbane (we'd like to be back in the US when Kylie starts school) but now I'm not so sure.  I do think that Singapore would be an entirely different experience this time around and we'd enjoy it a whole lot more now that we know the who, what, when, and where's of the place.  I guess only time will tell where we end up next!!

Let's play catch-up

I figured that in order for me to fully begin 2012 I need to close out all of the 2011 business!  With the move from Perth to Brisbane occurring at the end of the year, it ended up being a bit busier than we expected but in a good way... I think!

So, time for you all to hear about our actual move to Brisbane! I may have already said it, but this was by far the most stressful move Jamie and I have made. EVER!! Having Kylie added an entire laundry list of ‘extra’ stuff to deal with that usually wouldn’t be an issue. We tried to keep stuff as ‘normal’ as possible so she didn’t get too stressed out and with the exception of painting and packing her room (which screwed her up for a couple nights) she did really well. We had no issues at either temporary house and she handled all the running around once we arrived in Brisbane wonderfully.

We spent our first month in Brisbane in a temporary house that was about 45 minutes south of the city in an area called Windaroo. The house was great, it had a pool and was on a golf course overlooking the first green, but the drive was a bit annoying. Okay a lot annoying, for all involved! Even though Jamie was in a temporary office (their new offices in the city were being built) he was still heading north thus hitting all the traffic of everyone else going into the city. His commute was anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours each way depending on when he left and any issues that day. That was with taking toll roads, which cost a total of $16.00 per day! Since we weren’t planning on staying anywhere near the area we were in, I was stuck making the same drive (sometimes longer) every time I needed to go to a house viewing. This brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves in Australia – finding a house!!!

Here are some photos of our 'Windaroo House' before I get too far into our new one.

The house

View of golf course and pool area

Kylie enjoying the pool (our Christmas card photo!) and the garden

Our friend that came by to see us every couple of days. 

Kylie *loved* him, but I don't see one in her future anytime soon!

Finding a house here, whether renting or buying, is not at all convenient. You can’t just find an agent and say “I would like to find a house in this area, this price range, etc” and have them show you everything listed. Instead you have to deal with every agent for every property. They will only show you the houses they have listed and trust me when I tell you they aren’t really even helpful with those!! I can’t tell you how many times we looked at a house that wasn’t quite right and asked the agent if they had anything that fit what we were looking for and never got a call back from them. Another problem I repeatedly ran in to was calling to set up a viewing for a house and having the agent tell me that a time had not been set up and they would call me when one was open. This would be for houses with no one in them!! You would think that they would want to get someone into an available house asap, but not so much. Instead, they would wait until multiple people called about it and then set up an open viewing so they could show it to several people at the same time. I HATE that! It’s so annoying to be looking at a house and have 3 other families there at the same time.

After 2 weeks of hard looking I started to get really discouraged. We only had the temp house until Dec 15th, and my goal was to have at least a week overlap so that it was completely move in ready to help Kylie adjust. We couldn’t extend our stay where we were because someone else was scheduled to come in on the 17th and to make matters worse it was school holidays (summer break over here) as well as Christmas time so everything else was already full (hence the reason we were staying so far away to begin with). When I did finally find a house that was PERFECT the management company said that the owners wouldn’t accept any pets, go figure!! Two weeks after finding ‘the house’ Jamie suggested we submit the application anyway since it was still available, thinking that maybe the owners might reconsider if they actually had someone ready to take it. In the end we didn’t have to submit an application on it because that morning another house was listed so we ran over to see it and submitted the application for it that day, yay!!  It ticked all of our boxes, was available for move in and it was a new build...just perfect!


I won’t go into all the drama that was associated with our first week/10 days in this house but it’s all been worked out now and we’re here. The best part is we were moved in, satellite TV/internet on and aircon installed by Christmas!!

Our new home! 

It doesn't look all that big from the front but it's really deep so it has plenty of space. 

 View as you're walking in the front door. 

Behind the wall in the back are where the office and the master bedroom are.

View of kitchen area from living area. You can also see the small laundry area and the door to the half bath.  Just past the area where the fridge goes is an opening to a massive butlers pantry. 

Kylie's playroom all set up.  I think the kid's got it made!

It was a little sad not being with family for the holidays but it was nice to be able to have Kylie wake up to a big Santa gift on Christmas morning. I made a beautiful Christmas dinner and we got to know our neighbors over a few drinks that afternoon, which was lovely. Overall it was a great Christmas! Jamie was also able to take a few weeks off over the holidays, which was great. We are definitely looking forward to being in the US for Christmas this year though!

Christmas Tree after Santa's visit! 

He dropped off a few small things inside since her 'big' gift couldn't fit under the tree, lol!

Christmas morning!

 She loved the swing so much she feel asleep while Jamie was pushing her, DAR-LING!!

Since Christmas things have been pretty uneventful. As of this week Jamie has moved into his office in the city, Kylie has started swim classes (that’s an entire post on its own!) and we’ve found a playgroup that meets once a week to get some interaction with other moms/kiddos. I haven’t started looking for work because the 2 places I want Kylie to get into for childcare have a wait list and they have no clue when she’ll get in. When I say wait list I mean like, probably won’t get in this year wait list! I wish I could say that we’ve explored the entire city and surrounding areas already but I can’t even name 1 trendy spot we’ve visited! Guess that’s life with a little one and a husband that seems to be working and travelling more than ever. We do have some exciting trips planned for this year though and hopefully a few more will pop up as we go along. 

For now, here's a few more photos of us enjoying the new house and neighborhood.

Enjoying the new backyard

Helping decorate the Christmas tree

Enjoying a nice quiet book with Daddy

Hanging out at the park in our neighborhood

Oooh, I can name 1 place we've been!! A few weeks ago we took Kylie down to Southbank for the afternoon. We were really having a great time and then it started to storm so our afternoon was cut short. We’ll definitely be visiting again though so I’ll be sure to take photos next time.