Sydney to Perth and Oakover St.

On Saturday, August 29th, our Virgin Blue flight was due to leave at 12:10 pm. We got to the airport and checked in our bags. Mine was way overweight (surprise, surprise) and we had to pay $190.00 (australian) for the few extra pounds. Yikes! Anyway, going through security they don't make you get rid of your liquids...yay! You might think that would scare some of you for security reasons, but it was here in Sydney that someone finally detected Ella's blunt scissors that she used for crafting on the airplane. Boston and San Fran hadn't noticed them. When we got on the plane, the flight attendant (Angela) said "Hi Ella, Amelie, Pieter, Marileen and Rob. Once the service is over, during the flight, I will paint your faces if you like." Apparently, they do that so that they don't sit in the back and "stuff their faces." Ella had hers painted as a tasmanian devil (of course), Ams got flowers, and Pieter was a teenage mutant ninja turtle. It was a 6 hour smooth flight.

When we landed in Perth, Rob went to get his permanent rental car. It turned out to be the only electric blue Ford in the lot. It was horrendous. He went back in and got a light grey Toyota Tarago (minivan), kind of like back home. Andrew, the pastor of our new church, and his son, Liam, also came to pick us up... all the 6,000 bags, I mean. It turns out that Ella is in Liam's class and the girls and he hit it off right away.

We stopped by Andrew's house. His wife, Janelle, made us a lasagna and had bought us all kinds of food. When we got to our house, Mike and Jenny Deeks (friends that Rob had met at church) had also left us a bag of food! Mike and Jenny showed up a few minutes later to welcome us. Then our neighbor, Sara, aka "Mrs. Doubtfire", brought us a fruitcake. We felt so welcomed and blessed right away.

It's cold here right now (58-62 degrees). We were freezing when we arrived. They don't do home heating well here. There's a large heater in the family/kitchen/dining room, but that is completely separate from the rest of the house. The kids beds all had flannel (Pieter slept in pink gingham - we had to fix that quickly), but Rob and I had freezing cold cotton. We seriously considered taking a blow dryer to the bed...Mia style.

Our home is a long ranch with 12 foot high ceilings. It's 80 years old with lots of character. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 large office, master bath, toilet room, bathroom, mudroom and then the above mentioned living area. Amelie and Pieter are sharing a room which is working out very well. Outside we have an in ground pool, in ground trampoline, big wooden play house, monkey bars, swings, see-saw (wip-wap), balance beam, and deck. We are hooked up. I don't think the kids will ever want to leave here.