Bigger is better

Hi everyone,

Things are going really well here now. I went through a small adjustment period, but now it all feels normal. We've done heaps in the last week, its hard to write it all.

I guess I should start with the rock pools, that we saw at a state park, and there was so much wild life! It was quite amazing for somewhere that has such a huge population. How does life manage to thrive like that in all the pollution? And there would have been even more if there weren't a bunch of idiots with their buckets making their own personal collections - despite all the signs explaining the fines they would get if caught. I started trying to tell one lady that it was illegal, but then I noticed a massive biker dude doing the same thing, so I promptly shut my mouth. Even so, the rock pools were great, heaps of hermit crabs and anenomes (wish this blog writer had a spell check) and urchins.

Then we went to Disney Land again to use up our second day. Went on a week day which was vastly better. Minimal waits for rides made all the difference - and really it was all about the rides for us, the kids had sub zero interest for parades and cartoon character autographs. Paul managed to put his back out on a huge rollercoaster there. He said that when it went upside down his neck jerked and he just felt daggers in his shoulders. Luckily we found one of the only places in Disney that served alcohol so he could dull the pain enough to last out the day. It tooks days to return to normal. Poor Boy.

The next day I picked up Mum at the airport. Shes with us for two weeks, which will is nice. Went to the LA Museum of Natural history which was gerat. They had a spier pavillion going, which was like a butterfly house, but with spiders. They were all pretty harmless, but some were quite impressive. The visitor spider from Malaysia was huge! Saw a few live tarantulas (not on loose - phew), theres something just so creepy about those spiders, must be all that hair. They also had the most vast gem and mineral collection I've ever seen! I'm always so amazed that these rocks are created in and by nature - some of them just look so man made and glitzy. Very very impressive.
Went to the homeschool group again aswell. The ladies there are so nice, we've been invited to one of their houses to do trick or treating on halloween with them and to borrow some of their costumes. This crazy little gated 'community' forbids it here. We're also not allowed to recieve mail. You have to organise with the people that run this place to have a special little mail box, the post man can't deliver to the houses here. So the costumes I bought from ebay won't be coming. Who knows what'll happen to them. Waste of $22 (read $40AUD).
Then today we went to a colonial spanish mission. I really loved it. It was nice to go somewhere that was real, not all this artificial entertainment that seems to be the skeleton of LA. The buildings were more than 230 years old and they had great little exhibit rooms in them full of the type of furniture and clothes that they wore.

Clearly we were all very happy here.

I've also come to the conclusion that America is very similar to Australia, except that everything is just bigger. A lot of LA actually looks like Dandenong. With big buildings for shops and take away food etc. Anyway, I took this great picture of an onion. When I saw it in the store, I just had to buy it. Such a novelty. Its sitting on a piece of A4 paper, with a $2 coin. And believe it or not - its organic! Try sitting on anormal onion on a piece of A4 paper and see the difference.

Also got this great pic of the sandwich I had at the museum. Note the 10 layers of ham, and the toothpick they needed to hold it all together. (Click it to see life size). Its just so American!

The other massive American thing that we bought was this beast of a car. I feel a bit ashamed of myself, after all my whinging about the Landcruiser to have gone and bought something equally bad, if not worse. I'm consoling myself with the fact that its only very short term. Functionally though, its great. We can have all the seats down and still fit all our luggage in the back. We also got a bargain! 2001 and one luxury model (leather etc.) for $6500 Australian! After selling our 1993 equivalent for $10000! We may even make a profit when we got to sell it at the end, because the dealers had this model for about $12000 Australian.


Which brings me to our plummeting dollar. Its all very depressing, I've taken to doubling everything to work out the exchange rate, which really makes me cringe when I pay $9 for a 200g block of cheese, or $7.50 for a coffee. Some things are quite a bit cheaper, but its not really the everyday stuff. Theres not a lot I can do though. Maybe we can get the Brits in our house to pay rent in American dollars.

Anyway, I'll try to blog again sooner, cheers, from Nic

Pumpkins

Yesterday we went to a Fall Festival at an environmental centre. The centre had plantings representing the 8 different ecosystems of california. It was really well done and beautiful. Strange to look at plants that I'd normally consider as introduced and know that they are native to where I am. The kids did a whole bunch of crafts which were set up picnic tables around the forests, and plants (i'd call it a garden, but it wasn't quite). The crafts were managed by girl scouts who all had tanned freckled skin, were skinny and had blonde hair. It was disquieting. There was a really cool 'pumpkin patch' where you could choose your pumpkins for halloween carving. Anyway heres some photos.

I found a really great organic store here. Its just huge, with nearly everything you could think of in organic. The prices were reasonable as well. We've been feasting on organic sweet potato chips, they're so yum! The birds at the beach agree too, we were there the other day and they pecked through a pack of unopened chips and ate them all! At this store, there was a dispenser near the trolleys, of disinefectant wipes, so you could wipe the germs of the handle of the trolley. They really are paranoid here. About half of the TV advertising is for cleaning products. The other half is for prescription medicine.

The beach here is fantastic, the sand is perfect for building castles, we built a canal city the other day, the waves are perfect for boogie boarding and the weather is perfect too. Its in farenheit, but I'd guess about 25-28 everyday. (Slightly too hot for me, but great for swimming and the beach).

We're mostly over jet lag now, which is great. I'm getting used to the driving too. I don't think I'll ever get used to the bread though. Theres so much sugar in that it's putting me off toast and sandwiches, which is a bit sad, because that was more than half my diet in Aus. Its also a waste of the six tube of vegemite that I brought. Its like trying to have vegemite on a scone.

Anyways, I shouold be educating the kids right now, so I'd better be off. Cheers, Nic

Yesterday I forgot to explain why its boobooadventure.com, it was because all the reasonable names were taken and this was a last resort. At least it is memorable.

I also wanted to put in some photos of disneyland... it was hard to take great photos, with out getting someone esles bum in the picture, it was that crowded, but this is the best of what I managed.

Had a shopping day today. Went to walmart. WOW! It was vast. It was the size of about 3 bunnings, but still I struggled to find the stuff I wanted (like a some proper coloring pencils such as derwent). Everything was dirt cheap! I picked up a 24pack of crayola textas for $2! A mobile phone with 300 minutes phone credit including intenational for $30! Bargain city. I almost became a shop lover again, but I managed to stay restrained and only bought what I needed. When I paid I used credit, I swiped my card and then waited for the lady to give me the docket to sign. I stood there stupidly for about a minute before asking the lady if I needed to sign. She kindly pointed out that I had to sign using the elctronic pen on the little eftpos screen. It was such a novelty which made me laugh, and she just looked at me like I was a fuitcake.

I also went to a supermarket which was also huge. It was tough going, because I didn't recognise any of the brands, and had no idea what anything was. I basically had to read all the labels and healthy options were few and far between. There were a few wierd and wonderful oddities like grapple... the grape flavoured apple. There was also a starbucks store with in the supermarket. You really need that caffeine kick just to make it from one end of the store to the other.

Anyway, I'm keeling over with tirednesss, even though its only lunch time. This morning I decided to set the alarm and get up early (at 8:30 instead of 11:00) but because I didn't really get to sleep until about 2:00. The idea is that if I wake up early, I'll get to sleep earlier and it will all work out. Same goes for the kids. Yesterday Paul asked Tallis (an hour after she woke up) why she hadn't bounced out of bed. She replied 'I did bounce out of bed, but now I want to bounce back in again'.

So I'm going to have a read on the couch. Cheers, Nic

My first real American Venture

Hi Everyone,

I amazed myself and actually did make a blog. How long it will last I can't be sure, but for now its on!
We went to Disneyland yesterday, we planned an early start to the make most of $300 (yes thats right) it cost, but somehow didn't make it there until midday. Its that dastardly jetlag. Anyway, the place was absolotuley crowded. It took close to an hour to get on some rides, and they only went for about 3 minutes. Not including the walk between rides, that works out to 6% of time on rides. The rest was spent battling the crowds and trying not to spend money at one of the many money holes. Thankfully the atmosphere was quite good, the gardens were absolutely immaculate, and there was not a scrap of rubbish to be seen. The best ride was the space mountain which was an indoor rollercoaster, that went through space, it was all dark with stars and that so you couldn't see what was coming up, and it was all sharp corners and dramatic drops. I also discovered that my fear of rides and rollercoasters etc., has nothing at to do with the ride flinging my body around, and everything to do with the rickety looking structures they are built upon. That was the great thing about disneyland, everything seemed so strong and secure and safe.
After Disney, I took my first drive on the wrong side of the road. The wierdest thing, which I didn't expect, was that I kept veering over to the right, because I thought the middle of the car was actually the right side of the car, and that the left side had another half a car hanging out. So i drove up few gutters, (lucky we had huge 4wd american beast) but it was otherwise smooth sailing. Today I went for a short drive down the wrong side, but another car quickly alerted me as to my error, by driving at me head on. Its a sharp learning curve.
I met the home school group today. THEY WERE NORMAL! They understood sarcasm and laughed at my jokes and everything! I was stoked. I was previously concerned that my talent for sarcasm and dry wit would be totally lost, and that I'd have nothing to go (I generally rely on wit to make new friends). Yesterday at Disneyland somebody told me how well behaved the kids were, and how do I do it? So I gave them my usual response and said "with a big stick" and they looked like they were going to run and tell social services or something. I tried to laugh and say only kidding, but I'm not sure they were convinced. Anyway, with the people today I really like them, and found myself fitting in quite well, I even found myself talking with a slight American Lilt (Arghhhh!).
Anyways Pauls here, he's brought home some more Mexican take away, its everywhere here! I'm sure I'll tire of it eventually, but in the mean time Viva la Mexicano!
Bye