We made it to Portland!

Hi everyone,

We finally made it to Portland after 4 days on the road.

It was a struggle to get away, we just had so much stuff. We ended up using the roof rack on the car which made a huge difference. We only left 3 hours after we had aimed for, which I thought was alright going, knowing us.

After leaving we needed to stop and pick upa tarp and proper ropes for the stuff on the roof, we evntually found somewhere, and as we drove up there was a huge bunch of mexicans on the side of the road. They were looking at us kind of funny, and kept motioning at us, which was all a bit scary., Turns out they were looking for work. Anyway, so Paul went and bought a tarp, which was all they had, and it was really thin. I was on the roof of the car and it flapping all around in the wind. Then some guy pulled over in his ute, and told us he had something much better. Turned out he had bags that are used to transport asbestos off site. They were really strong and we could just put our suitcases in and tape the ends up. Very handy. It rained monsoon style the whole way, and the only suitcases that got wet were the carry ons with the kids toys. On day 3 I checked the baggage and there was huge puddle at the bottom of that bag. So I just cut a slit at the bottom, a torrent poured out and then everything was fine. For once I was thankful that kids toys are all made of plastic - very easy to dry.

We saw somne really beautful scenery, especially the red forests. It was a shame that it rained so much, as we didn't really get out to look at stuff much. We did go for a bush walk in the red woods, in the rain, which was fine, except our shoes got so filthy and wet. It took more than a day for the kids shoes to dry, so because they only had one pair each, they didn't really get out of the car at all on the last day.

Anyway, heres a couple of photos from the trip:

Thats our car down the bottom there.

Threre were a few funny thing we saw - such as a casino in the middle of no where, in a huge big tent. Bigger than any circus tent I've seen, but a tent all the same. We figured there must be some by law about smoking in tents and Indians. Also funny was the sign advertising cage fights out the front.

The other funny attraction was a huge building on an Indian reservation advertsing the sovereign nation of elk valley. Seems we've now been to our second country.

Anyway, our house in Portland is quite nice. The only issue was that our car doesn't fit in the garage (stupid big beast), so I've paid to rent a car park in a parking complex about 5 minutes away.

Thats about it for now. Hmmm, bit of a boring blog. I'll do something interesting next time.

cheers,

Nicole

Yay - new blog

Hi Everyone, sorry, I've been so slack at doing this blog. I just realised that its been two months.

So, heaps has been happening. We're still in San francisco, but we'll be leaving next Saturday. I'm pretty sure we'll be going to Portland, which is meant to be a really cool city like San Francisco. Theres also heaps of beautiful forests and waterfalls around there, so I'll be loving it!

Obviously we've been doing heaps, and theres no way I can put it all down here. So I'll keep it to the highlights. I'll start with now, and go back as far as I can be bothered.

So right now I'm totally preoccupied with having to pack up and leave. We've go way more stuff (with Christmas and birthday etc.), than when we arrived here, so I don't know how we're going to jam it all into the car. Ellery kindly said that she'd have a suitcase on her lap, so if I can get all the kids to agree to do the same, we might be able to take it all with us. If not, I'll have send to box back to Melbourne. I'm pretty sure thats what it'll come to. Thanks Mum.

Last week end, our upstairs neighbours Cynthia and Michael, who have two kids, Eli and Eva, offered to mind our kids for the weekend so that we could go away for the night. Very very nice of them. Anyway i organised a jam packed weekend with golf and horseriding and stuff. Had to pay upfront for it all too. It was classic when I rang the horse riding place - they couldn't understand my accent at all! I need to quote my credit card nunmber and they just couldn't get it so I asked if it would for me to put on an American accent. They agreed and I put on the corniest accent ever, read it out, and they got it straight away. The kids were laughing their heads of at me. Soon I'll forget how to say mate and g'day.

So on Saturday I jumped up, very excited at the prospect of going away only find that Lindsay and Ainsley had both thrown up. ARGHH! My hopes were dashed, my money spent and I plummeted into a very foul mood. Anyway - these saints upstairs said they were still happy to mind them! It was amazing! So we went! I did kind of feel like a bad mother, but oh well.

The place we went to was immensly beautiful. Very rugged coast line with jutting cliffs and red wood forests. We made it on time to have a hit of golf - my second game ever, and nine holes really seemed to take forever. Luckily the scenery was beautiful enogh to keep my occupied. I'm sure if I was a bit better, it would have been more entertaining. But 15 metre shots just wasn't quite satisfying. We stayed the night at the inn attached to the golf course. Any way - heres a photo of the golf course. Thats Paul putting the ball.

We had a great night at the inn, there was a hot tub outside which we sat and drank in all night. Realised we loved each other again, which was all very nice. Then in the morning we went horse riding. Yet again, I was totally inadequate. I was having a lovely old time, but I think the lady that took us thought I was no good, so we did hardly any cantering, which was a bit of a shame, because for me that was best bit. Paul thought I looked scared, which is probably what the lady thought. Oh well. We rode for 4 hours and our muscles were totally wrecked for the next few days.

Ainsley threw up again while we were away, and then Cynthia wound up really sick the next week. I felt a bit guilty. And then I got sick. Paul was away too, so I told the kids that if they did absolutely everything I asked all day, and cooked and cleaned and looked after Ainsley, then they could spend $1 at the milk bar. Which I know sounds kind of stingy, but you wouldn't believe how many lollies you can get for $1 here! It made me sicker again just watching them stuff their face - but you do what you need to to survive, and they fully deserved it.

Ummm, I'm running out of steam here - so just quickly - we had lovely birthdays. Paul took me to the symphony orchestra here - we heard some amazing prokofiev music that I'd never heard before. It was very inspiring and I decided that I needed to sit down and write a symphonic peice of music. But it wore off after a couple days- unfortunatly before I had the chance to do anything about it. Maybe one day...

Lindsay had a great day - Paul hired a porche boxter and they drove around together for the day. The next day we had a little party for him with the neighbours and a home school family that we met. It was a nice little affair. He was very pleased with it. And the American weere very imoressed with pass the parcel. Apparently nobody plays it here - and they'd never heard of it!

We met a lovely home school family - Cindy with her two boys Jack and Callum - and we've been doing heaps of stuff with them. Shes an actor and very cool. Tallis went on her first date with jack. They went to the movies (chaperoned by me and Cindy - we sat behind them), and Jack gave Tallis a big heart shaped necklace full of lollies. She was very happy.

The kids have stopped saying lollies, they now say candy. They also can't say 'r' anymore, they can only say 'rr'. Love that American accent. Lindsay taught the girl upstairs to say 'bunurnu' instead of' 'banana', which they all think is hilarious.

We became members of a fantastic museum called the Exploratorium. Its got a huge workshop, like out of mythbusters, where they make all these science experiments for the kids to do. Its all very rustic and the kids just love it. Heres some photos -

We've also been to some really gorgeous forests. Towering redwoods with ferns and streams and waterfalls. Everything I dream of and more. The kids really enjoy being out in nature - I'm sure theres an innate way of kids learning important things about being human by being in nature. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I know what I mean and I think its really important. Apparently theres some book called nature deficit disorder which I think probably explains what I'm trying to mean in much better detail. Heres some photos -

Anyway, thats it for now. I'll try to be a bit better at writing these blogs.

Hope evryone is well in Australia.

Mandy and Merri I hope your new little bubs are doing well. I'm sure they're very beautiful and wish I could be there to have cuddles. Jo - congratulations on your wedding.

Love Nic