The Best Chirstmas Present Ever!

This year we decided not to buy anything for each other for Christmas. We just made a really big move and are trying to get things set up here. Plus, our goal with coming here is to travel and see as much as we can. We also don't want to accumulate a lot of crap that we just have to move back to the US in a few years. So we started our adventures of exploring where we live this weekend. We went to the Symbio Wildlife Park in Helensburg, about a half an hour south of us. When we got there it was a lot smaller than what we expected, but it was an amazing experience. It was more like a petting zoo than a wildlife preserve.
You could feed, pet, and interact with a lot of the animals.

My whole life I have wanted to pet a koala bear. I remember in elementary school my hopes were dashed by a guest speaker who told me koala bears were mean and it was illegal to touch them (both of which are true). In spite of these facts my dream came true this weekend. The park does koala bear demonstrations twice a day and we made sure to be there for one of them. We were the first people there in fact. While we were waiting we watched the koala bears in their enclosure. Most of them were actually awake (they sleep 22 hours a day, so that's rare to see). There were 2 males that were fighting over territory and koala bears can be really scary. They make a loud growling noise that does sound like they could be bears (they're actually marsupials). So we got really lucky because the guy doing the demonstration had to get a baby koala out instead since the males were fighting and being aggressive. He told us all about koala bears and then let us line up to pet it and take pictures with him. Annabelle loved its soft fur. It really was a dream come true and sharing it with Dave and Annabelle made it so much more wonderful!

Afterwards we went to the Kangaroo and wallabee section. We were given a free bag of kangaroo food when we got there and wanted to go feed them. They hop right up to you so you can feed them. The kangaroos are behind a fence, but the wallabees come right out to you. One really liked Annabelle and even explored her stroller (it made me a little nervous, but it was fine). We even got to see a baby wallabee and a baby kangaroo. I really couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present! What a great Australian experience. It will be really hard to top next Christmas =).

You guys paid for this?!?!?!

So today was Dave's company Christmas party. They all met at work this morning and then carpooled to go paintballing. I warned him it would be painful, but I wasn't expecting the sight I saw when he got home. He has at least 30 welts like this all over his body. His comment was, "we paid to do this?"

We were invited to go, but I'm really glad Annabelle and I just stayed home. Tonight the company hosted a dinner at a very nice restaurant called The Naked Grape. The food was delicious and it was nice to meet some of the people Dave works with everyday. The funny part was that everyone was dressed very nice, but they all had welts and bruises on their faces, necks, arms, and legs. It looked like they were professional fighters or something. We did have a lot of fun and everyone loved Annabelle. She was so well behaved. We really love and appreciate her!

New to Blogging

I have never blogged before, but a lot of people have been trying to convert me for a long time. I thought with us moving to Australia I'd give it a shot. I'm not on facebook or myspace or anything like that, so this is probably the best way to keep people who are truly interested updated on our family. Plus, I need a place to put all of my thoughts, especially since we moved half way around the world. I don't know anyone in Australia and I have no one to share my crazy encounters with. So you will all become my audience. So far it has been a very trying experience. I can say that I have learned a lot and will definitely grow in many facets of my life by being here. On top of familiarizing myself with a new country I am adjusting to life as a new mom. I am so grateful that Annabelle is such a wonderful baby! I don't think we could have made this move if she cried all the time and had to be held constantly. I really enjoy being a mom and I love Annabelle more than I could ever describe. I think the hardest adjustment for me is the slowed down pace my life has taken. I am a very efficient person who likes to get a lot done quickly. With a baby that just isn't possible. Everything takes so much longer to do, but I am learning to slow down my pace and go with the flow. I think I needed to learn that a long time ago, so I am glad I was finally forced to =). I'll keep you posted as we experience different things down under.