Getting settled

Hi all-

It's now been a week since Gavin started school and he seems to be settling in nicely.  He hasn't had much homework to speak of yet and things seem pretty easy for him thus far.  It will be interesting to see if they pick up speed.

It hasn't been to difficult to get him out the door in the morning.  School starts at 9, but the pattern for the Year 5 and Year 6 boys is to get there about 8:30 so that they can play on the playground.  My biggest issue is trying to make sure his uniform is clean.  I only bought two but I may need to go get another set.

The people we are renting from showed Gavin how to use the Espresso machine to make coffee.  Every morning since then he has gotten up and made me coffee.  He is working hard on trying to create pictures in the foam--the coffee is great but I still think he needs to work on the foam to be able to have good pictures.  Here is a picture of my son, the Barista and his creations.

I have been taking public transportation to work and come to conclusion that there is no quick way to get to the office.  Last two trips have taken 80 and 90 minutes respectively.  I bought bike tubes yesterday and fixed one of the bikes at the house.  I will ride the bike into work tomorrow and see how long that takes me.  It definitely will be an adventure--Australian drivers are aggressive.

We are living in a suburb a little west of the Central Business District (CBD) of Sydney.  Our suburb is named Annandale (see the sign below):

Gavin's school is very close to the house --maybe 200 yards and there is a park right behind us that has a skateboard ramp.  Gavin and I have been going down each night to kick the soccer ball around and have him practice in the skate park.  I will try to take a video to post.

The research group that I am working with was nice enough to give me and office at the Health Sciences campus for the University of Sydney.

 There is also a main campus that is very close to where we live.  We are in the process of seeing if there an option to get a "hot desk" there (I guess that is their term for a desk with phone and internet available).  We will see how that works out.

The people that we are renting from now have all their stuff out of the house and Gavin and I have it to ourselves for 6 more days.  Anna and the girls arrive on Feb 13th!  There are still a few things to be done here.  I have to mount another closet rod in each closet so that we can handle all the clothes that are coming.  Also, we bought a bunk bed for more economical use of space in the bedroom that the kids are sharing.  That will have to be put together once it arrives.

Gavin and I unfortunately missed Ali turning 16 on Feb 4th.  Although we talked to her on Skype and sent her a video clip of us singing her Happy Birthday, it made us sad to not be there with her.  Thankfully Anna, Shelby, Peggy, Roger, Sydney, and Chloe made it a special night for her.  Here is a picture of my beautiful 16 year old!!

How can she be that old--I don't feel old enough (oh wait, with all those aches and pains, maybe I do...)  Make sure that you wish her Sweet 16!

The past two weekends it has rained so we have not been able to make it to the beach.  Hopefully this weekend we will get out there and can send you pictures of us playing in the water.  We hope that all of you are well and please know that we miss our family and friends.

Love,

Lee and Gavin