Hello :)

Wow! So a lot has happened in the past week. Last weekend I experienced Byron Bay, we also went to mooloolaba and I practiced my surfing, all last week Stephanie was in Sydney, Ai-Vy's 4th birthday party was this weekend, which I spent all week planning for, and today I am going in to train for my new job. :) It has been a bit hectic but very enjoyable!

Byron Bay was of course beautiful, the water was a bit cooler but not nearly as cold as back home! We went on a lovely hike up to the light house, or the dragon house as Ai-Vy likes to call it. :) I stood at the most easterly point of the Australian mainland and saw way to many bats.....haha. On Sunday we got up bright and early to go practice my surfing at mooloolaba and so Young could test out his new board. The water was perfect and apparently the waves were to because the water was infested with surfers. I was able to get up a few times and hopefully with a bit more practice I will be able to use the smaller board....it is just a workout trying to lug the long one around everywhere, especially in the water.

During the week I planned for Ai-Vy's birthday party, which included me getting a little crafty. I had a lot of fun planning it and going shopping for everything. I am slowly learning my way around town and becoming a not so pro at driving a manual...but shopping for everything definitely helped! Over all I think the birthday party was a total success! Ai-Vy and her friends had a great time, as did I :)

A beautiful beach and a day with Ai-Vy.

A beautiful viewpoint at Noosa

Well it is official, Noosa is by far my favorite beach! We went last Sunday and it was absolutely gorgeous. About an hour and a half drive up north wasn't too bad, and it was completely worth it. We took a trail with some pretty amazing views back to a smaller beach where the water was blue and quite warm. It was perfect for swimming in because the waves were not too intense, we could even take Ai-Vy and Kien-Nhu out into the waves. :) Later in the day when the tide went out a bit a lot of surfers showed up, I am hoping that since young just received his new custom surfboard that next time we go we will do a bit of surfing and I can practice!

Ai-Vy walking on the rainbow

Last week Ai-Vy and I took a bus into the city to go check out some of the children exhibits at GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art). She really enjoyed the bus ride and looking out the big windows. After the bus ride we had a short walk over to the museum. We were a bit disappointing when we got to the exhibit and the staff said we could not touch anything....isn't the point of a children exhibit to usually be interactive and child friendly? Ai-Vy still had a good time looking at everything but got bored after a while. The next exhibit we went to was fun, Ai-Vy was given some stickers and told to place them wherever she wanted to in the room. The room was set up like a house but everything was white with different sized colorful stickers placed everywhere covering everything. After awhile we had a long walk along the water over to Southbank and played at the park and chased birds for a little while. We then went and got some chocolate ice cream to cool off before heading home. Yum :)

Mmmmm ice cream after a long walk

One month in Australia! :)

Hello everyone! I have now been in Australia for about a month and things are going pretty well. I have seen some pretty cool things and am starting to make some friends :) I met a group of other Au Pairs last week in the city for the night and had a pretty good time. The girls were from all over the world, Germany, Finland, France, Estonia, the US, and I'm sure there were more! Last weekend I also made my way to Surfers Paradise for a night with two other girls from the US and met up with many others from all over. It was a lot of fun and I will be keeping in touch with them :)

Last week I was lucky enough to have my boyfriend Nathan arrive in Brisbane after trying for over a week to catch a flight. Stephanie and Young were kind enough to let him stay for a few days until he caught a flight down to Sydney where he will be living and working for the next year. While he was here we kept fairly busy and he was able to see a lot. Ai-Vy got along with him very well and is still asking where Nathan is. :) How cute.

Last weekend we went to Currumbin, it was beautiful and I had so much fun playing in the amazing water. The waves were great for body surfing! Next weekend we are going camping at Stradbroke Island for a night or two with some of Young and Stephanie's friends. I am looking forward to it, as it should be great fun! :)