A quest for the best ribs begins…
We were off for a quiet family dinner at Houlihans. After all while we are in the US, Dad has a quest to find the best ribs…
Mum thought the ribs were good but that the cocktails were better!
What to do when it’s 6am and less than zero degrees?
Dress up in lots of layers!
Hives!
Yesterday I came up in hives. They are bizarre – they come and go and change places regularly. They were pretty cool, check them out…
Hives were something we had only heard of in American books until moving here. So we went to the doctor who thought they may bave been caused be strep (another disease previously only in American novels!). She tested and they weren’t. The hives were probably due to either a virus going around, an allergy or the change from hot to cold to hot and then back to cold again! They should go away on their own. In the meantime though, rest assured that I am not suffering…
I was pretty excited to be allowed to watch non-stop (except for naps) TV 🙂
Translations for 2 year olds
To all my two year old friends,
I thought I would share a little of the depth of my knowledge on moving to the US.
So you thought you knew a few words and could by? Well if you move to the US here are a few translations of the essentials for you:
(US word – Aussie word)
boo boo – bump / graize / accident
diaper – nappy
poop – poo
pacifier – dummy
restroom – bathroom
coat – jacket
jacket – jumper
gloves / mittens – I’m not sure what the Aussie term for those are?
Pretty much all of your words won’t work anymore 😦
But don’t worry, your winning charm still will!
Love,
Lachie xx
The proof is in the picture
Look out our window…
Or down the road…
YAY!
YAY! It’s snowing today :)
YAY! It’s snowing today 🙂
We’ll have to rug up, head out and play…and get some piccies!
I wish it wasn’t raining though. It is washing all the snow away 😦
Rain, rain go away, come again some other day…..
Weekends = playground time :)
Friday was an absolutely beautiful day . It was sunny and a balmy 21 degrees Celcius (seventy degrees Farenheit for those in New Jersey). With a start like this to the weekend, it meant we could plan to venture outside and check out the local playgrounds.
Saturday was another beautiful day by New Jersey standards. It was12 degrees which sounded heavenly (previous temperatures had all been single digit) and according to the locals was more than warm enough to entice play at the local playground. So we set up a playdate with Emma (Eli’s friend from the Polar Bears) and her big sister Samantha. We weren’t so sure that it was warm enough to be outside but they assured us it was. We went to Kidstreet in Bridgewater which is a huge wooden playground. He had a pirate ship, train, plane, lots of slippery dips and a swing big enough for the two families. Emma and Samantha were kind enough to bring a picnic lunch to share, which was really yummy. We had a great day.
On Sunday it was only eleven degrees, and after finding the twelve degrees yesterday a little chilly, we headed to Kid Junction an indoor playground today. It may take us a little while to become real “New Jersians” and call twelve dgrees “warm”). While at Kid Junction, we did some climbing, shopping, cooking and took a ride in a police car. We had lots of fun 🙂
We have to enjoy the “good weather” while we can because the week’s forecast has us back to single digits and snow is forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. I guess I should hope there is lots of snow so that Eli will get to wear her new snow suit and make snow angels 🙂
Amazon Mom
I didn’t really understand how exciting it was going to be to be in the US, with a US credit card, enabled to shop online. Scanners, computers, Kindles, books, diapers – it’s all coming our way! I knew Nathan had a few things in mind to buy but when even Amazon upgraded him to priority two day shipping based on volume and signed him up as an Amazon Mom I began to get worried…
Elimena went to the shops to get some warm clothes for daycare and the snow. She came home with a designer snow suit (jacket & overalls), a warm designer jacket, three pairs of Disney pants with matching princess jumpers, and three winter dresses – all for $73. Not a bad little haul – it pays to shop out of season 🙂
As for Lachie, he is lucky to be completely decked out compliments of Henry who gave him enough clothes for the entire season. A big thank you to you Henry 🙂 You can come and play with Lachie’s tractors and trains anytime!
Meanwhile mum is stuck shopping for the boring stuff – washers, dryers, groceries, health insurance, home owners insurance, painters…not sure how well she negotiated!
(Although she did buy herself a coat with a fluffy hood in the sales 😉 )
First Impressions: Big, big and bigger!
The buildings are big.
The houses are big.
The cars are big.
The roads are big.
The shops are big. The distance between shops is big. Even when you have a little group of shops together, the shops are so big and spread out that you would generally drive between shops. Particularly in this weather 😉
The items in the shops are big. Fluids (milk, washing detergent, etc) are usually bought in gallon containers.
Most importantly the choice is big. The coice between varieties, flavours, fat/sugar content, number of brands… It was a little overwhelming at first – but we’re quite comfortable with the trial-and-error solution now.We’re never quite sure what we’re going to get. We expect to make mistakes which only adds to the excitement when we get it right :)You definitely get the feeling that the population is a lot larger here to support such diversification.
What to do today?
With no plan for the day, we thought we would take the family back to American basics. So we aimed for a stereotypical American meal & outing…? |
We went to White Castle and then on a deer hunt 🙂
White Castle:
(according to movie legend this is always a good American adventure)
Deer Hunting:
(like a “bear hunt” – where you track the deers down for viewing purposes only. Luckily in our back yard and around the J&J campus, this is very easy. We usually see this clique of deers a few times a week).
Wallamble 
