The 2nd week.....

Day 7...... Saturday RAINED MOST OF THE DAY...... fined up later in the day & the boys got to go outside & play with the kids from the other apartments. Bruce didn't get back from doing his running around until later in the day. Then we went to a shopping mall. It wasn't big by American stanards, but I have written home to a couple of people. I found myself going into the couple of surf shops and walking around the Roxy stuff. You know I felt a little like home. Weird HUH!! Bruce rang his parents & had a chat we had a walk around & drove home again. Had dinner, Bruce did some work until miss sophie got online. That was fun, had a bit of a chat & tried to get the webcams working. We ended up getting a pic but I couldn't hear them, so we typed. It was good to see some faces from home. I saw Soph, then Lizzy & Nick. Yey!! It ended up being a little late, but I was chipper. bruce was pretty proud of himself, this year he did Easter shopping for the 1st time. Day 8...... Sunday Easter The boys awoke to the Easter bunny had come. YEAH!!! More sugar, just what they need. ANyway, Jamieson got a Spongebob sheet set that he wanted & conner got a spongebob pillow that he wanted, so they were very happy with thier pressies. (Mum gave us some money for Easter, that they will be spending on American footballs.) I had a nice surprise, Easter bunny had found me some cadbury eggs which were beside my bed. We all got up & the boys had bacon for breakfast. Bruce was doing some work later in the day & I spoke to Raels & Oscar on the webcam & then got online with mum & dad. So we all got to see each other, it has been over a week so that was great. The look on Oscar's face was fantastic. I don't think he believed Raels that the boys would be on the computer. So his smile was priceless. After that we got back online with the Bells. This time we saw AL too. So it was a good cheery day. The boys had fun playing with thier new friends & we all got to speak to home. Was on messenger with Elise, got emials from a few people. Thanks guys. It was an OK easter considering we weren't at home. HAPPY EASTER everyone. Day 9.... Easter Monday We started the day but jumping into the car (not again..said the boys) & went off to get thier shots. Chicken pox shots. Now most of you will know & remember the hidiousness that was both of the boys getting the chicken pox about 3 years ago. But seeing as how we couldn't prove it, the shots had to get done. The sad thing is.. I have a pretty good sense of direction. I know all the main street names, but for some reason, I just can't get the north south thing going. It's so frustrating, at home I would have go somewhere once & have a pretty good idea how to get back. Here though I just haven't quite got it, maybe it's because I'm not driving yet. Bruce is going away in a couple of weeks, so I have to then. (Stay on the right, stay on the right,stay on the right) Anyway, we got to the place & only had to wait about 45 minutes which was great. Conner did fine, but Jamieson tensed up when the needle went in & ofcoarse it hurt more. So he started howling!!!!! So what fixes everything (Jess & Elise) McDonalds & lollies. They got to have takeaway for lunch. So they were happy. We came home, the kids had a play in the playground, Bruce worked for the afternoon, went across & enrolled the kids in school. Jamieson definately has a place there & they are going to get back to us about Conner. Then went out to get groceries around 6pm & decided to go and check out a sofa bed, then kept going to some shops we hadn't been to before. We found a Mervyn's & bought some towels. We got egypian cotton towels on sale for $5.00 each . How cool is that. I love shopping here. We then went to do the groceries, Safeway again. I've now figured out how you get things cheaper. They have alot of 2 or 4 for $?.00 stuff . You buy those and your not bad. I got 4 gallons of milk for $4.00 (7.6 litres) That's pretty good, & we found a place with cheaper cheese so Jamieson can still eat it like there's no tomorrow. So thats a bonus. I did a bigger shop so we've got more than just snacks, & bread & milk in the house. The boys are eating like you wouldn't believe. I'm waiting to see if it's just because they are at home. Maybe it will be better once they start school. Spoke to Lizzy on skype then the kids briefly, then on messenger with Rhys. replyed to some emails. Got to bed about midnight. It's a good note to go to bed on, having just spoken to home. Day 10....Tuesday TODAY.. I'm up to date. Bruce gets up early every day (like home) & works until everyone gets up. We all have breakfast together, Bruce goes back to work & the boys went to thier rooms played. I checked emails replyed to a couple. School rang, they want the kids to start tomorrow, there isn't really any places anywhere for Grade 4 kids. So they are going to put them in and test them to make sure they are in the right places. So we have to send them to school tomorrow with either a packed lunch or $2.25 for lunch. Then they will let us know what else they need. We went out later in the day to organise our sofa bed. IKEA!!! Love that place, it's being delivered tomorrow. Bruce got a desk & chair. Then we headed off to WAL-MART. Well, it's like K-mart (on steroids). That was fun, it's huge!!!! We got, a vacum cleaner. It's so quite, it's so small, but that's all we need. I got some more stuff for the kitchen, clippers for haircuts. Which they had when we got home. Conner had his hair cut short, thank goodness, he looks so much better. Had dinner & bed at a resonable hour. YEAH!!!! Bruce is watching the basketball of coarse and I'm here. Wednesday .. 19th April This morning the boys started school.. STONE LAKE ELEMENTRY. We all walked across the road (literally). We walked out the front gates, turned right, walked 100m, crossed the road & walked into school. The girls at the office showed us where to go & we dropped Jamieson off with Mrs Lunsford. Her father was a lecturer & they visited Melbourne when she was younger. She was lovely, she took Jamieson to thier line. Then we dropped Conner off with Miss Burgess. She has a friend who is in Newcastle that she emails frequently. So at least they had some idea about Australia. We walked out of school around 8.10am & came home. I sat and had my Milo....oops, hot chocolate stuff & cleaned up the house. I was at the business centre around 9.15 am (Bruce was working on the laptop, so it's great that I can go to the business centre & get some stuff done.) I went into the business centre & returned some emails. Updated this next blog to be posted & just got out of the apartment. While I was gone our new sofa bed & bruce's desk were delivered. SO excited!!. We are civilised now, not sitting on the floor anymore. Ikea must love us lately. So the apartment looks right now. Bruce was talking to his friend Rich in Seattle, (Hi Rich) & hopefully we will be meeting the Kraft Family in VEGAS at the end of June. WOO HOO!! Everyone knows how much I love Vegas. Bruce left for his meeting & I picked the kids up from school. They had a great day. They made some friends & the kids were nice. They also had a US canteen lunch. So that was exciting for them too. Conner did really well, he apparently stood up in front of the whole class and answered all of the questions that the kids had. Everything from if the holidays are the same, to his favorite stuff, to his interests. His teacher was impressed. The principle called & as we thought, they are going to be starting Grades 1 & 4, but in thier next school year. So, they will be doing a few weeks of Kinder (prep) & grade 3 then starting the new grades in July when they go back. Although apparently there is a bug jump from grades 3 to 4 here so they want Conner to do extra stuff over the summer break. Don't know if I've mentioned it but they have what's called tracks here. Each track has different holidays, the boys will be it looks like Track A. That means thier big block of holidays is July & August, they also get some in November & some in March. Everyone gets Christmas to New Year. So they get an extended Summer where as some of the others have thier big holidays at other times over the year. Overall, it was a great first day of school. We came home & went to the pool for a while, (met another family) then the kids went out & played with the other kids in the complex. Bruce is currently organising his next trip. He will be off and again some time next week. He's off too, Salt lake City, Utah to a trade show, then off to Germany for his presentation & I think stopping at Florida on the way home. Big important trip, but not as long as usual. Being here (US) has made the trips a few days shorter. YEAH!!!! He misses the school picnic, he's 'not happy Jan', to say the least. Day 12... Thursday The boys went into thier proper year levels today. They did really well by the sounds of it. Jamieson is doing really well in all areas, maths is being worked on. Conner is doing well, maths is also the issue. As Ros told us, they are more advanced at math over here. Conner's teacher is really great though & she is going to be going backwards a bit with him to make sure he knows the fundamentals to progress through. He does have a lot of catching up to do, so we will be doing extra work over Summer. With both of them, considering they haven't had alot of schooling this year, working a bit over summer is going to be good for them. Jamieson came to the realisation that he was in Kinder (prep) this morning, so I had to explain that when the new school year starts later he will be where he was when we left. He seemed OK with it. Also, the kinder (prep) only do school until 11.35am. Pretty cool for Jamieson, although I think he will miss being at school for the whole day. It's not forever, just a few weeks. We did about an hour of homework today when we got home & he really enjoyed it. Just some stuff that the other kids have been doing. One of the other mothers introduced herself to me this afternoon, which was great. Jennifer & her daughter Olivia is in Jamieson's class. Conner was the centre of attention & loving it today. Although we've told him that he now needs to get into the school work. He realizes this now, because he nows how much catching up he has to do. But a real posative is that he wants to work, "or I'll fail". He loves the fact that they get A's & B's here. Go figure! The last couple of days here have been beautiful, so the kids have been playing outside heaps, and loving it. I BAKED today. My husband came home & Sniffed then said, "MMMM smells like home." It was like I was a wife in the 50's. I had started dinner, baked cookies (not my receipe, the mix in a packet. Don't have ingrediants for any baking yet. So I guess, I kind of was except for the 1950's bit. Also no apron (I don't have one) I'm getting the camera out, so hopefully I'll get some more pics for everyone. If there is anything specific anyone wants to look at please let me know. Digital camera's rock. Don't forget, that I need pics of everyone emailed to me. I'm making a photo wall, so the more the better. PLEASE!!!! I just have to find a place with the photo printing centre (like we have) Then I can get it started, make at least one of these walls not so bare. Last but certainly not least..... To Bruce's dear friend Rich. (And mine very soon I'm sure) Thank you for the lovely email welcoming us to the States. Your support was wonderful to hear & very much needed. We will see you guys soon. That's all for now... Love US