1st Brisbane Apartment

We arrived in Brisbane, Australia early in the morning after spending 10 days in New Zealand. We couldn't get into our apartment until 2pm so we spent the day exploring our new city. Since we had changed our initial plans, and changed to arrive in Brisbane a week earlier than scheduled, we had to stay in one apartment for 4 days and then move into our long term apartment for 8 weeks. It was quite hectic moving our 12 suitcases from one place to the next, but we did it. We are thankful for Matt's colleague Paul who let us borrow his car (and stored our suitcases while we were in NZ), which made things much easier. Our first apartment was only a 10 minute walk down the river from the long term apartment.

It was an adjustment to go from our St. Kilda (Melbourne) house to this small apartment in a high rise building. We were spoiled in St. Kilda with a 3 bedroom 2.5 bathroom town house with tons of space to spread out and a large outside patio. This apartment is 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom and a very small kitchen/living/dining with a small balcony. The great part is that we have a balcony with an awesome view of the city, a rooftop pool with an awesome view of the city and a place to hangout and we are right in the middle of everything downtown. It is a good challenge to live in small spaces and realize we don't really need a huge house. As Derek put it, "when we go home our house is going to feel like "AHHHH" a mansion." LOL.

Back to "real life" of homeschooling, after a week off in New Zealand.

"Cafe Montague"

One evening the kids decided that they were going to make us dinner. 

They wrote up a menu and made the food and served us, all by themselves. They told us you guys sit here and talk while we get the food. It was just like a real restaurant. 

They served us sandwiches with carrots and hummus. 

It was AWESOME!!

The kids have gotten creative in our new apartment with the tiny living space!

 

Rylie is pretending to be a DJ!

Derek bought a key chain in NZ that is a pocket knife and bottle opener all in one. 

He has learned how to open Daddy's beer and is very proud!

 So sweet!!!!

Rylie still loves to sleep with her Gracies.

At Aldi we found a flashlight which Australians call a "torch."

Breakfast in our first Brisbane apartment, just after getting back from NZ. 

You can tell because Matt still has his sabbatical beard. LOL