It's Birthday Month!

I know, it's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged, but I was pretty sure that none of you wanted to hear about the mundane goings on of our daily life here! Which is exactly what life has been like for the last few weeks. Mundane and normal. It's a perfect existence and exactly what we've been looking for, and a pleasant consequence of our second year on exchange.

Part of the normal was of course birthday month for both of the little people.

First up was Miss Hannah making the jump from 10 to 11. She was lucky enough to celebrate the day with her Aussie bestie and later on in the week swing through the trees with the rest of her crew.

Her party was held at a trees adventure course. Literally her favourite activity in the world and getting to do it outdoors on her birthday in February I'm told was "epic"!

    

Hannah flying through the "easy course":

Also of note...best cupcakes ever - rainbow cupcakes with rainbows on top made by our friend Sarah and the best gift ever - purple hightop converse. I'd say we can call this birthday a success!

Next up, Mr. Tyler turned 9.  This I was not prepared for at all. I'm quite honestly considering denying him the right to turn 10 next year!

So the best birthday ever theme continued with a party with 10 of his mates at a local sporting centre complete with a nerf battle!

     

And if that wasn't amazing enough, there were bubble sports too! This was seriously hilarious, I didn't even want to try it, watching it was entertainment enough!

    

Funniest video ever:

It all finished off with a family dinner birthday cake for the birthday boy.

And who can forget what I'm told is another best birthday gift ever...a quadcopter.

Best 11th birthday ever = ✔️
Best 9th birthday ever = ✔️

2 birthdays in the same week = 2 exhausted parents ✔️

The first day of school

Successful day one at school...check!

All three had a great day getting back into the swing of things.

We woke up to crazy pouring rain this morning which made drop-off a bit more rushed than usual, but I think perhaps that was ok, it left no time for first-day jitters.

   

Pick-up at the end of the day produced 2 happy and tired children. Their teachers were lovely and they immediately reconnected with their old friends.

We also have one tired teacher. He had a hectic day, but spending the day in front of a class doing what he does best never fails to put him in a good mood.

They have the weekend to rest up and then they're back for a full 5 days next week.

Australia Day and Being Welcomed Back

It's been a whirlwind week for us. Arriving a week earlier than last time afforded us the luxury of extra time which was great in terms of getting settled, but it also allowed us to spend some time visiting with the great friends we've made.

There was a one-day exchange orientation at the Department of Education for Scott. It's a wonderful opportunity for him to become acquainted with the other teachers in Victoria on exchange this year and get answers to some of our questions from some resident "experts". Having already been through this exercise once, Scott quickly discovered that he was one of these "experts" and just like that we were back in the thick of things!

There was a pizza dinner in the city after orientation so that we spouses and children could meet each other as well. While the adults usually have more than enough to talk about, the kids mostly just played around on the grass, eating pizza and drinking fizzy drinks.

My personal favourite moment was a beautiful barbecue was organised for us as a welcome back. It was so great to see so many of the great friends that we had made back in 2013 there to welcome us back. We had so much fun that this lunch bbq turned into pizza, drinks and toasted marshmallows (imported from Canada of course)!








Monday we made a return visit to Arthurs Seat to the Enchanted Adventure Garden. (You can find our original visit here: Enchanted Mazes) Only this time we went with friends! Seriously, all this stuff is way more fun this time round with other families. The weather was great and the company was lovely.

That brings us to today - Australia Day. 3 years ago on this day we were still pretty alone here, so we took advantage of free admission at the Melbourne Aquarium.

This year was a much different experience for us at not just one, but two different barbecues with friends!

First up a welcome back with Scott's colleagues. Drinks, great food, great fun. More than one remarked that it seemed like hardly any time had passed since we left. They're all excited to have him back, so they must like him!

Next up, a bbq and swim at a friends house. It was the perfect way to end the day. The kids had more of their friends to play with, we had a lovely visit and another slice of pavlova. Did I mention I've had pavlova 3 times in 4 days? Doesn't matter, it was amazing every time!

So tomorrow is the end of school holidays for Scott. He has his first day of school - no students, casual dress and just meetings and presentations, so it should be a pretty easy transition back.  Hannah and Tyler don't go back until Friday but the countdown is on, just a couple more days of laying around for them!

We've arrived...again!

At 10:05 am Saturday, January 16, 2016 after 34 hours of travelling we arrived in Australia for the year of a lifetime. Again!

It was an uneventful trip. No delays and all of us and as well as all of our luggage arrived in the same country together. I'm calling that a win!

After a 5:00 am wake up call, one last Timmies for Scott was an absolute necessity!

iPads for the small people was an absolute lifesaver. Normally at our house there are strict limits on how long you can use your technology. While travelling all bets were off.  As long as there were no meltdowns or arguments, you could keep your nose stuck to your iPad as long as you liked.

Silence is golden

These guys are pretty seasoned travellers though. They make their way through security like champs, carry their own bags and we hardly hear from them during the flights.

The best part was that our Aussie family met us with enthusiasm and made sure the jet-lagged travellers got home safe and sound!  Groceries and dinner were also gratefully provided.

We're home :)

Time to leave...again

Parts of getting ready to leave on exchange much easier the second time. For example, well...pretty much everything! From cleaning and decluttering to packing and getting to the airport,  it's much less stressful the second time round. We've done it all before.

Seeing my house empty is something that never fails to amaze me. Every drawer and closet is empty, every corner vacuumed and mopped. We've put all our personal things in storage. The house is bare and so different from what it looks like on a daily basis!

While some things are easier, some are just as difficult if not more. The most difficult is saying good-bye. It's still hard to leave behind our friends and family, but those who knew us before the first exchange and saw how changed we were afterwards understand how amazing this second opportunity is for our little family and support us all the way. Still it's hard.

So on the eve of our departure we had a great night out with our wonderful friends before heading out on the adventure of a lifetime...again.

We'll miss you all!

T-minus One Month!

One month from today we'll be on our way to Ferntree Gully.  We are of course hoping for just one big snowstorm before we leave so that we can make a snowman.

But if the forecast stays like this:

Our snowmen are going to look a bit more like this:

We have friends who have been on exchange the past year and are working through the mixed emotions that come with the end of the experience. It's a sober reminder as we get ready to leave that at the end of our year we're going to have to go through all the same steps again - packing up, saying goodbye and living with the months of homesickness afterwards. But you know what? It's all totally worth it!!

Clown Car Upgrade 2.0

Preparations for our return to Ferntree Gully continue. With only 2 months and 17 days until we leave we're trying to be as proactive as possible.

This time round, instead of frantically shopping for a car almost immediately after landing, we were fortunate enough to be able to purchase a car from another exchange family currently in Australia. It's got a few years and miles on it, but it's in great working order and it's been well cared for through 2 different exchange families in as many years.

For those of you who aren't familiar with our beloved clown car from our last exchange here's a look into the past.

Aww, I kind of miss her!

I can honestly say that the kids have gotten bigger since then...and so have our wheels!

We've upgraded ever so slightly to a "not as old as the last car" 2004 Toyota Camry.

And of course for those of you expecting an updated picture of the kids...

The McEwens are going back to Australia in 2016!

2015 is shaping up to be a pretty good year, but we're already looking forward to 2016. We're excited to say that we're headed back to the only other place we love as much as home - our second home - Ferntree Gully, Australia!

Our wonderful exchange partners from 2013, Peter and Robyn approached us early last year and asked us if we would be interested in participating in another exchange with them. At first it seemed too good to be true, but after some careful consideration we decided that it was fate playing a card - we needed to take hold of this opportunity and go back.

We're very excited to get a second chance to spend some more time in a place that has very much come to feel like home to us.  Of course we know that it's still going to be hard to leave again at the end of the year, but we're not going to think about that right now ;)

So get ready Ferntree Gully, lock up your maple syrup - the Canadians are coming back, eh!

The McEwens are back in Canada

This is it - the final blog entry.  I admit it, I've been putting this off. Somehow this makes it all feel very final. It's written in 2 parts because when I started early after we arrived back home, I ust couldn't bring myself to finish it and put it aside knowing that if I couldn't complete it now, I was going to have to do it later. I chose later.  Now that a few months have gone by and life is slowly returning to normal, we decided it was finally time to close the chapter on this written account of our amazing experience.

[February 2014 - one month after our return to Canada]

We're "home" How does it feel to be back? The million dollar question. For the first month we really weren't sure how to answer that question. We got home safely, had a lovely warm reunion with our family and friends, received our shipped luggage shortly after, got the cupboards and the fridge stocked, made sure we had working transportation, got back to work and the kids back to school with their friends all pretty smoothly.

First day back to school - check out those tans!

Scott had an easy transition back to school with a week of review followed by a week of exams.  It didn't take more than a couple of weeks to feel like he never left!  He's happily settled back in to the old routine for this second semester. Both staff and students have commented that as much as they enjoyed having our Aussie counterpart for the year, it's nice to have Mr. McEwen back in the hallways of OTHS.

In an effort to combat the homesickness we have dove back into our Canadian life. Hannah and Tyler are busy with their friends (some old, some new). Birthday parties were had and it seemed as though everything was back to the way it was just one year ago.

But something was missing and we couldn't quite put our finger on it. It could be the wildlife, we live very rural, but there are no kookaburra's to be found; I had to buy a lemon at the supermarket the other day - that was different than picking it off the tree in our backyard; and we still see our Aussie friends and family regularly with the help of Skype; but still - there's something different. 

We reckon it's us that are different. This experience has changed our entire family in ways that we simply couldn't anticipate, and we are so thankful for all those changes, because we are all better for it. 

After getting involved in the exchange community here as well as making contact with some of our friends that were on exchange with us over the last year, it's reassuring to hear that it's all perfectly normal. At least we can all relate to each other!

[May 2014 - 4 months later]

It's the end of May. After what was by all accounts one of the longest and coldest winters Ottawa has ever seen, spring visited us briefly with some much needed rain, and finally it seems as though the warm summer weather is finally here to stay.  To be perfectly honest, I don't know how we would have gotten through the entire winter, we were only here for half of it and this is the first time I've been warm since the plane landed in January!

March 12, 2014 - I got out of my car to take this one on my
way home...I can't see the road...can you?

May 25, 2014 - Spring is here!

We're definitely not such a novelty anymore, there aren't as many questions about our year, and we've tried to stop boring our friends with the phrase "In Australia...", and focus more on our lives in Canada.  It was an incredible year, but it's important to remember we have a life here as well.

It didn't take long for us to fall back into the "rush everywhere and fit it all in" mentality that we left behind a year ago - busy work schedules, kids activities, family responsibilities, and friends all taking a piece.

But we're smarter with our time now and we're trying to make some changes. If we can move our entire family to Australia for a year, certainly we can get done what needs to be done, and still make some time for ourselves! So - no more late nights of work, we're more involved in the kids school days, weekends are for us, the kids and friends, and we're even working in some travel (mind you it's currently of the summer camping variety).

Hannah is thoroughly enjoying her time back at the barn with her pony Denver, it really is her happy place. Seriously, there isn't even a whinge about any of the chores, but heaven forbid I ask her to pick up her dirty socks here in the house and put them into the laundry!

Rodney is of course happy to be home (even though he had a great time with Uncle John and Aunt Sheila) he's excited to have his kids back, so we got him a little gift - his own cat! He and Timmy are still working out the kinks in their relationship ;)

Tyler is a busy boy too. Baseball season has just started, and he's looking forward to getting back in to basketball in the fall.  There's even been some recent discussion about guitar lessons.  He's a well rounded boy, even if he is currently toothless!

Both kids have learned so much over the last year. They've grown so much (in height and in experience!) They've made lifelong friendships and their confidence in life shines through them now. We're so proud of all they've learned over the year, and can't imagine this experience without them.

All that being said, we still miss Ferntree Gully and our friends all the time, and we're already planning a visit in July 2015.  We're also lucky enough to have a treat in September when our wonderful Aussie family comes to visit us for a week on their way to the UK. This is a visit we're looking forward to with great anticipation. It'll be a whirlwind, and not near long enough, but such a special treat for us, and we can hardly wait.

This may be the end of our blog for now, but it certainly isn't the end of our exchange adventures. Stay tuned for news of our next big adventure (soon, but not too soon).