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Hard to believe we have already been in
Australia for a year and a half! A lot has happened since we last updated our
website.
Last Thanksgiving, Kevin’s parents came down for a
visit. We had a wonderful 2 weeks
hanging out at the local beaches, going to
Rottnest Island where
Tom fell in love with the native quokkas (at least we think he did cuz he kept
feeding them lots of bread despite all the signs
J)
and we all went snorkeling and walking around the island. We went on a trip to
Margaret River and spent lots of
time tasting at all the local wineries. Cathy and Tom also got to see their
first kangaroos. It was wonderful to see them! and they tell us they might even
come back J
Since then, Kevin has started a 3 year postdoctoral position at the
ENSIS Forestry group at
CSIRO. My PhD studies are still going well. I
just completed a teaching
internship, helped a couple friends with their fieldwork at
Ningaloo, recently finished my own
fieldwork and attended a
conference here in Perth. We are both happy at work and still enjoy what we
do.
We each traveled back to the states this year, me for my brother Murray’s
wedding, and Kevin for his
cousin Mary’s wedding. It was really great to catch up with friends and family!
Next time maybe we’ll coordinate a little better and come together. For
Thanksgiving this year, my brother Murray and new sister Amanda came to
visit us – yay! We continued our new
tradition of barbequing a turkey and had a bunch of friends over for the annual
feast. Pumkin pie and sweet potatoes were the big hits with our friends
J
We did a whirlwind tour of the southwest and did all the tourist attractions
including meat pies, caves, the southern forests, beaches, let’s not forget the
spectacular circular pool, a chocolate factory, bee farm, and of course lots of
wineries (do you sense a pattern here?!). We’re hoping all of you will follow
their example & come visit soon! J
Haven’t made much progress in the learning to surf department. Instead, we
joined the local kayak club and have
been doing some paddling. Kevin’s gotten really into it and bought a new
multisport kayak, which is a long sleek fiberglass boat good for flat water
racing. I did a whitewater class and have been out a couple times, but hurt my
wrist again, so had to take a few months off. It seems that mountain biking may
not be my destiny but I refuse to accept that! We are now both trying to pick up
windsurfing because Perth is the second windiest city in the world, so why not?
It doesn’t seem to bother my hand - hallelujah - so keep your fingers crossed
for me!
Much to the kitty’s dismay, we got a black lab puppy,
Tucker last Christmas, and he has
already grown up into a big goofy 35 kilo bundle of joy! He has taken it upon
himself to re-landscape our back yard, remove the washing from the line and
empty the trash on a regular basis, keep the cat on her toes with daily moisture
rubs, and rid us of our excess material goods
J
How did we ever survive without him?!
We’re spending the holidays at home with Tucker and his best doggie friend,
Bailey, who we’re looking after while some friends are off traveling. We have
been enjoying our days at the amazing
beach just outside our doorstep. Why bother going on vacation when it looks
like this?!
Thanks to Kevin’s mom, we now have a video
camera, so if you miss us or just wanna see our smiling faces,
give us a buzz on
Skype - its really cool, just like the Jetsons!
Hope to catch up with you soon!
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