Lily, Caden, & Gia Lovers: The Week End

Our dear friends the McKenna's have loaned us the car they have bought for Thomas until he has his license. It is wonderful! Gia and I picked it up Friday, so I had my first experience since we have been here driving - on the opposite side of the road - with a stick shift. It really takes some concentration. And every time I attempt to put on my turn signal, the windshield wipers come on instead :)

So despite having the freedom that comes with the car, Gia and I drove home and parked it to walk into Fremantle to meet Corey and Sean and Milena Lennon for lunch at Little Creatures. Sean in an ND alum, raised in South Bend. We know many of the same people, including his wonderful sister Molly, and they had just returned from living in Chicago for 18 months with their two boys.

Friday night we were invited to a dinner hosted by Vikki, the wonderful cook/professor in Corey's department here. She made a menu to introduce the three different options all 20 of us for each course! The meal was held outdoors in a covered porch area that protected us all from the wind and the rain we were experiencing that night. It made for an especially cozy occasion.

Vikki's landlords were also in attendance, who she refers to as the LL's. They are 100% Italian and were very fun to talk to. They make their own sausage, tomato sauce, are avid fishers and even make their own Limoncello - it was divine! All in all, a really wonderful evening.

Saturday Corey took the kids to a LEGO and Robot competition at a local mall (so nice to have that car!). I stayed home to catch up on some things. The kids had a ball! Lily and Caden even won one of the competitions where they had to make a car out of LEGOS and knock out a target :) They then spent some time hanging out in the mall.

The kids are always suckers for a thrill :)

Tuckered out on the way home.

Saturday night we went to dinner at the Tannock’s home, over in Swanbourne not far from the beach. Mark works at ND and his father is a legendary man who all but single-handedly started ND here in Australia. Mark and his wife have 3 children the same ages as ours and they played beautifully. It was a really wonderful evening.

The kids eating, and being served, like kings and queens

Sunday started early. The kids picked up some craft kits at the mall with Corey and were anxious to get started. The ND game started at 8am, so Corey spent a few hours alternatively yelling at the computer because of slow streaming with our shoddy Internet connection, and screaming at the game in general. We picnicked on pancakes in the office while we watched.

Once over, Corey and I (and Gia) ran while the kids biked, out to the beach. It was our first time doing this as a family and the kids did awesome! We had lunch at the Salt on the Beach and enjoyed a windy and sunny day of building sand castles and of course, looking for seashells J