Cheesus

In my recent escapade to the local grocery store (yes, an I call it an escapade...makes grocery shopping so much more desirable) I found myself in the cheese aisle, fantasizing of Australia.

I wanted flavor; I wanted something that tasted like something more than yellow wax.

I wanted Australian tasty cheddar cheese.

You see, I do love me some good cheese. Always have, always will.  But it wasn't until Australia that good cheese became the norm.  That's when it all began. 

My palate loved that grocery store bought, home brand, tasty cheddar cheese.

Tasty is right!  I remember just eating slice after slice. 

Nachos. Sub sandwiches. Cheese & twiggy sticks. Grilled Cheese. Cheese and crackers...mmmm.

Ok ok, back to my escapade...so I picked me up some SHARP cheddar cheese in hopes that my palate would be deceived and decide I'm back in Australia.

So far, no luck.  Its a step up, but consider it a tiny one.  Like, real small.

All in all, I would be extremely grateful if my dear Australian friends would

#1: enjoy their cheese, dangit!

#2: send the recipe to Kraft...and then Kraft make it for me in America

#3: break the law by somehow getting my tasty cheese through customs and over to me

Is that too much to ask? :)

Yes, I just wrote a post about cheese.

Yes, I realize that is weird.

Yes, I'm still craving my tasty cheddar cheese.

Halloween

Oh jeez.  Time just creeps by.  I was completely frightened today when I was thinking, "next month..." and then I realized, that will be DECEMBER!  What the?

I'm afraid I've neglected my blogging duties so our dear Australian pals might think we've gone to the grave but fear not, we are here.  We're just super busy and leave early in the morning and don't get back until you can see the moon.

This Halloween was so much fun.  Poor Chantel woke up sick as a ghost Halloween morning so I got to trick-or-treat for her.  Phil, on the other hand, was trick-or-treating for himself...and let me tell you, everyone loved it.  First Halloween?  No problem!

They literally dumped candy in his bag.

Dr. Phil certainly wasn't complaining.  He loved it!

Trick-or-treating wasn't Phil's only first this holiday season.  He'd never been to a corn maze or anything like it. Our season passes to Cornbellys did just the trick.  

We definitely got our money's worth out of those passes!  Phil just looked at me with excitement at every new thing.  It usually went like this "Look Kaylee, PUMPKINS!...Look Kaylee, a CORN MAZE!...Look Kaylee, kids dressed up!...Look Kaylee, S'MORES!"  

Ha, I love seeing him experience it all.

 We were lucky enough to have Phil's parents come for a visit just in time to go with us as well.  

Definitely spent a good hour in the corn maze!

(Mum B. and Jocelyn)

 Here we are on the hayride.  Gotta love Autumn.

There was something that was all new for me too...bullriding.  It was such a monster.  I was definitely creaking and groaning the next day.  It was included with our season passes though so we all gave it a whirl.

n

In the night everything became haunted so we screamed til our voices were hoarse.  Every time we went back something new scared me.  BOO!

We also celebrated Phil's birthday, went to Phil's first American Football game and so much more.  In addition, we're trying to paint and do a little bit of home improvement on the side.  Certainly never a dull moment!

So that's our Sept/October in a nutshell...right now we're just trying to make it through til Thanksgiving Break without becoming zombies from all our fun + home improvements + schoolwork = lack of sleep.

Until next time...RIP.

xoxo

Vegas and a Wedding

Ok so Vegas and the wedding may not be entirely related.

Well I guess they are, but not in the way you're thinking!

Come on!

So our last leg of our voyage to America was a stop in Vegas.

We were hammered and carrying our heaviest items in our backpacks (to save luggage weight) so we were a bit...dead...but Phil loved seeing Vegas for the first time.

We snapped a few pics, but mostly just promised we'd be back again when we weren't...well, dead.

Fittingly, this was the fountain show at the Bellagio that day...

Welcome to America!!!

Then it was off to our final destination, Utah.

We were greeted by family and nice soft beds. :)

We had to get our beauty sleep because the following day was wedding time!

Shelley, one of my roommates from freshman year (from Vegas...see I told you they were related), got married the day after we arrived.

Thanks for waiting for us Shelley!

It was special to be be able to be there for one of my best friends, even though it was all a jet-lagged blur. :)

She looked beautiful, the wedding was special and the day was great. 

I loved being back with my friends who know me best...

Kami, the girl who put up with sharing a room with me our entire freshman year.

Such good memories.

And all together again!  The girls of Gates Hall 1912.

Kami, Heather, me, Shelley, Jessica, Kristina.

Love you girls!

So I know you all assumed as much, but we made it.

And now its documented on the blog.

1 couple, 5 suitcases, 7 days in Fiji, stop in Vegas, and ARRIVED.

Here we are!

Fiji Adventures

I know, I know...ya'll have heard about the Fijian trip Phil and I took but there is more!

Brace yourselves. :)

Last time was the place, now it's how spent our time...which was almost entirely out on the ocean.

Kayaking

Swimming

Snorkeling

Marveling

The world is a beautiful place and Fiji is just a taste.

Here's a smidgen of the beauty we found...enjoy...

The snorkeling was amazing. The water was actually warmer than it was outside at times.

The gondola approach, complete with singing and all.

This guy was a creeper! I couldn't come above water knowing he was swimming below me.

Had to keep an eye on him.

I don't know...those 'wings' just are a little frightening to me.

 

And this is what would greet us every time we returned.  Our beautiful private beach.

I can hear the waves crashing now...

Fiji

When I think of paradise it always includes palm trees and the beach.

Fiji was paradise and then so much more.  We loved every second of our stay there.

From the slow, laid back lifestyle to the beautiful scenery.

Every day I would look outside and just be in awe.  Fiji is beautiful.

Our resort was 2 hours from the airport and was accessed via a 2 mile dirt road.  It was so remote.

No-where else to eat but the resort, 20 rooms total and a small village right down the beach.

Perfect.

This is the view from our restaurant where we ate every meal.

Here's our pool, looking straight onto the beach and ocean.  

Ah....

and the pool onto the restaurant at night...

The first night we were there we arranged to eat dinner in the local village.  

They caught all the fish fresh that morning and yesir, we ate octopus!

We are not fans of sea food but fresh seafood like this, yes please!

Phil told me he was proud of me...I just kept thinking this must be what it's like on a mission.  

They just kept telling us to eat more and more and MORE.

The kids were so cute.  They were jumping and climbing all over us (much to their parent's horror).

But we probably didn't help because we just played right back.  

Those kid's lives are so simple yet they're so happy.  I definitely learned a lot just watching them.

The Fijian traditional drink is called Kava, which is made from grinding up the roots from plants.

The family included us in their Kava Ceremony.  It consists of making the kava and then specific claps and words exchanged when you drink.

We heard it tasted like dirt and when a lady at our resort had some at a later kava ceremony told us she was "seeing giraffes" we figured it probably didn't really work with the WofW.  Good thing Phil knew that or I probably would've been seeing giraffes too!

Here's the villager making kava in traditional bowl.  They all have these in their homes.

 Here's our resort's beach.  The tide would come all the way in and all the way out every day.  We spent hours out kayaking and snorkeling...which will be in another post.

There were beach chairs down near the beach so we would just read every morning to the sound of the waves crashing.

It was so beautiful and so secluded. 

Every night the local villagers would play a game of rugby down on the beach.  It amazed me how well they could run in the sand.  We loved watching them.  

(The location and views helped as well) 

And enough talking for now.

I'll just let the pictures say the rest

I miss it. 

Fiji...

really

We are really in America.

We really made it.

I really love American food...(ok, Mexican and Italian...maybe not so American)

But my stomach doesn't really agree with it all yet.

I really only was jet lagged for 2 days.

I really already got a job.

And,

I really do remember that I have a blog, 

and really have heaps of photos and news of the move to blog about.

But I really am too busy. Moving is madness.

Especially overseas.

I really would not recommend it for the faint of heart.

Or for me.  At least until I'm able to forget it all.

Like having a baby I suppose:

a painful, time-consuming process but as time goes on, you do it again.

and again.

and again.

Not that I would really know.

Really.

So I really will update this blog soon. 

Really.

Change...

Pretty soon we won't be "down under" any more so the name of the blog and URL address will be changing in the next couple days...shouldn't effect the followers.

Stay posted...