So Long Summer? Hello Sunsets!

The weather seems to be starting to cool off a little bit. We've been getting some rain, and it actually felt like fall the other day. I don't feel like we've had nearly enough summer yet, but alas, it is March in Australia, and that means the start of another season. 

But the sunsets continue to be beautiful. Here's a random phone shot I took while walking home the other day; I was right by Luna Park and liked how the palm trees were silhouetted as the sun went down:

There is one positive thing about the change in seasons. It means that we get to see sunsets from our balcony again! The other night was the first night in months where I could see the sun as it went down without leaving the comfort of home. I don't think I will ever get sick of this view!

Goodbye Grandpa Schultz

I don't usually post personal stuff on here, besides "here's what we did today" type of things, but I found out that my grandpa died a few hours ago, and he deserves a blog post more than any of the frivolous stuff I usually write about.

Dancing with Grandpa Schultz at our wedding.

Grandpa Schultz was a farmer, hunter, and fisherman. He played a mean game of euchre; I still remember him calling trump on basically nothing ("right-nine all the time"). He and my grandma had seven kids and were married for over fifty years before she passed away ten years ago. My grandpa could build and fix anything, and he worked for General Motors for several years. He was the most helpful guy in the world, and he loved his kids and grandkids like crazy (he always cried when we said goodbye). And he liked to talk and tell stories-sometimes very long ones!

Goofy Grandpa Schultz-I love this picture of him!

Up until a couple of months ago, my grandpa was super healthy. He even had a full head of dark hair at age 90! But about six weeks ago he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos (from all the years working with GM), and he'd been declining ever since. Lots of the family was able to be with him in Michigan over the past week, and he's been under Hospice care in his own home for the past few days, so things went as "good" as they could have considering the circumstances. But I sure will miss my grandpa.

Video of Favorite Memories of Grandpa Schultz

Above is the link to a video my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) made last week for his 90th birthday, which was just a few days ago. They played it for him yesterday, and my mom said he was able to hear everyone's voices and feel the love. You're welcome to watch the whole thing if you want to, but I'd at least check out the first few minutes, because my brother made a really awesome intro using his bouncy ball collection!

Goodbye Grandpa Schultz-I love you!

Cricket with Kris and Kevin

Kris was my roommate in Farley Hall during my freshman year at Notre Dame, and in August, she married a guy named Kevin. I couldn't make it to their wedding, but they took a delayed honeymoon to Australia! After visiting the Great Barrier Reef and before heading to Sydney and then New Zealand, they stopped over in Melbourne for a few days. We didn't have the greatest of weather over the weekend, but we made the best of it.

One thing we did was go to a cricket match at the MCG on Friday night. Australia was playing Sri Lanka. The match started at 2:30pm, but we just went for a few hours in the evening. We must have looked like total dorks reading the rules of the game on Wikipedia on our phones while watching the game, but once we understood it a bit, cricket was much more fun to watch! The main thing I didn't know is that there are two batsmen at one time, and they score points by running back and forth between the wickets after hitting the ball. I won't go into all of the other rules; if you really care, check out this link.

Only certain sections of the stadium were full, but there are apparently tons of people from Sri Lanka living in Melbourne, because there were lots of spirited fans cheering for the Sri Lankan team! Australia ended up winning in the end, but only by 15 runs (which is not a lot). Check out the picture above with Gatorade guys on segways!

Kris and Kevin in front of Flinders Street Station on a cloudy Friday night.

On Saturday after a nice breakfast at a cafe, I took Kris and Kevin around the city on the free city circle tram, with a stop at the Queen Victoria Market. They enjoyed the ever-interesting meat hall (tongues, cheeks, livers, etc.), some souvenir shopping, and a few yummy macaroons. Unfortunately, it rained all day! In the evening, we played some euchre at our place before heading to the Fitzroy area and Brunswick Street for drinks and dinner. Good times! It was awesome to finally catch a cricket game and show an old college pal around my new home. Happy honeymoon Kris and Kevin!

Words With Friends

I love the app called Words With Friends. It's basically Scrabble, but you can play with anyone in the world. You just take your turn when you have time, so the games take at least a few days, especially when you're playing against someone who's awake while you're asleep (everyone in the US!). Anyway, I'm addicted. I usually have at least five games going at once, and if I'm on my phone, that's probably what I'm playing. Some people put up a good fight (namely my dad). And some people cheat (there are websites to do this-so unfair!). Apparently most of my cousins refuse to play me because I'm "too good"?! I'm pretty decent, but I definitely don't always win. A lot of it depends on what letters you're given. Anyway, below are screen shots of two moves in recent games. I'm rather proud of these; anything over 100 is pretty rare (at least from my experience). If you want to play against me, my username is AubreeK...if you dare! :)

Highest one word score of my career.

How ya like that Daddy-o?

Siamese Bananas

Has anybody ever seen bananas connected like this, or is it just an Australian thing?

Mail From Molly

It's always exciting to get mail that isn't bills or junk, especially when you live abroad and don't get mail from "real" people very often at all. So imagine my delight when we got a card "from" our dog Molly the other day! To catch up any newer readers, our chocolate lab Molly is staying with my brother Justin, my sister-in-law Cindy, and their yellow lab Mascot while we're living in Australia. Here's the front of the card:

No, that is not really a picture of Mascot and Molly on the couch together. But this is:

Ha! These dog cousins love each other-can you tell? Below is the inside of the card. Aunt Cindy may have helped Molly write this just a bit!

We miss Molly like crazy, but at least we know she's having fun in Michigan. And she really does like Mascot. A few months ago, when Mascot swallowed a rock (don't ask!) and had to have surgery, Molly threw up while Mascot was away. Molly only barfs if she's upset about something! The picture below shows the dog friends helping out in the kitchen... 

Molly Brown has her own Facebook page (you can become her friend!), and Justin and Cindy are great about posting pictures and videos and letting us see her on Skype. We miss you Molly-thanks for the card!

Lawn Bowling and a Cool Cake

At the end of March, Zack and I, along with several friends, are doing a ridiculous race called the Tough Mudder. It's a course designed by British Special Forces and involves running basically a half marathon with obstacles along the way. They range from jumping off a plank into ice cold water, running through mud-filled tires, crawling through skinny tubes and under wire, climbing over walls, jumping over fire, carrying a log up a hill, racing through electrified wires (ack!), etc. Peer pressure is the only reason I signed up for it. Anyway, we had a little team get-together this weekend with a BBQ at Adam and Emily's place followed by a game of lawn bowling at a local club. It was an extremely hot day!

This "sport" is pretty popular among the elderly here in Australia. You stand on a mat and then roll this black ball, which is kind of like a smushed sphere and weighted on one side (so you have to account for the curve that happens), toward a white "jack" (small ball) at the other end of the green. The closest ball to the jack wins. For the first few rounds, the girls split from the boys. This picture is of the guys during one of their games.  

Zack ended up being pretty good at lawn bowling. The pictures above show his ball right on the pin; he definitely won that round! Note his extremely Aussie outfit...muscle tee (called a singlet here) and colored shorts. With our Havaiana flip-flops (thongs), we are starting to fit in in this country!

After bowling, we went back to the Lowells for some more food and dessert. Here is the cake I made in honor of the occasion. We are Team AUSsome because most of us are expats or people from other countries. You can see several of the obstacles we'll have to face featured on this cake. More to come about how/if we survive at the end of the month!