There are a couple of other pictures mixed in here, but mostly this is Mount Saint Helens!
NOTE: When you click the picture below it will take you to another web-site. All of the photo's are in an album there.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Told you everything is big...
Take a good look at Darren's cappuccino, double the size of Australia. However, Darren reckons it's not very nice... He says they don't know how to make proper coffee : ) 
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Our trip to Mt Saint Helens
Because we had a little bit of time up our sleeve before moving into our new "residence" we took the time to head up and see one of the more well known tourist attractions in Washington State (which Portland is pretty much smack on the border of) - Mount Saint Helens. It was an amazing day, weather wise, and we got up to the monument at around 11am in the morning. We spent most of the day going through the different visitors centers, which had a great number of things to do and see. The pictures below will show you both the devastation that was left by the volcano eruption back in May of 1980, as well as the fact that the volcano is STILL ACTIVE.
Just behind Tara and the kids is the volcano. Yes - that is steam coming from the top of the volcano. We are about 8 miles away from the mountain at this point.
Just behind Tara and the kids is the volcano. Yes - that is steam coming from the top of the volcano. We are about 8 miles away from the mountain at this point.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
The Oregon Zoo
Today Jessie, Cynfor and Tara visited the Oregon Zoo. They found out information about a lot of the animals native to the USA, including the BALD EAGLE. If you look at the pictures below, Cynfor and Jessie are trying to see if they can stretch their arms as far as the eagle - but alas, it looks like they need to grow a little more!
They are now slowly getting back into a normal sleep routine, going to bed earlier, and getting up earlier, in readiness for their return to school. The school "Bethany Elementary" has accepted both of the kids, and have a very friendly and understanding staff. I met with the principal today to discuss their school system, as well as how Bethany operates. The kids are very excited to be returning.
Tara has also found information about a local Chinese (Madarin) school in the area, which is also a bonus. It is about 5 minutes from where we will be living, and runs on Saturday's. She hopefully will have a chance to speak to their school president tomorrow, and finalise that.
All in all, things are starting to settle down now. We will have keys to the house on the 8th of September, and hope to move in either that weekend, or during the following week - depending on how we go for timing. (The kids will be back at school - we are concious of that.)
Once we move in, just a few other things to arrange, like a small car - which will allow me to get to work, while Tara drives the "truck" we are loaning from friends. We also need to go "appliance shopping" - looking for things like an electric kettle, and my favourite - a BIG SCREEN HIGH DEFINITION TV. (Although I am still working on convincing Tara that this is a good thing! - I will have to take her to show her, it is AMAZING.) I will put a picture of that online some other time!
They are now slowly getting back into a normal sleep routine, going to bed earlier, and getting up earlier, in readiness for their return to school. The school "Bethany Elementary" has accepted both of the kids, and have a very friendly and understanding staff. I met with the principal today to discuss their school system, as well as how Bethany operates. The kids are very excited to be returning.
Tara has also found information about a local Chinese (Madarin) school in the area, which is also a bonus. It is about 5 minutes from where we will be living, and runs on Saturday's. She hopefully will have a chance to speak to their school president tomorrow, and finalise that.
All in all, things are starting to settle down now. We will have keys to the house on the 8th of September, and hope to move in either that weekend, or during the following week - depending on how we go for timing. (The kids will be back at school - we are concious of that.)
Once we move in, just a few other things to arrange, like a small car - which will allow me to get to work, while Tara drives the "truck" we are loaning from friends. We also need to go "appliance shopping" - looking for things like an electric kettle, and my favourite - a BIG SCREEN HIGH DEFINITION TV. (Although I am still working on convincing Tara that this is a good thing! - I will have to take her to show her, it is AMAZING.) I will put a picture of that online some other time!
Monday, August 21, 2006
Chinatown - not so great...
Tara and the kids wandered down to Chinatown today - not such a great place (bit rundown, etc.) 
Here are some pictures of them standing outside one of the buildings.
Here are some pictures of them standing outside one of the buildings.
Hopefully some good news...
Well, we received word today from the rental agency about our house application, and it was approved! So we will pay our deposit in the next few days, and look to be moving in around September 9th. (One month after arriving!)The kids school will hopefully be the one picture below - I don't have much to tell, other than it is called Bethany Elementary, and looks quite nice. We will be speaking to the school tomorrow to see the formalities we need to follow for enrolement, hopefully that will all be sorted for them to start on September 5th!
So far - good news!
Sunday, August 20, 2006
What are we driving for the moment?
For those interested in the car we have from the hire company, here is a picture of it. It is a Ford Taurus, quite a new car, it has only done around 8000 miles. It is quite nice to drive, with all the creature comforts - including GPS satellite Navigation!
Check out the view!
Jessie had just awoken in the car, so she was not impressed about being purched up to take a picture, BUT I bet she is glad she did !
Our trip down the Gorge...
Today we went down to the Columbia River Gorge, to take a look at Multnomah falls, and a few other sight seeing things. Below are some pictures of that trip. We started at the bottom, and hiked to the top - where we cooled off in the water. We then headed down to the fish hatchery, saw some amazing fish, salmon, trout and sturgen (which are HUGE!). We then came back through a scenic route, which we saw back over the gorge from the top - amazing view! If you don't believe us, check out the pictures...
Friday, August 18, 2006
House hunting...
Today we headed out, on a 32C day, for some house hunting. We saw some great places, and some average places. We found one house which we have put an application in for - in a good school area, and relatively close to Nike. (There is a picture below - if all goes well, we will put more up if/when we move in...)
The weekend will be pretty quiet, possibly acting like tourists, go and check out some sights. We are going to dinner with some work friends - who are over from Asia - tomorrow (Saturday) night. We are eating Brazilian. (We will tell you what it is like later.)
PS The house application DOES NOT mean that we are able to get the house. We need to wait until we have heard if our application is successful. We will not know until the middle of this next week.
The weekend will be pretty quiet, possibly acting like tourists, go and check out some sights. We are going to dinner with some work friends - who are over from Asia - tomorrow (Saturday) night. We are eating Brazilian. (We will tell you what it is like later.)
PS The house application DOES NOT mean that we are able to get the house. We need to wait until we have heard if our application is successful. We will not know until the middle of this next week.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Some new pictures for everyone...
As promised, a few pictures from our first few days in Portland. Here are pictures of the apartment, as well as Cynfor, Jessie, Tara and Darren having some fun around the place. The last few photographs are taken on the Nike Campus here in Beaverton Oregon - believe me, these photographs don't do it justice, it is HUGE!
It is big...
Jessie says everything is big in America. It should be called "Burger Country." Burgers are served everywhere...(For those who are not aware, so is COFFEE - even Safeway has StarBucks!) She says she is happy but she doesn't know why...
Cynfor says it is a big place and has lots of people. They are mad about sport - especially in Portland. We get to watch lots of TV shows here before Australia does...(The home of 50,000+ channels and nothing to watch...)
Tara says people here are very nice (so far). They are helpful and patient with us. We had time to explore downtown by public transport which is quite convenient and free in certain areas. (Mainly in the downtown area.)
Cynfor says it is a big place and has lots of people. They are mad about sport - especially in Portland. We get to watch lots of TV shows here before Australia does...(The home of 50,000+ channels and nothing to watch...)
Tara says people here are very nice (so far). They are helpful and patient with us. We had time to explore downtown by public transport which is quite convenient and free in certain areas. (Mainly in the downtown area.)
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
We finally made it...
Well, here I am, sitting at my new desk (which has a great view of the campus lake out the window). I have been at work for two days now, and so far everything has gone well.
We set out on Friday morning, Melbourne time, knowing that we would be held up in the airport due to the scares with plane travel that have occured in the past week or so. We arrived at Los Angeles around 1 1/2 hour later than we should have, and sadly got redirected to a much later flight to Portland. This would not have been so bad, except that the change meant that we were stuck in the airport for at least 5 - 6 hours. (Not so good for the kids - who were teriffic through the whole flight - people on the plane even mentioned how good they were!)
We eventually got into Portland around 9pm, and after getting our baggage and rental car, we were in the appartment around 10 - 10.30pm. We were so tired, we just all got unpacked and slept.
The weekend we pottered around the area, getting a feel for where we were, and headed out to buy the essential items - milk, bread, etc. (By the way - discount cards are a big deal here, and we managed to get a Safeway card, saving us around $USD20 off our grocery bill, and 6c/gallon off "gas" - Petrol for those outside of the USA.)
We are still not set up at home yet for broadband, we had a glitch with the cable modem that means it needs to be replaced. Hopefully I will get a chance to do that tonight before heading home. That will then mean we can start uploading some pictures, etc.
We set out on Friday morning, Melbourne time, knowing that we would be held up in the airport due to the scares with plane travel that have occured in the past week or so. We arrived at Los Angeles around 1 1/2 hour later than we should have, and sadly got redirected to a much later flight to Portland. This would not have been so bad, except that the change meant that we were stuck in the airport for at least 5 - 6 hours. (Not so good for the kids - who were teriffic through the whole flight - people on the plane even mentioned how good they were!)
We eventually got into Portland around 9pm, and after getting our baggage and rental car, we were in the appartment around 10 - 10.30pm. We were so tired, we just all got unpacked and slept.
The weekend we pottered around the area, getting a feel for where we were, and headed out to buy the essential items - milk, bread, etc. (By the way - discount cards are a big deal here, and we managed to get a Safeway card, saving us around $USD20 off our grocery bill, and 6c/gallon off "gas" - Petrol for those outside of the USA.)
We are still not set up at home yet for broadband, we had a glitch with the cable modem that means it needs to be replaced. Hopefully I will get a chance to do that tonight before heading home. That will then mean we can start uploading some pictures, etc.
Friday, August 04, 2006
The news is all GOOD !
Today (August 4th) we finally received our passports back from the consulate. The VISA issues have all been sorted, and at this point in time, our estimated date of departure from Melbourne is Friday August 11th. (One month after our initial intended leave date.)
We are all very excited, and looking forward to the big move. It has finally hit us that we are leaving, and the enthusiasm is back, and we are ready to go.
First challenge will be to find a house for the family and school for the children (not necessarily in that order)...
This week will be one of good-byes to our friends in Australia, and almost a welcoming to our new friends in the USA.
We do have some things to share that we have been doing in our time waiting for the VISA process to complete, which we will post after we are settled. At the moment, getting access to the internet is brief, as we are borrowing other peoples internet connections.
USA Here we come !
We are all very excited, and looking forward to the big move. It has finally hit us that we are leaving, and the enthusiasm is back, and we are ready to go.
First challenge will be to find a house for the family and school for the children (not necessarily in that order)...
This week will be one of good-byes to our friends in Australia, and almost a welcoming to our new friends in the USA.
We do have some things to share that we have been doing in our time waiting for the VISA process to complete, which we will post after we are settled. At the moment, getting access to the internet is brief, as we are borrowing other peoples internet connections.
USA Here we come !
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