Surfer Girl!

Hey y'all!!! LONG TIME NO COMMUNICATION! I have established that life is too much fun which leaves me hardly enough time to blog!! Its been a crazy couple months and I doubt I'll be able to catch you all up! But a girl can try!!! I'll start way way back in October when I got to go SURFING!!!

So I met a really awesome girl from Germany named Anna and she told me about a surfing town outside of Melbourne! We hopped on a bus, then a train, then another bus and ended up in the quaint surfing town of Torquay. Known as the "surfing capital of Australia",  it was a great place to catch my very first waves. We went to a local surf store and rented boards and wetsuits for 2 hours and headed down to the beach! Anna had been surfing before at Torquay and said she would teach me the basics that way we wouldn't have to pay for lessons. She actually was pretty good considering it was only her second time catchin' waves! She stood up on her board a few times and taught me how to stand up to (hypothetically).

I was excited to try surfing but quite nervous! I mean I was swimming in the ocean in Australia. There's sharks and killer jellyfish out there! It was also terribly cold in the water!! But I was brave and I had a wetsuit to protect me from jellyfish and cold, and I jumped right on in! The coldness of the water did take my breath away at first but I got used to it quickly. I started off shaky in the waves...they were pretty big! While we were in the smaller wave zone, the waves were still bigger than I have ever swam in! It was crazy hard trying to stand up on the board but after about 20 attempts I sat up on my knees and rode a wave in! I was thrilled! I did that a few more times before I was finally able to stand up! I stood up for about 15 seconds which was so extremely difficult! I fell off and cheered really loud! I was pumped! I stood up about 3 times after then was so exhausted I needed to take a break! We only had the boards and suits for 2 hours which didn't seem like a long time  but after an hour of battling the waves I was dead on my feet! We finished out the two hours and walked our boards back to the shop and called it a day!

The before photo!!

The after picture..can you tell we are exhausted!

It was so much fun getting to try something that has been on my bucket list forever! I may not be a professional surfer, but I'm on my way!! Just give me another 20 years maybe! And skills. And a good sense of balance. :)

Till next time!!

Mackenzy

The Kiddos

Hey there again!

Whoa..two blog posts in a week? I must be extra word-y, huh? Well since I've only given a small run-down on the family I am working for/a part of here, I thought I'd give a little more depth into the kids!! Like I said earlier in blog (a few weeks ago), I am watching over 3 lovely kids: Benjamin-age 4, Christian-age 2, and Salome-9 months. I am with them starting at 7:30 in the morning till they go to sleep at night (with a nice 90 minute break after lunch for Skyping my family and a nap)! Since I was barely 4 years old when my wonderful sister was born, I've never been in a house permanently with small children in it! Although I've baby-sat, nannied, and hung out with many a little one before, the experience of being in a house with small children 24/7 is something completely different! Everyday there are new adventures to be had, new games to play, and the kids change every single day! The baby especially is remarkable to watch grow because she has changed just in the small amount of time since I've been here!

I'll give you all a brief description of each of the awesome kids starting with the oldest little man, Benny!

Benjamin (a.k.a. Benny) is a typical four year old who will be turning five very soon! He is a rambunctious and energetic little dude with a knack for climbing! I showed him some pictures of me rock climbing, a favorite past-time of mine, and he told me he could probably climb wayyyyyy higher than me! I want to take him to a rock climbing place close by but I'm concerned they don't make harnesses that small!! I'm sure he would climb anyways on the bouldering climbs though!! Ben also really loves anything construction related: diggers, cherry pickers, cranes, etc. He can name almost any construction vehicle we see on the road and at the parks we visit, you can almost always find him on the diggers in the sandpit! Or on top of something climbable!! He definitely keeps me on my toes at the parks! He is so sweet to his baby sister and so protective of her as well...its adorable! He loves to give her kisses and to play peek-a-boo with her...she always smiles so big when he does!! He is a great big brother!

The middle child is Christian, a.k.a. Chrissy. This little guy never ceases to make me smile! While Ben is in kinder on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays during school hours, Chrissy and I get to go to parks and play centers or play in the backyard all day! He is very kind and has wonderful manners. He is also so good with "Baby" as he calls Salome. They sit next to each other in the car and sometimes you will look back and see them holding hands or him stroking her cheek. If she starts to cry, he always tries to calm her down with kisses or "Mommas here". He loves construction vehicles as well as animals and birds (much to my chagrin as I have a strange phobia of birds...but he usually will chase them away before they can sense my fear). I have been working with him on the alphabet and numbers and he is soooo bright!! He can count to 12 before he goes back to the number 4 and will count everything he sees! Sometimes he turns into a little lion man and will roar ferociously at me (its adorable), but a nice tickle and snuggle fest turns him back to a sweet little boy!!

Last but definitely not least is the smallest of the pack, Salome (or as I call her: Baby, Babycakes, Sugar, or Cutie Pie)! This little girl has changed immensely since I arrived here! She used to not be able to crawl forward, but would move backwards instead. Now she is crawling up stairs!! Its amazing!! She can't get down them yet, but if you put her in front of a set of stairs, you can guarantee that she will be up them soon! She makes the cutest little faces and loves to follow her brothers around! I sing to her a lot and it always makes her smile (which subsequently warms my heart)! She gives lots of baby kisses to anybody, especially her brothers! She is fascinated by anything shiny and loves to watch her mommy and me paint our nails! She also loves shoes!! She is a total girl and its quite adorable!

These kids make me smile even just thinking about them! I have adjusted pretty well to their daily routine and they have luckily welcomed me into their life! The boys love to climb on me and tackle me onto their beds, and they love piggy-back rides and to be spun around! They love books and reading and are such bright little people! I'm excited to see how these kiddos will grow and change throughout my time here and afterwards as well! They make my life so interesting and at least 100 times cuter than it was before! I am so wonderfully blessed to have found this family!!

Mackenzy

City Sights!

So. Life. Is. Busy.

Its been approximately 3 weeks since I moved to Melbourne, Australia to be a nanny and oh-my-goodness, life is hectic! My days revolve around the kids and then when they go to bed at 7ish, I go to bed shortly after. I'm totally drained by the end of the day which leaves little time to write!! I feel so bad for not blogging more lately! On my weekends off, however, I have been doing some exploring! Take a look!!

Melbourne has a beautiful downtown which Melbourne-ites call CBD (Central Business District). There is river that runs through the city, the Yarra River, and it has great shopping, restaurants, and cafes along the banks!

There is cool area call Federation Square which is a huge civic center with a gallery inside as well! I was fortunate enough to get to go with the oldest child in the family on a school field trip to that gallery, the Ian Potter Centre! It was so cute to see little kids fascinated by the art in the architecturally AWESOME building! 

This is one side of Federation Square with a giraffe peeking inside!

Street view of Federation Square on the left!

This is the kiddos learning about a painting!

There is a great transportation system in Melbourne that is totally rad! You can literally get anywhere in the city by bus, tram, or train and you can get on all of those using one card, a MiKi card (my key). It is so handy and easy to manage! The trains all go into one central hub within the CBD called Flinders Station! It is soooooo cool!

Its a pretty building even just to look at! There is so many cool shops within the city and tons of cafes! I love Love LOVE coffee and so I have been hitting up as many cafes as I can! Only bummer about Australia is it is super pricey! For example, I went to the local grocery store to buy a new tube of mascara and it was $18. Yah you saw that right...$18. SOOO EXPENSIVE. I decided to just ask my lovely and beautiful mother to send me one in a care package (fingers crossed she reads this as well :p ) 

So I will try to keep up a little better as I continue on this new journey in my life! I love the family I'm working with and the kids are totally precious! I'm having a blast so far and know that it will only get better!!!

Until next time...Mackenzy :)

Melbourne Mackenzy

Hello world!

Its a beautiful day here in Melbourne, Australia and I thought I would carve sometime out of my day to catch everybody up on my new life! I have officially been here a whole week and it has been quite an experience already! The family I am working for and living with has treated me very well so far and make me feel as though I have always been here! The routine of each day was hard to figure out but now that I've got it, each day gets easier and easier! The boys keep me busy and so do dishes and the adorable baby! I love being around the kids though because they have such a unique perspective on life...and the baby is doing new things every day! Its amazing how they change from day to day!

I get weekends completely off which is wonderful! Since starting here I have been going to sleep every single night before 9:30!! Its amazing how kids can wear you out! So my weekends I get to catch up on sleep and sightsee! This being my first weekend in Melbourne, I decided to use my time to figure out the tram and train system and check out the streets around where I live now! I am technically outside of Melbourne in a suburb called Mont Albert North and there are hundreds of suburbs that all kind-of blend together! There is a tram and bus system that can get you anywhere in the city and I have been fortunate enough to live right by both stops! I spent yesterday figuring out that if I take the tram two stops away from the city, it leads directly to the train station which will get me into the city faster than the 50 stops on the tram! I didn't take the train in but I walked around the train station which is also a shopping area! This area's suburb is called Box Hill and it turns out that it is one of Melbourne's Chinatowns! I walked around for about an hour or two (bought an outlet adaptor) and just people watched! It felt just like Chinatown in NYC (shout out to my bestie Mandy who is currently an au pair in NYC too!) I was too busy checkin' out the sites to take many pictures but here are a few..

Only passenger on the tram!

After my walk around Chinatown/Box Hill, I headed back towards my home but got highly distracted by the flowers around the neighborhood! As you guys may have guessed, I love flowers and trees and just nature in general! So I made a side trip to a park right by my house and took pictures of the flowers and trees! Check them out!

If this is what winter looks like in Melbourne, I can't wait for spring!!! I'm so excited to continue to explore this beautiful city and keep you up to date with my adventures!!

Mackenzy

A Brave New World

Well...I'm in Australia! As some may know, I decided around January to pursue the option of being a nanny somewhere abroad for 6 months! I applied on an awesome website that connects you to various families (aupair-world.net) and found a family in Melbourne, Australia! I arrived here on Saturday the 9th after a strenuous and exhausting 24 hours of flight time. I had quick lay-overs at all my stops (Dallas, Brisbane, and Sydney) but due to weather, I missed my connection from Sydney to Melbourne. The airline I flew with, Qantas, was so great to me and the other passengers who missed their flight due weather and quickly got me another flight! I loved that airline so much due to the hospitality on the flights! They provide meals on each flight, even if it is an hour long flight! They also have personal TVs on the back of the seats for long flights and for the shorter ones, each passenger is provided an iPad with movies and TV shows! It was awesome!

I finally made it to Melbourne and connected with my new family! The parents are so sweet and the kiddos are ADORABLE! The oldest, Ben, is 4 and very rambunctious and energetic! He goes to kinder classes 3 days a week but the other days we get to build paper planes and do puzzles together with his little brother, Christian! Chrissy (as they call him) is a sweet, caring, little 2 and a half year old who does anything his older brother Benny does! They are typical little boys with lots of wrestling and laughs, but also with the occasional sibling rivalry! The third and final child of the family is a completely beautiful, 8 month old baby girl named Salome (pronounced Sal [rhymes with gal]-Oh-Mee) or as the boys call her, Baby! Her name is so unique and fitting for her, but I've started calling her Lolo and Sally with the boys...we shall see what sticks!

My day starts at 7 when the kiddos wake up and it ends at 8-ish when they fall asleep. So that means I'm EXHAUSTED by the end of the day which is partially why I hadn't updated the world and all my friends out there about my new world! I will hopefully get to explore Melbourne more this coming weekend (which I have off) and write a few new blog posts! I still haven't written about all the AMAZING food and restaurants I got to experience this past summer in Charlotte so I need to catch up! But its 9:36 PM here which is my new bedtime due to my fun-filled but draining new occupation! Keep me in your prayers as I learn about this family more, their routine, and as I explore this new land I'm in!

Mack

The World is Beautiful..

Hey y'all!!! I'm approaching my last week here in Charlotte, North Carolina and I'm trying to get in as much as I can! So I looked up some things around town that were free and I found something close by to where I live: The University of North Carolina Charlotte Botanical Gardens. I had no idea that I lived so close to such beautiful gardens and from the feel of it, I don't think a lot of people do! It was super empty but the gardens are really beautiful and great for a nice hike!

I live right on the outskirts of UNCC and so it was literally right around the corner for me! It feels like a secret garden since it is so empty and its kind of hard to find. Its also outside of the city parts of Charlotte so its a great destination if you live around University City (the area around UNCC).

The botanical gardens consist of two area: Susie Harwood Gardens and the Van Landingham Glen. It also has a really cute little greenhouse right across from the entrance to the gardens.

The Van Landingham Glen is a great walk through a small version of the Carolina Woodlands. There is beautiful, giant trees and gorgeous ferns and plants all along the path! The area has quaint bridges and streams that made me feel totally relaxed! It was such a beautiful area..here are some of plants and trees that I got pictures of on my walk!

I loved this creeping vine and the different colors it was turning!! 

Trees here are SO tall!!

Such a cute babbling brooks!!

Here is a little cardinal that I caught!! 

The Harwood Garden was also really cool! It was filled with pretty flowers and trees as well, but it also had interesting sculptures and beautiful mosaics! Check them out!

I like to think this is for fairies!!

 I loved this flower!!

This statue translates to "welcome to the garden" according to a sign nearby.

Another strange but interesting sculpture!

I loved walking around outside and just being at one with nature! Living in an apartment is rough because I don't have a backyard I can go outside and hang out in like back home! The only downside to North Carolina is the humidity!! Its so hot and sticky to walk around outside and after awhile, one needs air conditioner!! As much as I love it here, I could live without humidity!

The next portion of my outing at the gardens was the greenhouse! It was equally as humid in those but just as cool! I love greenhouses because you can plant beautiful things off season!! Here are some of my favorite things I found!!

 This room was filled with prehistoric plants (hence the dinosaur)!

This was called a "pigtail anthurium"...I thought it was cute!!

"Living Stone" plants

"Tarantula Cactus"

This tree's leaves were huge!!

"Fox Face Plant" 

"Boob Tube"...honestly I just thought this plant looked funny and had a funny name!

There was a whole room FULL of orchids!! I loved them all!!

 The plants above and below are "pitcher plants" which I think are totally cool!!

These were HUGE..that is a piece of paper next to it that shows how large the pitcher plants are!

I had so much fun wandering among the beauty of nature!! If you are ever in the northeast side of Charlotte by the UNCC campus, check out the gardens! You can check out their website here. It is worth a visit!!

Kenzy