Last Post of the Year!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!! Merrick and I went to a little town about 1 1/2 hours north of Perth.  Lancelin is one of the windiest places I have ever been in my entire life! The winds were so bad that it was so difficult for us to set our camp up. We probably had about 5 other groups camping around us and no one wanted to help.  The only help we got was from a guy named Ray who came over and just handed us a hammer and walked away.  We thought we were going to be camping on the beach, but it was too windy we went and stayed at a caravan park and camped near the beach.  We were basically in a redneck parking lot.  I didn't fit in.

After getting set up we just sat around, ate a lot of food, drank beer, and walked on the beach.  It was really relaxing and good to just get out of the city for a little bit.  It never really felt like Christmas.  Everyone that was camping out didn't seem excited about Christmas.  We were on the phone with family  listening to the kids opening presents, sending pictures back and forth, and just trying to be apart of Christmas.  We got pretty homesick while we were out there and were planning a trip home and talking about when we would be heading back. We can't wait to be back and see everyone!!

We were going to stay three nights, but it was just so windy and hot we just came home the day after Christmas and relaxed at the house.  All in all a great, relaxing Christmas.

Our Christmas presents to each other is going to SE Asia!!  We bought our tickets about a month ago and we leave in 2 weeks!  Our first destination is Singapore for a couple of days, then we'll catch a flight to Bangkok and then start the backpacking all over SE Asia.  We don't have anything set in stone. We are just going to go with the wind and see where it takes us!! We are super excited and I can't wait to go shopping!!

Hey guys it's Merrick again....everything is still going great as far as im concerned.  I wish you guys could have seen pam putting up that tent with me, a complete animal.  We are definitely ready for some vacation time and really missed everyone over the holidays.  Congrats to the Dumits on having the baby and we will see all you guys soon.  Love and miss all of you! - Merrick

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Years!!

Us and Linda

We tried not to look like we were together. Didn't work.

We've been on a roller coaster since Matt arrived here in Perth.  Hence, the long delay on updating the blog.  I loved seeing Merrick and Matt interacting with each other.  They talk in weird voices, sing conversations to each other, fight, and just stare at each other and know what the other is thinking.  It's really fun to watch.  I felt like Mommy Pam a couple of times.  Boys are messy and stink.  It was like I had to babysit them and make sure they brushed their teeth and wiped their butts. Haha! Merrick was really busy when we got back from Bali, so Matt and I became pretty close buds.  We would tag team on Merrick when he got home from work and if you guys know Merrick, he was jealous of our relationship.

Tequila. Woof.

When got back from Bali, all I could say to sum up the trip was "First Week 2011".  We basically got there and just started destroying our bodies with a bunch of young Australians. We thought shots were a good idea on a daily basis. They weren't.

**On a side note, when we did the reservations for the hotel we requested two double beds.  When we were checking in we asked again did we have two double beds.  He said, "Yes sir, two dubba beds."  We get to our room and see a huge california king and to the side of that a little baby cot.  Matt was not happy.  Merrick and I of course couldn't stop laughing.

When I would get up in the mornings, Merrick was to my left and Matt was to the left of him. Matt felt lonely in the little baby cot. So, basically the remaining of time we were there we all enjoyed that california king.

View from the bar.

The weather was so hot that the most enjoyable time we had was in the infinity pool with the swim up bar (the two request Merrick and Matt had).  We met a lot of random people just sitting there all day.  We went out with some people from there a couple of nights and those nights consisted of Karaoke and dancing...a lot of dancing. I have video of all events.  When I can figure out how to upload them to my mac i'll upload a few goodies!

The beers were so cheap and the food was so good! We would go out to eat at some local stalls and for all three of us to eat and put down a good many beers cost us about $25AUD.  I got my nails done and it cost me $4AUD!

Becky the Bat

Merrick and I actually did go explore one day.  We took a tour of the ancient temples and went to the Monkey Forest.  I figured these monkeys would be cute and let you touch them and basically pick them up.  We were wrong.  Those things are evil!!  I have never seen someone so scared in their lives until I saw Merrick get jumped by one.  He was so scared our little 4'10 Indonesian tour guide didn't know what to do but grab her slipper and whack that monkey off Merrick!  After the attack, Merrick thought it was a good idea to hold Becky the Bat.  Becky wasn't the prettiest thing I've seen.

But all in all, the trip was great.  A little too touristy for Merrick and I, but it's only a 3 hour flight so we will be there again soon for a more relaxing trip.

Night out at Havana.

Anyhow, while Matt was here we went to some of our favorite pubs, the beach, racecourse, and Matt and I had an adventure to no mans land to get to a Koala Wildlife Park.  Long story short a train ride that was supposed to take 45 minutes took Matt and I two hours!  We witnessed a domestic dispute between a couple and mother, daughter, and baby.  And when we got off the train we had to venture out another 30 minutes to get to this place by walking through the bush.  Never again. But it made Matt and I a lot closer.

This past weekend before Matt left, we had people over here that are actually from Greenville.  Proves how Greenville runs the world! We had a great time with them!  We had a little cookout and it felt good for once that no one was making fun of us saying "y'all".  We got to talk about who knew who, Clemson tailgating, Panthers, Quaker Steak, and etc. We are meeting up soon to put on a Low Country Boil for our Aussie friends! 

Before going to the race track.

Other than that, we haven't been up to much.  Merrick misses Matt and wants him to come back.  It was really cute seeing them say bye to each other at the airport.  It was like sending our child back to College.  We hope to meet up with him again soon!! Next on the agenda is planning our South East Asia trip for mid January.  Trying to figure out where to go and what all we want to see in 3 1/2 weeks is tough.  Hopefully we'll figure it out! And after we get back from there we will be waiting on our second visitor...LACEY HENNESSEY!! She just got her trip approved and we'll start planning with her when we get back from SE Asia!  There are some other visitors that are talking about coming out and THEY BETTER (Jane and Charlie Morrow)!

Love you all!  Merrick will chime in on the next one, he is currently out getting our ipad!!!!