Counting Our Blessing!

I just got an overwhelming feeling of happiness!  Merrick and I are so thankful for our wonderful family and friends back home and the new ones we have made here.  We have such great families and friends to deal with our antics all the time.  Merrick and I aren't the best at keeping in touch, but you guys deal with us!  And thank goodness for the internet and iPhones!  They have really rekindled relationships (welcome to the world of iPhones: Sam, Dani, and Meredith)!

It has taken some time to really at home here, but we have a solid group of friends and families that have taken us under their wing.  We have some great families here that have invited us into their home for home cooked meals, given us advice, and just support us.

We just want to send a thank you to all of you who keep up with us crazy kids!  We love you very much!

Now, onto what's been going on...

JENNY FOGEL will be making her appearance in Australia at the end of this MONTH!! We are so excited!  She lands in Sydney, March 31st and me and some friends will meet her there for a weekend there before coming to Perth.  We figured when people think Australia, they don't think PERTH they think Sydney Opera House.  So, we will show her around there and since none of us have been there either it will be fun for everyone!

When we get back to Perth, Jenny has made it clear she wants to "beach it up"!  So, there will be many beach days for her and we will make sure she hugs and kisses some kangaroos and koalas!  It will feel so good to have her here!

Other than that, we have been quite the socialites.  Our friends we have made keep us busy with all kinds of things.  We recently went on a wine tour and had a great time!  Merrick of course was the main attraction.  He loves attention and he sure did get it all day long.  The older ladies on the tour were eating him up, the work staff couldn't get enough of him, and every winery we went to he was "the man".

As for the rest of us, we had a great time! We started off on the 9:30am boat ride through the city to the wineries then Ann came and picked us up and take us around.  They had some really good wines, cheeses, and FOOD!  We all got pretty tipsy and I think the final count was about 55 samples of free wine and 2 pints of beer.  On the way back to the city they drove by our place and we asked sweet Ann if we could just hop off here and I think when everyone heard that they started cheering and giving us high fives...not sure if it was because they were happy to see us leave or because they just loved us.  Either way we got a free ride home (cause we trained it into the city)!

So, we got back to our place and got settled and that is when the racing started.  Just to give you some background on that.  Our little crew here likes to get together and race.  We have different pair ups or group races.  We have never documented these races before because it was either too dark or we just forgot.  That day, we had film, cameras, and tripods.  The best one was of course Merrick running in the last group race.  I'll leave you with these. Enjoy.

Hey guys!  Pam wanted me to add my two cents.  For the record, i was winning that race until i hit a little slanted part of the race track.  I know everyone is concerned, but i am fine.  I will live to race another day.  Everything is going well.  We have been hanging out with some pretty cool people here and having a good time.  Work is coming along nicely. Let's hope Pam gets a job this month. I have a good feeling about this.  My lil asian is going to have a big girl job soon. extra monies.  Im excited about my sister coming out too.  Gonna be nice to see someone from home.  Miss all you guys and I hope everyone is doing great!  -  Merrick