We're back!!!

Caloundra, Queensland Australia
June 27, 2013

I feel like I should be busting out in song!  Guess who's back??? Yep! That's right, the Elliott Family has returned from Down-Under. And what an adventure it has been!! It wouldn't quite be an Elliott Family Adventure without a little chaos and confusion.  There's a long standing joke that if it's going to happen, it will happen to us.  I will have to go into some comical detail with this at some point but todays not the day.

We returned from our 2 year Australian "holiday" approximately 4 weeks ago.  We have been readjusting to not only our American lifestyle but our Military lifestyle as well.  We all feel a little lost right now and we are missing life in Australia terribly but it's nice to be back. 

We have returned to Fort Benning, Georgia for those of you who did not know and we have also moved back into the house that we were living in before we left.  Kind of nice, yet I still have not figured out where everything is going to go.  We have acquired a fair bit since living here last but I have to admit, I am not going to miss mopping the 2000 sq. feet of white ceramic tile in our house in OZ!! Hello Little Fort Mitchell House, I will never complain of your floors again!!!

The boys started school right away when we returned.  That was a MAJOR transition but I think we are finally starting to settle in.  Xander had a very rough time leaving his school in Singleton and starting the school here because they are some drastic differences but the wonderful thing about my sweet Xander is that he is easy to love and very adaptable.  Louden is doing much better now as well and is very excited about all that he is learning.  The hardest part for him is sitting still and NOT TALKING!!! LOL!! Anyone that knows him well, knows how difficult this really is but it will be good for him to learn a little self-control :)

One of the "PROS" to not having our household goods for what feels like FOREVER, is that I get to take my time picking out new paint colors for the whole house and finding DIY projects.  I'm trying to look at everything as positively as possible or else I may just go insane!!!  We did have a few things in storage that were delivered 2 weeks ago, however my advice to anyone moving overseas who are able to store things prior to leaving would be to make sure you put USEFUL items in storage instead of fake Christmas trees, holiday décor and 100 snow globes because then you have to try and find a place for these things in your empty house.  This weekends family fun activity was putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it for Halloween/ Autumn.  Don't judge friends, when you are living in a house with little boys and you have no toys and a 19 inch TV, you get REALLY creative. 

I look forward to catching up with everyone and am thrilled to be back for the Holidays!!!  I was just  talking to one of my dearest friends, Christine, this morning about all that we have to do now that I am back. Lots of fun and goodness in the VERY near future.

Hugs and Love
B.R.E.

The Latest and Greatest from the Elliott Fam!

Yep! It's official ..... I suck at keeping up with this blog thing. This is sad and pathetic considering I have more free time here in Oz and I feel like I have lots to share in regards to our experiences.

The most important news is that we received our orders back to the good ole' U.S. of A! And we will be stationed in .... drum roll .... Fort Benning! LOL! Shocker, huh???? I have mixed feelings about this but am thrilled to be back with some of our friends. The boys are so excited so I guess my happiness lies in theirs :)

We are also going to be moving back into our house, however I have no clue how we will fit but it makes the most sense right now and again ... the boys are thrilled!!

We are currently in the process of planning what is most likely our last big trip in Australia; Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and the Australia Zoo. We have been looking forward to doing this since before we left the states :) Also, we will finally be able to hold a Koala!!!

As far as the family, everyone is doing great. Michael just finished up instructing what will most likely be his last course, Xander is getting so big and grown up and becomes sweeter everyday, and Louden just started wearing glasses and keeps us on our toes CONSTANTLY! That child is WILD and witty!

Sadly, I have not started editing our New Zealand pictures. I need to but I know once I sit down and start I will be at it for a few days. We are still feeling very blesses about being able to go on such an amazing adventure and we can't wait to share our pictures and stories once we get back. Perhaps we will have to have a welcome home party so we can show you all our goodies and share our FABULOUS wine!!!!

I am not going to promise that I will be better but I will definitely keep everyone posted.

 Hugs and Love,
BRE

Holidays are no joke!!!

Soo, I made a goal for myself to keep up on my blog not realizing I decided to do this right before the holiday season down-under.

Holiday is no joke here!

Everyone takes off for week long holiday trips, something I could totally get used to. However, I do not think our bank account could... HAHAHA!

A week after my last blog post we took off on the best vacation we have ever had and might possibly be the best vacation we will ever take in our lifetime; a 2 week New Zealand cruise!!! There are a few words I can use to describe this trip:

Amazing!
Phenomenal!
Fantastic!
Unbelievable!
Breath-taking!
Dreamy!
A Blessing!

Photographs and books do NZ no justice! Michael and I also agree that we now understand why they filmed Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit here, it's magical for sure!

With all this being said, I'm sure everyone is wondering, well... Where are the pictures??? I am embarrassed to say, I have not been able to edit yet and have not really posted any because it will, no joke, probably take me a week to edit. We took an empty 8g SD card for the trip and we ended up filling it by the last day. That's right.... I have to edit through 1400 pictures!!! And I don't want to rush because, like I said, this was a trip of a lifetime and I want them to be perfect and perfection cannot happen until Thing 1 and Thing 2 are back to school which is not for another week :)

This has been a very long holiday break but one filled with adventures and chaos, as one would expect in the Elliott home. Since this will be our last summer holiday in Australia we want to make it count and I promise, once we are back into our routine I will start posting about our AMAZING holiday :)


BRE