A Day that Went from Bad to Great

Today was a day of a lot of emotions- for me.  The day did not begin well. I woke up with a horrible case of homesickness and felt terribly disconnected from anyone or anything familiar.  After emailing with a friend and a good cry, we packed up our gear and headed to the bus stop. We were on our way to a new park called, Rushcutter's Bay Park, which I had seen on a bus ride last week. While waiting for our bus, a family of 4 walked by and looked at the bus schedule. They were headed to Bondi Beach and wanted to know if they were in the right place for the bus and which one was best to take. I so proud of myself, I was able to answer their questions just like a native Sydney-an!!  While we were talking, I realized they were American. I asked where they were from and lo and behold, they are from Chicago- well the Chicago area!   We chit-chatted about why we were both there and for how long and all that stuff.  It turns out the dad/husband is working here for a month for an American company and the family came along for the adventure. We also learned that Russell (Doug's company) is a client of this gentleman's company.  Small world.  Anyway, long story short the mom, kids, Coop, Tuck and I are going to meet tomorrow morning for a playdate in the park across the street.  How cool is that?  But wait, the story gets better.

We arrived at the park. We played and played then stopped by the cafe and had a snack (delicious banana bread for Tucker, yummy carrot-nut muffin for me and toast with butter for Coop- toast is a big thing here). We played a little more and then took the bus back home.  After "alighting" the bus, we headed to Woolworths (the grocery store) to buy nappies for Tucker. As we were walking, we heard a hello and looked to see who it was. It was FloridaGirl and her family!  What a wonderful surprise!  They had just finished lunch in the city and were on their way to our local Starbucks.  What luck!  And how cool that we actually ran into someone we know here Sydney where we really do not know anyone.  This day was shaping up!

Here are a few pics of the boys playing at the park:

cafe at the park

I cannot believe I almost forgot this part. We were playing at the park and heard a crazy-loud bird cry.  We looked up and there were 3 cockatoos just flying around! I had heard that this happened in AU, but this is the first time we had experienced it. It was amazing!  I must have taken a hundred pictures hoping one would turn out. The natives were looking at me like I was insane. :)

cockatoos!

After Tucker's nap (and a short nap for me), we took Coop's bike to the park across the street and he rode around for a while.  We just put his new siren on his bike.  He got so many smiles from people as he rode around sounding his siren.  Yes, I know I am crazy for buying a siren for my kid, but is was a moment of weakness- you know you have all been there!

Our building from the park

Then to top it off, my sweet, sunbathing Pugs....

So a day that began terribly but ended up quite well. Running into a new friend, meeting a fellow Chicagoan, seeing cockatoos, a bike ride through the park and two happy dogs.  It turned out to be a pretty good day after all.