Wildlife List

We are keeping a list of all of the animals (we can identify) that we see in the wild:

-Fruit bat/flying fox: Melbourne at night

-Galah: in park on the way to Melbourne airport

-Black swan: Tasmania in estuaries

-Green rosella (mountain parrot): Parking lot of Port Arthur

-Cockatoo: flying in flocks over fields in Tassie

-Wallaby: hanging out near tourists in Freycinet National Park

-Little blue penguin: coming in from ocean to their roosts in Bicheno

(this picture was supplied by our tour guide because we could not take photos but this is exactly what they looked like!)

-Gray kangaroo: crossing road in front of our car
-Wombat: walking on the side of the road

Melbourne

We had a weather delay in Vancouver that had us miss our connection in Sydney. Our new Sydney flight circled above Melbourne for a while due to weather issues and then was finally re-directed to Canberra. We were able to enter the terminal in Canberra and get food and then re-boarded the plane for another attempt. When we started circling again on this flight, Eric and I really started getting worried but it was short lived. All in all we landed 7.5 hours later than we planned making our overall travel time 36 hours door-to-door. (!!!) The kids were rockstars but didn't sleep much. It all worked out - we were all so exhausted by the time we finally got to bed (10pm Melbourne) that we slept until 4:00am (Maren) and since then we have all had a much easier time adjusting to the time change.
We spent our first few days in Melbourne taking care of business (bank, phones, car, insurance) but Sunday we were able to take some time to relax and take the visitor shuttle to see parts of downtown. We also attended church in chinatown.

Monday we had a fun day - morning at the Sea Life Aquarium and the afternoon in parks. Next stop, Tasmania!
Also, it is summer here!
Maren enjoying the tunnels through the fish tanks:

Our attempt at a Melbourne skyline selfie:

Gardens in Melbourne - the flowering trees are amazing!

First Stop: Denver

We have been preparing for this move for months but still could not do enough to make the last moments go smoothly. I ended up on the airplane with no makeup and missing an earring but at least I didn't forget my wedding ring (ahem, Eric). Our first stop was Denver for Christmas with Grandma Toman and Fouse family (Eric's sister). The kids had a great time playing with cousins and we all got in some needed down time. We leave tonight for Australia! From Denver to Vancouver, Vancouver to Sydney (16 hour flight!), Sydney to Melbourne. It is not going to be fun but we will survive. See you down under!

We are moving to Australia!

Big changes for the Toman family: we are going to be living in Australia for 8 months while Eric takes a sabbatical leave. Eric will be working with a research group at Charles Sturt University and we will be living in a small town outside of Albury/Wodonga in Victoria. We will be in the Snowy Mountains region approximately 3 hours north of Melbourne. Elizabeth will continue working for OSU remotely and the kids will attend school there. We've found a lovely furnished vacation rental within walking distance of the schools and downtown area. A family in our current neighborhood will be staying in our Ohio home while their home is being remodeled. Although many of the pieces have fallen into place, we have had some stressful moments as well (visa!). Now with less than 2 months until go time and with the big pieces in place, we are all excited!

New Email, Blog change

I had to delete my long time email address: elizabeth.toman at gmail and unfortunately it was tied to this blog. The pictures will disappear, bummer. But maybe this will give me motivation to do better at keeping it updated!
From our recent (October) trip to Kentucky: Natural Bridge State Park.

Fabulous Fall

We have had great weather lately, maybe slightly on the too warm side - if that is possible - and have spent a lot of time enjoying it. We love autumn in Ohio!
Last weekend we found a waterfall in a Columbus city park:

The neighborhood Ox Roast (where we found out that Asher's dislike of swings also extends to any motion ride, including carousels).

 Crew game! With Cadie's toothless smile. She has lost 5 already and only allowed the tooth fairy to have one. She is NOT sharing her teeth. Have I mentioned that I fear for her hoarding tendencies?

 This picture is here to remind me that homemade applesauce is not worth the effort, even with free apples and a borrowed strainer. Why do I never remember this?

 Backyard bonfires and mallow roasting with friends (it actually got cool enough to get out our fleece).

 And soccer continues...

 With Asher believing that he is an essential part of the team. Two more long years buddy until you are old enough.

 Some indoor pictures BC (before church). The short time period when they the little ones look put together, almost. No comments on the untucked shirt please.

And one for my brother - plaid is back, baby!

End of Summer? Not yet... please.

It can't be fall yet! We haven't finished our Toman Family Summer Fun list! A few big indicators that summer has come to a close:
1. Cadie started Kindergarten!

Neighbors had prepared our sidewalk!

Asher wanted to stay in Cadie's class. While we were helping Cadie hang up backpack, put her lunch in the bin etc., Ash sat down in a chair and grabbed a pencil and was ready to get to work.

Walking school bus the first "real" day.

2. Asher turns two! Opening loads of presents:

Found a quiet place to eat a snack:

What a sweet little boy he has become (expect for those moments of anger management issues). Here he is at two:

And for comparison, what he looked like a year ago:

And almost two years ago!

3. Soccer is back (Cadie) as is college football. Cadie's team is younger and much less experienced than last year's and today's game was a bit on the silly side. But she had fun - we'll work on her skills and get some photos soon. Eric and I went to an OSU game and had awesome seats. Fans here are crazy. Maybe someday you will say the same about me. The OSU marching band is fabulous.

Eric's teaching classes and I'm trying to bottle up every last taste of summer from our garden. I guess summer is over, but that just means the fall festival season is on it's way. Lots of fun to come still!

Yes, Ohio has topography and forests

When we talk to family and friends who live in the west about Ohio we try to explain that the state isn't entirely corn. We have windmills! Driving through NE Ohio:

Actually, pre-1700s, 98% of Ohio was covered with forests. Today we are at about 35% forest land owned mostly by small private owners but there are plenty of forested state parks and one national forest. The other common misconception is that Ohio is flat. About half of the state was once covered by glaciers and that part is, well, flat, but as the glaciers left the melt-waters carved through the sandstone and formed amazing gorges, cliffs, and caves. In addition much of the southeast part (appalachia) of the state is very hilly. 

So far this summer we have made three trips to forests near us. The first was a day-trip with lots of kid friends for a fun hike at Old Man's Cave.  Little man wanted to go it alone:

Some of the 19 kids involved in our hike (how many kids can you fit in a mini-cave?).

We had a ton of rain over Independence Day weekend but when there was a gap in the weather we made a break for Conkle's Hollow - a hike along a small stream in a gorge to a waterfall.

Last weekend the weather finally cooperated and we headed south again to Hope Lake for a camping trip, our first with Asher. We had friends join us and overall it was a grand success. Although there are no pictures we also tried out the swimming beach - really crowded and not my ideal "beach" but the location made up for it. 

Story time.

The crew hiking. Sweet Molly up front.

So friends, come visit!