Escaping Death

The other day as we were walking long Circular Quay we were watching some of the street performers. Just as we walked up, the performer called on me to "assist". Yea right. I'm a total wall flower type of person. To stand in front of a ton of people and do things is not my cup of tea. Kimball followed, he's always up for some fun. The guy was CRAZY. Literally. The longer I stood there the longer I got worried. I could see the headlines. . .

In the end we all made it out alive.

The next day we walked the bridge. Yes as if the previous day wasn't terrifying enough, I took on one of my biggest fears. Not just heights, but heights with children. I was soo proud of myself. However there were certain rules, like 1. Josie~ no throwing fits, on the bridge, what so ever, no laying down, turning, stomping of feet ~anything! 2. Kimball was to be held the entire time away from the edge. 3. Josie was to hold an adults hand the entire time! 4. No running 5. no holding on to the edge or looking over the edge. 5. absolutely no teasing mom with any of the following

It was amazing! I will never look at the Sydney Bridge the same again! Once we were on the other side We ate lunch, fed the pigeons and enjoyed a lamington.

{don't you love Kimball's fit? He's decided he can't walk anymore. }

Not only did we walk the bridge once but then we walked back over. It was beautiful up there.

At the close of the day Craig's Auntie Karen came and met us for dinner. She lives two hours away. How nice is she. She brought gifts for everyone, and then shouted for the ice cream at the end. She is such a sweet person. The kids adored her!

And today we are headed back home. For Christmas Santa brought Josie the Wizard of Oz. We have watched it continuously lately. As the trip has gotten closer to an end, I keep repeating in my head, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home." It has been an amazing trip. It was nice to have a break from routine, but now it will be nice to have a routine again.

An Incredible Day!

The morning started off at 4:05 a.m. ~ good thing Kimball wore his glasses, it's pretty bright outside.;0)

Then we caught the train up to Sydney. This was Criag's and Kimball's favorite thing so far. It was great. Very relaxing
We checked into the hotel and hit the streets. We saw the bridge and watched the brave people walk on the top of it for a while.
Actually visited the Opera House. We've always "seen" it, but never really checked it out up close. How do you love Josie's fit in this picture. She was feeling the 4 a.m. wake up call.
This is better:

After the bridge, lunch and the Opera House we went onto the Botanical Gardens. The boy's are enjoying the grass.
We played UNO. This was my favorite part. Playing together as a family enjoying the views, and each other.
Kimball photography skills. I don't know how he made it red, I want to figure that out
Then the races started which led to a game of pile up.

And as everyone knows a perfect day has to end with some ice cream!

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

In Australia, Santa delivers all of the presents in a "Santa Bag". A red bag or pillowcase is placed on the bottom of each child's bed before going to sleep. This takes place of the Christmas Socks. Then during the night if you've been good Santa places all of your toys in that sack.

This was a fun tradition that I felt we HAD to implement while we were here. However it was quite hard. I knew that even if I had a "no peek until you get on my bed" rule, it would be too hard to resist. But the only one to peek was little Ms. Tink. It was pretty fun to watch them "dump" their bag on our bed. Then sort through all the exciting things Santa left.

In the past one of our favorite things to do was take everyone to the dollar store and let them buy a gift for each person. However this year with us traveling around during Christmas, I didn't want to loose the "meaning" of Christmas. We decided we'd have a "homemade" Christmas. It was really fun! It was great to watch the kids plan and work on their projects before we left. We even worked on a few once we got here. McKay made a marshmallow gun for Kimball and stamped charms for the girls. Abby sculpted and painted a figurine for everyone. Josie wrote and illustrated books. And Kimball, well I cheated on helping Kimball, he got everyone an Australian book. It was a very neat experience to watch. The kids LOVED it!

After presents we had a Christmas "brekkie". Pam's side of the family came over and we had a large breakfast. It was great catching up with family. It was fun to see all of their children too. We'd only heard about them, to see them in person was fabulous!

What an amazing Christmas! We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas as well!

And the Tradition Continues

A gift to open on Christmas Eve?. . . What could it be?. . . New jammies! Who would have guessed?!

Christmas Eve is so special to me that even having an Aussie Christmas we continued a few of our family traditions. However it was very sad not having the costumes to act out the Nativity, but we still read and talked about the true meaning of CHRISTmas.

And then of course we had to open new pj's.

Pre-Christmas Fun

While I was helping the kids wrap their presents, Kimball came running back in with another present to wrap. It was "for dad" he told me. I had to laugh, he snaked it from Pam and Boris's cooking books. A, can you say the ultimate regifter?! He even wrote the card. He's so funny.Later that day we headed over to a bbq that Boris's daughter Natasha was throwing. It was great. They kids had a fun time. Kimball for some reason took his shirt of turned in inside out and put it back on backwards. Why you ask. . .I don't know.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

My adorable hubby had a birthday! We got down to Canberra the night before Craig's birthday. It was great. He didn't want to do much for his birthday, his only request was visiting the cemetery. It was really neat. The kids don't know much about Laurie, nor do I, however I think he must have been a lot like Craig. We enjoyed listening to stories of his childhood. And then we drove around and showed the kids some of the sights of Canberra and tried to get a little Christmas shopping in as well. By the end the kids were tuckered out.

After we enjoyed a fabulously cooked pepper steak meal, cooked by Boris. Due to Kimball's very late nap he wasn't tired at bedtime, so we took him for the famous "watch and chase the kangaroo's" drive. He loved it!!!

Craig HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are the best dad and most fabulous hubby ever! We love you a ton!

Time Extended!

We were so lucky to extend our time up in the Gold Coast. The Alpins gratiaously took us in.

{the Alpins are Craig's cousin Michele, her hubby Ross, Jason, Mark & Justine} Tonight when we were asking the kids what was the favorite thing we've done so far excluding Christmas, Abby's was swimming at the Alpins pool. It was wonderful. We sat out in the back yard ate lunch and dinner, swam, jumped on the tramp, relaxed in the hot tub, and we even got to watch the fruit bats fly over head at dusk. That was totally earie. They are HUGE and there are TONS of them. But I think the favorite thing at the Alpins was the company. They are so amazing. The kids absolutly loved them. Their cute teenagers took over entertaining them and caring for them. The kids have had a very hard time leaving them. When we all loaded up to got to the airport, Kimball wanted to get out of the car because Michele, Mark, and Justine weren't coming with us. Then at the airport he woke up when I told Ross good by and reached for him. He is still asking for "my Rossie" or "Mawk". Josie left her favorite "Pie Pony's" which she calls her miniture My Little Pony's, so they will always remember her. And they are still sporting the fabulous purple sparkle fingernail polish.

It was so relaxing that I didn't take many pictures, which I'm kicking myself for. I didn't even get one of McKay so . . . picture him in the pool 6 hours a day and on the Wii, with a little garage band practice in the mix.

We're Back in Business

It's been tricky to find Wi-Fi here in the Land Down Under. I've had to be very creative to be able to pay bills, post, check emails etc. I have come to realize how much I depend on my little laptop with internet, passwords, user ID's and so forth. I even had Craig drop me off at the Marriott when we were up in Surface. I had bills to pay and couldn't find it anywhere. So I figured with as much time Craig's spent over the years there it was like home. So I sat in the lobby and enjoyed a Diet Coke with nice elevator music and my trusty laptop {which I've decided deserves a name, I need to think about that} I've never been so great full to pay them before. So with out further adieu the vacae & Christmas updates.

The Crocodile Hunter's Zoo

One of the first things we did when we first arrived down here in Australia was visit Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. McKay loved Steve when he was younger and still carry's fond memories of him as we all do that know him. The zoo was incredible, very clean and well organized. The obvious difference in animals drew all of our attention. We saw all sorts of birds that are native to Australia. We feed elephants and Kangaroo's, got to hold a Koala and a baby croc. At least McKenzie got to hold the Koala (a life long goal) while we patted it. McKay got to hold the baby croc which in his words was "pretty scarey". I didn't say anything at the time, I didn't want to freak him out but there was no way I was going to hold it. Josie and Kimball got to ride ponies and we all saw a lot of crocodiles. They were everywhere. In one of the show's they had a huge croc named Murry. He was an aggressive sucker, it gave me the chills watching him eat the foot they were using to get him to move about. During the croc show they stressed many times the best way to aviod being attacked by a croc was by staying out of the water. It wasn't very reassuring. The Kangaroo area was fun, the roo's were pretty docile having been feed all day by zoo visitors. I did get a little concerned when Kimball and Josie got a little over comfortable with the roo's and started huging them. I have lived in Australia for 20 years before moving to the states and I have never seen anyone hug a Kangaroo. Needless to say it took forever to get the two young ones out of roo exhibit.

Fwip Fwops & Fun

Since being here in the "Land Down Under" we've been able to swim, go to the beach, and hang with family. We have spend almost every night sitting out by the pool watching the kids swim, eating and enjoying the Alpens. Michele is Craig's cousin. She and her husband Ross, along with the kids have been fabulous! The first night the kids loved swimming with some flippers. The next day when we came over, they had decked out the pool with little kid toys, blow-ups and kid size flippers. Kimball took to them. However he does call them "fwip fwops" translation: flip flops. After a late night {5:30} Kimball was zoned into a movie, but wouldn't take off the "fwip fwops". He was so cute.
He loved them so much, he wore them quite a bit at the beach the next day.

What is McKay doing? you might ask. Well let me tell you. He found a boy who was catching jelly fish and blue bottles. Go figure. And joined in on the fun. My only solace was that at least he was keeping an eye out for them. Of course it didn't take long for Abby to join in on the fun.


Josie was working on a collection of sea shells. One for everyone in her class. She's so sweet.

McKay wanted a picture by this tree. He thought the roots were really cool looking.

And at the close of a trip to the beach. . .







Paddle Pops: aka ice cream on a stick.