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.